The Secret of the Elements

CHAPTER 1 – Zach & Amelia

“Shh!” whispered Afeira to her cousin. Afeira was 10 years old and hiding in the bathroom closet.

“Why do I have to be quiet!?” he said in a taunting voice as loud as possible. She knew he was doing it on purpose.

“Because I’m hiding from Gran, you dummy!”

“Fine, I’ll go play with Jackson then. Alone!” he added.

“Sure,” she whispered.

“Afeira? Afeira?” she heard her Gran yell from downstairs. “Where are you? Want a snack? I’ll get you anything you want,” she said in her usual baby tone, speaking to her as if she were two. Afeira kept still and pulled her legs up to her chest. She needed to find a way to escape.

“Gran!” she yelled, “can I take a walk?”

“Of course, honey,” Gran replied.

That went better than she thought. She hadn’t expected Gran to just let her go like that. But since she didn’t really want to go on a walk she decided to go out onto the balcony. She stood on the balcony and watched the trees sway gently back and forth and listened to the birds chirp wishing she could get away from her Gran and be on her own.

Just then a boy, closely followed by a girl, appear out of nowhere, glowing slightly and walking towards her. “Hello Afeira”, said the boy.

“How do you know my name?” she asked.

“We’ve been watching you for a long time” replied the girl, an interesting smile on her face.

Afeira wondered whether or not to be scared. “Who are you?” Afeira whispered, her voice shaking.

“I’m Zach”, said the boy, and “I’m Amelia,” said the girl.

“We’re here to ask you a question,” said the girl named Amelia.“Do you want your life to change?”

“Forever?” added the boy named Zach.

Amelia kicked him. “Remember what we agreed?” she whispered to Zach; “I do the talking, and you do the listening, then you do the magic.”

“Magic?” repeated Afeira, feeling her head would explode from the confusion of what was going on in front of her.

“Yes, magic,” said the girl.

It took awhile for Afeira to understand what she was talking about. Afeira did catch a few words though like, “school”, “elements”, “water”, “air”, “earth”, “fire”, but overall, she did have trouble keeping up. Amelia had to explain the elements about five times so she could have a clue what she was talking about. When she was done, Afeira could only stare at the girl who had changed her life forever.

CHAPTER 2 – A Place of Wonder

“Now that’s another stupid plan,” said Afeira, throwing a ball at the wall out of anger.

“Listen,” said Zach, “you don’t need some epic plan to escape your Gran.”

“He’s right,” said Amelia. “For once,” she added, “why don’t you just ask her honestly.”

“Ask her honestly! Are you joking?” said Afeira. “She’s gonna say no!”

“She won’t say no,” said Zach, “because she wants you to be happy. So just say it will make you really happy. I promise she will let you go.”

“Maybe,” said Afeira, “I’ll try.” So Afeira ran off the balcony and into the house. Once she got downstairs she saw her Gran sitting on the couch talking to Lacy, one of Afeira’s cousins.

“BUT,” Afeira heard Lacy say to Gran. “I want to go to a new school.”

“What?” whispered Afeira to herself, “could her cousin Lacy be talking about the same school?”

Afeira took a deep breath and walked out from behind the stairs.

“Afeira?” said Gran, sitting up.

“Hi Gran. I would like to go to a new school. It would make me really happy. Please.”

“Sure,” said Gran, “but what school are you talking about?”

“A school a friend told me about. I think it starts today.”

“Yep, it starts today,” said Lacy. Afeira stared at Lacy. A few minutes later Afeira was on the balcony again with Zach and Amelia and her cousin Lacy.

“So she’s going too?” asked Afeira.

“Yes she is,” said Amelia.

“Great!” said Afeira, happy to have a friend going along.

“Well,” said Amelia, “we agreed Zach does the magic.”

“Well then I’ll take it from here,” said Zach, looking happier than Afeira had seen him look so far.

“Grab your stuff,” said Zach. So Afeira ran into her room to get her things. She grabbed her favorite books and toys and stuffed animals, throwing them into bags and boxes until she had gotten everything she could carry. She ran back to the balcony to wait for Lacy. A little while later Lacy came out with her things.

“I’m ready,” she said.

“Let’s go,” said Afeira, feeling more excited than she had ever felt before. Zach snapped his fingers and they were gone. Afeira could hardly tell what was going on. It felt like being pulled underwater. Just then Afeira heard Zach’s voice. It sounded distant but clear.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “The feeling will wear off.”

“Wear off?” thought Afeira, until she realized they had stopped moving. She opened her eyes expecting to see a huge school crowded with students but instead she saw a small dark room that looked like a closet with only a few books scattered around on the floor. “What is this place?” Afeira asked Zach.

“This is the entry,” replied Zach.

“Oh,” said Afeira, unable to find words, she looked over at Lacy who looked scared.

“Well,” said Zach pointing at the door. “Don’t you want to go to school?” When he opened the door Afeira saw a huge school that was crowded with students of all ages. Zach showed them around and told them about everything that goes on in the school. He told them about the four elements again and not to be surprised if water splashes up in front of you while you’re heading to class. He also told them about the classes they would take: ice skating, cooking, yoga, tree climbing, soccer, and even arts and crafts. Until now Afeira didn’t believe such a great school existed. She was so lucky to get to come here.

CHAPTER 3 – Afeira’s first class

In the morning, Afeira got up quickly and dressed. She was so excited for her first class that she skipped breakfast, got on her snow gear, and ran outside to wait by the ice skating shed.

“You’re early,” said the ice skating teacher, as she came out of the barn.

“Yep I don’t want to be late.”

“You’re not going to be late,” said the teacher. I’m Ms. Madison, “While you’re waiting you can play on the playground.”

The playground? Afeira turned around and saw for the first time a huge playground probably bigger than a hotel. Afeira walked around the playground looking at it from all the angles wondering how she didn’t see it before. About ten minutes later kids began to pour out the doors of the school and run around the bend to where she was. Within seconds, half the students were in a long line to the ice skating barn and the rest of the students were lining up for the other winter activities. A group of small boys climbed up the ladder onto the playground and began marching around like they thought they were presidents or something. Afeira was about to laugh when the teacher yelled “class is starting!”

The small boys on the playground who had been talking exuberantly stopped abruptly when the teacher yelled. Afeira went down to the shed with everyone else for class. The first ten minutes of class were spent on learning the rules of ice skating and figuring out how to put on skates. Once Afeira had hers on she stood up and walked to the skating rink. “I’m doing it!” Afeira yelled to her cousin Lacy who was far ahead already.

“Great!” Lacy yelled back. After thirty minutes of free skating Ms. Madison called the class in to show them some tricks.

“This is how you go backwards,” she said, moving her feet back and forth in a kind of figure eight. “Now you try.” Afeira went back onto the ice to try it. She watched Lacy go backwards in a perfect figure eight just like how the teacher had.

“You’re good!” Afeira said to Lacy when she stopped and Afeira could finally catch up.

“I know!” said Lacy, “and this is the first time I’ve done it.”

“Lacy!” said Afeira, ” you should show the teacher how good you–” she stopped. It was just then she realized that the small boy’s she saw on the playground earlier weren’t in class. They were on the playground still but weren’t laughing like they’d been before. They were talking seriously about something to do with the elements.

“What is it?” asked Lacy.

“Nothing,” said Afeira. “You should go show the teacher how good you are. Lacy clapped her hands in delight and glided off towards the teacher. Afeira skated to the corner of the ice rink as close as she could get to the playground.

“IT’S NOT MY FAULT,” one of them yelled. Afeira listened hard. “She was right where we wanted her! She almost died! But then you had to save her!” Afeira stared at them and wondered what they were talking about. When Afeira turned around she realized everyone else had gathered around the teacher in the corner of the rink. She looked at the boys on the playground one last time then skated off to rejoin the rest of her class.

[These 3 chapters represent the beginning of a longer book that is still being written.]