The Elementals

~*~ Chapter Four ~*~

    ~*~ Chapter Four ~*~

     I was left wondering for the rest of the day what my encounter with the strange boy in the bathroom meant. No normal person could shift the locks like that. No normal person was that confident either. Once we were in the car that afternoon, I told my friends about the strange conversation.

     "What?!" yelled Amber, "You almost revealed us, you idiot!" Aqua placed her hand on Amber's head, leaving a wet spot and steam where it had been.

     "Thanks, Aqua." I said

     "So summarize what happened again." said Gale from the driver's seat.

     "He walked out with the blonde, asked me about the leaves, and was acting like he ruled the entire world and left." I said for about the eighth time. I was reluctant to tell them about the stall locks detail becuase I didn't want Amber to catch the truck on fair or them to all freak out and tell their parents. I didn't want to tell them until I was sure that the strange boy was really a Subbie.

     "I'll text you later." Aqua said.

     "Me too." said Gale, slapping Amber on the knee.

     "Bye, Lil." Amber said, pouting.

     I don't know how long I had been in the woods beyond the Washington Elementals' houses. The last human memory I had was dropping my backpack on the front doorstep and seeing leaves growing from my arms as I became the Elemental Earth wolf. Instead of fur, I had a fur-like coat of leaves all over. My paws were padded with tree bark and when they hit the earth, depending on my mood, either a tiny purple wildflower or jagged tree bark would sprout out. Right now, a small patch of green grass sprouted in my footsteps signaling that I had mixed emotions. My tail was as flexible as any other wolf's tail, except mine is made of tree bark and fluffed with leaves. Like the seasons, my leaves change colors and shed, but I'm never completely naked in the winter.

     Lily? I could hear Gale's voice inside my head.

     Where are you? I asked, looking deeper into the woods.

     Up. He said. I knew now to stop and look at the sky. Sure enough, there Gale was flying just above me.

     This is why I hated playing hide and seek with you when we were younger, I thought, come down here.

    
     The next thing I knew, a gray white wolf with fur wings landed on the ground in front of me. Gale stood taller than me when we were humans, and as wolves nothing was different. I had to look up just to see his neck. 

     What do you want? I thought.

     Sheesh, Dirt, are we being hostile today? He thought, barking playfully.

     Not hostile, just overwhelmed. I thought. What's the harm of telling Gale? He won't say anything if I tell him not too, I thought to myself.

     Look, I thought, today when that guy left the bathroom all of the stall locks tried to follow him.

     Like he was a magnet?

     Yeah, like the locks wanted to follow him like a lost puppy, I thought to Gale

     We stayed silent for many minutes before Gale thought:

     Lily?

     I was taken out of a daydream. Yeah?

     I think our classmate is a Metal Subbie.