Awakenings (Elemental Series - Book 1)

by Hally Willmott

  “I have to say that was a first for me,” Vincent confessed.

  “What do you mean, a first?”

  “I mean a real first. I’ve always come through as my pure essence since I’ve had my Awakening. I’ve never gone through like this,” he said, lifting both of his arms up, indicating the body he was in now.

  “How was it different for you?” I asked, trying to sound as calm, cool, and collected as I could.

  “I can’t even begin to explain it. Going through like this was never an option before—Well, before you. The colors and textures were more brilliant than I’ve ever experienced.” He smiled at me while giving me the same look Aunt Grace and Mom had—awestruck.

  I blushed. I found myself feeling a little smug until we were almost trampled by a couple of kids running past us from the center chamber.

  “We’d better go. Not only are we going to be late for school, but I’m pretty sure it’s taking the entire Sentry to hold Hudson back from running in here,” Vincent said as we picked up our pace. Once the exit was in sight, I stopped just short of it. Vincent stopped and looked at me, concerned.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m a little worried about what’s next,” I admitted.

  “You’re going to do great. If today goes anything like what we went through entering here, you’re going to be surprising a whole bunch of people today.”

  “That’s just it. I don’t want to be the center of attention or the center of anything, really. I was hoping to just kind of skate by today. You know, not make any waves. Imitate a wallflower. Learn about magic, see where my parents grew up and where they went to school.” I smiled, feeling extremely exposed and ready to kick myself for opening up.

  “I can’t tell you how others are going to react to you or how you’re going to fit in. What I can tell you is you don’t have to face it alone. Jen, Hudson, and I are going to be here for you. I promise, if everything gets to be too much—not the magic thing, of course,” he said with a smirk, “but the center of attention thing, I’ll help you escape.” He gave my arm a gentle squeeze.

  I knew he’d do it. I knew he’d be there for me through this—through everything. In those two simple statements, he’d smothered my raging wildfires of worry with a blanket of calm. Of course they still lingered in the back of my mind, but now they were only tiny burning embers.

  “How did you do that?” I asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Make everything seem like it’s going to be all right.”

  “Easy—I’m a positive thinker.” He smiled.

  I laughed, surprising not only him, but myself. I knew he was putting up a brave front for me. There was no way he could be as calm as he was putting on.

  “Thanks,” I said as we headed out of the maze.

  I may have been unsure about the how and what of things today, but the one thing I was sure of, we were still holding hands. That tiny gesture reassured me everything was right in my world.

  As we approached the exit, I saw Hudson and Jen pacing outside the maze. Once we came into view, they ran over to us.

  “You did it. I knew you could,” Hudson said, grabbing me up into a bear hug and swinging me around. He didn’t put me down until Jen came over and tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Told you so,” she said, giving me a hug of her own.

  They both stood back when Vincent came up beside me. “It went a lot faster than I expected,” he said. “Are you ready for your official first day?”

  I looked around to see where we were. “Are we still in Nevaeh?”

  “We are and we aren’t,” Vincent said.

  We walked away from the maze as others filed out. It was fascinating how all of them appeared in different forms within the maze, yet as soon as they walked out, each of them turned into their corporeal selves. It was now my turn to stand there and look awe-stricken.

  “This is one of the main Bulwarks which bring Nemelites to Nevaeh—in the dimension of Nemele. There are several more entrances, this one is mostly used by people who live near Nevaeh in Earth’s realm,” Jen said.

  While I was gawking at everyone around me, I noticed they were also taking me in. I was used to the occasional long glance from people, considering I’d been the new kid in more cities and towns than I could count over the last sixteen years. However, the way some of them were looking at me gave me the heebie-jeebies. Vincent sensed my unease and interrupted my thoughts.

  “We better get going. I don’t want to be blamed for you being late on your first day.”

  We all headed toward the high school.

  It was the most amazing walk ever. The Nevaeh in this dimension initially looked like the one we’d come from, at first glance, anyway. Once I took in my surroundings, it was blatantly obvious I wasn’t in the same Nevaeh I’d woken up in this morning.

  The sky was a hue of purple-red I’d never seen before. It’s colors were like looking into a rainbow and seeing only the green, blue and violet parts. As I took in the beauty of the sky, the sun captured my attention—well, more like the suns. There were three in total, red, orange, and yellow. They covered the sky in a triangle pattern, like a prism.

  I peeled my gaze away from the sky and took in the rest of my surroundings. I first looked at the maze. It initially looked as though it was made up of the same bushes as the maze we entered to get here, but the flowers adorning the outer walls were enormous. They looked like they’d taken some kind of growth enhancement drug—flowers on steroids. Not only were they huge, they were perfect. They looked too perfect to be real, like the silk flowers you see in florist shops. I couldn’t resist. I reached out and touched a huge purple lily. It was velvety, smooth, and cool to the touch. Completely real—amazing.

  I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. The sweetest smell of vanilla and lavender filled my senses from head to toe.

  The scent put me at ease immediately. Lavender and vanilla happened to be my two most favorite smells in the whole world.

  I moved away from the lily and took a closer look at the branches of the structure. They were a deep color of brown, bordering on black, and were as thick as my arms. The leaves adjourning each branch overlapped one another creating intricate crisscrossed patterns. They looked like a giant jig-saw puzzle.

  “Does it always smell this way?” I asked.

  “What do you smell?” Vincent asked in response.

  “I smell lavender and vanilla.”

  “The maze and its vegetation smell differently to everyone who enters Nemele.”

  “What do you smell?” I asked.

  “Cinnamon and saffron,” Vincent responded.

  “Why does everyone smell different aromas?”

  “All Bulwarks know what scents each of us associate to specific emotions. If you smell an aroma you associate with comfort, the Bulwark secretes those scents as a form of invitation and reassurance. We have to get going,” Vincent said, taking my elbow in his hand and directing me around the side of the maze to the town center.

  “There’s a lot more things we have to show you. We’ll have some time later, but if we’re late getting to St. Nemele, Headmaster Herecerti won’t be impressed.”

  Vincent left no room for asking him any kind of questions about this Herecerti person. I knew what a Headmaster was in Earth’s realm, but here, my imagination was in overdrive. What type of being would be chosen to guide a school full of magical beings? I would find out soon, so for now I chose to take in everything around me.

  Each of the structures within this realm mirrored the ones I knew. Even the roads and signs were in the same place. However, everything here seemed to be more remarkable than the duller mortar and brick versions back home. One of the shops stood out to me more than the others. The names of some of them weren’t the same, and this one in particular caught my attention.

  “What’s Essence?” I asked.

  “It’s a supply shop. We’re all going to stop in after we see what the Elders have
planned for today. It’s the place we all go to for books and things we need for classes,” Jen said.

  “So, I don’t need anything right now?” I asked.

  “No, not right now. We’ll figure out what we need when we speak to Headmaster Herecerti and see what the Elders have put into place for you,” Hudson said.

  I could feel the calm blanket Vincent had given me earlier start to slip slightly. The conversation I’d avoided earlier about the Headmaster guy was now starting to come to the surface. Before I formulated any kind of question Vincent spoke up.

  “Don’t forget you guys are starting mid-semester. Everyone else has what they need for now. Once we find out which classes you need to take, we can come back here and get it later,” Vincent said, looking directly at me as though no one else were around—replacing the imaginary blanket ever so slightly.

  I turned and stared at the tiny shop as we passed it and found it reminded me of one of the buildings Hudson, my parents, and I saw when we were on one of Mom’s vacations, which would happen whenever Mom and Dad decided it was time for us to pick up and move.

  The building I remembered looked small and quaint from the outside, like this one. It was made of stone and had an arched, rounded doorless entry. Dressing either side of the entrance were high, peaked windows, which allowed you steal a look inside the shop to see some of its contents. The resemblance this shop had to the one I’d seen so many years ago stopped me in my tracks.

  “Hudson, doesn’t that look like the shop we were at before we moved to Hewfawe?” I asked.

  “Yeah, it does,” He said, smiling. He then looked at Vincent and Jen like they all knew something more than I did.

  “Jacey, do you remember anything else from that trip?” Hudson asked.

  “I remember Mom and I having a lot of girl time. I don’t remember where you and Dad were much.”

  “It just so happens all of the Essence stores look the same in all of the dimensions they’re in. The time you’re remembering, well, it was right after I had my Awakening. Mom and Dad were taking me to get all of the stuff I was going to need when I went to St. Nemele,” Hudson said.

  Flashes of memory from the first couple of years started to flood my thoughts. We’d lived in Hewfawe for a year and the trip I was thinking of had happened at least two years before we’d moved there. Hudson had his Awakening three years ago. He was fifteen when it happened. More memories started to come back to me and some were more prominent than others. It was like a giant jig-saw puzzle. All of a sudden some pieces which never made any sense were finally coming together.

  “So, when you’d disappear in Hewfawe and I thought you were with Carrie Relovi, you were actually here, weren’t you?” I asked.

  “Carrie Relovi, you mean the girl from English, the one who was always hanging off you at lunch?” Jen asked, now seeming a little more like a 16 year old girl than a 150 year old Nemelite.

  “Yeah, that’s her. I told you all about her. She’s the one Jacey thought I was dating right before Mom and Dad died,” Hudson answered. There was a slight pause. “When you thought I was with her I was actually in training here.” Hudson said with a smile.

  “And Mom and Dad knew,” I said more to myself than to anyone else.

  “Yeah,” Hudson said.

  “I still don’t get why they couldn’t tell me. It’s not like I would have told anyone about it.” I said, sounding very much like the 16 year old I was and realizing at the same time I was still pretty peeved at my parents for keeping me in the dark.

  “They had to, Jacey. There are still many things you don’t know, which made it necessary for your parents to keep all this from you,” Vincent said.

  “So when do I get to find out what these ‘necessary’ things were?” I asked.

  “Were and are, Jacey. Just because we’re here now and your parents aren’t, doesn’t mean those things have gone away. They’re more dangerous now than they ever were before. When we get to St. Nemele and see Herecerti, he’ll be able to give us more information on what we need to know now and where we need to be. I’m sure the Elders have given him directions,” Vincent finished.

  The unease of what was supposed to happen today brought a sudden sullenness to our group. It was broken when we passed Essence and a form flew out of the store in a rainbow of brilliant colors, chasing what looked like tiny clouds. A woman ran out behind the form calling, “Callie, come back here. We’re not ready for you to try that spell yet. You’re going to cause a hurricane in the middle of a perfectly calm day, not to mention there’s no water in sight.”

  I assumed the woman was the form’s mother. The form instantly transformed into what looked like a human girl about 13 years old.

  “Sorry, Mom,” the girl said, coming to an immediate halt on the sidewalk across the street from the store. The tiny clouds she’d been chasing now hovered slightly over her backpack and then disappeared inside of it.

  “What would Headmaster Herecerti say if he’d seen that type of display?” her mother said, floating across the street to her daughter’s side. “There’s a time and a place for everything, Callie. Never take what you’ve been given as a gift for granted. Remember, ultimately, you’re responsible for it.” The mother scolded her, more loving than harsh, then kissed the top of her daughter’s head. They both floated down the street towards the high school.

  A hand reached up and wiped my cheek ever so lightly, it was Vincent’s. I hadn’t realized it until he’d wiped it away, but a small tear had formed in the corner of my eye and was traveling down my cheek when he caught it.

  “You okay?” he asked, genuinely concerned.

  “I’m fine, she just reminded me of my mom. She was always saying that kind of stuff to me and Hudson—Remember who you are because ultimately you’re responsible for the actions you choose and in the end, you are also responsible for its consequences.” I said, smiling at the memory.

  “I miss them, too,” Hudson said.

  “I know Mom wanted more than anything to be here with you. Is she anywhere around you now?” Hudson asked.

  “No, I haven’t seen her since this morning at Aunt Grace’s,” I said, looking around to see if I might have missed her somewhere. I didn’t see her or Dad, but I did see the Sentry. I thought they would’ve only been with us in the other dimension. What would they have to protect me from in this one?

  “Are they going to be with us for the rest of the day?” I asked.

  “Who’s they?” Jen asked.

  “The Sentry. They’re everywhere. I think there’s even more now than there were this morning. I had no idea they’d be following us around here, too,” I said, looking around the town center and trying to count the number of them present. There were too many, I kept losing count.

  “You can actually see them?” Jen asked while she tried following my gaze.

  “Well, I can’t see them as much as I can sense them,” I said. It wasn’t until everyone went silent that I stopped looking around and noticed how astonished they looked.

  “What? What are you guys looking like that for?” I asked, feeling self-conscious.

  “You can actually sense them? How?” Vincent asked.

  “I can feel them. It’s kind of like the feeling you get when you know someone’s behind you before you turn around to see if there’s anyone there. Once I feel it, I just, well, I look at where the feeling’s coming from and I can see their colors.”

  Before any of them said another word, a flash of silver light appeared beside us. Hovering within the silver was the form of a man—he was huge. He had to be at least six foot four, which dwarfed Jen and me.

  Vincent was the first to react, pulling me behind him before I could utter a sound. Jen and Hudson flew into color mode and were swirling around us creating a barrier between the man, Vincent, and I. This happened within a few milliseconds, but to me it looked like it was happening in slow motion.

  As the man became more apparent, a number of other flashes of lig
hts formed all around us. Some of them started to take shape and others stayed in their liquid color state. The silver form, which initially appeared in front of us, became solid. Following suit, all of the other flashes of light became solid as well. As they did, Vincent visibly relaxed. With his guard down, Jen and Hudson stopped their color guard and solidified on either side of me.

  “Heathe, what are you doing? You’re supposed to be watching, not appearing,” Vincent asked.

  I looked at the man standing in front of Vincent. I knew I’d seen him before, I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

  “Did I hear right? She can sense us?” Heathe asked, looking slightly concerned.

  “Yeah,” Vincent replied.

  “This needs to be reported, now. We can’t wait for her to go to St. Nemele. It could endanger everyone here,” Heathe said.

  “You’re not the one to make that decision. I’ll make Herecerti aware of it and he’ll decide what we’re going to do,” Vincent retorted.

  Heathe didn’t look like he was too impressed. Jen and Hudson stepped closer to me. I looked around Vincent and made out some of the other flashes that appeared in different forms around us.

  Some were men and women who appeared to be human. They ranged from all ages and nationalities. The others were beings I’d only read about or seen in movies back home. Holy flip! They all existed—right there in front of me. Some reminded me of Spock from Star Trek. They had the pointy ear thing down pat and glowed brilliant white. Others were huge Gorgades; they looked like giant sasquatches. Flying in behind all the others were Sylphs—air elements which were usually invisible, but there they hovered, crystal wings and all. The one commonality between them all—they were real.

  “Heathe, we all knew some inexplicable things could happen when she crossed over. I’m sure you were given the directive to stay unseen,” Vincent said. “This,” he swept his arms out in front of him, “is definitely not staying unseen.”

  I had been so entranced by everything going on, I hadn’t realized we’d moved quite a bit. By the time Vincent finished talking, we were standing about two hundred feet away from the entrance to St. Nemele.