Run To Earth (Power of Four) (41 page)

“Damn it!” Aaron ran both hands through his hair.

“Come on, Ace,” Kyran said. “Keep trying.”

“What’s the point?” Aaron spat. “I’m obviously
never
going to get this!”

“You’ve done it before,” Kyran said. “You split the ground to stop a car from running over you. That’s pretty intense. If you can do that as an instinctual reflux, you can do pretty much anything.”

Aaron exhaled slowly and raised his hand, aiming at the tree.

“Don’t think about it too much,” Kyran instructed. “Free your mind from the constraints of
how
to do something. Focus instead on what you want. You want to change the ground. You want that tree to bow before you. Make it so. Command the ground to do as you say, Aaron, don’t ask it.”

Aaron tried to do what Kyran said. The result was – nothing.

“It’s not working,” Aaron groaned.

“You’re not focusing, Ace.”

“I am!” Aaron snapped. “I’m trying! I don’t know how to
command
the stupid tree!”

“Obviously.” Kyran smirked. “Otherwise it would be doubled over by now.”

Aaron’s hands curled into fists. “Either help me, or stop talking.”

“I am helping,” Kyran said. “I can’t demonstrate this power. The element of Earth is your power, Ace.”

Aaron forced out a breath. He pumped and shook his hands, trying to get rid of the pins and needles sensation in his fingers. He aimed again and this time, he put every last bit of his concentration into it.

Still nothing happened.

“Come on, Ace,” Kyran said, irritation seeping into his voice. “Strip away everything: the guns, the blades. Take it all away and you’re still left with your power. No one can take that away from you,” he said. “Use it, Ace. It’s yours. Command it.”

Aaron tried; he forced all of his energy forward and tried to bend the tree in half. The leaves swayed in response.

“Come on, Ace,” Kyran groaned. “It’s not that difficult.”

“You do it then!” Aaron snapped.

“I would if I were the Elemental for Earth,” Kyran replied. “But it happens to be you. So drop the attitude and get on with it.”

Aaron tried again. The branches moved a little more, swaying from side to side.

“Is that it?” Kyran asked. “That all you got, Ace?”

“Stop calling me that!” Aaron dropped his hands and turned to face Kyran. “I get it, okay! I get that I’m rubbish at this. You don’t have to rub it in
every single time
!” he shouted. “My name is Aaron! Call me Aaron, or call me Adams if you have to, but quit this
Ace
business, alright!”

Kyran stared at him with something akin to amusement. “You think that’s why I call you Ace?” he asked. “To make fun of you?”

Aaron glared at him. “Don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Kyran admitted, “but not for the reason you’re thinking.”

“Then what is it?” Aaron bit out.

Kyran grinned but shook his head. “It’s not important,” he said, “but if you tried a little harder, or had any confidence in yourself, you wouldn’t be so paranoid as to think everyone’s making fun of you.”

“Shut up!” Aaron growled. “I
am
trying hard! And how am I supposed to be confident about something I don’t know how to control?”

Kyran raised his eyebrows. “Don’t you?” he asked.

Aaron paused. Kyran tilted his head, gesturing for Aaron to look behind him. When Aaron turned, he saw a whole cluster of trees had bent in half. Their trunks bowed in arcs and full heads of green leaves touched the ground. Ironically, the one thin tree he had been aiming for was still standing tall and proud in the middle of the bowing trees. No sooner had disbelief clouded Aaron’s mind than the trees snapped back up, violently swaying, their branches shaking countless leaves free.

With wide eyes, Aaron turned back to Kyran.

“Anger and rage are like speeding,” Kyran said. “It propels you to go further, faster than you thought possible, carrying you with its momentum, but if you don’t know when to let go, you’ll inevitably crash.” He moved forward and clapped a hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “Use your anger if you have to, until you gain the confidence you need, but don’t let it overtake you. You do that, and you’ll fail.”

Aaron nodded.

Kyran smiled and stepped back. “You perform under stress,” he stated. “You split the ground on instinct because there was a car coming at you. You did a perfect ripple but only to throw a vamage away from Sam.” He tilted his head to the side, observing Aaron. “You need to learn to do the same under calmer situations.” He gestured to the trees. “Again, but this time, get the tree you were targeting.” With a slow grin, he added, “Alright, Ace?”

***

It wasn’t long before Aaron found himself accompanying the Hunters on another trip out of Salvador. This time it wasn’t a hunt. It was a trip to the City of Balt, to meet with someone named Mandara, who had asked Scott for help on a ‘missing-mages’ case in Zone L-26.

Aaron felt jittery as Lexi passed through the glowing portal shaped like Aric’s mark. Kyran swerved the bike around and paused, waiting for the rest of the Hunters to pass through the portal and arrive at his side.

Aaron took in his surroundings. They were at one end of another long road, similar to the one they had just passed outside the Gate of Salvador. But where that path was lined with tall green trees and a clear blue sky, this one had acres of flat land stretching out on either side of it. Far off in the distance, Aaron could see rocky mountains tinted white with frost. The sky was like a snapshot taken at the point of sunset: a beautiful array of orange and red, with the golden sun giving out its last rays.

One after the other, the Hunters arrived, passing through the portal. When the twentieth and last Hunter arrived, Skyler and Ella led the way onwards, racing along the glittering white stone pathway.

They arrived at the Gate, which was the exact replica of the towering mass of white that guarded the entrance to the City of Salvador. Skyler and Ella got off their bikes and walked over, slipping off their gloves. Each placed a palm on the door and spoke.

“Skyler Avira.”

“Ella Afton.”

The symbols on the door brightened before fading. Aric’s mark was the only one left before it too slowly melted into the door. Ella and Skyler climbed back onto their bikes and led the rest into the City of Balt.

The place wasn’t all that different from Salvador. There even was a long table planted in the middle of the street. Tall buildings lined both sides of the road. Some were houses, others were shops – or what was commonly referred to as stores in the mage realm. A few mages were crowded outside a partially open door, through which Aaron could smell freshly baked bread.

The Hunters parked their bikes and climbed off. They huddled in a circle, scanning the area, ignoring the mages of Balt.

“Scott said to speak to Mandara,” Skyler said to the rest of the Hunters. “He’s the one who requested our help. Don’t bother with anyone else.”

He turned around and met a fist. It was mostly the surprise, rather than the blow, that made Skyler stagger back. Aaron stared at the punch-thrower. A familiar red-haired girl stood, seething at Skyler.

“You son of a demon!” she cursed.

“Is that how we’re greeting Skyler now?” Kyran asked. “’Cause I like that.”

Skyler stared back at the girl with wide eyes, a hand over his nose.

“Bloody hell, Bella!” He recovered, pulling his hand away. There was no blood. The punch wasn’t hard enough.

“You let
humans
into a Q-Zone?” Bella cried. “
Humans,
Skyler! You let humans into a Q-Zone when you refused
us
!” she came forward, prompting Skyler to step back.

“Now hold up.” Skyler held up a hand. “You failed the ring.”

“Humans!” Bella shrieked. “Did you have humans win the ring?”

“No, obviously–” Skyler started.

“Exactly, no!” Bella glared at him. “What the hell–!”

“Bella.” A deep, rumbling voice interrupted from behind her. “Give the boy a chance to speak.”

Everyone turned to see a tall, dark-skinned man with black tufts of hair flecked with grey. He was dressed in long robes and sandals. He stood with his arms behind him, staring at Skyler with serious brown eyes.

“I’m sure Elemental Avira has a fascinating explanation as to why he allowed two humans to enter a place he went out of his way to prove the Hunters of Balt couldn’t handle.”

Skyler, Aaron noted, wasn’t looking too good. His face was pink, his nose a little red. The usually icy blue eyes were now burning with humiliation and anger. With his fists clenched into tight balls, he stepped out of the Hunters’ circle to meet the man.

“Mandara, I presume?” he asked in a clipped tone.

“Your assumption is correct.” The man inclined his head and held out a hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Elemental Avira.”

Skyler shook the man’s hand. “I wish I could say it was a pleasure to be here.” He threw a sideways look to Bella. “But I’m afraid that would be an outright lie.”

The man – Mandara – smiled, but it didn’t reach his solemn eyes. “You must forgive Bella,” he said. “She is a little...high spirited.”

“With a mean right hook,” Skyler said, rubbing at his nose.

Bella glowered at him.

“I believe Scott has already briefed you?” Mandara asked, getting to the point of business.

“Yes,” Scott replied.

“Come.” Mandara said. “Rest and have some refreshments before we discuss the situation.”

Skyler followed after him, leading the others. Kyran paused to grin and wink at Bella. She smiled back at him.

Mandara led them all to the table, where a great selection of food was prepared for them. Skyler and Ella had a quick bite and left the table with Mandara, disappearing into one of the cottages for the meeting. As Aaron enjoyed his second helping of chicken fried noodles, he struck up a conversation with two Hunters of Balt – Andrew and Mark – seated opposite him.

“So what exactly is the problem in L-26?” Aaron asked.

“There’ve been a number of disappearances,” Andrew replied. “There are another three sub-zones that have to be conquered before a Gate can be set up for the L-Zone.”

“Which means that although we chased out the demonic forces from L-26 a year ago, they tend to sneak back,” Mark added.

“We don’t know what’s terrorising the locals.” Andrew said. “Mandara wouldn’t let us go, not without Salvador’s Hunters backing us up. The Lurkers have failed to find anything.”

“Lurkers?” Aaron frowned.

“Lurkers, Ace.” Kyran leant sideways, joining the conversation. “Hunters make up one part of the fight, Lurkers make up the other. Most hunts wouldn’t be possible without them. The groundwork is done by the Lurkers; the killing is done by the Hunters.”

“Do we have Lurkers?” Aaron asked.

“Lurkers don’t belong to any one city. They work for everyone,” Kyran explained.

“What do Lurkers do?” Aaron asked.

Kyran smirked. “Lurk.”

Aaron narrowed his eyes at him. “You think you’re funny, but you’re really not.”

Kyran chuckled before going back to his food, his attention diverted by something Zhi-Jiya was saying.

Aaron turned to Mark and Andrew. “So is Mandara the Controller for Balt?” he asked.

Andrew and Mark looked at each other in surprise.

“There’s only one Hub,” Mark said. “And only one Controller.”

“Scott is not Salvador’s controller,” Andrew said. “He’s the Controller for this realm.”

Aaron’s eyebrows shot upwards and he spluttered on his mouthful of noodles. No wonder Scott was always so stressed out. He had to take care of all the Hunters of this realm.

“So who is Mandara then?” Aaron asked.

“He’s like our chief,” Andrew said. “He took over less than six months ago.”

“What happened to your last chief?” Aaron asked.

Andrew pulled a face. “You don’t want to know.”

The doors on the far right of the hallway opened, and Skyler and Ella appeared, followed by Mandara. Skyler walked over to where Ryan and Julian were seated and crouched between them, talking in a low voice. Ella came to Zhi-Jiya and Kyran.

“So?” Zhi-Jiya asked. “We have any clues?”

“Not much to go on,” Ella sighed. “Pretty much what Scott said – there’ve been disappearances. Boys and girls are being abducted without a trace. No tracks left, no blood or evidence of any kind of a struggle. It’s like mages are just vanishing into thin air.”

“What’s the plan?” Kyran asked.

“We go out in two hours,” Ella said. “Do a preliminary check, talk to the locals and get more info. You never know. We might hit it lucky and catch a trail.”

“Here’s hoping,” Zhi-Jiya said. “Otherwise we’ll have nothing to show Aaron.” She winked at him.

“Hey, I’m still in shock that Scott let me come on this trip.” Aaron shook his head. “I thought after the Q-Zone thing he wouldn’t let me go on any hunts.”