The Elementals

Psychic

    “So,” I say, sitting down next to Oh’Rian. “Rian has an idea.” I motion for her to speak.

    “Uh, yes,” Oh’Rian stutters. She explains her plan and the reactions are mixed. Stella nods, understanding the logic, and to my surprise, Maple does too. Sparky could care less. Caelum looks weary, Terra too. Coal has this rebellious fire in his eyes and I know he’ll take some convincing. A lot of convincing. Okay, I’ll probably have to knock him out and drag him, but I’ll find a way.

    “Sounds great and all,” Caelum says, “But Izila can track us to the island and then connect the dots, right?”

Oh’Rian smiles slightly, and reaches into her pocket. Pulling out some small, sci-fi looking boxes with antennas and wires sticking out all over the place, she says, “Not anymore,” She twists some knobs and the antenna sparks, making some disconcerting zap noises. “These are essentially the towers on the island, but in miniature. They should last long enough to make it there.”

She tosses one to me. I catch it out of instinct, but toss it up in surprise as it crackles. “Are they safe?” I ask, fingering it nervously.

    “Completely,” Oh’Rian says confidently, and goes on to explain all the science of it. Caelum and Stella listen intently, but it makes about as much sense to me as Greek. Or any other foreign language for that matter. Oh’Rian really likes this stuff, I can tell. Her movements are more sincere and exaggerated, voice stronger as she speaks. I get up quietly to collect more firewood.

The woods are silent in this not silent way, if that makes any sense. There are all these other sounds, like the last minute trills of the day birds, the beginning hoots of owls, crickets chirping and the branches rustling overhead, but it’s not noisy because these are the normal, natural sound that are part of the forest. I like it. There’s just something so pure about it. The only thing missing is the sound of running water. I forget why I got up for a minute.

    “Are you ever going to stop finding people to adopt?” Coal comes from behind me. Right, firewood.

    “Are you ever going to stop asking dumb questions?” I reply without even thinking about it. I bend down, back to him, and pick up some dry branches.

    “You do realize the reason I have to ask these so called “dumb questions” is because of you, right?”

I gasp, turning. Again, the only way I can make out his figure is by the moonlight filtering behind him. “You mean you weren’t stupid before I came along?”

    “No, so that means I had to have become an idiot from somewhere…”

He’s too far away to punch. He probably did that on purpose. “Maybe you fell of the cliff too hard.” I say. “On your head.”

    “Or maybe I got in a car crash, attacked by a bear, shot, smashed into a tree, and then got yanked off a cliff by somebody.” He coughs, glaring at me.

    “If I didn’t know any better, I think you liked falling to your death.” I say.

    “And why is that?”

I laugh at his slightly offended tone. He has a frustrated, puzzled look on his face. “Your eyes change color when you’re annoyed.”

    “They do not!” he says defensively, and I know I’ve found his kryptonite, so I keep going, pacing smugly towards him.

    “Yes, they do. Normally they’re grey with gold bits, when you’re with any other human being they get darker, and when you’re mad they turn almost black.” I list, counting the colors off with my fingers. Coal frowns, and to my delight I see his eyes are pretty much black with reddish orangey gold flecks. “Like right now, for example.”