Emerald

Emerald 1

     Dark shadows cast across a boy, just about seventeen, who walked inconspicuously to a hidden corner. Again and again, he heard his father's voice echoing through his mind, calling for him to join him in a conversation. A serious conversation, the boy could tell.
     Hold on, I'm coming, he thought in his mind, exasperated now that his father wouldn't keep quiet. Of course, he couldn't hear him. Only have been training for a year, he hadn't learned telepathy yet.
     The boy kept walking. One he was certain that from where he was no one could see him, he disintegrated into plain air, cold and bitter, with its ferocious wind biting anyone's skin.
     In a warm room, the boy stumbled. He hadn't perfected the art of teleporting with a spell yet. After steadying himself, the boy blinked and glanced around at his surroundings. His expression turned with familiarity to where he was. The Room of Meetings, he realized. Why had his father called him here?
     "Ethan."
     The boy who was named Ethan spun around at the commanding voice of his father. "Why am I here?" he asked him defiantly. Certainty gripped him like claws, knowing by the grim look on King Tidus's face this news would not be something he would like.
     But his eyes remained cold, yet questioning to his father.
     Tidus spoke up, his face heavy with something that was almost...grief. "Ethan. I have spoken with your mother, and Edna about this, and they have agreed. Much as we hate to do this, the circumstances have left us no choice."
     "What is it? Stop dancing around it," Ethan demanded, pacing back and forth. His voice sounded angry, though he was more afraid of what his father would say.
     His father cleared his throat uncertainly. "We have decided," Tidus began, "that fire, water, and wind will be trained starting now."
     "What! How can you say that?" he turned away, furiously.
     "I know it isn't right. But with each day, our enemy grows stronger, and with each attack, we realize that you need help. Remember what happened last time Safari caught you?"
     Ethan's hand immediately flew to he left arm. He winced as it still stung at his touch, and remembered the horror of almost losing his arm. Instead it had been twisted badly, pain surging through it when he'd last been taken prisoner and tortured by Safari.
     His father's face turned soft as he saw the delicacy in which Ethan still handled his left arm. "Yes, I know," he murmured softly. Then he continued on, "So you must see why we shall begin Fira, Aqua, and Windel's training now? We don't have a choice."
     The boy furrowed his eyebrows, making his green eyes smaller while he thought or a moment. Then, ever so slowly, he turned around. "I don't care," he spat, eyes flashing. "I don't care if Safari catches me, and even kills me. As long as it doesn't endanger my siblings. If, if they start too young, then they most likely will die. They need to be sixteen! At least Savannah- I mean, Fira and Aqua are fifteen. But Windel, he's only seven! And do you remember what happened to Wendy?"
     Tidus didn't respond, just waited for Ethan to finish. Ethan hated his cool demeanor, as if nothing made a difference to him. But he knew it was all show, He knew his father, and he knew that this was a difficult decision he'd made.
     "We don't even know if she is still alive right now! You can't. You just can't-" Ethan broke off, as he peered into the depths of horror of what might happen to his siblings.
     "I know," his father replied. "It is endangering their lives, but, as I've said already, we don't have a choice."
     Ethan breathed out a sigh, almost like a huff. After a moment of pondering, he said calmly, "You will try to show them of their power. But you won't succeed. I can assure you."
     "I wish you luck, in keeping them from common realization."
     Not wanting to struggle in his teleportation again, Ethan muttered the spell under his breath and snapped his fingers. He ended up back in his home, just outside Savannah and Sarina's rooms, in the middle of the night.

Chapter 1

     A cool breeze whiffed through Sav's blond hair, as the glass door opened and many students ran in, escaping from the freezing weather. A frown crossed her face as she realized she would have to go back out there. Her sister, Sarina, didn't seem to mind snow and ice, but Sav hated it. She'd rather go burn in a fire than freeze to death.
     She couldn't even avoid going back in the snow. She and Sarina had to walk home together, since no one could pick them up and it was too far for the school buses.
     "Sav!" She spun around at the sound of her sister's voice. "We need to leave now. I don't know why, but supposedly there's something going on at home."
     Sav raised her eyebrows. "Now?" she asked quietly, eyes darting to the kids around them. She didn't like being seen around with her sister, even if they were identical twins. Sarina only liked studying and being all nice, but Sav was the one every person in this school knew.
     When Sarina nodded, Sav sighed. "Alright, let's go." She started walking to the exit.
     "We need to leave through the office, Savannah!" Sarina called after her.
     Flashing a wicked grin back at her sister, Sav casually replied, "I have my own ways getting out." She began walking again, then turned back and said, "Oh, and try to keep me out of trouble."

     Sav paced around aimlessly in the delicate freezing flakes. Having walked half way home, she was sick of the cold, and had called their driver to take them back to their mansion.
     "It isn't that cold, you know," she heard her sister say from where she was happily sitting. Sav just ignored her. "Savannah,-"
     "Sav," Sav corrected her, rather gruffly.
     "Sav, Spencer is here."
     Sav spun around. "Spencer? Why?" she asked, half to herself as she saw her brother pull up in the car next to them.
     Sarina shrugged. "Probably has something to do with this reason we had to go home early."
     "Get in," he ordered, opening the window and leaning out. Rolling her eyes, Sav just stepped in wordlessly.
    "What do you want?" she asked, once they sat inside. Without mentioning anything, she reached out her hand and turned the heating up completely.
  Spencer's eyes flickered to what she did, but he said nothing about it. "It...has come to my attention...that today may have been strange for you," he began, uncertainty edging his voice. "And I wish, to talk to you about it.
  Sav sighed, wondering what rubbish he was talking about, and leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. She listened to her brother's weird conversation.
  "Really? Nothing strange of the sort?"
  "No. Really. What in this world are you talking about?"
  "Nothing. Nothing in this world," he muttered, only loud enough so Sav could barely hear.
  "Now what's that supposed to mean?" Sav demanded, sitting up and facing him directly.
  Spencer didn't meet her eye, pretending as if he were looking at the traffic very carefully. Sav almost pointed out that there were no other cars around, but she just waited for his response. "You'll find out soon enough," he promised.
  Way to be vague, Sav thought. She didn't bother to close her eyes again, because she could see the beginning of the driveway. Their driveway stretched a long way, about as long as her backyard stretched, which lay one acre. Once they pulled into the garage, Save stepped out, not waiting for her siblings, and stared at her house.
  Well, mansion.
  At 15,000 square feet, the rooms were large, and it took ten minutes to walk across from one room to another. So they didn't. They owned little electric platforms that you could drive around. You could even just sit back and close your eyes, the platform was comfortable enough.
  When Sav had been little, she and Sarina would pretend they were cars, and play "family", where they would be themselves, their brothers, and their parents.
  Sav and Sarina would always have many conversations about what their parents were like. They often asked Spencer, but he didn't know, he just said that they weren't around anymore. He never liked to talk about his dead mother and father.
  Sav didn't then, or even now know if they were dead or not. All she knew was that they disappeared. But lately, since the past year, Spencer had been acting so strange, she wouldn't be surprised if he did and just wouldn't say anything.