Elementia: Drops of Blood

Chapter 3

For the next three weeks, Sydney was constantly practicing at moving light and easy stationary object. By the end of the fourth, she had perfected moving a 200 pound anvil across a thirty foot stretch and back fourteen times, before she was completely exhausted. Master George always ended their practice with a smile and expressing how proud he was of her. So Sydney's mother wouldn't get suspicious when Sydney 's paycheck didn't come in, Master George payed her her normal amount of money on her paycheck.

At first, Sydney refused to take the money, but Master George reassured her that he had more than enough. Little did Sydney know Master George was a secret millionaire from all the money he got from selling the inventions he made to shadowy men all over the country.

It was a Wednesday, when Sydney walked out of the school alone and went to her old car, ready to drive to the abandoned grain elevator, when she got a text from Master George. No grain elevator today. Go to same place, I'll drive rest of the way. -MG

Sydney sighed, running her fingers through her hair. New place right when she got use to the drive to the grain elevator. "Everything okay?" Grey asked, leaning across the top of her car.

Sydney smiled kindly at him, "Yeah just a change of plans," she waved her phone.

"Lemme guess, last minute?" Grey gave her a lopsided grin before shaking his head.

"Yep and I have to learn how to get to another place," Sydney tried to stay vague, not wanting to involve Grey.

"Oh, hate it when that happens!" Grey was blatantly lying.

"Your not kidding anyone, Grey. You don't know the feeling."

"You know me to well."

"No, you are just horrible at lying," Sydney smoothly slid in before yelling to him, "Might want to get off the car before I start driving." Grey quickly backed off and Sydney sped toward the grain elevator.

She parked in front of the elevator, arriving a few minutes later than normal. Sydney stepped out and leaned against the hood of her car, looking for Master George, who appeared to be later than her. Sydney sat on the hood of her car, waiting for Master George for five minutes before his Volvo sped into view. He pulled up by her, rolled down his window and instructed her to get in.

Sydney learned not to question to often, so she let his tardiness slide and she got into the passenger side of the car. She buckled up, and listened to Master George's explanation. "Sorry I am late, I had to gather SIMON up. We need him for training today."

Sydney looked at him confused, "Simon?"

Master George smiled at her, Security Intelligence Modular On National Security-Base. Technically it would be SIMONS but SIMON sounded better."

The rest of the ride was in silence, and it ended at a wide field five miles away from the grain elevator. They both got out and Sydney helped Master George set up SIMON, a wiry robot attached to laptop that they set up on roll around table.

"He usually doesn't need to be hooked a computer, but I have a system set up on here for practice today. And today you are going to start working on sending moving objects back at the target, and the target is going to be me. Don't worry we are starting off with pillows and when the objects get fatal, we will set up a target.

"Sending something back should be the same concept as moving something, just quicker reaction time.

"Before we start that I want SIMON to measure the speed of your ability to blow air. So blow a gust straight through the field, while I stand here at my lovely laptop and see the speed."

Sydney nodded and stretched the cramp out of her left hand, a sign that her power was ready to be released. Sydney had learned not to use all her power at once, it only would make her tired more quickly. She balled her hand into a fist and suddenly brought it out to shoulder height, arm full length in front of her, palm out and fingers outstretched. Sydney willed the air to blow forward and the tall grass to billow and ruffle in waves of amber wild grain. Sydney rushed the air to move faster and faster until Master George yelled at her to stop. Sydney closed her hand into a fist quickly and the wind stopped suddenly.

"You brought the wind speed up to 58 miles per hour or about 85 feet per second, but when it comes to a bullet you need to be able to bring it up to 2500 feet per second or around 1704 miles per hour," Master George told Sydney, recalling all the correct numbers off the top of his head.

"A bullet? How are you going to test that?" Sydney asked, scared that he was actually going to shoot bullets at her.

"You know how I said I built SIMON myself?" Sydney nodded and Master George continued, "Well, right now I am working on a bullet that won't hurt you. It will still travel at the same speed and have the same density, mass, size, everything, it just can't hurt you and I have an idea, it is just hard to go through with."

"Why a bullet though?"

"If a can redirect a speeding bullet then I would say you have mastered the skill of air-bending."

Sydney chuckled and looked at him funnily, "Was that a reference to Avatar?" Master George looked at her confused, obviously not understanding what Sydney meant. "You know the thing with the—never mind. Let's get started."

Master George nodded, "Good idea." He walked over to the laptop and typed on it furiously for a minute, making SIMON roll to a spot fifteen feet in front of Sydney, but to the right a foot. Connected to SIMON was mechanical box about four foot by four foot by four foot with a one foot by two foot rectangle coming out of it. Master George stood by SIMON, directly in front of Sydney. He held a remote out of Sydney's view and pressed the middle button, and a pillow shot out of the cannon and right into Sydney's unprepared face.

She shook her head surprised and took a ready stance and watched the next pillow shoot out. Sydney stuck out her right hand and watched the pillow slow quickly and shoot back at Master George, hitting him in the leg. Master George opened his mouth about to speak, but Sydney finished for him, "Better accuracy, I know."

The third pillow flew lower this time and Sydney made the pillow rise and quickly curve back to Master George to hit his stomach. The fourth pillow Sydney didn't stop and hit her full on, but Sydney made up for the lost by sending 16 in a row right back to Master George, only six of them missing him. Sydney continued on the cycle of missing one or two pillows before going on a long streak of having the soft and light pillows hit Master George until the setting sun set the sky on fire.

The two stopped around 6:50 and leaned against the back of the Volvo, Sydney sipping on water from the bottle as she watching the sky explode in bright and brilliant oranges, red, and yellows painting the sky. The light turning the white, puffy clouds to the golden cotton wisps that look softer from above, on airplanes. Sydney heard a bird caw and fly overhead, it's black body looking small and fragile, not knowing of something larger going on, something that shouldn't involve them, but ends getting caught up anyway. We are just the small birds, going around oblivious to the danger that is so blatantly shouting in our faces, Sydney thought to herself as she watched the bird fly out of sight.

Little did Sydney know, a storm was brewing and what was left of her normal life was going to blown away.

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Ugh I know! It's short, but that sentence felt like a good finale for the chapter. I have updated my bio on my plans on updating, so if you want to know more about that go check it out, read my other books. 

 Peace, Love, and Watermalone

<3 Molly Kate <3