The Elementals

Chapter 4: Looking Down at the Past

Mike didn't know what to do. Everything happened so fast that his mind was unable to process what was happening. One minute she was talking with Susan and the next she her hands were on fire. Now she was running around waving her hands shaking them like the flame would go away. But it didn't.

"Susan calm down" he said

"Calm down! Calm down? My hands are on fire. So please don't tell me to calm down" she said looking down at him angrily. "This is all your fault"

"My fault? How is this my fault?"

"You are the one who brought me here. You made this happen"

"Yeah sure. I made your hands burst into flames. Blame the guy who is trying to help you. Okay, this is going to look insane but please don't panic" he said, and she nodded. "Now give me your hands" she did what he asked and he carefully avoiding the fire held her wrists. Slowly he imagined water packed in a form of a ball and just as he imagined her hands were now inside the ball but even through that the fire kept blazing from her fingers.

"How did you...." But before she could ask, he interrupted her. "I promise I'll explain later. Right now, I want you to trust me. Try imagining the fire diminishing. Burning out. Or disappearing".

After a few seconds she looked at him. She was scared and shaking. "It's not working. Why isn't it working?"

"Come on try again. Concentrate on only the fire" now slowly but surely he could see the flame disappearing and soon there was no trace of it. He spread his hands and the ball of water disappeared.

Susan was staring at him her eyes blazing. "How did you do that? How did I do that?"

"I guess I owe you the truth now" he sighed. Suddenly he was feeling exhausted and tired. He didn't know what to say to Susan. He didn't want the truth to come out this way and definitely not at this moment.

"Susan you have to promise me something. Don't tell anyone what happened here today. Especially your mother. I'll explain everything tomorrow after school. Ok?" after a few moments Susan replied looking down at her feet.

"Ok" she said and they both headed down the tree house and walked towards her house. The whole way Susan remained silent. She looked deep in her thoughts. He himself had questions that need some answering. Normally elementals powers come from generation to generation of the same family. When the parents died the child inherits their elemental powers. But Susan's mom was still alive. Thereby its almost impossible that she has her powers. But he had seen crazy impossible things happen before. Before much time had passed, they finally reached Susan's house.

"I...I guess I'll see you tomorrow" she said and walked towards the door.

Susan I'm sorry things didn't work out the way I expected it to. I really thought...." That by showing the tree house I could bring some memories from your childhood back to you, about me, Brittney and Sam. But he didn't say it.

Susan smiled. "I had a great time" she said "though everything got ruined when my hand burst into flames"

"I thought you handled that pretty well" he said.

"Yeah I handled it like a baby" she said as she rang the bell. "My mom's probably going to kill you if she sees you. So, you should get out of here"

"Good night then Susan" he said and turned towards his house just as the door opened behind him.

                                                                                                  ***

Susan couldn't sleep last night. She had bad dreams that kept her awake. Not that she wanted to be reminded of them. School went on as usual, but she couldn't concentrate on any of the subject matter. Soon she was in the back seat of Mike's car as they made their way to a place called the headquarters. As usual she had no idea what any of it had to do with her powers but nevertheless went with it.