The Elementalists

AMSER

   I don't panic until I realize that I don't have enough power to disappear. And when I realize that I'm about to be crushed under the ceiling of the tunnel, I let out a scream and close my eyes so that I won't have to see it coming.

But I don't feel pounds—no, tons—of stone falling down and crushing me. Instead, I only feel a gust of air push me forwards, and then I hear people screaming the girl's name and I realize that the fact that I'm alive is her doing.

But I don't see her when I open my eyes.

I see Daemon, his eyes wide with disbelief; I see the little girl—Liz, I think—hugging her knees and crying. I look over at the two boys who stand next to each other, too shocked to even cry, and, even though I know what's happened to the girl, I still turn around and look back at the place she had been standing. And it's completely covered in chunks of stone.

I look at the others, who all stand in shocked silence except for Liz, who cries softly into her hands. The others—Daemon, Mark, and Jamal—just stand there in shocked silence, staring at the place where Robin had been standing moments before.

And then Daemon whirls around, grabs the collar of my shirt, and pins me up against the side of the force field. I'm so surprised by this that I don't even try to escape his grasp; I just stare at him wide-eyed.

"This," he hisses, "is all your damn fault!" I squeeze my eyes shut, expecting him to punch me, but the hit doesn't come. Instead, he just releases me and falls to his knees.

And Daemon, the ever-tough Daemon, puts his face in his hands and begins to cry.

Guilt rises within me when I see this. The only other time I've ever seen Daemon cry was when Lily had died, and I hadn't ever seen him show many emotions after that. And here he was, crying over some little girl named...

"Robin Green," I say with realization. "Daemon...she was..."

Daemon looks up at me, tears streaming down his face, and growls, "She was the only family I had left, damn you! What the hell...why the hell would you... You little bitch!" he yells, and this time he swings a fist at me and I have to jump out of the way to avoid being hit.

Daemon is about to try to attack me again, but—right as he takes a step towards me—the stone around the force field rolls onto the ground and the force field disappears.

I immediately run to the opposite end of the wall—the exit is blocked off by layers of stone—and raise my hands defensively around my face. But Daemon and the others don't come after me; they all just stand there, and then Daemon is running towards the place where Robin has been standing and he starts pulling up the blocks of stone.

Liz remains where she was, sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest, sobbing into her hands. Mark and Jamal take a few slow steps towards Daemon before Jamal stumbles and falls to the ground. He doesn't try to get up, he just lies there; Mark looks down at his cousin, who has begun to sob silently, and then over at Daemon, who is desperately trying to find Robin.

Then the boy looks at me, and I push my back harder against the wall as he begins to walk towards me. He stops a couple feet away from me and asks, with the saddest eyes I've ever seen, simply, "Why?"

"What do you mean?" I ask, trying to sound tough. "You know very well why I want to destroy this town, and why I need you all—"

Mark shakes his head and says, "No. Not that. Just... Why did she have to die?" His voice cracks—I can tell that he's holding back tears—and he continues, "Why did... Why would she save you and not herself? Why would she save us...and not...her-self...?"