Water and Earth (The Four Elements: Book 2) (ON HOLD)

Chapter Twenty-Three: "Languages" ft. Subconscious Thinking

"Wait a second."

All of us turned to Chelsea.

"How are we able to call Kai again? We don't even know how he was able to get ahold of us in the first place," she remarked.

I pondered the options. To be honest, the probability of dropping a penny (or a drachma in the case of the Percy Jackson books) is almost nonexistent since we are not actually trying to talk to the gods. Another probability would be to use a phone but none of us know the details of how a merfolk phone is created.

"Maybe Kai used telepathy?" Carter suggested.

Brandon nodded in agreement. "That is a huge possibility, especially when each merfolk is connected to each other through their minds. Kai probably used his to enchant one of those fire corals to try and help us when we needed it. I don't know what he is doing now but we can try saying something that implies that we need help."

"Doesn't it have to be subconscious thinking?" I questioned.

Brandon nodded in confirmation. "We can also try and use telepathy on him though."

Chelsea raised an eyebrow. "How is that going to work?"

Brandon and Carter looked over at me.

"I know what you all are thinking but you don't need to put me on the spot," I pointed out.

Chelsea was confused why they are looking at Kayla, but then remembered what she has that none of them do. "I don't think I thought much of the promise rings both you and Elias were wearing but now that I think about it, you inherited part of his second abilities as a telepath and he inherited yours right?"

I shrugged. "I still have no idea what my second ability is though."

Brandon then gave me a pat on the back. "Don't worry, you'll discover it soon. But the point is that you can try to use your new telepath abilities to try and summon Kai."

I nodded. To prepare for what's going to happen next, I closed my eyes. I focused my imagination on Kai and as I did, I mentally called him to show himself to me, and everyone else. I thought it was going to fail but when I opened my eyes, I saw him drinking tea in the hologram that I somehow created.

"You did it!" Carter cheered.

Kai was startled by Carter's voice. He looked around to find out where his voice was coming from until he locked eyes with me in the hologram. "Hey, what's up?"

Brandon nudged Chelsea. "Okay, go."

We all waited for Chelsea to say her first greeting.

"Kan du förstå mig?" she asked.

Kai gave a confused look. "Can you say that again?"

"Yeah, sure. Peux-tu me comprendre?" she tried again.

Now all of us knew what Chelsea was trying to say. She is trying to see if Kai understood whatever she was saying and at Kai's second shake of his head, he didn't understand French or whatever the first language was.

"That first language was Swedish."

I was taken aback by the new voice in my head. This voice seems familiar, who could--is that Elias?

"I'm so glad you decided to use your telepath powers for the first time, even though it wasn't actually for me," Elias's voice continued.

"Chelsea, stop. I think Elias is trying to communicate with me," I said aloud.

The said translator-attempter paused whatever she was trying to say next and looked towards me, as did everyone else.

"I am so glad to hear your voice again. I have a lot of questions about what is going on with you but, do you have any idea which secret language Kai speaks?" I asked.

"You're already in the merfolk realm right? I hear you're trying to locate one of the tunnels leading to the kelp forest and you're asking Kai for help without letting any of the royal guards or Nyssa know as well, correct?" I answered yes to both questions. "Well, besides English and Latin, he can speak German as well. Try that. I'm also surprised Chelsea can speak so many languages when I only know English, French, and Irish, which is not very impressive."

"Cmon, at least you're not as bad as me or Carter." I mentally chuckled.

"If I were with you physically, I'd literally give you a lecture why you are one of the best people I've ever met. Now, get out there and find the turners, and me." I could tell he added the last phrase with anxiousness. He sounds like he really needs to get out of his love potion-induced state, and fast.

"Understood."

I looked back at the rest of the group. "Essayez l'allemand."

Chelsea nodded. "Wie wäre es jetzt? Kannst du mich verstehen?"

Kai finally gave a nod. "I can sense that this is something important, according to your attempts at trying to figure out my secret language."

I knew that Kai was able to understand Chelsea this time when he responded to her instead of shaking his head. Another sign was when Chelsea muttered something that sounded like: "Praise the Lord..."

Also, going back to my mental conversation with Elias for the moment. I wonder how he was able to identify Chelsea's first words are in Swedish when he himself doesn't understand the language. He may have traveled the world before he moved over to Detroit from the UK or one member of his family is a language master like Chelsea. I will have to ask him that when we reunite. The key word: when.

"That's good!" Chelsea beamed. "Now, I'm going to go straight to the point here. We need your help in figuring out the way to get to the kelp forest, ideally with the use of the secret tunnels, from what I have heard."

Kai then closed his eyes in deep thought. It sounds like either he is very knowledgeable about the tunnels around the town or there are so many tunnels in the Water Realm that he is getting very overwhelmed by the number.

"I will have to send you a guide since there are too many turns for me to describe." He finally replied.

Chelsea nodded. "That's alright, let me know when you do send it."

"Okay."

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Translations:
Kan du förstå mig? - Can you understand me? [Swedish]
Pouvez-vous me comprendre maintenant? - Can you understand me now? [French]
Essayez l'allemand. - Try German. [French]
Wie wäre es jetzt? Kannst du mich verstehen? - How about now? Can you understand me? [German]

* * *

A/N: I use this method in "Royal On Ice" as well and if you're curious about what that method is, all the italicized stuff that you see beyond Chelsea's attempts at figuring out Kai's secret language and Elias and Kayla's mental conversation are the spoken words between Chelsea and Kai, in which are in German (which I don't really care to translate because I know Google Translate is inaccurate).

Another A/N: I do need a rewrite :3