The Elementals

I Show Proficiency in Burglary

Thankfully, I wake up before anyone can catch me. I stay quiet for as long as I can because everyone is still sleeping, but eventually my legs start to cramp up and I have to get up. I tiptoe around all the sleeping forms and over to the pool edge. I walk to the woods to start scouting for a civilization.

I hear footsteps behind me. I turn, expecting Coal or Sparky, but I see Steel.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"Looking for a town or food, something like that."

"Can I come?"

"Sure." I say. Why not?

We start walking along the stream flowing from the pool. It becomes apparent that we are in the middle of nowhere, and will not find any other people. Figures. I try to find some edible plants, but all I really recognize are some wild strawberries. I pop one in my mouth. It's tart and sweet all at once. I pick some more and then realize I can't put them anywhere.

"Here," Steel holds out a small metal bowl looking thing. "There was a bunch of metal bits in the rock."

I drop the strawberries in it gratefully. "You can do that? Just take the metal from the rock?"

He nods. "I can sort of sense it there, with my magnetism."

"Huh."

"I guess I'm like a secondary element of earth, like Maple."

I look at him. "That's what I thought. I think Sparky is from fire."

He nods. "But you and Breeze don't have a sub element."

"Well that means there's still a least two more Elementals out there." The thought that other kids are somewhere, confused and lonely, bothers me. "We should find them."

"Or you just don't have any sub elements." Steel points out. "I mean I thought yours would be ice but that's obviously not it."

"What about Breeze?"

He thinks for a moment. "I don't know." He shrugs.

I freeze as the birds go quiet. I know this silence all too well. Steel looks at me questioningly, but I motion for him to wait. I listen. I can hear voices, and rustling leaves. I creep over behind a tree. Peering around it, I hold my breath. There are about 30 guys traipsing through the underbrush. A couple of them have tranquilizer guns. They're headed straight back to the waterfall. I go over to Steel and we both duck behind a bush.

"There's a cave under the pool. It's by the waterfall, Coal knows." I tell him. "Go warn the others and get them down there."

"But what about you?" Steel objects.

"I'll be fine. Go. Now."

Unwillingly, he gets up and starts to quietly move back to the waterfall. I wait until he's out of earshot, before I move.

I follow the mini army along the river. Then I stop behind a tree. "Come on, Coal!" I hiss loudly. I hear the sound of 30 men doing a double take. I rush forward a little bit and say. "Keep going, Maple."

Now I have their attention. I can hear them trying to follow us quietly. They sound like a small herd of elephants. I'm on the other side of the river.

"Go, go, go!" I try to mimic Terra. "We have to hurry. Faster!" I stomp around a bit, and then run along the bank for a second. The men start going faster with the sight of me.

I dash back into the woods and shout, "We have to go! Move, move, MOVE!"

I see that the river runs through a clearing up ahead. I race into it and position myself with my back to a boulder along the edge of the forest. The men burst into the clearing and I bring the water up and form an ice wall around, trapping all of us in.