I leaned down and kissed him. “I’ll make sure we can chat.”
He peeled away from me and waited for the twins to say their goodbyes.
As I strolled toward the president’s office with my pitiful belongings packed up in a small bag on my shoulder, I thought, at least I had one weekend with three people I liked before I lost it all. If my past was any indication, I could see the end of those friendships, even as they were just beginning.
Chapter twenty
Kaden
Iwalkedintoanargument between Dr. Fagan and Dr. Aynesworth and heard that Dr. Aynesworth wanted Dr. Fagan to take the guards. He refused just as I walked in.
Dr. Aynesworth looked at Dr. Fagan as if he wanted to argue more, but even I could tell by Dr. Fagan’s face, Dr. Aynesworth wasn’t going to win.
I followed the little man down the corridor and into a small airship, not much bigger than a car. The vehicle was so small I wondered if I was going to fit. From the look of the vehicle, it was custom-made for the smaller man.
As soon as I was belted in, the airship rushed straight into the air. My stomach did several flips and flops, and I was concerned I would puke. A second later, Dr. Fagan flipped the car into straight-down mode, laughing hysterically.
“God, man, you’re gonna kill us!” I yelled.
Just before we crashed nose-first into the mountain, Dr. Fagan leveled out and headed cross-country toward wherever we were going.
“You contain yourself well. I almost thought you’d blow us to smithereens when I caused you to freak out. That’s good and shows you have some level of self-control.”
“You were testing me?” I asked, confused, and still trying not to puke.
“Oh yes, this first week’s tests will be to determine how far you go before you explode.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll incinerate you?” I asked. When I looked over, Dr. Fagan was gone, and in his place was water in a Fagan-shaped form.
He reverted to his human form and smiled. “Do you know what would happen if you incinerated me?” he asked.
I stared at him in shock, not responding. “I’d simply turn to steam, then reform back into my body. I’m an Elemental and an old one, so your go-to power isn’t going to destroy me, son. But it does sting to be turned to steam, so I’d prefer you to let me know when you’re reaching your limits. If you can.”
Dr. Fagan chuckled and turned his airship south, pushed the accelerator, and within five minutes, he began to slow down and descend to a forest below us.
Dr. Fagan had said we were going to his cabin, but there was no cabin to be seen. I figured maybe this was another test, so I began preparing myself for whatever was coming my way.
The airship stopped and hovered for several moments before an image of a very large log cabin began to waver into view. “Wow, how did you get that to cloak itself?” I asked, totally in awe.
He smiled at me. “As I told you, I’m an Elemental. I control how water operates on this Earth. I can cloak anything if I have access to water. Ice is a very useful form of water too, don’t you think?” he asked as I noticed for the first time the wavering was actually ice turning to liquid.
“You’ll learn how to do it too, and much more since you control more than one element. For now, my job is to teach you to control your incredibly powerful abilities, then the teachers at the school will teach you the rest.”
I nodded as he maneuvered the airship through a wall of water. The top of one of the outbuildings opened up, and we descended into the building. I’d never imagined anything like this.
I knew I didn’t have much to base my perceptions on, since I’d grown up in one crappy foster home after another; but wealth on this level was mindboggling.
“Do you live here alone?” I asked.
Dr. Fagan looked at me and smiled. “Heavens no, son, this is a colony of Elementals who control water. This high up in the mountains, we are known as the ice people. But don’t worry, the training facilities have been put aside for your use only while we prepare you to live at the school.”
I got out of the tiny airship and followed Dr. Fagan through the door of the building and out into the mind-numbing cold. The professors kept the school grounds warm, but here, not so much. I wished I had a coat. The coat I wore in the group home in Arizona was just a thin jacket. I hadn’t needed much more at school, and even over the weekend, when we’d gone down to Denver, it wasn’t so cold that I needed a thick coat.
Kyle had let me borrow one of his when we were skiing. I wished I’d known where I was going; I’d have borrowed it again.
I followed the old man into another building. When we entered the main hall, he showed me a map of the community. “This is where all the houses are. You can’t see them, as they’re all shrouded behind the ice as mine was when we arrived, but they are here.”
He looked at me then, and said, “You’ll be safe here. No one in their right mind would ever attack a colony of Elementals.”
