Orchid

Am I a Spirit Elementalist?

Lily and Amphitrite enter the room. Again, it strikes me how pretty she is, with those long locks of wavy hair and deep eyes.

Her face floods with relief as she sees me. "Orchid. You're awake."

It's simply a statement, but her tone is as if she was asking a question. So I answer. "I'm awake. Where's my family?"

Amphitrite's eyes are filled with concern. "They're searching for us. They have yet to search here. Jenna's parents are away on a business trip and Jenna locked the doors. They're searching the lower-class first, then to the upper-class. They've secured the transportation so well that we can't leave Chicago."

"So why are we hiding?" I cross my arms. Glare. Bite my lip.

"That's my own question," Jenna and Lily say at the same time.

Amphitrite's face softens. "You girls are still young. I am saddened that Lycaeon has chosen to target you at this age."

"Who the heck is this Lyca--" Jenna stomps her foot. "I can't even pronounce that. I'll just call her Lyca." A satisfied smile spreads on her face.

Tears start welling up in my professor's eyes. "Lycaeon, well, Lyca, if you prefer that, is the goddess of pure evil. Much like the Roman gods, she is ancient and powerful. But if her side of the first true yin-yang orb is destroyed, she will die. And evil will be gone forever. But Lyca and her sister, Shira, were created together as one, which means one can't survive without the other. Which is true for good and evil. Good and evil are one halves of a whole. If Lyca dies, then Shira will die too. But recently, a prophecy was issued from the Oracle of Delphi and Lyca started a full-fledged war to gain dominance because she had hope. The orb was shattered into two halves by Lyca recently, making both sides restless. When the orb was whole and equal, there was peace. But darkness took root in more and more people.." Amphitrite inclines her head. "I'm sure you remember our last unit about the Greek gods? The Oracle was an all-knowing spirit of prophecy and the future." She continues. "In the prophecy, it said that a death of protection will save Yang, the good side, which is on the brink of collapsing, or a life of destruction will give Yin the win. The Orchid, a warrior hid, will have to make the choice of sacrifice and that will stop the war and heal the orb."

Silence. It takes me a moment to comprehend. "What?" I scream. "The Orchid?"

"Hush." Amphitrite places a delicate finger to her lips. "It might not mean you." But her tone is uncertain.

I get up from the velvet chair and pace around, clearly agitated. "And what do you mean with sacrifice? You mean dying? No way. My acrophobia seems very trivial compared to my..." I look up. "Lily, what's the fear of dying again?"

Lily purses her lips with a smug smile as she pulls out her smartphone and types in something. "It's apparently called-"

"Thanatophobia," Amphitrite answers quickly. "Knowing mythology and roots are helpful," she adds. "Thanatos is the god of death, and Phobos is the god of fear and the son of Ares. Or Mars, if you prefer the Roman version."

"Whatever!" Lily and Jenna say at the same time. Lily's obviously angry that she got beat by a Latin teacher.

  Amphitrite's deep, solemn eyes bore into me. "There is something else you should know. I got the three of you because of the magic of elements."

 "Say what?" Jenna cricks her head. "You mean water, fire, earth, and air?"

 "You're forgetting one element that is truly magical." Seeing Jenna's confused look, Amphitrite adds, "Spirit. The element that combines all of the four elements you named together as well as a power to commune with the dead and use their power. Spirit elementalists are very powerful and very dangerous, and the only living spirit elementalist we know of is a young girl named Hero, or what she named herself when she found out her power. She serves good, by the way. But I have a suspicion another one lives right now." She jabs her finger at me. "Orchid. Ask something of the earth."

 I glance at her strangely, but obey. "Uh..."

 "You can concentrate on your intention or say it. I would advise you focusing on your intent or saying it in your mind.. Intent is a very important thing," Amphitrite says gently.

 I look at the walls and spot bright gems lodged in every corner. Decorations, I would suppose. I would've looked past them, but the gems are beautiful light lilac glinting on silver. My favorite colors. I focus on the one in the bottom corner, the one actually touching the earth. Good thing we're on the first floor. My intent is simple. I want to bring the jewel to my palm using the soil of the earth.

  The earth gurgles, and a blast of dirt explodes from the corner. I squeeze my eyes shut to prevent the debris from flying into my eyes. When I open them, the perfect little heart-shaped jewel in my hand, warm and comforting.

 "That was my amethyst and silver gem!" Jenna shouts. "I was preparing to mount that on an amulet or something." She grabs the necklace around her neck, which is gem-less.

 Amphitrite whispers into my ear. "Use Air to guide the amulet to you."

 I stare at the amulet on her neck, commanding silently for Air to sweep the precious white-gold off her pulsing, angry neck, and for payback for her meanness, scrape her while doing the job. Air obeys and enters through a window, howling as it guides the amulet to my hand and leaves a scar.

 Jenna screams in frustration and zooms toward me. 

 "Call fire to stop her," Amphitrite advises.

  I look down to the carpet, smooth and clean. I don't want to destroy her property. But I  don't want to get trampled and thrown to the ground even less. It's the best alternative.

 "Fire, burn the ground where Jenna's stepping on." I try saying it out loud. Jenna freezes, but it's way too late.

 A small lick of flame sprouts up where her bare toes are and starts growing into a moderate blaze, before it nearly grows to an inferno. But it stays where she stays as she hops around shrieking. I hear the sizzling and crackling as it burns Jenna. When I'm satisfied, I extinguish it.

 By now Jenna is nearly scorched to a crisp. "I am not a f-ing lab rat for you to test your stuff on!"

 "Two more," Amphitrite says. "And like it or not, you are. Unless Lily would like to volunteer."

 "No thanks." Lily pretends to be shocked as she waves a little sassy-girl finger movement at Jenna.

 I gather my hands together and imagine Jenna is an archery target with that red bull's eye and a spout of water cannons out and completely wets Jenna. "Agh! I cannot take any more of this!" she yells. 

 "Spirit's the only one left." I try comforting her. After all, her jewel has been stolen, her amulet has been stolen(I quickly fill the hole with the jewel and sling it around my neck) and left her with an unfashionable scar on her neck, she's been scorched, and she's completely wet. I don't know how to use Spirit though, so I look at Amphitrite.

 Amphitrite shakes her head. "I don't know. I've never seen Hero manifest Spirit as a power before...yet."

 I try. It's really risky, but I still try. "Spirit. Let me see the insides of Jenna's soul and her memories."