The Last Elementalist

Chapter 15

The room smelled like burnt toast which was lying on a plate in the center of the room. No one made eye contact with her, but they did not have to, she already knew what they were thinking.

"I'm sorry," she apologized after a minute or two of the silence. "I shouldn't have acted like that. I just needed some time alone to get my aggression out. Also, I didn't mean to push you that hard, Layla."

"So you meant to push me?" she asked.

"Yes."

"But lighter?"

"Uh huh."

"Wow," she muttered. "A real sweetheart."

"That seems to describe me pretty well," she decided.

Layla sighed. "It's fine, I get it. I also needed time to get violent after Alastair's death."

Evie stared at her and Layla stared right back. "Yes, I have feelings too. Maybe not in front of you, but I'm only human."

Bri began to hum and Finn watched her fiercely. When she caught his eye, she reddened and admitted, "Mama used to sing it to me. She had a pretty voice."

"Why don't you sing to us, Bri," Evie urged.

She looked at her faded pink sneakers and began again. Lyrics floated through Lielle's head as they all sat in stunned silence at the young girl's beautiful voice.

But I will be there, whether I'm right next to you or far away, or in another world. You are my girl.

That is what stuck with Lielle as she got up. Connor grabbed her hand and faltered, "Where are you going?"

"I need to talk to you, something about Daniel."

She caught Evie averting her eyes from the sight of their intertwined hands. Connor pulled himself up and they scaled the side of the building to get to the roof. People biked down the street and talked and laughed with their friends. A couple kissed and Lielle wondered if her and Gabriel might be doing that if she still lived a normal life in Sierra Vista.

Lielle sighed and began explaining to Connor the thought that had crossed her mind about the Crows. He admitted that Daniel had, in fact, told him, but made him promise not to tell her. She ground her teeth and continued.

"So do you think that maybe Callahan Agencies has Thrillers too, just they teach them to go against us?"

"It's always a possibility, but if we're up against our equals, we need something more powerful, something different to beat them."

His eyes widened as Lielle nodded. "Right. They don't have any Absorbers because they hate the Crows for going against them, and maybe they don't have any Elementalists either, which is why they want to get rid of us, so they'll have the upper hand. You can't beat power without power."

"Daniel said that it would throw everyone into chaos if the last descendant of Thunder, their leader, was taken."

"Then there's that too," she agreed. "If everyone is rioting and frantic, they can attack while it's like that. But if we were to get normal people to help us too, we could be maybe even stronger than them."

"People don't know," she reasoned.

"So?"

Connor nodded and smiled. "I guess I knew you were smarter than me all along."

Lielle snorted, "Was it ever in doubt."

They laughed until it hurt and then climbed back down to tell the others their plan and their suspicions on the attack.