The Elementalists

PETER

I can't believe... that I just saw... Robin get... kidnapped... and freaking... shot!

She had looked so awesome fighting the bad guy until he shot her. All she had wanted was to save Mark and keep him safe with the rest of us, and now she was in the worst danger of all of us.

When she used her only chance of escape to save me, I thought that I was going to cry.

But I didn't, mostly because I was being blown away by hurricane-power winds.

When I had gotten back to the campsite, everyone was on the ground. Apparently, no more Robin meant no more floating blanket.

They'd asked me what had happened, and I had explained everything. Now I lie on the blanket, staring up at the ceiling of a stolen tent, with a sobbing Jamal next to me.

"Dude," I tell him when I've had enough, "you need to chill. Yeah, they're both gone, but crying isn't gonna solve anything."

Jamal sniffles. "I know," he says, and his crying ceases, "but he's my cousin...and Robin saved us..." He lets out a sob. "But she couldn't save him!"

I moan. "Dude, she tried, okay? Now we have to try to save both of them, okay?" Jamal nods, sniffling. Gosh, right now he seems like a five-year-old! "Now get some rest, and you can help us look in the morning," I assure him.

"Okay," he says, curling up in the sleeping bag, "I will get some rest. I will sleep. I will find my friends in the morning. I will—"

"Dude, shut up and go to sleep now," I half-yell. Jamal's eyelids immediately close, and he starts snoring. "Great," I mumble to myself, "I got a crier and a snorer!"

I can't stay mad at Jamal, though—he's too pitiful right now. I decide that I'll kick his butt over this later, when he's regained his self-esteem.

"I'm going to find Robin!" I yell at no one at all. I unzip the tent flap and step outside, but John pulls me back inside.

"Are you crazy?" he says. "The police are probably looking for Emma and Jamal! And we're supposed to be at school taking our final exams! We can't just go walking around!"

"It's a half-day today," I point out. "We'll only be walking around illegally until noon. Then all of the other kids will be screaming in joy that school's finally over."

"Peter," John growls, "you're nuts. I'm going with you."

I laugh. "You call me crazy, and then say that you're coming with me?" I reply. "That makes perfect sense!" I step outside of the tent once more, and John follows me. "Listen, if you're coming, you better not get captured. 'Cause that would suck."

"I won't," John promises, "because I can do this!"

He points his palm toward the lake, and—very slowly—raises it upward. A stream of water snakes up and into the air, as if it's reaching for the sky. I probably should be a little freaked out, but so much has happened today that even seeing water defy gravity doesn't seem abnormal to me.

"Stop bragging and come on," I hiss. "We have to check at the school, first, so we can see if the van is still there."

John nods. He looks over at the lake, then asks me, "The lake is on one side of the school, right?" I nod. John gives an evil grin and says, "I bet that I can get us there faster!"

"What do you...," I begin, but John has already grabbed my arm and is pulling me toward the lake. He freezes a section of the water and shoves me onto it. I'm uncomfortable standing on a square of six-foot-long ice, but John just hops right on, unbothered.