The Leader

The Leader: Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen: Talia

As soon as Nathan is dead, I can feel it. Even though a message comes to me, I don't need it, because I know. Every tie to him that I could have sworn was myself breaks immediately. I wonder how I could have even thought about breaking up with Liam. Luckily, he understands about Nathan's gift when I explain to him. I'm so lucky to have him, because he knows me better than anyone else, even Santia. At the moment, everyone- including Liam- is anxiously awaiting Maya's return. There is talk that five others from our old group will be going to get Initiated, and this is good news. Apparently you become stronger and more capable of defending yourself. Liam and I will go not this time but the time after, and Ethan and Adam said they might come with us. We all spend that last week missing Maya, spending every moment thinking of her. And some of us miss Caleb as well, which means that his sister cannot wait for his return. After Nathan's bad influence is gone, I need to pick up my grades in classes, and Liam helps me. Although he ditches class a lot, it's generally because he already knows everything we talk about. He's so smart, and he always gets one hundred percent on everything, which makes the teachers suspicious. On the next test, my extra studying pays off, because I manage to get a ninety. To me that's amazing because it's in maths, and maths is my worst subject. I'm joyful on that day, so Liam takes me to the movies. We watch a romance film, though we're basically just sitting at the back kissing. A few people around us are disgusted, and some are doing the same. I once again treasure my time spent with Liam, because I know that my vision will come to pass soon. At most we have a few months. In that time, I want to make sure I know Liam like the back of my hand. We spend every second together that we can, and I'm glad he senses my urgency and understands it. Everything in our life is going smoothly until a boy shows up at our school. He is very handsome, and looks to be sixteen. However, in his eyes there is wisdom. Liam's eyes widen, and I know that somehow the boy is blocking him from entering his mind. He appears at my house that afternoon, and I gasp.

"Who are you?" I whisper.

"I am Ian, leader of all half-angels. Now be honest. Have you met anyone by the name of Caleb?"

"Uh... yeah. He was new, from England. Blonde hair, green eyes."

"That's him. Where is he?" he asks harshly.

"H-he t-took Maya to be Initiated," I choke out. He disappears again, and I know that in the morning Maya and Caleb will have an unexpected visitor. Liam decides suddenly that I should be adventurous with my newfound ability to control fire, and so I look for any book that could help me. There is only one, but it takes a long time to find, because it is in a diamond case underneath our school library. We can't break the holdings, so we have to find a way to open it. It turns out that as soon as one of us touches it, it opens. I take the thick, leather-bound volume and manage to get it out of the library. When I get home, I flick through to find something while Liam watches me. I open to a page about the fire element.

Controlling the fire element does not merely consist of causing flames to appear. One of the main parts of using fire is possession. One need only burn into the skin of a human the old symbols for sky, spirit and earth. Then a spirit shall come down and take over the body of that human. Unfortunately, in the process of this the human's soul is thrown out of the body and cannot return to it, which means the body will slowly die. This is forbidden knowledge for good reason.

"Liam, read it," I say, handing him the book. He does, and then he gapes up at me. In my hands I hold the power to kill, and also to raise the dead. I am in control of the most dangerous element known.