There are seven of us. We've managed to stay hidden from the government our whole lives. The only reason we've probably managed to do that is because I'm the only one who knows of our abilities, and even then I don't even know that for sure.
I am air; I am earth and its metals. I am water; I am fire. I am the controller of plants; I am the creator of force fields and electricity.
In short, I'm Robin.
I'm the only one who is all. I'm the only me...until I die, of course. The others are only one of each.
Confused? You'll understand later.
We...the seven of us...whoever they/we may be...are the elements...and their controllers...
We shouldn't be living a normal life. But we are, because the other option is being imprisoned.
And probably also getting killed, too, while we're at it.
I'm writing this so that, if government agents break down the walls of the gym during your P.E. class, you'll know what to do.
After all, you don't want to end up at the Lab.
Trust me on that.
"Final exams," I whisper to my friend, Emma, who sits next to me on the floor of the gymnasium, "always make me so nervous. I mean look at the coach, just towering over us as she watches our every move. Judging our final grade on what we do today, right now."
"I wasn't nervous before," Emma mutters, "but now I am. So thanks a lot, Robin."
I laugh. "Sorry," I say, "but it's how I feel. It's the truth, too. It's just a lot of pressure."
Emma's green eyes look straight into my own dark brown ones. "If I fail this, I'm blaming you," she says. She pulls her blonde hair up into a ponytail and I do the same as she adds, "And if I go to Tier Two, you're definitely coming with me."
"Nah," I say, "I don't think—"
"Listen up!" Coach Ram yells, cutting me off mid-sentence. "This is your final exam! We are not doing stretches today, because you'll need all of your energy to run, run, run! I want you to do your very best! Do you hear me? Your very best! If you don't do your very best, you will not pass the final exam! Do you understand?"
"Yes, Coach," everyone says in unison.
"Good!" Coach Ram yells. "Now get out there and run, run—"
He's interrupted by a sudden, very loud crash; everyone turns to look at the giant, gaping hole in the outside wall. Nobody screams, which is a miracle. I squint my eyes and try to get a better look. When I see the government agents walking through the giant hole, I almost scream.
Crap! I think. I look around for any way to escape, but I only see the emergency exit doors, which were nearly destroyed by whatever made the hole, and the normal enter/exit doors. My only option is to exit through the normal doors; I'll go if they start coming towards me... Wait, why are they walking away?
I watch as three government men pull out their badges and show them to Coach Ram, who looks both angry and impressed. He yells at them about busting down the wall, but calms down when they say that they'll have it paid for.
"Why the heck are you here, then?" Coach Ram bellows. "You could've used the front door, or the office door, but instead you have to go busting down the gym's wall! I don't understand you people!"
"We're in a hurry," one of the men says. "We didn't have time for a background check. We're still in a hurry, so let's make this quick. I'm Agent Ralph. This," he motions to the man to his left, who has dark skin and dark brown hair, "is Agent Blake. And this," he motions to the man on his right, who had pale skin and blonde hair, "is Agent Joshua."
"That's great," the coach says sarcastically. "Now tell me this: Why the heck are you in my gymnasium on the last day of school during these kids' final exams?!"
"We need to see these kids," says Agent Joshua. He fumbles around in his coat pocket and pulls out a crumpled sheet of paper. He unfolds it and holds it out to Coach Ram, who reads it and huffs.
"Green, May, Harris, and Wedge," Coach says, "front and center."
Crap! I think, but I don't run for it. The other two kids will have to escape, too, and they'll need my help.
I stand up and watch my best friend, Emma, stand beside me. On the opposite side of the gym, Jamal and Mark stand up. All four of us begin to make our way toward the government men when I make my move.
"A-a-achoo!" I sneeze as hard as I can, and I fly ten, fifteen, twenty feet up in the air. I grin, take a deep breath, and throw my hands out toward the government men. A huge gust of air hits them and they go flying; they slam into the wall hard as I land back on my feet.
Emma's eyes are wide, and everyone in the gym has their mouth hanging open. I ignore them and say, "I'll explain later. We have to go. Now."
Emma doesn't question me; she just follows as I run out of the gym. Jamal and Mark just stand there with their mouths open, and I motion for them to follow. They hesitate, and that's all it takes for Agent Ralph to grab Mark's wrist.
Mark cries out, and Jamal turns to help his cousin, but I'm already there, pushing him and Emma out of the door with a gush of air. I turn to Agent Ralph and, with my palms toward the ground, fly ten feet in the air, plant my foot in his face, and grab Mark's arm.
Then we're out the door, breathing in clean, outdoor air.
"What the..." Jamal says, at a loss for words.
"How did you..." Mark stops talking, unsure of what to say.
"I've known you since fourth grade, and so has Jamal," Emma says. "Neither of us has ever seen you—or anyone, for that matter—do that!"
"Who knows?" I reply. "One of you may be the Air Master."
"What?" Emma asks. "We can do that, too? Cool!"
"Not cool," I say, "because we'll be hunted the rest of our lives by those government agents. They hadn't found me until now, and they found you, too, somehow. So each of you can either do air, water, fire, plants, earth and its metals, or force fields and electricity."
"Wha--?" Jamal says, clearly confused.
I sigh. "First, we have to get away from here," I tell them, "and then I'll explain everything."
"Tell us now," Jamal says, "or I'm not going anywhere!"
"There's no time!" I insist; two government men are running toward us right now—I can see them not far away. "We have to go now! Or they'll catch us!"
"Not until you explain," Jamal says, and he sits down.
I think about leaving him here, but decide not to. He's my friend, and he has the right to know. Plus, he's a stubborn kid, and he'd hold a grudge for years if I left him here.
"Fine," I say. "But stand up. We'll have to run soon if they get near." I take a deep breath and begin. "Okay, seven kids were born with special elemental abilities. There are six elements, and one kid can control each element. Except one of those seven kids can control all of those elements. That kid happens to be me. I'm supposed to teach you and the others how to use their abilities, but so far I've only mastered air."
The government men are only a few yards away. I quickly add, "The government doesn't want anyone to know about us. They think that we're dangerous, which we are, but only if we use our powers for bad. They want to take us, use us, and perhaps even kill us, so we have to go now!"
That catches everyone's attention. We all take off running, and I look around desperately for anything that I can use to fly. I see a giant picnic blanket a few feet away and yell for everyone to get on; I close my eyes and imagine air flowing under the blanket, lifting it up, and carrying us away...
"Holy..." Mark says, and I open my eyes. We're twenty feet above the ground and rising; I grin. The couple who I assume the blanket belongs to stares up at use with their mouths open. Mission accomplished.
I quickly take that back as I see Agent Ralph pull out a gun with and evil grin on his face. He pulls the trigger, but instead of a bullet, a giant, eight-fingered hand shoots out and latches onto Mark's arm.
We're thirty feet in the air now and still rising. I try to pry the fingers off of Mark's arm but they're too tight. Mark cries out as he's pulled off of the blanket. I call out and jump after him.
I reach the ground first because of my air abilities; I create a force field to keep Mark from going splat when he hits the ground. It works—I see him land safely out of the corner of my eye—and I'm glad about that.
Agent Blake glares at me and pulls out a similar gun. I create a protective force field around myself before he can pull the trigger, and when he does, the hand bounces harmlessly off of my force field. I quickly pull my hand up; an apple tree grows around the agent and he drops the gun.
I decide to leave him there.
I take the gun and throw it as far as I can, using some air currents to help it along. Then I turn on the man who has Mark, but I freeze as soon as I turn around.
"One move, and he dies," Agent Ralph hisses, pointing a real gun with real bullets against Mark's head. His finger hovers over the trigger, and my hope and joy disintegrate.
"Let him go," I beg. "I'll go with you instead. You don't even know if he can control one element, whereas I can obviously control many."
"You'll find some way to escape," Ralph hisses. "I know you will. Whereas he won't, because he doesn't know his own ability."
I glare at Ralph, and see Mark trying not to sneeze out of the corner of my eye.
The next minute happens so fast, I can barely recall the events and their order.
Mark sneezes, and Ralph, surprised drops the gun as flames shoot out of his captive's mouth.
I grab Mark's arm and yank my burned hand away.
Ralph runs over to the gun and bends down to pick it up.
I realize that I can't touch Mark without being burned, which means that I can't escape to the air with him.
I look up and can barely see our flying blanket, which is hovering roughly sixty feet above us.
Mark makes eye contact with me and commands, "Go."
I close my teary eyes and jump into the air, landing on the blanket a few seconds later and collapsing.
"Where's Mark?" Jamal asks me, his eyes full of fear. "Where's my cousin?!"
I choke back a sob and say, "I couldn't save him."
"Why?" Emma asks. "Robin, what happened down there?"
"Ralph had a gun," I explain. I can't look at Jamal's face; he and Mark were like brothers to each other. I look up at Emma instead. "He threatened to shoot Mark if I moved. Mark sneezed and fire shot out. I grabbed him, but he burned me. His arm was like an oven, Emma. I couldn't save him. He told me...he told me to go."
Jamal's sobs echo through the empty air.
"I hate you," Jamal cries. "I hate you, Robin! You as good as killed my cousin!"
I choke back sobs of my own. Mark wasn't just Jamal's cousin to me, or a kid who was in my P.E. class.
I had a crush...a huge crush...on the Fire Elementalist.
And the saddest part of this was that Jamal was right.
I had as good killed Jamal's cousin.
Mark Wedge was as good as dead.