Chapter 9
“Okay Bre, let’s do this!” Bryce said and my stomach rolled. I shouldn’t have eaten, because now it was sitting in my stomach like a rock. “I thought we could work on moving boulders; they are great for knocking out demons.”
“Really? You want me to move boulders? I never thought I would hear that sentence in my lifetime, much less have it not be a joke,” I said. Bryce walked over to me and pointed out a large rock near the river.
“I know you keep hearing us say ‘concentrate’, but that is exactly what you need to do. All gifts are controlled by you and your mind. A boulder is of the earth and can be controlled just like a tree or the entire river you just picked up,” Bryce said.
“Ha ha!” I replied.
“Sorry, I am still shocked by how powerful you are. I want you to concentrate on the rock I pointed out and lift it into the air just like the water. But try not to move the entire mountain if you can,” Bryce joked.
Sadly, it really wasn’t a joke to me. I was nervous again and willed myself to relax. After a few deep breaths, I looked at the rock he wanted me to move and tried to feel its energy. It felt dense, but light. I lifted my hand toward it and lifted it up. The rock started to shake a little and I wavered. Concentrate! It is just like the water, light like cotton candy. The rock stopped shaking and started moving upwards. I lifted it about twenty feet and it hovered there. I made a circular motion with my hand and it spun in a circle.
“Look, I can spin it around!” I said as I turned to the guys and smiled. I forgot about controlling it and heard a loud crash. While I was gloating about my control over the rock, I forgot about actually controlling it. “Oops.” They both smiled at me and shook their heads.
“What are we going to do with you?” Bryce asked while laughing at me yet again. “That was great. Next time, we will work with the land and see what damage you can cause.”
Bryce and Mason spoke quietly while I looked out over the trees and saw the majestic mountains in the background. I thought about how wondrous the earth was and how I was able to connect with it. I was in awe of the beauty around me and I felt more connected than ever. A thought came to mind and I wondered if I could do it. I could connect with several of the elements at once, so why shouldn’t I be able to control more than one at a time? I thought back to Mason creating that heart with the water from the glass and I wondered if I could do it, too. I lifted some of the water from the river, not the entire river this time, and created half of a heart shape. Then, I motioned to the nearby oak branches to create the other half. Together, they formed a perfect heart shape. It made me smile. Now I just need a flaming arrow through the middle.
“How are you doing that?” Mason asked.
“That shouldn’t be possible,” Bryce said.
I remembered to continue controlling the elements and motioned for them to return to where they came from. I turned back to the guys and asked, “What shouldn’t be possible?”
“No Bonded Elemental with more than one gift can use more than one at the same time,” Bryce replied.
“Why not? I can feel all of them at once, so why can’t I use all of them at once?” I questioned. Bryce and Chase looked at each other, contemplating my statement. Before they could form a response, a loud crash sounded behind us.
“Demon!” Mason yelled.
“What?!” I questioned as I looked toward the crash. Standing there staring at us with glowing red eyes was my worst nightmare. It was a lizard-looking being with two arms and two legs, just like a human, but that was the end of the similarities. His entire body was covered in dark brown reptile-like skin and his hands and feet were webbed. His hands also had long claws that looked razor-sharp. He was at least six-and-a-half feet tall and had teeth like a piranha. It hissed at us and started toward me. Oh, hell no! I almost get kidnapped, TWICE, I get in a head-on collision that was intentional, and now a freakin’ lizard man is trying to kill me? No freakin’ way!
Bryce and Mason both ran to me and stood in front of me. “Stay behind us. We will take care of it. They both pulled out long daggers that had been strapped to their legs and started circling the lizard guy. He slashed out at them with his claws and continued to hiss. There was drool coming from the corner of his mouth and it was disgusting. Bryce stepped toward him with his dagger held out and tried to slice his chest while Mason approached him from behind. The lizard man knocked the dagger out of Bryce’s hand while Mason got a slash in across the demon’s back. It howled in pain, which gave Bryce time to recover his dagger. Again, Bryce and Mason circled the demon, waiting for the right moment to strike. The demon became impatient and lunged at Mason. It barreled toward him with its claws out. Mason created a water tornado which threw the demon into the nearest tree. Immediately, Bryce had the tree wrap its branches around it and tighten. It was locked in for only a few seconds before it broke free and charged Bryce. It backhanded him across the face and the force of it threw him several feet away, knocking him out. Mason stepped in behind the lizard guy and sliced him across the back again. Lizard guy flinched, but Mason must not have sliced deep enough, because it didn’t slow down. It turned and picked Mason up by his neck, throwing him into a tree and knocking him out. Lizard man turned his flaming red eyes toward me and hissed, “He wasss right, you are more than a normal Elemental. You will be the tassstiest treat I have ever had. I can’t wait to sssink my teeth into you before I kill you ssslowly.”
I froze in shock. This was a real demon and it was talking about eating and killing me. When the guys spoke about demons, I never thought I would actually see one in person. My entire body locked up and I couldn’t move. I was frozen in fear as it came near me and raised its clawed hand to strike me. I cowered in fear and covered my face with my arms while turning away from it, waiting for the death blow. All of this happened in seconds, but it felt like hours. Just as his clawed hand was about to swipe at my face, a power like I have never felt before filled me and something exploded out of me. I looked up to see what appeared to be a curved white force field of light pulse out of my entire body, throwing lizard man away from me. I looked at where he hit the ground and saw Bryce and Mason recovering. The demon recovered too quickly for my liking and stalked toward me. The entire front of his body, including his face, looked like it was melting. When it was a few feet from me, Bryce jumped on its back and sliced clean through its neck. As Bryce landed on the ground, the demon burst into a pile of ash.
I sunk to the ground in a rush of tears. Bryce and Mason ran over to me, kneeling down to see my face. “Are you hurt?” Bryce asked. “Did he cut you anywhere?”
“No,” I said, sobbing. “He never touched me.”
“Mason, gather everything up and let’s get her home,” Bryce commanded.
We walked back to the car in silence, because I wasn’t saying much. They continued to ask if I was okay and if I was hurt in any way. I kept telling them I was fine, but they kept asking. I didn’t want to talk. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. We finally made it back to the car and began the drive home. Mason called Harrison to inform him of what happened. They wanted to have a family meeting to discuss the events and to try to figure out what was going on. Someone was trying to kidnap or kill me and I had no idea why. Exhausted from the training and from the attack, I laid down in the back seat and fell asleep.