Fire

Prologue

Prologue

"WE NEED THOSE CRYSTALS," SAID A man.

His worn, black hat bobbed up and down as he paced around the dark room, limping every third step. "They are the key to our victory. Those four monsters can't survive without the crystals."

The lighting in the room was so bad, only a dim glow emanated from the incandescent bulbs. The heavy amount of dust on the light bulbs didn't help matters any.

He coughed and spit tobacco juice onto the splintered, wooden ground.

"By the crystal, do you mean the real Garnet, Sapphire, Emerald, and Diamond?" asked a woman, whose voice had a touch of a Latino accent.

"Of course!" shouted the man, slightly annoyed. "What else did you think I was talking about?"

The sudden outburst caught the Latino woman off guard, but she kept her voice calm. "I thought you were talking about the fake ones. You know, the ones that killed everyone else."

"I see what you mean," answered the man grudgingly. "But the counterfeit ones can't kill the four that survived. They didn't touch those crystals, so-"

"Excuse me, Master," interrupted a young man. His voice trembled, and his pearly-white teeth seemed to chatter.

"What is it, Pratt?" growled the older man, crossing his arms.

"I'm very sorry for interrupting you-"

Pratt was cut off by the older man, who grunted.

"-but Weigel and I were checking out the satellite, and it seems that it has picked up four more Legionists. The children of the four survivors." Pratt's foot tapped triple-time.

The Latino woman gasped quietly, pressing a pink-colored nail to her lips. The Master turned his square-shaped head and gave her a sharp look.

"Show me the pictures," the Master said. "Now."

Pratt nodded quickly and led the way out of the room. The Master and the Latino woman quickly tailed him. Pratt made a right, then a left, then another left into an even darker room.

Inside the room, ninety-inch flat screen TVs took up two out of four walls. And in each one, the Master and the Latino woman could see four dots: one red, one blue, one green, and one white.

"So..." the Master spoke quietly. "The different colors represent the different Nature powers that they have, am I correct?"

The other young man in the room, Weigel, nodded.

"Answer me, Weigel!"

"Y-y-yes," Weigel stammered, taking a tiny step back. Truth be told, the Master terrified Weigel, and he tried his best to stay out of his way. "Red is for Fire, blue is for Water, green is for Earth, and white is for Air."

"Good," the Master replied calmly. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

The Latino woman frowned slightly. Pratt and Weigel were very young men. They couldn't have been more than eighteen. And here the Master was, threatening them like they were just anybody.

The Master walked up to one of the TVs. He pointed at the red, blue, and white dots. "The Fire Wielder, Water User, and Air Bender are closest to us. We can finish them off...as long as they're planning to stay put."

"What about the Earthen?" asked the Latino woman. "What are we going to do about him or her?"

The Master looked quizzically at Pratt and Weigel.

Pratt coughed before saying, "Actually, they're all girls."

The Master snorted. "And I bet you two were checking them out before you planned to tell us, am I right?"

Weigel's face was red as he answered, "Um...no. They're all fourteen."

He shot Pratt a those-girls-are-gorgeous-even-though-they're-younger-than us look.

Pratt nodded slightly, as if he didn't want the Master to see. Which, he didn't, because he knew that the Master would kill him if he found out that Pratt had been drooling over the very people they were trying to kill.

But he couldn't help it. He had always had a weakness for female redheads, and the Fire Wielder had luxurious, red hair. Pratt closed his eyes and smiled.

"Pratt!" the Master's sharp voice cut through his daydream. "Are we sleeping here, or what?"

"Sorry." Pratt snapped back to reality. And the reality was, even though the Fire Wielder, whose name happened to be McKenna, was only two years younger than him, he still couldn't have her. Because no self-respecting girl would go out with a guy who was part of a group of people trying to kill her.

"As I was saying," said the Master. "You are going to penetrate that school."

"What school?" asked Pratt, dazed. What on Earth was the Master talking about?

"You need to pay attention more. The school's name is Kallister Academy. You," the Master pointed, "will enroll as a student at the school. Keep in mind, though, it's very prestigious and costs an arm and a leg. We'll use some of our savings to get you in."

"Yes, sir."

"And this isn't just a chance to have fun and check out girls-it's serious business. I have reason to believe that the girls might be headed for that school." Weigel added.

"Sure." Pratt narrowed his eyes at Weigel, secretly gloating that he was the one to go. "But what do I do if I spot them?"

"Obviously alert us," the Master said. He dug through his holey pockets and brought out a black iPhone.

"Here," the Master tossed it at Pratt, who fumbled for a moment before finally catching it. "Use this. It's activated."

"Thanks," said Pratt. "Where'd you get it from?"

"Doesn't matter," frowned the Master.

Pratt backed off, knowing better than to question the arrival of expensive items. And he was grateful, even though he knew that the Master would be tracking him as long as the iPhone was on him.

The Master turned sharply to the Latino woman. "Suarez, let's go. I bet we can find Walsh and Spelling. They may have more on this."

The Master limped out of the room, with Suarez hurrying after him, her red high heels click-clacking on the hardwood floor.

Weigel frowned at Pratt. He always found a way to screw things up, thought Weigel. "Even though those girls may be hot, you can't mess things up for us. Otherwise, the master will kill us himself."

Pratt nodded, slightly annoyed. "Okay, but why don't you trust me? I'm not like some big klutz who can't do anything right."

"It's not that," Weigel sighed. His weathered sneakers squeaked as he paced around the room. "It's just that, this is important to the master. Acerate depends upon this. This will promote the boss, and you know he wants this badly."

Pratt closed his eyes. "He said he would promote us."

"And to be promoted, we need to pull this off." Weigel crossed his freckled arms. "The only problem is, can we?"

"We can." Pratt said firmly.

He could feel it.