The Keeper Exams

Kate - Task One

This is what I'm looking for, also I originally had Kate as an Electric user, but it didn't fit this scene so I changed it to Elemental.

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"Katelyn, wait up!" Jason shouts, his voice echoing along the darkened tunnel. I could barely hear him, my heart was beating so violently in my ears and an insurmountable surge of adrenaline was madly dashing through my veins. The end of the tunnel was coming, coming faster and faster until we were smashing through the forest, following the beaten path like we'd come so many times before.

I pull back on Lightning's reigns slightly, just enough to give Jason and Willa enough time to catch up. My entire body was shaking from the adrenaline rush. Every part of me was electricuted with so much energy it was hard to stay upright on my horse.

"Damn Kate, you can't say you want to race and then leave me in the dust. That's not how this works. A little pity might be acceptable." He teases, lining his horse up beside mine.

"Professionals won't give me pity when I race them, and if I want to one day win a horse race than I need to get better and train harder." I retort, longing slipping into my tone.

"I know." Jason is quiet for a while after that, only the hoof beats of the horses to fill the empty silence. My family lived on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, my mother claimed it was because she hated the city but really it was something else. I could remember us running since I was a child, I'd never stayed in one place very long, until now.

We'd been here for five years, living in peace and staying out of trouble. My mom homeschooled my brother, Damion, and I and kept us busy with jobs along the ranch. I took care of our horses, Damion took care of the other animals. He hated horses and I hated everything but.

Jason lived on the ranch a few miles down, he was my first friend here and soon became my boyfriend. Only one I've ever had too. He was two years older than me and spent more of his time at our house than he did at his. Maybe that was because he came from a family of ten kids and he was the oldest. It surprised me that he hung around at all, he was twenty-three and should've been at college. But then again, I was twenty-one and hadn't ever left the ranch besides going to the race track and Jason's place. My mom was too paranoid to let me into town, but she never said why.

Suddenly, Lightning begins to jerk wildly, throwing his head and whinying wildly. "Whoa, hey! Lights!" I scream, gripping hold of his mane with white-knuckled fingers. Jason's voice joins mine as Willa begins to freak out too. Abruptly, both horses lunge forward, taking off with blinding speed toward the barns. The forest blurs around us, becoming inter tangled with the fear ravaging my senses.

"Lights!" I yelp as the horse almost collides with a tree after tripping over a root but somehow manages to keep his balance. Quick movements catch my eye, I turn my head to the left trying to see into the trees but we're moving so fast it's hard to pinpoint anything. Subconsciously, I loosen my grip on Lightning's mane and push all of my energy into searching the forest. I could feel it now, the hair on the back of my neck and the goosebumps along my flesh. Someone, or something, was out there and it was watching us. Stalking me.

Without warning, Lightning comes to an abrupt halt and lefts out a terrified whiny, standing on his hind legs. I scream, my hold on his mane slips and I lose my seat. The world slows down in the split second before colliding with the ground, the world blurs and then sharpens in an array of unnatural colors.

Storm clouds gather from nothing overheard, the ground rumbles beneath me, a tree falls to the forest floor igniting the world in flames of red and orange. The wind picks up so forcefully that my free falling body gets catch in a gust of air and thrown. I slam into a tree, a gasp and a moan escaping me as the world dims, my eyes growing heavy.

But things aren't over yet, I fall from the tree, smashing into the wet ground like a rag doll in the eye of a tornado. Fire crawls along the wet ground, soaking up the water and unexplainably growing bigger and stronger. Darkness creeps along my vision, threatening to overwhelm me. But somewhere in my muddled mind, I knew that if I closed my eyes I would die.

A surge of heat swirls through my body and the damage done to me begins to lessen, the pain starts to slip away and the fear begins to recede. "Katelyn?" A voice questions in the midst of the storms raging on all sides of us.

"Garrett, is she alive?" A girlish voice wonders, I suck in a sharp breath at the realization that something very wrong is happening.

"Yes." I sigh, for some unknown reason the sound of the guy's voice is soothing. A dark object flitters through my vision, tendrils of red swirled along the surface.

"Then we need to move, she's too strong. I can't counteract her powers for much longer. You shouldn't have come Keeper, it's too dangerous. Next time and every time after this, you stay at the base!" The girl growls furiously.

"Alright, alright Katarina. I promise." The guy, Garrett, says laughingly. He slips his arms around my body, lifting me against his chest. I sigh, an undeniable feeling of calm washing over me and unabling me to fight back. The picture of the dark object flashes in my mind, it's red tendrils reaching out to me and wrapping me in them. "Let's get back to the car."

"Alright, come on." Katarina says, I blink a seedling of fear seeping into me with their words. Was I being kidnapped?

"Who are..." I run off, blinking up at the guy. He tilts his head and looks down at me.

"Katelyn Summers, you've been chosen to enter the Keeper Exams. I'm Garrett and that's all you need to know right now."

"No, let me..." I whimper, pathetically trying to wiggle myself free of his hold. The object glitters in my mind, growing stronger and the calm returns, prompting me to sleep. "No..." I hear myself say before everything swirls out of focus.