Eleos (Book two in The Empaths series)

Chapter Two

"They blew up," Lucy finished.

"Yes. Exactly," Scarlett said, her expression dark. "By the Goddess," she sighed, "we thought we'd lost you all." She stopped walking, taking Lucy's hand.

"What was it, Scarlett? What was the final seal?" Lucy stared into Scarlett's sad eyes.

"The fifth element," Scarlett replied simply. "Spirit."

"Spirit?" Lucy repeated, confused.

"It's not an element that we call upon often, because it takes quite a lot of strength to control it. We didn't think of it at the time, obviously, but thinking about it now, it makes sense why our parents used it to seal the gates. It would have taken something very powerful to withstand the explosion that happened here." She stopped and rubbed her forehead. "Spirit, combined with the other four elements is the most powerful form of magic we can wield, and our parents would have been desperate. With enough of them together, they were able to call upon spirit to become the final seal in the gates. Something that was guaranteed to keep them locked, forever."

"So then, how..." Lucy began, but she did not finish her sentence because Scarlett's expression changed to something so bright that it shocked her.

"Because you and your friends are stronger than anything any of us has ever seen before." Scarlett raised her eyebrows at Lucy. "We've been trying to tell you all for some time. Maybe now, you'll believe us." She smiled at Lucy and reached over to pull her into a hug. "You have no idea how proud I am of you and your brother," she finished with a whisper.

Lucy didn't say anything for a moment. She was thinking about the moment they tried to break the spirit seal and how strong it had been. Then she thought about seeing her friends, scattered on the grass after the explosion.

"We were lucky it didn't kill us, weren't we?" Lucy asked with a tinge of guilt.

Scarlett stepped back and put her hands on either side of Lucy's face. "Don't you dare feel guilty, Lucy. There was no way any of us could have known it was there until it was too late. We should have taught you more. If anything, it's our fault for not training you better."

Lucy took Scarlett's hands in hers. "If I'm not allowed to feel guilty, then neither are you. If there was no way anyone could have known it was there, then there's no reason you would have needed to teach us."

Scarlett stared at Lucy for a moment, guilt and sadness rolling off her, before she finally settled and a smile pulled at the side of her mouth. "You're too smart for your own good sometimes, you know that."

Lucy laughed. "Come on, let's catch up to the others." She took Scarlett's hand and they walked across the meadow toward the forest.

"You know what else I realised just now?" Lucy said as they walked toward the forest.

"What's that?" Scarlett replied.

"The surprise that Mom and Dad were talking about, on my birthday, the one they said was just for you."

Scarlett looked across at Lucy, confused. "Yes?" she questioned.

"It had to be Luke," Lucy said with a grin. "They must have known he was alive."

Scarlett's eyebrows pinched together for a moment before her face lit up with laughter. "Oh my! I think you're right," she said, still laughing.

Lucy threw her arm around Scarlett's shoulders, giggling as they walked into the forest.

Lucy could just hear the sound of laughter as they made their way through the trees. The girls had stopped by the side of the river to watch several stunningly graceful white swans – the size of small boats – floating along on the water.