The Elementals (13 page)

           
Terra had been dozing off until then. She asked about the scars, if it was fire that couldn't hurt him, what did?

           
"It was a knife."
Bryan
explained.

           
Terra flinched and asked no more. She feared if she did, the nightmares she had been having would worsen.

           
It was a lovely contrast to the way they normally spent meals in silence. The discussion was lively, they questioned about his life, what his parents had been like, his grandmother, his brother. Every single question he flat out refused to answer, but it was a beginning. They were talking, which was more than she could have expected based on the first meeting they had.

           
She smiled when she thought of it, how he ripped the newspaper from her hands, how he told them to go away. All because he was trying to protect them. In comparison of last night, he was a wonderful man, and it was evident why Marissa had gone to his house, because she knew who he was, and she knew she was safe.

           
It was irritating the way she told no one...

           
Era and Bryne sent to work on cleaning the dishes, Era planning to leave right afterward for the library to do inhibited research, and Terra drove Marissa to school. Marissa was less reluctant that day, and the drive was painless. They blared music, sung along (quite badly), and had a good time.

           
That was about to end. Before Marissa went she mysteriously said, "you'll have a visitor when you get home. He's not a threat, but be careful, okay? He's fragile." She shut the door, Terra not getting a chance to ask her what she meant.

           
It was odd for her to be telling her what was coming. While it was irritating when she said nothing at all of importance, it was more so when she said something frivolous, but soon, she realized what it was she was conveying, and she was a tad resentful that Marissa couldn't have come out say it clearer. What was it about psychics that caused them to be indecipherable?

           
In the driveway of her home was a gold-toned Mercedes, one that Terra instantly recognized. She rushed inside, hoping against every fiber of her being that it wasn't who she thought it was.

           
It was. She stepped through the door and there was Ian Reilly sitting on the couch with Bryne.

           
She felt like a fool, her hand still on the door knob. She didn't have a greeting, no surprise squeal and hug like any other normal girl, but in her defense, she wasn't normal. Ian should've known that, and it was a guess why he had come there. Perhaps it was because she was different. According to Marissa's feeling of boys in her school, some liked that, something different.

           
"Terra!" His face lit up, and Bryne scowled.

           
"Ian. What are you doing here? I mean, it's great to see you, but why did you drive all this way?"

           
Ian bounced off the couch and hugged her tightly. It was around her waist that he grabbed her and lifted her feet off the floor. She held his shoulders and the second he put her down she released him. There was a pained glint in his eyes, but otherwise he showed nothing but joy.

           
"I wanted to see you! I've missed you, Terra. It's not the same without you. I keep revisiting the coffee shop and the alleyway where we last kissed."

           
Self-conscious, she glimpsed at Bryne. His brow rose in amusement and surprise, and she could tell that the cough he suddenly was wracked with had the words, "easy" in it. Her insides burned.

           
"Aren't you happy?"

           
Returning to him, she faked a spirited nod. "Yeah! I'm happy! It's great to see you!" In her head she retreated,
No! I'm miserable! It's horrible to see you!

           
It was not that she didn't like Ian. He was a great human, but that was the whole problem. He was human and she was not. While he was with her he wasn't safe. He was before, but they had no idea, and then she knew for certain that he was indeed in peril. As long as she associated himself with them, then he was a target.

           
She changed the subject. “I see that you met, Bryne.”

           
“Yeah, he's a cool dude.” He narrowed his gaze at him. "You didn't tell me though, how you two know each other."

           
Bryne said, "Brother," as Terra said, "boyfriend."

           
"Huh?"

           
Bryne stared at her that was a stare beyond disbelief. She untangled herself from Ian's hold and sat beside him, a hand on his knee.

           
"He's Era's brother."

           
"They look nothing alike."

           
"They're half-siblings. The same father."

           
"How did you find him?"

           
"Oh, that was why we moved. I didn't want you to know because of the gossip that is spread around in that small town, but we tracked him down and Bryne's the only living relative she has."

           
Bryne couldn't take his eyes off of her, a slight shake of his head. She was going to pay for her lies later.

           
"So you're adopting him?"

           
"Um, no, that would be awkward. He's practically family, but..."

           
"You're dating him," Ian stated in the same dead voice he used in that dank alleyway in what felt like a century ago. Terra remembered with clarity when she said that she was moving, and she wasn't going to come back or keep in touch. He responded to her in that exact way and it set sympathy in her for him.

           
"I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say to a broken heart.

           
He stepped forward, desperation in his visage and tone. "Please don't do this, Terra. You had to feel what I felt. I thought you loved me."

           
Was he trying to break her heart too? An eye for an eye? "I never said that, Ian. You assumed I did."

           
"How cruel can you be to mess with me like that?! Am I the first guy you've done this to, or are there others? In other places you've lived!"

           
"Ian..." Terra didn't know what to say. There was no way to make it better, to make him feel better. She didn't tell him the truth; she led him on for her own gain, for her own comfort. She was a horrible person, and yet, she couldn't stop him from running out like anyone else who cared might've. She didn't go after him; she listened as he revved the engine of his car and sped away.

           
Terra had never attempted to explain what she was promised by proxy not to. That was what made having a relationship with a human impossible. Well, not impossible. It could happen between a freak and human and it would not be the first time. But between an Elemental freak and a human? No, that was not possible.

           
Bryne didn't speak for a long time. He left her to her misery and it was appreciated, but soon they would have to talk about it. She couldn't avoid it forever, and the sooner it was, the better it would be.

           
"Bryne," she sighed but he held up a hand for silence.

           
"I don't care what that was about. The only thing I want to know is if you ever cared for that kid."

           
That kid? It made him sound like he was ancient, and she supposed in their experience, they were.

           
"Yes," she said adamantly, "but... Some things can't be. I was selfish in leading him on when I couldn't keep him. His heartache is my fault."

           
"Keep him? He's not a puppy, Terra." He shook his head back and forth, as if he was contemplating something. "Well... I guess you can look at humans as they were puppies, but hey, let’s be fair, it wasn't right."

           
"I know, that's why I did what I did. I didn't go after him for a reason."

           
"But you did let him go because you did care for him?" It started out as a statement and twisted into a question.

           
"It wasn't right." That was that. There was no undo, no backspace on a keyboard, no eraser from a pencil. Their story was written in ink and though she could scratch it out as if it didn't exist, it did, and there was nothing she could do to take it back.

           
Slowly, unsure, he wrapped an arm over her. She started to sweat almost immediately from his touch.

           
"Listen, flower child. We have to do what we have to do. Sometimes, it means lying and cheating. Sometimes, it means hurting the ones we love…or just like. Sometimes, we have no choice.

           
"There was nothing more I wanted than to have a family, and I knew I had one. It was you three. I didn't know your faces, your names, but I knew you existed. I also knew that when you came for me, I'd have to force you to leave, because it wasn't safe for you. It's not easy, not in the least bit. I wanted you but there was no way I could have you. Danger followed me, and I loved you without knowing you."
Bryan
explained.

           
"You were doing what I've done." Terra responded.

           
"Exactly. So cheer up. It’s part of our business, but for the record, next time, don't get involved with a human. They make things messy."

           
“Point taken. Not again." Terra replied nodding her head in agreement.

           
He kissed the part in her hair as she leaned into his side. She wasn't certain who gave him the guide on how to be a good brother, but he did it well. It was as if they all were born with directions on how to live with each other, even if it wasn't well, they made a good family without even trying. Most blood relatives couldn't say that much.

           
Then, the phone rang. She jumped up with expectancy that it would be Ian. Who else could it have been? No one ever called, but when she picked it up, the voice on the other end of the receiver was not Ian. It was deeper, and rougher. The voice sounded as though it had swallowed rusted nails for supper, and it sent chills down her spine like ice water through a pipe.

           
“If you want your little human friend alive, you'll come to
Johnston
Town
High School
tonight at two a.m. If you don't show, your pet dies."

           
"Who is this? Hello?" Terra frantically questioned.

           
The line died, a dead dial tone in its place.

           
"Terra? Are you okay? You're green."

           
She swallowed, but there was no saliva to coat her dry and scratchy throat. "He has Ian."

           
“
Who
has Ian?”

           
“
Him
. The one you won't tell us about.”

           
Despite the element fire being present in the room, it turned frigid as the arctic. He could have warmed it if he wanted, but he sat there like he was made out of ice.