The Elementals of Edgewood

Chapter Eight

George froze. Arlo had gotten a note too?

His heartbeat quickened as he looked from Jess to Harrison and saw his surprise reflected on their faces. Did that mean all four of them had gotten a note?

"Well?" Arlo demanded as he pulled a small white card from his jeans that looked all too familiar.

Swallowing his shock, George pulled his own card from his hoodie, drawing the attention of the other three students. "I got one too."

Arlo's expression lifted in astonishment.

Harrison dropped something onto the table in front of him. "So did I." The boy's voice was quiet. He exchanged a sheepish glance with George, before all three of them trained their eyes on Jess, who's gaze was deeply immersed in the floor. She glanced up, feeling their eyes on her, and slowly pulled the card out of her back pocket with a blank expression on her face.

"What the..." George breathed, his mind buzzing with confusion. He barely had anything to do with these people, so why had someone wanted all of them together, at a diner in the middle of nowhere? He'd thought that the note was from Sadie, but as far as he knew none of the others had anything to do with the girl.

Arlo strode across the room and slid into the booth next to Harrison. He picked up the boy's card, comparing it to his own.

"They're exactly the same. Same words, same handwriting." He glanced around at the quiet teenagers, becoming exasperated at their lack of communication. "Look, does anyone have any clue who it might be from or why they wanted the four of us to come to this bloody diner because I've got places to be and I really just want to get out of here." His annoyed gaze searched their expressions.

George considered mentioning Sadie, but thought better of it. He'd have to explain the whole story of his dreams, and he didn't think they were really appropriate to share with three people he hardly knew.

"I reckon it was that new girl." Harrison spoke up, his voice shaky. George's heart began to pound. There was no way-

"I had this uh..." he scratched the back of his head,"this really weird dream about her last night, and then she just showed up at school today. And I'd never even seen her before the dream." He had the full attention of entire room. "But um...if you all got one too than maybe I was hallucinating-"

"I dreamt about her too." Jess pushed off the counter, swallowing. "I recognized her when she walked into my history class, and... she seemed to recognize me." The girl slid into the seat across from Arlo, eyes glistening.

"Great. I'm as crazy as a girl who summons seagulls." Harrison murmured.

"I didn't-"

"The same thing happened to me in Art." George interrupted Jess, finally coming to his senses. He walked around to stand in front of their booth. Utter confusion continued to rise within him at the impossibiliy of their situation. 

"Same thing happened to me." Arlo's annoyance had dropped, and he now stared into space, a hint of fear in his eyes.

George glanced between the three of them, stunned. "This is insane." He shook his head. "How can we all dream about the same girl?"

It wasn't possible. How could they have dreamt about Sadie when none of them even knew her? And why the four of them? What did they have to do with anything?

His question hung in the air, unanswered. The drumming of the rain drowned out their whirring brains. The outside world was now dark, reflecting the image of the group to George. Jess was fixated on the table surface, that same far-away look in her eyes. Arlo was deep in thought, frowning at the cards in his hands. Harrison shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, worry hiding in his expression.

What had any of them done to deserve this?

Suddenly, the door of the diner swung open, the pattering sound of the rain flooding the room. A girl stumbled into the diner, a panting mess. Her brown hair was plastered to her face, water dripping from her thin rain coat. George recognized her immediately, and stood up straighter.

It was Sadie.

She turned to look at the group, brown eyes electrified with something George couldn't quite place. Excitement? Anticipation? She walked towards them, shoes squelching with every step. He kept his gaze fixated on her, taking a step backwards as she approached the booth.

"Hi." She smiled, still breathing heavily. The corner of her eyes crinkled slightly.

None of them answered her. No one moved a muscle. George felt the blank stare on his face, but he couldn't help it. She really was the girl from his dream. But who the hell was she?

"What do you want with us?" Arlo said almost threateningly. The girl's face instantly dropped as she took in his hostile glare. She opened her mouth, closed it again, then quickly reached inside the pocket of her jacket as if she'd remembered something important. A crumpled piece of paper was pulled out in her hand, which she smoothed out against her damp leggings. George leant on the side of the booth, confused as to what she was up to.

Sadie cleared her throat and began reading off the piece of paper.

"'Many years ago, mankind lived in harmony with supernatural beings.'" George raised his eyebrows. Surely she was an escapee from a mental hospital. It would make a lot of sense...

"'All of the creatures from tales and fables today, such as werewolves, vampires, mermaids etcetera, lived freely on the earth. The most powerful type of supernatural, and the rarest, was highly respected by both mankind and the supernatural community. It's name was Elementum Deus.'"

"Element God." George heard Jess whisper under her breath.

"'He had the power to control all four aspects of the elements- Earth, Wind, Fire and Water-"

"Like Avatar?" Harrison interrupted. Sadie glanced briefly up at him, before looking back down at the paper, completely ignoring him. 

"'However unlike some supernatural beings, Elementum Deus was not immortal, nor could his powers be transferred through reproduction. Therefore the continuation of the species was destined by the Sun and Moon spirits who chose an individual to become the Elemental Deus on the day of the precessor's death." George looked around at the other's, who appeared just as baffled as he was as to what Sadie was on about.

"'However one of the people chosen by the spirits, was unsuitable for the task. He was called the Tenebris. He manipulated his power for his own preferences, unleashing havoc across the earth. It took a powerful combination of supernatural and human strength to overthrow the Tenebris, but the aftermath was violent and weakened the supernatural community harshly. This weakness was what lead to The Great War, in which human's forced all supernaturals into hiding and abandoning their powers for many hundreds of years to come.

"'After the defeat of the Tenebris, the Sun and the Moon spirits began a new tradition of selecting four individuals instead of one, splitting each aspect of the elements amongst them equally, so that none were more powerful than the other.' And that's where you lot come in." Sadie stopped reading abruptly. George's heart started pounding at the thought of where she was going with her announcement.

"All four of you have been chosen by the Sun and the Moon to represent and protect the earth with the power of it's elements."