The Uprisen

Chapter 7

Moonlight creeps up on him as he sits outside of the dining room window. A cool breeze sneaks up his spine, and sends a chill down his back. As he stands in the bushes, he begins to regret leaving his hoodie back at the warehouse.

He waits.

Being Sunday night, most of the kids are in bed, but not her. He watches as she slouches over the table she sits at, tracing her fingers along a book and some papers. She sings to herself as she works hard at her studies. After watching her for the last two days, he feels like he knows her. In fact, he does know her.

Willow Lurwick is a senior at Ashland High School, a school at which she attends with her twin sister-Waverly, her sister's boyfriend Cameron, and a few others. She's a co-leader of the mansion, but really she's the one who the kids go to first. She's focused, steadfast, brilliant, and attractive.

She's his target.

His phone buzzes in his jean pocket-a message from Riley that reads: Anything? He looks up through the window. Willow taps on the table, most likely to the beat of the song she's listening to. He sighs, and texts a reply: No. Seconds later, Riley replies with: Get back.

He looks through the window once more. Next to Willow stands a small girl with curly black hair, and a green teddy bear in her hands. He can't hear their conversation, but the girl is clearly looking for comfort from Willow, who smiles and walks with the girl out of the room. He stands outside, waiting to see something worth telling James, but nothing happens.

Carefully, he walks back to the warehouse, which is about two miles through the woods from the mansion. He doesn't mind the walk, though. The breeze, woods, and crickets calm him, which is impressive considering how tense he always is. To him, it's like the smoke from a blown-out candle: soothing and free.

As he walks, he thinks about the only memory he has before he woke up five years ago. Devin was about twelve years old when he walked back home only to find his house crawling with Union soldiers. His father, being a Confederate, made sure to teach him how to recognize Northern troops, but he didn't understand why there were at his house. He tried to sneak around, hoping to find his parents, but there was no sign of them. When he snuck into the house, he overheard two soldiers talking.

"The man and woman are dead, but we're still looking for the child," a man said with a deep, horrible voice.

Devin knew then and there that the man and woman that the soldier spoke of were his parents. Like any child who just lost their parents, he was angry and hurt. These men took away the only people that matter to a kid, and he had to make sure that they couldn't hurt anyone else the way they hurt him.

He ran outside and willed the trees surrounding his house to unroot from the Earth and to start marching into his home. The commotion brought all of the Union soldiers out into the front yard, right into Devin's trap. The trees surrounded the soldiers like metal bars on a cage, and he replanted them to keep the men trapped inside. Devin's father taught him how to defend himself as an elemental, but his father didn't know that Devin could wield both Earth and Fire. The boy set flame to the trees' branches, burning his victims alive. His plan worked, but he didn't foresee other soldiers coming to help their men. Devin tried to stop at them using the Earth, but they shot and injured him before he got the chance. The last thing he remembers seeing are the cruel eyes of a Union soldier, and then nothing.

Alive again, Devin wants to avenge his parents' murders as well as his own, but of course that's impossible considering those men most likely died over a hundred years ago. Still, the cruel massacre of his family is enough to make anyone angry and confused. Thankfully, he was saved by a group of elementals who trained him to become stronger.