The Elementalists

JAMAL

   "Not true!" Peter tells her. "I'm here, too!"

   "Again, I'm the only mature one here," Emma repeats, rolling her eyes once more.

   "Are you saying that we men aren't mature?" Cooper asks, frowning.

   "'Course not," Emma replies. "I'm saying that boys are immature. Duh."

   John points at the two policemen and asks, "What do we do with them? We can't just leave 'em there."

   Peter nods. "I say we get away from here," he tells us. "It isn't safe being this close to the place of our disappearance."

   "But what about Mark and Robin?" I ask. "What if they come, and we aren't here when they come? What'll we do then? What'll they do then?"

   Peter opens his mouth to reply, but I hold up my hand. I hear something, and it's very faint, but it sounds familiar. I squint in the direction of the source, but it's coming from within the forest, so I can't see anything except trees.

   "Do you guys hear that?" I ask. Everyone shakes their head, and I say, "It sounds familiar..."

   I close my eyes, trying to listen. Everyone else is completely silent, and I'm thankful that they respect me enough to do that simple task for me. All of a sudden, I recognize that what I'm hearing is someone's thoughts. But, since a person's thoughts sound just like their voice, it sounded familiar to me.

   My eyes snap open immediately when I realize who the thoughts belong to.

   "They have to be near here..."

   "Wasn't this where they were?"

   "Why are we in the forest? You're gonna burn it down!" That thought has the sound of a young girl's voice, and I smile.

   "Mark!" I cry out, and I run towards the boy who has just stepped out of the cover of the foliage.

   Tears stream down my face as I embrace my cousin, who's laughing, and I keep repeating his name over and over.

   "Mark! You're alive!" John yells joyfully, and he runs over as well. Soon Peter and Cooper have joined in on our group hug. Only Emma stands behind, watching us and observing the young girl who stands awkwardly beside Mark. Next to her is a scooter—the kind that old people ride on—and I wonder if that's how Mark got here. Then I realize, Duh, of course it is.

   The group hug disperses, and Mark stands still with a big grin on his face before saying, "I feel loved."

   I open my mouth to comment, but Emma snaps, "Where's Robin?"

   Mark's eyes grow sad, and he replies, "The agents have her. I'm sorry, Emma, she told me to go, and—"

   "That's exactly what you told her," I say, my eyes widening. "When Robin came back without you, she told us, 'He told me to go, I'm sorry...' and so on. She was repaying you in a way."

   Mark nods. "I know," he states miserably, "but I tried to get her to come. I did! But her shoulder... It was causing her too much pain, and it started bleeding again, and I'm sorry, Emma, I really did try!" His expression grows determined as he says, "But I'm going back for her, and I'll need your guys' help. Liz," he motions towards the young girl who stands next to him, "is going to help, too. She's in Washinton D.C., and we don't have much time."

   I nod, and Cooper says, "Liz, huh?" He's observing the girl closely, almost as if he's taking a slight interest in her. I narrow my eyes and take a step away from him.

   "Yeah," the girl says. She smiles and adds with a laugh, "Mark's taking me on an adventure! And you're his friends?"

   Peter nods. "Yup," he says, "and I really don't think you're fit to—"

   Peter is cut off by someones loud cry of, "Stop, Angel, no!" and a flash of white that dashes in front of him.

   Angel's all of a sudden pushing Mark to the ground. He has Mark in a chokehold, and is screaming, "I hate you! I hate you!" Mark's face begins to grow bluish-purple, and we're all too shocked to move. Then Daemon's there, prying Angel off of the coughing and shocked Mark, screaming at the boy. Angel's punching and kicking at Daemon, but it's no use. Daemon picks the boy up and simply throws him over his shoulder.

   "My apologies," Daemon says, and then he drags a screaming Angel into the cover of the trees, as if nothing had happened. Soon they're so far away I can't even hear their thoughts.

   Mark stands up with his hand on his head and asks, "What...just...happened...?"

   I shake my head and reply, "I...I don't know..."