by Tamara White
“Yes sweetie, I’ve got ingredients for lasagne out on the bench, but you might want to hurry so dinner isn’t late,” she smiles at me because she knows that I hate when she calls me sweetie.
I have just over an hour to cook lasagne, do laundry, do dishes, and clean the house. Safe to say tonight will not be a good night.
Its 6pm and dinner is served, I managed to get all my chores done and now just have to eat dinner, do homework and wait my punishment. Mom and Dad are already at the table and have started eating.
Dinner is mainly a silent affair so I don’t speak unless spoken too. Mom and Dad make small talk with each other about work. Mom works in an accounting firm in the city, she’s only a consultant but apparently, there is an opening for a management position. Dad works as a lawyer in one of the small companies based in Columbus so it’s a 2-hour commute for him to get to his office.
After dinner, I manage to clean the dishes we used and put them away. I’m upstairs finishing my homework when my dad starts calling out “Evelyn! Have you finished your homework yet?!”
I know I have no choice but to answer but I dread it anyway “Yeah, dad, I just finished,” I call out. I hear him coming so I brace myself. Even though I know what’s coming, it still scares me every time.
I stand up straight and close my eyes so I don’t see it coming. He always starts with my stomach. Ow fuck that hurts! He hit me where I landed on my side today. I guess that will bruise a lot worse than I anticipated.
He hasn’t hit for a minute so I open my eyes and stand up straight again and wait for the verbal lashing too. That’s usually how it goes. He stops and then screams at me before leaving, but when I look at him he punches me in the face. I go down and stay down.
He starts kicking me and screaming “You know you have to be home before I am, to do your chores! Why the fuck did you disobey my rules?! We have given you everything, and this is how you repay us?!” he finally stops and turns and walks out the door slamming it when he leaves.
I lay on the floor hoping the pain will go away. Getting up I go to my bathroom glad I have one attached to my room. I wipe my tears off my face and hop in a nice, hot shower and start making my escape plan. I can’t live like this anymore.
After a while, I climb out and put on my pyjamas for bed and lay down. I close my eyes and wish I was back in the field with Kylan, Mike, Teddy, and Dane.
Chapter 8
Kylan
Now that we’re all back at the house, we go off to our rooms to think about the day and what has happened before we meet for dinner to discuss everything. Anytime we have a particularly rough day it usually helps us to air things out at dinner. I can’t believe our first day we found the Elemental and watched her powers come in.
Walking into my room with its beige walls and barely any furniture, I wonder if I should unpack the items from storage or not. We may have to move again soon, but I hate to have a bland room. Decorating the room is half the fun of having a bedroom. The only reason I haven’t unpacked everything yet is because we move around a lot and it seems pointless to unpack unless we know we are staying here.
I have a shower and head down for dinner. We all take turns cooking dinner, but Dane seems to be the one who cooks the most. Sitting next to Teddy at the table while Dane cooks, the three of us wait for Mike before we start.
“Will someone please tell me why we let Evie go back to her house if her parents do that to her? Not only that, but she went back knowing what was waiting for her!” Mike says as he walks into the kitchen. I’ve been wondering that too.
After Dane showed us what she said about her parent’s, all I wanted to do was race after her and take her and keep her safe, but Dane told us we had to let her do this.
“We let her go because she already thinks we think less of her just because she’s a girl, plus we have only just met her. She barely trusts us, so how were we going to convince her otherwise when her mind was made up? Letting her go today showed that we trust her to make her own decisions and that will help her to trust us in the future.” We all look at Dane shocked.
“Ok well I don’t think any of us but you thought of it that way,” I say to Dane.
“So let’s discuss what happened today and how we should handle it,” Teddy says.
“Well, it’s safe to say we found the prophecy elemental but is anyone else shocked with it being a girl? I thought it said it was a guy?” I’m shocked that Evie had all elements since we just expected two or maybe three.
“Yeah that was unexpected. I thought she would just have two powers,” Mike states.
I imagine all of us are feeling the shock now. “Has anyone else felt the bond? I felt it when we met,” I look down at the table while I wait for the guys respond.
I hear a murmured ‘Yes.’ from each of the guys. When I look up, I see the guys are all lost in thought.
“What do we do?” I ask them.
When an Elemental meets the one they are destined to bond with, they feel the connection straight away. The bond can form with just one or two other people, but it’s unheard of for the bond to form with more than two others. It’s up to the female to choose how many she will bond with, but once a bond is cemented it’s near impossible to undo without the risk of death. Bonding can be tricky though. If you choose a bond with more than one person, you need to be sure the others all get along or you’ll end up with a relationship full of jealousy and anger instead of love and commitment.
“I think we should start small by getting to know her. We can even invite her to move into the spare room so she is safe from her parents and the Shaded. Oh, and guys I think that’s why I insisted on getting a 5-bedroom place. I think my foresight was telling me to because it anticipated us needing it,” Mike says, while serving his food onto his plate.
“I agree to offer for her to move in, but we shouldn’t push it. We don’t want to scare her off. Guys, I also have a bit of a confession to make,” Dane looks so guilty that I don’t know if I want to know what he’s done. “I kissed Evie,” he says sheepishly. All of us are looking at him. I can’t believe he kissed her!
“When did this happen and why didn’t we know?!” I demand.
“It happened after she told me the story about her parents and the escape bag. I wanted her to stop crying and feel happy and loved, not sad and rejected.”
Well, I can’t be angry at that. He did what any of us would have in that situation.
“Ok, while we understand why you kissed her Dane, maybe you should hold off on doing it again unless she initiates it. I think the same should go for the rest of us. None of us should initiate intimacy with Evie, we wait for her to make the first move. We also have to tell her about the bonds so she knows what she’s getting into, and if we move too fast before telling her about the bonds she may leave us,” Teddy points out.
We all agree that, for now, its best if we let Evie set the pace. At least until we have explained what the bond is.
“We should also discuss how so many of the Shaded were in the vicinity when Evie’s powers released. I expected maybe three or four, not seven. Who else knows where we are and that we were looking for the Elemental from the prophecy?” I ask the other guys.
“I was wondering that too. As far as I know, only the council knows where we are and maybe a few messengers,” Teddy says.
The council is made up of two high ranking elementals from each element. All of our dads have seats on the council so it’s pretty much impossible one of them leaked the information. That still leaves four other council members, but why would they tell the Shaded where we are? We work for them and they know pretty much everything when we do.
“Maybe we should ask the council if they knew of the increased Shaded in the area?” Mike asks me.
“But what do we tell them about Evie?” Teddy is looking at each of us, his expression worried.
It’s not that we don’t trust them, but the moment everyone knows she can wield all four elements she will be
come a pawn to be used and we don’t want that to happen to Evie.
“I think for the time being we tell them she has Earth ability and seems to show slight Air ability too. We can’t exactly hide those Elements from them as I’m sure they are probably already getting reports of the mini earthquake, and they may end up finding one of Evie’s foresight drawings. In the meantime, we should each work with Evie and strengthen her control of her powers so that when the time comes, she is strong enough to face anything they throw at her,” I say to the room.
“I vote we keep our bonds secret from the council until she decides on who she wants,” Mike adds.
“Have you guys thought about what will happen if she wants bonds with all of us? I’m not saying it’s likely, but it’s a possibility,” Dane says to us.
I never thought she’d choose all of us, though I guess she must like Dane enough if she let him kiss her. “As long as Evie is happy that’s all that matters to me. You are my brothers and I won’t hold it against any of you if we all bond with Evie or if she chooses one of us,” I say to my friends.
I can’t imagine living apart from them, and that’s what will happen if we let the bond get in the way. We all look at each other, and I can see how much this is affecting us already. So, we all agree to leave it up to Evie to pursue us once she knows about the bonds and what happens after. I just hope after we tell her everything she’ll still talk to us.
Chapter 9
Evie
I wake up to the sound of my alarm for school. I roll out of bed wincing in pain as I turn it off. God, my body hurts so much. My ribs are on fire, and it hurts so much when I breathe in. I make my way to the bathroom to relieve myself before getting ready for school. As I wash my hands, I see the dark purple bruise across my face. You can tell I’m hurt but I could probably get away with saying I fell down the stairs. That’s what my life is reduced to, coming up with lies so my teachers and class mates won’t question the bruises.
I lift up my shirt to assess the damage over my ribs and suck in a gasp. The left side of my ribs looks as if I’ve got a blood blister forming and the right side is dark purple splotches. I turn around to have a look at my back and hope it’s not that bad, but it is. Every inch of my back has been bruised. So much for wearing a singlet today. I get dressed in a pair of jeans and my favourite green t-shirt before going to my make-up bag and finding my cover up. I don’t usually wear makeup, but I had to invest in cover up for all the bruises.
Grabbing my homework from my desk I put it in my school bag and head to the kitchen for breakfast. My mom and dad aren’t here which means they’ve already left for work. I grab a banana to eat on the drive to school. I don’t think I could stomach anything else today because I’m so nervous to see the guys today now that they all know the truth about me.
As I pull into the school carpark, I notice a bright blue SUV is parked where I was yesterday. I smile to myself, I’d bet anything it’s the guys car. As soon as I close my car door, I see them all get out of the SUV. I wonder if they were waiting for me. They were probably just talking until closer to the bell.
They all walk towards me and I don’t know what to expect, especially with all the elemental stuff. Do I say hi? Pretend I don’t know them? Or act as if we are long lost friends? Dane doesn’t give me a choice before he picks me up and hugs me while swinging me around. I laugh at his antics, but wince when the pressure gets too much for my ribs.
He stops immediately and looks at me “Shit! Did I hurt you Evie?” he asks concerned.
“I’m fine just a little fragile today,” I tell him.
He’s scrutinizing me, trying to figure out what else I’m hiding. I know the moment he sees the bruise on my face. I mustn’t have used enough cover up.
So many expressions cross his face and for a second I am worried he might lash out. I look to the other guys hoping someone will say something, anything before I lose my composure. Being with the guys makes me want to let it all out and let them fix it, but I won’t do that until I can trust them. Teddy, Kylan, and Mike are all looking at me with the same expressions on their faces. Guilt, pity and anger.
Teddy is the first one to rein in his emotions “What happened Evie?”
A tear slips free. I can’t help it when he’s looking at me as if he just wants to make it all better.
Turning my back on them I say “I’ll tell you at lunch otherwise we’ll be late for class,” then I head for the school building.
The first bell rings as I finish putting my spare books in my bag. I head to class with Kylan and Teddy following me.
Teddy
What was that all about? Why wouldn’t she tell us what happened? All we want to do is help her, but she seems to want to keep it all to herself. I see the tear slide down her cheek before she wipes it away. I know she’s not happy and must feel unloved, I just wish she would let us help her.
Our first 3 classes are going to be torture until we talk to Evie. Did you know it was that bad Dane? I mentally project the thought to Dane. He’s in Home Economics class right now. I thought it was all sewing and shit, but they learn to cook as well. Not that Dane really needs to know more cooking since he can already cook pretty much everything.
From what she said, I guessed it could be that bad, but it’s one thing to think it’s that bad and another to see it. I hope she’s ok. How does she look? I look over at her and study her.
She’s so beautiful with her wavy light brown hair just past her shoulders and beautiful blue eyes. I can’t believe she doesn’t think she’s beautiful. You’d have to be blind and stupid not so see her beauty.
She seems ok but focused on the class. Maybe she’s trying to block it out? If it were me who dealt with that I would try any way I could not to think about what happened.
Dane
Today I regret choosing Home Economics over English. I just figured it would be nice to refresh my cooking skills. And the idea of us all sharing the same class gets old after a while. I’d imagine she isn’t trying to block it out but process everything. We gave her a lot of information yesterday what with being an elemental, the prophecy and the Shaded. And then on top of that she has to deal with her sadistic parents. Don’t worry Teddy. Evie is a strong girl, and we’ll help her get through this. Ha! It looks like “Teddy” will stick. Theodore always preferred Ted but since Evie started calling him Teddy, we’ve all started to.
Dane? Wow Evie is learning quickly. New elementals take months to learn how to communicate telepathically and even then, most only end up capable talking to their family and bonded so clearly. And only one at a time. Evie has managed to talk to all four of us at once with no difficulties at all. It’s still shocking to know she could do it before her powers manifested.
Yes, Evie? Hopefully she can respond. I don’t know how to teach telepathy.
I’m sorry I walked away earlier. I just couldn’t hash everything out.
My poor sweet girl.
Its ok, Evie, we all understand why, and we don’t want to push you. Kylan responds to Evie before I can.
Huh, she must be projecting to all of us again.
Evie, would you like to come to our place during lunch so we can talk? It might be safer for us to explain everything about elementals in a secure place, Mike adds.
Mike
I hope she agrees to come to our place. At the start of class my foresight showed me visions of her losing control of her powers at school. I think it happens during lunch today because we are in the same spot as yesterday. I can’t be sure if it’s today or not, but it’s better to be sure.
Actually, I’m surprised she didn’t lose control of her powers last night. Our powers are tied to our emotions, and I figured that her powers would protect her if they tried hurting her. It was the only reason I didn’t chase after her when I found out what they were capable of.
I think the guys thought the same thing because we were all pretty shocked to see the bruise on her face. Guys, just explaining my reason
for the invite to our place. My foresight showed me Evie losing control of her powers during lunch. I figured we were better equipped to deal with the fall out if we are all at the house together. I just hope the guys understand.
It’s actually a really good idea Mike. We can show her the spare room and tell her she can stay with us. She shouldn’t have to go back to that house again. I knew Ky would see my reasoning, but I worried Dane and Teddy wouldn’t.
I think it’s a great idea, Teddy chimes in.
Ok but remember we can’t force it guys. Especially with the bond on the line. We don’t want to make her think we’re pressuring her. Dane is always the voice of reason in our little group but I’m glad he agrees.
Evie finally responds to us, I don’t mind going to your place guys, but is there enough room for me to catch a ride? I don’t know where you guys live and it seems pointless taking two cars when we’re going to the same place.
Kylan
Yeah, Evie, that’s fine it’s a seven seater so we’ll all fit, I tell her. I can’t believe she agreed to come to our place. I know we’ll only be there to explain everything, but still it gives me a cold sweat. What if she gets there and changes her mind? What if after she finds out about us he takes off? There are so many different scenarios and each one has butterflies going crazy in my stomach.
I wonder if the guys are as nervous as I am for her to see where we live. I only hope we haven’t left the house an absolute mess.
Evie
Wow. I love being able to communicate with our minds. It’s like passing notes but without getting caught. The bell rings signalling the end of class so I make my way to my Algebra class. I’m a little nervous about the next two classes with Dane. After the kiss, yesterday it felt like there was something between us but he hasn’t mentioned it, so I’m not sure what to think.
When I think of the kiss, I can’t think of anything that would have made it better. It was perfect, and I could have kissed him forever if everything else didn’t happen.