The Elementals (25 page)

           
There were the steams that grew from her eyes towards her hairline, the flowers blooming along it, drops of rain from the clouds blowing overhead, lightening erupting in fire. She touched it up with other colors, taking one pencil at a time, swiping it over, giving it definition. She tried to recall all those times that she had seen Era drawing on her canvas, or the last time she had seen her, drawing flames on Bryne's neck.

           
She incorporated all of the elements into one drawing, earth, fire, water, and air. It was her way of showing that she had them with her. She always would, and in the most important (and only) battle that had been fought for Elven and human kind, she carried them with her then.

           
She revisited a few of the memories she held of them. It may as well have been the last few moments of peace she would have, and in those moments she wanted to truly remember them for who they were, and what they held dear.

           
"Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Ready or not, here I come!" Terra dropped her hands from her face.

           
The first place she searched for her little sister was in the boxes that had yet to be unpacked. She checked the empty rooms, the closets, and under the newly put-together beds. Her eight year old legs ran all over the house looking for her.

           
"Am I hot," she called out to nothing in the middle of the kitchen, her hands on her hips. Then the sink, which she hadn't seen had water in it, suddenly formed her sister, sitting in the basin, her knees to her chest, giggling madly.

           
"Here I am!"

           
Terra stomped her foot in anger. "You weren't supposed to use your powers! This is Hide and Seek; it's a human game, Issa."

           
She kept giggling, and Terra helped her down to the floor.

           
"You're such a cheat."

           
Marissa stuck out her tongue and ran. "Catch me if you can!"

           
Era peered up at her new home, a gray three story Victorian mansion. Dirt smeared her skin and crusted in her clothes. She smelled of cigarettes and sweat. She had been alone for too long.

           
"This is it," she asked in awe.

           
Eagerly, jumping on her toes, Marissa questioned, "do you like it?"

           
"I love it. It's much better than the street."

           
Marissa and Terra looked to each other in sympathy. It was unfair, that they had the great life they did, and Era was suffering. They never imagined finding another element in an art supply store, looking for warmth and dreaming about another future.

           
Terra lifted the huge thin folder filled with a couple of canvases, tons of brushes, colors and a pallet. There was the easel in the car waiting to be brought in. They wanted her to feel at home, and she seemed much attached to the idea of painting, saying that she drew on the streets with thrown away and broken crayons. Terra couldn't wait to see what she could do, and even if it wasn't much, at least she would be happy and with her family.

           
Balancing herself on the tips of her toes, Terra reached up and kissed Ian's lips. The softness and electricity of the contact shocked her stomach to her worn sneakers. She slid her palms over his arms, to where he encircled her waist. Holding him there, she took his lip into her mouth, running her tongue along the edge, and lifted them into the air, their feet hanging inches above the ground. It only lasted a second, for he pulled back, and before he could see she gently rested them on the pavement. It wasn't much, but she wanted him to have the sense of magic that her kind carried, even if he could never know what it was.

           
"Yes. I play." Bryne flicked the strings, his fingers moving over them, holding them expertly. He tapped his foot setting a beat, and he began to sing, low, deep, sensuous, and striking cords in her that she hadn't known were there. Then, he sung slow and sweet...

“Fire, fire, bring me down,

Where the embers glow.

Dying inside of me,

I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I do.

Air, air, bring me to life,

Spark the skies with red,

Show me why I'm alive.

Water, water, drown me in your flowing heart.

Show me what I've done wrong,

Hurt me the way I've hurt.

Destruction is my peace,

It's why I exist.

I hate me, I hate me, I hate me, I do,

I hate everything I'm putting you all through.

Earth, earth, bring me to myself again.

My purpose is within you holding it deep,

Feed me what you can't keep.

It's you I belong to.”

           
Steadily the tears fell. They chilled the warmth of her neck as they streamed to be soaked up by her neckline. One tear avoided such a fate and dripped into her shirt. She shivered and stared at the house, a glowing white light showing the occupancy. For a brief second, a shadow eclipsed the far left window (as much as one could eclipse the fogginess of it), the blurred shape stretched beyond its capacity.

           
Without forming a plan, thinking on her feet, Terra kicked the door open and ran across the road, up the porch steps and to the door. She didn't bother announcing herself as she would do with anyone else that she respected. She kicked that door open too, the flimsy lock giving underway, and the knob bowed broken in its place, knocked sideways by her force.

           
The room was stripped of all of the furniture that was there in her last visit. In front of her, blocking the entrance to the kitchen and hallway was a high backed cushioned chair. The faded orange gave thought that it was from the 60's. Hadrian sat in it like a king, his elbows on the armrests, his fingertips together, and his chin on top, observing her like an interesting specimen in a lab.

           
"It's about time. I've been waiting." He lifted barely an inch upwards as if trying to see over her shoulder, but he was quickly gratified. "You didn't bring anyone with you?" His brows rose in surprise. "Aha, you killed them. About time, but it is my motto that it is better late than never. It should be your motto too."

           
Terra didn't want fake pleasantries, to wait anymore to find out if she was going to see her family that night. She wanted the conclusion to their story then. "Lets get this over with, Hadrian."

           
"So eager for death, are we?" He chuckled, so much like Bryne it turned her stomach. "I guess you are. I apologize ahead of time for the pun, but after all, you're
dying
to be with your family. Tskk, tsk, tsk, they're all dead now, aren't they? Even my son, the fourth Element. You liked him. I could see it, the way you two looked at each other. It was vile."

           
He stood from his seat like an old man, his back hunched, his elbows shaking. It struck her as odd to be reminded that he was older. He then held up a finger. "No, wait, there's your aunt. Ah, you're dear Aunt Gwenyth. How is she?"

           
"Stay away from her," she spat, the jumpstart of her heart that felt too close to cracking a couple of bones in her rib cage.

           
He had the gall to appear shocked. "You have no manners. Shall I teach you some?" His hands lashed out, and Terra ducked just in time, falling to the floor as his negative energy busted out the grimy window that was behind her. It could have been her, those pieces flying and skattering all over the floor could have been the pieces of her.

           
Terra shimmied on her stomach, away from him. A part of her felt like a coward, crawling from him like a child, but his blasts missed her by hairs, and she stood at the far end. She swiped her hand blindly, and took him out. He flailed against the opposing wall, his head cracking on one of the wooden panels of the wall. He fell to the ground, just like his son Bryan, when he had done the same to him.

           
Hadrian stood again, a twisted smile playing on his thin and ugly cracked lips. "Naughty, naughty, you will pay my dear."

           
She tumbled to her stomach, the other window blasting to bits. The jagged edges of the pane tangled in her hair, sure to cut her when she tried to get them out.
If
she got them out. It was too tempting to stand there and let him kill her, all so she could see
them
, to be with
them
again
.

           
"Come on, little Elemental, don't you want to see your pathetic family?"

           
"I'd rather see you dead." From the floor she waved her hand. It wasn't graceful, it was shaky and unpracticed, but his feet swept from under him, landing him hard on the ground.

           
"You first," he groaned and raised his hand.

           
That was the last that she saw. Where it began, so must it end.

It was time to finish what was started.

           
There was white light. It was so bright, so warm, almost somewhat happy, she could almost touch it, but her hand fell just short of it, just enough to graze it. The tendrils of whatever it was beyond, clung to her and it was too delicious to not try to go towards it, but her feet were stuck. She could not move.

           
It wasn't as disappointing as it should have been. Terra didn't hurt; the injuries that she sustained during her fight with Hadrian must have healed. She knew it, just knew it, it was the place she had wanted to be. She was going home. She would see her parents, her sisters. She would see Bryne. She could tell them that they were safe and together, and that she had tried her best.

           
There were many shapes, one tall and burly, one small and tiny, the other tall and elegant, and another of medium height. She was blinded by the beauty in front of her, she couldn't see their faces, but could hear their far off voices, and recognized them immediately. She was right, she really was home.

           
"Go back," Marissa begged. "It's not your time yet."

           
"No," Terra said, "let me stay, please. I finally found you."

           
"We've never been lost," Era told her, "we'll be here waiting for you when you're ready. We'll be together again, I promise."

           
Marissa giggled, like she had when she was a child, hiding in sinks. "You'll see. I did."

           
Bryne's tone was rough, "what were you thinking, Terra? You didn't even
try!
You have to go back, you have to defeat him. It's not over yet. Go back."

           
"No! Bryne, I tried, I did! You saw what happened. Please, please, let me come home! I want to come home."