The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (20 page)

“Who are you?” Ethan asked, peering at the back of her head.

She didn’t move or speak for a minute, but just as he was preparing to ask again, she spoke. “You know who I am.”

That voice, it sounded familiar. It was embedded in his memory somewhere; he just couldn’t place it. But he didn’t know who she was.

“What are you doing here?”

She still didn’t turn her head. “You know why I’m here.”

Ethan was becoming frustrated. If he knew why she was here, he wouldn’t be asking, would he? Perhaps talking to this woman hadn’t been wise after all.

“I do?”

“You brought me here. You should know why I am here.”

“What do you mean? I didn’t bring you here. You’re the one in
my
dream.”

“It is more than a dream. You are searching for something, and I am here to lead you to it. The necklace you wear is no ordinary charm. It is a symbol of your power, but it also is a key.”

She still wasn’t looking at him. Ethan was becoming more and more frustrated. If she was supposed to lead him to something, why didn’t she just tell him where it was? “A key? A key to what?”

“It is a key to many things. Ancient powers that have lain dormant for years are waiting to be called upon by the Masters of the Elements. It is a key to a prophecy lost centuries ago. It is a key to an elixir more powerful and more terrible than anything this world has ever seen. It is the key to the downfall of darkness.”

That sounded like an awful lot for the little charm on his necklace to do. “Everyone carries an Element charm. Why is mine special?”

“You will find out in time. It is not so much the charm that is special, but what it represents.”

“And what is that?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

No hope of an answer there,
Ethan thought, so he tried something else. “What about the prophecy? Do you know what it says?”

“No, you do not know; therefore, I do not know.”

“So, what, are you my subconscious or something?”

Ethan stopped for a moment, laughing at the irony of having a woman for a subconscious.

“No, I am not. You brought me here. I know the things that you allow me to know and the things that I know, but no more than that.”

This was becoming exhausting. She was speaking in circles and it was all very confusing. On the other hand, it might also be helpful. If she knew everything that he knew, perhaps she knew what his talents were.

“Do you know what my talents are?”

“Yes, and you will know in time. Great need of your talents will cause them to show themselves.”

“I need them now. I need to learn how to use them so I can train.”

“You must be patient. They will come when they are needed.”

This is completely useless. She’s no help at all. Didn’t she say she was supposed to lead me to something? Why isn’t she helping me then?

“What about the other things, the great power and the elixir. Are you going to help me with that?” he asked.

“All in time. For now you must rest and learn to use your powers. The rest will be revealed at the proper time.”

She still had not looked at him even once, but her voice sounded familiar and sad. Ethan was right—she had information he needed but was unwilling to share it. He tried to question her further, but for all the answers he got, he may as well have asked the bench he was sitting on. It appeared that she had told him everything she wanted him to know for the moment. The garden was starting to fade. He tried to stay. He didn’t want to leave; she needed to answer his questions. But the garden faded more and more until he drifted off into a deep sleep.

It seemed like a short time had passed before Evan was beside him shaking him to wake up. Ethan jumped up and caught Evan’s jaw with his head. They both cringed in pain. That wasn’t the first time this had happened. The other day Evan had landed on the floor, rather painfully. At least today he remained standing. Ethan grabbed his head, and Evan fell back as he rubbed his jaw.

“That’s it. I’m not waking you up anymore,” Evan complained as he popped his jaw a few times. “You can miss training for all I care. This is hazardous to my health.”

Ethan laughed. His own mother had simply refused to come anywhere near him, preferring to wake him up by ringing a bell in his doorway. Evan was taking an even bigger risk because he kept interrupting Ethan’s search for the red and golden-haired girl with the musical laughter. Today’s search hadn’t lasted long, fifteen minutes tops, but he had to find her. It seemed every time he fell asleep, he had to start over in his mission to find her in the garden. Ethan knew that when he did, something would eventually fall into place.

He sprang up from bed, ate breakfast, showered, and dressed quickly. Today was sure to be a much better day than the last. As he pulled on his shoes, Ethan put the woman and the garden out of his mind, deciding that it wasn’t important at the moment. Besides, it may have just been some weird dream he was having and therefore not important at all. He was already thinking about combat training and other things, but he couldn’t truthfully say that was the entire reason for him to be in a hurry to get out the door.

Ethan’s stomach clenched anxiously as he walked out into the hall where the girls were already waiting. Lucy stood there, smiling timidly as always, and he couldn’t help but smile in return.

15. Impossible

Phoebe and Evan bounced anxiously behind Ethan. They had to be the most excited of anyone there. Everyone else looked worried or anxious. Ethan wasn’t sure if Phoebe was feeling Evan’s excitement or if she really was just as excited herself. He was looking forward to training, but he was also a little apprehensive. There was no way learning how to move like Dorian had at orientation was going to be easy. Evan wasn’t fazed when Ethan shared those thoughts.

“Oh, don’t get all depressing. Don’t you like a challenge?” he replied as Phoebe nodded enthusiastically beside him.

Every time the doors to the training arena opened, Evan and Phoebe paused in their bouncing to look at the doors expectantly, only to be disappointed by seeing another trainee enter. Jared and Cynthia were quiet and nervous. Lucy looked unconcerned. She was floating in her own little world. She didn’t even look around or move at all as the doors to the training arena snapped open and closed. Ethan couldn’t picture her participating in combat training. She was so small, so easily breakable, that he was scared to even think about her fighting someone. Yet the thought didn’t seem to bother her. Or if it did, she was very good at hiding it.

Phoebe sighed exasperatedly. “What do you know, today we’re on time, early even, and
they’re
late!”

Jared laughed. “I think they call that karma.”

Phoebe wrinkled her nose and grimaced. “And what do they call you? Funny?”

Evan snorted and Cynthia laughed. It wasn’t quite her normal, carefree laugh, but it seemed to loosen her up a little bit.

Ethan had another thought, though. “Does that really exist here? You know, what goes around comes around?”

“I don’t know for sure; you would think so, though,” Lucy answered thoughtfully. Ethan was surprised. He hadn’t thought she was paying attention to anyone. “It would be nice to think that Petrozan and Esmeralda will get what’s coming to them.”

“They will. That’s what Ethan, Phoebe, and Dorian are here for,” Cynthia said confidently.

“I wouldn’t be so sure yet,” Ethan replied. “We haven’t done anything more than anyone else here.”

“You will,” Jared said. He too sounded confident.

Ethan looked over at Phoebe, who was blushing at what they had said. But he was uncomfortable. He didn’t feel any better than anyone else here. In fact, it seemed most everyone else was much better than he was. All this faith everyone had in power he couldn’t even produce, that he didn’t even feel like he had, was making him uneasy. Again the feeling of inadequacy crept up on him. What if he truly was no better than anyone else here? Would that mean that everything these people were preparing to fight for, everything they believed in, would be lost forever because he didn’t measure up to their expectations? He felt the weight of a heavy burden on his shoulders. He had to do better. He had to try harder. Lucy squeezed his hand; Ethan hadn’t realized she had been holding it.

“It’s going to be fine. You’re going to do great things,” she whispered.

No matter how quiet she was, she never missed anything. He began wondering if she had a portion of Phoebe’s talent and maybe didn’t know it. She was almost too intuitive. Nobody else had heard what she’d said to him; her words of encouragement were just for him. It was amazing, though, how quietly they had to whisper to one another so no one else would hear. With his sensitive ears, if a whisper was more than a nearly silent breath, he could hear everything. Ethan was sure it was the same for everyone else there. Although, they were probably used to speaking quietly enough to avoid being overheard and didn’t even think about it.

“Finally,” Evan breathed as the five elves from two days before walked in.

They were closely followed by Dorian and another group of elves. Ethan guessed they were there to assist. He realized then that Sebastian was missing. He searched his memory and couldn’t recall seeing him during the past two days either. Ethan glanced back at Phoebe; she was also closely surveying those who were walking in.

“Where do you think—” Ethan began.

“Sebastian is?” she finished. “I dunno. He hasn’t been around at all. That seems kind of odd.”

Jared focused on the group now. “He was that one guy, heavyset, short, greasy hair? Isn’t he usually attached to Dorian’s side?”

Ethan nodded. “Was he always like that, before we arrived, I mean?”

Cynthia joined in. “We never saw them up close, but I can’t remember seeing them apart either.”

Evan looked unconcerned. “What does it matter? Is it really a big deal that he isn’t here? He sort of creeps me out.”

Evan had a point. It shouldn’t be a big deal that Sebastian wasn’t there. So, why did Ethan feel alarmed? He shrugged it off as Dorian stood in front of the group to begin speaking.

“I’m glad to see all of you here to train with myself and the elves. We will be splitting you up into six groups to begin your training. Now, I believe there are one hundred and twenty or so of you here, so that will be approximately twenty to a group.”

Dorian started at the far side of the tiers, separating people as they stepped down to join the instructor they were sent to. Cassius sat on the opposite side of the room on the topmost tier, quietly observing. Dorian reached their group, and Ethan was sure he had been saving them to train himself. He was happy about that. Dorian was the best human fighter there was.

Unfortunately, Kali and her friends were also going to be in their group. Dorian scowled as the last group he had separated stepped down and he saw that he had overlooked her. Dorian wasn’t the only one dismayed by this; Ethan heard Cynthia groan audibly behind him. Phoebe said nothing, but as she stepped down from the tiers, her pleasant disposition from the morning vanished, and her back became rigid. Dorian led them over to the far side of the room where he was joined by his assistant.

“This is Breanne; she will be assisting me. I want you all to split up into pairs, boy-girl pairs, if you will. Not only do you need to be comfortable with engaging one another in combat, but you also need to be comfortable fighting the opposite sex. When in battle, you will not find mercy, and you should be able to give none in return.”

Phoebe already had a tight grip on Evan’s arm, her face showing a hint of excitement again. Jared took one look at Lucy and paired with Cynthia. Great. Ethan could not see himself trying to spar with Lucy at all. She was too tiny, too innocent, and he was afraid he was going to hurt her. But he wasn’t going to pair with someone he didn’t know, so he kept his hand in hers, showing that he would be staying there. She squeezed his hand appreciatively, or was she trying to assure him that she would be all right? Ethan mentally sighed. Could he look at her as an opponent? Could he see her as a threat?

He glanced around at the group shuffling around with people trying to find the right partner. Dorian formed pairs where the trainees couldn’t do it themselves. Meanwhile, Ethan wondered if perhaps he should have gone with another partner. The rest of the girls there looked much sturdier than Lucy. Ethan’s eyes locked with Phoebe’s, and she gave him a look that clearly said “Quit whining and get over it.”

He rolled his eyes. Was he ever going to have a private thought again? Phoebe shook her head slightly as she smiled wickedly. Ethan glared at her.

Are you listening to me?

Nod.

I thought you were suppressing thoughts?

Shoulder shrug.

He sighed. Am I really acting that pathetic that you were forced to find out what my problem was?

Raised eyebrow, smile, and a nod. Then she glanced down at Ethan’s hand in Lucy’s and raised an eyebrow again.

What? It’s nothing!

A shoulder shrug that indicated “If you say so.”

Quit listening to me!

She shook her head, chuckling.

Oh, look, Dorian is showing Kali how to stand, his arms around her and everything!

Phoebe’s head snapped in Dorian’s direction, and Ethan laughed this time. Dorian was putting the last two people into a pair, far away from Kali. Phoebe turned to glare at Ethan before turning away, showing that she wasn’t listening anymore. He laughed again. It might have raised her anxiety level, but at least it got her out of his head.

“Private joke?” Lucy asked quietly.

“Yes, Phoebe was being intrusive.”

Lucy nodded, but didn’t ask further. Dorian returned to the front of the group.

“Now, I would like everyone to introduce themselves before we begin our lesson.”

There were several people there from First Order but also some from Second and Third. Dorian started at the front with the trembling boy from the day before. The boy didn’t look any better today. His name was Spencer; he was paired with a girl named Julia. The boy paired with Kali was named Aiden. The boys paired with Kara and Beth were named Orin and Daniel. There were three other pairs of girls and boys whose names were Angelina, James, Kiera, Justin, Lila, and Gram. After they had all introduced themselves, Dorian turned to Breanne to begin training.