Elements
Chapter 16

“Mom?” I whispered, walking up to the woman on the wall. She held her head down and didn’t say a word.

“Mom, what the hell is going on?” Raven asked.

“They won’t talk.” We turned around and Willow came out. She looked horrible. Her dress was tattered, with one of the golden sleeves missing. Her hair was frizzy from the humidity of the fire, and her crown was crooked on her head.

“Do you know what’s going on here?” Carina demanded.

“You see, your parents used to live here in Mystic Meadows,” Willow said. We all gasped in unison, but she kept talking before any of us could interfere. “They lived in that very village that was burned to the ground. They wanted to live on Earth so--”

“Wait, are you saying we’re not on Earth right now?” Michael interrupted.

“That story is for another time,” Willow said. “Anyways, my parents accepted and sent the four married couples to Earth, but gave them the ability to come back here any time they would like. A few years later, we found out all of them had babies. The previous element protectors were getting old and wanted to move on with their lives, so the decision was made to, when the babies were old enough, to make them the new protectors without telling your parents.”

“Why us and not any of our siblings?” Leo questioned. I wondered the same thing. Leo and Michael both had older siblings in college.

“You four were born in the same year. They saw it as a sign, and you could grow up together as friends. That way, you could help each other out and fight together when the time came,” Willow answered, then looked at Raven. “My parents took you in and gave you your powers so you could protect these four and keep them from trouble so they wouldn’t abuse their powers. They knew how close you were to Jade, and knew you would be there for her.”

“This still doesn’t explain why our parents tried burning down Mystic Meadows,” I said.

“It’s simple. They care for you guys so much, they didn’t want you to get hurt while fighting off the bad guys. They think if they were to destroy the place the source of your powers come from, you’ll be safe from harm.”

“It’s true,” spoke Mrs. Brooks, Leo’s mom. “We just want our babies to be safe. When we saw you had to fight Toxic Shadow, it scared the life out of us. We don’t want you running toward the danger and dealing with it yourselves. We want you to just hide and stay out of the way when it happens.”

“We know this place like the back of our hand,” Mr. King said, Michael’s dad. “We thought we could pull it off. But we can now see you’re able to defend yourselves on your own.”

Carina was inflamed. “Of course we can defend ourselves! We took down Toxic Shadow, and they actually have powers. What made you think we couldn’t put out a few fires, save some people, and take down our parents, who can’t even defend themselves!”

“She’s right,” I said. I was somewhat calm, considering the amount of rage building up inside of me. “We can deal with ourselves. If you haven’t seen all over the news, we’re fine on our own, and we don’t need to run and hide when we can actually do something about it.”

“I’m going to send all of you back home now. Jade, set them free,” Willow said.

I didn’t want to. After what they just put us through, it was enough to make me puke.

“No,” I simply said. Leo gave me a look, and Carina and Michael exchanged glances.

“Excuse me?” Willow said.

“I said no. This is unacceptable. I don’t want to live with these types of people. For all we know, they’ll just try again to get rid of our powers.”

“I agree. Let’s get out of here you guys,” Raven said, handing me and Leo a teleportation stone. “I’ll be back for you two in a second,” he said to Carina and Michael.

“Jade, honey. What about us?” my mom said.

“I’m sorry mom. I can’t do this right now. Or ever.” I turned to Raven. “Let’s go.”

The last I saw of Mystic Meadows was the worried faces of all eight parents, as well as Willow’s.

Raven teleported me and Leo to the birch tree. He left, then returned two seconds later with Carina and Michael.

“What are we going to do?” asked Leo. “We’re runaways now. They’ll probably send the police after us as soon as they get out.”

“Besides, can’t Willow just bring us back to Mystic Meadows whenever she feels like it?” I realized.

“She can only do that with my help. Every time she teleported you there, we did it together,” Raven explained. “Anyways, we need a plan. Leo’s right. We are runaways. So, where do we go?”

We all stood in silence, thinking about what our next move should be. My mind was blank.

Finally, Leo spoke up. “We need to gather up all our money to survive. We live in Los Angeles. Everything here is too expensive for five kids to afford. We’ll have to take a car and drive somewhere else.”

We discussed what we wanted to do. We decided the plan was to have Raven teleport each of us home to quickly put together a bag of clothes and snacks. We would take our debit cards and whatever money we had laying around.

The plan was set in motion. We went to my house last because we were going to take Raven’s car. Both of us got inside, careful to be quiet in case anyone was home. When we found out the house was empty, we grabbed everything we needed. Raven got his car keys, and we went back outside.

“You guys ready to go?” asked Raven.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Behind us were my parents. My mother stepped forward. “You can’t leave us. It’s not legal.”

“And burning down trees is?” Carina said.

“The police will be here any minute. They’ll stop you from running away,” my dad said.

I heard the faint sound of sirens. They were getting close. I did what my first instinct told me to do. Raven and I exchanged glances, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was.

“Get in!” Raven shouted. Carina, Michael, and Leo piled in the back, and I hoped in the passenger’s seat. Raven pulled out of the driveway and drove quickly.

“Get them!” I heard my mom say, probably to the police.

The police speakers blared, “Step out of the car now.” They were gaining on us.

“Step on it!” Carina shrieked. Raven stomped harder on the gas pedal and I saw the speed dial at 90, but it wasn’t stopping there. We got onto the freeway, but of course, there was LA traffic. We were trapped, and more police cars were coming around us.

“We have you surrounded. Step out of the car,” crackled the voice.

I was about to open the door, but I noticed the ground was becoming further away. We were floating over the traffic! I looked behind me and Carina was deeply concentrating, her face scrunched from all the strength it was taking from her.

“Yeah! Way to go Carina!” Raven said.

“Put on your outfits just in case they open fire,” Leo said.

We all pushed the button on our watches. Leo did it for Carina, not wanting to disturb her.

I thought we got away from the police when I heard a loud engine above us.

“Guys, they have a helicopter after us!” Michael yelled. I rolled down the window and saw a log at the side of the road. I picked it up and flung it at the chopper. It spun around like a top you would get at an arcade in the air.

I wasn’t intending on anyone getting hurt, so I took a chunk out of the ground and caught the helicopter, putting them safely back on the ground. I got another piece out of the grassy field and blocked the police cars.

“I think we should land. They’re stopped for now, but we need somewhere to hide out,” I said.

“Good idea. I’ll bring us back down now,” Carina said in a strained voice. She landed the car on the side of the highway in the dead grassy fields behind a knoll. It wasn’t the smoothest landing. It was almost as if she dropped the car.

Oof was what came out of all of our mouths.

“Great job Carina,” Michael said, annoyed.

“Sorry guys,” Carina breathed. She was slumped in the car seat. She looked like she didn’t have any bones.

We all stepped out of the car onto the dry dirt.

“What now?” I wondered.

“We’ll have to find a way to fend for ourselves,” Leo said. “We can’t use this car anymore.”

Raven opened his mouth to protest, but Michael spoke before he got a chance to.

“He’s right,” he said. “First of all, it’s ruined.” He glanced at Carina. “And secondly, the police will be looking for this car. We’ll have to abandon it here.” Raven looked upset we had to leave his car, and I felt a little sorry for him, but it was only for the best.

Raven began arguing and saying how we didn’t have to leave the car, while Michael and Leo tried talking some sense into him. Carina was sitting up against the car, annoyed and impatient, occasionally chiming in. I rolled my eyes, but as I looked up, I noticed the stars. I walked over to a small nearby hill and sat down, ignoring the arguing, ignoring the sirens, ignoring the sound of the cars on the highway.

I realized the arguing had stopped and Leo came and sat down beside me, putting his arm around me.

“The stars are beautiful,” I said in awe.

“The only star that’s beautiful is you,” he said. I looked over and closed my eyes, leaning in for a kiss, only to be disturbed by the others.

Carina sat in front of me where the knoll sloped down and rested her head on my feet. Michael did the same in front of Leo, and Raven sat next to me.

There we sat, five runaway teenagers with powers up on a hill, watching the stars shine in the sky. It may have seemed odd to some, but to me, it was the most perfect thing that’s happened in a while.

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