Elemental

Chapter Nine

After rousing Charlie and telling him he had an elemental spirit, Katherine and Tori went back to work. Vixen was back. She showed Charlie and Jade their new rooms. It turned out the whole bottom floor was the quarters for training people with elementals.

Charlie was assigned a room with a little boy and girl who were about his age. Jade got to her room to find that she was the only one occupying it. Only little kids could share rooms with kids different genders. It turned out that the closest girl her age was a girl who was nine and she shared a room with eight year olds.

"At least you don't have to hear other people snore all night. I share a room with two other teenagers. It's a pain." Vixen tried to cheer up Jade before she left for dinner. Jade was to go up soon.

Vixen gave Jade some fresh clothes. They were light and flexible. "Perfect for training." she had said. Jade took off her filthy nightgown that did not even look blue anymore. She slipped the lime green short sleeved shirt on and got into some jean shorts. It was a bit big, but still comfortable. Jade looked over at her nightgown. Before placing it in the hamper, she dug out the amulet from the pocket and shoved it in a drawer under a manual. She made a mental note to check the manual later. Jade checked the clock.

7:48 P.M.

Jade stopped by Charlie's quarters to take him upstairs. Apparently all kids ages three to six had to have a 'buddy' to take them to dinner and back.

"Come on, Charlie. It's time for dinner and we're actually quite late, so we have to eat the leftovers." Jade spoke quietly, because it looked like Mince, the 4 year old girl, was about to go to bed early.

Charlie followed and the two children went up the stairs. Jade guessed correctly at the dining room door. The room was enormous. The food was set out on tables surrounding the perimeter of the room. A long table with about one hundred chairs filled up the rest of the room. About thirty other people were eating. Jade chose some chicken soup and sat down next to Vixen.

Vixen was the only other person Jade knew. She was chatting with a handful of her friends. Vixen turned around at Jade. She smiled. It seemed sort of fake. Something told Jade that Vixen really did not care if Jade had friends. That Vixen had to be her escort, and that she wished she had not had to deal with another newbie.

"Kai, Flora, Callie, Sid, this is Jade. She's new and is the only twelve year old here." Vixen introduced Jade. Flora and Callie said "Hi." Sid waved.

"What's her element?" Kai asked. There was something Asian about him. He had spiky black hair and a strong build. He was about sixteen.

"I haven't found out yet." Jade answered. She picked at her soup. "I've only been here since five o'clock. All I know is that I have an elemental spirit, and so does my brother. Everyone here has a special power of sorts." Now that she thought of it, Jade did not really know much about Katherine's Training Camp.

"Hm. I'm a fire element. I am one of the four Original Elements." Kai bragged.

"What's an Original Element?" Jade asked.

"The Original Elements are fire," Vixen put her arm around Kai. "water, earth, and air. The only person who we know has an Original at the moment is Kai. Everyone else is branched off from the Originals. For example, an earth element can control anything relating to earth. Like grass, trees, and dirt. I am the rock element, meaning I branch from the Original of earth. Flora is the bird element, branching from both air and earth. Callie is the snow element, branching from the Original of water. And Sid is warmth, branching from-"

"Fire?" Jade guessed. She was starting to understand this whole element thing. "How many people have elements?"

"Thousands! Some elements are so small, though, no one even notices." Callie said to Jade.

"I'm going to go to my room now." Flora got up, Callie following. Soon everyone was gone. Jade found Charlie sitting next to the boy from his room, Thomas, and escorted Charlie back to his quarters.

Once she got into her bed, Jade's mind was thinking fast. She wondered what element she was. She wondered what Charlie was. She wondered what branch she came from. Air? Fire? Earth? Water?

Jade eventually fell asleep. She dreamed about powers and trees the were flaming and dripping water and they were floating in the air. She dreamed of elements.