Chapter 25

     Walking back towards the couch, I keep my face blank. I know they are all expecting me to freak out and demand to know what is going on, but we don’t really have time for that. The sun is inching closer to the horizon, and pretty soon it will be gone. If I am going to do anything about the stupid prophecy then I need to get rid of the bracelet.

     “What’s the plan,” I ask with a calm voice. Now is the time to be Ivy the leader not Ivy the whiney teenage girl.

     Aaron scratches the back of his head. “I think you should stay here and watch the little things and the rest of us can go.”

     I just glare at him while Chris speaks up. “I agree.”

     My glare turns towards him and he flinches back in his seat. “How about I go?” I ask them sarcastically. If they thought that they were going without me, they had another thing coming.

     “Someone needs to stay with the boys though. I don’t think it would be smart to leave them by themselves. What if one of them get kidnapped? The Guild can just use it as leverage,” Cynthia throws out. Knowing that she is right we all nod our heads.

     “I think Wyatt should stay,” I state.

     It is my turn to be on the receiving end of a glare. “And why should I be the one to stay?”

     “What are you going to do when we get there? Wait until we knock them out so you can scare them to death?”

     Aaron chuckles and sends me an approving look. “I agree with Ivy. We can use Cynthia if someone gets hurt, and the rest of us have offensive powers. It’s the most logical thing to do.”

     Wyatt stands from his chair in a rush causing it to fly backwards and hit the ground with a loud thud. “Do you really think that I am going to let Cynthia go by herself? She could get hurt; there is no way she is going!”

     Cynthia just looks down at her nails as if she is expecting every word that is coming out of Wyatt’s mouth. “Sweetie, just sit down. Plus, you know they are right, and do you really think that Ivy would let anything happen to me?”

     “No, but you’re still not going,” he huffs as he unconsciously picks up his chair and sits back down. I giggle at how whipped he is causing everyone’s eyes to turn to me.

     Clearing my throat, I say, “Okay, that’s the plan then. Wyatt, Clay, Chris, Aaron, and I will all go. Cynthia stays here with the twins and Eli. How’s that sound?”

     “Sounds good,” Wyatt says in triumph.

     “Yeah, whatever. We need to get ready it’s almost dark out and it’s about a thirty minute drive,” Clay says making us realize that none of us actually knew were we are going. He took in our expressions and began to elaborate, “They told me things, like where the base is seeing as they thought I was on their side.”

     That is the end of the conversation as we all head into different directions to get ready. Ten minutes later, all five of us are standing in the foyer with solemn expressions. We knew this would be harder than anything we have done so far. Breaking into my mother’s base is something that I never really planned on doing, but we need to get Blayze for more reasons than just the stupid bracelet.

     Making our way towards the car, I reach into myself. I already accepted my fire, but now it is time for It to accept me. Finally, as I sit in the seat of the vehicle, I can feel my fire rise in my head. I picture it dancing in the wind while it grows larger. I know that it isn’t out of my head, I just need to talk to it not catch the whole SUV on fire.

     ‘What?’ It growls sounding like it just woke up from a nap.

     ‘I need you tonight. I need your guidance, and I need you to accept me for who I am. My flaws and all. I don’t want to have to push you into the back of my head tonight. I want you there with me.’

     It cackles in my head, ‘I’m always there for you, Ivy. I accept you, sweetie. Don’t worry, I got your back. I’m just not having the mind boy’s back.’

     I felt It retreating and decide to lean my head back on my seat. Trying to ignore the palpable tension in the air, I shift in my seat. The car ride seemed to take forever, when in reality it was only a half an hour long drive.

     The SUV stops and I bounce in my seat with impatience as Aaron opens the door an inch at a time. He turns and flashes me a smile before opening it faster and hopping out. Holding his hand out, he snags mine pulling me out. I smile at him while my heart flutters. I’ve never felt like this with Chris.

     I pinch myself bringing me back to the problem at hand. The sight before me makes me clench my jaw to keep the laughter in. Seriously, a mental hospital? Their base is an abandoned mental hospital? I hear laughter from my left and know that Aaron isn’t successful at keeping his own laughter in.

     We all sober fast though, when we finally remember the exact reason that we are here. I stare at the tall brick wall that surrounds the entire compound. How are we supposed to get over that? I look to Wyatt for answers and he looks at Aaron. They seem to have a silent conversation before Aaron finally nods his head.

     He closes his eyes in concentration while I keep mine planted on him wondering what is going on. I feel a slight shift in the air, and I begin to rise off the ground. Freaking out, I flail my hands out, but they are suddenly pinned to my body. I look at the culprit who is holding my arms and Clay smiles at me. “It’s like Casper.”

     I shake my head at him in exasperation. Pretty soon, we are all floating in the air. As we get closer to the edge of the wall, our feet land on the top. I glance down and gulp.

     Turning towards Aaron, I look into his now open eyes and ask, “Why couldn’t you float us down?”

     “It takes to much concentration. We’re going to have to-” A rumbling sound interrupts what he is about to say and we both notice the stairs that now lead from the top of the wall to the ground.

     To be exact the stairs made out of earth. Clay’s face is glowing and he is staring at the steps as if he is in love. He walks down them as if he owns them and doesn’t even stop to look back at our once again shocked expressions. It seems like this boy had a lot of cards up his sleeve.

     We scramble after him, not wanting to be left behind. The building actually doesn’t look anything like a mental hospital once we get closer. The old yellow bricks turn into menacing black steel looking building. Everything seems to be coated in metal. Large double doors sit at the end of one long building while the others have only one door.

     “I know where to go,” Aaron says while walking towards the only building with double doors. Shrugging my shoulders, I follow him somehow knowing that he is telling the truth.

     The two doors slam open with the force of air, as we all run inside as fast as we can. As expected, men stand in the hall and give us brief glances before running towards us. Chris lifts his hand to his head, and the guys drop down in pain. Wyatt smirks before stepping towards each on and lightly tapping them on the shoulder.

     Their screams of pain quickly turn into shrieks of pure terror. Chris lower’s his hand, and the men still make cries full with fright. Walking past the men on the ground, I can’t help but want to end their suffering. Instead, I turn my backs to them and walk further down the hall.

     Various doors line the left and right sides of the hall. Aaron passes them all up before stopping abruptly. “We need to split up if you want to get Diana too. Ivy and Clay go get the water girl. The rest of us will go after Diana.”

     I open my mouth to protest, but they are already gone. I look towards Clay and he smiles before taking off. I run behind him trying to keep up. The fact is that he seemed to be trained to run while I have never ran from anything that wasn’t chasing me. Pretty soon, his orange shirt is impossible to see anymore.

     Stopping, I put my hands on my knees and take deep breaths hoping to calm my frantic heart. Before I even knew what is going on, my body is being thrown into the wall. I try to stand and slip in a puddle of water. Where did the water come from?

     I finally gain my balance and glance down at myself. The clothes that were once dry are now dripping water. My hair is plastered to my forehead and my shoes squeaked as I made my way towards the girl who blasted me with water.

     She sends me an evil smirk before raising her hand and emitting more water from her palm. I smile. ‘Two can play that game,’ I think as I raise my own arm. Fire shoots out my palm and makes contact with her stream of water. Steam sizzled were the two meet.

     Grunting, she braces herself against the wall behind her. Her other arm twitches and I am ready for her this time. Throwing up my other hand I stop her attack from coming near me. We stand there on equal ground. I know neither one of us were stopping until we passed out from exhaustion.

     “Oh, you’re the fire girl Diana talks about so much. I really don’t see why she thinks you’re such a big threat. I mean look at you. You look like a pathetic drowned cat.”

     Her words don’t bother me seeing as they were nothing new. “I’m guessing you’re Blayze? For some reason I expected you to look a little fiercer.”

     She cocks her head to the side before slightly smiling. “You’re right. My name does give off certain fierceness. Unlike the name Ivy. Who named you that anyway? Maybe it was your poor pathetic dead father.”

     This time her words begin to grate on my nerves, and her smug smile let me know that she knew the affect of them. She continues to talk while I clench my teeth in frustration. “Hmm, now where is that little boy of yours? I think his name was Eli? He was fun to torture; I liked watching as they told him that you were never coming to get him. That-”

     Her words are cut off by the blue fire that now boiled any water she is planning on using against me. My whole body catches aflame causing my once wet clothes to instantly dry. The fire is getting closer to her body and I can see the fear in her eyes. I love the fear in her eyes. It makes me feel powerful, allows me to show her she isn’t as invincible as she seems to think.

     The flames flicker by her nose causing her to turn her head to the side. Closing her eyes, she lets out a small whimper before dropping her hands in defeat. I contemplate whether or not I should let the flames consume her. My decision is made as soon as I hear the words. “Water you doing? Get it water and she controls water?”

     I drop my hands and the flames snuff out. Looking over at Clay with disbelief, he just starts chuckling to himself as if everything he walked up on isn’t happening. Blayze looks at me with slight fear before glancing at Clay. Her eyes widen and a brilliant smile crosses her face. Her laugh is musical as she lets it escape her throat. Clay quits laughing to look at her. His eyes seem to dilate as he gazes at her the same way he was at his earth made stairs earlier.

     “I’m Clay. The earth to your water, babe,” he says while walking towards her in a horrible swagger.

     She giggles holding her hand out for him to shake. “Blayze. You’re hilarious.”

     He grabs her hand and pulls her towards him. He smiles down at her before engulfing her into a giant hug. I clear my throat. “Yay! You just met, but there are some people we need to grab and get out.”

     They look at me like children who were caught stealing and follow behind me clutching each other’s hands. I let out a sigh. Why can’t my love life be that easy? We reach the end of the hall, and I push open the doors to see what is on the other side. Even though I shouldn’t be surprised, I am.

     A small tornado on my left is sweeping up men in suits, while others are one the ground withering in pain. Wyatt seems to be just standing there looking bored while the other two are totally concentrating on the task before them. Bullets are flying in each direction, seeming to be aimed at nothing.

     Confusion sparks in my head, why aren’t these men using their powers on us? Why aren’t they doing something besides shooting worthless bullets at us? Their faces hold the same terror as Blayze’s did earlier. That is when it all makes sense. Diana is just using this as a decoy while she does the real work at a different base.

     How could I be stupid enough to actually believe that she would give the location to someone who could be easily swayed to the other side? Whatever she is doing isn’t good. Whatever it is, it means that we need to leave this place now before something bad happens.

     I run towards the three guys. Grabbing Aaron’s shirt sleeve, I hop up to talk into his ear. “It’s a trap. We need to get out of here now.”

     He looks at me with confusion, but after a while nods his head while signaling to the others to follow him. We all take off towards the wall where the stairs are. Running up them, the ground begins to shake under our feet. I glance at Clay and can tell by his face that the rumble is not his doing. Finally, we make it to the top. I motion for Clay to build steps down. He closes his eyes to concentrate just as a large blast sounds. The compound behind us explodes, and the force behind it causes us all to go tumbling off of the ten story high wall.

     My eyes close and I hold by breath waiting for the impact. I keep them closed and my face scrunched up, but the laughter around me causes them to open. Everyone is standing in a circle around me while I am floating in the air about six inches from the ground.

     “Can you let me down?” I huff at Aaron.

     He shrugs his shoulders saying, “You asked for it.”

     After those words, my face smashes into the cold ground. I stand up brushing off the dirt. Trying to obtain my dignity, I glare at them. “I think it’s time to get back and make sure that Cynthia and the boys are okay. It’s not ‘make fun of Ivy’ time.”

     “Oh, can we do that later?” Clay asks with genuine anticipation.

     “No, you dork. Everyone in the car. We really need to head back,” says Wyatt.

     They all snap to attention and pile into the SUV. How come they all listen to Wyatt? I cross my arms over my chest and pout on the ride home. Now, we have all four of the elementals together. The only things left to do are: take the darkness away, finish the stupid prophecy, and end the war. Where is an easy button when you need one?