{ELEMENTISTS OF WILLOW FOREST BOOK III} The Bane of Technology

Breathe

1: Breathe

When Olivia had finished, she closed her mouth and waited for them to desert her.

No one moved.

She waited again. Surely, the moment one person moved their chair backwards they all would go.

Still, no one moved.

A minute passed, and everyone was as firmly seated in their chairs as they were when Olivia had started.

Olivia tensed as somebody pushed their chair out.

It was Josie.

"Alicia? Tom?" She asked around brightly. "Can you and some others please help out and bring the plates through?"

Life started up again like nothing had happened.

Olivia Green breathed a sigh of relief.

*

Three Months Later...

*

"Hey, Kayla! Snow!"

Kayla groaned in bed as Tilly shook her shoulder to wake her.

Snow. In Willow Forest. Yeah right.

With at least one Elementist of each element in one place, the weather more or less did what they wanted. Usually, they kept it at the temperature of a warm day in an English late Spring so a variety of animals (penguins, platypi, parrots, you name it) could seek shelter in the woodland.

Yes, the wildlife was abnormal, to say the least, at the home of the Association of Elementists. Olivia was so powerful that even her presence attracted animals from all over the world.

Anyway, no snow was ever allowed to fall over Willow Forest. The Polar bears, Snow Leopards and Arctic seals would love it, but the rattle snakes, koalas and hippopotami wouldn't.

So, when Tilly dragged her outside, Kayla stared in awe as she saw that the lake the House of Water was floating in the centre of had been clothed with a thick layer of ice.

She and Tilly ran across the unstable wooden bridge (usually the water would carry them over to the shore, but it was currently a bit too solid), and saw that Kayla's brother Jasper was already deeply engaged in a snowball fight with Alyn.

Kayla winced as she felt icy slush trickling down her neck. She spun round and saw Harry grinning like a hyena. She scooped up a bundle of snow and threw it at him with all her might. It hit him squarely in the face.