Catalyst

Chapter Twenty-One

The clearing was more torn up than the day before, sporting scars and uprooted mounds of dirt from their practice fights, as well as hoof marks from Elliott the zebra, but it was still the perfect place to train.

Immediately, Phoebe transformed into a dragon, jumping into the air to circle Elliott on the ground. James let her attack alone, but she knew the second she was being overwhelmed he would come to her rescue and the two would tag team the Elemental, which had proven a very successful tactic.

The trees around them groaned, the wheat stalks whipping violently against one another, even more manically than before. The whole world around them went haywire and the sound of bark being ripped from their trunks was sharp and crackling as the trees moved. The sight of them bending and folding was unnerving.

"Elliott, just fight like a normal supernatural being, okay? Enough with the 'whooshing' and the tree dancing," James laughed. He was smiling and shaking his fists, shifting his weight from side to side as if he might challenge the Elemental to a round of jolly fisticuffs.

Elliott looked around and lowered his arms, his eyes dark and serious, but his age decreasing back to his eleven-year-old self.

"That's...not me," he said in a quiet voice.

"Hello, brother mine."

The voice was deep and rich, and when Phoebe and James spun around they were looking at a tall, stunning woman. She wore a green gown made of light, filmy material that brushed the floor, emeralds glinting from her waist and the low neck-line of the dress. With brown hair in an extravagant design that perched on her head like a mighty bird, braids and gold leaves garnishing the strands, she appeared to be some kind of medieval queen.

She had both of her arms behind her back and a serene smile on her face but her stance was wide and Phoebe caught her eyes darting from them to her brother as if she were calculating the distance between all of them. James stiffened at Phoebe's side as she landed, ready for anything, and although she felt like being caught in her dragon form was a dangerous mistake to make in front of anyone, her gut warned her that this was the safer form.

"Lissa. Baby," Elliott smiled and increased his age to match her early thirties appearance. Phoebe would guess that Lissa could do the same age mojo as Elliott, so she found it odd that the female Elemental would choose to look so mature. But, she had to admit the woman did look regal. And powerful.

"Brother, you're standing in the way again."

"What? Lissa what are you talking about? And how did you get here without me sensing you? I always feel you first. I mean, I may not have scanned as thoroughly as I did before, but still."

"I've learned a couple things. Now you're not the only one who can mask what they really are."

A cold wind started blowing through the clearing and Phoebe, even in her dragon form, could feel the temperature drop. A sense of danger began prickling at her consciousness and she opened her senses, trying to figure out what was bothering her. She couldn't see the beasts and forms that the woman concealed, but Phoebe knew they were there, maybe even more volatile and horrifying than Elliott's, but there was something even more dangerous about her, if she could only figure out what it was...

As soon as she concentrated on what she was feeling, her alarm system blazed to life. Beneath her scales liquid fire raced along her neck. It was like lava being poured on her chest. Her pulse raced, heart slamming against her rib cage, screaming to RUN! RUN NOW! BAD, WRONG, RUN! She gasped with the strength of it as the panic burst through her, like it had been trying to warn her but something had stopped it until now and this was its last ditch effort. Had Lissa somehow dulled her warning system?