Six

The Attuning

Daiyu was the only one left with the scythe wielder. "May I ask whom you will choose?"

"They have not yet been born." Daiyu's lips parted. "I have enchanted the Arzanale; they will come..." Daiyu said nothing as the grey clouds vanished. "... when they are needed."

"But you chose us, teacher."

"I have chosen many and those many have failed. I will not the Zenith perish from my bias. I forged the Arzanale with the ancient power of the old worlds. That is power not even I will ever understand. The Zenith is safer this way."

"It maybe centuries until that day comes. We - the old guardians and this time - will be long dead. What will you do until that time approaches?"

Sithandra nodded as they watched the calm waves and clear sky. "What I have always done." Daiyu nodded as she left her teacher's side for the last time. "I will watch." The beach and Sithandra vanished, replaced by flashes of battle, blood shed, death.

Raquel bolted upright, drenched in sweat with Quinn, Aria and Phoenix surrounding her. "I'm sorry," she panted. "It's that stupid dream again."

Aria's father came in with a glass of water, "I'm starting to think these aren't dreams," he stated as she took the glass from him. "You could be attuning." Phoenix rubbed her shoulders tentatively as Derek Sage sat with his back to the TV. "Think of attuning as reaching the end of elemental puberty. The equinoxes won't have as great an effect on you as it did in the passed. Now your body is trying to adjust to 'normal' functions."

"Where do dreams come in, Mr Sage," Quinn asked she retired her blonde bun.

He exhaled as he rubbed his hands on his thighs. "Well, attuning has different effects on different elements. Some of the skills that come with an element are effected because they've never been used or they're new skills you need to train. You'll all go through it. I know that some earth users get visions." Aria's eyes went wide while Quinn turned to Raquel with concern. Even level-headed Phoenix went pale. "What? Did I miss something?"

Phoenix and Raquel nodded to Aria as did Quinn. "Well, um, dad, while we were looking for the eternal flame Raquel used runic magic and according to our freshman History of Evil Charms textbook... earth elementals that use runic magic have been plagued by demonic visions."

"These aren't demonic they're just-" Raquel sighed as she looked at her trembling hand "- incoherent." Nobody said anything but they did just study the earth user. "There's this thing... a woman, I think. I don't know she carries that Grim Reaper sick thing and she has half a skull for a face."

Phoenix nodded next to her. "Sure. Not demonic at all," she stated sarcastically.

Raquel huffed but shook it off. "She's immortal and she's some sort of teacher but she's wearing a toga. I don't always remember what I see," she concluded and her audience nodded. "I do remember one thing," she stated as she turned to Aria suspiciously. "Your fans." Aria reached underneath her pillow and handed them to Raquel. "I think these were stolen from her." Mr Sage's face went downcast. "Do you know something about that, Mr S?"

Aria's awe went from Raquel to her father. "Dad?"

He shrugged dismissively with a sigh. "These have been in your mother's family for centuries. I think if anyone knows the truth it's your grandmother."

"Grandma Montgomery's alive?"

Quinn nodded thoughtfully. "Earthly air elementals do have an above average life expectancy."

"Don't you guys think we're putting the cart before the horse with this," Raquel asked tiredly as she played with the fans. "It's just a dream."

"Yeah and my mother's bedtime stories were just bedtime stories," Phoenix replied. "Dracaena's just a fantasyland."

"I just mean that nothing extraordinary happened junior year; it was just a normal school year. Freshman year we solved a two century old mystery and sophomore year we assimilated a whole new realm into the Cosmic. Don't you think we're just not accustomed to normal and we're trying not to have a normal senior year?"

Quinn exhaled ruefully with a faint nod. "Raquel's right. Even reading didn't have any excitement last year," she commented then Aria and Phoenix's disappointment made their shoulders slump. "Then again," she added thoughtfully. "Why would you be getting visions of things that don't exist? You said this teacher wore a toga and carried a scythe? She's probably from Ancient Veil. Veilian women who didn't have an element would walk around with weapons to protect themselves."

"Quinn..." Raquel pleaded.

"And you said she's immortal! We should at least go ask grandma Montgomery if she knows anything about it."

Raquel huffed, "the one time I need the pessimistic side of your realisticness..." Quinn shook her head as Raquel turned to Aria's father. "Mr Sage?"

He raised his hands in surrender. "I'm Switzerland," he stated. "Just don't get yourselves into legal trouble again, if that's what you decide."

"Let's put it to a vote," Phoenix chipped in. "All in favour of digging into this raise your hand," she along with Aria and Quinn raised their hands. "Sorry, Rocks, that's democracy." Raquel groaned as she laid back down, her words 'I hate you' being muffled by her pillow. "Where does grandma Montgomery live, Mr Sage?"

"In a retirement village not far from here," he replied. Aria's lips parted at him. "After you started grade school, she didn't want you to worry about her." He stood up with the empty glass in his hands. "We'll go when the rest of Seattle's awake."

Quinn reached for her phone, 04:28 it read. "Awesome, Lore's awake!" Phoenix groaned as she laid down. "Don't be jealous. It doesn't look good on you."

"What time is it in the Cassandra Isles," Phoenix asked.

"14:28. Be back in a few," she stated then whispered into the jumper orb before vanishing to Dracaena.

Aria shook her head ruefully as Quinn's secret from Dracaena came back to her. When Quinn told her that she let Lore take her innocence and what came after that. How Quinn went on with her life as if it were nothing. How she and Lore could just... ignore it!

The air user exhaled defeatedly before studying her fans. Her mother's initials 'R. M.' Were perfectly carved into a fold. The thought of seeing grandmother after all this time struck something inside her. 'It could stand for Regina Montgomery. That is grandma's name'. It never occurred to her because her mother's name was Rebecca Montgomery. Aria couldn't sleep after that; Raquel's occasional tremor and the sudden realization plagued her.