Zephyr

by K. T. Rombough

  “Desmond get the others, meet us in the throne room!” I said running so fast I turned invisible, getting to the throne room, nobody had gotten there yet.

  Using my powers again, they burst into life, flaring up more than when we were frozen. The green flames of aura swirled the water so fast it was like a blur. I could feel the anger and panic in me ripple through the room as the water drained faster than the first two times. My body ridged with fear, we just found the book, we did not need it being taken from us. We had not learned it secrets yet.

  Toggling the switch under the throne, it lurched forward spinning to show the entrance again, the water dripping from the ceiling to the stone steps. I was getting impatient now, they were taking forever.

  In moments Desmond, Gabby, Kat, Piper, Simone and the twin burst through the door, the water still cascading from the ceiling in front of the door.

  “Let’s go,” Piper said running down the steps.

  “Do we have to wait here again?” Desmond asked looking concerned for me.

  “No,” I said, my wings bursting from my back, I took off after Piper and Simone, Kat followed behind, while the others took to the chamber. Piper used her powers to slide along the walls, gliding down them with ease, Simone using his fire to slow him down as he dropped through the chamber. As Kat and I reach the ground, I threw my hands to the ground causing a huge gust of air to slow down everyone else. This time the green aura swirling around me like a fire burning, spinning rapidly. I was getting angry; my powers were getting stronger the angrier I got. My spells seemed to use less energy now.

  The air current blasting up towards the chamber stairs, Solena and Selena falling, the wind slowing them as their clothes and hair continued to blow around them. Desmond used his wings, landing next to me with ease. His body ridged and aggressive, he was ready to defend or attack which ever I needed.

  His wings retracted slowly as he looked up from the ground. Solena touched ground next as Selena followed just after, their eyes widened with shock as they looked into the room full of treasures and jewels. Kat and Piper screamed out. Simone’s rage burned bright, the room lit up with red, the heat was palpating through us all. I didn’t even have to enter the room to know what had happened. My vision turned red, I was beyond angry now.

  We had just found this magical book, read part of it to tell us a little about what we are. And not it was gone. Who could have broken through our magic? That creature seemed to be able to dampen our powers from working but there was no way she could cancel out a spell already put in place as a defence. I couldn’t see straight, I was so angry.

  If my wings weren’t already outstretched and ready for flight, they would have ripped from my back with such intensity I would have had lurched forward. My wings reflexively flexed, flapping hard, the wind below me picking up, slamming into the ground so hard it tore away at it. The dirt and dust flying around me, the green of my aura burned bright.

  “Ow,” Solena said as she grabbed her arm, pulling it away from the now burning hot green flames of my aura.

  “Kade, don’t, don’t do it,” Desmond said, running towards me.

  My breathing stopped, and with one giant motion of my wings I flew straight up, launching myself higher and higher. My magic breaking everything in my way, spinning round and round as I flew up the steps, launching myself out of the throne room, into the deep sea. The water acted as if it didn’t even exist, I flew through it so fast, my powers made it look like a tornado following me. There was no resistance to my wings, as I broke the meniscus of the water. The water firing high into the sky, as I continued higher and higher into the brightness. The now falling water made it look like little rainbows falling back to the ocean surface.

  The bright red of the setting sun, on the cool blue of the crisp clear water made the ripples and droplets sparkle and shine. My powers still swirling the water ferociously. Something was coming through the water after me, it was Desmond, Simone and Piper. Each of them flew through the water with the same speed and agility I had.

  “We have to find them,” I said my anger dissipating, the feeling of overwhelming pressure crushed me. I failed them, how could I? I was supposed to lead and protect them, and I lost the object that seemed to be so important to our old selves they kept it hidden and wiped our own minds of it.

  “We will, first we need to find Karen and Ashley before anyone gets to them,” Piper said, her body centered in the middle of a giant whirlpool of water. Kat, Solena and Selena appeared out of the water just after she spoke.

  “Kade, you know where they are, show us the way,” Solena said as she paddled towards the shore. Trying to reach the edge of the water.

  Chapter 24

  Binding

  Reaching the earth realm was easy. Solena and Selena created a portal to come out at the edge of Melford. Landing directly in Karen’s families home field. Looking around the scrap metal yard was piled neatly, each type of metal organized, it was something Karen had done. The color coordination of the metals was astonishing. I remember passing it as a kid and seeing it all as one giant heap of metal, a huge mess that someone just threw together. Now it stood like art work, the red metals taken apart, the plastic gone. Piled up, higher than high could see. We continued walking towards the family farm.

  “Stop right there Kat, any further and it’s a trap,” I said pointing to the ground where Kat was about to walk.

  “How did you know?” Kat asked, everyone looking at me.

  “I helped teach her how to set it up. After she learned about her powers she was worried that someone would come for her and her family. I managed to teach her a little about her powers, enough to make a trap.” I added smiling at them in return.

  “But isn’t that a little dangerous for humans walking by?” Simone asked looking concerned.

  “Look around, this is a small town, the only thing that gets trapped in there are small animals and deer. Nobody unless they are like us come out this way. Or walk directly through a field of someone’s crop,” I said, my hands waving around the field as if to make a point.

  Taking a deep breath in, I realized little by little, the wind picking up ferociously, blowing the grass, leaves and dirt across the ground revealing large holes in the field.

  “What are you doing? Are you trying to get us caught? You can’t use magic like that out in the open!” Gabby said wrapping her hand around my mouth as if that would stop the air from doing what it was.

  “Gabby, small town again nobody cares. The second problem with your statement is that we would get caught by whom?” I asked looking around,

  “The council, we barely got you away from them the first time. It took planning to get it right. If we all get caught there is no getting free.” Simone said in an angry tone, his face turning down to a frown.

  “Do you guys not understand how our powers work?” I asked looking at everyone, trying to drive my question home.

  “We are the elements, before awakening I used my powers as if I was a wizard still. Now I know how to use my powers as the natural elements. I only assume that Karen and Ashley figured it out already.” Looking around at everyone, their eyes wide with thought.

  “But its still magic?” Solena asked still looking confused.

  Selena and Gabby, pulled her aside walking away from the rest of us, as if to explain exactly what I was talking about.

  “Absolutely nobody can use their other abilities out here. That will get us caught.” Desmond added making sure to look everyone in the eye.

  Walking up to Karen’s door felt like it had all those years before, it was as if time had not changed. Tiny little farm house stood on its cracked foundation, little weeds popping up all around two steps. The intense brightness of the tin roof shone down as the sunlight reflected against it. The off white painted door glistened as the afternoon sun beat down, the knob its usual gold was peeling.

  My hand instinctively reached for the knob to open it, but
Simone gripped my hand pulling it back.

  “Wait, you can’t just walk in!” he added as if to scold me.

  “Oops,” I said trying to keep my hand back as if scolding myself.

  Reaching my hand back out, the door opened up, revealing a short, fail thin woman with greying curly locks, almost like Karen’s. Her face was sunk in a little with bags under her eyes.

  “Kade!” her voice shrieked, as she wrapped her arms around me.

  Gripping me tight in her arms, pulling me so close as to crush me with her tiny arms and torso. For a small woman she had the strength of a hundred. Made me always wonder if she was immortal like us.

  She sat me down next to her at the table holding my hand tight to her, Desmond to my left, his hand on my knee. I gripped her hand with my other free one. Her face turned smiling at me again.

  Sitting around Karen’s kitchen table was cramped with all of us.

  “So, why are you guys here?” She asked looking around at everyone as if not surprised by the large group.

  How would we phrase it, would she allow Karen to leave school and come with us? Would she even tell us where Karen was?

  “We came to ask Karen and Ashley to come with us, we need help finding the rest. As well someone stole a very important item from us and we need to get it back,” Gabby said looking Loraine, Karen’s mom straight in the eye.

  “She is at school right now, if you guys want to stay and wait that’s fine,” She replied turning back to me. “I assume your parents told you everything since your awakened then?” finishing her thought as if to be common sense.

  “No, she never got a chance to. Why were we bound?” I asked, feeling silly that I still didn’t know, those years were blank for me, I could only assume they were blank for all of us.

  “Oh my, and you came back here? That’s dangerous Kade, you shouldn’t have put everyone in that much danger. You guys need to get out, how did you get out the first time?” she asked looking me dead in the eye, her tears welling up.

  “What do you mean? We used our portals to our own realms? To get off this earth realm,” Desmond said before anyone else could add.

  “That’s impossible, we are not on the earth realm. This is a prison, this place is a realm of its own. I don’t understand how you even got back in. you need to leave as soon as possible before they catch you,” she replied her tone more grave than before.

  “See Kade, we were right, this place is not good for us, you will get us caught,” Solena said turning to Gabby and Selena.

  “Oh honey, you miss understand. You need Karen and Ashley in order to make you whole, I’m more worried nobody told you about this place. Your parents are stuck here until they die, and for some of us that’s thousands of years. Some of the parents that are mortals were released into the mortal realm, but the rest of us are here to stay,” she said her tone getting deeper, more sad.

  Selena and Solena started to panic, they worry more than what a person could handle. Everyone tried to calm them down, keeping them from loosing their minds.

  “Are they going to be okay?” Loraine asked looking between the two of them.

  “Would you tell us what our parents never got the chance to tell us?” Desmond asked Loraine, in the hopes she would be able to shed some light in the area in which our parents were not able to.

  “I can, but I would rather wait to tell you all when Karen gets home. I’ll get her to bring Ashley with her,” Loraine said as she flipped open a cell phone, her voice low, but she managed to keep it flowing, almost without a breathe.

  “Karen sweetheart, can you ask Ashley to come over for supper right after school?… nothing really, just thought it would be nice to bake some homemade bread and get her help with some of the garden… you know how the cucumbers have been dying faster than the rest… please make sure she comes, I want to send some home for her parents, Roxia and Elvis. Its been ages since they visited as well,” and before she could udder another sentence the phone was flipped closed and she turned to us again. “There, they will both be on their way.” She said with a smile.

  “How can you be sure you only invited her, you didn’t tell her anything about why?” Simone asked looking confused.

  “Honey, cucumber is our code word for danger. So, she will make sure that Ashley comes no matter what,” her voice sing song now as if the broken conversation had never happened.

  “So tell me about your adventures? What happened?” She poked me in the side,

  The re-telling of the story was interesting. Solena and Selena managed to put a more positive spin on it, as if nothing really bad had happened. But every once in a point of the story, Lori would look at me and raise a single eyebrow, squeezing my hand. And with a smile and a wink she knew there was more to the story. Gabriella and Piper both took turns explaining the worlds, and the amazing stories they could remember, each keeping Lori’s attention the entire time.

  After a couple hours the sun continued to beat down on the tiny house, Lori stood up. “I’m sorry but I have to go out and work in my garden or they will think something is wrong,” She added, taking the few steps to the door, smiling as she stepped out.

  “Wow, can you two tell a story,” Simone said looking at the twins.

  “Well we don’t want her to change her mind about telling us, do we?” Gabby said smiling to us both,

  “I’m fairly certain that isn’t going to happen. Maybe we should take turns getting some rest, before tomorrow.” I said looking at them in the same surprised look Simone had.

  “Do you three wish to take the first rest, that way when Karen and Ashley get here you are the first three they meet?” Piper said glancing at Desmond, his eyes drooping with time, his body showing the feeling of unrest. He had been tense ever since his near death experience, and almost never took his eyes off me.

  For Desmond it was a truly terrifying experience, each of us had our ways and weaknesses. Yes our strengths out weighted our weakness, but it was still terrifying to feel on the brink of death. There was only so much our powers could heal or keep us alive. Desmond and I learned early on what each of our weaknesses were. For myself I was never able to cry, we joke that it has to do with the body that I was always given as that’s what everyone else believed. For us we knew that emotions were my weakness, specifically sadness. If I was hurt by sadness to much my powers would explode, resulting so much built up power and energy it would tare my mortal body apart. As well as my physical weakness, my throat. Over the millennium, we discovered that hanging was the only way to release my air element, killing my body and spirit.

  Desmond was a bit more difficult to figure out for many years as he was always one of the last to be killed. The hardest to figure out for weakness, his heart was what killed him physically. Removing his heart stopped his life, releasing the life element to the earth. While his true weakness was love, he loved so passionately and fiercely that to take away his love would break him, causing his power to become unstable. Life no longer preserving but seeking vengeance.

  Simone was the easiest to figure out, also one of the last to always be killed but he was simply weak to blood, his blood spilled caused his powers to flare, and to much caused him to burn up. His physical was his hands, without his hands his powers had no release. Building up to the point of combustion.

  We may have been the strongest element’s but our powers were our down falls. Gabriella was having her head chopped off, Karen was having her skin peeled, Ashley losing her legs, Piper was her eyes. There issues and weaknesses not related to eruption of power, but simply bodily death.

  Someone was shaking me, calling my name actually quiet loudly. I hadn’t realized I zoned out completely. Snapping back into reality Simone was shaking my shoulder, calling into my ear.

  “Kade, Lori said to take the couch in the sitting room over there its more comfortable.” Simone said looking me in the eye, as he pointed to the big brown suede looking couch in the dropped down co
rner of the trailer. This room was almost two feet below the kitchen, the steps a simple wooden rale and glazed maple. The old style television in the right corner of the room had some black and white show playing on it, as the lines of fuzz rolled across the screen. Its top twist knob broken slightly.

  Desmond was the first to sit on the couch, raising the foot stool as to let his feet up. I lay next to him, my head on his shoulder, sliding my hands to his lap as his clasped with mine. Then Simone came next to us, sitting to my right, leaning his back on my side, his head resting on my shoulder. We all seemed to be out within moments.

  The air around us was stale, the dust billowing, as the wind picked up slightly causing our hair to lift. Desmond took a deep breath as the illuminated street lamp above us flickered, the street quiet with leaves and dirt blowing by. The sun was shining above, but it was still dark out. I wouldn’t have even thought it was the sun if the moon hadn’t been in the opposite corner of the sky, the stars glistening around it.

  Desmond and I stood holding hands, our mouths moving and talking as we walked the street, the flame flickering in the street lamp began to dim, snuffing out completely. Large clouds of fog continued to roll across the grass and road, the leaves and dirt stopped moving. Everything was dead silent, all but the sound of hooves galloping in the distance. The sound grew louder and louder, and as we looked on, a large black horse with bright red eyes come trotting up, his ridder a black jacket and dark cowboy hat looked down upon me. His hand reached for his rope to his left side, raising it above his head spinning rapidly over and over again, the loop growing larger and larger.

  I turned to run but as I turned everyone stood there, each looking at me, their faces in shock. We had been rounded up, this was a massacre. To our left was a pure white horse, its eyes blacker than sin, its main flowing in the air, as its rider strode up in all white, walking next to his horse, his bridle in his hand. And a gun in the other. Directly in front of me now as I ran forward was a tall skeletal horse, its skin falling off in places, bones glistening in the gleaming moon light. The eyes were just deep black sockets of skin, no eyes nothing. Its rider to matched in look, but as he leapt off his horse a large cloud of what looked like ash and smoke came from his hands, its ominous look terrified us.