The Elementalists Read online

  Lightning struck again and again around the water, and the earth shook with every impact. Then behind her, a monstrous roar rose up from the depths. She looked back, wide-eyed and cringing.

  Through the stinging rain, she saw a massive, silvery form emerge from the waterfall that had been a pond. A hulking, shining beast climbed into the air, its crocodilian jaws open to the sky at the end of a long, sinewy neck. Huge, membranous wings unfurled on either side and beat to hold it aloft, each flap sending little tornadoes across the clearing. Its roar sent a shiver through her bones. Chloe covered her ears, fearing they might burst from the punishing vibration.

  The hairs stood on end across her body as an odd tingling gathered in her feet. She was only vaguely aware that she was screaming as the impossible thing from the pond turned its piercing blue gaze toward her and set its primordial, hooked claws to the ground with a force that trembled the hillside.

  She started to feel light-headed just before another bolt of lightning slammed into the tree above her and all went white and then black.

  Chapter 4

  The Girl Who Was Struck by Lightning

  Before she could see, Chloe heard the same methodical beeping that was so prevalent on all the doctor shows on television. Someone was clutching her hand with a tight, sweaty grip. She lifted her lids with fluttering effort. At first, everything looked grey and blurry, but then her mom materialized out of the haze, leaning in close with worried eyes.

  “I’m right here, baby. Can you hear me?” Audrey asked.

  Chloe’s throat felt raw, and her mouth was incredibly dry. “Hi, Mom,” she rasped.

  Audrey rushed in with a hug and kiss, failing to hold her tears at bay any longer. “Oh, thank God, thank God,” she whispered again and again.

  “Mom, it’s okay. I think I’m okay,” Chloe reassured, glancing around at the uninspired painting of flowers on the wall beside her and then the little TV suspended above her bed. An oversized clock on the wall read 6:34p.m. She hadn’t been inside a hospital since her father had been admitted that one time by the police eight years prior. She could still picture the sickening purple of his shattered hand, and the far away gaze that seemed to see right through her as the cops conferred with her mom in the hallway—but she had no idea how she had come to find herself in the hospital now.

  “Chloe, what happened? How did you get here?” Audrey asked.

  Chloe had been about to ask the same question. She remembered only vague snippets of what had transpired at the pond: the fast spiraling clouds, a mad rain, the fountain of mud that rose below her, and lightning. And there had been something else, too. Something from just before the electricity had reached into her and claimed her consciousness…the sound of a roar, born out of the storm.

  “I don’t know. I was at the pond. Lightning hit the tree beside me, and…I don’t remember anything else.”

  “You were in shock, and your blood pressure was really low when you got here. Apparently you were covered in mud; it was all down your throat and in your eyes. They had to give you oxygen just to get your heart back to normal,” Audrey rattled, starting to get herself all worked up. “Honey, the nurse said a man carried you into the emergency room—just dropped you off and left without a word. They said you didn’t have on any shoes…” She looked like she might explode. “Honey, if something happened out there, I want you to know that you can tell me anything. If he—”

  Chloe hadn’t seen that frantic edge in her mom’s eyes since dad had started slipping either. She would do anything she could to calm that rising squall. “No one touched me,” Chloe reassured. “I don’t remember anyone being there, and I’m fine now. I was just swimming in the pond, and all of a sudden there was a storm. The water was shifting and bubbling, and I ran. There was lightning everywhere, and then…?”

  Audrey watched her daughter closely.

  “Mom, I’m telling the truth!”

  “I know, honey. I was just so worried. Do you have any pain? The doctor said you could have some lingering effects from the jolt.”

  Just then, a portly, young nurse bustled in with flushed cheeks and a practiced but warm smile. She wore a nametag that said “Nurse Shiflet,” and she handed Chloe a cup filled with water and a straw. “Hello there, Chloe,” she said with a little Virginia twang. “I bet your mouth is pretty dry. We had to flush out your throat and eyes there ’cause of all the dirt.”

  Chloe drank and winced.

  “Your throat is gonna be sore for a couple days. And your hands and knees had some nasty scrapes that are gonna take some healing as well,” she trilled cheerily. “But other than that, you seem to be just fine. You gave us a little scare in the beginning with your blood pressure, but we usually see between three and seven lightning strikes a year. Trust me, you’re one of the lucky ones.”

  Nurse Shiflet glanced at the printouts from Chloe’s heart monitor. “Everything looks good now. How do you feel?”

  “Confused, but okay,” admitted Chloe.

  “And what about the possible lingering effects: memory loss and headaches and stuff like that?” asked Audrey, still clinging to Chloe’s hand.

  “Yeah, those are commonplace after such a serious shock to the system. Short-term memory loss should be expected, and some other complications can creep up on you and last for a good while, too. But you should cross that bridge if and when you come to it. For now, just count your blessings, go home, and get ready for school tomorrow,” Nurse Shiflet answered a bit too merrily for Chloe’s liking.

  “School?” Chloe croaked. “I can’t go to school after being struck by lightning.”

  “I don’t see why not,” answered Shiflet with a quick mark on Chloe’s chart. “You check out fine, and you said yourself that you feel okay, right? Why not go home for a good night’s sleep?” She turned to Audrey with a whisper. “And you might want to start the checkout procedure pretty soon. It’s best to clear out if you can before the shift change at seven or you could get stuck here all night.” She winked and bustled back toward the door.

  “Nurse,” Chloe called, wincing with the attempt at an elevated tone, “the man who brought me in…who was he?”

  Nurse Shiflet stood in the door smiling. “I didn’t see him, but from what the other nurses say, he was sure worth looking at—amazing blue eyes.” She winked again.

  “Do you know what time I got here?” Chloe asked, trying to piece it together.

  “Your chart says you came in just a bit after five.”

  Audrey looked at her cell phone history. “The hospital called home, and Brent called me at 5:22.”

  Chloe thought about it—she’d gotten home from school after 4:00, had her run-in with Brent and started toward the pond no earlier than 4:45, and had swam for at least ten minutes before the storm came. “That’s impossible; the lightning must have struck around 5:00 at the earliest, and that was more than ten miles away and in the middle of the woods.”

  “Well, then, whoever he was, he probably saved your life.” Nurse Shiflet marched away with a rubbery squeak at every step.

  Chloe and her mom sat in silence for a long, loaded moment.

  “It seems you have a guardian angel,” said Audrey.

  “This is all so weird.”

  “And you’re really all right?” Audrey asked.

  Chloe sensed trouble and nodded reluctantly.

  “Then what the hell were you doing out at the pond in the middle of a storm again? You could have been killed, Chloe!”

  “Mom, it’s Brent—”

  “Brent was worried sick about you!” Audrey cut in. “He was out scouring the woods and luckily came back to the house just in time to answer the call from the hospital. He beat me here and has been by your side right up until you woke up, so let’s not start that again,” she said with a shaky voice and wet eyes.

  Chloe could only nod in agreement. “I…I really need to pee,” she said, realizing the uncomfortable pressure on her bladder.

  Audrey cle
ared her throat. “There’s a bathroom just down the hall. Maybe you could clean yourself up a little bit, too. I’ll start the paperwork and meet you back here in ten.”

  Chloe swiveled from the bed and noticed the cool breeze through the back of her open gown. Beneath she wasn’t wearing anything but her underwear and some light blue, hospital-issue polyester booties. The public nudity was disconcerting at best. “Do you have to go back to work?” Chloe asked.

  “Are you kidding? My daughter was struck by lightning on her first day of high school. They can manage without me.” Audrey placed a gentle hand on Chloe’s cheek. “I love you, Chloe. You’re all I’ve got.”

  Chloe felt a familiar weight press on her chest. “Me too, Mom. I’m really sorry.”

  Audrey stood and exhaled slowly. “You think you can stay out of trouble for ten minutes?” she asked with a smirk.

  Chloe shrugged. “I’ll try.”

  • • •

  Chloe really wished she’d thought to change into her regular clothes before leaving for the bathroom—if she’d known what waited for her down the hall, she would have held it in and skipped the little journey altogether. Instead, she found herself shuffling along in the slippery booties while holding the gown at the small of her back to keep her underwear-covered butt from hanging out for all to see.

  She glanced into the various rooms as she passed, seeing less fortunate people in all states of distress. An older man was moaning and thrashing in his bed while a male nurse moved about the room, completely ignoring him. In another room, a woman lay motionless with a tube down her throat and a steady, wheezing hiss from an attached machine. In the next, Chloe saw a sleeping man with his leg suspended above the bed and locked in place.

  She turned back to focus on the hallway, not wanting to see any more of these snippets of other people’s misery. Instead, she saw Brent and a familiar woman sequestered in the shadows by a vending machine at the end of the hall. They leaned close to each other and whispered emphatically. Officer Brent was clearly trying to contain the woman’s emotional state as she trembled on the verge of an outburst. Chloe knew this woman; it was Loraine, from Positive Pete’s Diner. Oh, come on!

  Chloe put her head down and shuffled faster. The unisex restroom sign was just ahead; she needed only to get inside and wait for the clandestine meeting to break apart at the end of the hall. She prayed that the room wasn’t occupied, her heartbeat rising as her hand found the handle and yanked.

  She opened the door, slid inside, and locked it in one quick motion. The smell was atrocious! Her hand shot to the collar of her gown, and she yanked the polyester weave across her nose. It didn’t help. Her selected hiding place had been recently abused. She raised the lid with a wad of paper between her fingers and the porcelain. As she hovered above the seat, she felt the burn in her twice-abused legs.

  Somewhat relieved, she washed her hands thoroughly, working to dislodge the mud that was caked under her nails. The skinny girl with matted hair and bloodshot eyes that stared back from the mirror did not impress. Dirt was caked behind her ears and under her chin, and she picked a strand of freshwater weed from her clumpy locks with a sad shake of her head. She looked like someone who’d been stranded on a desert island for a few years, or maybe someone who’d…been beat up by an angry pond and struck by lightning. She would need a hot shower, a big bowl of soup, and about ten hours of sleep to be human again.

  She returned to the door, pressing her ear to the cool surface and listening for some indication of Brent’s whereabouts. She figured the coast would be clear after another few minutes… Just then, someone tried the handle and Chloe stepped back, biting her lip. They knocked a second later.

  “Occupied,” Chloe called. What if it’s Brent, or Loraine, or both? She looked around for another escape, but of course, that was stupid.

  The knock came again, this time more forceful. “What, is somebody dying in there?” a female voice muttered.

  Well, it wasn’t Brent, and she sounded younger than Loraine—maybe it was her lucky day after all. Hopefully her luck would hold out long enough for her to make it back to her room, get changed, and get out of the hospital without confronting the love triangle that would break her Mom’s heart.

  Chloe unlocked the door and swung it open. Her jaw dropped.

  “You!” spat Kendra, back to her perfectly beautiful, bitchy self.

  “Kendra, what are you doing here?” Chloe stammered.

  “Oh, like you didn’t hear,” Kendra challenged with a pinched sneer.

  Chloe felt like she was going to pass out again. She shook her head.

  “Heat stroke, thanks to you. I’ve been here since sixth period on an IV drip.”

  “Kendra, I’m really sorry,” Chloe offered. “If it’s any consolation, I guarantee I had a worse day than you.”

  Kendra looked Chloe up and down again, taking in her wild appearance. “Yeah, what happened? You look like a freakin’ crazy person!”

  “I got struck by lightning,” Chloe said with a shrug.

  Kendra burst out laughing, the high pitch of her cackle echoed down the hall. “For serious? That’s classic!” She immediately wiggled her iPhone from her too-tight back pocket, snapped a picture of Chloe, and started texting. “Kelly and Mags are gonna totally shit when they see this.”

  Though it didn’t seem possible, Chloe’s heart sank a little further. “Cool, well, I’m glad you’re okay now.”

  “You too,” answered Kendra before returning her eyes to the little screen. “If you’d died, it would have totally ruined my chance to hate you.”

  As Chloe stopped to ponder the intricacies of that statement, the gruff voice of an older man cut in.

  “Kendra, you are supposed to be using the bathroom, not texting! We’ve already lost four hours to this place,” barked a jowly, red-faced man in a very fine grey suit.

  “Sorry, Dad,” mumbled Kendra, suddenly seeming sheepish and meek. “The bathroom was occupied.” She said the last word with an accusatory glare at Chloe.

  “Well, it seems to be free now, doesn’t it?” As Mr. Roberts came closer, he let his eyes focus on the disheveled girl beside his daughter and actually took a step back. “Oh, who is this?”

  “Dad, this is Chloe McClellan, the girl from school I was telling you about,” muttered Kendra.

  “Ah, yes, McClellan, I know the name. I hear you’re quite the speed demon. You beat Kendra so badly she couldn’t hold her lunch or her bowels. Well done.” He glanced at her still-dirty hands and decided against offering his own to shake. “I would hope my daughter can give you some further competition later this year,” he said with an expectant look to Kendra. Her mortified gaze flashed to Chloe and then fell to the floor. “And what brings you to the hospital today?” he asked Chloe with a raised eyebrow and subtle wrinkle of his nose.

  “I got struck by lightning,” Chloe muttered, wishing she could say something else.

  “Really?” Now Mr. Roberts leaned in closer, oddly interested. “I wasn’t aware of any storms in the area today. Where was this? You know my company has started tracking inclement weather patterns across central Virginia as part of a new project that we’ve been working on?” He smiled with artificially white teeth.

  “In the woods, about a mile or so from the top of Red Hill Road,” she answered, pretty sure that he wasn’t really listening.

  “I’ll have my man look into it,” he added. “If I can keep the R and D team on schedule, by early next year, no one in this whole region should ever be struck by lightning again… What do you think of that?”

  Chloe wasn’t sure if she was actually supposed to come up with an answer. “Yeah, wow. That would be something.”

  “It will be something, Chloe. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for what the Daedalus Group is going to offer the world in the coming months.” He placed a controlling hand on the back of Kendra’s neck.

  Again, Chloe felt like some acknowledgment of gratitude was expected. “
Cool. Thanks,” she offered.

  Mr. Roberts nodded and his smile faded. “Let’s go, Kendra, we’ve spent quite enough time here.”

  “Dad, I still have to use the bathroom,” Kendra whined.

  “Stop being a child; you can go at home.” He steered her away without any room for dissent. “Nice to meet you, Chloe,” he said without looking back, though Kendra glanced over her shoulder with fire in her eyes and a look that said: THIS NEVER HAPPENED!

  “Nice to meet you, too,” Chloe muttered, only then remembering to look out for Brent and Loraine. The shadows beside the vending machines were empty, and she let go of an exhausted sigh.

  She shuffled back down the hall in the opposite direction with her eyes averted from her surroundings, looking up only after she’d reached the familiar sight of her mom’s comfortable waitressing shoes. Audrey was hunched over a clipboard of paperwork, filling out pages of little boxes. She whipped the pen in the air in an effort to gather the ink in its ballpoint tip and glanced to Chloe.

  “Go get dressed, honey.”

  “I ran into Kendra Roberts,” Chloe stated without emotion.

  “Yeah, I saw her dad,” Audrey sympathized. “He’s a real piece of work—told me all about the great things his company is doing for Charlottesville when, in fact, they’re pushing out all the local farmers to develop fake food while dumping all their chemical byproducts a few towns over and poisoning the river water that flows right back to Charlottesville. He wants a key to the town for driving up real estate prices and taking away jobs and land from the families that have lived here for generations. And the saddest thing is that the local politicians will probably give it to him.”

  Chloe recognized that heated tone—her mom wasn’t one to back away from presumed injustice. Audrey noticed her daughter’s solemn stare and cut herself off.