Water Elemental

Kendal opened her eyes and for a long moment, couldn’t remember where she was. She laid on a foreign bed, in an unfamiliar room, and tried to remember how much she’d drunk the night before.

Then suddenly, it all came back to her. Making eyes at the tall, big man with the great shoulders, accepting his drink and invitation to sit and talk. Running after a group of strangers with him and the impossible fight in that alley where that tall, big man had thrown dumpsters around like they were throw pillows and the man at the end returning fire with, well, fire.

Then the car ride through downtown, meeting Jacob, hearing the creation story from a totally new perspective, lighting the candle with green flame, and Jacob telling her she was their greatest weapon.

Then, nothing. Like the end of a movie, a blank screen. She didn’t know how she’d ended up here. She glanced down at herself, sighing in relief to see that no one had changed her while she’d been unconscious. Her body ached like she’d worked out and her head pounded worse that her worst hangover.

With a groan, she rolled out of bed and stood, swaying and catching herself against the bedpost as her vision went in and out of focus.

“What the hell did they do to me?” she mumbled. Glancing around, she made her way over to the door. Trying the handle, half expecting it to be locked, she was surprised when it turned easily under her hand.

Peeking out into a hallway, she saw Gordan, said big and tall man, slumped on the ground next to her door. When she stepped out and closed it behind her, he jerked and then jumped to his feet.

“You’re up,” he said with a smile. “Jacob said to bring you to him.”

She held up a hand.

“First things first, I need coffee,” she told him. “And secondly, what the hell did you guys do to me last night?”

He frowned at her.

“Do?” he repeated. “We didn’t do anything. Coffee’s this way.”

She followed him because he’d said the magic word.

“Then why do I feel like I got hit by a truck? And my head’s killing me.”

“Oh.” He stopped, reached in his pocket, and handed her a small bottle. She held it up to the light and stared at the pale blue liquid inside.

“Magic potion?” she asked.

He snorted.

“Guess you could call it that. It’s Ibuprofen and Alka-Seltzer.”

“Huh,” she said, only slightly disappointed. Twisting the top off, she tossed it back.

Gordan was walking again so she jogged to keep up.

“The body aches are from the magic burn,” he told her. “Pulling as much power as you did last night to light that candle, and then pushing it out like you did?” He shook his head. “Impressive but stupid.”

She glared at him.

“I didn’t know what I was doing. Why didn’t Jacob stop me if I was making such a stupid mistake?”

“Sean and I asked him that while you were doing it. He said you were in too deep. He worried if he tried to stop you, something even worse would happen.”

The look he gave her told her what that worse would’ve been and she shivered.

At Jacob’s office, Gordan knocked and walked inside. Kendal followed and then groaned, covering her eyes as the bright sunshine speared into her head like a jackhammer. The “potion” Gordan had given her didn’t seem to help and she wanted to throw up.

“Sorry,” Jacob’s spoke from across the room and then the light disappeared. She lowered her hands to see that he’d closed the blinds. “I should’ve been prepared.”

Kendal shrugged and followed Gordan off to the side where he was getting coffee. She filled a cup, added sugar and cream, then followed him back to the chairs in front of Jacob’s desk.

“This makes almost anything ok,” she said, toasting him with her cup. “So, Gordan told me I got magic burn and could’ve died.”

“That’s the short version, yes.” Jacob frowned at Gordan. “I apologize for risking you but, in all honesty, I didn’t know there was a risk. That’s no excuse,” he held his hands up like she was going to argue with him, “and I take complete responsibility since you’re now under my tutelage.”

“Under your tutelage?” she repeated. “I thought I’d be working with someone else.”

She glanced over at Gordan but he was busy staring into his coffee.

“I’m the leader of this faction,” Jacob said and she looked back at him. “All recruits are under my guidance until they’re tested and receive their mark.”

“About that.” She set her coffee on his desk. “Where’s your mark? Which one do you have? You said I should be able to use all of them, so what’s my mark gonna look like? Do I have to get twelve different zodiacs all over me?”

He held up his hands.

“First, my mark is here.” He unbuttoned his sleeve and pushed it up, exposing his wrist. A lion with one paw lifted covered the inside of his forearm. Unlike Sean’s, his was surrounded by a blue ring. “I’m stronger than most and can control water,” he explained, rolling up his sleeve. “For your mark, I can’t tell you what to expect. After you collapsed last night and Gordan took you off to bed, I put a call in to my peers. They’re examining their books as we speak. As I said, I‘ve never met one like you and I don’t know what to do.” He paused. “But for starters, I’ll teach you what I know.”

She sat up straight, eager.

“We’ll go to the water and see if you can’t recreate something like you did last night with the candle.”

It was Kendal’s turn to frown.

“You want me to set your lake on fire?”

Gordan barked out a laugh and Jacob smiled.

“Something like that.”

Outside, cool, clean air filled her lungs as they walked, scented with flowers. They left the business area and crossed into a park where they came to the banks of a small pond, the water still and dark.

Jacob turned to her.

“Kneel down, put your hands in the water.”

She did and the second her hands sank below the surface, she gasped. Not because it was cold, which it was, but because she could feel every molecule, every current. It was as if she’d become one with the water and she knew what to do, what she could do.

She didn’t need Jacob to coach her. With the water touching her, she didn’t even have to picture it. Reaching inside, into a lake she hadn’t even known was there, she pulled it up, like sucking a straw. She pushed gently, blowing out her breath into the cool morning air. Her hands chilled, the tips tingling, as the water around them rapidly dropped in temperature.

Blinking open her eyes, she saw the pond was frozen as if it was the middle of winter and not the beginning of fall. She pulled her hands, which were somehow not frozen, from the water and lay them in her lap.

After a moment, Jacob cleared his throat and stepped up, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Reverse it.”

Kendal looked at the frozen water for a moment and then put her hands back in. She kept her eyes open as she called the heat from the fire and melted the ice. The flame came easier this time, quicker, and warmed the lingering chill. A cracking sound filled the air, ice melting and dissolving, and in another minute, the pond lay as it’d been.

“Again,” Jacob ordered.

“Give her a break,” Gordan spoke up, moving to her other side. “She’s only been doing this a day.”

“We need to know her limits,” Jacob argued.

“I’d say by the magic burn she got last night, you’re already pushing them,” Gordan snapped as he stepped towards the other man.

“Stop it,” Kendal stood up between them, placing her hand on Gordan’s chest. “Gordan, I appreciate it,” she told him. “Really, I do but I’m fine.” She turned to Jacob and nodded. “I’m fine.”

He inclined his head at her, gesturing at her to proceed.

Kendal turned back to the pond, closing her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the feel of the water inside her, felt the chill of the ice, and pushed it out. On either side, she heard the men draw sharp breaths and smiled to herself, knowing she’d done it.

The sound of clapping startled her and she opened her eyes.

Across the frozen pond, a man and woman stood. She hadn’t seen their faces very well but somehow, she knew they were the couple from the alley the night before.

“Very good,” the man said and clapped again. “You’ll be a wonderful asset to our team.”

Gordan stepped in front of her.

“She’s not going with you,” he snarled, “and she’d never join your team.”

“Oh, I never said she’d join willingly.” The smile the man gave was evil. “Lizzie,” he said to the woman beside him. “If you will.”

The woman, Lizzie, raised her hands and Gordan was thrown backwards, knocking Kendal to the ground beneath him. Jacob lifted his hands even as he was tossed through the air, and the ice on the pond cracked, a geyser of water shooting up and aiming for the couple on the far bank. The man lifted his hands and jets of fire evaporated the water before it could reach them. Jacob slammed into a tree and was still but it gave Gordan a split second to roll off of Kendal and get up.

Lizzie’s face was a mask of concentration but Gordan had planted his feet and wouldn’t be thrown again. He couldn’t move forward so he was effectively immobilized, but she was using all her power just to hold him.

“Guess that leaves just you and me,” the man said and raised his hands.

Instinctively, Kendal raised hers as well and when he shot an arrow of fire at her, she pulled from the flame inside herself and met it with one of her own. Where they clashed above the still frozen pond, the air danced with sparks, green from hers, and red and orange from his. A great sizzling sound filled the clearing and the force made her grit her teeth. A headache started up, pounding behind her eyes, and she felt sweat gather and drip down her forehead but she didn’t dare let up. She just kept pulling and pulling, the fire inside of her seemingly endless.

The man’s eyes had widened at the sight of her green flame.

“What are you?” Somehow she heard him over the snapping sound of their flames meeting.

She couldn’t answer, all of her strength being used to hold him off. Her jaw was clenched so tightly it ached, her muscles throbbed, and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. She didn’t know how much longer she could do this. Black spots appeared at the edges of her vision, her breaths were pants, and still she pulled on the fire.

Lizzie’s gasp was loud as a gunshot as she fell to her knees. Gordan stumbled as her wall of air dissolved but caught himself. With a grunt like a bull, he charged around the pond. Kendal could see the mans’ lips move and then he threw his hands to the side. Out of her control, her flame followed, shooting harmlessly off and fizzling out. Collapsing, she listed to her side, vision going dark. She watched the man gather Lizzie into his arms and disappear.

“I’m your worst nightmare,” she murmured as the blackness took her.