Fallen Elemental (Evelyn Storm Series Book 1)
Page 4
Chapter 6
Mike
Shit! I knew it! “Guys you need to hurry up and get in the car we have to get to Evie. Now!” I shout up the stairs to Kylan and Teddy before running in the kitchen and grabbing the car keys. Thankfully, the guys wait until we are in the car speeding to the location Dane showed me before asking questions.
“What’s going on?” Kylan asks me from the passenger seat. Usually Ky would drive, but Dane was so panicked he didn’t even think about contacting the others.
“Well, turns out my gut feeling was right about Evie being in danger. Today is her 18th birthday. At 3:13pm which is in 7 minutes.”
“Fuck! Seriously? And she doesn’t know about us yet either, so she’s not prepared. Is Dane telling her?” Teddy looks really worried, and Ky looks too shocked to say anything.
“Yeah, he agreed to tell her as much as he could so she would understand the danger and what we are,” I pull up alongside Evie’s green jeep and follow the path Dane showed me, while Ky and Teddy follow me.
Evie
No way there is something as ridiculous as Elementals. If elementals existed surely someone would know about them? And does that mean they know my birth parents if they know their elements? I look down and see there is 5 and a half minutes till my birthday.
Wait, I remember the picture I drew in art. I rush to my bag and pull it out and stomp over to Dane and thrust it at him. “Why was Mike terrified when he saw this?!” I demand. Not all of this makes sense, but why would I draw all of them with the elements Dane said they had?
With the past drawings coming true, it makes me wonder more about my psychic ability and if Dane is telling the truth. Dane’s mouth goes slack and his face pales. I hear footsteps and turn and see the rest of the guys heading towards us.
I turn back to Dane “Explain!”
“As elementals, we have control over our elements, but we have other gifts too. Fire users are persuasive and can put thoughts in people’s minds which can sway them into making decisions. Water users can feel others emotions and project emotions onto other people. Some of the more powerful water users can heal. Earth users can adapt to their environment and draw on its strength, so if they are near rocks they could make themselves as strong as a rock or they could even camouflage themselves to their surroundings. Air users can have the ability of foresight which is seeing into the future. They can be seen through visions, drawings and sometimes feelings. There are other abilities but those are the most common.
There’s a prophecy that was predicted by one of the first Air users. An Elemental that would be born to all four Elements and wield all four powers, but he would need four strong protectors to guide him. This drawing represents us as four protectors, and, it seems, you are the shape we are protecting. Never did we dream that the Elemental would be a girl, but you have already shown basic use of all four elements, which means, if we’re right, you are the one in the prophecy. This means once your powers hit you will be vulnerable for the hour after until they stabilize,” he finishes while looking at the other guys.
“Protect me from what?” I ask.
“The Shaded. They’re a group of Elementals that want to rule our people and they will do anything to stop the person meant to rule us. The person meant to lead us is the person in the prophecy. A group of our most powerful elementals made a council so we had someone to lead us until the day comes when that person comes into power. The Shaded have recently found a way to absorb the powers from other elementals making them nearly twice as strong.”
Dane pauses to take a breath, and I notice the guys are gathered around me in a circle. They’re already protecting me.
“Once a power has been taken from an elemental they become weak, and most of them die shortly after. The few who don’t, go insane and beg for death, or will commit suicide. Our powers are a part of us and without them it is hard to live. Very few elementals have survived the Shaded’s attack and we can’t risk them getting your power.
The Shaded will want you especially if you present with more than one power. They have been after Kylan, Teddy, Mike, and I for a long time as we are extremely powerful and because we’re the sons of council members.”
I don’t know how to react. I’m upset that they were only hanging out with me for some stupid prophecy. I can’t believe I have feelings for these guys, and they’re just using me for some stupid power base. Jeez, I’m focusing on them instead of the stuff they said about Elementals. Guess I should stop trusting my instincts.
“We have feelings for you too, you know,” Kylan says.
I jump “What?!” It’s like he read my thoughts.
Sorry but it’s hard not to hear your thoughts when you project loudly. Oh. My. God. I just heard Kylan’s voice in my head. How the hell did he do that? Oh no, they heard my earlier thoughts about liking them too. And about Ted. I don’t know whether to be angry or embarrassed. At least I’m not going crazy.
“Look there’s so much we should discuss, but your birthday is any second and once your power hits, there are Shaded who will feel it and come to try and take you. It’s our job to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Mike says pointedly watching my watch.
I look down “Five seconds left. Four. Three. Two. One.”
Mike
I don’t know what to expect when her birthday hits. We all got our powers early, and it was like any normal elemental.
Usually on their birthday an Elemental will get a surge through their body, and then their element will take control for a bit. The last power we witnessed was Ky, and he lit up like a fireball. He was covered in flames and couldn’t get it under control for over 30 minutes. That was when everyone realized just how powerful he was. No fire elementals can keep their power going for longer than 15 minutes without the exhaustion kicking in, but Ky lasted double that and still didn’t get exhausted.
Never having seen an elemental with multiple powers release we aren’t sure what to expect, but what we don’t expect is for her to pass out. She’s counting down and when she reaches one she just faints. None of us expected it, so she just falls to the ground.
“Shit!” Ky tries to catch her head before it hits the ground and manages to stop it just barely. Thank god. Last thing we want is for Evie to have a concussion.
“Well, that was unexpected,” I say.
Dane’s staring at Evie when we feel the elementals approaching. Time to protect our girl.
Teddy
I can feel elementals approaching but can’t be sure if they Shaded or not. We can’t tell the difference between Shaded or elementals since they are basically the same thing, just with the Shaded being darker beings. So, the only way we’ll know for sure is when we see their eyes. Their eyes are pitch black with no pupil. It’s like their eyes have had black paint poured into their eye sockets. We can feel them coming. Maybe five minutes out. I just hope we can protect Evie.
“Guys how many do you feel? I feel six maybe seven,” I ask them.
Kylan is standing up and pulling his fire to his hands “Yeah I feel seven. We’ll have to split them up to protect her.”
Dane
I’m watching the guys get ready to protect Evie from the Shaded when I feel something. I look down at Evie and gasp at what I see. All the guys turn when I gasp and are just as shocked by what we’re seeing.
Evie’s still in a foetal position on the ground with Ky’s jacket tucked under her head, but what has us shocked is the white glow. All around her body is glowing with a faint white light, and it seems to be emanating from inside her.
It’s getting brighter when the Shaded enter the field. We turn and form a circle with Evie in the centre, ready to defend her from anything.
I don’t know about the others, but I won’t let anything happen to her. She’s too precious and been through so much. She deserves a chance at a happy life.
It’s definitely Shaded, I can see their eyes now that they are in the clearing, but they don’t seem to be worrying a
bout us, just staring at Evie. I look back at Evie and the light surrounding her has gotten bright enough that we can’t see her through it.
All of a sudden, the light blasts out from her body throwing the shaded back and cowering from it. Once the light clears the shaded attack.
Chapter 7
Evie
I must have blacked out. I wake up groggy and curled in a ball on the ground, there are people all around me and it takes my mind a second to catch up with reality. There are eleven people fighting each other, well actually it seems like four against seven. Four guys, who look familiar, are using magic to fight the other people who also have powers. I look closely. Wait, I know those guys! They are my guys, but who are the other people? It all comes rushing back. I’m an Elemental. I have powers. Kylan, Teddy, Dane, and Mike are my protectors. I look closely, but I don’t recognize anyone else. They must be the Shaded, who sensed my powers. I notice something strange though, they all have black eyes. No pupil just black soulless eyes.
Kylan and Teddy are using their powers to push back four of them. At first, I thought they were all guys, but there’s a girl as well. She’s got long black hair and is pale as a ghost, but it’s the eyes that complete the effect. As if she senses me watching her, she turns and looks straight at me. She was helping two other guys fight off Mike and Dane. The 2 guys are using air and the chick was using water to defeat them, but the chick must also have fire power as well as water, because all of a sudden, she starts towards me with fire in her palms and it starts engulfing her body.
I panic and close my eyes to brace for the pain of the fire. After a minute of nothing happening, I open my eyes and see Mike fighting her using his air magic to deflect her fire magic. He uses some moves with his hand and it seems to extinguish her fire.
I look over to see Dane fighting off the two guys at once. He’s struggling to keep them both at bay and using his power at the same time. One of the Shaded sends a burst of air at Dane and knocks him into a tree. His eyes flutter before going unconscious.
Dane
We’re all fighting to keep the Shaded away from Evie when we feel her wake up. I sneak a quick look and she seems ok. The four shaded that Ky and Teddy are keeping away from Evie seem to notice that she’s awake and try harder to get away from us. None of them have managed to break away so far, but the girl opposite us, heads straight for her.
We would destroy them all, but the council is against harm and only condones subduing of Shaded. They like us to knock them unconscious and jail them for questioning. No one knows how the Shaded steal elements, but it doesn’t stop the council from interrogating every Shaded we bring in.
Mike, go help Evie. She has no idea how to use her powers yet. I’ll handle these two. Mike takes off and reaches Evie just before the fire wielder does, but that now leaves me dealing with these two alone.
It’s hard fighting two Air elementals and not giving them an opening to use their powers but I make one mistake and that’s all it takes for them to send me flying backwards into a tree. I hit my head and know I’m going to pass out. Protect her.
Evie
Both the Shaded he was fighting advance on him and something inside me snaps. A warmth like no other flows up inside me. I think I’ve found my power. I let it flow through me and find the strength to stand up. A breeze has picked up around me, and as I look down at my hands, I notice the left hand has water flowing freely from it and my right hand has fire snaking up my palm and arm just like Kylan did in the drawing. I start walking towards Dane and I can feel the earth start to rumble around me like the beginnings of an earthquake.
“Mine,” I growl out through clenched teeth, then focus my power and throw it at them. None of the Shaded stand a chance once my power is free. My powers flow through my hands and go straight to the Shaded’s core. I can feel it destroying them from the inside out. Somehow, I feel as if my own powers are getting stronger by attacking them. Whatever my power is doing, it’s causing them pain.
I watch them scream while I rip the powers from those who would dare harm what is mine. All of a sudden, they evaporate into mist before my eyes. I take a deep breath and look around. Whoa that was intense.
The only ones that remain are me and my guys, so I make my way over to Dane and pray he’s ok. The ground still rumbles when I walk, but the rest of my powers seem to have withdrawn for now. I reach Dane and the other guys gather around us. Checking for his pulse on his wrist, I’m so relieved to feel it that I break down and sob. I feel like I almost lost him and the thought devastates me.
Someone is sitting behind me and cradles me while I breakdown “Its ok, sweetheart, he’s ok just a little bump. He’ll heal in no time,” Mike reassures me.
I look up at Kylan and Teddy to see the shock and relief on their faces. I guess no one has ever used all four powers at once before. Dane starts groaning. Thank god he’s ok.
He sits up and looks at us. “What’d I miss?” he asks.
“Well, let’s see, you got bumped on the head after you went flying, then time seemed to cease when Evie saw you lose consciousness, she started walking towards you powered up with Earth, Air, Fire and Water and was saying ‘mine’ repeatedly. She then started doing something painful to the guys who knocked you out. I’m only guessing it was painful as they were screaming right up until they all misted out. Then we came here while Evie sobbed over your body for a minute until you came to,” Kylan looks at Teddy and Mike with a grin “Did I leave anything out?”
“Well only that when Evie walked towards Dane the earth rumbled,” Teddy says before Mike and Kylan burst into laughter.
“Hey! That sucks guys. All I knew was Dane got hurt, and you were all occupied, so I just let go of the power,” I’m a little miffed but I’m smiling too.
Dane turns to look at me “’Mine’, huh?”
“To be honest I was kind of referring to all of you. In the moment, I thought of you all as mine. Is that normal when powers release?” I’m so embarrassed, but when I said mine all I was thinking was that I would make anyone pay for hurting them.
The guys look to each other and blush and avoid looking at me. “Can we explain it another time Evie? You have to be home soon, don’t you?” Dane asks changing the subject.
I look to my watch. Shit its twenty past four. I am so late, and I’ll be in trouble. I sigh. “Yeah, I’m late, I need to go. I’ll see you tomorrow at school, but I want answers at lunch.”
“Are you going to be in trouble?” Dane asks me softly.
Teddy hears our exchange “Why would Evie be in trouble?”
Kylan, Teddy, and Mike turn to look at me. I look to Dane hoping he’ll say something, but he stays quiet. “Dane, can you tell them? I give you permission, but I really have to go before its worse,” I give him a look pleading with him to say yes so I don’t have to tell it again. I don’t think I could handle it a second time.
“Actually, I can do better than that. We can all communicate in our minds. So, I can show them exactly how you said it, that way I don’t leave anything important out,” he says.
My mind is so overloaded right now I don’t know how much more new information I can take. I head over to the apple tree and pack up my supplies before putting my backpack back up in the tree. Heading back to my jeep I think about all the new information I’ve learned.
I can’t believe I’m an Elemental. Hopefully, I’ll get more answers tomorrow. And what about the guys? The feeling I got seeing Dane unconscious scared the crap out of me. I like them all, I do, but the feelings I got were not just ‘like’ feelings. And knowing they were in trouble, some kind of instinct told me I had to protect them. I get in my car and head home. It’s going to be a long afternoon. My parents aren’t going to let me go unpunished and I’m dreading the pain I’ll endure tomorrow.
I pull into the yard and see my dad’s car parked in the drive which means he’s already home from work. Parking my jeep next to dad’s car, I walk up the few steps to the house.
I open the door and walk down the hall to the kitchen. My Mom’s sitting at the kitchen table having a coffee as usual.
“Hey Mom. Sorry I’m late but I was helping the new kid find his way home. He’s not sure of the town yet,” I lie. I have no choice but to lie to them these days and as much as I hate it, it has become necessary, especially if you factor in all the new Elemental stuff.
“Ok sweetie, go and change then you can get started on dinner. Your father is watching the news, but he will talk to you after dinner so make sure all your chores are done first please.” My mom looks at me and smiles while she tells me what to do.
I know do my chores first is code for ‘You won’t be able to after he’s finished with you’. One day I didn’t do all the dishes before the beating and when he saw them in the sink after he’d finished with me, he came back and punched me until I passed out.
“Sure mom I’ll be really quick. Do you know what you want for dinner? Or do you want me to pick?” Better to ask than assume.