The last few days of school were the best of the school year. There were a couple of problems including the breaking of my nose, but otherwise, it was great. The last field trip was to Charlie's Fun & Games to play laser tag. There was a room full of game machines and an arena for laser tag. Charlie's Fun & Games was hosting a tournament for us, and Jessica, my brothers, their girls, and I had all teamed up. The teams were made up of ten people and the final game of laser tag was between our team and James' team. This time, if you got shot five times, you were out of the game.
The game started fine, and I hit most of our opponents with lasers. I kind of felt that my brothers and I did most of the work. The girls hit an occasional opponent but not without getting hit themselves. Fortunately they weren't eliminated. My brothers told me that the opposing team was made up of the girls' former boyfriends and the rest of the members of their gang. Five of the opposing team were good; the other five were truly dreadful. I managed to hit all of them at least once. They were out in the first two minutes.
The laser tag arena was in the shape of a five-pointed star. There were five sections with free-standing walls and pillars to hide behind while you might aim and shoot a laser at an "enemy." You didn't want to get caught in any of the star points because it would leave you vulnerable. My brothers and I split up to take down the rest of the opposing team. We had twice as many people as they did, although, the girls weren't helping as much as one might have hoped.
I pulled Jessica along with me and entered one of the five sections. There were windows in the center of the pillars so that you could hide behind a pillar and still shoot. We entered the section just as James started shooting at us. He ducked behind one of the pillars and peeked at us through his window.
"Jess?" he asked in surprise. "What are you doing here and why are you with that little twit? You always sympathize with people, but you never felt sympathy for me did you? You knew that my father favored my twin brother more than me. You know he abused me. A little sympathy here?"
"James, I can try and sympathize with you, but I'm not going to side with you. You can't just try and play every card you have and expect me to go with you," Jessica said.
"And what makes you go with him, huh?" James asked as he pointed his finger at me."
"Fine, you know what? Let's get personal here," Jessica said. "Aden, James, both of you, give me your guns. You wanna fight over me, fine, I decide who leaves this arena and who stays."
"Jessica, I don't want to fight," I said.
"Shut it pretty boy and give her your gun," James snarled as he threw his gun at Jessica's feet and raised his hands above his head in surrender."
I handed Jessica my gun and she walked to the center of the room. She had both guns in her hands and stood facing the wall. Faster than I thought she was capable of, she whirled on James and shot him five times. The speaker on his vest said, "You have been shot five times. Please leave the arena, your gun has been terminated."
James cursed at us, but instead of leaving the arena, he came at me and punched me in the nose. I thought he would be angry, but I didn't expect it to result with physical violence. I knew he broke my nose because I heard it crack. Before I could prepare to defend myself, James socked me in the eye. I was pretty sure that that would result in a black eye.
"James! Stop it," Jessica yelled.
He didn't back off, but Jessica's shout had made him pause. I was ready to defend myself when he came at me again. His fist shot forward towards my face, but this time, I caught it in my hand and pulled him towards me. I got out of the way and let him stumble past me, cursing all the way. Our kind have the ability to heal ourselves as well as others. I passed my hand over my nose and eye to heal myself. I did it in the arena so that Jessica wouldn't be able to see it. I suppose that this was the "good beating" that James was going to give me before school was out.
"Come on," I told Jessica, "Let's find the others and finish the game."
"Wait, Aden, I know I heard a crack. I'm pretty sure James broke your nose; we need to get out and get you some medical attention."
"I'm fine."
"You sure? Well, okay," Jessica said, and she followed me out of the section where James and I fought. Just then a buzzer rang declaring our team the winner.
We left Charlie's Fun & Games and went back to school. I decided not to report James since there wouldn't be any proof because I healed myself. From school, my brothers and I went back to our house. I was glad to get home and collapse in bed. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling until Irvin knocked on the door, came in, and gave me a look that clearly said, "Sorry."
Demetrio, Hearst, and Timur followed.
"What's up?" I asked.
"It's kind of hard to explain," Timur started. "The thing is, we've all been badgered by the girls to tell them who we really are, and I don't know what to do."
"We could try to explain," I suggested, "that we can't tell them because we'd both be in trouble."
"I've tried that," Timur said. "It doesn't stop them."
"We could try and reason with them even more, or just ask them to stop," Hearst said.
"But do you really think they would?" I asked. "I mean, they didn't stop asking even though it meant getting in trouble."
"Yeah," Timur said. "I don't know how much longer I can stand it. Either we tell them or leave them."
"But if we tell them, we get in trouble, and if we leave them, they get upset," I said.
"Yeah, but they'd most likely get over that," Demetrio said with an impatient wave of his hand.
"But, I don't think I really want to upset them, do you?" Hearst asked.
"Not really," I said. "Irvin, you've been quiet for a while. Do you have any ideas?"
"Well, yes," he started. "It's not the best idea, and we may be watched even more closely for it, but if they agreed, I think it'd be worth it."
"Whose 'they'?" I asked.
"What's your plan?" Demetrio asked right after.
"I think we should ask the Elders," Irvin said quietly.
We all thought about this for a while. The Elders are the leaders of our kind. There is one for each element and when they disagree, it is put to a vote. If we asked and they said no, then they might bug our house to see if we did tell. Then, not only would we be cursed, we'd have broken the law for refusing the Elders. If they said yes though, we could tell them, without the curse falling on us, for the Elders are the ones who place the curses.
"I think we should ask," I said. "So what if they say 'no'? Then we won't tell. Yeah, the house might be bugged, but we wouldn't do anything, right? We'd just have to watch what we say. But if they say 'yes' then we can tell them without being cursed or getting into any other trouble."
"I agree," Demetrio said. "It's not a huge deal if they say 'no', but if they say 'yes,' we can tell the girls and get it over with."
"You're right," Hearst agreed. "Either way, there's not much, if any, harm done."
"Timur?" Irvin asked.
"I guess you're right. I don't like the idea of the house being bugged but there's no guarantee that it will be," Timur answered.
"Let's ask on Saturday. Then, school will be out, and we can go in peace," Irvin said.
My brothers left and I picked up my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I liked to read the parts with Atticus because he's so honest and polite.
The next morning we rode to school and received our yearbooks. Terra, Demetrio, Cari, Timur, Rhonda, Irvin, Portia, Hearst, Jessica, and I signed one another's. I had signed everyone's yearbook but Jessica's when she said, "Aden, it's too hot in here, let's get out."
As we left the overcrowded gym I felt a temperature change. It was literally two degrees cooler in the hallways than in the gym. We found a place to sit down and swapped yearbooks. She wrote down a paragraph, that I decided to read later, along with her phone number.
"Will you write down your phone and cellphone number?" she asked.
"I don't have a cellphone," I replied.
"You don't? Okay, just your phone number then."
"We don't have a phone," I told her.
"Then how do you contact people?" she asked.
"Mostly we don't. If we do, we travel to a rendezvous point."
"Okay, will you just put down your address?"
"I don't have an address, at least, not one that the post office knows about"
"What street are you on?"
"Jessica, it isn't on any street with a name. It's just a dirt path that hooks off the road."
"Okay, which road?"
"Neptune."
"You live by the planet streets?"
"I don't live by anything," I told her.
"Then how can I contact you over the summer?"
"I don't think you'll be able to," I said.
"Please give me some way to contact you."
"There isn't one, but I'll contact you at least once over the summer. I promise. Okay?"
"No, that's not often enough."
"Unless the Elders grant me permission, I can't promise more than one."
"Why won't your parents grant you permission?"
"The Elders aren't my parents. My parents," I paused considering whether or not to tell her. ". . . are dead."
"Oh," she said in a small voice. "I'm so sorry."
"Thank you," I said quietly. "Let's change the subject."
"Will you promise to remember me?"
"Of course," I answered. "What do you mean 'remember' you?"
"I mean; you won't forget your promise to call?"
"No."
"School's almost out, we should just ditch."
"We should what?" I asked horrified at the thought that she would skip school.
"What, there's only another hour left, and it's not like we're ditching class or anything," she said. "You know, there's a nice place just down the street. We can get lunch and milkshakes, and the ten of us could eat and hang out."
"Let's go find my brothers first," I said with no emotion.
We walked back to the gym in silence and found my brothers and the girls. We all left together to talk about lunch.
"Come on guys, it'll be great," Cari said.
"Yeah, we can get milkshakes and burgers. We have money, we can pay if you need us to," Portia said.
"We have money too," Hearst said.
"But we'd be ditching school," I told the girls.
"It's not like we would be the only ones doing it. There are plenty of other people walking out to the movies, stores, and restaurants," Rhonda told us.
"Come on, we told you it'd be fun, and we can make sure it will be. We can talk, doodle in yearbooks; we can do whatever we want," Jessica said.
There were lots of other kids at the restaurant. The girls chattered and tried to make conversation with us, but they ended up talking to each other because my brothers and I stayed silent. I wasn't positive, but I was pretty sure my brothers were thinking about our meeting with the Elders. We walked back to school to get our cars. Jessica caught up with me as I stood outside the car I made.
"Is this your car?" she asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"It's incredible."
"Thanks."
"Look, I'm sorry about our talk in the hallways about your parents. I've kind of been stressed out this morning. James came to my door, and we had another row," Jessica said. Before she turned to go, she asked, "How soon will you call?"
"I'm not sure, but it won't be very long. It'll have to wait until after Saturday though."
"Okay," Jessica said, and she walked across the parking lot to her small Chevrolet pick-up.
I drove home thinking about what Jessica had said in the hallways and my promise to call her even though I had no phone. When I got home, I went into my room and closed my door. I took a look through my yearbook signatures and found Jessica's distinct message.
Aden, I can't express in my words what a pleasure it has been knowing you this year. I'm sorry we didn't get to spend more time together and would very much like to do so over the summer. There's many things to congratulate you on, apologize for, and talk about, but to put it all into words -- it'd be as long as a novel, so instead I'll just say, congratulations, I'm sorry, and call me over the summer.
phone-529-8754 cell-468-9366
Hers was, by far, the longest entry, but I read it several times before reading the others. My brothers had left short notes and teased me a bit in their words, but I have to admit I had done the same to their yearbooks. Terra, Cari, Rhonda, and Portia left small notes all of which ended with "have a good summer" and an occasional, "hope to see you again."
The teachers had all left "congratulations, you'll have a great future" or "it was a pleasure having you in my class this year," the usual teacher farewell stuff. I scanned through the rest of the yearbook and saw my picture in it several times. That was a surprise. My brothers and I were under the "Hardest Workers Ever."
Friday was even more boring than Thursday. There were no textbooks to read, maps to study, or math problems to calculate. I saw Jessica and James yelling at each other in the parking lot, but this time I didn't get involved, just walked to my car and left. When the five of us got home that day, we assembled in the living room and talked about our meeting with the Elders.
"We should each do a portion of the talking," Timur said.
"Yeah, I feel nervous about the whole thing," Hearst added.
"Does anyone have any plans on how to get there?" I asked.
"Let us summon their servants so that they will take us," Irvin started. "I know the chant and the servants have to bring us to the Elders, but how they will take us, I don't know."
"Probably some sort of magical device to take us up into the clouds," Demetrio said indifferently.
I don't know whether any of us slept that night, but I know I tossed and turned until about one in the morning. When we woke, we got dressed and took our yearbooks and left the house. In the backyard, Irvin drew a circle of power around us and began to chant, calling for the servants of the Elders.
Once he finished his chant, a golden escalator descended from the sky and coming down on it was a tall man, hooded and cloaked, holding the flag of our people.
"Who calls upon the Elders?" he asked in a booming voice.
"The five brothers of Sergius, who was a previous servant to the Elders," Irvin said.
"And what powers are within thee?"
"I am Irvin, child of water, this is Hearst, child of wood, and these are Aden, child of fire, Demetrio of earth, and Timur of metal," Irvin said and pointed at each of us in turn.
"Very well, I shall take you to our Lords."
He stepped off the escalator and flicked a switch. The stairs reversed direction. "Follow me," he said in a commanding voice.
We stepped onto the escalator and went up into the clouds. The Elders do not live in "heaven" they live in a place in time and space they agreed upon. They all leave their true domains for any councils, but they return to them often. Once they morph into their divine forms, no mortal can get near them without dying, especially if they're in their raging forms. They are still quite powerful in human form, but they are more vulnerable.
We stepped stepped off the escalator and walked through a door of clouds. There wasn't much time to look around before we spotted the five Elders, but what I did see was breathtaking. The air smelled wonderful. Later I found it was unique to every different one of our kind who is in the presence of the Elders.
The floor was made of tiles of gold and silver, and on the sides, there were many trees. There was a very beautiful garden of all my favorite plants and some I couldn't even name. There was a stream running down the side on our right and a pleasant, warm fire on our left towards the back. It wasn't cold down on the ground, but once you got up here in the clouds, the temperature dropped.
When we saw the Elders, we dropped to our knees and put our foreheads to the ground.
"Rise," they all said together, and their voices echoed around the room.
All five Elders were sitting on thrones wearing some type of armor or protection. It wasn't difficult to tell who was whom, because of how they were dressed. The Lord Metal was dressed in shining armor; the finest I had ever seen. The Lord Wood, was wearing a breastplate of tree bark and pants of bark that looked rather uncomfortable. The Lords were all wearing clothing that corresponded to whom they were.
We stood uneasily and waited to let them give us any commands before we started our tale.
"You are the children of Sergius are you not?" Earth asked.
"Yes, my lord," Demetrio said.
"Ah, he was a fine servant," Fire said.
"You have come with council I see," Metal started. "It is about five girls of the mortal world, correct?"
"Yes, my lord," Timur answered.
"Then let us hear you out," said Water.
"My lord," Irvin started, "we have come with a request as well. But before our request may be told, a story must begin."
"We have tried to understand the mortal world and we know it much better than we did ten years ago," I said. "How they live, learn, and respond. Most unfortunately, the five girls we speak of became closer to us than we wanted, almost bound to us."
"They have been nagging us about our secret," said Hearst. "We do not find it easy to refuse them, especially because we know they will not tell. It is not easy, but we have still kept out of the human world for a while, but now, we have been overwhelmed."
"So you wish to tell our secret to these five?" Fire asked.
"Yes, my lord," I answered.
"And who are these five?" asked Earth.
We all bowed on one knee and kept our heads facing the ground and held out our yearbooks with a bookmarked page.
"My lord, their names are Terra Watson, Cari Gray, Rhonda Howard, Portia Cooper, and Jessica Sanders," Demetrio said.
The yearbooks floated out of our hands and into the palms of the Elders. We rose to our feet and waited patiently as the Elders looked through the yearbooks.
"We will go into the Nocor now," Metal said. "Guards, welcome our guests in the other chamber."
The Nocor is a place where the Elders disappear together to talk. They are completely alone with no distractions. They discuss the matter at hand and vote on the final decision.
The guard that had brought us to them ushered us into a room I had not seen before. We left the throne room and entered the chamber. It had beds made of clouds that were very comfortable along with a table and five chairs. The guard had us sit at the table and wait. We sat in silence for the next ten to twenty minutes.
The guard came back in and told us the Elders had reached a decision. We came back into the throne room and bowed before them. When we looked up, we saw the Elders staring hard at us.
"We have come to a verdict," Wood said.
"You may tell the secret to these five on two conditions," Fire said.
"What might those conditions be, my lord?" I asked.
"Firstly, you will only tell these five girls, no one else," Earth said.
"Of course, my lord," Demetrio said.
"Secondly, you must make them promise not to tell anyone else, and should they break their promise, they will be crushed," Water said strongly.
"Yes, my lord," said Irvin.
"You may go now," Metal said.
"Thank you my lord," said Timur.
The guard led us back the way we had come, and we descended on the escalator. Once we reached the ground, the guard went back up and the escalator followed him into the clouds.
It was only about three o'clock, but we all went upstairs to our bedrooms and collapsed on our beds. I stared at the ceiling for half an hour or so, and then sat up and read To Kill a Mockingbird until twilight. My brothers and I met downstairs to talk in the living room about our encounter with the Elders.
"I think we got lucky with them," Timur said.
"Yeah, now we can just tell them and they'll stop asking questions. Let's get it over with," said Demetrio.
We talked and I found that the other girls had insisted my brothers call them as well. We decided we'd find a pay phone and call them the next day to pick them up and bring them back to our house.
