The Elementalists

PETER

Surprisingly, it does.

Her body doesn't even touch the ground, because an almost-transparent force field that crackles with electricity forms a sphere around her body before she hits the ground. When she opens her eyes, her mouth hangs open in surprise.

"Well, that's that," says John. "Now, let's go push Jamal off that building!"

"John," I say, "we're not killing off Jamal—yet."

"Yet?" Jamal asks. "What do you mean, 'yet'?!"

I smile and shake my head. "Oh, Jamal," I say. "By 'yet,' we mean 'not at this time.'"

Jamal's eyes widen. "I don't wanna die!" he squeaks. I ignore him and walk over to the still-stunned Emma. I hear Jamal's voice in the background, repeating, "You can't kill me off! I'm valuable! I'm a valuable kid! I'm freakin' priceless! Am I right? I'm right, right? Hello, anyone?"

John rolls his eyes. "Jamal," he says, "shut up."

Jamal whimpers. "I don't wanna die, though."

"I said you aren't going to," I growl, "while I'm here. Now, if I leave, that's a different story," I add with a smile. Jamal's eyes widen even more, and he backs away. I laugh and say, "We're just joking, Jamal, I'd never hurt you. Now, John might, but we all know that he's a sociopath."

John grins. "Yeppers!" he says. "I'm a sociopath!" He laughs and Jamal backs away even more.

"You guys scare me," he says. He points to Emma, who is shooting lightning bolts at nearby children at the camp's playground and laughing, then he adds, "Especially her."

"C'mon," Cooper says, "Emma's not that scary."

"I beg to differ," John says and Emma zaps a nearby tree, barely missing a five-year-old boy.

"Emma!" I yell. "No killing kids! This is exactly why the government wants to capture us!"

"Ugh," Emma growls, stomping over to me, "you ruin all my fun! Ploopy!"

"Ploopy--?" I begin, but John shakes his head.

"Don't ask," he says. "Just... just don't even ask, man."

"Uhm, okay," I say. I clear my throat and say, "Now, back to business. Cooper and Jamal, Robin and Mark are depending on you to discover your elements. If we don't find them soon, Mark will be killed. So, any plans?"

John raises his hand with a, "Ooh, ooh! Pick me, pick me!"

I sigh and reply, "What is it, John?"

"Okay," he says, "so, since it's apparently mean to push someone off of a building, why don't we figure out who can control the element of plants first?"

I begin to shake my head, but stop as soon as his idea sets in. "John," I say, "that's actually a good idea!" John squeals with delight and I high-five him; then I face Cooper and Jamal. "Okay," I say once more, "go violate some plants!"

"Violation!" John yells, running off towards a tree.

I grab the collar of his T-shirt as he runs by and sigh. "Not you," I say, "just Cooper and Jamal."

"Oh," he says, "that makes more sense."

"Ya think?" Cooper says sarcastically. Then he grabs Jamal's arm and runs to the nearest tree.

"What do we do?" Jamal asks me. "Punch it? Yell at it?"

"No," Cooper says, as if he knows what to do, "we do what Robin did. This," he thrust his left palm outwards and nothing happens. He grunts and tries again, but he gets the same results as before. With a sigh, he shoves Jamal and says, "You try."

"I feel gay," Jamal says and he thrusts out his hips. I burst into laughter as he swings his hips around and plants one arm on his side like a girl does.

"You are gay," John says. "C'mon, man, everyone knows it."

Jamal glares at John. "So what if I'm gay?!" he yells. "Do you have an issue with that?"

"Yeah," Cooper says, "what's wrong with being gay?"

I moan. "Don't tell me you're both gay," I say.

"Maybe they'll get all lovey-dovey!" John pipes up. Emma smacks him on the forehead and he yells, "Owww!"

"Don't be rude!" Emma growls. "We have to save Robin! She can't die; she helps Ginger and me with our math homework every morning! I need her! I can't help Ginger with math alone!"

"That's what you're worried about?" Cooper yells. "Math homework, when Mark is probably about dead and Robin could have bled to death already?!"

"My cousin," Jamal whimpers. And then he bursts into tears, and what I had left of my temper disappears.

"EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP!" I yell. Everyone immediately goes silent, and I smile. "There," I say, "isn't that better? Now, Jamal, in case you haven't noticed, you're floating."

"Wha--?" Jamal begins, but he looks down and sees that, amongst all of the chaos, he had risen about a foot off of the ground. "I'm so tall!" he cries with joy. "Imma stomp on those agents! Squish squish squish 'em!"

I laugh. "Have fun with that, Jamal," I say. "But first thing's first: we have to save Robin and Mark. So, get your happy butt over here and make this blanket fly, Jamal."

"You suck, Peter," Jamal complains. He trudges over to me and begins stomping all over the blanket, yelling, "Float, O Holy blanket! Float, I say!"

"Jamal," John says, "that's not going to work. The blanket obviously isn't holy if an atheist has been sitting on it."

"Shut up!" Cooper yells. "Being an atheist is my choice, not yours!"

"You're an atheist?" I ask, turning to Cooper. "I didn't know that."

"Gingers don't have souls," John pipes up.

"There aren't many gingers in India, though," Jamal says. "So that was never really a saying back home."

"Enough with the religions," Emma growls. "Who freaking cares what religion y'all are? It doesn't matter! We're all equal! Now, can we please just keep our friends from being murdered violently? Just a suggestion."

"Good idea," I say. I turn to Cooper and say, "Go with Jamal. Help him figure out how to lift the blanket. Emma," I add as I turn to face the girl, "I want you to scout the area and find out which path the agents took. John and I will look for clues, tire tracks, anything that will help us find Robin."

"'Cause you lo--," John begins, but I cover his mouth with my hand and all that comes out are guttural throat sounds. Angry, John licks my hand, and I yank it away.

"Eww!" I yell. "What the heck?"

"You were asking for it," John says simply. He laughs and runs off.

I manage a laugh. As I run after him, I'm filled with hope.

We can do this, I tell myself, with a little courage.

And a lot of freaking awesome elemental powers, too, of course.