Here is a preview of the second volume

of The Elementals Trilogy

THE COUNCIL

Sara was dancing on the familiar surface of the lake, surrounded by crystals. Ripples danced through the clear water as she twirled upon its surface. She delighted in the cool lightness beneath her feet as the water wavered there like silk in the breeze.

This moment was long forgotten. Sara stopped as she felt a hand upon her shoulder. Arms hugged her and blond hair brushed softly against her cheek.

“I missed you,” she whispered.

His arms loosened their grasp, and the scene began to fade. Sara was being pulled from the dream. Two voices sounded in her head as her mind was ripped away.

The first was Talon’s: “Your story is not over.”

And the second… “You’re not alone.”

Sara woke abruptly. She tried to close her eyes and go back to that place, but her body was refreshed and sleep would not come back to her.

She pushed her light brown hair from her face. Her brows were straight and thin like her mother’s. Her skin was ivory white, lips thin and permanently upturned, cheekbones high, face rounded at the chin, making her jawline soft.

She gently combed through her hair with her fingers, and then got out of bed.

She went to the window. The sun was peeking over the mountains, and the training field was deserted. The apprentices would have their breakfast and then meet their trainers on the field. Though now, there were fewer apprentices then there were three years ago.

It was the fault of Morica Council. Talon had mentioned the Council once before. They had gone into hiding when Hephaestus had gained power. They had hurt many Elementals, including Sara’s mother. Now, they were blaming Elementals for the imbalances of nature, the thirst for power, and the destruction.

Parents were afraid to send their children to Element for fear that the Council meant to do something more than political containment. Many trainers had left as well to join the Resistance, hoping to get into the graces of the Council.

The Resistance was now the Council’s military strong arm. Both claimed to be devoted to the protection of Mirmina and its people. Most of their influence remained in Lumina, but the Council was rapidly spreading its ideals to the out-lying regions.

Sara looked across the field to the lake. For three years, no one had danced there. The water was still, sleeping. Not even the branches of the low-hanging tree disturbed its surface.

Now that Brina was gone, Sara took on her duties: making sure Element was well-maintained, keeping the schedule, and waiting, waiting for someone like Talon to disturb her waters.

Sara was in Brina’s library when a knock sounded on the heavy oak door of Element.

She went into the entrance hall, and opened the door. Standing outside was a girl with canary yellow hair settled atop her head like a bird’s nest. Her eyes were large in contrast to her small nose and mouth. Her skin was tanned from outdoor adventures.

A little green bird was perched upon her shoulder. Her small black eyes were surrounded by bright green feathers going down to her blue and green tail feathers. Gray feathers decorated her belly and the crown of her head. The bird chirped when Sara opened the door.

“Farah!”

Farah grinned broadly.

Sara led her into Brina’s library where they sat down on large armchairs.

Farah sank deep into the armchair with plenty of room on either side of her. Her arms were atop the arms of the chair like they were floating on water.

“Ah, comfort,” said Farah. “You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve had to sit on in the last few weeks.”

Farah’s boots were well-worn. The leather was beaten and wrinkled with a permanent dust coat.

“Have you been traveling? I thought you were still in Breeze.”

“I couldn’t stay in that steel prison for another minute. For the past few months, all my dad wants to do is talk about politics and how we all should get on Morica’s good side. From what I’ve heard, those no good cowards ran at the first sight of danger.”

“How is your father doing otherwise?”

“He’s been off on business. Wouldn’t say what kind. So at the first sight of a clear opening Thatch, Shift, and I just took off.”

“Shift went with you?” Sara remembered how unwilling Shift had been to disobey his father.

“Shift’s not so bad. He just needs the right kind of guidance. Besides, Dad made him really mad when he told someone else to manage the city while he is away. After all, it is Shift’s birthright.”

“Why would Tag do that?”

“Shift hasn’t been right since the battle in Omega Ray. He’s having trouble calling Wind.”

“Oh.” Sara could sympathize. Since Fero’s destruction of the Water Sphere, she had not been able to call Water.

“I have so much to tell you, but first, do you want to say hi to the guys?”

“Sure. Where are they?”

“Well, Thatch couldn’t land in the city.”

“Land? You mean the dome?” Sara recalled the large metal contraption that rested on the back of Thermal.

“Not exactly. Thatch’s new toy is much bigger than the dome.”

Sara followed Farah through the streets of Elementa. As they passed the crowded market square, no Elementals were performing in the streets or outside the alleyways. They followed the trail up to the mountains. Beyond the cliff on the beach was Thermal, his long claws digging into the sand and his wings tucked back. Thermal raised up his ashy gray beak and cawed. Attached to his back was a harness and trailing behind him was a wagon-like structure four times as large as the dome.

The structure had wheels like a giant carriage. Where the driver would sit and hold the reins there was a glass covering that tilted downwards.

“What is it?” asked Sara.

“Thatch calls it our Flying Chariot,” answered Farah.

As they approached, the hatch door opened and a ramp unfolded.

Sara looked up in amazement.

“Don’t worry,” said Farah. “It’s completely safe. A lot safer than the dome.”

That wasn’t saying much, Sara thought.

She led Sara up the ramp and into the carriage.

Inside the large structure was various metal contraptions spinning on axels and gears moving in circles.

“This is just the engine room,” said Farah. “Just wait until you see the rest.”

They walked to the elevator in the center of the structure, which brought them to the upper floor.

“Thatch worked really hard to get this thing together. He’s been working on it for years, gathering materials from the ruined streets in Breeze.”

The elevator doors slid open to reveal the control room. Machines lined the walls leading up to stairs which led to the cockpit. There were three seats facing the big glass panels overlooking Thermal’s head. At one seat was a blue monitor streaming with little white words falling down steadily across its face. In front of the middle seat was a wheel to navigate the structure. The right side of the room was lined with pipes and numerous wires. To the left, the wall was lined with several monitors clustered together with a seat in front of them.

The floors were lined with sheets of metal as were the walls and the ceiling, which curved upward like inside the dome.

“Hey,” greeted Thatch from his seat at the blue monitor. “It’s been a long time.”

Shift spun around in his seat at the wheel.

“What do you think?” asked Thatch.

“I’m surprised,” said Sara. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“I hope not. It’s an original design. Shift’s the pilot. That wheel controls Thermal’s direction. It pulls the reins connected to Thermal’s harness to direct him where to go. I’m the navigator. These numbers on the screen here—they’re coordinates.”

“Coordinates?”

“A map of Mirmina. It’s just like in the books I’ve studied. The books from the old world. Up there,” Thatch pointed to the sky, “there are structures that can pinpoint any location. This machine can communicate with them to create the map.”

“Tell her what you do,” Shift directed.

“Me?” asked Farah. “I sit at the window over there and point when I see something interesting and say: ‘Oh, oh, land there!’”

“Yep, that about sums up what she does.”

“Hey, I do more than that!” Farah defended. “I handle negotiations.”

“What negotiations?”

“Like when I talked to Lord Fletzi about allowing Thermal to land in Lumina Port. For a price of course.”

Orka chirped in agreement.

“That’s right,” said Farah.

Shift shook his head and turned back to the windows.

“So,” Sara wondered, “if Thermal flies the Chariot like the dome, what are all the machines for?”

“Well,” Thatch explained, “the ones up here are location-trackers. They find places, things, people.”

“People?”

“Well, provided they have a tracking device on them.”

“Oh,” Sara said, disappointed.

“And,” Thatch continued, “the ones you probably noticed downstairs are engines. They not only run the locators, but they also power the Chariot as well, to a certain degree, which is a lot less strain for Thermal. I wish I could get them strong enough to power the whole structure, but that may take some time and a huge jolt of energy.”

“Where’s Stan?” Farah looked at the cluster of computers and the empty seat in front of them.

“Yeah,” said Shift, “I was wondering where that little buzz-can got off to myself.”

Thatch held down a button on the arm of his chair and spoke: “Stannum, report to the control room.”

Suddenly there was buzzing and crashing from the back of the room.

The sliding door opened and an oversized metal beetle with skinny steel arms came flying into the room. Sara and Farah had to dodge it as it zoomed past them. In the center of the room it stopped and shook itself until something rattled inside its head.

Its metallic body gleamed in the light, but its skinny arms were showing signs of rust. In the center of its body was a glowing orange light that blinked on and off as the creature floated several feet above the floor.

“You called?” said the floating machine, its voice monotone and high-pitched.

“I wanted you to introduce yourself to Sara,” said Thatch.

“Hello, Sara,” Stannum greeted, floating over to her and extending one small steel hand. “I am Stannum. It is nice to meet you.”

“And you as well,” said Sara, gently shaking its hand. “It’s wonderful,” she told Thatch.

Stannum’s eye turned deep orange. He tilted his eye up and down until the light scanned Sara from head to toe. A small holographic image of Sara was projected from Stannum’s glowing eye. “Lady Sara, former Water Elemental. Three years ago, she spearheaded the group of Elemental fighters that waged a battle against Hephaestus, a Fire Elemental and tyrant. His tyrannical reign lasted approximately twenty-four years before the battle, where he then perished.”

Shift sighed.

“Excuse me?” said Stannum.

“Shift, why did you have to start?” said Thatch.

“Start?” Shift turned to face the room. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You never appreciated me,” Stannum buzzed.

“Appreciate you? You’re a metallic piece of junk.”

“Well, you are an organic piece of junk who will not admit that I am superior in every way.”

“Shift, it’s just a machine,” said Thatch.

“With an attitude, which you gave it,” said Shift. “I wish I would have never started building it. Why did you feel the need to finish putting together this heap of junk?”

“Heap of junk?” buzzed Stannum. “I will be ticking long after you are gone.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Shift, making a move to get up out of his seat.

“Please, settle down,” said Thatch, “we need Stannum. He’s just a machine and a helpful one at that. But his thoughts, feelings, reactions are programmed, and you made him that way, not me.”

Stannum’s glowing eye turned a pale shade of orange and his arms hung at his sides.

“Shift made Stannum when he was just a boy,” Thatch explained. “But he failed to make the right connections in Stannum’s brain network. Stannum went haywire and destroyed some very valuable prototypes that Uncle Tag had been working on. Shift got in trouble for it. He was frustrated with Stannum so he locked him up. One day, I found Stannum, half smashed in a supply cabinet, and I salvaged him. It took years for me to make all the right connections, but now he finally works properly.”

Stannum zoomed over to the blue-screened machines and started pressing buttons, his long arms stretching over the control panels, allowing his skinny steel fingers to reach the keys.

“Stannum analyses objects that we find on the locator. He’s working on a link right now.

“A few nights ago, we were picking up a reading on the locator. There was a strange landmass far out to sea, but as we got closer to it, it blinked on and off the map until it disappeared. It was strange. Something that big just coming in and out like that. We weren’t able to find it again.

Right now, Stannum is scanning and analyzing every map from Lumina’s library. We were actually hoping we could send him in to scan some of the maps in Element.”

“We asked around,” said Farah. “No one’s heard of an island that far out and neither Caleena nor Lumina Port has ever shipped there.”

“I don’t think it will come up again,” Shift said, doubtfully. “It’s like some sort of ghost island. Probably just a mishap with the locator. I think all this map scanning is a waste of time.”

“Don’t say that,” said Farah. “We’ll find it. I know we will.”

“Why?” asked Sara. “You don’t think it could be the Insula?”

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