“Virtus aquae invocabo!” called Zenith in what sounded like Latin.
Okay this is going from weird to mental asylum real fast.
Silence stretched out and I almost dropped my head to figure out what was going on when rain dotted my cheeks. Several others in the circle gasped and I looked to Tory, finding droplets peppering her cheeks too. But how was that possible? There wasn't a cloud in the sky.
A deep whirlpool of power seemed to open up inside me and my breathing stalled as I felt its strength coil around my veins.
This can’t be happening.
But it is. And I can actually feel it.
“If you feel rain, please raise your right arm,” Zenith called.
Tory and I lifted our arms and I spotted around fifty others in the circle doing the same.
“Good!” Zenith said excitedly. “You hold the Element of water inside you, just like myself.”
Some of the others who'd raised their hands started muttering keenly and a few without their hands raised grumbled and sighed.
“Quiet,” Zenith hushed them. “Eyes to the sky once more. You will be tested for all Elements, though you are unlikely to have more than one my dears.”
I raised my eyes, my heart hammering as I thought over what she'd said. The Element of water? Did Tory and I really hold that gift? Even as I thought it, I was sure it was true. Like an innate part of me had awoken and it embodied water itself.
Holy crap we really do belong here.
“Rogo vim aeris!” Professor Zenith called out and a strong wind gusted through my hair. I looked to Tory, finding her hair moving in the same powerful breeze. Another fifty or so of the group seemed to be in the depths of the maelstrom but everyone else in the circle were clearly unaffected. My gut swirled and a fluttering feeling filled my stomach and sailed through my veins. It felt so natural, like my body had a whole other channel inside me alongside my veins and now it was flowing with the magic of two Elements.
“Raise your right arm if you feel the power of the wind!” Zenith commanded.
Tory and I raised our arms along with another random selection of the circle. A couple of which had raised their arms for water.
Eyes fell on us and a few words were exchanged which I didn't catch. Zenith faced us, her brows lifting with delight. “You are of air and water girls. Your powers will be great indeed just like your parents’。”
I nodded but Tory gazed down at her hands, turning them over as if expecting to find something more tangible there.
“Is this really happening?” she asked me under her breath.
“I think so,” I whispered. “Either that or that dodgy Professor slipped us something in his fairy dust.”
Tory snorted a laugh and Zenith fixed us with a glare. “Quiet! Eyes to the sky. You may be done here, but everyone else is not.”
We nodded, looking up again.
Air and water…could we really use magic related to those Elements? I could hardly wait to try it.
“Rogo vim terrae!” Zenith cried and I glanced down at the other students, wondering what would happen to those who had the next power. The edges of the grass tickled my knees and I searched the circle for signs of the next Element taking effect.
A deep well seemed to open inside me, filled with a pulsing kind of energy. It tingled and then coiled and rippled like an ever-changing being that lived within me.
Something brushed against my arm then curled around it. I glanced down, frowning as I found the grass growing up and spiralling around my wrist, as gentle as a caress. More of the fronds wrapped around my arms and I spotted the same happening to Tory.
She looked to me with her brows arched. “I thought it was rare to get two?”
I shrugged, confused as I spotted the other pupils in the circle who also had the grass hugging in around them. It took me a moment to realise everyone was staring at us, Zenith included.
“I-oh my…” she breathed, clapping a hand to her mouth. When she dropped it, she was smiling widely. “My dears, how wonderful. You have Earth as well. Three Elements is very rarely heard of. You will be amongst the most powerful students at Zodiac.”
A lump formed in my throat as that news settled over me. I supposed that was a good thing, but it all felt too surreal to really hit home. The other students were muttering and I caught strange words like 'Celestial Heirs' and 'Vega Twins'.
“Eyes to the sky!” Zenith commanded once more and I looked up again with my heart pounding an uncomfortable tune. Why was everyone looking at us like that? Was it really that unheard of to have three Elements?
“Invoco virtutem ignis!” Zenith yelled.
Heat flared at my feet instantaneously and fire scored through the ground around me in a tight circle. The fire flickered out into embers, leaving a glowing red ring in the grass around my Converses. The exact same thing shone around Tory's boots too.
My heart stalled as I stared down at the sight in confusion.
Four Elements? But Zenith said…
“By the stars!” Zenith cried and my head snapped up.
Everyone was staring. Hard. And not in a good way. Nearly a quarter of the circle had the same rings around their feet too but no one seemed to care about them.
“You hold every Element,” Zenith gasped, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe it were true.
“Is that…bad?” I asked.
“Seems like it,” Tory whispered so only I could hear.
Zenith recomposed herself, clearing her throat while mutters broke out around us, loud and unavoidable.
“Of course not,” Zenith finally answered me.
“Looks like my boyfriend has competition,” one girl said, throwing a sharp glare in our direction. Her hair was a rich gold colour and perfectly straight, her face the kind of pretty you usually found in a make-up commercial.
The girl beside her narrowed her eyes. “Are you really dating one of the Heirs, Kylie?”
“Yeah we've been together since forever, he texts me like every other week.” Kylie tossed her hair over her shoulder with an expression that said that was something to be proud of.
The chatter grew louder and Professor Zenith finally seemed to notice it. “Enough! Quiet! Your Awakening is over. If you have two – or more- powers you will choose between them and pick an Elemental house to join. Your head of year will now take you to The Orb where you'll join the rest of the students and make that decision.”
I spotted Orion emerging from the shadows at her words, beckoning us to follow him. As the students moved in a tide toward him, his eyes locked on me. His gaze drank me in for an endless second, then he turned and looked away toward the dark line of trees at the edge of the meadow.
Tory moved to my side and I stepped close to her, biting my lip. “Why does everyone seem pissed at us?”
She shrugged one shoulder as if it didn't remotely affect her but her eyes told a different story. “Guess we're about to find out.”
THE AWAKENING HAD left me reeling, trapped within my own body as I tried to adjust to the sudden onslaught of power which had filled a void I’d never known I had. For the first time in my life, I was struck speechless. This power had crept up on me, whispered sweet nothings in my ear then slapped my face so hard it was left pink and stinging for the whole world to see.
My veins were alive with the force of what I was now. And I could no longer deny the truth of everything Orion had said to us since he’d turned up at our front door.