Chapter Twenty
Aura and Sefarina stepped out into the bright yellow sunlight light. Still sitting on the edge of the rooftop, with my feet dangling over the side of a metal girder, I tried to collect myself.
I dragged my legs backwards and then turned to them so that when I stood up, I couldn’t easily topple over the side of the building. And then a horrible thought struck me. What if the Ventus sisters were here to push me off the roof…?
I shook the thought out of my mind as I made my way towards them, smiling as genuinely as I could. If Captain Harris vouched for them, then they were definitely not bad guys. My mind was made up.
“Hi!” Sefarina said cheerily now that she was almost standing in front of me, “The Island is beautiful, it really is!”
Aura trailed behind slightly, nervously eyeing the sides of the helipad. Sefarina gazed back at her sister, and then leaned closer to me.
“I think she’s a bit nervous of the height.”
“Here, this might make you feel better,” I said to Aura, clasping my hands together and pulling water vapour into them. I moved my hands around quickly, making tiny bubbles, and
then when I un-cupped my hands, allowed them to blow away on the breeze. They shimmered in the sunshine, and flew away until they gently popped. Sefarina watched me in awe.
“That is amazing!”
“You’d make an excellent children’s entertainer,” Aura added, finally arriving at her sister’s side. I frowned at her in annoyance.
“That was a joke!” She defended, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that…”
“No you shouldn’t!” Sefarina reprimanded.
“I’ve heard it all before,” I told her, “just in Spanish. My brothers used to mock me too. That is, until they saw what I could do with the bubbles…”
“What can you do?” Sefarina asked, her eyes brightening in wonder.
“I can make them explode, like grenades. I can also harden them and hurl them at my enemies. Gamba told me that they feel like cricket balls. I can also make thousands of tiny bubbles and shoot them at people, just like you can with water Aura…”
Aura’s chin stuck out as she nodded in approval. Sefarina considered something for a few moments and then turned to Aura.
“You’re powers seems very similar. Do you think you could explode the water droplet, Aura?”
“I don’t think so. I can’t shape the water, only manipulate it.”
Sefarina’s head swivelled back to face mine. “But you can?”
“I can make water spouts, and use the water to envelop people, as you saw the other day…”
“Even though it was horrible, it was pretty exciting don’t you think?”
“No.” Aura answered honestly. Sefarina blinked slowly, and considered her response.
“I was referring to seeing other Elementals use their powers… Shasa’s water, Gamba’s steam and Madz’s plant thingy…”
“We can do a lot more than that,” I boasted.
“Then why didn’t you?” Aura questioned pointedly.
I didn’t know what to say; instead I just scowled at her, as did Sefarina.
Aura shook her head and exhaled loudly.
“I’m sorry Visola. I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep very well last night at all. Something about that empty hut made me feel… I just can’t explain it… It was like… a sense of déjà vu… And, to be honest, I’m pretty nervous about today…”
“I think we all are,” I told her.
“Let’s talk about something else then.” Sefarina changed the subject. “Where are your brothers and sister?”
I shrugged. “I have no clue.”
“Well I know where your brothers are,” Aura informed me, “because they are with our brother, training in the gymnasium.”
I shot my head forward in shock. Maybe I misheard. “Did you say brothers, not brother?”
She nodded. “Yeah. All three of them are sparring with one another, proving their worth or something like that. It’s a guy thing.”
“Do men usually do things like that?” I enquired naively.
Aura nodded again. “Oh yeah. Men always have something to prove.”
Sefarina’s left eyebrow rose and as she turned back to her sister. “That’s the pot calling the kettle black.”
Aura was clearly annoyed by her sister’s comment, but I didn’t understand what they meant.
“What does that mean?” I asked them eagerly.
“It’s an English idiom. It means that Aura does exactly what she is accusing Niyol of doing.”
I tilted my head in understanding. “Oh okay…”
“Whatever,” Aura added. She then folded her arms and began to sulk. She reminded me of Gamba.
“So,” Sefarina began, “it’s been really nice here so far. I’ve really enjoyed meeting you. And I know that it’s good for Niyol to be around some male company. He gets bored always being with us because we won’t talk to him about football.”
“That’s the only thing my brother Gamba will ever talk about,” I joked. We both laughed politely, but Aura didn’t join in.
“Where are your parents?” Aura questioned. It was quite abrupt, but perhaps that was how English people were.
“Um, they live with us on the island. They don’t live inside the base, but just outside it, on the south eastern coast, over there.” I pointed in the direction of my parent’s accommodation.
“Why don’t they live inside the Aqua base with you?”
I shrugged. “They don’t really like it. It’s too strange for them, too modern. They are used to a more simple life.” I smiled reassuringly. “We all get on really well with them and see them almost every day. But sometimes I get the feeling that they avoid us. I think they might be frightened of us. They still love us of course, but, well… you know…”
“Yeah, we do.” Aura’s words were short but incredibly meaningful.
“What are your parents like?” I asked the two sisters.
“Our dad is okay,” Aura explained, “he raised us by himself. Our mum left when Niyol was really young, and we haven’t seen her since.”
“Oh.” I didn’t really know what else to say.
Aura’s voice became harsher, full of bitterness and loathing. “Our mother couldn’t cope with the fact that she gave birth to freaks.”
Sefarina put her hand onto Aura’s arm reassuringly. “Please, Aura…”
“No, it’s alright,” she shrugged Sefarina’s touch away, “I’m not getting upset. I’m just answering a question.”
“You don’t have to,” I told her politely.
“It’s fine, Visola, really it is. I’m happy for you. Your parents clearly love you a lot.”
She was earnest in her compliment, and smiled warmly.
“Thank you,” I replied, knowing that she was right. My parents really did love me, even if they were sometimes afraid of us.
The wind blew stronger than before, a gust that made the girls’ hair fly over their faces. I wondered whether or not one of them was controlling the bellowing breeze.
“Actually,” Aura began, “there is something I would like to ask you about…”
I nodded, encouraging her to continue. I was intrigued.
“When we were first told about our powers, we were given a book…”
“The Elementals book?” I interrupted.
She waggled her head in confirmation.
“Yep, that’s it. Do you have it?”
“Of course we do,” I told her, “it’s downstairs in Shasa’s room I think. Do you want to see it?”
“I’d love to! I mean, we would all like to… It’s just, because we’re all new to this; we thought it might help us to read about your powers too. Then perhaps we can all work well together.”
I smiled politely, deciding whether or not we would actually be able to work together well as a team.
“What colour is it?” Sefarina asked, interrupting my train of th
ought.
“It’s a shiny blue.”
“Ours is silver. They must all be shiny then. I wonder why?”
“Because they’re so special. They’re revered as antiques. They’re incredibly old.”
“How do you know so much?” Aura wondered.
“Babajide taught us an awful lot about the Elementals of the past, and the history of the Elementus Populas. I also enjoy learning about things like that. It’s fun.”
“I’d love to know more…” Aura began, but her words were broken off by the sound of the huge fire door clunking open. We all turned to see Babajide and Sigwald walking towards us with Shasa, Madzimoyo, Gamba and Niyol.
“Here you all are!” Babajide exclaimed, “We were looking for you, and then Madz suggested that you might be up here waiting for us.”
“You’re late!” I joked, and everyone laughed.
The group walked over to us, and once they arrived, stopped in their tracks. The wind blew again, but this time more gently. Shasa smiled at me, and I noticed that the boys were all rather sweaty from their exercise. Niyol was breathing heavily, so I directed my attention towards him.
“Who won?” I enquired. He looked bewildered, then realised what I meant. He shook his head.
“No one. It wasn’t a competition. Gamba was just helping me to get back into the swing of things… Ever since Madz put that salt water onto my wound, I’ve been feeling so much better!”
I looked at Gamba, who peered at me knowingly. His brow dripped with sweat, and his gaze was hard and firm. It told me that he had been ‘training’ Niyol to test him and his powers. Gamba still didn’t trust any of them, and he was making sure that if they attacked us, there wouldn’t be any surprises.
Niyol turned to Gamba and patted him on the back. “Your brother is an excellent fighter. But apparently you’re just as good as he is.”
I smiled proudly. Coming from Gamba, that was a real compliment. “Why thank you,” I told him gratefully.
Niyol then patted Madz on the back. “And Madz also has some amazing techniques too…”
Shasa raised her eyebrow and looked at me. We both tried not to laugh. Madz saw us and frowned in annoyance.
“He’s really good!” Niyol defended.
“Where’s the pilot?” Babajide cut in, looking around the helipad anxiously, as if Ife would suddenly appear from nowhere. “I’m going to go and get her! We must set off! We must arrive in Malabo Harbour before sundown…”
Babajide rushed back to the door leading to the helipad and thrust it open, disappearing down the dark stairwell.
There was an awkward silence that was moderated by the ocean waves and the cool breeze.
“So,” Sigwald chirped cheerfully, “are you guys looking forward to working as a team?”
We all shrugged in turn, except for Sefarina who nodded enthusiastically.
“Teamwork really is one of the most important skills one can learn,” Sigwald began, and he then went into a speech about the value of listening and learning and being there for one another, but I began to zone out. My head was heavy and felt as if it was full of a sticky substance like honey. I was so tired and also incredibly nervous. I thought back to what Captain Harris had said to me. He was completely confident in his assessment of the Elementals. He really believed that we could make the world a better place.
So why didn’t I?
I glanced towards Gamba, and noticed that he was staring at Aura. Occasionally, his eyes would dart away, but they would always return to her. But his eyes weren’t penetrating her as if she were a villain; in fact it was the opposite. He seemed to… like her! I hadn’t seen him look at any one like that since…
I couldn’t even bare to even think her name. The traitor. The woman who turned against us. The woman who had stabbed Niyol in the stomach and tried to kill all of the Ventus. I shook my head determinedly. The Ventus definitely weren’t the enemy. There had to be another explanation as to where the blood came from. But that only left one solution…
Could it really be Babajide?
The door swung open again, and Sigwald stopped his speech and spun around. Babajide and Captain Harris strode across the helipad.
No. It couldn’t be him. There had to be another solution.
Just as I was about to turn to Madz and ask him quietly to go back over all of the alternatives as to who was the culprit, Babajide began to speak.
“It seems that the Supernus would like Captain Harris here to accompany you all on this mission. Assistant Director Ayres insisted upon it.”
Babjide smiled at Captain Harris insincerely. I caught his eye, and it looked as the Captain was smiling at me with them. I tried to hide my coy gaze by pretending the sun was in my eyes.
Babjide continued. “Ife should be here shortly, she was just finalising her preparations for the flight.”
Everyone fell quiet again, and I found that I couldn’t stop staring at the Captain. Realising that this was going to put me in a very awkward position, I decided that it was going to be a very long day.