The Power of Four

Chapter 11 - Aspen

My first thought was, Well, that was abrupt. Ash was still standing, staring at the place where Queen Ember had been a few seconds before, her shoulders tense. After a long moment, I got up and walked over to Ash.

"So... did she just..." I trailed off when Ash didn't turn around.

"Die?" Ash finished for me, her voice laced with uncertainty.

"I... I don't know. Can you... do something to make her reappear again?" I asked, peering into the embers. The coals smoldered against each other, melding together like miniature versions of lava.

"No! She made the recording, and cut it off!" Ash exclaimed.

"Ash, Queen Ember said that we need all the elementals, so that means we have to go and find Raine. Again, I might add." I kept the last part to myself, but Ash must have heard me. She bristled, her fists clenching and eyes narrowing. "Sure, sure. But I think we have more pressing matters right now, Aspen."

"Why don't you finish your trial and I will look for Raine? Personally, I think that she will be more comfortable with me, not someone who just yelled at her. Ahem, Ash." I put some emphasis on Ash's name and she grumbled something under her breath.

"Do I need to spell it out for you, Aspen? My trial could potentially blow up the area around the volcano, so you know, don't want to stick with the one person who could prevent it? Unless you'd like to be scorched to death, then by all means, go ahead and be an idiot." Ash rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

I felt like causing another earthquake and I pulled on the core of the earth, and the ground rumbled. "I would rather stick with someone who has manners and can't stop the volcano rather than someone who doesn't have manners and can stop the volcano." The earth quaked and I pressed down on my anger, but I still kept on a stony face.

"So you think that shaking a few rocks will freak me out enough to say''Fine"? And you think that blaming me for having "no manners" when I have LITERALLY SPENT THE LAST FIVE YEARS BY MYSELF BECAUSE OF SOMETHING I COULDN'T CONTROL!" Ash uncrossed her arms and I felt the rumbling stop. Instead, the volcano was beginning to quake. Not like an earthquake, but like the volcano was about to blow. "Well if you don't care about stopping the volcano from erupting and setting the world on fire, then fine! But I'm going to stop it, and if I don't, at least I had the decency to try! Go on then, go and make fun of someone else who lost her parents years ago and has barely made up for it over several years! GO!" Ash stormed out of the room, and a mere moment later, I could feel the volcano trembling, as if something was holding it back.

"Oh, I'll try." I whispered, and then I turned to go after our fish.

-♦-∞-♦-

"Raine!" I screamed into the trees, ignoring the thoughts about how pleasant it felt to cause an earthquake. But at least I was dignified enough to hold in my temper. Where had our fish gone? She couldn't have gone that far... Suddenly, I remembered that Elm hadn't been standing by the edge of the volcano. Had Raine... stolen Elm?

"Raine! Water elemental! Water girl! MERMAID!" I shrieked and the forest echoed back with my voice, mocking me, telling me that I'm not trying.

"SHUT UP!" I yelled to no one in particular and suddenly, golden antlers shot up from a bush. I scrambled back to find Elm's huge form rising like a huge raven. He regarded me with wary golden eyes and I patted his neck. It didn't reassure him. His eyes darted across the clearing, probably looking for Ash. Sorry, dude, but she's a bit tied up right now. I thought and a voice drifted to my ears. Softly.

"Aspen? Is that you?" I had never been more relieved. I burst through the bushes to find Raine sitting on the edge of the riverbank, her eyes puffy from crying.