The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (9 page)

The others were positively enthralled by the strange contraption they were playing with. It was entertaining. Phoebe smiled again when Evan discovered the games on the phone and was trying to figure out how to work them. They fought over it every so often, trying to decide whose turn it was. Phoebe played referee and made sure everyone got to see it for an appropriate amount of time. They looked like a bunch of toddlers fighting over alphabet blocks.

By the time the battery started running low, it seemed a bond had formed between everyone. Ethan could now comfortably say that everyone in this room was his friend. Not great friends yet, but the potential was there. Phoebe and the other girls were getting ready to head back to their room for the night when Bree once again assaulted Phoebe before she walked out the door.

She laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Bree.”

That gave Ethan an idea. “Hey, is it all right if we
all
go to the celebration together? I mean, if Lucy and Cynthia want to join us, that is.”

He had been watching Lucy all evening. She was very intriguing. Of everyone in the room, she was the one person he knew he would feel sad about only remaining casual friends with.

“Yeah,” Jared said. “That’s fine with me.”

“I can’t see why not,” Cynthia said. “Lucy?”

Lucy smiled shyly. “Sure.”

Ethan smiled in return. “Well, okay then, I guess we’ll see you in the morning.”

The girls nodded before disappearing behind the door and entering their own room. A minute later, Phoebe opened the door again. She was blushing.

“Sorry, he keeps following me.” She handed over the small polar bear cub to Evan for what had to be the tenth time that night.

He laughed. “No problem.”

Phoebe shot back across the hall, and Evan snapped the door shut before Bree could make an escape attempt again. “What’s with you, Bree? Back you go.”

If the animal was capable of glaring, Ethan had a shrewd suspicion that it would have been right then. The bear climbed up into Evan’s arms, though, and disappeared into the mark tattooed on his arm. It was still crazy to watch. Jared did the same with his companion before getting into bed. This place was definitely going to take some getting used to.

As Ethan drifted off to sleep that night, he found himself in the middle of a beautiful garden. He could tell that if it had been light outside, the garden would have been practically shining with radiance. A large fountain was situated in the middle of garden, and he walked toward it, knowing there was something, or someone, waiting for him there.

Just as he reached the far side of the fountain, though, he fell further into a deep sleep, and the garden was gone.

7. Birthday Celebration

Ethan could tell he was nearing consciousness. He felt the warmth of the light on his face and saw the lighter color of his eyelids. He could also see the garden again. He was right; it was shining with radiance now that it was light. A canopy of branches hung above him; sunlight filtered in through the open spaces between the leaves and illuminated the specks of dust and pollen floating in the air.

The path wound around the garden in all different directions, and the fountain gurgled in the center. However, instead of looking for someone, this time Ethan was following someone. Her laughter was musical as she skipped ahead of him. Her red hair turned gold when she passed through the beams of light. He struggled to keep up with her. His feet moved sluggishly no matter how hard he willed them to move faster. She wasn’t leading him to anything; he just wanted to walk with her. He
needed
to be with her.

Something was shoving Ethan off course. Didn’t this unknown force know that he needed to follow this woman? Someone was shouting to him too. The voice didn’t match hers, so he didn’t answer it. The garden started to fade. He could feel his deadened limbs sprawled out across the bed. Ethan had one last glimpse of the golden hair before the garden disappeared.
Something’s wrong. There’s an earthquake. What?
He slowly gathered his thoughts before realizing that there was no earthquake; someone was shaking him.

“Ethan? Ethan? Come on, mate, time to get up!” Evan stood over him, trying to wake him.

Slowly Ethan opened his eyes. It took him a minute to figure out where he was and why he was there.
The Haven. Training. Master of Element. Birthday. Celebration of the Elements.
The pieces came together slowly until he was sitting up in bed and everything had fallen into place.

“What time is it?” Ethan asked sleepily.

“About nine. You’re a heavy sleeper, took forever to wake you up!” Evan said, laughing.

“Yeah, Evan’s been shaking you for, like, five minutes. Breakfast is here,” Jared said as he stepped back in the bedroom from the bathroom.

Sure enough, Ethan’s breakfast tray sat at the foot of the bed along with a fresh pile of clothing. It was a bowl of the watered down porridge, or glume as they had called it. Ethan was amazed again when the food tasted exactly like he wanted it to. Eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, even the goblet full of what appeared to be water tasted exactly like orange juice. He wondered if he was ever going to get used to that. Evan and Jared seemed unconcerned as they ate, barely even looking at their bowls. Apparently they thought nothing of it. Of course, they had grown up with glume.

“Should I be paying for this stuff?” Ethan asked, not that he had any money on him, but it seemed appropriate to at least offer.

Jared laughed. “No, we’ve learned to be interdependent on one another since Petrozan and Esmeralda came into power and everyone who resisted them had to go into hiding. Cassius keeps the gnomes and dwarves and others out of danger, and in repayment they provide their services for everyone here. It’s basically the same in every safe place. We have no use for money here.”

That made sense. It was a good system. It kept everyone honest, and no one would be able to think too highly of themselves. Ethan finished eating, trying not to think too much about the celebration he was going to. Given what everyone had said about Phoebe and him, he was afraid they would be put on display or something. He barely remembered that today was also his birthday. Nineteen. The birthday he had always been waiting for was now the one he wished he could’ve stopped from coming. He was glad to be meeting new people and discovering this new place, but he was already missing his old life.

Ethan quietly sighed as he picked up the clothes at the foot of his bed. He didn’t want to upset Evan and Jared. They were extremely nice, and he didn’t want them to think he regretted meeting them. The shirt fell off the top of the pile. Ethan bent down to pick it up, and it unfolded. He surveyed the shirt before snorting.

“What?” Evan asked.

“This is huge. These clothes are never going to fit. They’ll fall right off!” he exclaimed.

Evan and Jared laughed. Jared recovered first. “Just put them on. Trust me, they’ll fit.”

Ethan showered quickly. He had no idea where the water came from, but as soon as he stepped in the bathroom with the intention of showering, the water had started flowing, of course at the perfect temperature.

After his shower, Ethan stood with a towel wrapped around his waist as he once again surveyed the too-big clothes. There was no way the size of the shirt was an illusion. He just didn’t see it fitting. Finally, he sighed and pulled it on anyway. Evan and Jared hadn’t been wrong about anything yet. Ethan looked in the mirror after he had the shirt on. He looked like a circus tent. The shirt was at least three sizes too big. Then, amazingly, the shirt started to shrink until it fit perfectly.

Ethan hadn’t needed to undo the buttons on the front of the shirt to get it on, but he would have to undo them to get the shirt back off. He was stunned. The shirt was white and felt like cotton but looked more durable and, if possible, more comfortable. It was long sleeved, and the body of the shirt was close-fitting, but the sleeves billowed out around the shoulders and hung loosely around the arms. The room was warm, but Ethan didn’t feel any hotter than if he’d had a T-shirt on.

There was also a light tanned leather vest to go over the shirt. It fastened all the way up with metal clasps. Even with the extra layer, Ethan didn’t feel his body temperature go up. He watched in amazement again as the vest, too, shrunk to fit the shape of his torso. Next was a pair of dark brown pants and dark brown boots. He brushed his teeth quickly and straightened out his hair before stepping out of the bathroom.

“Amazing,” Ethan said as he stepped out, and Evan and Jared grinned knowingly.

“Told you so,” Jared said, laughing.

Ethan laughed as well. “So, what now?”

“Well, first of all, I totally forgot that today is your birthday, so happy birthday!” Evan replied.

“Thanks. It’s no big deal, though.” Ethan felt embarrassed.

“If you say so. Evan went to check on the girls just after you went in the bathroom, but he got a hairbrush thrown at his head and a threat on his life if he didn’t leave, so I guess we wait for them here,” Jared said, shrugging his shoulders at the lack of other options.

Ethan laughed. “Threat on your life, huh? Terrifying,” he said sarcastically.

Sadi jumped across the furniture and stopped at the chair in front of Ethan and growled. Surprised, he cocked an eyebrow. Jared scolded the tiger and then turned back to Ethan.

“Don’t mind her. She learned how to growl a few days ago and has been showing off ever since; she won’t hurt you.”

Ethan turned to Sadi. “Very impressive.”

The tiger growled appreciatively and bounded off. Jared shook his head, just like a parent would when their child did something somewhat bad but funny at the same time. It was apparent the relationship between a companion and its Master was a close one. Speaking of which…

“Where’s Bree?” Jared asked, looking around.

Evan sighed exasperatedly. “With Phoebe, of course. He jetted in there as soon as the door was open. I was dodging open fire so I had to leave without him.”

Jared and Ethan held their composure for about two seconds before bursting out laughing at the look on Evan’s face. They settled down in the sitting room to wait for the girls. It didn’t take too much longer. Within half an hour, somebody knocked on the door. Evan was closest, so he got up to answer it. The girls entered and looked like they had just stepped out of a story book.

Phoebe wore a floor length blue dress. It wasn’t a formal gown, but it wasn’t causal either. The color complemented her eyes nicely. Lucy wore green, which also complemented her eyes and skin tone. Cynthia had on apple red, showing off the sun-darkened tone to her skin. All three girls had their hair pulled up in various ways, again not formal, but not casual either.

A variety of colored ribbons and flowers threaded into the knots of their hair and fell down their backs. Lucy and Cynthia looked perfectly at ease with what they were wearing, but Phoebe looked a little sheepish, and she held Bree close, almost like a shield.

“Is it too much?” she asked after the boys failed to say anything.

“No, you look really nice,” Evan said, recovering first.

“Yeah,” Jared said weakly.

“Definitely,” Ethan replied. He was almost sure that there had to be a charm attached to those dresses. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal to see them dressed up, right? He mentally shook himself. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Lucy since she had stepped into the room. She smiled shyly, and he looked away, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable.

“Does anyone know what time the celebration starts?” Cynthia asked as she sat down on one of the couches.

Jared sat beside her. “Around noon, I think. That’s when it starts where we’re from.”

“Us too,” Lucy said, settling down in the chair beside Ethan.

Phoebe chose the other couch next to Evan and handed over Bree, who snuggled up into his Master’s lap and started snoozing. “Where are the other safe places?” she asked.

“We’re not sure exactly where they are. Only the Guardians and a few select others know that, for security purposes. We have a general idea, though. We’re from the Harbor,” Cynthia explained.

“Wow, that’s a long trip. I’m surprised we didn’t see you guys come in. You arrived a day or two after we did. We came from the Sanctuary,” Jared commented.

“I think we were actually supposed to meet up with you guys, but someone in our group got sick and we fell behind,” Cynthia replied. “We got to meet up with those from the Cove, though,” she added sarcastically.

“Is that a bad thing?” Phoebe asked.

Evan laughed bitterly. “Well, as a rule we’re supposed to do our best to get along, to maintain unity, but those from the Cove sometimes make it…difficult.”

“Difficult?” Ethan asked.

“They think they’re the cherry on top, if you get what I mean. Think they’re better than everyone else,” Cynthia explained.

Phoebe still looked confused. “Why?”

“I don’t know exactly, although I suspect it’s because they generally have the highest number of First Order trainees. I don’t think they do this year, though. They also have three families with Fire Element powers. The only other family with Fire Elemental powers that are still loyal is Cynthia’s family. So, they think they’re the cream of the crop,” Lucy said.

It was the first time Ethan had really heard her say anything. Even last night when she had been examining the phone along with everyone else, she had been fairly quiet. It was clear that she had a strong opinion about this particular subject because a frown passed over her face, another first. Ethan couldn’t help but think she was one of those people who had a remarkable story if someone would only sit down and listen long enough. Not that the others didn’t have stories to tell, but hers was suddenly the most interesting to him.

Ethan was unable to question her further, however, as another knock sounded on the door. He rose from his chair to see who it was; he didn’t think they were expecting anyone. Slowly he opened the door to see Dorian and Sebastian standing there. Sebastian had on ordinary clothes, but Dorian was dressed the same as Ethan was, except completely in black. He briefly wondered if Dorian’s wardrobe contained any other colors. He doubted it.