Author's note
I am only 13 right now so I don't expect it to be perfect, and I appreciate any comments that could improve the story or writing style. Do not worry about my feelings! I want to hear the truth and have nothing against constructive critisism! Please read it and leave your thoughts in the comments!
P.S. This book takes place in the year 2017. That makes all of the elemental children 16
Dedication: This book is dedicated to Emily, who read it first, and to Gabi who inspired me to write.
Chapter one
“Happy Birthday Alec!” Garret yelled across the room. Then, as if cued by Garret, came a chorus of Happy Birthday’s. I smiled and said thank you to everyone, hoping I looked grateful. I didn’t like when everybody knew it was my birthday, it’s not a happy day. To most people today is a day of mourning for lost loved ones. A lot of people lost family members on my birthday, including me.
My dad was at work that day, my mom at home on maternity leave with me. I wasn’t due for another week but my mom went into labor early. She drove herself to the hospital, she had tried calling my dad but he was in a meeting and wasn’t aloud to answer the phone. She had only given birth to me a few minutes ago when someone came running through the hallways screaming, “The Twin Towers are going down! A plane crashed into the Twin Towers!” My dad was still in his meeting, in the North tower. My mother used to say that she might have lost the love of her life, but she gained the love of her new life. She also said I looked just like my father. Blond hair with blue eyes, a crooked smile, and athletic.
But not many of the kids in my 10th grade class cared that today was a sad day, they were just worried about my birthday.
It was surprising how any of them knew my birthday; this was my first year here. I switched schools often, I don’t understand why, but I always happen to be there when something horrible happens and I get expelled. This was my 7th school since first grade. I was passed from school to school until 5th grade. The teachers always seemed to know there was something wrong with me before I got there and just blamed everything on me. My mom finally gave up and homeschooled me. Over the summer she had dubbed me "Finally ready for the world" But I think she was more worried about the world being ready for me.
Today at school, a firefighter was coming to talk to us. I didn’t like that they were actually having a firefighter come and talk to us, but I was kind of interested, I kind of wanted to be a firefighter. I know it sounds stupid, but I always seem to be around fire, it fascinates me.
The man who walked through the door had dark brown hair, cut short like almost all other guy haircuts, and he was wearing a gray T-shirt and jeans. But what scared me was when he walked in he seemed to be looking for something, and then his eyes rested on me and he stopped looking. He stared at me for a little while then Mrs. Cate started talking and he turned his attention to her. She introduced him as Jack and then he started talking about fire safety.
Throughout the whole demonstration he looked at me a total of 26 times with a strange look, as if he wanted to make sure I was still there. I kept my eyes on him and my guard up. He didn’t seem dangerous but something about him put me on edge. I didn’t hear a word of the speech he made, and I didn’t really care.
When the bell finally rang I sprang up out of my chair and almost ran to the hallway where my locker held my backpack and Jacket. I fled out the door without even checking to see if I had everything. Once I was outside I realized my mistake, I didn’t have my math book and would have to go back to get it. When I got back to the hallway there were still a few kids there and Jack was standing at the door of the classroom giving high-fives to all the kids passing him on the way out the door. I rushed to my locker to unlock it but fumbled and it took a while for me to actually accomplish oppening it. When I finally got my math book out of my locker and into my backpack, Jack had retreated into the classroom to talk to Mrs. Cate.
