Mark of Four (4 page)

They followed her down a hallway with white doors on either side and into a waiting room at the far end. Marble benches filled the room, and Alayne sat down with one parent on each side. Four other families occupied the other benches in silence.

After the red-haired receptionist had gone, another woman leaned toward Wynn. “Is this your first one?”

Wynn nodded. “Our only one.”

The woman clicked her tongue. “It’s hard, isn’t it?” She nodded at her daughter, who sat chewing her bottom lip. “She’s our fifth and last one. Her papa and I are going to be lonely.”

Wynn’s eyebrows arched. “Five in one family. That’s amazing.”

“Yes, the gene pool was kind to us.”

Alayne watched the other girl. Black hair frizzed down her back in a bush. Freckles covered her nose and cheeks. Alayne smiled at her. The girl’s face lit up.

“Hi.” The sound echoed in the marble room. “I’m Marysa.”

“Alayne.”

The girl glanced at the hall door. “I’m so scared, I’m about to wet my pants. Please don’t tell me I’m the only one.”

Alayne shook her head. “I’m nervous, too.”

The door opened. “Marysa Blakely.”

The color drained from Marysa’s face. She shot a panicked look at her parents, and the three of them rose and went through the door.

“Almost there,” whispered Wynn, squeezing Alayne’s hand. “It won’t be long now.”

As soon as she’d spoken, the door opened again. “Alayne Worth.”

A stone dropped into the pit of Alayne’s stomach. She rose, steadying her trembling knees. Her parents grasped her hands.

The man in the doorway smiled. “Welcome, Alayne. Follow me, please.” He led the way down the hallway to the third door on the left. “In here, please.”

As Alayne stepped into the room, her parents let go of her hands. She turned, panic racing through her mind.

“This is where we’ll leave you, Layne.” Her father squeezed her arm. “We’ll be waiting outside when you’re done.”

A ghost of a smile trembled on Wynn’s lips. “You’ll do well, Alayne.”

“But...”

“Ace it for me, okay, Layne?” Bryan pulled Wynn out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Alayne stared at the closed door before turning to the man. He slid a chair from behind his desk and sat in it, smiling at her. On the desk, four MIUs pointed toward a chair against the wall where the doctor motioned Alayne to sit.

Alayne perched on the edge of the chair, trembling.

“No need to be nervous. I’m Dr. Grath. I’ll be seeing if you qualify for an Elemental Training Facility today.”

“Okay.” Alayne’s teeth chattered when she unclenched her jaw.

“Why don’t you start by telling me about yourself, Alayne?” As Dr. Grath spoke, he pulled some words up from a fifth MIU near his elbow. He scrolled through the lists that wavered in the air. “What were some of your favorite activities as a child?”

Alayne took a deep breath. “Swimming, running, hiking, tubing, water-skiing—”

“Whoah, hold up.” The doctor moved words into sentences in the air before filing them away.

Alayne swallowed her words.

“Which of those activities were your favorite? Which did you enjoy the most?”

“That’s a hard question to answer, sir. It depended on circumstantial factors—how much sleep I’d gotten, if I’d had a shower that morning.”

“Understandably.” The doctor waited.

“Swimming,” Alayne decided. “I’ve always loved to swim.”

The doctor made another note in the air. “What about swimming did you enjoy the most?”

Alayne twisted in her chair, shooting a glance at the door. She tried to answer honestly. “I—I felt peaceful, no stress, no worries.”

“Did you find yourself able to pick up the skill easily?” Dr. Grath pulled a pair of spectacles from his top drawer and slid them on his nose, concentrating on the words highlighted by the MIU.

“Yeah,” Alayne shrugged. “Water has always, I don’t know, fit. I used to create things with the water to help me relax—candles from water that sparkled in the light, a water piano once, though I liked the water harp better. It played music, but nothing great. It sounded plinky. I couldn’t get the strings formed exactly right.”

She stopped when she saw the doctor’s expression, and her pulse thudded in her neck. She knew she wasn’t technically supposed to wield water before her training had begun. Had she ruined her chances at school because she’d admitted too much?

The doctor spoke slowly, as if he had trouble forming the words. “How old were you when you created your water instruments?”

“Mmm, eight maybe?”

After a long pause, the doctor picked up a thick, aged book that rested on his desk. He flipped a page in it. “How much do you know about Elemental history, Alayne?”

“Mostly what they teach in Basic School.”

Dr. Grath cleared his throat. “Good, good.” He glanced down at the book. “So you’re aware of how Elementals gained their standing in our society today?”

Alayne nodded. “It was because of the GD. The Natural Humans couldn’t cope with the destruction of CommonEarth, so they stepped back to let the Elementals take over the cleanup effort.”

“Even though the Elementals were responsible for the Great Deluge in the first place,” Dr. Grath murmured absently. He smoothed a hand over his receding hairline and flipped to another page. “Four Elementals, four elements. And yet...” His voice trailed off, and he shook his head.

Alayne shuffled her feet. The doctor appeared to be lost in thought, and Alayne wished he would make his decision.
Please, let it be Clayborne, not Andova.

“Okay, Alayne.” Dr. Grath pushed back his chair and stood. “Let’s have a look.”

A look at what?
Alayne’s palms sweated. She slid them under her legs as Dr. Grath reached over the desk, switching on the four MIUs.

Four streams of light cast a glow over Alayne in her chair, and Alayne squinted against the intense brilliance.

Dr. Grath was mostly a silhouette behind the MIUs, but in the air in front of Alayne, huge color-wheels appeared, some brighter than others. A brilliant red bumped a bright green wheel. A group of royal blues hovered over the marble floor, not moving much. The yellow wheels glowed brightly, their color rebounding off of the desk and the walls.

After a shocked, silent moment, Dr. Grath cleared the air with a swipe of his hand and switched off the MIUs. He gripped the back of his chair, but his fingers trembled.

Alayne shifted uncomfortably under his awed stare. He crossed his arms and tucked his hands beneath his armpits as he paced the floor. “You say you could create water sculptures from a very young age?”

Alayne nodded, fear twisting her stomach. Based on his reaction, her gifts must be more uncommon than she’d thought.

“Have you ever been able to do anything else? Did you ever notice heat and cold in any unusual way? The air or the ground around you—did it ever affect you?”

Alayne’s was confused. “No, sir?” She heard the question mark at the end of her answer.

After a few silent moments, Dr. Grath cleared his throat. “Would you excuse me for a moment?” Without waiting for an answer, he hurried from the room.

Alayne frowned. The nervous stone in her stomach grew; she thought she might be sick. Maybe she had failed. They’d send her home again—to live with her mother’s fear and to flinch at every shadow.

She closed her eyes in defeat, her thoughts tumbling faster and more frenetically inside her head. The click of the door jerked her back to reality.

Dr. Grath’s smile wavered on his face. “Well, young lady. I—it appears that you are exceptionally gifted.” He smoothed his mustache. “I’m recommending you for transfer to Andova Training Facility. The faculty and staff there will be better equipped to handle your level of skill.”

“No.” Panic twisted inside Alayne. “Please. I—I’d rather go to Clayborne.”

Surprise lit Dr. Grath’s eyes. “Andova is equipped to handle—”

“I know, Doctor.” She writhed, miserable, unable to explain her own irrational fears.

He studied her in silence. Finally, he asked, “Can you tell me why you so strongly prefer Clayborne?”

Alayne shrugged.
So I can fit in. Fade into the background.

Dr. Grath held her gaze for a long time. Finally, he sighed. “I will never force a student to accept an education they don’t want. If you wish it, Alayne, I will recommend you for Clayborne, but I advise you to give Andova a chance.”

“No, thank you.” Relief made Alayne weak-kneed.

Dr. Grath held out his hand. “Well, Alayne, if you will hand me your plaque, I’ll update it for you.” A mixture of puzzlement and awe tinged his gaze.

Alayne pulled the plaque from her bag and handed it to him. He slid it into a slot in the wall, pressing a button beside it. A moment later, her plaque reappeared.

Dr. Grath handed it to her with an enigmatic smile and opened the door.

Alayne glanced at the plaque. Where the empty golden placard had been, words now etched the shiny surface. In fancy calligraphy, the plaque read:

A
layne pushed
the door open and walked toward her parents, who waited on the courtyard steps. As she neared, they stood.

Alayne handed them her plaque. “I’m going to Clayborne.” Her voice shook with relief.

Bryan read the plaque and cleared his throat. “Congratulations, Bug. You’ll be the best Water-Wielder there is, I have no doubt.”

Wynn’s smile wavered. “Yes, she will.” She started to say more, but her eyes welled up, and she turned away. Bryan squeezed her shoulder.

Alayne blinked back her own tears. The two black bags she’d packed sat near her parents’ feet, a testament of her imminent separation from the two people she loved best in CommonEarth. Dread and anticipation circled in her stomach.

Wynn turned back and forced a smile. “If you need anything once you get there, let us know. We can ship it to you. The shuttle leaves in half an hour. You and your classmates need to be on board.”

Alayne tilted her head to see the top of the spire high above them. Below the cloud line, small shuttles arrived and departed on a round platform. “That’s where you’ll take off from, Alayne.” Bryan pulled her into a bear hug. “We’ll see you next summer, Bug.”

Alayne threw herself into her father’s arms. Then she pulled away and hugged her mother. Bryan cleared his throat and leaned over to grab the bags. “Come on, let’s hustle. We don’t want to miss your flight.”

They re-entered the spire, this time heading straight across the round open area. A security guard stood in front of a sliding door. He held out a gloved hand. “Your plaque?”

Alayne had almost forgotten about her birthday gift hanging loosely from her fingers. She handed it over swiftly.

The man swiped it across the door, and it slid open.

“Have a pleasant trip, Miss Worth.” He returned the plaque.

Alayne started to enter before realizing her parents weren’t beside her. “Can’t you come up?”

“We don’t have plaques,” her father answered.

Tears flowed freely down Alayne’s cheeks, dripping off her jaw. She pulled her parents fiercely into one last hug. “I love you guys. I’ll write.”

She grabbed the handles of her bags and stepped into the chute, waving as her parents disappeared from view. At breathtaking speed, the car sped upward.

Office floors flashed past, and then for a while there was nothing but the clear air outside the chute. The sprawling metropolis grew smaller as she ascended higher.

Soon, a ding sounded. “Shuttle landing,” a soft female voice announced. The door slid open.

“Whoop! Over here!” Marysa knelt on the platform with her bags, rooting through them as she looked for something.

Alayne walked over. “Hi,” she said shyly.

Marysa stood, waving a paper. “Holy hot-breath, I thought I’d lost it.” She tucked the slip of paper in her pocket. “My meal voucher for the first day until I can buy the meal plan off the commissary.”

Alayne gulped. “I didn’t know we had to have a meal voucher.”

“Oh, you don’t. I mean, you don’t if your parents pre-arranged everything. This meal voucher is good for either Andova or Clayborne, but I am so glad I got into Clayborne. It’s where all my siblings have gone. I can’t believe my parents remembered the voucher; they’re so disorganized. They wouldn’t have remembered to bring me along to my own assessment if I hadn’t reminded them.”

Two other students exited the chute, and one more after that. They spread out, looking bashful.

“Of course, we only had five at our assessment today, but training begins next week. Our City Centre could send another twenty or thirty in that time, who knows? City Centres from all over the Continent usually continue their assessments right up to the last minute.”

“I see,” Alayne nodded. “I don’t know much about how it works. My parents aren’t Elementals, so they couldn’t tell me about what happens after assessment.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” Marysa waved the comment aside. “I’ll tell you what you need to know if you have any questions. Not that I’m an expert, but I
have
had three brothers and a sister attend Clayborne, so I know all about it, more than most First-Years. So what are you?”

“What? Oh.” Alayne glanced down at her plaque to reassure herself that all this was real. “I’m a Water-Wielder.”

“Awesome! My oldest brother’s a Water-Wielder. He’s the only one though. The next one down is an Air-Master, and then the rest of us are Fire-Breathers. Nobody got the Earth-Mover one. That’s too bad; I always thought it would be fun to start an earthquake. Not really.” She laughed heartily. “Alayne, I feel so much
better
now that the assessments are done.” She drew a deep breath and let it out in a noisy gust. “I’ve always had this recurring nightmare that I would get to my assessments and realize that I was the only Natural Human in the family. When Dr. Kynley told me I was a Fire-Breather, I felt lighter than air. Hey, let’s go talk to the boys.”

She led the way to the three newcomers and introduced herself and Alayne. The girls had just learned the new names—Brayden, Kent, and Roland—when a shuttle approached. As it neared, it slowed, creeping to a landing in the center of the platform.

It was a huge oval that glinted metallic, warped reflections of Alayne and the others. Its side was lined with a long strip of windows, and eight kick-stands lowered onto the wood of the platform as the shuttle rocked to a gentle halt.

A hatch opened, and the pilot stepped out. “Ready to go? I’ll give you a hand with that luggage.” He opened a door on the smooth underbelly of the shuttle, grabbed Marysa’s bags and tossed them in, and then went back for Alayne’s. The boys loaded their own.

The pilot clapped his hands. “Now then, a right fresh crop we’ve got today. If you’re prone to air-sickness, let me know. I’ll work extra hard to keep the shuttle smooth. There’s no toilet on board, so if you need to go, I’d recommend doing so now.”

They all shook their heads.

“Grand. Hop in then. We’ll be off in a moment.” He ushered them through the open hatch. Marysa stepped in first, followed by Alayne. The three boys climbed in afterward. Benches lined the inside of the craft along the walls, and Alayne sat near Marysa, feeling shy.

Marysa had no concept of shyness. “I love your hair, Alayne. Honey gold; always wished mine were that color. But no, I had to get black. Dad says it’s his fault, he’s the black-hair in the family.” She patted her head and laughed. “It’s also wiry, which I hate, but you know, you take what you can get. At least I
have
hair. I have an uncle that’s as bald as a baby’s bottom. He tells me all the time he wishes he had even a fraction of what I’ve got. Yours is so pretty and smooth.” She touched Alayne’s braid and raced on. “When we get there, you want to be my roommate? They let us choose if we find someone the first day; otherwise, they’ll assign us, and I’d hate to get stuck with somebody like my sister had last year. Her name was Henrietta Boggs, a Water-Wielder. Katrina—that’s my sister—said she kept starting geysers in the girls’ toilets every evening because she knew they hated it. If she could time it right, she’d get a good geyser going at the same time some girl was sitting on the pot. Katrina said you could hear the screams three floors down.”

The shuttle was most of the way to Clayborne before Alayne realized Marysa hadn’t paused long enough for her to say she’d enjoy being her roommate.

O
ut the shuttle
window behind Kent’s nodding head, a tall spire stretched higher than the assessment center back home. Rolling ground covered in tall grass surrounded the spire for miles.

In the distance, a small village darkened the landscape. Alayne wondered how far it would be to jog from the spire to the village.

She returned her attention to the spire. Other shuttles were visible circling the platform at the top.

“Just a few more minutes, ladies and gents.” The pilot turned in his seat. “We’re next on the schedule to land.”

Another shuttle touched down on the platform; its doors opened, and ten or twelve young people piled out. Their pilot unloaded their bags, and an attendant hustled them into a glass chute. They disappeared, and the shuttle disembarked again.

“Our turn.” The pilot directed the plane to the platform, landing the craft with a soft bump. Kent blinked awake. The others stood.

Marysa still chattered. She had better knowledge of first-day procedure than Alayne, and Alayne was grateful for the girl’s presence in such unfamiliar territory.

“So we’re going first to the girls’ dormitory, I think. The commissary will probably have our suppers ready soon, but they like us to get unpacked and settled first. You should be able to meet Katrina, too. Upperclassmen got here a few days ago. First-Years can come anytime up until classes start.”

The pilot opened the door for them, and they climbed out. Alayne ducked under the plane and opened the hatch, pulling out the bags and handing them two by two to Kent, who carried them out from under the shuttle.

The attendant waved them over to the chute.

“Best of luck!” The pilot saluted them as they stepped into the chute. Marysa shouted a thank you before the doors closed, and Alayne’s stomach rose to the roof as the car plummeted downward.

Floors flashed past. Masses of students milled in crowds before the floor rose to eye-level and the next one appeared. At last, the car stopped with a ding. “Dormitories,” the female voice said. The doors slid open.

Alayne stepped into a common room between two huge wings of a building. The high ceiling arched overhead, and the end of the room spread into the distance. Full-sized trees grew in groups of two and three. Pool tables, ping-pong tables, and couches were set up in random areas. In a corner, some students watched a movie that played in the air in the middle of a group of couches.

Alayne looked at the vaulted ceiling, and then squinted at the end of the hall.

A dark-haired girl with a pug-nose and freckles hurried toward them. “Marysa, you finally made it.”

Marysa gave a little hop. “Hi, Katrina! Katrina, this is Alayne; she’s from our City Centre.”

Katrina smiled and shook Alayne’s hand firmly. “Glad to know you. Hey, Sis, you’d better get yourself settled into the dormitories. The rooms are filling up fast.”

Marysa nodded. “Come on, Alayne. Let’s go see the dormitories.”

Alayne gripped her bags’ handles and walked toward the right archway, where a sign hung that said: “Female Elementals.”

A woman stood in the archway. As they approached with their bags, she asked, “Roommates?” At Marysa’s nod, the woman pointed them up the stairs. “First-Years on the upper floors this year. The eighteenth floor still has some open rooms. Happy climbing.”

Marysa grumbled about stairs and exercise for about five floors before she was panting too hard to speak. Alayne hastened up the steps, finally arriving on the eighteenth floor.

She entered the hallway, treading carefully on the worn red carpet, peering into the first room on her right. Luggage spread across all the beds. About ten doors down on the left, she found a smaller room with only two beds in it. Both were empty. “Marysa, in here.” She entered the room and dumped her bags on a bed. Marysa took the other one.

“Finally!” Marysa sprawled on the bed, throwing an arm over her face. “I thought I’d die before we hit the top. You’d think with all the trained Elementals they’ve got that
one
of them could run an elevator.”

“Must be broken.” Alayne slid out of her shoes, rummaging in her bag for the sandals she knew her mother had packed.

Marysa snorted. “Nah, Elemental work doesn’t break once you notch the bend. Like the hot water heater at home. When they built our house, a Water-Wielder and a Fire-Breather came and twisted the elements so that water pumped into the tank and heated. Then they notched the bends and left. It’ll never break; no repairs necessary. Anyway, even if they thought about replacing the elevator, they wouldn’t. Katrina told me they do it to the First-Years every year to help promote exercise.”

Alayne opened the side pocket of her bag. “Do we need this plaque anymore, do you think? Food in the commissary or anything?”

“No, I think that was just to get in. I’ll put mine above my bed.” She popped up, her second wind in place. “Let’s go get supper. I’m starved.”

Alayne zipped her bag and followed her friend to the stairway.

“Katrina said she’d meet me at the commissary. My brothers think they’re too good for the First-Years. They’ll probably ignore us.”

As Alayne stepped into the common room, a group of girls crowded around them. Their voices were loud and obnoxious; Alayne wanted to hide until they passed.

“Who are you?” The biggest girl’s black mohawk spiked her hair; gold hoops glittered in her eyebrow and her nose. Black lipstick coated her mouth, which coordinated nicely with her black shirt, leggings, and fingernails.

“I’m Marysa, and this is my friend, Alayne,” Marysa began, but the girl interrupted.

“Muh–REES–uh? What kind of stupid name is that?”

Alayne flushed. “The same kind of name that Cornelia is, or should we call you Corn for short?” She tugged Marysa away, calling over her shoulder, “Your nose hoop doesn’t match the rest of your outfit.”

Cornelia’s mouth fell open, her face turning as red as the carpet. Alayne nudged Marysa, and her friend trailed behind her across the room. Angry glances followed them. Alayne ducked behind a tree and sat down on the end of a couch, out of sight of the group of girls.

“How did you know her name was Cornelia?” Marysa’s eyes were still round with awe.

“She had her plaque sitting out on the bed in the first room we looked in. Her picture was at the bottom.”

“That was completely cool. Thanks for sticking up for me.”

Alayne shrugged uncomfortably.

“Hey, they have a vendor over there. Want me to go get some drinks before supper?”

Alayne shrugged again. Marysa took that as a yes and hurried over. Alayne felt miserably out of her element. She missed her dad’s comforting hugs and even her mom’s worried touches. Her throat ached. She settled farther into the couch out of sight of the common room and felt the first tear snake its way down her cheek. She sniffed. Another tear swiftly followed.