MICAH
NINE
Holy shit. They found Synergy.
Synergy is real—and a woman.
I never thought the day would come that we truly would have all six of us together. I knew the stories and the history we were taught, but I never really believed that the sixth element was real.
I stopped in the path outside the library and punched the wall to my right.
I took my hand away to see I’d cracked the stone and the skin on my hand.
Why did it have to be a woman? None of the five before us had ever been female.
It always passed to a male of the family line.
How can we do our jobs if we’re worried about some silly woman who was clueless enough to sit on me?
I punched the wall again, this time knocking off a chunk of stone as I remembered the rush of power that I felt when she touched me.
I could tell she didn’t feel it with the same intensity I had.
Could it be that she has no idea what or who she is?
Why did I, of all people, have to be the first one to meet her?
I know for sure the others would have said something if they’d stumbled across her first. They believed in the fairy tale we’ve been fed all these years.
Damn it, why is my power reacting like this?
I didn’t spend the last five years learning to manage it for one woman to ruin it.
I thought back to the archive room. I’d felt my power flare and reach out towards something it was drawn to.
I assumed it was sensing one of the lesser demons that we’ve been hunting nearby, so I ignored it.
It wasn’t until seconds before she sat on me that I knew someone was in the room with me.
No one other than the Elementi used this obscure records room, and students needed permission from one of the Elementi to get access.
So, imagine my surprise when the fragrance of rose wafted into my nose.
The aroma was light and delicate, pure almost. I took another deep breath, and this time, the scent was stronger as if the source had gotten closer to me.
That’s when it crashed onto my chest, knocking the air and the crap out of me.
I shook my head, trying to get the memory of her crystal-blue eyes looking at me out of my head.
I knew it was futile, I would be dreaming about those eyes for days.
Even just thinking about her, I could still feel the current of power flowing between us as if she were still here.
I had to fight the urge to go back and talk to her again, just to see if I’d dreamed the whole thing up.
What the hell is happening to me?
“Damn, Micah. Larry is going to be pissed that you damaged a four-hundred-year-old building. What’s up?” Brayden asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I looked up to see my best friend leaning against the wall in front of me. He must’ve seen me punching the wall – a common occurrence for me when I was royally pissed.
“I think I might have just met the infamous sixth element,” I said, brushing the stone chips from my bleeding knuckles.
Brayden’s brows shot up and his eyes widened with surprise. He pushed away from the wall and walked over to me. “What makes you say that?”
“A strange girl was in the special archive and managed to sit on me,” I said, wrapping the cloth hankie Brayden always kept on him around my bleeding hand.
“As entertaining as it is to hear that it happened to you of all people, I can’t say that would be enough to qualify her as Synergy,” Brayden teased.
My parents died when I was twelve, and I moved in with the Doltens.
Our families had always been close, so it worked out for the best. I was an only child, and my extended family wasn’t really interested in raising a kid that wasn’t their own.
Brayden’s family was so welcoming to me.
So, believe it when I say that Brayden knew just how much I didn’t care for social interaction and took great joy in this happening to me.
“Har, har, har’ Let's poke fun at the antisocial orphan. Nice move, asshole,” I said with mock anger.
Brayden shrugged his shoulders. “So, I’m assuming something else happened for you to think this person could be Synergy.”
“I can’t explain it, but when her body made contact with mine, it was like I was sixteen again, and my powers just manifested. It was wild, out of control. It was all I could do to keep from setting the room on fire,” I said, trying to explain the experience.
Brayden, who seemed to finally be taking me seriously, tapped his index finger on his chin.
He always did that when his brain worked overtime figuring out a problem.
“Out of all five of us, you have the greatest control over your powers, so for you to have that ripped away from you is something significant to consider.”
“Why don’t you ponder the universe later with Hudson? We have demons to kill. The sun has finally set, and I want to find them before they end up on the campus grounds,” I said, walking toward the parking lot where my car was waiting.
“What section did Beth give us tonight?” Brayden asked, walking alongside me.
I pulled out my phone to double-check the text I’d gotten earlier. “Looks like the pasture lands between Aiden House and Ashfall Hall. Christ, that’s a huge area! What does she think we are?”
“Magically-gifted descendants of the Knights Templar,” Brayden deadpanned.
“Looks who’s a funny man tonight,” I said, frowning at him. I mumbled under my breath, “Dick.”
We walked up to my bright, fire-engine red Bugatti Veyron and slid into the low sports car.
“Remind me again why we can’t take my car? It’s much less conspicuous than this,” Brayden said, giving me a reproachful look.
“Because I’m not riding in that futuristic egg you call a car. I don’t care if BMW made it; I’m still not going to ride in it,” I said, pushing the button and letting the engine roar to life.
“At least mine isn't killing the earth one hit of a button at a time,” Brayden grumbled.
“If you start on that bullshit with me again, I’m going to kick you out of my car, best friend or not.
I let you talk me into a reusable straw and a bamboo toothbrush, but do not diss my car while you’re in it,” I snapped as I slammed down on the gas pedal, letting the rear wheels smoke before we launched forward.
Brayden opened his mouth, his face showing his disapproval on my burn out. “Not a word, Brayden.”
He made the smart choice and kept his thoughts to himself as we drove the access road to the pastures. The night was clear, and the moon was bright, so it would be easy to wander through the fields looking for demons.
The world has no idea about the hidden battle that’s been raging for almost a thousand years.
Demons and angels have been fighting since the dawn of time, but it wasn’t until the demons decided to try a different tactic that they started to involve us—the blessed Elementi.
There are many levels of demons, and typically, the school was warded by the five blessed Elementi warriors.
Over the past seven hundred years, those blessed Elementi have helped to keep the demons from taking over, but the demons were getting smarter and stronger.
Meanwhile, the Elementi were stuck with the first generation of blessed Elementi who couldn’t all be in the same room together without fighting.
With this fatal flaw, lesser demons were finding their way through the cracks, and they were all heading in the same direction: the school.
I parked the car at the end of the access road.
Brayden and I got out and started our search grid.
Every night we paired up into two groups of two, rotating who we worked with, keeping the school safe.
I was thankful that I had Brayden tonight, Beth had taken it as her mission to get Parker and me to get along by forcing us to patrol together.
Thankfully, he had the night off and was stuck doing homework.
“Micah.”
I spun on my heel and ran after Brayden as he chased after something.
I channeled my powers, producing my blessed weapons—two black swords, slightly curved with leather-wrapped handles—formed in my hands in a swirl of red energy.
Ahead, I saw a burst of green coming from Brayden, and he pulled up the earth around the demon, trapping it in on all sides.
I charged past him and leaped over the wall of dirt, landing in front of the little demon.
Thankfully this one didn’t have wings, but I saw Brayden raise the walls around it just in case, blocking us from view.
It snarled at me, its tiny mouth full of needle-sharp teeth that wanted nothing more than to tear me apart.
This one was the size of a two-year-old and had claws for hands that whipped out at me, catching me across the side of my arm.
“Okay, asshole, you want to play dirty? I can play dirty,” I said, absorbing my swords and replacing them with two balls of flickering flames. I chucked one after the other at its feet, causing it to jump to avoid them. “Take that, ya little fucker.”
“Micah, cut that shit out and get it over with. We have more ground to cover,” Brayden hollered from the other side of the wall.
Knowing Brayden was right, I produced my swords again and charged at the distracted demon. Crisscrossing my swords, I sliced its head off in one motion and blood spurted out. The moment it hit the ground, it drifted away, sizzling into smoke.
“All clear,” I called out so Brayden knew he could drop the wall.
The dirt around me crumbled back to the earth, letting me go free. Brayden, with his arms crossed, glowered at me. “How many times has Liam told you to just get in, get it done, and get out? We need to make sure we don’t get discovered.”
“The Elementi have been undiscovered for almost eight hundred years, I don’t think taking my time killing a demon will crash our hidden empire,” I said, dusting the demon blood residue from my pants.
“Did the demon get you?” Brayden asked, noticing the tears in my sleeve.