Pure Souls (book 1) : Light Withering Away

A

Lizzie's P.O.V

Eight months ago, I discovered I had water powers. Eight months ago, I became an FAE (Fighter Against Evil). Eight months ago, I left my home. I miss my home. But at the same time, the FAE base in the woods feels like home. It feels like home thanks to five other people: Max who has fire powers, Jess who has air powers, Callum who has earth powers, Shelby who has light/life powers and Cory who has darkness/death powers.

You can't just be given powers. No. Every 1000 centuries, a selected few are born with magic deep inside their soul. Turns out we were the lucky ones from the 20th century. "Lizzie! Shelby and I are going for a walk, you wanna come?" Jess burst through my door. I didn't reply. I felt the tears gleaming in my eyes. Jess slowly shut my door and came over to me, sitting next to me on my bed. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I just... I wanna go home," I whimpered.

"I guess one of the only pros of having no family is that you won't miss them."

Jess was the princess of Azarinda, our kingdom. Her Father abused her and her Mother was assainated. "Jess, I..." I began. "I'm sorry."

"No, no. It's all good. Besides, maybe I do have a family."

"No. You DO have a family." We hugged. 

We heard running up the stairs. Scott, one of our mentors (we had four, Scott, Yammy, Lauren and Sasha), broke the door down. He never did know his own strength. He ignored the splinters on the ground. "Girls, come downstairs. Now," he ordered. We obeyed him and quickly followed him downstairs. A boy with big brown eyes and messy brown hair sat in the lounge with a hot cocoa. Yammy and Callum sat either side of him, comforting him. Lauren walked in with a tray of cookies, Sasha behind her with more milk. Cory, Shelby and Max were bickering quietly amongst themselves. They always did that. They were together a lot, despite the fact that Cory never got along too well with Shelby or Max. "Who's he?" I asked, pointing at the unfamiliar boy.

"Dunno, he was just at our doorstep," Sasha replied, placing the big cup of milk on the coffee table. "He's yet to speak."

"I-I..." the boy finally said. He had a British accent. Funny he spoke when we came in. "They're scary. The EAPE destroyed my whole town. I had nowhere else to go."

"Can we keep him here?" I asked.

"Y-you would do that?"

"Yes!"

"I dunno Lizzie, we don't know him very well," Scott replied.

"I don't care! You can tell the boy's been through a lot. At least let him stay here so he can get back on his feet."

"Yeah Scott, he needs to feel safe," Jess said, grabbing my hand.

"To feel protected," Shelby jumped up off of the floor.

"To feel loved," Max followed her.

"To feel that he has a home," Yammy walked over to Jess and I.

"I seriously don't think..." Scott wasn't convinced.

"C'mon buddy, help a pal out," Sasha said.

Cory stood and went over to Scott. "Scott does have a point," he said.

"Oh COME ON!" Max exclaimed. "Don't you have sympathy for anyone?"

"No. I'm Death Element."

"And Scott just has no soul," Lauren smirked.

"Hey!" Scott pouted.

"Heh heh heh."

"Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease," I begged. The boy just HAD to stay.

"No!" Scott growled.

"What's that?" Callum cupped a hand over his ear. "Yes? Well, congrats boy who turned up on our doorstep!"

"I'm Joel," the boy squeaked.

"Congrats Joel, you're with us now."

"Ugh, fine," Scott rolled his eyes. He smiled a bit. "If y'all are THAT desperate."

I smiled and ran over to Joel. I sat where Yammy was and hugged him. He seemed surprised. His surprised face was kinda cute. Wait what? I pulled away, and I could see that he was blushing. It was very faint and hardly noticeable, but it was there. My smile widened. He snicked. I frowned but giggled too. The moment was ruined by Shelby angrily mumbling something. "Shelby, what's wrong?" Max asked.

Shelby glanced up at him. "Nothing," she replied. Something seemed... off about her. But what it was, I didn't know. I just couldn't put my finger on it. All of a sudden, she broke down into tears. She fell to the ground and curled up into a ball. I gasped, taken aback by what just happened. She was smiling literally 30 seconds ago. Joel stood and went over to Shelby, kneeling down next to her. I followed him. "Shelby, you need to talk," I whispered.

"I'm fine," she whimpered.

"It doesn't seem that way."

"Is it stress? I get a lot of that," Joel suggested quietly.

Shelby looked up at him with a tear-stained face. She sniffled. "Hm?" she asked.

"Yeah. Especially after what I've just been through. But it's okay, because I know that people wanna help me get through it. And you have one... two... three... four... hopefully five... six... seven... eight... nine... ten... eleven... you've got twelve people who are here for you. If anything's wrong, you just gotta speak up."

"Okay." Shelby sat up and wiped her tears. "Thanks Joel, I needed that."

"It's nothing really."

I hugged Shelby and she giggled. I pulled away. "Okay I'm hungry," I announced. I dived for the cookies and began nibbling on one. Everyone else laughed.