Page 2 of The Lost Elemental

“Aura!”

The whirling dervish of a ten-year-old tore into the room and launched himself at me, sending me flying back onto the bed. I groaned, but I’d never want to lose the sneak attacks from my little Tasmanian devil.

I ruffled Charlie’s hair, several shades darker than my own. “Yes, monster?”

He grinned up at me. “Can I come with you and Lainey today?”

“It’s gonna be boring.”

He shook his head back and forth. “Nuh-uh. You’re gonna get to see so many cool powers.”

“You see elementals every single day.”

“But not the really powerful ones. Only the ones that don’t have strong gifts.”

I guessed he had a point there. I’d heard stories about those who had true mastery over one of the four elements, or in rare cases, even more than one. They typically had strong ties to the royal lines. The princes and kings were said to even have mastery of three of the elements. But as time had passed, that kind of dominance over earth, air, water, and fire had become more and more rare.

The elementals who lived their lives working amongst humans typically weren’t as strong. Some said it was due to the mixing elemental bloodlines, and others said it was because many elemental males had mated with human women since there were so few women of their kind. Whatever the reason, elementals with muted gifts had lost their cool factor for Charlie.

I tickled his sides. “You hoping to see someone creating a hurricane? Maybe a wind tunnel?”

Charlie squealed. “I wanna see a fire elemental blow something up!”

My tickling stilled as a shiver ran through me.

“Charlie Coleman,” Mom warned. “We don’t talk about blowing things up in this house.”

He gave her a sheepish smile. “What if the blowing up doesn’t hurt anyone?”

My fingers found the burn on the inside of my arm, tracing over the slick, raised skin there. Memories battled against the walls of my mind. Falling through fire. Unable to move. My hands fisted, fingernails biting into my palm. The flash of pain helped but not enough.

Mom shook her head at Charlie. “You’re hopeless.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him up. “Let’s go make pancakes so Aura can get dressed.”

Her gaze flitted back to me for a moment. I thought I saw a hint of worry pass over her features, but it was gone too quickly for me to be sure.

Charlie launched himself off the bed. “Pancakes!”

I forced a smile, trying to shake off the remnants of the nightmare, the memories. “I’ll be fast. Promise.”

“Good, ‘cause I’m starving.”

He grabbed Mom and tugged her towards the door. She glanced over her shoulder at me. “I want to talk to you before you leave.”

“Okay.” I felt a prickle of guilt for lying. I knew she’d want me to go see that therapist she’d found about my nightmares, but that was the last thing we needed to be spending money on. If I dodged the first few attempts at conversation, she’d get so busy she’d forget.

I pushed up from my twin bed and my legs gave out, sending me collapsing back to the mattress. My hands fisted in the blankets as I caught my breath. The nightmares had been taking more and more out of me.

Low blood sugar, I reasoned with myself. I wasn’t always good at eating after my evening shifts. Once I got some pancakes in my system, I’d be fine.

I stood more slowly this time, giving my body a chance to acclimate. After a few breaths, I was steady on my feet. I moved to my closet, scowling at the contents. The idea that we were supposed to dress up for this charade of an event was ridiculous.

My fingers skimmed the hangers inside. Dresses weren’t something I needed on the regular. But I had a few, mostly Goodwill scores. I stopped on a sundress with capped sleeves. It was a pale blue with tiny flowers dotting it. And it fit like it was made for me.

Pulling it free, I tossed it on the bed and hurried into the bathroom to get ready. It was a comedy of errors, the three of us sharing a bathroom. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen once Charlie hit puberty.

I made quick work of getting ready. I considered making some effort with my makeup and then just went with mascara and lip balm. It would have to be good enough for the fancy-schmancy elementals.

I scowled at the thought. There would probably be a bunch of people from Kingwood Academy. I’d overheard younger elementals talking when they came into the pub. They were all praying for a placement at the most prestigious of the schools. But from what I’d learned about it over the years, it sounded as if it was more about connections than talent or earning your place there.