Shaki was amazed at the dark, luscious green carpet beneath her. After all, they had been riding for a while now. She closed her eyes and welcomed the cool, crisp breeze against her face.

“Careful,” Gallia cautioned, “we will be landing soon.” Shaki looked down again and her breath was taken away by the site she beheld.

~-~-~

Shinto jumped into the driver's seat of the red SUV. He removed a panel from below the steering wheel and got to work.

“May I ask why we chose a 𝒓𝒆𝒅 vehicle?” Étoilette inquired. Not looking up, Shinto responded, “It's because in movies, the bad guys always have black cars, so red is less inconspicuous.” He finished hot wiring the engine when Étoilette coughed and Jaelyn giggled. He looked over and saw three black — no — very, very dark purple horses.

“You couldn't have done that earlier?” he questioned, somewhat annoyed. He climbed upon one of the horses' backs, and they rode with all speed towards their destination.

~-~-~

King Mémé sat quietly on his throne, enjoying the late morning birdsong. He had his eyes closed, taking in the peaceful moment, when it was disrupted by loud cries coming from outside.

His captain, Gregory, burst in the doors.

“My king,” he began, bowing, “you have visitors.” Mémé let a smile come across his face.

The doors opened again, and Galia entered, followed by Quick-Slice and two other young women.

“Which of these did you bring to me for protection?” he asked. Galia stepped aside and looked at the one with bright blue hair.

“So,” he guessed, “you must have powers of some sort. Let us go see them.” He looked to Galia and she nodded. She left the room, and he knew he may not see her again for some time.

~-~-~

“Come with me,” the king instructed, and Siobhan followed. Shaki and Topi were behind her, and she was walking next to King Mémé, the King of the Elves.

“So, Quick-Slice,” he commenced, “tell me about her powers.”

“Well,” Siobhan started. The King had always referred to her by her “hero” name, which she wasn’t overly fond of. But now wasn’t the time to think about that.

“She can control earth,” she continued, not wanting to leave the King unanswered. “She broke Étoilette’s arm. Psycho wants her, probably for the same reason he wanted Étoilette.” The King had a grave look on his face. She saw a sadness in his eyes.

“Can you keep her safe?” Siobhan asked him, almost pleading for it.

“I may not be able to,” he replied. “As much as I would like to keep her safe, if it puts my people at risk, I will have to ask her to leave.” Siobhan felt the heaviness of his words. She had to leave, she had to find someplace safe. But where?

~-~-~

Rosamond walked quickly beside the beautiful lake in the park. She was in a rush, she had a very specific routine and needed to get back by exactly ten o’clock in the morning.

Rosamond continued down the path, and only paused for a moment when she thought she saw a glimmer of red in the trees. 𝑰 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒇 she told herself. After all, it was fall. She shook her head and quickened her pace.

“He he…” she heard a high pitched voice giggle. Rosamond stopped dead in her tracks and looked around. She didn’t see anything, but then she was suddenly blinded by a flash of red light. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏? she wondered.

#elements #book 1