"The ghost of a girl who grew up too fast."
"I'm not a ghost yet."
"Yet. You are not a ghost yet."
~~~~~
Aithne had always wanted to do something great. If someone had told her two years ago that she would control fire and create a camp for people like her, she probably would have laughed in their face. If someone told her a year and a half ago that her twin sister, Venus, would die right in front of her, they would have never left the house. Life doesn't come with warnings though.
The night Camp Elements opened, she met two girls, and as two years went on, she watched them grow up. Sony, the fiery redhead who had broken almost everything half a year ago when they met in the hospital, and Jade, the shy twin who had talked very little. Sony excelled in class, but she was taken to the camp hospital every other day, picking fights with everyone. Jade was failing anything that had to do with using her element and barely passing everything else, but she was a great person. And with Brisa, a fashion obsessed wind elemental, and Emily, the group's sporty earth elemental, they were unstoppable.
When they were fifteen, everything changed.
The summer had just begun and Sony was still fighting. Brisa and Jade were discovering things everyday, even people, and Aithne Lancaster went missing. Fire even visited Jade, promising her one element related wish as long as she could discover the preferred hiding spot of the Pure Elements.
With the help of human girl Zora Sonal and Brisa's older brother Scott, the group sets out to find the Pure Elements, the nickname given to Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire by the Elemental students. What they accomplish is bigger than what they planned, what they loose is more than they expected. Their mission comes with consequences...
~~~~~
"What if somebody dies out there?"
"What?"
"What if, while we go try to save my life, somebody looses their own?"
"I don't know. I guess we should warn them. I'll print a contract."
She scowls.
He smiles.
She glowers.
He laughs.
She's cold.
He's open.
She hides with hate.
He hides with jokes.
Polar opposites.
That doesn't stop them from loving each other.
People say that some stars shine brighter than others.
Leo Caldas knew that quote by heart.
Being in a family of nine was hard. And he was the youngest. You would think, "Wow, the youngest? Lucky!" No. NOT lucky.
Leo hated being the youngest. Not only was he bullied by his older siblings, he was shoved around like the middle child.
His parents forgot he existed. They looked at him like, "Oh. He's still here." The worst part? They were divorced. Which meant he was always tossed around back and forth to each guardian, just waiting to be loved!
His other siblings- might he add were ALWAYS given attention- had found their home. Some of his siblings stayed with his mother. And the rest stayed with his father. Both permanent.
And Leo? He appreciates the concern. He went from place to place. He just couldn't find his home.
What did he do to cope?
He smiled. Instead of moping and sulking and doing what everyone else would have done, Leo Caldas smiled through it. It was all he knew how to do.
"Pain is the best teacher".
Jade Skai hated that quote with all her heart. Partly, because it was true.
Pain was the best teacher. Fear coming in halfway. What was worse? When pain decided to side with fear and work together.
She had felt both. Multiple times. And the feeling sucked.
Jade was not your normal happy sunshiny girl. No. She was cold, having a snappy tongue and a heartless nature.
That was her father's fault.
Her mother had died when Jade was born. And it tore her father apart. He now sat at home. Drinking alcohol anytime she saw him.
To add to the trauma, her father also beat her. Almost every night. For years since she turned ten. She was a very troubled girl. It wasn't her fault.