Elemental Series Omnibus Edition Books 1-4

by Shauna Granger

  “Like an hour?” Steven offered, looking to Jodi for confirmation.

  “Maybe a little longer,” she said with a nod, and I blinked my surprise.

  “It felt like a couple of minutes,” I said, taking another gulp of cold coffee, washing down the last bite of my sandwich before accepting the second one Steven offered me with a raised eyebrow. I smiled a little as I reached for it and tore it open without apology and began munching on it, slower this time.

  “So, how do you feel? Think you got enough?” Jodi asked, sipping on her own coffee, which I noticed was steaming against the cold air. I frowned in confusion for a moment before it finally struck me, and I held my cup out to Steven, who smiled at me as he took it, holding it for a few moments while he concentrated. I could’ve done it myself, especially after taking in so much energy, but I didn’t want to waste any with something as trivial as heating up my coffee, not when I didn’t know when I’d be able to absorb more energy again. I watched as the surface of the coffee began to waver slightly before a white whiff of steam curled up. I reached for it and felt the heat from the cup seep into my fingers, easing their tension.

  “I feel great,” I answered finally, “really great, like I’ve slept a full night’s sleep and I could go on a five mile hike.”

  “Good, did you store any up to get you through to the next storm?” Jodi pressed.

  “Yeah,” I managed around a mouthful of sandwich and chips. “I almost feel like I’m overflowing with power.” I leaned to the side and reached my hand out past the edge of the blanket, slipping my fingers through a patch of grass and feeling the familiar tingle run down my arm and through my hand until budding daisies began sprouting around my hand.

  “See?” I said with a smile before I pulled back, not wanting to waste any power with little tricks. I pulled myself straight and drew my legs towards me to sit Indian style, brushing off the crumbs that had gathered on my shirt. A shiver ran up my spine, making me close my eyes against it, just now remembering it was the last week of December and I had torn my jacket off in my haste to get to the ground.

  “Cold?” Steven asked when he saw me rub my bare forearm, popping the last bite of my sandwich into my mouth just so my other hand would be free to try and work some warmth into my other arm.

  “Yeah,” I said needlessly. Steven closed his eyes, taking in a loud, deep breath through his lungs and holding it there before he exhaled, whispering a trigger word. Another chill ran through my body when his circle sprung to life around us, arching up in a pinkish, opaque dome. A comfortable warmth spread through the trapped space almost immediately, stealing away the chill as effectively as a wool blanket.

  “We drew the circle around you after we laid out the blanket when we realized you were going to be a while,” Jodi offered as she took another careful sip of her coffee. I nodded, lifting my eyes to trace the swirling ward around us, appreciating the shifting hues of red, pink, orange, and mauve.

  “Nice,” I said to Steven, who smiled proudly. We had been working on our shielding abilities these last few months. We just never knew when or where an attack might come from, so we needed to be able to set a circle with a thought. Granted, they had drawn the circle in the ground before Steven set it. A drawn circle was always going to be stronger than one that wasn’t, so if you had the time to do it, you might as well. I was just proud we each could set such strong, nearly impenetrable circles on our own now.

  A sugary smell hit me, making my mouth water, and I looked to see Steven pulling out some homemade pastries his mother had baked. At least one of them had chocolate in it, I just knew it. I wiped my hands together, dusting off the last of the crumbs from the bread, leaning forward just a little, selfishly hoping Jodi and Steven couldn’t smell the chocolate yet.

  “Even if we couldn’t smell it, your thoughts are so loud we’d know the chocolate was in there,” Jodi tsked at me, nudging my knee with her hand. I felt my cheeks warm under her knowing look.

  “You can have the chocolate,” Steven said as if he were speaking to one of his small nieces, and he passed me a flaky, buttery pastry that was wrapped around soft, smooth chocolate while he and Jodi each took a raspberry filled one. My mouth watered so much that I was afraid I’d start to drool. I bit into the sugary confection with a groan of satisfaction. The pastry crackled and flaked in my mouth while the soft chocolate hidden inside oozed just enough not to be melted and messy.

  “God bless your mother, Steven,” I said, catching a falling piece of the treat and pushing it into my mouth. Jodi and Steven both made similar noises of satisfaction as they bit into their treats.

  We sat in a bubble of magical warmth and I had just pulled myself free of the Earth as I drew in life giving power, enjoying a mundane picnic of sandwiches and pastries. This was probably as normal as we were ever going to be.

  “So can we learn something since we’re out here all alone?” Steven asked as he picked a flake of sugar off of his chin.

  “I don’t see why not, be a shame to waste the chance,” I said, licking the sticky goodness from my fingers

  Since we were all alone, without fear of being discovered, I knew they would want to learn something spectacular, something they could see, touch, smell. I pushed into motion and stood up, dusting myself off, before I turned and walked over to the edge of Steven’s bubble. I was pleased with the amount of strength I could feel vibrating from it before I even tried to touch it.

  My face flushed under the healthy amount of heat that was radiating from it. I reached out tentatively, only feeling a small amount of resistance as I came within inches of it, but because I wasn’t a prisoner, I was able to push through it and lay my fingertips against the shield. Color collected around my fingers, pooling in an intense red. My fingers grew hot the longer I held them there. I pushed against it, pleased when it didn’t give under my strength. I heard Steven make a noise behind me; I knew how uncomfortable someone touching your circle of power felt. Arching a brow, I let my hand drift along the wall until I found a spot that wasn’t quite as warm as the rest of the wall and pushed again and felt a minute give in the structure.

  “Mmmm,” I muttered with a shake of my head.

  “Shit,” Steven cursed behind me. I knew he was paying attention to me now, so I drew on a line of power from the excess I had stored up within me and let it swirl into my hand. I concentrated on the weak spot I had found and forced my will into it, feeling it grow soft under my hand. In another moment, there would be a hole in his shield. I could smell cinnamon and roasted peppers, reminding me of a camping trip we’d taken a few summers ago, and a smile curled the edges of my mouth. The weak spot grew warm under the pressure of my fingers; a tingling ran up my hand and into my arm as Steven fought back.

  I pushed again and found the weak spot as rock hard as the rest of the wall. Steven exhaled loudly behind me. I let my hand drop away from the wall and turned to face him. A sheen of sweat had beaded on his forehead and his brow was pinched, but his back was straight and his shoulders back, determined.

  “We’ll have to work on that, Drake,” I said, being sure to use his elemental name. “Your shield is only as strong as its weakest spot, and it only takes one for an enemy to overpower you.”

  “But I took it back,” Steven said a little defensively.

  “She wasn’t trying very hard,” Jodi said as she folded up the blanket we had been sitting on. “She could’ve broken your circle if she hadn’t given you the chance to fix it.”

  “It’s okay, Drake,” I said a little softer, letting a tendril of comfort reach out for Steven, reassuring him he hadn’t failed the test, even if that’s how it felt. “Just something to keep in mind.”

  “But I did fix it,” he pressed, sounding small, which just made me feel guilty for testing him.

  “Yes, you did,” I said, smiling to reassure him. “Now, if you will,” I said to Steven, gesturing with my hand towards his circle to let us out. Steven walked over to the edge and, like popping a
soap bubble, he punctured it with his index finger. Sparkles glittered to the ground around us as it fell, catching the light as they winked out of existence.

  I walked back over to where Jodi was gathering up our picnic things and took the cooler before she could, walking it over to a tree, tucking it in a hollow created by the roots. Jodi followed me, setting the folded blanket on top of it. We would be working inside a circle, but I didn’t want anything that could be contaminated inside with us.

  Steven was already pacing out a larger circle than the one he had set while we were eating. The chill was starting to creep back into my arms so I grabbed my jacket from on top of my boots where Jodi had set it. I shook it out, letting dirt and dried leaves fall from it from when I tossed it haphazardly on my way through the trees.. Inspiration struck as I watched the crunchy, frail leaf spin slowly to the ground, drifting to a spot I didn’t expect it to go.

  “Okay,” I called out as I spun around, pulling my jacket on as I walked back into the clearing. “I know what I’m going to teach you!”

  A few minutes later, we were sitting comfortably in a much larger circle that was triple set with each of our signatures, each having cast a circle separately over the same line. Steven’s heat signature was swirling slowly around us, keeping out the chill so we weren’t distracted as I encouraged Jodi with the new skill we were practicing. I had a small pile of dried leaves slowly growing larger in front of me. Jodi was levitating one leaf at a time from the pile in front of her and sending them over to me on the smallest gust of wind she could control.

  A tiny bead of sweat ran down her cheek as she furrowed her brow in concentration. She looked endearing as she bit down on her lower lip. The leaf dipped in the air between us, twirling and flipping before she caught it again and urged it to drift to the pile in front of me again.

  “Awesome!” I said, clapping my hands.

  “Yeah, I can levitate leaves, awesome,” Jodi said sarcastically.

  “No, no,” I said, reaching out to touch her knee lightly. “I know it doesn’t seem like much, but it’s much harder to manipulate something delicate and practically weightless than something that has weight to it.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because it takes more control over your wind; if you did it too hard, it would’ve blown away or you would’ve crumpled it. You’ll be surprised how much easier it’ll be to move something that takes more energy. It’s just easier to use more energy than less because it takes less control.”

  “Huh.” Jodi picked up one of the leaves still in front of her and twirled it between her fingers, considering it quietly.

  “Okay, fire boy,” I said, angling my body towards Steven. “Now it’s your turn.”

  “What are we gonna do?” he asked with much more enthusiasm now that he was going to get to do something besides watch.

  “It’s time to try a controlled burn,” I said, gathering up my small pile of dried leaves and setting them down in front of him.

  “I can already do a controlled burn,” Steven said a little sullenly. “I light candles all the time.”

  “Right,” I said, dusting my hands off, “but you haven’t lit anything else.”

  “Oh…” He sat up straighter, but I could still tell he felt disappointed, as if Jodi got to learn something entirely new and he didn’t.

  “Okay,” I said, deciding to just jump into the lesson rather than try to mollify his ego, “you’re not going to actually set a flame to the leaves, you’re going to try to burn them by smoldering them.”

  “What?” He looked up at me with a pinched brow.

  “Just like Jodi was trying to control the strength of her power, you’re going to do the same. I want you to burn one of the leaves, just one,” I stressed, “but not so hot as to burst into flame. Think you can do that?” Steven tensed at the challenge, but then gave me a brief nod.

  He reached out and picked one leaf and set it aside from the pile, licking his lips and frowning down at the chosen leaf he held. Almost immediately, I felt a shift in the air and the warmth that was swirling around us began to draw away as if being vacuumed out of the circle. Goosebumps broke out over my arms in the sudden chill, but I held still, not wanting to break Steven’s concentration. It was amazing to me that in the heat of the moment, when fear and determination took over, we could do some of the most incredible things, but in a calm situation where we had to attempt to control our abilities, it seemed to take so much more energy to accomplish anything. But that was the point of today’s exercise; I wanted Steven and Jodi to start to control their powers so that they could accomplish easy, everyday tasks with their powers. Only then would it prove that they had control over their powers, not their powers having control over them.

  A small throb began to ache in my jaw and I looked up to see that Steven was clenching his jaw hard enough to make the muscles jump under his cheek. I reached a hand out and laid it on his wrist, calming him with my own warmth and patience.

  “Imagine your fire burning inside,” I whispered to him while he continued to stare at the unresponsive leaf. “Feel it warm you, the heat coiling through your body, making your skin flush.” Steven sighed, loosening his jaw muscles, and I felt the skin under my hand grow warm as I spoke. “Control your fire; it is the very breath you need to live. You control your breath, control your fire.”

  On cue, Steven drew in a long, deep breath and held it for a few moments.

  “Now, the heat travels through your body, growing ever more intense; bring it to your hand. Feel the fire swirl in your palm.” Steven lifted the hand I wasn’t touching, fingers slightly open and pointing to the leaf still quiet on the ground. “Direct the heat, Drake, control it.”

  A moment more and the spine of the crunchy leaf began to smoke and turn bright orange. The smoldering embers traced the long dead veins of the leaf until it began to curl in on itself, smoldering into ashes. Jodi reacted first, letting her laugh bubble out of her, kicking up a breeze in the contained area of our circle. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and smiled at Steven, pride brimming out of me as I leaned closer to him and pressed a kiss to his forehead that was moist and warm under my lips.

  “Perfect,” I whispered, “just perfect.” I sat back on my heels and reached out to place my hands on the ground around the still smoldering leaf. With little effort, the ground gave way under my hands and a small depression sank into the Earth, cradling the leaf and ashes in a bowl. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the water still so close to the surface of the ground from the rain and called it into the depression, filling it up and extinguishing Steven’s work quickly and effectively.

  “Cool,” Jodi said, watching my hands. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do that.”

  “That’s because we usually use our little cauldron for water when we cast,” I said, leaning back and shaking the water from my hands. “Don’t want to risk leaving any embers to catch fire after we’re gone.”

  “Can I keep trying?” Steven asked, eyeing the pile of dry leaves in front of me.

  “Sure,” I said, gathering a few of them and setting them down in front of him. “But it’s getting late. Jodi, you want to help me get the stuff in the car?”

  “Oh yeah,” she said, a little surprised. “We’re just gonna leave him here?”

  “Just for a few minutes while we put stuff away. That’ll be long enough, okay, Steven? I don’t want you to drain yourself.”

  Steven made a small noise of agreement while he continued to stare at his leaves as if the answers of the universe were hidden in their brown depths.

  “Be sure to put them into the water when you’re done,” I said as I rocked to stand up. “Steven!” I pressed when he didn’t respond.

  “What?” he said, blinking up at me.

  “Water, leaves,” I said, pointing to the small pool of water.

  “Right,” he said with a nod, “leaves in the water when I’m done. Gotcha.” I frowned down at him for a moment long
er before I turned and walked to the edge of the circle with Jodi, pausing as we each took down our own layer of protection.

  “Dude,” Jodi said over her shoulder when we were left staring at the predominately red wall still circling us. “Steven!” we yelled together, Jodi stomping her foot, making Steven jump as he came back to his senses.

  “If you can’t divide your attention properly, I’ll call an end to this experiment,” I said as Steven’s circle disappeared around us and Jodi started walking to our pile of belongings.

  “I’m fine,” he said with a wave of his hand, waiting for me to cross the line of the circle so he could put his back up. I chewed the inside of my cheek, considering him, gazing intently on his pile of leaves again before I blew out a breath and walked over to Jodi, pulling my boots back on before helping her gather the rest of the stuff up and make the trek back to my car.

  “Sure he’s okay?” Jodi asked as we stepped into the trees past the clearing.

  “I think so,” I said with one last glance over my shoulder to Steven. “But if it’s all the same to you, maybe we should be quick about getting back here.”

  Chapter 2

  Jodi dropped the cooler into the trunk of my car as I placed most of the blankets beside it, keeping one of the dry ones for the backseat. I had a feeling Steven might need it on the way home considering how much energy this new task was taking from him. I put my gloves on before tossing the blanket into the backseat.

  “Want to stay with the car and let it warm up while I go get Flamer?” Jodi asked.

  “Nah, I’ll go get him. Why don’t you hang back and get warm in the car?” I said, handing her my keys. She nodded without argument and slipped into the front passenger side of the car, reaching over to put the keys in and turn on the engine. I pushed the fingers of my gloves tighter into place and started walking back into the park. I was in the trees again before the smell of smoke hit me like a punch in the gut.