Destined

Chapter Three: Answers for the Lost

"Can I join?" She asks politely, sticking her head in.

"Sure." I reply, awkwardly.

She makes her way in carrying a red bag about the size as mine and sits across from me.

"I don't think we've met. I thought I knew everyone like us." She states.

"Uh....well...I'm Bella." I say, a bit thrown off with the "everyone like us" part.

"I'm Cora." She says, extending her hand out in front of her, I lean forward and shake it, feeling uncomfortable with the stiff exchange. I have no idea what to say or how to act. "So, do you know what element you might specialize in?" She wonders.

"Element?" Once again, I'm bewildered. I have to be setting a record for the amount of confusion I've dealt with since I received the letter.

"Yeah, you know. Earth, air, fire, and water." She answers, looking a bit confused herself.

"I know what the elements are. What I don't understand is... what do you mean by specialize?"

Before she can answer, the compartment door slides open. Both Cora and I turn to look at who has interrupted our conversation. A boy with dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes stands in the doorway, smiling down at us. I go stiff with the new arrival, realizing the full extent of how socially awkward I am. I only went to school for a few years, my Aunt and Uncle pulling me out to homeschool me, and so it's been years since I've had a conversation with a boy my age. Yet here I am.

"Hey Cora. What's up?" He asks, sitting down next to Cora.

"Hey Levi."She replies with a small smile.

Levi looks away from Cora and to me."Who are you?" He wonders cheerfully.

"Bella." I answer, hoping I don't sound or look as awkward as I fell.

"So." Cora begins addressing me. "You have no clue what I am talking about? Or what Elementum Academy is? Or what we are?"

"Sorry, no." I thought that was already obvious.

"Wait...is she -" Levi pauses and turns to Cora.

"She doesn't know." Cora tells him.

"So she is?"

"She has to be. But I didn't know there were anymore. She's probably the youngest."

"Still lost here." I point out, jumping into the conversation.

"Here's the short version." Levi begins. "We are Elementals, we can control all the elements, weakly, until we specialize in one. Elementum Academy is like our version of Hogwarts, where we learn to control our powers. We all have Elemental parents, except those who lost theirs and were raised in the mundane world. Sorry for your loss by the way."

"What's Hogwarts?" I inquire, because that was really the only thing I could make heads or tails of.

"You don't know what Hogwarts is?" Cora asks in puzzlement, raising a sharp eyebrow.

"I apparently don't know much of anything." I tell her.

"Where have you been all your life. Trapped under a rock?" Levi asks.

"Pretty much." I pause as they stared at me in silence.

"So out of all that you got... Hogwarts?" Cora wonders.

"Because the rest is impossible." I say.

Levi holds out his left hand and suddenly a small flame ignites in his palm. I jump back, startled and afraid that the flame might grow and engulf the whole compartment. All my life I've been afraid of fire, and when I was younger, I was haunted by nightmares of being trapped in a burning house with no escape. He closes his hand and the flame disappears.