“I broke your bike. I caused the pipe to break in your school. I put the rat in your locker. All harmless little bits to help get into that little head of yours. Oh, and that car accident. That one I did try to harm you, but that’s when I felt her energy on you. She is trying to protect you. I don’t know why she picked you of all others with your abilities. You aren’t the only one who can channel energy.”

  “I don’t know, the voice just keeps telling me I’m in danger.”

  “To prove that you’re listening you went to the beach alone. Good job on those listening skills.”

  My fingers curled into my palms.

  “What do you want?”

  He paused and stared at me. Mr. McArthur squared off his shoulders. The smirk didn’t seem to fit his face. His once soft features contorted.

  “I want to be able to continue to live my life-sucking the joy from the pet humans and causing some minor discomforts in their lives such as misery.”

  “Wouldn’t being away from the warm beach give you more of that?”

  Mr. McArthur chuckled. “You’d think, but there is a fair amount of people who are miserable by the water as there are under ten feet of snow. Especially during tourist season.”

  “Why don’t you look like the being from my dreams,” I asked as my heartbeat reached my ears.

  He shrugged his shoulders. His face bubbled until his skin went smooth and he was that being from the dreams describe him. I stumbled back a step. Water went up my pant legs.

  “I can transform into anyone I please.”

  “So, where’s the real Mr. McArthur?” I inquired slowly, but my stomach told me I knew the answer.

  He shrugged. “In the backyard.”

  My heart raced so fast making my head spin.

  “Now, I need to get rid of you before you really become a challenge for me and my siblings. With that girl protecting you, you’re bound to be a thorn in our sides.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Siblings?”

  He nodded. “There are four of us.”

  Before I could respond my feet were lifted from the ground. I yipped then I was slammed into the sand. Tiny grains of sand scraped and burned against my skin. Pushing myself up my legs wobbled.

  “Is that all you have?” I muttered.

  He smirked. “I’ve barely started.”

  He raised a hand and I rose into the air. This time I pulled an arm from behind and threw it as if I had a baseball in my hand. A wave of water roared from behind me towards him. The man was knocked off his feet and I fell back to the ground five feet. Pain radiated through my legs. Cringing I rubbed my ankle. The man was sprawled on his back. The water drifted back to the ocean. He turned over and started to cough out water. I smiled. Maybe I had a chance after all. He snapped his eyes in my direction. Then poof he was gone.

  Stepping forward I moved towards where he was just lying. The spot was soaked, but he wasn’t there. Lifting my head, I kept my hands open by my sides. With a gust, I have knocked twenty feet away, shoulder grating across the surface. I rolled over and he was standing near me, his hand out squeezing, and my throat started to close. I gasped for air. I swatted around. Spots started to cover my vision as I imagined the water as a tall wave then I was able to breathe. I coughed and rolled over to see him being knocked over again. Lifting my hands my breathing was still shallow. He stood up and faced me.

  “You’re a quick learner for someone who doesn’t have anyone to teach them. I don’t know if there’s been a power like you in some time.”

  “You talk a lot.”

  He chuckled. “So much fire in a water element.”

  I raised an eyebrow. Element. Why didn’t I think about it? What were the other ones? Where were the other elements?

  He swatted his hand and I fell backward. Soon sand was pouring down on top of me. Every chance I had to stand up more sand pushed me down. Sand crept between my eyelids, up to my nose, and I closed my mouth. My hands swatted the air. I swung my hand from the water over to him, hoping I’d hit him even if I couldn’t see him. Soon the sand stopped, and I dug myself out. I shook my head and sand scattered about. I threw water balls at him. He lifted me in the air and threw me across the sand over and over. The hard sand I could feel bruise my skin each time I collided with it. Pushing myself up I leaned over with my hands on my knees.

  “Is that all?” I asked between huffs.

  His face fell. Soon a rumbling out by the water started up. A steak of lightning lit up the sky. I jumped back. The next bolt shot right next to me causing me to fly off. I bounced off. I groaned and rolled onto my back. Every inch of my body ached. Before I could sit up, I screamed. My back arched off the sand. A bolt hit me square in the chest. Heat and pain shot through my veins. Electricity traveled through every nerve in my body. Soon his laughter mixed with my screams.

  Then silence.

  The pain subsided. My eyes squinted, but everything around me was illuminated, by a white glow making it hard for my eyes to focus. I tried to sit up, but my head spun, and I laid back down. Every inch of my body tingled in waves as if it had fallen asleep. I kept blinking hoping that the world around me would dim or that my eyes would adjust.

  “Hello.”

  The voice was gentle with a strong accent. I held my hands up to my eyes and things seem to dim slightly. There was a girl who was probably in her mid to late teens. Her hair was nearly white as it was braided and hanging over her shoulder. She wore a white dress that bellowed at her elbows. It was A-lined and had her feet hidden from me. Despite her fair skin and hair, her eyes were expresso brown. My eyebrows knitted together. It was the girl from the dream. She was even still wearing that outfit she wore when she took that jump. Glancing around I wasn’t on the beach anymore. I was back on that grassy cliff with the girl. The same cliff that I’d only been to in the dream world, but it had haunted me.

  “I know you.” My voice came out as a whisper.

  Caroline smiled causing her whole face to light up. “In a way you do. You’ve been seeing my memories. Our minds are interlinked in a way because of a spell that I had cast.”

  “Huh.”

  She was still smiling, but one blond eyebrow raised slightly.

  “There is so much to cover, but so little time. I had hoped that I had a chance to train you first. There is so much about the world that you need to know. However, time is not on our side. He came at you fast. Right now, because of that being your body is still on the other side, injured pretty badly.”

  My heart sped up.

  “Am I dead?” I stammered.

  “Only if you want to be.” Her smiled dimmed.

  I shook my head. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to fight him.”

  She nodded. “You’re not. He is the root of all that is evil and that drives the hate in the world. I fought him back in my life. I gave my life for mankind. I knew there would be a day that someone stronger, would come along and I could work with them to destroy him for good.”

  My sisters, my mom, and my dad flashed before me. Me picking Winnie up as she laughed. Images of me helping Persephone with her homework. My mom and I working on drawings for her stories. My dad and I spending time with each other. Even Gabriel and I hanging out talking at the beach.

  “I’m not ready to die.”

  Caroline smirked. “I was hoping to hear that. I wasn’t strong enough, and neither are you.”

  “Thanks for the pep talk,” I said dryly.

  Caroline took steps closer to me and crouched down so that we were face to face. She held her hand out towards me. Looking at the dainty fingers I took a deep breath and gripped hers. She pulled me back onto my feet. Caroline took my hands in hers and looked up at me.

  “Together. You and I could join together to defeat him. We won’t get rid of all the evil in the world, but to save the world from his dark kingdom that he wants to build.”

  The thumping of my racing heart filled my ears.

  “What will we have to do?”

  “Let your power and mind intertwine.”

  My insides shook. “If that’s what we got to do.”

  Caroline took hold of both of my hands and squeezed them.

  “I will be with you. I promise.”

  I nodded my head, but my insides shook. Soon the warmth was drifting away, and I was pulled at a fast speed back into the darkness. Pain radiated throughout my body. I groaned and forced my eyes to open. I was back outside as the moon was facing me trying to peak through the clouds. Tiny grains of sand adjusted under my back as I shifted. Pushing myself up a little waterfall of sand trickled back down. The man was standing adjacent to me, an eyebrow raised.

  “I thought you were gone.” His tone was even.

  “Well, I guess even immortals can be wrong.”

  He smirked. My body was throbbing, but I got onto my two feet with my arms slightly out.

  Take a deep breath Blair and close your eyes.

  Caroline’s gentle voice spoke up in my head. Great, two voices in my head. However, I listened to her. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes.

  Feel, the breeze around you, the waves crashing onto the surface of the water, pulling the air around to create the bubbles.

  My nerves started to slow. I could almost feel like I was part of the wind. Then my fingers tingled. Opening my eyes, my hands had a haze around them.

  Pull your hands back and focus all your energy on creating an X then drive forward.

  Raising my hands, I created the X with my arms thinking of what Caroline said. Taking a deep breath, I knocked my arms together where the X met up and pulled them apart. My body tingled and a beam shot out of my arms. He stumbled back. He tried to lift his arms, and I buried my feet into the sand. I groaned as lightning, wind, and water tangled together in between us. My feet got deeper and deeper into the sand. My arms shook.

  Sand shot out at him. He let out a yell. I turned my head and saw Anjuli running towards me with her hands up. Sand shot up from the ground towards him. She stood next to me.

  Air, water, and earth. We have a chance, Blair. Take a deep breath and I want you to do something challenging. Keep one hand up doing what you are already doing. Using your other arm, I want you to use the water. We can do this.

  Cringing, my arm wavered out of the system. Something in my gut told me I needed to listen to Caroline, but a thought came to me. I directed my open palm towards him. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. I imagined every little drop of water in his body. I pulled on those drops. And I heard gasping. Opening my eyes, I watched as he fell to his knees and his lightning stopped. His hands fell to the sand. I kept pulling and soon the water was floating above him. He gasped. I tossed the water aside and raised my hands.

  “This is for Caroline and Ian!” I yelled out and felt the energy shot out of my fingers beaming him.

  He screamed and then he was gone. Panting heavily, I collapsed onto the sand. My chest constricted fast. Sitting I had my hands in the sand in front of me. The world spun.

  “Blair!”

  Anjuli jumped down by me and sand scattered. I tried to regain my breath.

  “You’ve had powers the whole freaking time?” I spattered out.

  She laughed. “Yeah-”

  “Then what the hell took you so long?”

  “I might have powers, but I do have a curfew.” Anjuli smiled at me.

  Tilting my head, I laughed, and she joined me.

  “I could sense you had the gift too, but I wasn’t sure how to address it.” Her voice was soft.

  “Like study buddy when you are the one with straight-A’s?” I questioned between breaths.

  She nodded. “Something like that.”

  I shook my head. “I feel like I have fewer answers than before.”

  “I see that you’re a water element?” I nodded my head as she paused. “I’m Earth. It’s why my family and I grow things so well. Will you let me help you now?”

  “I’m willing to do anything to have everything cleared up.”

  She smiled. “Good, because there is so much to learn and I’m still doing that myself.”

  I fell back on my back. “That’s fine, but I need to catch my breath before anything happens.”

  “How were you able to channel air too?”

  I turned my head to look at her. “Caroline lived a long time ago and she fought that guy before. She sacrificed herself to come back in the future to avenge her people. She channeled her powers through me.”

  “Woah, that’s heavy.”

  “Really annoying to have a second voice in your head that wouldn’t tell you anything important.”

  “Hence the headaches?”

  I pointed to her. “Bingo. What was I going to say, ‘Sorry let the second voice stop talking so I can hear you?’”

  Anjuli's shoulders rose then fell. Her eyes went out towards the water.

  “I feel like we need to have some pretty important conversations coming up, but I don’t know if you’re going to be awake enough to have them right now. You’re pretty banged up.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Thanks. I got hit by lightning I’d like to see how you would look.”

  “I was going to say let us, contact your parents and make up a lie about why you’re staying at my house tonight.”

  I slid my phone out of my pocket.

  “By the way, what did you do to him?”

  I hit my mom’s number and started to text her.

  “The human body is made of like sixty percent of water. I wasn’t quite sure if it would work, but if I could pull all of the water out of his body.”

  “His body would be weakened.”

  “Bingo right back at you.” I glanced over at Anjuli before I looked up at the phone that I held above my head.

  “That’s pretty smart.”

  “I have those moments from time to time.”

  I smiled and texted my mom.

  Hey, mom Anjuli from school woke me up crying. Her boyfriend broke up with her so I’m hanging out with her tonight.

  “That should please her enough when she wakes up.”

  Anjuli held her hands out towards me. I gripped them and she yanked me up. My body hurt all over. I groaned. Anjuli wrapped an arm around me and helped me to her car.

  Epilogue

  The sun was bright in Anjuli’s kitchen as I stumbled in. I was limping as I gripped my head. Anjuli was sitting at her kitchen table with one leg bent and hanging off the side. A tall woman sat next to her. They both had a plate of fruits, toast, and eggs. They each had a glass of water and a mug with something steaming. Her mom looked up first.

  “Oh, my you are worse than Anjuli warned. Sit!” a woman with dark hair streaked with grey hair and brown eyes that were stretched out.

  I limped over to the table and sat in a chair across from her mom. She grabbed an empty mug near her and poured water from a kettle into the mug. She plopped a metal cylinder into it. I narrow my eyes.

  “It’s my blend of herbs so it doesn’t come in a little teabag. This will help you regain some of your energy and heal your body.”

  I brought the mug to my face and felt the warmth drift up to my face.

  “So, you have powers too?”

  She laughed. “No, my mother was able to control Earth elements like Anjuli. It skipped me, but I grew up with it. When my mom was alive still, she helped me train Anjuli when she was little. The energy is very odd when it picks to be with a person. Do you know faerie folklore?”

  “Like Tinkerbell?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

  She threw her head back and laugh. “Well, I guess in a way. The idea was that the faeries couldn’t be around iron because it hurt them. Almost like they were severely allergic to the material. When iron started to be used more, it blocked a lot of the energy that is used to channel those gifts.”

  “Caroline used an iron knife when she stabbed him.”

  “That could do some damage to him.”

  “So why did I only get my powers recently?”

  “Have you lived by water before?”

  I shook my head. “No, but I’ve been around rain and bathtubs.”

  “The ocean is a great source to help to send out powers to you. Your powers are stronger because you are near a great water source.”

  I glanced down at my mug before looking up at the two of them again.

  “Who are the four dark horsemen?” I asked quietly.

  Anjuli’s mom knitted her eyebrows. “A very dark omen. How do you know about them?”

  I placed the mug back down on the table and kept my hands wrapped around the ceramic.

  “When Caroline showed me her life, and that thing we saw last night, he said he was one of the four.”

  Anjuli turned to her mom whose face paled.

  “He was one of the four?”

  I nodded. “That’s bad right?”

  She placed her cup down.

  “You girls went up against one?”

  “Three of us against one,” Anjuli spoke up shifting in her seat.

  “The other three will sense that one of their siblings has been killed. They will be ready to come after you two.”

  I looked over at Anjuli.

  “I guess we better start preparing.”

  Sneak Peek at…

  In the Line of Fire

  Awakenings 2

  1

  Charlie

  The red and blue lights spun and lit up the back cabin of the police car in addition to the parking lot. Once a girl gets arrested one time for arson and then all the sudden, she’s unable to cross the street without being taken home in a cop car. It was a little extreme, but at the same time not far from the truth. The door was flung open on the other side and Morgan was pushed in. Morgan threw her head back and laughed. I raised my eyebrow at my twin. Her black hair was in a high ponytail. She was in a bright blue tank and a pair of ripped jeans. She turned her head and there was a thick layer of black eyeliner that traced her eyes. It was looking into a mirror except with a make-up filter.

  “It would help our case of innocence if you wouldn’t hackle like a hyena.” I muttered flatly.