(The New) Power of the 8 Elements: Part One

Chapter Forty One: Busted

"It is better to tell the truth and face the punishment, than to lie and suffer the consequences." - Anthony Liccione
PRESENT DAY
PHOENIX

As soon as we arrive outside Celeste's house, we see several cars parked outside. I immediately recognize that one of them belongs to Dad and another belongs to Amaya's mom.

"Hopefully, your mother just buys a lot of cars as a hobby?" Terri says, trying to bring up everyone's hopes.

"Nope," Celeste says.

"F*ck, my mother's here! She's going to kill me!" Lucifer screams.

"The greatest thing she could do is take your phone away," Bones says.

"No, she's going to kill me! She can't see me!"

Having never seen Lucifer scared like this, we look at each other, hoping one of us has a solution.

"We can't keep lying," I say. "I'm telling them tonight. Everything."

"Everything?" Glamour says.

"Everything. The team, Xan, the Arcane Order-"

"-they're not going to believe us," Terri says.

"We have evidence." I show them my bow, and I expect the rest of the team to take out their weapons. "I don't want to live my life a lie. I don't want them to keep thinking that we're meeting over here just to goof around and be stupid teenagers."

"What are they going to think?" Bones says.

"They might be angry, but at least, we're not home late because we went out to go buy drugs and commit arson or something like that."

"Terry has a point," Ferdinand says.

"I feel like we should take the risk. Don't let your parents think that it was your idea. I'll do all the talking. I was the one who made you do this, so I'm willing to take the blame from everyone."

I open the door and walk inside first while everyone follows nervously. As I suspected, all of our parents were sitting in the living room. I immediately recognized Lucifer's parents. They're tall, aloof, and dressed in dark grays and purples. The mother stands near her daughter who looks just as uptight at them.

As soon as the parents see us, they come running towards their children and are kissing and hugging them—all except for Lucifer's mother who looks terribly angry and like she wants to hit him. Once greetings are out of the way, the questions are asked.

"Where were you?"

"What were you doing?"

"Why didn't you call us?"

"What are you doing with him?"

"What are you doing with her?"

"Was your phone even on?"

"What happened to you all?"

"Uh...about that..." I say.

We all look pretty beat up. Most of us have scrapes, bruises, small cuts, and other minor injuries, but our parents were taking these too seriously.

"What do you mean about that, Terry?" Mom asks.

I know she is less concerned and more angry. All of the parents are confused now. I have the team stand behind as I break the news. I nod at Amaya, and one by one each of them begin pulling out their weapons.

"Where the h*ll did you get those?" Celeste's mother says, out of breath.

"We got them from our friend, Xan," I say. "He's a magical wolf, and he's been teaching us to hone our abilities even better than our school. We're ahead of most of our classmates, and when we're around him and each other, we can really be ourselves. Lately, I regret not telling you, but I've started a group called The Elementals." I feel proud of myself for coming up with the team name right on the spot in front of all the staring and glaring parents.