The Magi (The Magi Series) (28 page)

“So, do I just summon the emotion and then think hard about what I want to do with the element?” Elijah asked.

“Yes, and no. You are already farther along with this than you might think,” Olivia explained. “Remember what you told me about the tendencies of the elements? What did you say water wants to do?”

“It wants to collect,” Elijah answered.

“Yes. So if you’re trying to move it
out
somewhere, and you don’t know that it naturally wants to
collect
, you could have a real mess on your hands. This is where the third part, knowledge, comes in. You need to understand what
it
wants to do, and then focus on what
you
want it to do. That takes knowledge of the elements and focus working together to move it how you want it.” Elijah looked confused.

“So, how exactly would all of that work?” he asked. “I mean, say I wanted to freeze water.”

Olivia laughed. “Well, that’s pretty advanced stuff that you haven’t learned yet, but yes, the idea is the same. You need to know what makes water freeze, and then you have to focus to make it happen.” Olivia refilled both their cups of cider which were drained during their conversation. “How are you feeling about all of this?” she asked upon returning.

“It’s a lot to take in at once,” Elijah said. “I think I have most of it, except it just seems a little—complicated to do.”

“Here,” Olivia said heading for the door. She took Elijah’s cup and set it on the table as she ushered him to the door. “Come outside and you can have a go at it.” Elijah’s heart felt like it was going to jump right out of his throat. “I’ll have you work on something easy so you can see what I mean.” Elijah and Olivia walked out the front door, and a soldier followed them once they passed. She stopped them over an area with lots of snow. “You seem fairly relaxed now, so it’ll be easier for you to access your peaceful emotions. Do you remember what to do?”

“I need to experience a calm emotion. Then I need to focus on what I know about water to make it change from what
it
wants to do to what
I
want it to do,” Elijah said, and as he said it out loud, something clicked. Suddenly, what Olivia taught him during the conversation made more sense.

“Right. Now, do it.” Elijah suddenly was very self-conscious and worried about what he looked like.

“What do I do?” he asked. “I mean, what do you want me to do?”

“Just move a flake of snow away from the rest,” Olivia instructed. She held out her hand and Elijah witnessed a small chunk of snow rise up from the ground and delicately come to rest on Olivia’s palm. “Like this.”

“How should I move? Do I hold out my hand like you did?” he asked.

“It usually helps,” said Olivia. “Make the motion you want the element to make. It’s not really necessary to move at all because your mind is doing everything. But most Magi move at least a little because it helps us concentrate on the motion we want the element to make.”

Elijah held out his hand like Olivia had done and took a deep breath to clear his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the steps. He needed to access the water’s Soul by creating a calm emotion in his own Soul. Elijah concentrated on being calm. Then, he focused on what he wanted it to do. Move up, he thought. Lastly, he thought about what water wanted to do. He knew it wanted to collect and stay together, so moving it up would be unnatural. Elijah tried to mix the emotion and focus and knowledge of the snow like he was supposed to, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes signaling to Olivia that he had given up. He had failed.

“What did I do wrong?” he asked.

“That, I can’t answer,” she said. “It’s probably a combination of things. How were you making yourself calm?”

“I’m not sure. I just tried to relax,” Elijah said.

“That could have been the problem,” Olivia said. “Telling yourself to relax and actually relaxing are two different things. If you have to tell yourself to relax, you’re diluting your emotion. Try thinking about a specific time you remember being calm and at peace, and then try to relive or replay that to feel the emotion stronger.”

Elijah tried again. He closed his eyes again and raised his hand. He thought about being outside on a hot summer day in the backyard, resting under a tree. He thought again about changing the location of the snow all the while blending together his knowledge of the element and his emotion. Olivia was right. It was difficult to completely focus on all the steps at the same time. After a few seconds of not feeling any snow, Elijah opened his eyes again in defeat, but as soon as he lowered his hand, he heard a faint sound below him. He looked up at Olivia who was smiling proudly.

“Did it—Did I?”

Olivia nodded. “You gave up too soon.” Elijah was ecstatic! He looked down and saw just the slightest change in the snow under him.

“How fast was it moving?” he asked.

“It was slow; but that’s how it goes at first. To be honest, I’m a little shocked! I’ve never seen anyone do this so quickly, especially at your level,” she replied.

Elijah was ready to have another go at it. He and Olivia stood outside for a while longer and practiced moving the snow from the ground into his hand. Each attempt he was able to move it a little faster. He even began to move more snow at a time, but as the day wore on, Olivia finally ended the lesson and dismissed him back to the barracks. He found it slightly odd when only one soldier escorted him.

That night, Elijah didn’t talk to any of his friends. He was concerned that being the only one able to control an element would just make everyone feel bad. He decided to go up to the boys’ hall, take a shower, and read a book in his room for the rest of the night, which he took great pleasure in doing until he fell asleep.

Elijah slept peacefully until his eyes popped open in a panic as his entire body burned. It was the same sudden feeling he had the night his parents were murdered seven months ago. This time, however, he knew what was after him! The Maliphists were coming to get him, as they promised, but not knowing where they were made things difficult. He considered running, but he didn’t want to make any noise. He stood still, sitting upright in his bed, carefully calculating the situation.

All of a sudden, he knew he needed to leave—right then! He raced out of his door, running as fast as he could toward the washroom. He froze behind the doorway of the washroom, looking at his own door when he heard a shattering sound of broken glass. He tightly gripped the sides of the doorway, a cold sweat trickling down the side of his face. The broken glass had awakened a few boys on the hall, and one boy—a small, scared-looking red head, opened his door to investigate. As soon as he did, Elijah’s instincts told him to get into that room immediately. He turned right out of the washroom hall, charged the room where the boy opened the door and dove inside, closing the door behind him.

“What are you doing?” the boy asked nervously.

“Sssshhhh!” said Elijah. “Maliphists!” The boy gave a look of horror, and Elijah instantly knew he had made a mistake telling him.

“MALIPHISTS!!!” the boy screamed out as loud as he could, his eyes wide with panic. “MR. BUTTON!!! MALIPHISTS!!!”

The entire floor erupted. Doors swung open and shut. Students ran down the hall, some yelling at each other to hurry. Elijah was stuck. He knew if he left the room, they could find him, but if he stayed, he was an easy target. After weighing his options, he knew what he needed to do. This was the time to make his sacrifice. He needed to give himself up. He took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

There were no signs of the Maliphists anywhere as Elijah stared down at the chaos of the hall. He walked slowly toward his room and when he got there, he looked in expecting to see the Maliphists waiting for him. Instead, he only saw a shattered window. They had gotten in through Elijah’s window. He ran in and looked down. The soldier that usually stood guard under his window was gone! He was nowhere in sight!

As Elijah continued looking down, he heard horrified screams from the girls’ wing. He opened his window wider, suddenly seeing a light from inside the barracks appear in the snow under his window. Running away from the building were three Maliphists aggressively dragging a helpless body behind them. He thought about yelling at them so they would take him instead, but something told him not to. Elijah felt disgusted with himself for letting it happen again. They were taking someone else because they hadn’t found Elijah!

Looking closer at the scene below, his stomach gave a violent turn. As she turned her face around in terror, Eliah saw that the helpless victim was Hannah Maybury, who was desperately searching for help, but not seeing any.

Elijah reacted swiftly. He reached into his wooden chest, pulled out his gear and began putting it on. As he was getting ready, Paul, Isaac, and Adam rushed into Elijah’s room, panting. Isaac was crying.

“They’re gone,” Paul said worriedly. “But they took Hannah.”

“I know,” said Elijah stiffly.

Paul looked at Elijah, puzzled. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Getting ready.”

“For what?”

“I’m following them,” said Elijah. “Either help or get out of the way!”

****

CHAPTER 16: THE CAVE

“Are you crazy!?!” shouted Paul as he ran after Elijah. Adam and Isaac followed closely behind. Elijah ignored the remark, so Paul grabbed Elijah’s arm and yanked him around. “Elijah, wait! What are you doing?”

“I told you. I’m going after them.”

“And what? You’re just going to walk up to them and they’ll hand Hannah right over?” Elijah huffed and turned back around, heading for the stairs. The boys continued to follow, pleading with him to slow down. They caught up with him again by the oval fire pit downstairs. “Elijah, stop!” Paul yelled.

“Look,” Elijah said, wheeling around, “I might not be able to do anything, but I have to try!”

“Why?” asked Paul. “Why do
you
have to try?”

“Because no one else is!!!” Elijah said angrily. “Who is trying to get Samuel back? Who is trying to get my uncle back? What’s being done to get Phinneas back, who apparently has been gone for YEARS!!! I’m not going to stand around and watch more people that I care about get kidnapped because I’m waiting for someone else to do something!”

Paul sighed and looked back at Isaac and Adam as if he was at a loss for words.

Isaac spoke up. “Elijah, it’s not that we don’t want to help Hannah. But what do you think you’re going to do? There’s at least three of them. It’s suicide! Besides, you don’t even know where they’re going.”

“Then help me,” Elijah said. “Help
her
! Look, I understand if you don’t want to risk your lives. Really, I do. But I’m going. And the longer I stand here trying to convince you why I’m going, the harder it’s going to be to help. So either join me or let me go.”

The three boys glanced at each other realizing how serious Elijah was. The idea was crazy and dangerous. None of them were eager to battle three Maliphists, but they all wanted to help their friend.

“I’ll do it. I’ll help you, Elijah,” the small voice of Adam spoke, trying to sound courageous.

Paul looked at Adam, shocked. “Am I seriously hearing this?!?”

“I guess I’ll go too,” Isaac said. Paul put his hand over his own face and shook his head. “It’s our friend,” Isaac said to Paul. “And if someone doesn’t do anything, we might be next anyway. Better to face them together than by ourselves. I know it’s crazy, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Elijah looked back at Paul who was the last one left.

“Fine,” Paul agreed. “Count me in.”

Just then, Elijah noticed someone out of the corner of his eye rushing toward them. It was Becca. The room was still flooded with students and trainers all running in different directions like a congested nightmare, but Becca was clearly coming straight for them. She had a look of worry mixed with irritation. She grabbed Elijah’s arm and pulled him toward the staircases that led down into the arena.

“What are you doing?” Elijah asked as she dragged him down the stairs.

“Get in here!” Becca said in a hushed voice. She had let go of his arm, but was leading the group of boys into one of the empty classrooms, closing the door.

“What’s going on?” Paul asked, looking around for an explanation.

“You four are standing around completely clueless, aren’t you?” Becca said.

“Clueless?” Paul asked. “Yeah, we know about the Maliphist break in. Thanks for the news alert, genius. But they’re gone now.”

Becca shook her head. “Do you all have a brain among you?” The boys were speechless. “Look, you know I used to be a Maliphist. I know what they’re capable of. But breaking into a facility like this when it’s crawling with soldiers and the entire city is on alert is practically impossible.”

“Well gee, Becca,” Paul said sarcastically, “if it’s so impossible, how did they do it?”

“Exactly!” Becca said. She looked at Elijah as she spoke. “Don’t you think it’s odd that despite all the security around you that they broke in through your own window?” Elijah suddenly realized how strange that was. He thought about how he didn’t see a guard under his window when the Maliphists were dragging Hannah away.