Untitled (thus far) - Chapter 3

I snuck out the side doors, glancing over my shoulder as I ran across the field. I really didn't need to be caught by an administrator and have to explain about how I'd just made my teacher's Diet Coke explode. No, I thought, you didn't make it explode. The can just decided to burst . . . after dancing across the table. Yeah.
You are so full of it, said the obnoxious voice in my head. What if Destin was right?
I shook my head, hoping to rattle the voice into nonexistence, but only really succeeded in making myself dizzy. I sat down on the grass, and gasped aloud when I realized where I was. While thinking, my feet had just traveled of their own accord, walking the familiar path to the park. What I hadn't been expecting was ending up on the bank of a small, but full, creek. I knew that the creek was in the park, but I usually came here to walk and think, which didn't work so well while I was near the water. I got up to return to my well beaten path and stopped dead as a voice echoed through my head.
No, wait, it said.
Normally, I would have told my sarcastic little voice to shut it, but this wasn't my voice. It had been calm, and clear, and it definitely didn't sound like me. It was more like a vast lake, quiet and powerful.
Oh crud, I thought.
Against my better judgement, I sat back down on the bank. I slid my shoes off to dangle my feet in the water as I had many times before.
What do you want? I asked, rather harshly.
As though responding to my thoughts, the usually calm creek began to bubble. Needless to say, I panicked. I'm pretty sure I screamed and tried to get back to the road using my hands, my eyes never leaving the water. I stopped to watch in awe as one of the bubbles grew up, staying connected to the creek, but gaining about five feet of height. The rest of the water seemed to flow to it, making it wider, giving this bubble shape. I'm pretty sure my chin dropped to my chest as a woman, made of water, stepped onto the bank. Tall and as graceful as ever, she seemed to glide as her feet brought her closer and closer to me - until I was sitting in what would have been her shadow, if she were solid.
Hesitantly, I looked up. Though her form was as clear as the water it just sprang from, you could see how currents inside her made clothes - a loose fitting, almost Greek, wrap hung from one of her shoulders and fell to her feet, a thin strip of some kind of water plant tied the . . . aqua-cloth around her waist and it fell from there to her ankles, her feet were bare. I chanced a look at her face - it was glaring down at me, and though the anger emanating from her eyes seemed to be burning my heart, I couldn't help but notice how pretty her face was. Smooth as ever, her heart shaped face was perfectly proportioned - smallish nose centered between her two clear eyes. Her, I guess I could still call it hair, was long and wavy. It fell to her shoulders, and probably would have gone a little farther if it weren't for the golden circlet around her forehead.
"I will not tolerate that tone," she ordered and I knew it had been her voice in my head.
I wish I could have come up with some sarcastic retort like 'well, what were you doing in my head?' but I couldn't make myself talk.
"Well?" she asked harshly. "I know you have a voice."
"I'm, um, sorry - uh, miss. . . ?" I asked.
Her features softened, "That's better, though I prefer Lady."
Lady, okay . . . I thought, digging deep to find my voice. "I'm sorry - milady - but I have no idea who, or - no offense - what you are."
Her laugh echoed in my head, sounding like a trickling creek and a pounding waterfall all in one. "I'm Nereida, Lady of the Water."
"Wait, Destin was telling the truth?" I asked.
"Yes, he was."
"But, I'm not made of water," I said in a panic. "I have a mom and dad - I'm their kid."
"That is not so," she replied calmly, stretching her hand out to me.
I reached forward tentatively, half expecting my hand to slide through hers, but her hand felt like skin. She pulled me to my feet and gestured back to the creek.
"Come and your questions will be answered."
I followed, more afraid of offending her than anything else.
"Lady, why did you appear to me?" I asked, losing my voice for a moment as she stepped into the creek. Her feet met the water and dissipated until the end of her robe was level with the creek, she seemed to glide across the top of the water. I followed, not anywhere near as gracefully, trying to keep my balance on the slippery rocks at the bottom of the riverbed. "Destin said he'd been alone until - whatever happened to me."
"All will be explained, though I must start at the beginning," she said patiently. "In the beginning of time there were two beings, Kayvan and Shivani. As husband and wife, they had four children: Astraeus, Aithne, Vane, and me. Our family is this earth you know: Kayvan over being and our mother Shivani over life and death. My brothers Astraeus and Vane were given the solid earth and ever changing skies. My sister, Aithne, was given the living flame and I the cool waters. We balanced each other perfectly - no one being had more power than another.
That is, until Astraeus decided that he should be at the head of our council - that we should have to report to and obey him. He created the first humans from his own substance. His children had access to all of our territories, and quickly claimed each as their own. Claiming their land as his, Astraeus gained power over the rest of us. War ensued - my brother, sister, and I prevailed; we destroyed every one of our brother's pure children, though we'd grown fond of the human race.
Our father, Kayvan, suggested the solution and with our mother's help we recreated the human race. Every individual is made up of the four elements: Earth for soul, Air for spirit, Water for life force, and Fire for passion. Our father claimed their souls, since he gave them being, my mother their lives, because she gave them blood. My siblings and I each have claim to a fourth of the human population. Those that we've claimed have the ability to control their patron element, though they rarely fulfill their true potential. As part of the compromise, we were all forbidden to create pure children of our own.
This world then experienced an unprecedented 6 millennia of peace - and then the human race became corrupt. For ten years we watched the people you count yourself among destroy the world - wondering where their corruption came from. Finally, a more learned child of my sister, Aithne, felt our father's presence in his mind. We found our father to be the source of the corruption - tainting the human race with his thoughts. My mother faded in shame - unwilling to accept the crimes her defamed husband had committed - leaving her claims on humanity to us, her children. With the power bestowed upon us, my siblings and I imprisoned our father in a state of nonbeing, where his thoughts could no longer reach the race of man - balance was restored once again.
In council, my siblings and I were delegated responsibilities, in order to prevent more bloodshed. Astraeus is to keep his eye on the human race, Vane watches the winds, Aithne listens to the forgotten ashes and I rely on the most sensitive currents to know the true balance."
"Lady," I asked, "you said you weren't allowed to contact your claimed humans. Why have you appeared to me?"
"The past ten years of peace have lulled my siblings into a false sense of security. Being more attuned to the balance than my siblings, I have felt the subtle changes of recent years. I created you as a precaution when my siblings refused to heed my warnings."
"Wait, you created me?" I asked. "I thought you'd just claimed me."
"That is what it must appear as to my siblings, for if they learn of your existence, war will ravage this world yet again. You are a pure child of water."
"What?"
"You are made up of the same water that is in me," she said. "None of the other elements pollute your being."
"You're telling me that I'm not human?" I asked, my breath catching in my lungs.
She simply nodded.
"And you're telling me that it's my purpose in life to figure out why the so called 'balance is tilting?"
She nodded again.
"And stop it from tilting?"
She smiled, "You're right."
"Am I ever going to wake up from this?"
"I do not understand," Nereida said, confusion rippling throughout her features.
"Is this really happening?"
"I have told you nothing but the truth."
I paused, trying to let the new information sink in. I let the information fall through me, and a disconcerting thought struck me.
"What about my parents? Are they still alive?"
"Your human parents, Tia and Jansen, were charged with your protection - though they know nothing of what you really are. They adopted you into their family because of the promptings I put in their heads. You are my child."
"You're my mom?" I asked, stunned.
"The original water that is your life force came from me," she affirmed. "You are the first pure child to be born of an elemental since the first children of Astraeus."
"Pure elemental?"
"Yes," she said.
"But I have skin, and blood and bones," I said, desperate to cling to some kind of reality.
"True as that may be, your essence is water," she replied. "Your skin, blood, and bones are made up of water, where as your human friends have cells and all of that nonsense. You take this form because it is what's natural to you - the water reacts to you rather than just following your orders. If you wished to appear as I do, you could with a mere thought."
I fought the impulse to try - what if I couldn't make it back?
"Is that why the soda and the IV exploded when I got angry?"
She nodded and another uncomfortable thought hit me.
"You said that the elementals weren't allowed to have pure children," I said. "So what will your siblings, my aunt and uncles, do when they learn of my existence?"
Her pretty face clouded over. "They will not take the news well. A terrible war would ensue - they must never realize your true identity."
Though I had just learned of elementals, this thought terrified me.
"You're telling me I'm most likely going to start and have to fight in a war?" I was barely able to whisper. "How am I supposed to restore the balance when I may very well be the one throwing it off? I don't know enough about your - I guess I mean our - world to even think about where to begin."
"You will learn. Listen to the currents, their strong and unbiased reasoning is often the most sound counsel I can receive. You must do this alone, for I have my own responsibilities to fulfill while-" she replied, breaking off mid sentence, though it sounded like she had something more to say. "My siblings have noticed my absence. Our time together must be cut short."
"You're kidding, right?"
"Lira Anne Kay, I hereby charge you with the obligation to render the plans - whatever they may be - impossible. You will capture the orchestrator and bring him to us - alive. I hope you realize this quest as an opportunity to test your strength and come to terms with the world in which you belong. The fate of this earth could very well be in your hands."
She melted back into the creek with a small plink, leaving me up to my knees in freezing cold water, confused as ever. I raked my brain, trying to think of what to do. How am I supposed to figure out what is going on with the world when I had barely figured out the lore? I just barely found out I'm not human and my mother - who is seriously lacking in the human department, also - expects me to save the world. I didn't even know where to begin - I was completely alone. In the distance the bell rang for school to end and an idea hit me.
I took off running toward the school, praying I'd make it to the front door before he left. I leaped up the stairs and let myself fall into the shadows. I closed my eyes and concentrated on being invisible - a strange rushing feeling cascaded through my body and I opened my eyes, gasping as I looked down to see the change. My body was completely clear - the only way I'd be visible would be if the light hit me at just the right angle. I focused my attention on the crowds pushing their way through the doors, scanning their faces for Destin. He would be helping me whether he liked it or not. His anxious face surfaced, searching for something. Boy was he in for a surprise.
My only thought was to reach him, so I charged forward, not caring about the wake of falling people I left behind me, and grabbed his backpack. Yanking hard, I took off toward the park, dragging him along. I must admit his reaction was pretty priceless. His form flailed behind me, screaming bloody murder as an unseen force dragged him away from the general human population. If I weren't so confused, it would have been hysterical. Once we were far enough away, I shouted to be heard over his scream.
"Destin, shut up. Stop screaming or you're going to make a spectacle."
"Lira Anne?" his voice lost almost all of it's volume.
"Who else would it be?"
"How come I can't see you?" he asked, much calmer now that he had identified his problem.
"Let's just say that some weird stuff happened and I believe you about my moth- I mean, Lady Nereida."
"Are you going to explain any of this or do I just get to chill back here while you strangle me with my own shirt?" he asked.
"Just a bit further," I said, pulling him across the bridge and to the part of the bank where Nereida had appeared to me.
I dropped his collar and he fell to the ground massaging his neck. He looked around confused.
"Lira Anne?" he asked. "Are you still here?"
"Yes," I said, concentrating on my human - well, solid - form so that he would be able to see me. "I need your help."