Elements

I fell asleep in the cage and was awakened by a loud noise. The iron doors were being opened. I expected it to be Carina and the guys coming in to save me, but it was Touchless and Black Hole.

“Enjoying your stay?” Touchless walked up to me.

“You’ll never get away with this,” I said through clenched teeth.

Black Hole stepped forward. “Do you expect your friends to come to save you? It’s funny to think they thought they would succeed.” I looked at her in confusion. “They’re already here.”

The iron doors were opened again, and Boulder and Icy Volcano busted through. Leo and Michael were tied up. Carina was wearing strange handcuffs that made a dome around her hands and fully covered them. She was the only one who always had access to her powers, since there’s always air around us, so her hands were contained in metal so she couldn’t use it.

“They put up a good fight,” Boulder said, “but no one can beat us.”

Just as I had imagined, they were put into the cages through a portal, one by one.

“Soon,” Touchless said before leaving, “you will take us to Mystic Meadows, and we will have the powers of the elements for ourselves.”

“Well,” Carina said. “Now what?”

“We could try contacting Willow,” I suggested.

“We can’t let her down. We need to figure this out for ourselves,” Leo pointed out. “Besides, I’m not sure the watch can save us this time.”

I tried thinking about what we could do, when an idea popped into my head.

“Leo! Try reaching for your lighter and melt the bars,” I exclaimed. We all use the resources around us for our powers, like how I use the nature around me, and how Michael uses water resources he finds in the ground or nearby bodies of water. Since there’s not usually a fire around, Leo uses a lighter to start a fire. That way, he can use that source to manipulate.

“I can try. It won’t be too easy being tied up.” I watched as he moved around awkwardly while trying to get a hold of his lighter from his pocket. He leaned up against the bars to get in a better position, and got a grip of the lighter. His hold on it wasn’t strong enough, and it fell through to the other side of the bars.

“Good going, dumbass,” Carina snarled.

“Damn it!” I stomped on the floor out of frustration. When I did that, I felt something inside of me. I stomped again, and the feeling was there once more. I could feel the roots of a plant below me.

“Guys, there’s a weak spot in my cell!” I said. “There’s roots underneath me!”

I closed my eyes placed my hand on the weak spot. Instead of focusing on the feeling of the cold, metal ground, I set my focus to the roots. I pictured rough, brown roots planted in moist soil. Although I couldn’t physically touch them, I could mentally. I kept concentrating, until it was as if the roots were right there, in the room with me. I raised my hand up, and the roots shot through my cell, breaking through the floor. I guided them toward the bars, and they bent an opening wide enough for me to climb through. I did the same with the other cells, and all of us were free.

“Now that,” Carina started, “was good going.” Leo rolled his eyes and I laughed.

I untied Leo and Michael, and Leo went over and picked up his lighter.

I turned to Carina and looked at the dome-shaped metal covering her hands. “How do we get these off of you?”

“No clue,” she shrugged. “They have a key, but it would be impossible to get it.” She was referring to Toxic Shadow.

“Jade, do you think the roots would be able to split them open?” Michael pointed to the line where the two separate pieces of one dome met.

“I can try, but I’m not sure I would be strong enough to.” I led Carina over to the roots, and placed a small one in the crevasse. I made the root split in half and tried pushing the pieces away from each other. They wouldn’t budge.

“Guys I can’t,” I cried.

Leo placed a hand on my shoulder. I remember him doing the tender gesture when Kiely was trash talking Carina. “You can,” he said softly. “I know you can.”

I closed my eyes and tried focusing hard. I used all my strength, until I heard a cracking sound. I opened my eyes. Her hand was freed.

“I knew you could do it,” Leo smiled. “Just do the other one and let’s get out of here.” The second one was easier, but not by much. I felt a bit weak after, but I was determined. As soon as Carina’s hands were free, we ran towards the door, when Michael stopped.

“Wait,” he said. “Do we have a plan or are we just going to run out there?”

“Good point,” I said. “Here’s the plan. We--” Before I could finish, the iron doors opened.