CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
In the morning, talk is minimal while we dress and prepare to leave. Cassie comes over to our room and curls my hair for me. She finds a pair of skinny jeans and a black v-neck shirt for me to wear. She adds a pair of black cowboy boots and deems me ready to go. At first, I worry I’m dressed too casually for a meeting with such important people, but Cassie assures me the setting is casual. Plus, I need to be able to move around easily during the test, and if I’m in a dress or skirt, it might be difficult.
Dad and Leanne drive with Jaxon and Cassie. Caleb and I take his truck.
“You look gorgeous,” Caleb murmurs as he helps me into his truck. “You’re going to do amazing, baby. I promise.”
After settling in my seat, I turn to him. “Thank you, Caleb.”
Other than the quick exchange, our ride is silent. We’re both simply too lost in our thoughts. All the what-ifs from last night come back to me on the way. I try to push them away, but I feel like I’m drowning in doubt.
I know I need to hold it together long enough to finish this test. I’ll pass, or I’ll fail. I can deal with the consequences of either afterward.
“Baby girl,” Caleb’s hushed voice brings me out of my thoughts. “We’re here.”
I glance up to see a tall, unmarked building. It appears abandoned, probably to ward off suspicious people. No one would think to look in an empty building for important supernatural people, would they?
With a nervous sigh, I open my door and follow Caleb to the heavy metal door in the back of the building.
Dad, Leanne, Cassie, and Jaxon already wait at the door for us, tension etched on their faces. Are they assuming I will fail?
Dad takes out a key from his pocket and unlocks the door. I follow everyone inside and through a bunch of dark and creepy hallways. If I didn’t believe this building to be abandoned before, I sure do now.
“Is this the part where you guys kill me?” I ask, trying to lighten the tense mood.
Jaxon and Cassie snicker, while Dad responds, “No, kiddo, we aren’t at that part of the movie yet.”
I scoff at his quick retort but stay silent. After what seems like miles of dreary hallways, we come to an elevator door. Once inside, Dad presses the button for the basement, then puts a code into a hidden keypad. This gets better and better.
Caleb seems to pick up on my unease. He puts his arm around my waist and pulls me close to his side. I wouldn’t be able to handle the hidden keypads and creepy hallways without him.
“Does everyone know the code to the secret dungeon or just you?” I ask my dad, only half kidding.
He shrugs, trying to hide the grin taking over. “They only give the code to the cool kids.”
Leanne snorts at him, rolling her eyes. “You get the code when you make an appointment with the council. Every code is different. This way they know who’s coming before we even get to the bottom floor.”
“That’s handy,” I admit. It’s a smart security feature, also.
When the elevator stops and the doors open, I freeze in my tracks, shocked by the sleek and clean lobby. Behind the lobby desk sits a stunning woman with long auburn hair. She’s impeccably dressed in a navy-blue blazer. As we enter, she glances up, and her eyes go straight to Caleb. She gets a wide grin on her face, and jealousy courses through me at lightning speed. He’s mine; he said it himself. I don’t want girls this perfect gawking at him. He might change his mind about me.
“Good morning, Caleb,” she purrs, and anger to rises in my chest. “How have you been?”
“Fine, Britt,” he replies in a clipped tone. “Riley has an appointment with the council.”
“Okay.” She glowers at his obvious dismissal. “I’ll let them know you’re here. Have a seat.”
We take a seat on the pristine leather couches in the lobby and wait, but it’s not long before Britt comes back and gestures for us to follow her. She leads us down a hallway with glass walls. I peek into different offices as we continue along. The place has the appearance of any other business until Britt opens a set of double doors at the end of the hall.
When Britt steps out of the way and allows us to walk in, my eyes pop wide. The room could hold a thousand people easily. About twenty chairs line the back wall, seemingly set up for an audience. The rest of the room has the appearance of a high school gymnasium. Light-brown vinyl covers the floors from wall to wall. There aren’t any windows, but the light fixtures above give off plenty of light. On the back wall of the room, a platform holds a long wooden desk. Behind the desk sit four people, who seem to glow with power and importance.
“Hello, welcome!” A fiery redhead in about her late thirties calls to us. Her olive-green skirt and black button-up blouse pair well with her long, curly hair. “I’m Scarlett, the Fire representative on the council. These are my fellow council members. Misty represents Water.”
Misty gives a small wave, though she seems lost in her thoughts. She also appears to be in her late thirties. Her shiny black hair is cut into a short bob. She’s wearing a bright-blue dress with a brown belt around her waist.
Scarlett continues the introductions by pointing to a man with shrewd eyes and a permanent scowl. “Forrest, he’s our newest member, and he represents Earth.”
He doesn’t give off friendly vibes like his fellow council members. His medium-brown hair is curly, but cut short and gelled back. The top two buttons of his dark-green button-up are open and the long sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms. He seems too young to be a council member, no older than his mid-twenties. By the glower being sent our way, he’s clearly made up his mind to hate us before we’ve even entered the room.
“Finally, we have Jett, he represents Air.” Scarlett points to a man with glasses, in his mid-sixties. He wears a dark gray suit with a white button-up shirt and a silver tie. His hair is salt and pepper colored, and his eyes crinkle around the sides, giving me the impression he laughs a lot. “I believe most of us have met on one occasion or another, however with a few new faces on each end would you introduce yourselves again, please?”
“Yes, of course. I’m Mark, Air. This is my wife, Leanne, Earth. That’s our son Jaxon, Earth, and his Soulmate, Cassie, Water. Finally, our daughter, Riley, and her Soulmate, Caleb, Fire.” Dad goes through the introductions smoothly.
I’m a bit shocked when he claims me as the daughter of both of them, but I don’t comment. I’ll figure out my feelings on that later. Now’s neither the time nor the place.
“Riley, what is your affinity?” Jett asks in a rough, scratchy voice.
“That’s actually why we’re here,” Caleb admits before I answer Jett. “We have a bit of a situation with Riley.”
“Situation?” They exchange glances between the four of them.
“Please tell me you did not tell a human about us, then bring her here!” Forrest roars.
“Of course not!” Jaxon snaps, taking a step toward Forrest.
“Riley, dear, please step forward,” Misty requests calmly, interrupting Jaxon and Forrest’s almost fight. I peek at Caleb, and he gives me an encouraging nod. I take a few steps forward, putting myself directly in front of the platform. “What is the situation your family speaks of?”
“I- I- I—” It’s as if my brain forgot how to send words to my mouth. I take a few deep breaths before trying again. “W-w-well, I h-h-have an a-a-affinity for all f-f-four e-e-elements, I g-g-guess,” I whisper, frowning at the ground.
Gasps echo through the room. Lifting my gaze, I find both Misty and Scarlett with their mouths wide open. Jett appears skeptical, and Forrest seems annoyed.
“We have heard that three times this past week. We don’t have time for your attention seeking,” Forrest grits out through clenched teeth.
“Let her prove herself, Forrest,” Jett chides, still a bit skeptical, but also curious.
“H-h-how?” I ask quietly. “I w-w-was told I’m s-s-supposed to p-p-pass a t-t-test?”
“How long have you known about these supposed gifts?” Scarlett asks, regaining her wits.
“W-w-well, I f-f-found out a-a-about the first on m-m-my birthday,” I murmur. “The r-r-rest have just sh-sh-shown up r-r-recently.”
“I think we need to hear this from the beginning.” She settles back in her seat for my story.
After receiving another encouraging nod from my family, I explain everything. Starting with my birthday and Samael, the fire in my room, making the paper float, then soaking the bed to wake myself up, and finally thinking of a tree house and the apple tree and growing a twisted, sad little root.
I skip over the more personal parts, especially about my mother and my life growing up. They listen patiently, never commenting on my sputters and stumbles even though it makes the story twice as long. They don’t react when I finish, remaining silent for a long stretch.
“Show us,” Jett orders finally. “Did your family explain the testing process to you?”
“Y-y-yes?” I wish I could be any place but here right now, this whole situation makes me too nervous. My stutter has gotten worse, and my body shakes visibly from fear.
Jett speaks up again before my fear turns into a full-blown panic attack. “I’m not going to lie to you, Ms. Storm. Forrest is telling the truth when he says we’ve had a lot of Elementals come in here claiming to be the Chosen. The process is the same for all of them.”
“P-p-process?” My nerves reach a peak as I glance from the council to my family and back again.
“We don’t want your family to help you along in any way,” Forrest sneers.
“Wait just a damn minute!” Jaxon lurches toward the council, particularly Forrest, again.
I think it’s safe to say the two of them won’t be the best of friends anytime soon.
Dad places a hand on Jaxon’s arm, pulling him back. “Jaxon, calm down.”
“Apologies for Forrest’s bluntness, he doesn’t have anything resembling a filter,” Scarlett continues where Forrest left off, rolling her eyes at her fellow council member. “We have to clear the room. It’s standard for every test where someone is claiming to be the Chosen.”
“You think we’d try to cheat for her,” Caleb accuses. “That’s crap. We aren’t leaving her alone. We said we would stay with her. I’m not about to break my promise to her. You can all just—”
Before he continues, I turn and put my hand up. “It’s okay, Caleb. I can show them whatever they want to see. I have nothing to hide.”
He frowns down at me before his shoulder slump in resignation. “Fine, but we’ll be right outside the door. Call for us if you need us.”
They shuffle out of the room, Jaxon and Caleb the last to go. They clearly aren’t thrilled about leaving as they send petulant glares in Forrest’s direction.
When the door closes, Forrest speaks again, so I swivel to face my testers. “For the Chosen, we don’t have you do the normal test. We have a more complex test for you. We require you to show us you can manipulate all four elements at once.”
“A-a-at t-t-the same t-t-time?” This isn’t what I expected. I’ve never used all four elements at the same time. There’s no telling if it’s even something I’m capable of. “H-h-how?”
“Diamonds.” Scarlett grins mischievously.
The blank stare I give her must be a clear enough sign of my confusion.
She chuckles as she goes about explaining. “Form us a diamond. We have earth you’ll use in that room.” She points to a closed door in the corner of the room. “There’s no flooring in that room. It will give you all access to the earth. You need to locate the coal in the earth, use the fire to heat the coal, the air pressure to form and shape the diamond, and the water to clean it up. All without touching the elements.”
“O-o-okay,” I agree, not at all ready for this.
I’d hoped they would simply make me perform all the tests everyone told me about. It’s what I’d practiced for.
The council leads me to the corner room, entering ahead of me and standing against the far wall.
“Begin,” Forrest orders, clearly bored.
The four of them wait silently as I take a few deep breaths and search the earth for the coal I need to form a diamond. Thank goodness for high school geology.
It takes me almost an hour to gather enough coal into a tight lump. The fear of failure helps the process along. Once the tight lump of coal forms, I push it above the surface of the earth. Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I glance at the council and notice Forrest’s scowl softens slightly, his gaze on the lump of coal.
Continuing with the test, I use the heat in the room to light the coal on fire. It slowly smolders. Using the air in the room, I help the fire along with the lightest of breezes. It takes a while to turn the small embers into a true fire. When the coal finally burns, I adjust my use of the air in the room to put as much pressure on the coal as possible.
Sucking the heat out of the room turns the air cold. I do my best to make the fire hotter, but it’s hard to focus on so much at once. Partly to warm the room back up and partly to ensure the right amount of heat gets applied to make the diamond. The cold air cools the coal down and tears form behind my eyes. I’m terrified there isn’t enough heat to make the diamond correctly.
It takes a while, but something forms from the coal. I only hope it’s the diamond the council wants. I search the room and find a bucket of water in the corner. Pulling the water from the bucket uses the rest of my energy. It barely makes it to the coal, but it’s enough to reveal a hard mineral that’s definitely not a diamond, and my heart sinks.
The silence in the room is deafening as I wait for the council to say something.
“Whoa,” Misty breathes out.
Scarlett glides up to the dirty stone and picks it up. It’s a tiny thing, barely the size of my pinky nail. From my angle, it doesn’t look like it formed correctly either; it may not be a mineral at all. I might have made a simple rock of some kind. My chest tightens as Scarlett takes my failed diamond to the other council members.
Their heads bend together and whisper as they examine my work. My labored breathing quickens every minute I don’t receive any kind of response from them. My head spins, and I have to place one hand on the wall to keep from falling over.
“Go wait with your family, we need to discuss this,” Forrest shouts loudly in what I’m coming to realize has to be his normal tone. He’s an exceptionally impolite person.
I hope he doesn’t fail me because he’s having a bad day.