^“Stupid, damn phone,” I mutter as I try to turn the thing on as I walk through the woods and back to the cabin after my lessons. It’s getting darker every day, and I can barely see where I’m going. I groan and slide it into my back pocket, knowing I’m more frustrated about everything else in my life than my phone. Enzo is avoiding me since the kiss in the hallway. I haven’t seen Mr. Daniels since we got hot and heavy in training, yesterday. East is still mad at me. Ryan is an accomplice in a murder, and I won’t speak to Kelly until she apologises for lying to me. The twins are the only ones who aren’t annoyed at me, but I haven’t seen them much since what happened yesterday with Mr. Daniels. I have the feeling East told them, by the awkward looks I got over the breakfast table this morning.

“Kennie,” my brother’s voice says from the shadows of the trees to the right of me, and I nearly jump out of my skin.

“Ryan, what the hell?” I ask, watching as he steps into the moonlight, followed by the rebel girl I saw before and an older man. It doesn’t shock me like it should to see them all together, but there’s still a sting that my brother would betray me like this. No matter what Kelly says, he is betraying me.

“Kennie, I need you to come with me,” he says, using the stupid, childhood nickname and making my heart hurt as I look him over. Ryan has dark hair that is cut short, with a slight beard, and a massive build from the training I know he does. He is paler than I am, but we look so similar. Other than his eyes, which are green compared to my blue.

“Why? Are you working with the rebels as well as fucking my best friend?” I ask, and he flinches ever so slightly. I’m sure Kelly told him I knew, but now, I’m thankful I didn’t tell her about hearing any more of their conversation.

“We should just knock her out, we don’t need to ask,” the girl next to Ryan says, and I watch as he glares down at her.

“No. He said I could do this my way, and this is my way. She will come with us when she understands,” Ryan practically growls at the girl, and I take a step back, his eyes turning to watch me as a branch cracks under my shoes.

“Don’t run, there are twenty rebels around you, Kennie. Let me explain,” he tells me, but I watch the other guy he was with move closer, and he’s smiling at me in a creepy way, just as I notice the rope he has in his hands.

“Explain what? Explain that you and Kelly are working for the rebels? That you want to kidnap me? I already know,” I spit out, and Ryan shakes his head.

“It’s not like that. Kelly didn’t—” I cut him off by taking another step and imagining my fire mark. I need to make a big fire and hopefully someone will see it. If I can mix fire and air, setting the trees on fire should work.

“She did, and is just as bad as you. Who killed Mr. Layan? Who was it that you helped dump his body at the bottom of those stairs?” I ask, and he looks shocked for a second.

“Enough of this, we don’t have time,” the girl says and steps forward just as I call my fire mark. I don’t want to hurt Ryan, but this is bigger than my love for my brother. I can’t just let him be stupid and get myself kidnapped. I lift my hands and imagine the giant fireball, and then call my air mark like I did on the first day. The effect is instant with the fire and air mixing together. I watch as three massive fire tornados swirl towards my brother and his friends. Ryan’s eyes meet mine in a brief gap between the fire, and he shakes his head at me like he is disappointed in me before calling his water mark and making a wall of water in front of him. It’s almost ironic, because that’s how I feel about him. I don’t think about it anymore as I turn and run towards the school, my heart pounding against my chest when I look around. I can’t see anyone else, so I’m hoping Ryan was bluffing.

“Run, little marked, I like to play catch,” I hear the girl laugh behind me, her voice sounding close. I turn and regret it when I see her inches away from me, and I scream as she hits me with her air mark, sending me flying into a tree and smacking my side against it. I call my protection mark, holding up my hands and imagining the shield as she walks over. When she laughs, I place my hand on the ground calling my water mark and imagining ice. She slips, not expecting it, giving me the second I need to stand up. I freeze her to the ground before I walk a few steps back and place both of my hands on the ground, calling my earth mark. I’m lucky she doesn’t have the fire mark, as she struggles to get out of the ice. I imagine the ground opening, praying my earth mark will respond to me now. I watch as she sinks into a deep hole I create, hearing her scream. I walk over, looking down at her in the hole, seeing that she is knocked out. I turn and run.

Breathing a sigh of relief when I see the academy, I slow down slightly, but there is no one around like I expected there to be. I don’t stop running completely, knowing I’ll be safer inside.

“Stop,” a voice calls from behind me, just before I can get to the back doors of the school. I turn around, seeing a man I’ve seen so many times before in photos around my family home.

But, he’s meant to be dead.

“Aren’t you going to stop and say hello to your father, Mackenzie?” he questions.

I look into the eyes of my mum’s dead husband. The one that died when I was a baby. The one she mourns every day, and a man that could very well be my father with his black hair and tanned skin. I go to reply when I feel something hard slam against the side of my head and feel myself falling. The last thing I see is my brother running over to me as he shouts something, before everything goes black.