Mark of Four

by Tamara Shoemaker

  Kyle stood and straightened his back. “They’re not going to last long without some better help. We need to get them to the top as soon as we can. Sure wish we had an Earth-Mover with us, but I guess we’ll have to do as well as we can with sea water.”

  Alayne swallowed hard and opened her mouth.

  A step behind her made her whirl. “Good thing there’s an Earth-Mover here, then, isn’t it?” The woman was back, with Pepper, his sandy mustache drooping over his lips. His beard looked overgrown and scruffy, and his eyes bloodshot.

  The woman spoke first. “Hello. I’m Macy Foy.” Her dark eyes looked sad as she surveyed Alayne.

  “Where are my friends?” Alayne snapped.

  Macy studied her in silence before answering. “We’ll explain everything soon if you’ll be patient.”

  “Patient!” Alayne was outraged.

  Macy didn’t acknowledge her outburst. She sat down on a nearby rock and stared straight ahead. Her left eye twitched once. Pepper moved behind her, also silent. Alayne was unnerved. Their behavior was so abnormal, she wondered if they were mentally unstable. Their faces both twitched with tics. She wondered if they were related.

  Alayne planted her hands on her hips. “So, you’re here to help us? What’s your story?”

  “I’m not here to help you,” the woman said. Pepper remained silent.

  Alayne shot a glance at Kyle, who looked just as mystified as she felt. “Then what are you here for?”

  The woman didn’t answer.

  Alayne huffed in frustration.

  “Let’s just get started,” Kyle murmured in a low voice. He motioned to the nearest student, Melody Pink, one of the girls who lived two floors down from Alayne in the dormitories. They’d often passed each other on their way to or from classes. “Let’s start with her. Help me pull some water up here.”

  Alayne nodded and closed her eyes. She would need all her concentration. She sent her mind back through the tunnel through which they’d come, out to the opening, and down to the crashing waves beneath. She pulled on the element, feeling Kyle as he assisted her.

  “Too much?”

  “We want to make it comfortable.” Alayne hefted a huge round water cushion up the edge of the cliff and into the tunnel.

  “Almost here,” Kyle grunted.

  Alayne opened her eyes, watching as the bubble of water sailed closer to them. She had to tweak the air elements to keep the bubble moving above the ground, but she hoped Kyle would attribute that to what would be considered the “bare minimum” they’d learned in Elementary Elementals.

  The bubble came to rest next to Melody. “Flatten it,” Alayne ordered. Together, she and Kyle pushed down on the bubble until it was little more than a sheet of water. They edged its coolness underneath Melody’s shrunken form and wrapped her, cocoon-like, in the sheet. Alayne took a deep breath and, pushing the air element up beneath the water bundle, she lifted Melody.

  Kyle shot a glance at her. “That’s pretty good, Layne.” After a moment, he shook his head and threw her a lopsided smile. “But I should get over being surprised by you. You’re good at whatever you do.” He nodded toward the tunnel that led back out to the cliff side. “Let’s get going.”

  Macy suddenly adjusted her position on the boulder, straightening her back and stretching. She put her hands on the rock wall behind her and leaned back. “No one is going anywhere, so you may as well put the girl down.”

  Kyle ignored her. He set his jaw even more firmly. “Layne?”

  Alayne nodded. They started toward the tunnel that led to the cliff, but a different voice stopped them. “I don’t think so.” The third professor, Walters, stood near the opening where Alayne and Kyle had entered. His deep voice sounded as though it was being dragged over gravel.

  Alayne and Kyle whirled. Sprynge stood dejectedly next to the man, his body encased in a large block of ice. Only his head stuck out.

  “Where’s Marysa?” Alayne cried.

  Walters was thin and gaunt, the shadows under his eyes even deeper in the dim glow of the fire. His face looked like a hatchet; his sharp nose curved like a hawk’s beak. “Macy will show you the way out. You can use that tunnel to take all these,” he eyed the limp students still lying near the fire, moans issuing from them now and then, “back to Clayborne with you. Him, too.” He nodded at Sprynge. “But we’ve got the girl.”

  “We’re not going back without Marysa.” Kyle crossed his arms.

  “You can’t have her.”

  “What do you mean we can’t have her?” Alayne felt as if the cave were collapsing on her. Panic clouded her mind. “Where is she?”

  “Elsewhere.” Walters’s dead expression was infuriating.

  “Elsewhere?” Alayne stepped closer to Walters. Kyle gripped her wrist, holding her back. “Do you mean to say you’re kidnapping my friend?” The words echoed off the walls of the cavern.

  Three sets of emotionless eyes stared at her. All three ex-professors nodded in unison.

  One word ballooned inside Alayne and exploded through her mouth. “Why?”

  Macy’s eyes fixed at some point above Alayne’s head, as if reading from a script. “The girl is a Blakely, and her parents are known to work with the Institute for the Equality and Support of Naturals. Clay and Louisa Blakely were instrumental in the construction of the Natural Equality Act that the High Court passed last year. We’re taking their daughter until the High Court overturns the act.”

  “This—this is about politics?” Alayne sputtered. “You’re using my friend as a pawn in your sick and twisted political game?”

  None of the three answered. After a moment, Macy nodded toward the students that littered the ground near the fire’s embers. “You’d best get back to Clayborne. Those students will need medical attention before much more time passes.”

  Alayne’s gaze flew to Sprynge, but he didn’t look able to help. He groaned from his block of ice, his eyes sliding shut. In spite of the frigid cold surrounding his body, his red face was still slick with sweat.

  Kyle stepped forward, anger lining his expression. “I have a better idea. We could fight it out right now. I’m getting pretty good at this whole element-bending thing.”

  Macy shook her head sadly. “You don’t understand.”

  “Understand what?”

  “It would do you no good to fight us,” Walters answered. “We’re being Shadow-Casted right now, so we have no control over our actions. Everything we say is a message from our captors. If you decide to kill us, it won’t do a bit of good. All you’ll have done is kill three innocent Elementals who wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time, and you still won’t have made any progress toward finding your friend or the Shadow-Casters.”

  Alayne’s mouth dropped open. She glanced over at Kyle.

  “Now,” Walters continued. “Your friends aren’t going to last much longer without some proper care. The Casters have already contacted your pilot, and he’s waiting outside Cliffsides base camp to take you back to Clayborne. When the High Court overturns the Natural Equality Act, and the Blakelys withdraw from the Institute for the Equality and Support of Naturals, you will get your friend back. Not before. Understood?”

  Blood pounded in Alayne’s temples, and fury shook her fingers. For several seconds, she considered bringing all four elements down on their heads, but the small voice of reason whispered in her ear. It would do no good. They’re right; they’re innocent shells that carry only the Casters’ message. She glanced at the students by the fire. One of them groaned.

  She turned back to the three Casted and licked her dry lips. “Understood.”

  Chapter 19

  Once Macy, Pepper, and Walters left, Sprynge quickly melted his block of ice. He stood, angry and shaking, on the cave floor. “If I ever get my hands on the ones responsible for this...” He didn’t finish the sentence as he fumbled in his pocket for his handkerchief and mopped his sweating face.

  Walters had indicated a tunnel that wo
uld lead out the backside of the cliffs along the canyons, and Alayne had helped Kyle float several students through the tunnel in a daze. Marysa. Gone. Those were the only words that seemed capable of breaking her mental fog. What was she going to do?

  Kyle transported Brydgett Lynn on the water cushion now, hefting the element gently through the tunnel. Alayne walked in front of Brydgett and Kyle and told him where rocks and steps were as she stumbled over them.

  “What are we going to do, Kyle?” Alayne’s voice shook; she couldn’t control her emotions. “You’ll have to take the rest of them back yourself and then send help as soon as you get there. I’ll stay here and look for Marysa.”

  “What?” Kyle’s voice was sharp. “I’m not leaving you here by yourself. Skies, Alayne, there are Casters loose! And nearby! They already took Marysa; I’m not letting them take you, too.”

  Alayne whirled in the dark tunnel. “But we can’t just leave her here!”

  “No, we can’t, you’re right.” Kyle gently adjusted the element bend so Brydgett’s water mattress thickened on the bottom. “But our search is going to be more effective if we go back to Clayborne, get support, searchers, whatever, and come back here. In the meantime, we’ll release a big media frenzy so anyone and everyone knows Marysa’s face and keeps an eye out for her.”

  “I still don’t understand why they targeted Marysa. Surely there are thousands of people who were behind that act. How else would the High Court pass it?”

  Kyle hesitated. “The High Court passed it, yes, but Marysa’s parents were some of the leading people responsible for getting the support moving. They were the faces behind it, and the Elemental Alliance has had them on their black list since then.”

  Alayne shook her head. “I had no idea Marysa’s parents were so involved in politics.”

  Light brightened the tunnel’s walls, and Kyle and Alayne picked up the pace. “The Blakelys are a bit of a conundrum,” Kyle said. “If you measure Elementals by how pure their blood is, they’re one of the purest and oldest families, but they’re known Natural lovers.”

  “And why wouldn’t they be?” Alayne asked sharply. “There’s not a thing wrong with Naturals.”

  Kyle glanced over his shoulder at her. “I know that, and you know that. But that attitude is getting more and more rare in the High Court and other areas as the Elemental Alliance gains traction.”

  “How do you know so much about Marysa’s family?” Alayne asked as they exited the tunnel. The daylight hit their faces, and the view overlooked the canyons on the back sides of the cliffs.

  Kyle readjusted his grip on the element, his face turned away from Alayne’s. “I hear things,” he said noncommittally. He glanced at the students they’d already brought out and laid in a row along the top of the cliffs. A narrow trail led upward and stretched along the ribbon of land to the outpost where the shuttle waited. As soon as they reached the sandy path, they lowered Brydgett gently to the ground next to a boy named Josh Hynckle. Alayne tugged on the water element to thicken the girl’s pallet.

  “I’m going to go ahead and bring the pilot over here,” Kyle said as he straightened. “We can start to load these guys on there.”

  At Alayne’s nod, Kyle took off at a sprint. Alayne watched him board the shuttle with the pilot, and the shuttle lifted off, approaching quickly. The craft settled onto the flat ribbon of land at the trailhead. The pilot jumped out and opened the hatches. Concern etched his face as he stared at the students lining the path.

  Alayne pulled the elements again, lifting Brydgett into the air. She floated her into the back hatch of the shuttle and settled her on the floor as Kyle explained the situation to the pilot.

  The pilot nodded. “Go get the rest. I’ll load these; there’s plenty of room for them all.”

  “The weight won’t be a problem?”

  “Skies, no. I’ve been doing transportation for years. You should see some of the loads I’ve carried.”

  Kyle and Alayne hurried back down the tunnel, blinded from the bright sun. Alayne kept hold of the wall. She hit her foot against boulders no fewer than twelve times on the way back, but her hand kept her steady. As she stumbled headlong into the cavern, Sprynge looked up from one of the students he was tending.

  “I’ll go with Kyle next time,” he said. “I can light his way.”

  Alayne just nodded. “Make the water cushion larger,” she muttered to Kyle. “Roll it along under them if you feel uncomfortable with trying the air element.” Kyle looked thoughtful and then nodded.

  Alayne hurried over to Jayme, horribly aware that he looked like a skeleton in the dim light. She knelt beside him, her fingers itching to touch him. She tucked them between her knees as she leaned over him. “Jayme,” she whispered. “Jayme, can you hear me?”

  There was no response beyond the shallow rattle of Jayme’s breath and his tortured moan as he exhaled.

  Oh, please, please, please, let’s hurry. Alayne hovered her hand above his hot, dry face and pulled together any fresh water elements she could find, enough to send a cooling trickle of water across his cracked lips. It evaporated almost immediately, but Alayne pulled the elements together again and continued the process.

  She dripped some more in the corner of his mouth, a drop at a time. His throat convulsively swallowed. “Yes, Jayme, that’s great. You’re going to pull through this.” Alayne hoped she believed her own words. She had never seen anyone this sick before. She continued pulling water, raking what little she could find for what seemed like hours as Kyle and Sprynge bustled around her.

  Kyle hustled back into the cave just as another water cushion appeared from the tunnel leading to the cliff. “Jayme’s the only one left, Layne. Are you ready?”

  His bare chest shone with sweat in the firelight. Alayne felt a stab of admiration, followed by an even stronger stab of guilt. She nodded and turned quickly back to Jayme, focusing all her attention on gathering water elements and trickling them into his mouth or across his forehead. His breaths came in shallow puffs. “Don’t die, Jayme,” she demanded in a fierce whisper. “Get your act together and get better.”

  Kyle slid a water cocoon around Jayme, shaking his head as he glanced at Alayne. “He’s lost a lot of weight, Layne. He feels lighter than some of the smaller girls I pulled out already.”

  Two giant tears escaped Alayne’s eyes. They rolled down her cheeks beside her nose, and she rubbed them angrily away. “Then he’ll need a lot of sustenance to get strong again.” She ran toward the tunnel, ignoring Kyle’s sympathetic gaze.

  * * *

  Sprynge sent a message to Clayborne via the MIUs in the post office to have medical supplies ready for the sick students. The flight back to Clayborne was much smoother than the one coming away from the school. The pilot landed the shuttle without issue, and Professor Grace stood on hand with Nurse Felycia Hargrave to begin treatment for the students. Nurse Hargrave took charge immediately. “These three first.” She glanced over the unconscious students. “Put them in the back room. Based on their condition, I need to treat them before anyone else. The others, line up on the beds in the common care ward.”

  “They have dysentery, ma’am,” Kyle said. “I wasn’t sure how catching it was, so we haven’t touched them.”

  Nurse Hargrave nodded thoughtfully. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, but it’s good that you were cautious. Dysentery is no fun to play around with. It’ll be fine to lift them onto the stretchers and take them down to the ward now; just make sure you wash yourself thoroughly afterward.”

  The pilot and Kyle loaded Jayme, Mycah Gallagher, and Sean McConnell onto the three stretchers the nurse had indicated, and then they grasped the handles on either end and carried the stretchers into the chute. Kyle stayed in the chute with the boys, pressed the button for the common care ward, and they disappeared from view. Alayne stared at the empty, clear tube, terrified that she had just seen Jayme for the last time.

  Nurse Hargrave smoothed her red hair behind her ear. Str
ain showed on her face. “Miss Worth, if you will help me, I need your Water-Wielding abilities.” She motioned to Melody Pink’s cracked lips. “Please begin getting some liquids into these people until we can get them to the ward.” She left further instructions with Professor Grace, Professor Sprynge, and the pilot before hurrying to the chute and dropping out of sight.

  Alayne pulled her mind away from Jayme to carry out Nurse Hargrave’s orders. More water elements were present in the air here; the clouds hovered close above them, and the storm from the night before had left water drips.

  After she’d given them all a few drops of water and had started over again, Kyle appeared by her side. “I’ll get them loaded, Layne. Nurse Hargrave needs your help.”

  Alayne nodded and entered the chute. She dropped to the common care ward, and as soon as the doors opened, she jumped through them and hurried to the back room where she could hear Nurse Hargrave moving.

  She peered around the screen and watched as the nurse taped off an IV drip into Jayme’s arm. Nurse Hargrave glanced up. “Ah, there you are, Miss Worth.” The nurse held out her hand, and Alayne looked uncertainly at it. She jumped as a light blanket floated by on a breeze and landed in the nurse’s outstretched fingers. The nurse unfolded the blanket and laid it carefully across Jayme, tucking it around his legs and feet.

  “Is he—will he be okay?” Alayne asked.

  Nurse Hargrave looked serious. “I’ll run some tests on him, but it looks as if he may have developed a systemic infection and has entered a coma. I’ve yet to check the other students, but there may be more than one with this issue.”

  Alayne’s fingernails dug into her palms. “Can I do something to help, Nurse Hargrave?”

  The nurse looked up. “Just call me Felycia, please.” The nurse stepped back from Jayme’s bed and gave a terse nod. “I’ll be closing the ward to give him the rest that he needs. I’ll need to restrict visitors.” Her sharp eyes glanced over Alayne’s face, and Alayne nodded shakily.