Eternal: Chapter Twelve, Part 3

But that wasn’t everyone. Justin and Angeline were married and started their own law firm together. He had taken my advice, though I had known that at the march. She had said yes, just as I knew she would, and she was the reason he joined Caroline that day. As much as they argued, they loved each other and there would never be someone else they’d want.

If you were wondering, their law firm was one of the most successful in the nation and represented the new government—by Caroline’s recommendation, of course.

Mitchell and Valetta stuck around helping Caroline until just before the first elections. Then they took off to travel the world, just as Valetta had always wanted to do with her love. It only took a couple hundred years, but she was living her dream un-life. There wasn’t anyone I knew who deserved it more.

And Mitchell? Well, he was still Mitchell. And no matter how old I become, I doubt he will ever stop making fun of me. But I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Obviously, the Council agreed I had made my significant impact. All charges against us were dropped and we went on with our un-lives. I had heard, though, because of vampiric support during my campaign and the new government being formed, the Council was considering co-habitation in a hundred years, give or take a score. Once co-habitation was established, after all, they could fully stake claim for their part in the revolution.

Elizabeth, the little girl from the march, didn’t see a doll of me made. In fact, no one ever made a doll of me. They did, though, make an angel of me, and she received that for her birthday—courtesy of Drei, who still found it hilarious. Surprisingly enough, the angel looked like me. Pale skin, blue-grey eyes, blondish brown hair, and arms open to welcome everyone and everything. Of course, she was called Leirba. What I didn’t expect was that she was the angel not of change, or hope, or peace, but of miracles. Another company called her the guardian of the impossible, including a story about how she magically came to earth one day, led a great movement for change against all odds, and disappeared when the people could see the path forward. It also promised she’d return again if they ever needed her.

As cute and inspiring as I thought it was, I hoped they wouldn’t need me again, and should they, I hoped someone else would be there to step up and take his or her turn. Otherwise I would be there, but I can guarantee you whoever was supposed to be stepping up wouldn’t like it.

My parents were reunited again, too. I bought a plane ticket for my mom, and left a message for my dad telling him when to be at the airport, which flight, and everything. It dawned on me I could have been there, as well. But the only thing I could do to right what had gone wrong was to give them back to each other.

I stayed at home and mapped it. I watched as she stepped through security, searching for someone familiar, anyone familiar. My dad searched for me, because I had left the message. The two of them finally saw each other, their eyes locking and everyone else seeming to freeze in place. Then he was holding her, so gently, terrified she wasn’t real. She started crying, wrapping her thin arms around him, telling him she loved him and she was sorry she ever had to leave.

A month later, he was divorced from my mother, leaving her the house and enough money to keep her satisfied for years. I think she had been expecting this as she didn’t put up a fight. She just let it happen, and a year later she was married to some guy down the block who divorced her a few months after for everything she was worth. I wouldn’t say she deserved it, because she didn’t, and I found it somewhat cruel that she had to work after never working on anything but a committee for years. I called Dad, left him a message about Kenzy’s situation, and he helped her get back on her feet, ensuring the next guy she married wouldn’t do the same by making him sign a pre-nuptial agreement.

Mom and Dad, though, they had a small apartment in New York, his favorite place in the world. They were happy and he was doing everything he could to help Mom heal after all she had suffered through. I was proud of her for taking the aid he offered—and found for her—and of him for stepping up and being home to help her. If I was lucky, my eternity with Drei would be filled with just as much love as their time together was.

Looking back, it almost seemed as though that march was where most people ended the movement, though it still technically continued into today. I found it strange and flattering. Though it wasn’t the end, it seemed to be the start of everyone’s future. For better or for worse, we had succeeded.

Finally.

Eternal: Chapter Eleven, Part 4

Screams engulfed the crowd; there was a flash in front of me, and I felt a bump, but I had no idea what was happening. It seemed impossible that someone had actually shot at me…again. But I was unharmed. Yet everyone was still pointing, their faces contorted in horror and fear. In the distance, I saw Nick’s team apprehend the shooter and quickly canvass through the crowd, searching for any other threats.

Everyone who hadn’t run was gaping, though, and when I looked at my feet, I saw why. Nick had jumped in front of me and took the bullet. I felt my heart break and my strength seeping away from me. How could this have happened? And now of all times? When everything was going so well.

Kneeling beside him, I smoothed the hair off his face. He was in a cold sweat and shaking. Glancing up, Ian was already on his cell phone, yelling that we needed an ambulance right away. The way Nick was squeezing my hand, though, I knew he didn’t have long.

“Abriel,” he whispered, holding on tighter to my hand. I could feel him slipping away and I didn’t want it to be true. It couldn’t be true.

“Don’t die on me,” I demanded, furiously wiping the tears blinding me from my eyes. “You aren’t allowed to die on me.”

“If you change me,” he murmured, “you’ll ruin…everything…you’ve worked for.”

I hated him for saying it because he was right, and it was what I had been thinking. Turning me had been Drei’s solution, and here it was one of my two options. But his words were true. Taking that route would undo everything I had put into motion; but I couldn’t just watch him die.

“But—”

“I’m dead…you know that.” He coughed, closing his eyes.

“Nick, don’t, please hold on,” I cried, squeezing his hand as his grip loosened.

“Finish it,” he said, struggling to inhale so he could speak. “I…love…”

“No, Nick;” I couldn’t stop myself from crying, or from holding him to me as he slipped through my fingers. Everything we had been through, everything we had done, and he was gone in seconds. “Don’t leave me like this. I love you.”

Drei knelt beside me, rubbing my back. It took me a moment to realize he was saying anything.

“—say something to them.”

Nodding, I wiped the tears from my eyes and signaled toward Caroline. She came over to join me.

Pulling myself together, I started improvising, just as we had planned. And as miserable as it made me to realize it, I had been right about how this had to end. “This is…was Nick,” I said, my voice stronger than I thought it would be. “He wasn’t an elemental, but he has been a friend to me for years, and now he’s also a victim of this injustice. It needs to end.” Looking at Caroline, I raised my hand to her. “Caroline will show you how.”

A wave of uncertainty and some grumbled complaints met me. They were scared, but this was the right thing to do. To truly take down the government wasn’t something I could do. For that, it required someone more willing to lead a coup. Complete removal of the government was the only way to keep things from reverting back to the way they had been.

“I brought you together,” I said, catching their attention again. “That was my job. I brought you together, gave you information, motivation, and a voice. What comes next requires a different kind of leadership. Caroline I trust with my life, and I hope you will as well. She will lead us faithfully into the next steps of change, and our new future.”

Despite the shock and depression in the crowd, there was applause, there was excitement and anxiousness, and I knew they would follow her. Caroline hugged me, whispering into my ear, “This is your baby, though.”

“It’s yours now.”

Some people left, more swarmed the platform, or any of the groups of elementals, asking questions and trying to find out what Caroline would do next. She made a public announcement to the news crews that she would have to meet with her advisors to discuss how to go about the next phase, but they would keep everyone posted. All they had to do was be ready to act.

While everyone was distracted, Drei had removed Nick’s body and I followed him away from the site. Away from the place where Nick had died protecting me and our campaign. Away from everyone I had worked with over the last two years, and wasn’t sure I could even face anymore. But, mostly, away from the place where my past seemed to end, and my future undoubtedly began.

Eternal: Chapter Eleven, Part 3

“I would like to begin by expressing my deepest and sincerest thanks for your presence here today.” Standing on the raised platform, news crews stalking along the base, the crowd of participants stretching along either side of the reflecting pool, I felt calm. Sure, there were a lot more people here than I had thought—it seemed we surrounded the entire length of the pool—but they were here because they wanted to be, because they were making a choice to listen and act. “Without you, all of you, none of this is possible. So thank you.”

Wild applause. Okay, so not so wild, but it was there and reassuring. At least I wasn’t losing them and just spouting off to myself.

When they quieted down again enough most could hear me, I continued; “I believe you’re here today, because you’ve seen the ads, read the available information, viewed or attended one of the local orations, and, most of all, because you care. Because you believed what you saw, what you witnessed, and you’ve made the decision to care.” Looking out at everyone, people were nodding, smiling, holding hands with their friends, some people looked to be tearing up even. “Elementals, as you have probably heard a lot in the past two years, are oppressed, are stripped of their rights as citizens, and are in hiding. Until now. We have been quiet too long, and now we’re strong enough to speak, and stand up; and with everyone here, elemental or not, we can make a difference.”

I stopped a moment, reminding myself to breath, relax, that I wasn’t going to cry. But it wasn’t easy. Speaking now, in front of everyone, where it really mattered, every reason I was doing this came flooding back to me, with every successful baby step we had already made. It was inexplicably satisfying, to say the least, to be standing there after so long, after having had sacrificed so much. After everyone had sacrificed so much.

“Any elemental, here with us, or watching at home, who would like to keep their secret, can,” I said, remembering Justin. No one was going to be forced into this if it wasn’t what they wanted, but I hoped they would be persuaded. “We won’t find you out. It’s your decision, just like being here today is your decision. A decision we—I am glad you made. But we would not be here without the help of my close friends and their willingness to step out with me.”

Sweeping a hand out to my right, I introduced, “Mikael and Kora, representing earth.” As Ian had instructed them, they stood in the grass and together—mostly Kora, though Mikael did what he could—they coaxed three trees into full height, intertwining into each other. Then they climbed up to one of the branches and waved in response to the awed applause.

 “Jake and Xenia, representing water.” Together, they shaped the water in the reflecting pool into a tall, thin sculpture of an angel, freezing her in place. They raised themselves on two small, frozen pedestals at either side, also waving as they were applauded. “Caroline—”

“And Justin,” he added, jumping onto the platform beside her, seeming to shock even himself.

“And Justin;” I smiled. So he had come through after all. “Representing fire.” Caroline whispered in his ear before they crafted a tower of fire skyward that transformed into a phoenix, flying a moment out over the crowd and greeted with dropped jaws and wide eyes. When the phoenix died away into smoke, everyone literally went crazy with praise, whistling and shouting at the top of their lungs. Angeline, I noticed, was one of the loudest and most enthusiastic. “Ian—”

“And Leirba,” Ian said, as was planned, both of us gesturing to each other.

“Representing air.”

Together we whisked the cherry blossoms Ian had gathered into a thin cyclone, changing it into the form of a woman, opening her arms and leaning out over them. Then the cherry blossoms separated, and we treated them much like butterflies dispersing amongst the crowd. A few children nearby I saw chase some, and gingerly held their prizes, excitedly showing their parents.

Though I wanted to introduce Drei’s part in this, I knew that would put me in a whole new set of trouble—considering this turnout should have won us our forgiveness from the Council. As for Nick, I had asked, and he insisted he didn’t want to be introduced, despite persisting he would be on stage with me. It was for my safety, he insisted.

“We represent each element, and are the first elementals to risk exposure. Some of you might ask why, after we’ve been in hiding so long and none of you probably knew we even existed, or that many others like you existed. The truth is, hiding doesn’t work,” I stressed, trying to strike a balance between demanding and understanding. “I grew up without my mom because she was found, and she had been in hiding. Jake lost his mother to the government, and she was in hiding. Xenia was forced to find other ways to express herself so she could stay hiding. Mikael was left by both of his parents due to hiding. Hiding doesn’t work—not for long,” I added, trying to hold eye contact with as many people as possible. “It leads to repression, depression, other unhealthy outcries, and lies. No relationship can be founded on lies or omissions.

“But this is what we are forced to do. Live every day lying to ourselves because it’s safer. But it isn’t, really.  It just delays the inevitable. Worse than that, though, it hurts. Not just us, but everyone we know.” I was treading into deep water, and I felt it; I had to remind myself I was strong, that I could talk about this without falling apart. I had to.

“When my mom was taken, she left behind my dad. He missed her immeasurably, because, do you know what the government says happens to those they take? The loved ones issue a missing persons report, and a year or so later, the government sends the order to officially claim the person deceased.” Breathe, I reminded myself. “And my mom isn’t dead, because I’ve seen her; I actually shared a cell with her for a month and saw firsthand what their…“tinkering” does. How it corrodes the brain and sends many of their prisoners into an irreversible state of insanity.

“I was lucky, though. Not because they let me go, but because I knew people who would find me, so that today, I could be standing here before you, working to end what’s happening.”

“But they can’t just make people disappear,” one of the reporters at my feet said into his microphone, reaching it up at me.

I opened my mouth to respond when someone from the audience stepped forward, saying, “They did it to my husband, and my father.” It was the woman who had approached me earlier that morning.

“And my sister,” someone else shouted.

“And my fiancé,” another voice called out. Before I knew it, it seemed half the audience was claiming a lost relative or loved one, some of them children or distant relations, others friends and parents. Many of those speaking up also admitted to having an elemental ability; my team gestured for each person to join their respective group, welcoming them with hugs and condolences. The reporter who had complained seemed to be shrinking under everyone who contradicted him. Even his fellow reporters were stepping away.

“What’s worse than taking people we love and telling us they’re dead, is what they do to them in there. What makes them go insane and eats away at their brain,” I began again, a quiet washing over my audience. “At first, they wanted to figure out a way to force elementals to use their gifts as weapons in warfare. But after more research, they discovered that every elemental has a direct connection to their element, an entity more powerful than all of us combined. And thus, they began looking for how to tap that entity, whether it killed us or not. They didn’t care…they don’t care. To them, we don’t exist, because most people don’t know about us. But we exist,” I asserted, restraining myself from yelling. “And we have the same right, as every other citizen, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

It wasn’t just the elementals in the crowd who were cheering me on, supporting me, giving me strength to say what so desperately needed to be said. It was everyone, and it felt so right to be there, for them to be there, for this to be happening at that moment.

“We are people. We are citizens. We are entitled to our equality. And we will not be silenced.”

BANG!

Eternal: Chapter Eleven, Part 1

Chapter Eleven: Unstoppable, Unalterable

Mitchell, Valetta, Drei, and I arrived at the starting location, approximately two and a half miles from the reflecting pool. Even an hour early, there were quite a few people waiting—about forty or so. Nick had left the house a few hours before us to ensure everything was ready, review instructions with his men and women, and then post them at various locations around the start point. They would follow the crowd to the reflecting pool, where they would take predetermined surveillance positions.

The whispers started as we approached. I told myself the whispers had been there before we neared; they weren’t for us and certainly not for me.

But they were all about me; all that I could hear anyway. It was strange. The last time so many people had been whispering about me, I had lost control the day before at school and had an entire school paper dedicated to my freak out. That it was happening again made my heart race and my breath catch. I forced myself to breathe deeply and reminded myself this time the whispers were good.

“Thank you,” a woman said, walking up to me, taking my hands in hers and smiling. Her blonde hair was down, floating around her face in the gentle breeze of the day. “Thank you for fighting to give us normal lives.”

“Thank you for bringing it to our attention,” a dark skinned man with a thick southern accent said, smiling at both of us. “We never would have known what was happening, or that we could even do anything about it, without you.”

“She’s over here, Mommy,” a little girl shouted, tugging on a woman’s hand, her brown hair pulled back and her hazel eyes sparkling. Her mother looked nervous, though her daughter didn’t stop pulling her along. “It’s Leirba, Mommy. I told you she’d be here.”

“Of course, she’s here, darling;” her mother glanced apologetically at me.

Crouching down so I was eye level with the girl, I asked, “What’s your name?”

“Elizabeth,” she said, digging a foot in the ground. “My mommy and I saw you once when you were talking to people and then you were flying and it was so cool!” She looked up at me with large eyes, bouncing on her toes. “And I told her I want a doll of you for my birthday, because if they make dolls of TV people, then you should have a doll, too, right?”

Smiling, sensing Drei trying to hold back a laugh behind me and Valetta swatting his arm, I replied, “I’m not sure how the doll thing works, but if you ask your mommy really nicely, I’ll let you fly for a little bit.”

Gasping, she turned to look up at her mom; “Can I? Oh, pretty pretty pretty please, Mommy? Can I?”

Her mother asked, “Are you sure it’s all right. I wouldn’t want to be a nuisance.”

“It really isn’t a problem if you don’t mind,” I said, still smiling.

Glancing down at Elizabeth, she smiled, nodding. “Sure, sweetie. But don’t whine when she tells you it’s time to stop, okay?”

“I won’t, Mommy, don’t worry.”

Stepping back from the crowd of people around us, Elizabeth followed and asked what she had to do.

Holding out a hand to her, I said, “Don’t let go of my hand, and when I say jump, just jump a little into the air, okay?”

Taking my hand, she nodded energetically. I started up the circle of air beside her, keeping it slow and low to the ground to start. “Okay, jump.” In the second she was off the ground, I slipped the flow of air under her feet and circled it around me slowly, lifting her only about a foot high.

At first, she wobbled forward and backwards, trying to catch her balance. Then she kept glancing between me and her feet, as if trying to understand what was holding her in the air.

“Don’t move too much,” I warned her, “you might lose your footing.” After a while, she was holding her other arm out and waving to her mom, smiling and talking about how cool it was and how jealous her friends were going to be when they found out about it. She was having so much fun I couldn’t help but smile. And yet there was a small pang of sadness as I was reminded that my mom wouldn’t be there. Instead of burying the emotion, I embraced it, channeling it into motivation for what was coming.

When I told her it was time to stop, she didn’t complain. Elizabeth jumped down when I said to and took only a moment to regain her bearings before running to her mom and hugging her fiercely. She couldn’t seem to stop recounting the details and her mom just smiled, laughing with her and listening avidly.

“Thank you,” she said to me before they walked away.

Elizabeth ran back for a second, hugging me around the waist, saying, “Thank you! It was the bestest present ever!” I watched as she ran back to her mom and they joined a group of people they knew.

“A doll?” Drei said into my ear, a smile in his voice. He was struggling not to laugh, his lips twitching slightly in the effort.

“Why is that so funny?” I asked, hitting him lightly on the arm. “I thought it was cute.”

“It was very cute;” he smirked, his fingers smoothing the loose hairs around my face back toward my ponytail. “I just cannot imagine you, my love, as a doll.”

“What? You don’t think I’m cute enough?” I pouted, knowing it wasn’t what he meant at all, but enjoying teasing him.

“Now I never said that;” his lips curled even more. “I find you positively gorgeous.”

“Besides, a doll could never capture your essence,” Valetta added, patting Drei on the shoulder as if to tell him to shush now.

“And it would make you seem more…plastic,” Mitchell added, tapping his chin. “That sounds slightly inane.”

“Because it is?” Valetta offered, hugging him and kissing his cheek.

“I think I know what he meant,” I said, smiling, thinking of what Caroline would say when she heard about it.

Eternal: Chapter Nine, Part 7

I waited, glancing from one person to the next, especially watching the doubters, hoping someone would speak up. My eyes wouldn’t beg anyone for a question, but I knew they were out there; just watching their faces, there were questions.

“How do we know you’re not making this all up?” Nick asked, filling the silence that no one else would breach, ending the anxiety and annoyance it had begun to instill in me. A good deal of attention was shifted to him for a moment before returning to me, many mumbles consenting with this question.

“Because I’m an air elemental. I grew up without my mother, another air elemental who was found and taken away by the governmental detail we refer to as bounty hunters. Because this is not something I would joke about.”

“Prove it,” a woman shouted from one of the picnic blankets.

I had spent the night thinking about what I would do and had determined a few ways, starting with the less showy. The woman who asked was named Dolores, which I found out from her friend who was somewhat embarrassed she had spoken up. Dolores—a tall brunette, curvy, and middle-aged—was thinking about her kids and the teenaged babysitter she left them with, whom she didn’t trust not to invite over her boyfriend or friends.

“Dolores, would you tell your friend with you…” I was saying, a trick to make her think her friend’s name for me, “…Joanie, that she shouldn’t be embarrassed you spoke up. This is an open forum because I don’t want any of you to believe me just because I say you should.” The women exchanged a confused look and there was some murmuring from the people gathered. “Because I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable,” I added, one hand on my chest, one hand reaching out toward her as if I could pat her hand, which I did do with the air, “I won’t ask for your address, but I think you should trust your babysitter. She probably has the kids playing a game or something.”

Dolores started talking excitedly to Joanie, first demanding if she had spoken to me at all and how I could know all of that. I withheld a smile, proud of myself, though I knew most people wouldn’t believe either of them.

“So how long have you known Dolores and Joanie?” a guy, standing relatively close to Nick, demanded, crossing his arms.

“I’ve never met them before,” I replied, “but you won’t believe me. And that’s okay.”

“Do something else?” a little black haired boy requested, his mother quickly shushing him though he waved her off.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked him, crouching down as he was in one of the lawn chairs near the gazebo steps.

He leaned forward excitedly, his rich brown eyes wide and glistening. “Can you fly?” he half-whispered.

Smiling, I stood again. “I can do something like flying,” I admitted, facing the skeptic near Nick.

“You probably know him, too,” he quipped, sneering. Some people just had no manners.

“She doesn’t,” the boy’s mother insisted, holding his head to her chest before he pushed her away, waiting eagerly to see his request fulfilled.

“Then you wanted someone to say that. There’s probably wires,” he reasoned, and while a few people agreed with him, more of them were tired of his doubting, even if they still weren’t convinced.

“So choose someone, anyone here, to check for wires,” I invited, opening my arms to encompass the entire company. “I won’t object.”

Thus, everyone started talking, automatically eliminating anyone who said they believed me and ruling out the skeptic for being too skeptical. Dolores, Joanie, and the boy and his family were also ruled out. Eventually they decided on a farmer type who was torn between believing God would allow a phenomena like this to happen and that elementals were spawns of the devil and therefore unnatural. He was, however, hesitant to do much more than swipe his hand above my head and arms should the latter be the truth. When other men in the crowd cheered him to check elsewhere on my person, he was very respectful and his cheeks burned red.

When he cleared me as wire-free, I asked him to step to the side, starting up my cycle of moving strings where he had been standing. Stepping onto my strings, it took me a moment to find my balance, not having done this for a while. Once I found it, though, I was good to go, slowly weaving through the crowd where there was enough space, eventually flying to the top of the gazebo and sitting down on a now solid block of air. The little boy was out of his seat staring open-mouthed up at me. Everyone was staring open-mouthed, even Nick who—I had forgotten—had never seen me do anything but little tricks.

As I sat above them, I properly read the crowd. For the most part, they were convinced. Quite a few had questions, but I could take those individually. Floating slowly back down, I felt it was time to improvise an ending since I had pretty much improvised everything else.

“Elementals exist,” I started, smiling at how many people were nodding in consent, in belief. Even the gentleman who had checked for wires. “Through us, small miracles still happen, our existence becomes less of a burden on the environment, and people are helped. But it won’t last if we let the government have its way. We exist; we’re people, human; we deserve our rights, too. But it’s the efforts of everyone together that’s going to make a change possible,” I finished, looking around again. I couldn’t seem to remember why I had ever been nervous to begin with. “I’ll be here for a while yet, so feel free to ask questions.”

Nick was the last one I looked at before thanking the crowd and going to sit on one of the benches in the gazebo. He had been smiling, silently clapping for me. Seeing that made me feel so warm inside.

And the feeling didn’t stop there, either. Most of the people who came up to talk to me introduced themselves and commented on how I had been, or how amazing it was to see me fly, or tell me how they wanted to help in any way they could. Every time they asked my name, I answered with “Leirba,” staying true to Drei’s instructions.

Though the original speech was meant to awe and inspire and be longer and better organized, among other things, I felt I had found my niche. Caroline worked well with a prepared script; she liked to talk at people and have them listen. Me? Well, it seemed improvising with facts readily available afterwards was more my speed. I liked to talk to people, and connect in that fashion. If the feedback was any indication, that was how I was going to succeed.

Eternal: Chapter Nine, Part 6

Drei had chosen the exact location for this speech to be the gazebo where, on sunnier days, local musicians would showcase their talent and school bands would hold fundraisers. It was a huge, well-kept, white gazebo with intricate lattice work and was in a well shaded area. Nick and I arrived an hour before it was scheduled to begin. I had left behind my notebook and notes, not wanting to carry them with me. Though I had it memorized, I was beginning to feel nervous again, wishing I had brought it along after all.

“You’ll be great,” Nick insisted, squeezing my shoulder. “Remember, I’ll be in the audience, by that tree,” he added, pointing to a tall oak tree straight out from one of the entrances to the gazebo.

Touching his hand, soaking in the comfort it was trying to offer, I nodded, knowing he had to leave and show up after other people had, if anyone did. He would stay nearby should I need him, but we wanted to limit the number of faces directly related to our campaign for the time being.

He walked away, looking back once as if to assure me he would be under that tree before I started speaking. That I wasn’t some puppy he was going to leave by the side of the road and never return to. Not that I had been thinking that. Really. All right, maybe a little.

I sat, concentrating on breathing, relaxing until Nick’s cell phone alarm went off in my pocket—doubling as a reminder he had to return. As I breathed, I tried not to think if I was dressed appropriately in my blue jeans, long, loose-fitting blouse, and sweater jacket; I attempted to stop my brain from going through opinions whoever showed might already have of me, how I would work around that, and if I could at all. I wasn’t succeeding very well.

Slowly, my silence was infiltrated as the park started filling with people, some of them stopping to stare at me while others just stood around chatting. Focusing on the first words of my speech, I tried droning them out, forcing myself not to be concerned with their words

There was a soft buzzing in my back pocket. Pulling out the cell phone, I turned it off, exhaling slowly until there was no air in my lungs.

Show time.

Standing up, I faced the oak tree Nick had pointed out, surprised to see a good sized group of people before me. Some sat on picnic blankets, relaxing with friends; some had brought lawn chairs; others were standing under or leaning against trees. A shush fell across them like dominoes as the people closest to the gazebo noticed me there.

Part of me, the part scared senseless right then, wanted to walk down the steps and pretend I had just been waiting in the gazebo for the speaker. To let it end here with all of them disappointed, never to be bothered again.

Glancing around, my eyes caught Nick’s, and I knew I couldn’t let them down. Most of them had probably been avid listeners and followers of Caroline’s revolution when it had ended—indirectly my fault. They had been waiting for a change, craving one. I couldn’t reward their patience and devotion with more disappointment.

Swallowing, I stepped forward, forcing myself to calm down, at least on the surface. I wasn’t Caroline; I could draw attention, but I didn’t know how to command it as she did. The beginning she had written was what worked for her, but standing before all of these expectant people now, I knew it wasn’t what was going to work for me.

“Welcome,” I greeted, opening my arms to all of them. “That you’re here today means you’ve seen the commercials; you’ve visited the site; now you want to know more,” I started, risking looking around at everyone. My nerves were still going crazy but at least it wasn’t showing in my voice. Nick gave me a thumbs up. “For anyone who hasn’t read the literature on the site, allow me to summarize. There are people who look normal, have regular jobs, lead average lives, but are different. They can control one of the four elements: water, fire, earth, air.” I had thought I might do something to emphasize this point, but decided to leave the theatrics until someone asked. Right now, the message was the important part.

“As I said, they are regular people, just like everyone here, but a little different. Not different in a bad way,” I added, still on guard but starting to relax. It was hard reading just their expressions and I didn’t want to distract myself with reading their impressions just yet. The general feeling was patience, calm, and interest; doubt was only in a few spots. I’d see how that changed in a moment when I went into the heavy stuff. “Instead of treating people like this, like me, with the same respect as everyone one else, though, our government chooses to hunt us. To gather a special detail of people to search for us, find us, and take us into captivity for research to use our gifts, against our will, as a weapon. Gifts that are meant to be given to everyone to improve life, to assist us in coexisting with our environment; gifts that have been at work silently bringing change into our lives for centuries.

“But these gifts won’t be around forever,” I stated, feeling stronger, feeling empowered by finally saying what no one else would. There was no turning back after this moment; no one could erase spoken words, even if they managed to erase those written. “The elements endow us to benefit as many as possible, but that’s their only purpose. They won’t stand for being used as a weapon, or being misused in any way.” Saying this, I thought of Mom and knew she would be proud if she could be here—this was one of her lessons to me, after all. But I also sensed the increasing doubt among my listeners. This was the abstract part now, the part I’d have to back soon with proof. “Some of you may remember another revolution, aimed at the government. Everything that was the case then, is still the case now,” I said, beginning to talk more with my hands. “But this is a case of civil rights, one of many faults in a structure that is failing. Another omission in an ever growing list.”

No one had left yet, and no one had completely lost interest; even the doubters were still listening, still staring at me. Even as they grew more skeptical, something about whatever I was saying was rooting them here. I wasn’t sure what exactly, but I figured it didn’t matter so long as they kept listening.

“This blatant disregard of our rights as citizens—as human beings—breaks apart families, ruins relationships, forces all of us into hiding…until now. We refuse to stay silent any longer. We want to live peacefully and help where we can. To do that, we need all the help you can give.”

Eternal: Chapter Nine, Part 5

Smoothing the hair out of his face, I realized how much he had grown up from two years ago. His eyes and facial structure hadn’t changed at all, but the set of his jaw seemed more serious than playful. His skin was dark as if he had spent a lot of time outside, or maybe it was dark in comparison to my paling skin. He was already starting to show crow’s feet though, and laugh lines from smiling so much. It was almost like he was aging faster than most people did, or perhaps that was just in comparison to me.

“You’re the only one who hasn’t told me I’ve changed,” I said softly, sitting back. My fingers were still running through his damp hair—it was really soft and I found the repetition of movement soothing.

“I didn’t know if you’d want to hear it,” he admitted, closing his eyes. “That feels really good, by the way.”

Smirking, I asked, “So do I look different?”

One of his jade gems flashed up at me before he answered, “You’re paler, you seem more serious, and you’re cool to the touch, even when other people are hot and sweaty.”

Nodding, I thanked him. No one else had said how I was different, just that I was, and hearing how actually made me feel less worried. For a while I was wondering if I had a huge sign painted on my forehead saying “different” and I was the only one who didn’t know.

“You and Drei are closer,” he said, starting to fully relax, one of his hands dangling off the side of the couch now. At least one of us could relax. “Does that have anything to do with you changing?” When I didn’t say anything, he asked, “Aren’t you two worried about being found out?”

After a moment I knew I had to say something, even if it meant he would know both answers. “Things are different now.”

His eyes flew open and I felt his muscles tense. “What do you mean?”

“Just that,” I said, holding his eyes steadily. “Things are different now.”

He sat and spun to face me. “A—”

“Leirba,” I interrupted before he could screw everything up. To most of the public, Abriel had died more than a year ago, mysteriously disappearing from the hospital where they attempted a surgery to save her life after she had been admitted for a gunshot wound. Not to mention Abriel was supposed to have died before that, at the docks, after having successfully escaped one of the secret government “research labs” that conveniently doubled as an elemental prison. Leirba was safe from both death and the government—for a short while anyway.

Nick bit his bottom lip, holding back his frustration; he wanted to be straightforward about this and using an alternate name felt like a game. He was too easy to read when he was upset.

Before he could say anything else, I sighed and suggested, “We should go back to the room if we’re going to have this discussion.”

“Why? I thought things were different now?” he snipped childishly, his eyes watery. He even looked younger as his lips pouted—unintentionally.

“Because if this is going where I think it is,” I replied, grabbing my notebook and pulling him behind me, “then it still has to stay a secret.”

“Oh, so it’s a secret that he—”

Whipping my head around, I glared at him. He might have been taller than me, but I was more powerful and he knew that; I’d pushed him across a room once when he wasn’t listening to me. Nick shushed immediately and didn’t say a word until the door was closed behind us.

“He bit you.” It wasn’t a question.

“There were circumstances,” I said, staring out the window at the wintry sky. Halloween wasn’t too far off but it may as well have been the middle of February.

“What circumstances excuse him turning you into a…”

“I was dying,” I murmured under him. It took him a moment to realize I had said anything, thus his voice trailing off. He moved to stand before me at the window, one hand on my shoulder.

“What?” He forced himself to be calmer now so he would hear me.

“I was dying,” I repeated, my eyes following a few late birds through the sky. “The doctors had done what they could…so Drei did what he could.”

“You asked for this?” Nick asked, his voice soft with a note of betrayal.

“No;” his eyes were still watery but more from hurt than anything else. And it wasn’t hurt for himself. “I thought I was dead.”

“That’s why you’re going—”

“By Leirba, and it’s very important we stick to it.” I held his gaze a second longer before concentrating outside again. “It makes things complicated, but time is time.”

“You have more than time,” he said as though I hadn’t thought about it. “You have eternity.”

“So now you know.” When he didn’t move, as if waiting for me to say something else, I told him, “You handled it better than Mitchell and Valetta.”

Another silence enveloped us and I hated it. I wasn’t sure why, but more and more lately, I felt the compulsion to fill any silence in conversations. When I was alone, it was perfectly fine; but when I was with someone else, the silence only aggravated me and I had no explanation for it.

“Ready for tomorrow?” I wondered if he really knew that’s what I had switched to thinking about or if he was just trying to change the subject.

“No,” I confessed, still not looking at him. Some part of me felt like looking at him would reveal something he wasn’t saying. And if that was true, I was certain it wouldn’t be something helpful to my nerves or situation.

Pulling me into his strong arms as he had done before when I was scared or crying or both, I started feeling better. It wasn’t as effective as Drei saying a few words and touching my cheek or hand, but it still worked.

“If you start to get nervous, just remember I’ll be standing out in the audience,” he whispered into my hair. “I’m here for you.”

Wrapping my arms around him, too, I let him comfort me, allowing his confidence to sink into and fill me. Tomorrow would be great. I just had to breathe, stay calm and optimistic, and remember most of the people who would be there were already partially on my side. And Nick would be there if I started to panic.

How did I end up so lucky?

Eternal: Chapter Four, Part 3

Caroline drove us across town to Ian’s loft apartment. I hadn’t been there since the Thanksgiving we spent together, but it hadn’t changed much. The most striking difference was the artwork everywhere. Canvases were propped against and hung on all the walls, the images ranging from tranquil or busy scenes to abstract splashes of color or seemingly randomly placed angles and shapes.

One piece in particular caught my eye—partly for the color choices and partly because it seemed to be calling to me, demanding attention; it was propped against the floor to ceiling windows in the area functioning as a living room. In the center, blue, green, gray, and red ribbons twisted and intertwined in the center, strands peeling away in different directions, the other colors clutching to them—following and pulling them back. The strand was surrounded by blackness, a void of nonexistence; except light radiated around the ribbons and the strips breaking away.

“He calls it Contamination,” Caroline said, standing beside me. “I think it’s brilliant, but he won’t listen to me. Something about it being a statement.”

“It is a statement,” I said, wanting to touch it, but not wanting to be disrespectful, either.

“How?” Caroline huffed impatiently, crossing her arms. “Ian won’t explain it to me.”

“This is us,” I said, pointing to the strands. “The four elements and consequently all of the elementals. The blackness is the world; the people who don’t have the connections to nature we have, so they don’t understand what we do, especially about the way the world is.”

“Then the light is the contamination?” she asked, glancing from me back to the painting. “Contamination is a bad thing, isn’t it?”

“It’s often given a negative connotation, yes. But in this case, people don’t see the good we cause. Most would be afraid if they knew the truth about a lot of us,” I said, struggling to find the words that would make her understand what I did. “So to darkness, light can be seen as a bad thing, though oftentimes light is given a positive connation. To a world in darkness, light is contamination.”

“So we’re just gifted to make things worse?”

“Not at all;” I turned to face her. I never would have thought she would have drawn that conclusion. “We make things better, in theory.”

“You’re losing me,” she warned, shaking her head and closing her eyes. “We’re contaminating the dark world but we’re the good ones?”

“More, the world is in darkness because they don’t know. When they don’t know, it doesn’t really seem like anything is changing. There’s just…an angry environmentalist trying to stop companies from polluting rivers, or—or a crazy tree hugger trying to save the rainforest,” I said, taking a different approach. “For the longest time, we’ve been discouraged from letting people know we’re elementals, that we’re different. That’s why the branching strips are being pulled back.”

“But why are there are so many branching off if they’re not supposed to?”

“Because the people need to know eventually. If they know, they might listen more to what we have to say.”

“Or they might just think we’re freaks,” Caroline countered skeptically, crossing her arms and shivering. Definitely not a reaction I would have expected from her. I couldn’t help feeling these thoughts weren’t necessarily her own, but someone else’s that had been ground into her.

“Some people will think anyone different is a freak,” Ian said from behind us, causing us both to jump. Caroline hit his arm as I waited for him to finish his statement. “If any of us are really going to make a difference in anything, we have to stop being afraid of the people who will hate us.”

“Why didn’t you just explain that the first time I asked you?” Caroline demanded, pouting a little. I wasn’t sure she understood; all I could really hope was that she was beginning to.

“Do you realize how long it took her to explain it to you?” he retorted, turning his bright blue eyes on me. “You’ve changed…a lot.”

I smiled, trying to lighten his mood as his observation seemed to depress him. “And you haven’t changed at all,” I said, noting he still wore a stocking cap over his flaming red hair.

Hugging me, he added, “Sorry you had to explain it to her. I’m glad you understood it.”

“Of course I understood it.”

“I didn’t,” Caroline reminded us, hands on her hips. “Oh, and you have to call Abs Leirba now.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, his left eyebrow cocked.

“Drei’s choice, really. I’m just going with the flow.”

“I’m going to make coffee,” Caroline announced, heading to the kitchen area.

“You know where everything is.” When she was out of earshot, he confided, “She really missed you. What took you so long to resurface?”

Eternal: Chapter Four, Part 1

Chapter Four: Light My Fire

Valetta and Mitchell searched for a few people I had met at the camp whom I knew would be assets to the project if we could find them. I had absolute confidence in their ability. The only restraint I gave them, however, was not to approach them regarding the movement. That was something I needed to do personally.

Drei helped me find the one person locally I knew would be the most difficult to approach. Then, after insisting I adjust to introducing myself as Leirba, he disappeared, claiming he had something he needed to do. I didn’t know what he was doing but I trusted him, so I tried not to let the worry overrun my thoughts.

The day had been overcast but I had arranged a rendezvous after dusk, not wanting to risk frightening my guest with an unanticipated injury. We were meeting at a café. It had been forever since I had had a cinnamon chai latte and I couldn’t help breathing in the scent every few minutes to luxuriate in it; it smelled like heaven.

I had to wait quite a while for her to arrive—granted, I had been extremely early. When she walked through the door, I couldn’t help smiling at her. Her long red hair cascaded over her shoulders. She was wearing her classic skinny jeans paired with rainbow flats to match her tie-dye tee. Fashion aside, she wasn’t how I remembered her; her lips smiled, but sorrow and guilt made her cautious, tentative. Sleepless nights left dark circles under her eyes that showed through her concealer; she looked thinner.

“Caroline,” I called, catching her bronze eyes.

She smiled a little more warmly as she strolled up to the table. Cocking her head to one side and furrowing her brow slightly, she asked, “Have we met before? You look…familiar.”

“I’m Leirba,” I said, shaking her hand.

She gasped and grimaced; “Your hands are freezing.”

Folding my hands in my lap, I nodded my head in the direction of the empty seat. “Please…sit.”

“I’ll just get something—”

“Mocha chai?” I interrupted, motioning to the girl at the counter. I had already ordered and paid for it, but I didn’t want it cold by the time she arrived. The guy working brought her drink over a moment later, smiling flirtatiously at the two of us before returning to work.

After taking a drink, she set her cup down and stared at me a moment. “How’d you know?”

“I have my ways,” I replied cryptically, still holding her gaze as I sipped my own drink. Her brow furrowed in confusion and I could see the allure Mitchell found in puzzling me. True, I hated when I was the one being puzzled, but there was something about a good secret that made riddling another person entertaining.

“I really think I’ve met you somewhere before. I’m almost certain,” she insisted, sitting forward on her elbows. “But it doesn’t make sense because she—she…never mind.” Silence fell between us as she watched her finger run along the rim of her mug.

“She what?” I asked gently. “Died?”

Her bronze eyes shot up at me, surprised but also horrified and hurt. “Yeah;” she studied me carefully as if I were the devil. What I was doing was somewhat evil, I’ll concede, but it probably would have gone a lot worse if I’d come straight out with it from the start—the most likely outcome would be her yelling and storming out, and I couldn’t waste time chasing after her. She needed to arrive at her own conclusion about my identity if I was going to be able to bring her and the others into the fold within the month.

“Are you sure?” I tilted my head to one side, staring at her.

“I was there,” she replied softly, daring me to prove her wrong.

I sauntered to the counter, picking up a napkin on the way there. Using one of their pens, I wrote out Leirba in capital letters and drew an arrow from the A to the L. After thanking the guy at the register, I returned to our table and slid the napkin across its surface so she could read it.

At first, confusion flitted across her face as she tried making sense of it. She even glanced up at me a few times in disbelief. Disbelief and confusion quickly transformed into a bittersweet joy which was tossed aside by grief and guilt, her face disappearing into her hands as silent sobs wracked her body.

“Caroline?” She worried me. I hadn’t any idea she was this shaken by it. No, that’s a lie. I did know. Her entire revolution fell apart because she thought I was dead. Because she blamed herself.

“I’m so sorry, Abs,” she murmured into her hands. “I never meant for any of that to happen; I was trying to prevent anything like that. You weren’t supposed to get hurt. I’m sorry. So, so sorry.”

Laying a hand on her forearm, I said, “You have nothing to be sorry for; you aren’t responsible for what happened.” As I spoke, I worked at untying the knot of sorrow and guilt inside her, pulling the emotions surrounding the event away from her and setting them adrift into the sky; only then was I able to loosen and release the pain of the event. All of it floated through the ceiling in blue and decaying black ribbons; it was almost as beautiful as when I had done the same for Nick upon our first meeting. Of course, then, I hadn’t really known what I was doing. I was just hoping my crazy idea would work.