The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (7 page)

“I guess we should probably ask Dorian or Cassius; they would probably know.”

“That’s true. It’s funny, isn’t it?” she asked, looking at him with a strange expression on her face. Cynicism? She continued on when he said nothing, not being able to find anything funny about their current situation. “Three hours ago, I knew everything about my life and myself, and now, everyone else seems to know more about it.”

Ethan nodded, totally understanding what she was talking about. Three hours ago he would have said his favorite color was green, he liked his mother’s cooking, and he enjoyed hanging out with his friends. His plans for the evening had consisted of going to a bonfire and maybe catching a movie. Now he didn’t even know if he would see his mother or any of his friends again. He didn’t even know what they ate around here.

Even in his wildest dreams, he would never have thought to add a side trip to another realm on his list of activities. He couldn’t even think about his parents right now, or his friends; it was already making him sick. Not to mention his job or his first semester of college. What was going to happen with all of that? Everything that he had ever known had just been erased.

“So, what’s supposed to happen to us?” Ethan asked. He desperately hoped that her mind reading thing had given her some insight into the matter.

“Well, Cassius said something about training. I’m guessing that means learning how to use our powers and talents. And I guess we’re supposed to train with the elves for combat,” Phoebe said.

“When is that supposed to start?”

“I have no idea.”

“It would be nice if they gave us some information,” he said, feeling angry yet again with everyone for not being more considerate.

“I expect we’ll find out everything soon enough. I’m still half expecting to wake up and find I was just dreaming all this,” Phoebe said thoughtfully.

“Me too. Still, I wish I could’ve seen one of my powers. You’ve seen at least two of yours,” he added.

“What do you mean? I’ve only had the one, the Truth Seeker thing,” Phoebe replied. She looked at Ethan like he was half crazy.

“Don’t you remember? When we were outside and the boy stopped you?” he said. Phoebe continued to look at him, puzzled. “You blocked Dorian to keep him away from the boy?”

“Yeah, I stopped him with my arm. Since when is that a power?” Phoebe asked sarcastically.

“No, you had, like, this shimmering blue shield go up between you and Dorian. He couldn’t move through it. You did it twice. You didn’t notice?” Ethan watched as her look changed from cynical to shocked in a matter of seconds.

She really hadn’t realized she’d done anything. That was surprising. Ethan found the shimmering blue shield much more attention drawing than the small boy, although Dorian had seemed particularly ruffled by him. Ethan didn’t know why. He wasn’t doing any harm.

“No, I was concentrating on the boy.” Phoebe pulled out her necklace absentmindedly and looked at it again, then looked at Ethan’s as it dangled around his neck. “Has your stone ever turned gold?”

“No. I mean, it changes colors, but never gold. Why?”

“Because when he took his hand away from my necklace, the stone had turned gold.”

Perhaps the boy was more interesting than Ethan had given him credit for. He didn’t know if there was any significance to the fact that the stone had changed, but the fact that it had never done it before seemed to be important. He shook it off, figuring that if it was important, somebody would have said something. Maybe.

Nobody had exactly been helpful. Ethan couldn’t really bring himself to be upset with Cassius, though; the man was too easy going for that. And Phoebe had no idea what was going on, either. Dorian had at least answered all his questions thus far; Ethan was grateful for that. Since Dorian didn’t know how much had been explained, Ethan couldn’t expect him to fill in the blanks unless he asked the right questions.

Ethan supposed the people he was most annoyed with were his parents. It was hard to think that, though. They had never given him any reason to be upset with them before. Sure, they had their rules and boundaries and such things like that, but they were never unkind about it. He always respected them for that. His father always said respect was a two-way street, and he always treated Ethan that way.

Ethan didn’t think anyone could have found it in their power to dislike his mother. For one, she was so tiny that people were afraid to touch her for fear of breaking something. He smiled at that memory; those people had never seen his mother during her daily training sessions in the basement. She was absolutely lethal. But she was also one of the kindest people anyone could ever meet; she would give everything she had and more if someone needed it.

Ethan wished his parents would have forewarned him of this. Being thrown into the middle of it was not his ideal way of receiving information. On the other hand, he might have been concerned for their mental stability if they had tried to explain it sooner. He guessed he was just going to have to grin and bear it. He would figure everything out soon enough.

Ethan realized that he had been sitting in silence for nearly a minute, and just as he was opening his mouth to reply to Phoebe, the door to his room burst open and two boys walked in. Two identical boys. They were no older than Ethan was; he was positive of that. Sebastian had said his two roommates would start training with him in a few days, so he figured this was them. They both had medium-length, dark honey blond hair, forest green eyes, and they were both the same height and build. The only visible differences between the two of them were their clothes and the tattoos situated between their wrists and elbows on their right arms. Ethan recognized these tattoos at once. They weren’t exactly like the ones his parents had—the animals were different—but they were in the same spot on their arm, and they both had accompanying rings around their wrists.

Upon realizing they had guests, both boys’ faces lit up, and they flashed friendly smiles. They stepped into the sitting room, and Ethan stood up to meet them. Phoebe looked slightly intimidated, or awestruck, or something else. Whatever it was, it had frozen her in her seat.

“Hello,” the first boy said, sticking out his hand. “You must be our new roommate. They said you would be coming today, big day as it is. I’m Evan Ward, and this is Jared,” he said, indicating his brother. Ethan shook his hand as he turned his attention to Phoebe. She seemed to shrink back into her seat. “Hello, nice to meet you!”

The boy turned his hand to her, and she flushed but shook it lightly.

“I’m Ethan and this is Phoebe. It’s nice to meet you too!” Ethan said, introducing them, as Phoebe seemed to have lost her voice.

Both boys turned their eyes toward Ethan. They both looked shocked. It was almost comical.

“You mean
the
Ethan and Phoebe? The Masters of Earth and Water? I mean, we knew you were coming today, but we missed the arrival. I never would have thought you would have turned up in our room!” The second boy, Jared, had still not said anything.

Phoebe seemed to find her voice again. “Well, that’s what everyone keeps telling us, but really, we’re nothing special.”

Evan laughed. “Are you kidding me? Nothing special? I’m thinking about asking for an autograph right now! Two Masters, right in our room. One of them our roommate! I haven’t even seen Dorian up close! Wow.”

Phoebe blushed again, and Ethan felt highly uncomfortable. Jared took his turn to shake each of their hands. He shook hands with Phoebe first and then turned to Ethan.

“You two are very powerful,” he said.

He and Evan settled down into chairs in the sitting room. Evan sat on the couch situated next to Phoebe’s chair, and Jared sat in the one next to Ethan.

“How do you know?” he asked.

“That’s his talent,” Evan explained. He was clearly more outgoing than his twin. “He’s a Sensor; he can tell what someone’s talents and level are by touch. He’s also part of the First Order of the Earth Element.”

“Does that mean you know what our talents are?” Phoebe asked Jared.

Good question. “Normally I would be able to, yes, but the two of you have so many that I can’t tell specifically. I can only tell you that you have a lot of power.” He sounded intimidated.

That was slightly disappointing. “What are your powers?” Ethan asked. Evan was smiling happily, clearly nonchalant about the newcomers’ presence, like they were just other normal people in the room.

“I am in the First Order of the Water Element, and am also going to be training with the elves. I’m hoping that Jared here will join me. It might be something we can actually have in common. Aside from being twins, we don’t really have much else to share over tea and biscuits,” Evan said, laughing. Apparently he was also the more good natured of the two.

“First Order?” Phoebe asked.

Evan looked confused as to why she didn’t know what he was talking about, but explained anyway. “There are three levels to Elemental powers. First Order is strongest. We have the most control and strength of power. Second Order is a little less powerful, and Third Order is last. Each Element has all three levels. The Order you get placed in is chance, but it does seem to help to have parents who are in First and Second Order. Not that there is anything wrong with Third, of course.”

“So, we’ll be in First Order?” Ethan asked. If they were supposed to have some great power, it would only make sense.

Jared spoke up this time. “Probably, although you two will be higher up than any of us. As Masters, your powers are much stronger.”

“Yeah, like five times stronger. You’re going to put all of us to shame!” Evan said as he jokingly grimaced in horror. Phoebe chuckled.

“How long have you been here training, then?” Ethan asked.

“Oh, we haven’t started training yet. That starts three days from now. We traveled here from another safe place last season so we could start our training on time,” Jared said, finally looking as though he was loosening up.

“You mean there’s more than one safe place?” Phoebe asked.

Ethan wondered why she didn’t know that. Hadn’t he asked Dorian that earlier? Perhaps that had been when the noise had started in her head.

“Yeah, there are five. The Haven, however, is the safest because Cassius is here to protect it. The Annexus and the Pool of Companions are here, and that makes it the most important place to keep safe. Cassius is the most powerful of the Guardians,” Evan explained.

“Why come so early if you don’t start training for a few more days?” Ethan asked.

“Well, it’s never that safe to travel across long distances, but it’s the most dangerous during the Season of Fire; that’s when Esmeralda is the most powerful. We came early so we didn’t have to travel then,” Jared continued.

“What is the Pool of Companions?” Phoebe asked.

“Didn’t your parents explain any of this to you?” Evan asked in disbelief.

“No, they thought it was best to leave us in the dark,” Ethan said bitterly.

He tried not to be angry with them. They had done a good thing, but it was still irritating. At least now he seemed to be getting somewhere, and he found that comforting.

Evan held up his arm to show the mark on his arm that looked like a bear. He rubbed his hand over it, and the mark turned blue while what looked like a tiny, white bear crawled out of his arm. As it emerged, it grew larger and larger until Ethan realized that it was a polar bear cub. The cub squealed with delight at being released and nuzzled its owner.

“This is my companion. His name is Bree. We only just received our companions a little while after we arrived, which is why he’s still a cub. The pool that you walk by in the second entrance hall is the Pool of Companions. It’s where every person receives their companion.”

The bear had been sniffing at Phoebe’s hands and crawled into her lap. She looked slightly taken aback, but when the bear nuzzled her hand, she relented and patted his head a few times.

6. Unexpected

“He’s adorable,” Phoebe said, still looking apprehensive, as though afraid that the animal would snap at her.

“He won’t hurt you,” Evan said when he noticed Phoebe’s reluctance to make too much contact with the cub. “He’s tame. Well, when I tell him to be.”

Ethan was amazed by this animal. He had never seen a bear up close, and this one was as tame as a kitten! And it had crawled right out of Evan’s arm! That had been creepy-looking to be sure, but amazing at the same time. Phoebe looked confused by the “tame when I tell him to be” statement.

“Each companion is tied to its Master; although they have magic of their own, they can only use it when instructed to. For example, they have power over the Element that they are born to. Bree is a Water bear. He’s still young now, though, and it’s hard to tell how much power he actually has. Companions also innately have the ability to be incredibly small or incredibly large,” Jared explained.

“This is all so confusing,” Phoebe said. Her eyes saddened, and her brow knitted in confusion and frustration.

“You’ll get used to it,” Evan said, grinning at her and taking the bear from her lap.

Jared raised his hand to his own companion mark, and Ethan watched in awe as another tiny animal crawled out of his arm and grew to the size of a small cat. It was a Bengal tiger.

“This is Sadie. She’s my companion, and she’s a Fire tiger,” Jared said as the tiger bounded off across the room, chasing a butterfly that had flown in through the open window.

“Amazing,” Ethan breathed, watching the two animals.

Meanwhile, Bree had climbed back onto Phoebe’s lap and was rubbing his nose into her cheek. Phoebe laughed, and it appeared she had finally overcome her fear of him. Just then, six small figures burst into the room. Three were rather rotund with long noses, red hair, and wearing pointy hats, green shirts, and pants. Each bore a tray of food. Three others each carried a stack of clothing. This second group was slimmer and a bit taller than the others with long, full beards but no hair on their heads. They wore blue shirts and black pants and waddled slightly as they walked, rather like penguins. They set a stack of clothing and a plate of food on each bed and then bowed themselves out of the room.