Dominions

Chapter 12: Elle

    "What was that?!" Asher cried. "Elle, you completely froze back there?!"

    Elle remained silent. She didn't want to go into detail about what she saw. That was too personal. Even if they do have a long-standing history, Elle couldn't remember it. It has never been easy for her to open up to people. She felt her mind slipping away as she remembered what the creature did to her. What was it called? A Vein?

    "I think my hair is going to fall out," Selena whined from the backseat. "That thing lifted me by my - OH MY GOSH!"

    Elle's attention snapped back to the road just in time to slam on the breaks. Four of the shadowy creatures from before were standing in the middle of the road. Their long looming bodies stood there menacingly as the car came to a dead stop. Even with their slouched backs, Elle was surprised by the sheer size of the creatures. Elle's heartbeat quickened as the smokey black aura flowed toward the car.

    "New rule," said Asher. "I'm driving."

    He quickly got out of the car and ran to the driver's side door. Elle climbed over the middle console and let him get back in the car where she previously sat. He put the car in drive and slammed on the gas traveling at high speed toward the creatures. The creatures faded into smoke and appeared moving alongside the car.

    "What the hell are these things?!" cried Jayden.

    Elle felt her heart start to beat as the black aura seeped into the car. The faceless creature began to shapeshift its face again. Elle closed her eyes and attempted to center her thoughts. She tuned out the screaming inside of her head, she tuned out the car full of terrified teenagers, and she took a deep breath.

Nature? Elle thought in her head. Help? I have the dominion of nature. I can control nature. Nature...do something.

    As if Elle said the magic words, a giant oak tree sprung from the ground. Sharp branches impaled two of the creatures on her side of the car. She watched out the side-view mirrors, and she watched as their bodies fell like grains of sand to the ground.

    "What the hell did you just do?!" screamed Jayden. "There's a whole tree in the middle of the street-"

    "Selena!" interrupted Elle trying to focus on the creature on the driver's side. "Focus on the sky. You're scared. Find out how to harness that!"

    "I can't!" Selena said as she waved her hand in the air. "It's not working."

    Elle turned around to Judah and gave him pleading eyes. "Do something," she said to him.

    "Selena," said Judah as he nodded at Elle. He turned to face her and grabbed both of her hands. "Listen to me, okay? Close your eyes. Clear your head," Selena did as she was told and took deep breaths as she listened to the words that were coming from her date.

    Good job, lover boy. Elle thought as she tried to bring another oak tree from the ground.

    The vein's dark aura was seeping through the back of the car. Elle watched in horror as it danced around Jayden's head, and he began to have the same look of fear she felt when she saw her mother's face. She wondered who he saw at that moment.

    "Jayden," said Elle. "You can fight it."

    "Selena, I need you to breathe and focus on the sky. Focus on what you want to happen to the creepy black thing, and let your emotions start to help you as they did on the beach." Judah cried over the chaos of the car.

    "Jayden, you can fight it!" said Elle as a lightning bolt shot from the sky and zapped the creature. Selena threw her hands up in victory, and Jayden snapped back into reality. "Three down, one to go," said Elle as she looked at the vein traveling next to Asher.

    "Guys, I'm starting to feel strange," said Asher.

    The dark smoke was circling Asher's head and was traveling through his nostrils. He started to look drained, and Elle noticed the car significantly slowing down with each passing second.

    Just a second, Asher... Elle closed her eyes and thought of a giant tree in the middle of the road springing up from the ground. She pictured how the bark would look and what color the leaves would be, and suddenly she felt the earth start to tremble.

    "What the hell is happening?!" cried Judah.

    Elle gasped as the giant tree shot from the ground. It was at least 10' in diameter and knocked Elle's car clean off the road when it sprouted. Elle felt the world moving in slow motion as the car flipped over around and around again. When the car finally stopped, Elle was sitting face up in the front seat with a severe case of whiplash.

    "Is everyone okay?" asked Asher rubbing his sore neck. One by one, they all answered back and got out of the car. They weren't sure if the Vein was gone. All they knew was that they couldn't drive that car anymore.

    "I'm legit going to die," said Elle as she looked at her red ford focus in horror. The body was smashed in the very middle of the hood. Tires on all four sides of the car bent at an awkward angle, and both side-view mirrors were nowhere to be seen. The windows were gone, and tears had begun to well up in her eyes as she thought about the verbal lashing she was bound to get from her mother.

    "Elle?" asked Selena walking over to her. "Elle, you're bleeding."

    Selena grabbed Elle's hand and placed it on the back of her neck. When Elle pulled her hand away, sure enough, her palm was stained with blood. She let out a roar of frustration and began to walk down the road.

    "Where are you going?!" Judah cried, following her.

    "I'm going home," Elle said, annoyed. "This whole night can go to hell."

    Jayden ran after her and grabbed her hand. "You can't just run away from this-"

    "Don't touch me," said Elle.

    She felt the earth start to shake as her temper continued to soar. Jayden and Judah backed away from her, and just as quickly as the ground began to tremble, it stopped. She turned back around and walked down the road, cursing at herself.

    You were just supposed to make it out of Saffron and go to college. She said to herself. All you had to do was smile for two more years. Smile even though you felt you couldn't. Just smile. She laughed in anger and threw her hands up in the air, defeated.

    "Instead, you go off and get a stupid superpower," she whispered to herself.

    After walking for what felt like an eternity, she found herself standing in the familiar driveway of her home. The long white pillars that Elle used to think could touch the sky as a little girl didn't bring her comfort as she slowly walked up to her driveway. When she got to the giant dark wood door, she reached in her pocket for her keys and realized she left them in the car.

    "Damnit," she said as she rang the doorbell.

    A few moments later, she heard footsteps running down the stairs. When her mother opened the door, hair in her curlers, she instantly lit up with rage upon seeing her daughter.

    "Elouise Magnolia Mayweather!" her mother hissed as she drug her daughter through the front door. "Where the hell have you been?! Do you even know what time it is- YOUR NECK!" screamed her mother in horror.

    Elle looked at her mother and remembered the creature. She remembered how it got her facial expressions down to the tee and realized that somehow, at this moment, her mother was scarier.

    Elle walked over to the stairs and sat down. She had begun to feel woozy as her mother continued to scream at her from the front door. Elle looked at her mother as she flailed about like a crazy woman in her pink bathrobe. One of her hair curlers fell out of her head, and Elle couldn't help but start to laugh.

    "You have the NERVE to laugh at me right now?!" screamed her mother.

    "Relax, mom," said Elle. She stood up and walked up the grand staircase. When she got to the top of the stairs, she turned back to her mother, whose face was in absolute shock. "You haven't even seen the car yet."