Vital - Book 1 (On hold: to be rewritten)

2. The House of Trianguli

A cold, smooth feeling met Wren’s face as she passed through the Dimension Doorway. She squeezed her eyes shut against the blinding blue light, willing the end of the tunnel to come soon. She staggered out onto a cobbled street. The smell of salt and seaweed met her nose, and the sound of gentle water running filled her ears as she straightened up. It was dark. She stood on an L-shaped piece of street, lit with flickering street lamps. A large, darkened canal ran along side the street. Three or four huge detached houses were positioned around the place. Hale was opening the gate of the large white one, directly on the curve of the canal. Steps lead up to a huge, rectangular building with long strips of glass for windows. The front garden was covered with small grey-white stones, pooling around neatly arranged flower beds. 

Hale unlocked the front door, motioning for Wren to walk through. Yellow light spilled onto the street. Wren stood and waited in the marble hall. It was wide, with two curving staircases leading up to the same landing. Hale locked the door, and spun to face her. 

“Welcome to the Blackthorn mansion. He tossed the keys up in the air, caught them in one hand and pocketed them. He turned to a glass door on the left side of the room, and swung it open, revealing a set of glass steps leading down to a brightly lit kitchen. From the glass landing, Wren could see two figures, a boy and a girl, huddled around a marble-topped counter. Behind them, a huge, room length window gave an extensive view of the canal and surrounding houses. Wren wondered where the hell they could be. 

“Hey." Hale was at the bottom of the stairs already, and Wren hurried to get there too. The girl spun. She was tall and thin, with white blonde hair hung down to half way down her back and burning blue eyes. 

“Hale." She flung herself at him. The boy who had been there previously stood awkwardly to one side, running a hand through his light brown hair, shaping it into a quiff. His eyes were bright blue, like the girl’s. Wren guessed they were siblings. 

“Geez, Cara, it was only London, not a Darkling lair." Hale detached himself from Cara. She shifted slightly, revealing the most advanced piece of technology Wren had seen. It was a screen, floating slightly above the counter top, glowing dimly. Dots and squares kept rearranging themselves around its glassy surface. 

“You may say that,” Cara flicked a lock of hair over her shoulder, “but we were just watching the tracer. Ten Darklings. All in one part of London.”

So that’s what the screen was. Some strange, tablet thing called a Tracer.

“Damn,” said Hale, grabbing an apple from the bowl. “That’s never-,”

“Ten Darklings?” There was a blur of colour as a boy with a messy mop of blonde hair, seemingly dropped out of the sky. 

“Leo!” Said Cara angrily. Leo laughed. “How long have you been up there?”

“Long enough to wonder who this is,” he said, pointing at Wren. He frowned.

Wren felt the heat creep into her cheeks.

“This is Wren,” said Hale, stepping forward. “You know, the Element girl who’ll be staying with us? The one we were talking about for days? Ring any bells?”

“Maybe a few,” said Leo, grinning.

“Hang on a second,” Wren was confused. “I’m staying?”

“Of course you are." Hale boosted himself onto the counter. “You’re one of us now.”

“Awesome!” Said Leo. “I’ll go and tell-,”

He was cut off by a small voice saying, “Iris? I’m already awake, idiot.” A small, slight girl, hardly more than twelve with curly brown hair and blue-green eyes stood on the glass landing, dressed in pyjamas. She was clutching a book in her hand. 

“Go back to bed, please, both of you.” Cara dragged a hand across her eyes. Leo laughed and disappeared. Iris lingered a second longer, before hurrying though the door, closing it behind her. 

“I suppose you want to go to bed, then?” Asked Hale, grinning. She nodded. “I’ll show you up.”

                                         ****

Hale led her up one of the spiral staircases, into a long corridor lined with windows and doors. 

“Are they your brothers and sisters?” Wren asked.

“In a sense, yes. Not by blood." Hale continued to stare ahead, into the dark. Wren was silent. She wondered what had happened to Hale’s real family. 

“Are they Heaters, like you?” She asked eventually. 

“Leo is. Cara’s an Oxygenator. She’s 21. Iris is too. She’s twelve. Hardly speaks. Usually too busy with her head in a book. Alec is the only Fueler, apart from his mother.”

“Are they here now? Their parents, I mean.”

“Oh no, there doing business in London. And by business, I mean finding out about the strange amount of Darklings there. Here it is.” Hale pushed open the door at the end of a corridor. “Oh, and,” Hale disappeared into the opposite room for a second, then returned to Wren, holding a book in his hand. It was black leather bound with silver writing etched into the front cover: The Trianguli’s Guide. 

“What’s this, like, Triangulis for Dummies?”  Wren stiffled a laugh. 

“I have no clue what you’re talking about, and I don’t wish to. Goodnight, Wren.” 

In the bedroom, Wren changed into her pyjamas, and opened The Trianguli’s Guide. The first chapter was titled The Beginning. Wren settled down to read. 

Many years ago, Adrian Shadow a pioneering scientist, wanted to create a race of genetically modified humans. Nobody knows what he wanted these people for; possibly an army or a form of protection. Adrian’ had two children, Liam and Lilliana. Liam, the eldest was Adrian’s first experiment. The antidote worked. Liam became the very first Trianguli, a Heater, who's powers extened to the ability to fall from incredibly high places then jump up again, without so much as a scratch. The dose, unfortunately, was too great. Little did Adrian know, that in fact it was killing his son bit by bit. By the time Liam was on his deathbed, he had had a daughter, Sophie, also a Heater. His wife, who was a Normad (the name for humans) who’s name we don’t know, died during childbirth. While this was happening, Adrian was already experimenting on Normads. Some went mad, some died, but soon enough he had created a Fueler (a person who has the 'Sight' meaning that they can see the Matrix lines that were created when the world was made, and are also able to see fingerprints and footprints left behind by others), and an Oxygenator (a being who can read minds). But Adrian was not finished yet. He wanted more. He took his daughter, Lilliana, and gave her a new and improved antidote. At first Lilliana was rendered a Heater. But throughout her life, she showed signs of each ability. Finally, at 18, Lilliana became the very first Element, a being with all three powers. 

By this time, Sophie, Liam’s daughter, was furious and disgusted. She avenged her dead father by stabbing Adrian while he slept. 

Lilliana, was influenced by her father. She looked down on normal Triangulis; thought herself a superior. A few days later, she disappeared and raised a cult of Trianglis gone bad, who wanted to use their powers for killing and torturing. Throughout the the years, they have been chirstened as Darklings. Since Lilliana, every child in her family have faced a choice; to defend or destroy, to do good or evil. 

Wren blinked, and brought the book down. So she was related to Lilliana. She had to be: the only Elements belonged in the Shadow family. But that didn’t explain why Wren had had the abilities since she was born. Wren had never felt more alone.