by Rachel Rener
Ori could only stand there, glowering but silent, per the moderator’s rules.
“Oh, young Elementalists in Salem are being burned at the stake?” Kaylie continued, her tone derisive. “Just let a dozen or so of ‘em die – we wouldn’t want to upset the ignorant, superstitious Deficients who lit the pyre, now would we?”
Around us, audience members were shifting in their seats to murmur to each other.
“Wow, she’s really doing this, isn’t she?” Aiden muttered.
I watched as Ori tried to say something in retort, but his microphone had been turned off. The Moderator was shaking his head at him from his seat at the back of the stage.
“What’s the overall mood of the crowd, Aspen?” I leaned toward her to ask. “Anger? Anxiety?”
“That,” she bit her lip, “and definitely some agreement. Too much of it for my comfort.”
Kaylie lifted her hands in mock confusion as she continued her harangue. “When North Korean Elementalists – including young children as young as eight years old – were rounded up and thrown into labor camps in the late nineties, did the Community swoop in to save them? Did anyone speak up on their behalf?” Kaylie demanded. “We had the numbers and the tools, and yet we didn’t dare reveal ourselves to the Deficients!”
Many in the audience were shaking their heads. I couldn’t tell – was it disbelief at what she was saying… or indignation? Her brusque portrayal of these events was misleading, to say the least. But how many in her captivated audience realized that?
“When the Catholics and Protestants systematically murdered our people for being ‘possessed heretics,’ who came to their rescue?”
“No one!” a handful of voices shouted from the back of the auditorium.
“She’s taking some real liberties with her ‘facts,’” Aiden muttered. I nodded in bleak agreement.
“When dozens of Elementalists were arrested under Barish’s reign and thrown in Containment Centers for practicing their God-given talents, who came to their rescue?”
“Aspen did!” Eileen exclaimed, but her voice was lost among the agitated crowd.
“That’s right,” Kaylie yelled. “No one! They were left to rot, to die alone, to wither away in solitary confinement for simply being what they were! One of God’s divine creatures! Well, not anymore! I’m here today to say no more withering, no more hiding, no more sneaking around below ground for fear that Deficients will find us. I say let them find us! Let them see who and what we are, let them be awed and humbled by us as their day of reckoning approaches!”
Shouts and applause erupted around the hall as hundreds of members jumped to their feet and cheered.
“This is getting seriously out of hand,” Aspen said, looking around the room. “These are just supposed to be opening remarks – why isn’t the moderator intervening?”
“With me as leader, there won’t be any need for rules and regulations – you’ll never have to ask permission to use your powers or have your own government breathing down your neck. There will be no more appeasing and protecting the same Deficients who have been persecuting us for centuries!”
By this point, Ori was attempting to confront the moderator, but the man wasn’t listening. He was grinning at Kaylie and clapping. I looked around wildly as more and more people in the audience began to stand and shout affirmations of support. Their red-haired instigator was beaming as she hovered inches above the edge of the stage. Wisps of blue flames surrounded her, fueled by Wind and hubris.
“Friends, with me as your minister, we’ll create a world where you can walk freely amongst the Deficients, not as subordinates or as equals, but as the Earth’s true superior race! We were born with these powers, not to cower among sheep but to roar as the lions we are!” She flung her fist in the air, eliciting roars of approval from the audience itself.
Aspen rose from her seat as Ori took matters into his own hands, zapping his microphone alive with a burst of Electricity. A terrible screech filled the air as feedback crackled through the speakers.
“Listen to me!” he shouted. “There is no superior or inferior race – we are all human!”
“Don’t let him tell you that you’re not special,” Kaylie retorted, her voice even more amplified than before. “Don’t let these Asterians tell you that you deserve to be oppressed and diminished!”
“These Asterians?” Ori repeated. “We are all Asterians! We’re a Community, a family—”
“Yes, a family, indeed!” Kaylie laughed derisively. “For those of you who are tired of being treated like children by our neurotic, overbearing parents – sorry, ‘government’ – I urge you to come join a new and vastly improved organization of Elementalists, one that will never try to control or belittle you. One that will show you the respect and appreciation that you deserve! For the first time in history, you now have a choice of which Elemental community you wish to pledge your allegiance!”
“What?!” My own incredulity was drowned out by the cacophonous shouts of the crowd. It seemed as though half the audience was shouting praise while the other half was yelling back at them.
“What the hell is she talking about?” Eileen exclaimed.
“She wasn’t just creating an army,” Aspen replied, the color draining from her cheeks. “She was creating an organization to rival the Asterians.”
“Fire!” Aiden shouted.
I didn’t bother to ask what he meant as a warm sensation trickled down my back. Moments later, the massive Asterian banner hanging behind the stage burst into blue flames, drawing panicked shouts from the audience. We jumped to our feet as the cloth burned away, revealing another banner just behind it – one that had been emblazoned with a massive black star. The letters encircling the emblem read: “Obsidian.”
“What is the meaning of this?” Mei rushed onto the stage, surrounded by security. Kumiko and Daichi were standing on either side of her while one of their Hydromancers extinguished the massive burning flag that lay crumpled and burning on the floor of the stage. The rising smoke curled ominously around the looming black star Kaylie had unveiled.
“They need help,” Aspen said, rising from her seat. “I have to—”
“Mei and Ori have security,” Aiden interjected, gripping her arm. “You almost died last week, Aspen! Even Pentamancers aren’t immune to bullets.”
“But—”
“Aspen,” he practically growled. “We need to leave. Now.”
She bit her lip, her eyes moving from him to the stage. To Ori.
“Hello, Mei,” Kaylie called. Her own team had gathered onstage, about a dozen Elementalists who rushed forward from wings and the audience to strategically position themselves between her and the minister. “Don’t worry – no one’s here to start a fight. I just wanted everyone to meet the first members of our new community, Obsidian!” The doors to the auditorium flew open as hundreds of people poured in, young and old, each of them wearing black jackets and metallic black stars pinned to their chest. “Ladies and gentlemen, meet my friends – powerful, liberated Elementalists who have been thriving without rules for centuries and are eager to keep it that way. And we welcome you to join us!”
My eyes swiveled around the room as more and more Wilders filled the aisles and all of the standing space in the auditorium, blocking the exits. Meanwhile, the minister’s security team readied themselves, their fists blazing with Elements. But Mei held up a hand, signaling for them to wait. I understood why: if a fight broke out in a room this packed, there could be thousands of casualties – if not by the Elements themselves, then by a frenzied stampede. I closed my eyes, trying to envision a way out of this, a way to get everyone to safety.
“My friends,” Kaylie addressed the audience, “this is what the Asterians have been hiding from you for centuries: Elementalists don’t need oppressive rules or stipulations to live their lives. They don’t need to seek permission or worse, ask for forgiveness, for living as they are. Come join us at Obsidian, where you’ll find a co
mmunity without rules, membership dues, or a dictatorship of greed. Instead, you’ll find only freedom and empowerment!”
Her supporters onstage were cheering and clapping, along with the rest of the Wilders who stood around the room. How had she gathered so many, so quickly? More importantly, what had she told them in order to win them to her side?
“Why are you all just standing here?” Savannah snapped as she awkwardly climbed over an empty seat to join us. “Haven’t you been listening to me shouting from back here? We need to get out!”
“Sophia?” Aspen turned to me. “Can you hear what Mei is saying? I’ve been keeping an ear on Kaylie’s team to stay a step ahead of a potential attack.”
I channeled a funnel of Wind to transmit the words Mei was whispering to Ori and her security team directly to our ears: Clear the aisles so people can safely leave, she was instructing them. And get that woman off this stage. Gently, so her followers don’t retaliate.
I must not have been the only person eavesdropping, because right at that moment, several dozen more Obsidian members stormed the stage to add to the human barricade that separated Mei from Kaylie. Their unspoken message was clear: Take a step, we dare you.
“Before the Order tries to arrest and Contain us for speaking the truth,” Kaylie shouted to the crowd, “I want you to know that Obsidian has a new world-class team of Electromancers who came all the way from Australia to join us, and they’re all scattered among the auditorium – Say hello, Darryl!” she added, waving to a severe looking man standing at the back of the auditorium. His hair was pale blond, almost white, his skin sun-weathered and wrinkled. He was surrounded by six or seven fair-haired women, and while most appeared far younger than him, their stances were protective in nature. The air around them crackled with supercharged ions, making the hairs on my arms stand on end. It took effort to pry my eyes away, mainly because something about them made me feel distinctly uncomfortable.
“If you wish to know the location of your new, welcoming home,” Kaylie was continuing, “just silently ask for it. If you express genuine desire and conviction to be part of our organization, Darryl and his associates will broadcast the location of the Obsidian headquarters straight to your thoughts. Anyone who arrives with the Obsidian star tattooed on their forearm may enter without question.”
I turned to ask Aspen if that type of sophisticated Electromancy was even possible, but she was gone – racing toward the minister, with Aiden right on her heels.
“Come on!” I shouted to Eileen and Savannah before summoning a gust of Wind to carry me directly to the stage.
“Are you kidding me right now?” I heard Savannah shriek.
I landed beside Ori while Aspen made her way through the crowd, forgetting, as she often did, that she was an Auromancer. “Everyone, please,” he was pleading into the microphone. “Please, if you can just take your seats—” his voice was drowned out by a fresh wave of shouting.
Kaylie and her followers were moving off the stage rather expeditiously. I recognized several of the faces: Rana, the Representative from Cairo, as well as a handful of Chapter heads that had apparently gone rogue – no one from Denver, thank goodness. Most of them wore smug expressions as they took in the pandemonium they had created. By this point, people were scrambling all over the auditorium, some to approach the stage, and some to flee. The rest appeared glued to their seats with shocked expressions – and nothing Ori was saying seemed to get through to them.
“Is that Kumiko?” Eileen gasped after she’d hoisted herself onto the stage. “Why is she leaving with them?”
Indeed, I recognized her distinctive blue locks and gleaming katana as she raced up the stairs two at a time to catch up to a group of fleeing Obsidians. When she finally did, she didn’t fight them – she fled to the exits with them.
No. My hand flew to my mouth. Kumiko was Mei’s right-hand woman. If she was leaving with Obsidian, that meant…
“Don’t let them escape!” Daichi cried. On the far side of the stage, flashes of Fire and Lightning erupted in the air while he and his team employed suppressive maneuvers to keep Kaylie and the others from escaping. Somewhere, a woman screamed. At any moment, this entire chamber might erupt in Elemental chaos. Like Istanbul, I realized as panic gripped my chest. The bloodiest day in modern Asterian history.
My eyes caught Aspen’s as she and Aiden skidded to a stop beside me.
“Everyone!” Ori was yelling. “Please, listen!” A plume of Fire shot in his direction, which I quickly snuffed out mid-air.
Mei appeared beside him, her bun askew and pieces of hair sticking in every direction. “Please!” she shouted, her voice amplified yet unnoticed by most. “Please, everyone, we must have order!”
No one was listening. Hers wasn’t the voice they wanted to hear, the voice they’d been wanting to hear for years. With a heavy heart, I surveyed the room, taking in the confusion, the bedlam, the anger. These people were lost and frightened, let down by the Community that was supposed to guide and protect them. They needed a leader. Not Mei. Not Ori. Not Kaylie.
“Aspen,” I turned to her, guilt and remorse racking my insides. “They need you. They need their Pentamancer. Their leader.”
She stared at me, momentarily paralyzed. But I knew she understood. Of course, she did – we all did. From Aiden’s agonized expression to Savannah’s envious one, we all knew: It was never supposed to Mei. And it was never supposed to be Ori.
It was always supposed to be Aspen.
Chapter 18
top,” Aiden gripped Aspen’s arms tightly. “Listen to me. If you do this, you’re giving up everything. Your future. Your plans to be a doctor. Our life in Colorado.”
Elements were flying past us now – bolts of Lightning, flashes of Fire, chunks of Earth. I closed my eyes and summoned a wall of Wind to protect us. Aspen’s hair blew wildly in the gusts, dark tendrils that slashed at her face. Even then, I could see the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.
“I’ve always wanted to help people,” she whispered into the wind, shoulders wilting. “To save lives… I guess this is the way I was destined to do it.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Aiden replied roughly. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I know.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, centering herself the way I’d shown her years ago. After all, Wind doesn’t yield to pressure or force. It doesn’t conform to molds or templates. If you wish to control it, you must surrender to it. At that moment, Aspen and I both understood that she could no longer struggle against the current; she needed to submit to it. Then and only then could she regain control.
After a moment, her eyes met mine and I nodded, releasing the shield I’d wrapped her in. With a wave of her hand, she summoned her own pillar of Wind, rising far above us to land atop the podium. The people standing in the front rows pointed at the stage excitedly.
Aspen crouched on one knee so she and Ori could be eye to eye.
“What are you doing?” he exclaimed.
“Relieving you of your duties,” she smiled wanly. I watched as relief colored his expression for the first time in days. “Thank you for everything you’ve done to get us here.”
Then, with a deep breath and a determined expression, she stood atop the podium and shot both hands toward the glass ceiling. For one brief moment, every hair on my body stood on end and time itself appeared to slow to an ionized trickle. Shards of ice and licks of Fire froze mid-collision; screams hung suspended in the air; Kaylie was shouting something to her followers as they ran for the exits, her words lost in the chaos; and Mei was frozen onstage, ribbons of Wind and Water and Earth suspended around her as she stared up at Aspen. She, too, had tears in her eyes. Tears of joy? Of remorse? I couldn’t tell.
As Wind and Lightning curled around Aspen’s arms, a blinding explosion ricocheted across the room, dealing no violence save for a thunderous clap of noise and light. Startled screams erupted all across the auditorium and then abruptly sto
pped. In their wake, chilled silence filled the cracks as the overhead lights flared and dimmed. Every eye in that room was glued to Aspen, still and elegant as a statue as her eyes flashed the color of Lightning.
I did my part by stilling the air in the auditorium just enough to mute the whispers and shuffling, so all attention would be on her next words.
There will be no bloodshed here today, she declared, her voice calm and steady.
It took me a moment to realize that she’d been speaking in my mind – in all of our minds – instead of out loud, which made her words all the more impactful. Eileen gripped my arm, the pressure of her fingers both painful and somehow calming. Aiden was standing several feet away from Aspen, all the color drained from his pained expression. Beside him, Ori was squeezing his shoulder in consolation. Mei was standing on the other side of Aspen’s podium, one hand halting her team. And while Savannah was inching her way off the stage and toward the nearest exit, no one else in that room moved. Not even Kaylie, who was frozen mid-step near the top of the stairs.
“I would like to officially announce my intention to run as prime minister of the Asterian Order,” Aspen declared, this time out loud. “Ori Levitan has graciously ceded his campaign so that I may take his place.”
I would have expected the entire auditorium to burst into chaos at that unprecedented announcement, but at that moment you could have heard a pin drop.
“I will be the first to acknowledge that the Asterian Order is a flawed organization,” she continued. “But if you’ll allow me to, I’d like to try and fix it – with your help.” Her eyes rose to meet Kaylie’s at the back of the auditorium. “There’s no need to split into factions or rely on extreme tactics to move toward progress. And I have faith in this Community that we can find a way to coexist with the rest of the world without sacrificing our rights or their well-being.”
Kaylie’s team exchanged uncertain looks; many of the Wilders, I noticed, looked perplexed. Because of what Aspen had said? Or because they’d been expecting her to say something else? For the second time that evening, I wondered what version of events Kaylie had told them in order to win them over to her side.