The Elementals

Chapter 1

Somewhere close to the White Cliffs of Diver, England, 13th December 2006

"How much further Captain?" Co-pilot Evans asked, looking at the caption who was focusing on the colourful buttons in front of him and trying to decide what the best call of actions was. "We're not going to make it Evans." The captain said.  He had a bushy beard and eyes similar to those of a dog. They kept on darting around the place faster than was thought to be possible and they were ice blue in colour. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and dark, almost raven like hair  in a messy style on his head. Evans looked up at him worriedly. The plane had a young child on it, a little girl. Just three months old. They couldn't kill her, surely! "We must be near the coastline now!" Evans cried. His dark brown eyes were widened in fear and his short blond hair was now sticking up all over the place, his co-pilots headphones slightly askew. Looking up at the older man worriedly he tried to see if it was true and if they were all going to die. Judging by the look in the dog-like eyes, it seemed that their deaths were all inevitable.

Block of  Flats, Manchester, England, 30th December 2004

"Its no use!" The frustrated fireman turned back to his partner. "There's no way we can get everyone out of there, it looks like its about to collapse. Owen Reynalds looked at the burning building and then back at Tom Smith who was clearly having some kind of a crisis. "Listen Tom, everything's going to be okay. We will get everyone out if we-" Owen's words were cut off by the sound of something breaking. Specifically the tall block of flats which he had just promised Tom that was going to be fine. A woman started to scream trying to break through the line of firemen who were blocking the entrance to the flats. "My baby! My little girl!" She cried. Owen closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples. Once again he had failed the team. Some new year this was going to be. This was his first major incident and he had ruined a mothers supposedly perfect new year with what seemed to be her only child.

Somewhere in the Brecon Beacons,Wales, 4th December, 2002

"What was that? Landslide sir?" Megan asked, speaking into her headset. She was sitting at her desk, doing the emergency service calls as usual. Megan Williams was incredibly bored but any chance to find out what was going on in the world, specifically tragedy always interested her. She didn't know how and she didn't know why. "How many casualties." She said, writing down a list so she could easily tell the police and ambulance services as that was part of her job. "Yep. A woman, a man. Anyone else? Oh." Her face just fell, at the sound of the man's last words. A little baby, presumably a girl was trapped under the rubble falling from one of the quarries in the Brecon Beacons. Suddenly she didn't like tragedies anymore.

Near Fleetwood Beach, England, 15th December2003

"I do hope you're joking. I do hope you're fucking joking!" Kathryn Jones stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the man who was standing next to her. "We can't be sinking. I refuse to accept it. Its not like we're on the titanic." She rolled her eyes. She was meant to be on a day-trip ferry at Blackpool but had decided to go to one at Fleetwood instead, purely because it was cheeper. "We can get you off in time madame-" The man continued, looking incredibly nervous. Kathryn looked like someone you didn't want to mess with with her long black, glossy locks and pointy chin. Kathryn nodded and was about to say something when she was flung to the other side of the ferry, feeling something explode deep in the ship. "Terrorists!" Someone cried and Kathryn was lost in the crowds of people wanting to get off the boat. No one noticed the little baby crying in the corner, thinking that someone else would pick her up. But no one would.

Yorkshire, Present day

Evie sat down at the table, pushing her blond hair out of her eyes. She tucked it behind her ear, wanting to focus on eating her lunch without someone coming over to make fun of her for something. IT didn't matter what, people just called her a freak. Maybe it was because of the fact that she lived with her aunt, maybe it was because she survived a plane crash. She didn't know.

A dark shadow fell over her plastic pink container which had a sandwich, some monster munch and half a subway cookie stashed in it making her look up and tremble with fear. The bullies had returned and, as usual they had brought an audience. "What is it with you Evie?" One of them spat. He had his hair in a mullet and his accent really made him sound like one of the annoying characters from emmerdale. At least that's what she told herself so she could get to sleep at night. As he approached her, the wind started to pick up, practically turning the red umbrella on her table inside out. It was always windy whenever she ate outside and she never knew why.

Manchester, Present day

"Evie!" Evie looked up, her brown eyes shining with excitement as one of her friends came over to her. She always loved being with them, whatever the weather. Her best friend Emily, who had frizzy ginger hair sat on her lap as Evie was always warm to the touch. Even in the freezing cold weather, she somehow managed to keep her body warm so her friends usually wanted her on their team during snowball fights as her hands could withstand the coldness of the snow.

She pushed her light, straw coloured hair out of her friends mouth and laughed heartily, wanting to know everything about what was going on at table number 3 and who they were thinking of pranking next. "Hey we should totally go camping someday." She suggested, her eyes burning with excitement. Emily often said that when Evie got that excited she could practically see a little flame dancing in her pupil. Emilys happy smile faded and shook her head. "Evie, how will that even happen. Your mom will barely let her out of your sight. Do you think its because of what happened when you were a kid?" Evie shrugged, not wanting to talk about it however she feared that it was true.

Shropshire, Present day

"Elle!" Elle looked up from her phone, slipping it into her short black school skirt pocket and stood up, shaking her head slightly so that her dark fringe fell over her forehead and her hair lay neatly on her shoulders. Her eyes were outlined with dark liner, the wing emphasised just the right amount to make her look even more attractive than she did without makeup. She was quite slim and short, however she seemed to radiate a sort of power around her,  like no one should mess with her despite what she looked like. "Yeah?" She said, stretching out one short leg and then the other. Her best friend, Millie stood there, her brown curls bouncing around her face and her smile always present. "Come on we're going to be late for class." Elle grinned and followed her into the classroom, wondering what they were going to study in media as at the moment it all seemed to be coursework.

As she walked into school she realised that she felt amazing. Whenever she was outside, close to the Earth and close to nature she felt even stronger than she already did. School always sucked but at least she could walk around with her head held high, looking like someone who's emotions were locked away more securely than the crown jewels but at the same time like someone who had a completely different side to her. Sometimes she didn't realise how many heads she turned when she walked down he corridor. But the times that she did, she loved it.

Oldham, Present day

Evie was sitting in a classroom, watching a video that the teacher was demonstrating. She wasn't really concentrating on it though. Pushing her dark framed glasses up her nose she pretended to look like she was intrigued by the formation of the polar ice caps but instead her thoughts were wandering to the swimming pool and about how she could get there after school. As her aunt often said, for someone who had nearly drowned in a ferry accident as a child, she had a surprising love for the water, whether it was the chlorine filled pool or if it was the salty waves of the sea. She felt more alive and more free there, plus she was the best swimmer in her group and hoped to be a swim teacher one day.

"Evie!" The girl looked up from her notebook and tried to pretend that she hadn't been focusing on what the sea looked like or that she hadn't been trying to plan out an example swim lesson. "Three." She answered confidently, looking at the teacher. Mrs Williams rolled her eyes. "Thats not even close. Now focus on the question. What are some of the main factors of shrinking polar ice caps?" Evie groaned internally, wanting to be out of the lesson as soon as possible.