Discovering Shadows

by Jenkins, Tawnya

  “You ok Lily Pad?” Aiden asked as he studied her intently.

  Lily slowly backed away from the five men who were now all watching her carefully. Their stares were too much, hearing that name was too much. Only her mother called her Lilian, how dare he think he could use that name. She pictured her mother’s deep blue eyes, how they always smiled right along with her mouth—if that even makes sense, her mother was beautiful and had a heart as big as the ocean.

  Lily looked back at the ocean behind her and then to the group of men in front of her. Considering her options, she bolted, hoping to escape into the calming waves of the sea. She could vaguely hear her name being shouted behind her as the sand kicked up under her feet. The moment her feet touched the water she immediately regretted her choice. The water went from peaceful to furious, as if the water itself had taken on her own emotions. The water spun her around like a twister; she thrashed about hitting her head on a rock or two. She inhaled a big gulp of water, the seawater stung her throat and her lungs began to ache. Black spots appeared in her vision as she fought to control herself, and then suddenly it all stopped. The water became perfectly still and before she passed out she saw the water part into a clear path and Aiden standing in front of her. Like a lighthouse, guiding her back from the treacherous waters of the sea. She basked in the warmth of his arms as they engulfed her and she safely slipped into darkness.

  Unspoken

  Leo felt helpless as he watched his sister nearly drown in the water; he was an Air Elemental. None of the others on his team could control water either, they were all desperately trying to jump in and save her, but the water kept tossing them out. When Aiden stepped forward and revealed his ability to save his sister, he felt an instant pang of guilt for the way he reacted to their friendship. They brought Lily back to the house and laid her down on the couch. Nobody had spoken, but there was an obvious tension filling the air. Aiden was kneeling down beside Lily, holding her hand. Reece was shooting daggers at the back of Aiden’s head. Leo assumed it was because Reece was the leader and he didn’t like having to depend on someone else to save his team. Sam and Nate were sitting on the couch opposite of the room, their heads hung low. It wasn’t until Lily began to stir that someone spoke.

  “Lily?” Leo asked as he bumped Aiden from his spot and grabbed onto his sister’s hand. To his surprise, Aiden didn’t complain, he just simply walked over and stood behind the couch. Lily began to cough, when she sat up abruptly she felt her head spin, before she knew it she was throwing up all over the floor. “Shit! Nate go grab some towels,” Leo shouted. “It’s ok, Lily, just breathe . . . you’re ok,” he soothed, as he rubbed his hand up and down her back.

  “Oh my god, I’m so sorry . . .,” she said with tears in her eyes.

  “Shh . . . It’s ok, Sis, you’re ok now that’s all that matters,” Leo soothed.

  “I . . . I don’t know what happened, one minute I was drowning and the next . . .” She paused as she searched the room for Aiden. “You,” she said pointing up at Aiden hovering behind her. “You saved me.” Aiden smiled and nervously ran his hand through his hair. “How did you do that? How did you stop the water? How did you get it to part like that for you?”

  Aiden opened his mouth to speak but Reece interrupted him, “There is a lot of things we all need to talk about Lily, but now is not the time. Let’s make sure you’re ok first, and then we’ll talk about everything, ok?”

  “And just who the hell do you think you are? You’ve been awful bossy for someone who doesn’t even know me,” Lily shouted.

  Leo went to answer, but Reece cut him off, “I will be more than happy to explain everything to you, Lily Thompson. I simply think you could use some rest, you’ve had quite a day and I think it would be better for all of us if we just left it alone for today.”

  Lily looked from Reece to her brother and then up at Aiden, everyone stayed quiet. After struggling for a few minutes and pushing away all the hands trying to help her, Lily stood up and walked to Aiden’s side; wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. “Thank you, you know . . . for saving my life; even if I don’t understand any of it.”

  Aiden smiled down at her. “I’ll always have your back, Lily Pad, remember that.”

  Leo cleared his throat and unlatched his sister from Aiden’s arms, pulling her to his side. “Right, so Lil you’re in your room. Nate and Sam will bunk in the den with the air mattresses, Reece and Aiden here can stay in the guest room.”

  “I think I’ll head home actually,” Aiden stated with his arms crossed.

  “Actually, you’ll be staying here where we can keep an eye on you until we have all the answers we need,” Reece countered.

  An eerie silence crept through the room as the two men stared each other down. Leo kept his sister tucked safely to his side. Nate and Sam stood quietly waiting for someone to break the awkward moment. “You can’t just keep telling everyone what to do, you’re not the boss of anyone,” Lily spoke, causing all eyes to turn to her.

  “Okay Lil, I think you’ve had enough excitement for one day, let’s get you into bed,” Leo said, as he attempted to usher his sister up the stairs.

  “Let go of me,” Lily demanded, pulling her arm from her brother’s tight grip. “I’m so sick of all of this . . . this crap.” Lily marched up to Reece and stood on her tiptoes so she was face to face with him. “Look, I don’t know what you have on my brother but you don’t scare me. You can’t keep telling everyone what to do. Aiden can go home if he wants to, he’s not a prisoner here, and you will not keep treating him like one.”

  Reece smirked. “As you wish, Lily Pad.”

  “Ugh . . . don’t call me that!” Lily screamed as the room shook with force around her. Blood began to drip from her nose. “Someone needs to tell me what the hell is going on and it needs to happen now!” Pictures flew from the wall, as her voice grew louder. Her hands began to shake and her head throbbed. A loud bang radiated through the room as water began to erupt from the faucet in the kitchen.

  “Shit,” Nate rambled as he ran to the kitchen to check out the damage. “She burst the damn pipe!” he shouted.

  Lily never took her eyes off Reece, who continued to smile at her; this time it was more of a sense of pride than cockiness. Leo came up behind his sister and cautiously placed his arms around her. “Calm down Lil.” His presence instantly soothed her, as if his simple touch pulled all the negative energy from her body. And then she fainted.

  “Well I guess shit has officially hit the fan.” Nate smirked.

  “This isn’t the time for jokes, Nathaniel. Leo where is the main shut off switch for the water?”

  “In the basement, I think,” Leo responded with Lily in his arms.

  “Nate you go shut off the water. Sam, call a plumber. Leo, take Lily upstairs and stay with her until I come up,” Reece instructed.

  “What about me?” Aiden asked.

  “You and I are going to have a chat,” Reece stated as everyone else cleared the room.

  Rules

  Aiden sat down on the sofa with his arms crossed. Reece paced back and forth in front of him, stopping only once to shoot him a glare. Nobody spoke but that could be because the testosterone in the air was so apparent it could almost choke you. Reece had his chest puffed out and Aiden’s muscles flexed across his chest; the display resembled something you find in caveman times.

  Reece blew out some air and finally broke the silence, “What do you know?”

  Aiden laughed. “I know a lot of things; like a normal raindrop falls at about 20 miles per hour. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball. Camels have three eyelids—”

  “Enough! You know what I’m asking you smartass. How much about Lily and the rest of us do you know?” Reece’s voice boomed. The walls shook and fire erupted in the fireplace.

  “Hmm . . . interesting. You’re a Fire?” Aiden questioned with one eyebrow raised.

  “Among other things, all of which is none of your busine
ss. Now answer my question,” Reece stated with authority.

  “I didn’t know about Lil. She’s my friend, my best friend and that’s all I care about. The fact that she is obviously an Elemental is an added bonus that I just learned,” Aiden answered with a smile.

  “You had no idea what she was? Yet, you befriended her anyways . . . knowing what you are . . . you were willing to risk your exposure to a mortal? Or even worse, quite possibly killing her! That’s awfully reckless of you.” Reece shuttered at the thought.

  “Reckless? Ha! Okay, well whatever. Lily is amazing, she’s beautiful, smart, funny and there was nothing I wouldn’t have risked to get to know her,” Aiden replied with a straight face.

  Reece sat down on the recliner opposite of Aiden. He ran his hand through his hair. “So you’re in love with her too, I suppose?” Aiden asked, catching Reece off guard.

  “Ridiculous,” Reece countered. “I am simply looking out for the well-being of my team. I have a responsibility, something I’m sure you know nothing about.”

  “So you’re a SEALS agent I assume?”

  “Ah . . . so you do know about us?” Reece replied.

  “My parents do some research for them from time to time, I know a little bit about what you guys are all about.”

  “All you need to know is that I am not someone you want to cross. I will do whatever is necessary to protect my team, which now includes Lily. So whatever little crush you think you have on her ends now. Your friendship is null and void. When she wakes in the morning you will make some excuse, you will make sure she understands you are terminating this friendship and that she will want nothing to do with you afterwards. Do I make myself clear?”

  Aiden stood up, as did Reece; the two stood nose to nose. “I’m not scared of you.”

  “You should be,” Reece declared as Aiden’s feet lifted from the floor and his body was flung into the wall behind him. Reece hadn’t needed to lift a finger.

  “What the . . . What are you? You’re not just an Elemental, no way could you levitate me like that if you were!” Aiden stumbled over his words. He had never seen anything like that before. Elementals could manipulate the elements around them, had he made a gust of wind or a tornado it would have made sense. What he did shouldn’t be possible.

  “Like I said, I will do what is necessary. I’m sure we understand each other now, correct?” Reece said casually.

  “Yeah, yeah I get it. You’re making a mistake, though. I can help you, I can help Lily—”

  “Lily Myers is no longer your concern,” Reece interrupted and walked out of the room. Aiden sunk down into the chair and tried to think of some way to get out this situation without hurting the one person he cared most about in the world.

  Maybe he could go his parents; perhaps they had some idea of how he could stay with Lily. He could go to the SEALS; maybe he could join them. He immediately jumped up and went outside to make some phone calls.

  Drafted

  The insistent ringing of the doorbell woke up nearly everyone in the house before the sun had even emerged from its slumber. Reece was the first one to the door, what he found on the other side was not at all what he had expected.

  “Good morning, Agent Thompson.”

  “Captain Benson.” Reece stood at attention and saluted his superior.

  “At ease, Thompson,” Captain Benson replied as he pushed past Reece into the house.

  “Did something happen? Did I miss a call?” Reece asked checking his phone.

  The Captain laughed. “Calm down man, I was sent to approve your new team member. Agency called me this morning and asked that I rush on over to give him a test and appropriate clearance so he can join your current mission. Also I need to check on Miss Myers progress.”

  “Newest team member, sir?”

  “Ah, Captain Benson, so good to see you,” Aiden stated with a smug smile, as he came down the stairs.

  Reece nearly collapsed from shock as the two men before him embraced in a friendly bro hug.

  “I was so happy to receive the news that you had decided to join the Agency after all. When your parents called in last night with the news, I jumped at the chance to assign you to one of my best teams,” Captain Benson announced with pride.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but what exactly is going on?” Reece questioned.

  “Oh, of course, my apologies, Thompson. Aiden’s parents are good friends of mine, I’ve known this young man since he was in diapers.” He chuckled. “The Agency received a call last night from his parents stating he wanted to join up, so naturally I grabbed him for one of my own. Told them I would deliver the message in person, first thing, and get him all set up. He will make a great asset to your team, he’s a Water, and last time I checked you didn’t have one yet.”

  “Well, as luck would have it, sir, Lily has turned out to be one herself. So you see we really don’t need Aiden here after all. Seems our team is already well balanced,” Reece countered.

  “Ah, well that is excellent news. Aiden would make the perfect mentor for her. He will do a fine job helping her learn how to control her abilities and that would free up your time to focus on the mission at hand,” Benson stated as he patted Aiden on the back with pride.

  “But sir . . .”

  “No buts about it, Agent Thompson, you have your orders and Aiden here, is now a part of this team. It will only take me a few moments to get him all scanned in, and then I expect your team to be on the move within the next couple of hours.”

  The captain and Aiden proceeded into the kitchen, paperwork in hand. Reece slammed his fist into the wall and ascended the stairs to fill in the rest, and try to figure a way out of this.

  Chaos

  Reece gathered Nate, Sam and Leo together in the Leo’s room. He filled them all in on the events that just took place. They all stared at each other for a few moments, each one racking their brain on how to solve this current hiccup in their plan.

  “I mean, would it really be that bad to have him with us?” Sam spoke first.

  “Lily does seem to trust him, Reece, it might make it easier for her to deal with all of this,” Leo added.

  Reece shot glares at both of them. “You can’t be serious! This . . . this Elemental, has been sneaking around with your sister for months behind your back; getting her to lie to you about things, Leo. And you think it might not be so bad to have him on our team?”

  “It could be beneficial having another Water on the team, Reece. I mean none of us could help Lily yesterday, except him. I don’t like it any more than you do, but he did save her life; and I am forever grateful to him for that.”

  Reece picked up a book from Leo’s dresser and hurled it at the wall, igniting it in flames, causing it to desegregate into ashes before it made impact. His breath became erratic and his eyes went from blue to red in seconds. Reece could feel himself losing control, but couldn’t do anything to stop it. Everything around him was going wrong, and he hated chaos. He thrived on discipline and organization; structure and order; those are things that made sense to him. He suddenly found himself spiraling and that only made matters worse. He feared for what could happen to those around him if he couldn’t gain control.

  Pictures began to fly from the wall, the dresser gently lifted from the floor. Nate and the others scrambled around him, shouting his name in an attempt to rein him back in. Reece hadn’t noticed when Aiden and Captain Benson entered the room his vision had gone black. He could hear muffled voices around him, while it felt as if his body was burning from the inside out. Aiden began throwing balls of water onto the small fires that had begun to ignite around the room.

  “Shit,” Nate said, “I haven’t seen him like this in years.”

  “Agent Thompson stop this behavior now!” Captain Benson shouted.

  “He can’t hear you, Captain, he’s . . . well he’s in a bad place right now,” Leo stated, as he used his air manipulation to steer the objects flying around the room into appropriate places.
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br />   “What the Hell is going on in here!” Lily asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Oh my God, What the . . . ”

  “Lily! Stay back!” Aiden shouted.

  Lily took in the scene around her, Reece stood in the middle of her brother’s room; surrounded by flames. Aiden was putting out fires by flinging balls of water from his hands. Sam was trying to talk to Aiden, while dodging items being thrown around him. Her brother was using his hands to create wind; gently carrying items safely back to their place. Nate appeared to be trying to keep the whole room from crashing down around them, his arms held up high in the air, eyes closed and lost deep in thought. Another man—she didn’t know—was shouting commands at Reece; he looked as if he was about to burst a blood vessel in his neck. Lily stood frozen as she attempted to wrap her brain around the situation in front of her.

  Once the fires had been put out, she saw Aiden circling Reece trying to coat him in ice, but it melted on impact. Lily felt something within her begin to stir; it was similar to the sensation she felt in the shower days ago, only it was hotter. It burned within her. She didn’t know what was happening, but she felt an instant urge to reach Reece. Without even thinking she found her legs carrying her toward the floating Reece.

  Despite the protests screaming around her, she was drawn to him. She couldn’t explain it; she just needed to reach him. Before she knew what was happening her body erupted in flames, and her body began to float toward Reece. Everyone stopped and stood in amazement as they watched a now flaming Lily approach Reece.

  Saved

  Lily didn’t know what was happening inside her, as her body drew closer to Reece, a sudden calm took over her. Reaching forward on its own accord, her hand found Reece’s. She braced herself expecting to be scorched, but instead, she felt nothing. Looking up into Reece’s eyes she spoke calmly.