Eternal: Chapter Five, Part 6

 “All of you are elementals?”

“Not all of us,” he corrected, sitting back in his chair. “Just most of us. It’s why Valetta chose the school. We’re not supposed to use our gifts unless it’s necessary.”

“How can they even tell if you do?” It didn’t seem likely such a rule could be enforced.

“It’s why Margie and the teachers like me.” He smiled proudly, tenting his fingers as his dark eyes glowed. “I’m not strongly gifted myself…I can do enough small stuff to avoid teasing, but my real talent is in what the earth tells me about other people.”

“You can tell when people use their gift?”

Nodding, he elaborated, “Just water and earth, though I don’t know about fire. I never could tell when you did. It also tells me who is an earth elemental.”

“Really? That’s incredible, Mikael.”

“I know, right?” Leaning forward, he said, “Now about why you’re here, A—”

“Leirba,” I said. “It’s a long story, but Drei wants everyone to call me Leirba for the time being.”

“Okay. I’m not one to argue with Drei.”

“Mikael…are you sure you wouldn’t rather talk about your family?”

He sighed heavily and sat forward on his elbows. “There isn’t anything to say. They left. That was their choice. But family isn’t just the people who bring you into the world. Besides, here we have Margie. And Valetta and Mitchell come every now and then to check on me. I have brothers among the other students. I have siblings among those from the camp, even if we’re far apart now. I have family, Abri—Leirba; you included. Mine is unconventional but loyal.”

I didn’t know what to say. There was a rawness of emotion to his words, as though this was a mantra he reminded himself of daily. I wanted to prod, but I stopped myself. That desire was fueled by my own guilt in abandoning my family and never looking back. In not demanding Drei ignore my mom’s wishes and rescue her as well; in causing my father unknown pain by disappearing because I was terrified and mortified. I hadn’t been Mikael; I had been his parents. To some extent, I wanted him to validate the way I felt about my own actions through anger and resentment. Instead, he coped through redirection.

“I know that’s not why you’re here,” he said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“I’m starting my movement,” I said, reorienting myself from my distraction. I studied the young man before me. “I won’t say what it’s for just now because I’ll share when I have everyone together. What I will tell you now is that this shouldn’t interfere with school, because school will come first. However, I want you on my team for opinions, help, organizational things. The downside, we have two years.” I had a feeling Mikael would agree to help even if I only had 18 months.

“Sounds easy enough,” he joked, looking away as he thought it over. “School won’t be an issue. It sounds like there’s plenty to be done, and I’m guessing there’s going to be a lot of us from camp working together.” I nodded and he smiled joyfully. “Then count me in.”

“You don’t have any concerns or worries?”

“You make it sound like you want it to be hard,” he teased, smiling in much the same fashion as Mitchell did.

“Well, I’ve had a lot of concern over the two-year time span so far,” I said seriously.

“Ab—Leirba, I’m actually beginning to find I enjoy entertaining the possibility of making the impossible possible.” The happiness dripping from his words filled the air to the point of contagiousness.

“I’m glad you’re seizing the challenge.”

“Anything to see some old faces again,” he said, hugging me once more.

I couldn’t have asked for a better reception of my request. I still had two more to recruit, but I hoped both Xenia and Jake were as welcoming of the challenge as Mikael had been.

Mikael and I chatted a short while longer before we parted ways and I was en route back to the city and Drei. Hopefully, Valetta had returned in my absence with Jake’s and Xenia’s locations so I could finally bring everyone together and share the plan. If I was lucky, Caroline and Ian would already have finished the timeline of events and I could start them on commercial story boards. Perhaps even Drei would be done with whatever business to which he was attending; if he was, I’d postpone my recruitments a night to spend some time with him. I was starting to miss him again and we hadn’t been apart that long. Someone—Caroline, more than likely—might suggest something was wrong with me.

And maybe there was. Whatever it was, it had bought all of us time in different ways. That was worth something.

Eternal: Chapter Five, Part 5

It felt as though much more time than an hour had passed, but I trusted the pristine grandfather clock in the corner of the dull room was in top condition. Sipping at my water, I spent most of the hour glancing around at the wood paneled walls, the well-kept crown molding along ceiling, the shaded windows, and the impeccably clean but uncomfortable furniture. However, I did spend the first couple minutes after she left inspecting myself, trying to attain a sense of how thin I really looked. All of my limbs seemed properly proportioned, but who knew? Perhaps that was all in my head.

My mind wondered if the woman would come back saying Mikael had died in the last hour. If she did, I wouldn’t be happy. I wouldn’t care what kind of punishment Drei gave me; I would probably kill her and not think twice about it.

Then I stopped, shocked at my suddenly violent thoughts. I couldn’t remember having wanted to purposefully hurt someone. I had practiced self-defense often enough, but I had never physically hurt someone just to hurt her or him. Mentally, I made a note to talk to Drei about that; I wanted to write it off as bad vibes and stress, but not even that made sense. I would hate for it to be something more and not have brought it up. Unfortunately, it was forgotten in the next moment.

The door opened and Mikael entered, the cheerily strange woman smiling behind him, visible until he shut the door again. He had grown so much, just like Kora. I had always been one of those kids who hated when adults gushed over how much I had changed, and now I understood why; I never would have guessed he was in high school still. Mikael carried himself much the same as Drei did: tall and proper, a thumb hooked loosely in his pants pocket, relaxed but charismatic. His thick black tresses still retained some of their youthful wildness, but were tamer in the way the curls framed his visage.

“Margie said you were here to see me about something personal,” he started, crossing to sit in the chair adjacent to mine. “I must admit, while you look familiar, I don’t remember who you are.”

“Mikael;” I couldn’t help smiling at his questioning eyes as he struggled to place me. At least he didn’t judge me as a danger as Kora had. “You’ve grown up so much…even your voice has stopped cracking.”

Blushing, embarrassed, he waved off the comment, saying, “Margie said you told her you were Miss Jones. But I’m afraid, when my voice was still cracking, I didn’t know anyone’s last name.”

“Oh, you’re thinking too hard. Think…feathers and games.”

“Abriel?” he gasped before I could stop him. Reaching across the distance, he embraced me. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

“Well, here I am.”

“But why? And why couldn’t you just tell Margie your name in the first place?” he asked.

“We’ll get to that soon enough,” I assured him, waving the questions away for the time being. “How are you doing? And how in the world did you end up at a boarding school?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders, saying, “My parents got used to not having a kid around. They stuck around for about three months after I went back and then…they disappeared. So I found Mitchell while he was following a young earth elemental and told him about it. He told Valetta and she’s been paying for me to go here,” he said, which made sense why Mitchell had reported back so quickly; he didn’t even have to look for Mikael.

“It seems so sketchy here, though,” I said, unable to hide my concern. Valetta had chosen this place, and usually I trusted her judgment, but so far my reception had led me to wonder about how safe an environment this was.

“That’s just because Margie’s wary of everyone,” Mikael said. “Most of the boys here are earth or water elementals, so any visitors she doesn’t recognize she hassles a little. It’s mostly for our protection.”

Eternal: Chapter Five, Part 4

The woman scuttled down the narrow hallway and up a few flights of stairs. Our progress was slow, giving me plenty of time to glance over the various pictures hanging on the walls. This was a fairly old school, from the years on some of the class photographs and the style of dress in the presidential portraits. One of the older class photos I saw was from the early 1900’s.

Eventually we walked into an office like space that reminded me more of a private study with its soft lighting and worn leather furniture. For a moment, I remembered my dad’s study, the times we had spent locked away from the world in there, reading and talking. It surfaced warm memories before my last memory of him tainted them with guilt.

After flipping through a file she had pulled, the woman informed me Mikael was finishing up with baseball practice and would then be heading to supper. “I hope you will be comfortable waiting for about an hour or so. We pride ourselves on keeping student schedules as uninterrupted as possible,” she said, the vinegar in her honeyed voice beginning to seep through. “Is there anything I can bring you, Miss Jones? Supper? Tea? Biscuits? Cake? A muffin?”

“Water will be fine, thank you,” I assured her, trying not to take offense to the mass amount of food she was trying to offer me. Did she think there was something wrong with me? Everyone kept saying I looked different, but I hadn’t looked in a mirror lately—I hadn’t felt compelled to.

“You’re certain that’s all?” she pressed annoyingly. “Nothing to eat at all?”

“I’m certain, thank you” I said kindly, struggling to keep my face neutrally kind and appreciative.

Leaning closer to me, she whispered, “You’re not…anorexic, are you?” Her dark eyes were wide and questioning, something in them revealing how desperately she wanted me to assent.

“No. My eating habits are completely normal, thank you.” Was I that thin?

Straightening herself, she smiled as she had when she first greeted me. “Delighted to hear it. We do try to keep…unnatural influences from the boys.”

If only she knew how ironic that statement was. “Of course.”

“This way, then,” she announced, leaving the office for a small sitting room down the hall. She stalled a moment after bringing me a bottle of water, as if waiting for me to tell her something that would give her enough reason to excuse me. It made me wary about what kind of place this was that she had to assure me everything was in the interest of the boys. I hoped Mikael was as well as I had perceived him to be outside.

Eternal: Chapter Five, Part 3

Mikael was at the end of his sophomore year by regular standards, but at his year-round school, he still had another month or so of class before he entered into the summer session. I had been surprised when Mitchell first gave me the information on where to find Mikael. I had expected him to be attending a public school, maybe a private academy. Instead, I was traveling to meet him at an all-boys boarding school.

En route, I tried to reason out why he would be at a boarding school away from his family after having been separated from them as long as he had already. It didn’t make sense to me. And even after trying to rationalize it for several hours, I still had nothing.

Once there, I didn’t go to request meeting with him immediately—as was customary—because I caught the sound of his voice out in the field where a group of students were playing baseball. He had never struck me as the baseball sort, but he always had loved games.

The day was beautiful out, warm and sunny, exactly as May should be. It wasn’t easy resisting the urge to feel the sun on my skin as I watched them play from afar. Not only would Drei scold me and very possibly never trust me to be out of his sight again, but it would postpone any interactions I had with Mikael and the others. There was the also the possibility Mikael wouldn’t speak to me if I gave in to my temptation.

Mikael scored a homerun and silently I cheered for him. Observing long enough to see Mikael play shortstop and shout encouragements to his team as they quickly tallied three strikes against their opponents, I headed toward the school, a cold and distant looking place. My best guess was that it had been a mansion converted to a school with additions made to accommodate students. Even the red brick, usually a welcoming, warm sight, couldn’t liven the drab and dark building. Whether it was hyperbolic or not, the sunlight around the school felt like it was being vacuumed away into oblivion.

The inside wasn’t much of an improvement, though it was surprisingly warm, not at all drafty as I had imagined. The walls were a dark mahogany and covered with portraits of graduated classes of boys and past presidents of the institution. They were all stoic and distant, but all of the boys in the pictures appeared as true gentlemen: polished, polite, intelligent, and possibly even ready to be a husband or future-CEO.

A kindly, plump woman scuttled towards me, smiling jovially, making her look twenty years younger than I guessed her to be. She wore a rich blue dress and white flats; her graying blonde hair was pulled into a French twist.

“How may I help you, ma’am?” she inquired in a light voice. It sounded almost as though the words just skipped off her tongue her voice was so light.

“I was interested in speaking with Mikael Summers, if I could,” I said, returning her bright smile.

“May I inquire as to what about?” Her eyebrows arched high over her widened eyes, her smile dampening slightly but still perfectly intact. She didn’t view me as a threat—thankfully—but she was on guard all the same.

“I’m an old friend of Mikael’s, used to babysit him a few years ago,” I said, figuring she was bound to ask that question anyway; “Something has come up recently and I wanted to talk with him about it.”

“What has come up? Something with his family?” she snooped, her face not changing from its inquisitive state.

“It’s a bit of a private matter,” I said, continuing to smile kindly at her. I had this urge to hit her with my umbrella if she continued being nosy. She didn’t need to know as much as she thought she did, and if I didn’t need her approval to speak with Mikael without finding myself in more trouble than I could stand at this moment, I might have given in to my violent desire. Her now plastic smile was especially irritating me.

“Very well, then, Miss…”

“Jones,” I supplied, keeping my voice light, controlling my growing agitation.

“Miss Jones. Follow me.” 

Eternal: Chapter Five, Part 2

“Should we go somewhere?” I caught one of her thoughts; she wasn’t sure what she should do or how she should act. She couldn’t fathom why I would be here now, but she respected me like an older sister or mentor. I was flattered but I couldn’t be distracted.

“If you want. We can talk here or anywhere you like,” I said easily; now that she knew who I was, we could jump straight to business. This was going smoother than I had hoped. “Either way, we need to talk.”

Kora nodded, sitting down on the bench; I joined her, waiting for her to say something. If she didn’t want to know, she had a right not to; but it all depended on her.

“What are we talking about?”

“I’m starting my movement,” I said, studying her closely. “I’ll be honest with you; I have two years to do what could easily take three and still need more work. But I can’t start without a team, and I’m hoping you’ll agree to help me with this.”

She sat thinking for a long while, her eyes scanning over the ground. I could see the different emotions running through her mind: uncertainty, happiness, frustration, restraint, even a touch of sorrow.

“I won’t let this affect your schoolwork,” I promised, crossing my legs and sitting forward on my elbow. “School will come first, always. I need you on my team for ideas, help, support, so on and so forth.”

“Why only two years?” she asked, her eyebrows knitting together. “That’s impossible.”

“That’s a long story…and it isn’t impossible.”

She bit her inside cheek as though refraining from returning to her previous question. “You swear this won’t interfere with school?”

“I swear.”

“Then I’m in…for now;” she sat back on the bench. “However, I’m not sure how optimistic I’ll be. And I’m not sure I’ll stick with it.”

I leaned back to study the velvet black of the cloudless sky; “I guess I’ll have to be optimistic enough for us both, then.”

“We’ll see. So what’s first?”

“First, you finish the semester.” Meeting her waiting hazel eyes, I said, “Then we have a team meeting and go from there.”

“You don’t know yet?”

I played offended at the doubt and incredulity lacing her voice. “I know what’s going to happen, Kora.” She cocked an eyebrow at me as I added, “I just don’t feel like repeating myself a million times.”

“If you insist,” she teased, sitting back.

Nudging her in the shoulder with mine, I said, “I see I’ll have to be triply optimistic to make up for this sarcasm of yours.”

Kora stuck her tongue out at me and I caught it with the air, unable to help smiling as she struggled to demand I stop and pull it back into her mouth. After a moment, though, she broke my concentration as I found the bench suddenly disappearing beneath me. She laughed; there wasn’t much I could do but join her.

“Careful,” I said, playfully, still half laughing. “I might get you back for that.”

She only laughed more, sucking me into her giggly bout. It was somewhat of a relief to not be taken seriously; to just feel young and silly again.

I could only hope my meeting with Mikael would be as successful and entertaining—though I hoped I wouldn’t be dropped on my rear end for a second time.

Eternal: Chapter Five, Part 1

Chapter Five: From the Ground Up

Mitchell returned a few days later having found both Kora and Mikael. I was excited to be able to see them again, having been close to them back at camp. They had been part of a small, close- knit group of elementals, the first to actively dissolve the boundaries their predecessors had created between the earth and water elementals. When I set to break those boundaries by means of a game, they asked questions and worked to mediate arguments that arose after; my shining examples, in a way.

That was years ago, though. I hadn’t seen any of them since I left—Jake since before I left, which was why I was hoping to save him until last.

Drei was still off at whatever it was he was doing. By this point, it was a well-guarded secret I wanted in on, merely lacking the time to pursue it—not to mention my personal promise to be patient. I set Mitchell to working with Caroline and Ian—when they had time—to flesh out the vague timeline I had been putting together. They were also supposed to brainstorm different methods of reaching people given our deadline. Valetta was still tracking down Jake; last I’d heard, she had already located Xenia. She promised to find him by the time I was done meeting with Mikael and Kora.

Kora was finishing her freshman year at college, but you wouldn’t have known it looking at her. She had highlighted her dark hair with thin strands of red brown and carried herself as though she was a graduating senior. She had grown up a lot since I had last seen her three years ago.

I watched her during the cloudy day, following at a safe distance. There wasn’t any point in interrupting her regular day when what I had to discuss with her had nothing to do with her college life or friends. Besides, it would likely take her a moment to remember me if she did at all. It had taken Caroline almost too long for comfort, and it had only been a year since I last saw her. Ian didn’t count.

She was quite the busy student, between studying, group meetings, organizational meetings, and what have you. The first few days presented little opportunity. The fourth day, a Saturday, was sunny—which kept me indoors during the day—and that night was some sorority event.

It wasn’t until Sunday night when she was even relatively alone. She walked around the beautiful campus with her boyfriend—at least that’s whom I guessed the lanky gentleman holding her hand was. Checking her watch casually, she kissed his cheek and bade him farewell. There was an explanation as well, but I wasn’t near enough to catch it and I didn’t feel like adding eavesdropping on top of what could be classified as stalking.

His blue gray eyes followed her a while before he continued down the path. Kora approached me where I was sitting on a bench near the quad, partially hidden behind flowering bushes. She stopped a couple yards away, crossing her arms and cocking her hip to the side.

“Why have you been following me for the last week?” she asked.

Meeting her large hazel eyes, I kept a straight face, deciding to take an un-Mitchell approach with her. “How have you been, Kora?” I asked, attempting to minimize the amount of spent on memory catch-up.

“Why do you know my name?” A trace of fear crossed over her features before it vanished under a cool façade.

“I’m guessing you knew I was following you because of your talents,” I said, realizing I was very possibly terrifying her as she clenched her jaw and clutched her arms more tightly. “You really have nothing to fear from me. We’ve met before.”

“I’m sure we haven’t,” she said. “I really think you should stop whatev—”

“Don’t you remember feathers? Or games? Maybe you remember Nick? Perhaps an ice sculpture with flowers you helped to make? Any of that ring a bell?”

It was somewhat entertaining to watch her huge eyes grow in realization and then narrow in skepticism. “You can’t be—”

I put a finger to my lips, silencing her as she studied me, even more confused. “You can’t use my name in public for the time being,” I said, standing. She was as tall as I was now, and it was strange since I remembered her only coming up to my shoulder. “Drei wants everyone to call me Leirba for now.”

Eternal: Chapter Four, Part 5

Drei, who had reappeared overnight, didn’t want me to go; he insisted I shouldn’t press my luck. It wasn’t a surprise when I objected; I had to go. When the day proved sunny, he attempted again to talk me out of going. Then, relenting, he brought out an umbrella and made me swear I wouldn’t forget to use it. Though his worrying seemed like it was because he thought I was incapable of managing myself, I knew it was because he loved me and he worried.

He wasn’t coming with me, despite my asking, and it was because he was still working on his secret project. I promised myself if his project wasn’t done by the time I had brought everyone together for a first official meeting, I would ask—and when I did, I would have an answer.

At first, it was strange walking through the streets with an umbrella—something came up and I assured Ian I was fine walking there. But after a while, I realized people didn’t care; they weren’t staring at me. Most of the people who even glanced at me probably either questioned my sanity or suspected I had a heightened threat of skin cancer or something to that effect. It made me grateful for the city.

Caroline was waiting in the lobby when I arrived.

“What’s with the umbrella?” she asked, gesturing to it, her lips scrunched to the side in disapproval.

“Direct sunlight is detrimental to my health,” I said, shrugging. “Shall we meet your lawyer?”

After eyeing me a moment longer, perhaps hoping to lure a better answer from me, she conceded; “Angeline’s waiting for us upstairs.”

It wasn’t long before Caroline was leading me into Angeline Baxter’s office, which may have been poor timing on our part as she was angrily talking into her speakerphone about someone named Brommer.

“…And you know what he did today? He had the nerve to assume how I make my coffee every morning. So, not only does he show me up in success rate—which doesn’t even make sense since he doesn’t have nearly as many connections within the system as I do—now he’s trying to get to know me?” she complained, pacing behind her desk as Caroline and I sat down. “He makes me so angry.”

Caroline let her rant on a short while longer before clearing her throat—more from boredom than irritation.

“Oh, I’ve got to go. My twelve o’clock is here,” she asid, and the person on the other end assured her they’d talk more later. “Sorry about that.” Angeline sat down, composing herself. “It’s great to see you again, Caroline. Nothing wrong, I hope.”

“Not at all,” Caroline assured her, sitting back and lacing her fingers together in her lap. “I’m actually here because my friend, Leirba Jones, is looking into beginning an endeavor and wanted to make sure she had legal backing.”

“You must be Miss Jones,” Angeline noted, facing me. A strand of her brunette hair fell free from her careful pinning; she shoved it behind an ear, her hazel eyes scanning me to figure out what kind of endeavor this was exactly and how much quick thinking she was going to have to do.

“It’s nothing necessarily illegal,” Caroline offered, studying her nails now.

“I’m starting a revolution and I need to make sure what I do won’t be slowed down with legal problems,” I elaborated, sitting upright, my hands folded in my lap. “Caroline tells me you’re the best.”

“Caroline told you right,” a tenor voice said from behind us. Caroline and I turned to stare at the stunning young man entering the room. He was easily five eight and of a slender build, dressed in a brown three piece suit. His hair was clean cut and auburn in color, and his dark gray eyes glinted joyfully as he approached the now standing with her hands on her squared hips Angeline. “Miss Baxter is the best. It’s an honor to work for the same firm as her.”

“What’s this about?” she demanded defensively as he stopped just before her. She tried to stand straighter to appear taller than her five foot six height—with heels—but she only succeeded in seeming slightly flustered. “You have no right to interrupt my meeting.”

“I just wanted to see what kind of new clientele you were attracting,” he said, glancing a moment at Caroline and I before turning his eyes back to her.

“You could have seen from the window instead of interrupting us,” Angeline snipped, though I had the feeling it was more for show.

Caroline was disinterested, studying her nails again, waiting for it to pass. I couldn’t help but wonder if Angeline was always so easily distracted. Though watching her and whom I assumed to be Mr. Brommer, I was beginning to see why he bothered her. That wasn’t the only thing I picked up on, though. There was something about Mr. Brommer that was different. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I knew he was here for a reason.

“You’re both hired,” I stated, standing up.

The two stared blankly at me, their prior conversation forgotten. Mr. Brommer spoke first; “What?”

“Both of you will be my legal consultants for the duration of my movement,” I elaborated to catch him up. “I want you to work together.”

“But—” Angeline began.

“Are we done then?” Caroline asked, looking up from her nails for the first time in five minutes.

“Justin Brommer,” he introduced, shaking my hand, then Caroline’s. “I’d be delighted to work with Miss Baxter for you.”

“I know,” I assured, smiling kindly. “We’ll be in touch.”

Caroline added, “Charge my account for payment. It was nice to see you again, Angeline.”

In the elevator, I said, “You don’t have to cover the costs.”

Facing the elevator doors, Caroline replied, “I want to.”

“I don’t want you paying for everything, Caroline.”

“I’m going to, whether you want me to or not,” she said in her annoyingly level voice. There was no way I could convince her otherwise.

Shaking my head, I relented the argument. Some things would never change.

Eternal: Chapter Four, Part 4

“You knew I wasn’t dead?” I asked, cocking my head to the side, slightly put out. Mitchell’s habit of harmlessly tormenting people for fun was really starting to rub off on me. I was fairly certain that wasn’t healthy.

“I knew you were still around more than I knew you were alive,” he replied, shrugging and crossing his arms over his chest. “You have a unique imprint in the air that was still hanging around. When it disappeared that day, that’s when I called Caroline and learned what had happened. But then it came back.”

“It’s all…really complicated,” I said, knowing he was thinking about how it was always complicated—it did seem that way. “But I’m not even sure if I’m supposed to talk about it.”

He nodded. “She was a mess for the longest time, though.”

“Drei told me,” I assured him, hoping that subject would go away too. I didn’t like knowing I had been the cause of pain for people. It was part of the reason I tried not to think about my parents.

“But she seems better now.”

“I helped her let go of the grief and guilt she was holding on to,” I explained, shrugging, hoping he wouldn’t see it as a bad thing.

“That was nice of you,” he said softly, seeming to look past me. Yeah, he didn’t agree with it, but I personally hated to watch people suffer when I could help them.

“You aren’t mad at me, are you?” I asked, studying the bows on the toes of my flats. Ian was the only free air elemental I knew of, and I wasn’t sure how well I could pull off anything knowing I had angered him. He was one of those people I never wanted to cross, and not because he scared me. Ian was probably one of the frankest people I knew and that, in itself, was invaluable.

“Come ‘ere, love,” he said, pulling me into his arms again. “I can’t be mad at you when I’m sure you wouldn’t have put her through so much if you could’ve helped it.” Kissing the top of my head, he added, “Besides, you’re back now.”

“It’s—”

“Because it’s your time to run things,” he finished for me, unsmiling.

“How’d you know?” I stared up at him.

Approaching his painting, he pointed to the only gray strip branching away from the strand near the top of the canvas. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the three strips chasing after it weren’t pulling it back; they were swirling around it and creating the start of what could be a new strand. “That’s you.”

“You can’t be sure—that might be you,” I insisted, not wanting to believe him.

“I’m supposed to spread truths, but not until after there’s been a great change,” he said, scanning my face. “Which means it has to be soon because I’ve already begun painting.”

“Why can’t it have already happened?” I argued, knowing he was probably right since it was his work—he should know—but being stubborn just the same.

“Because every other air elemental who has led a movement was chosen to lead it by luck, not because they stepped up to lead it.” Eyeing me, having cornered me with the very information I had spent months studying, he concluded, “Until you.”

We stared at each other for the longest time. I still didn’t want to believe that was supposed to be me, but I couldn’t form an articulate argument in response; history was on his side, as well as his own destiny. The silence was broken when Caroline returned with her coffee.

“There’s more if either of you would like some,” she said, sitting on one of the couches, oblivious to the situation upon which she had stumbled.

“No, thanks,” Ian said as I said, “I’m good.”

“Suit yourselves,” she replied, shrugging, clutching her mug in her lap as if it were extremely cold in the room. “So, Abs, what’s the plan? Where do we start?”

Ian and I sat down on either side of her. “I still need a lawyer, and then I have to find the other four people I want on my core team,” I said, trying to remember what else I had already figured out. “Then we work on setup, because that’ll take some time. I’ll go more into detail when I have a full team, but that’s the basics.”

“Sounds like what we started with,” Caroline said to Ian, who nodded. “I can set up the appointment with my lawyer tomorrow. Noon work okay?”

I knew I couldn’t admit I was a vampire and that noon might not work out so well, so I said, “Sure,” hoping everything would work out in my favor. I either needed it to be overcast or to find a really big hat, though an umbrella might work as well; I’d make it work.

“Perfect. Ian can pick you up. Just like old times.”

“Of course,” Ian agreed, smiling as big as Caroline was.

Smiling back, I nodded, wishing it really was like old times. I had thought things were complicated then, but this was an entirely different web of all new proportions, and I would have given almost anything to have the old worries back.