The Fifth Element

The scene before me looked like a picture out of a fairy tale book. Gold leaf vines wrapped around blood red marble pillars, which stretched twenty something feet into the air, and supported a ceiling with paintings depicting several famous battles, battles that happened over thousands of years ago. In the center of the room, there was a stone mermaid with a fountain of water streaming out of her mouth. She sat on a sky blue crystal pedestal surrounded by a pond in which colorful fish swam.

The walls were made of large gray stones and paintings of old and wise looking wizards hung on them. The floor was made out of the smooth black marble with gold swirled into it. Across the gigantic room, two huge torches of blue fire burned on either side of a grand staircase made of the same material as the floor. It split into two separate stairs halfway up, one side going to the right, the other going to the left.

“... and then you go back to your dorm at eight, any questions?”

“Hmm?” I said snapping out of whatever trance the room had put me under.

I hadn’t even noticed that Henry had been standing beside me the whole time. He pressed his thumb and finger to the bridge of his nose. “And you weren’t paying attention to a single word I said.”

I smiled at him sheepishly. “Sorry, can you repeat that.” But just then a bell tolled. I covered my ears with my hands at the unexpected loud noise. Henry cringed and covered his ears too.

“They really need to get a new bell,” he grumbled. As he spoke those words I watched while holes began opening up in the walls. Out of them streamed boys and girls wearing blood red uniforms with gold trim and carrying books. We got a couple curious glances as a couple brushed past us; Henry returned those curious looks with a glare. “How about we go to a more private place?” he said, grabbing my hand and tugging me through the thickening river of kids to one of the walls. He placed his hand on one of the big gray stones and I watched curiously as the wall seemed to evaporate under his touch until there was an entrance big enough for us to duck through. He walked in and I followed him, the hole quietly closing behind us.

The room we entered was dimly lit by glass glowing balls bobbing up and down above us in midair. The walls were lined with bookshelves stuffed with thick old looking books. He walked over to one of two red satin chairs beside a fireless fireplace and sank into it. I walked over to the other chair and perched on the edge.

“Okay so tell me again what you were telling me out there,” I gave him a closed mouth smile.

He frowned at me. “Well before that I should explain to you why you are here.” I nodded my head in agreement with him. “You are here because you’re a necromancer.”

“I’m a what?”

“A necromancer, one who can control the dead. You control the fifth element, the rarest element of all and most dangerous. You control death, “he replied, he stretched out his fingers and a fire erupted in the fireplace.

I watched in fascination as images appeared in the flames, images of me. One of them showed me leaning over Danny’s lifeless body and crying. I watched as a laid my hand on his chest and purple light began to glow under my fingertips. My head snapped up and I looked at Danny hopefully. That had been the moment I had heard a heartbeat, I realized. The next image was me standing in the element teller’s office holding the crystal ball. We had all been so preoccupied looking at the ceiling that none of us had noticed the black mist creep out of the ball and going into my chest. The final image was me climbing into Emily’s window and telling her all about what was happening to me. Then the images disappeared, and all that was left was bright yellow and orange flames.

“Oh,” I said still gazing at the dancing flame, not really sure what to say. My heart was hammering in my chest.

“But don’t worry, we are experienced with dealing with powers that are different here, and training them how to control them.” I glanced over at him and saw a hint of kindness on his face, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

“What exactly is here?” I asked him.

“The Royal Instruction for Gifted Casters, RIGC for short. My job is to find those who are special elementals and bring them here.”

“RIGC? Never heard of it.” I scrunched up my nose.

“That’s because it’s top secret,” he explained. “Only the students, staff, and some select members of the government, including the big four, know about it.”

“So almost nobody knows about this place?” I thought with despair, which meant no rescue. My mom couldn’t come a bail me out of this one.

“Oh my god, my mom!” I yelled I shot to my feet

“What about your mom?” He looked up at me, confused and startled by my sudden outburst.

“She’s going to wake up and I’m not going to be in my room.” I could just picture her frantically looking for me right now. Why hadn’t I thought about her sooner and Emily? Emily was going to think something terrible had happened to me and blame herself for not stopping me from leaving her room. Tears began threating to spill out of my eyes.

“Well, whose fault is that?” Henry said coldly. Then he squinted at me like he just noticed that I had a horn growing in the middle of my forehead, his eyes widen in terror. He shot up from his seat. “D-Da-Don’t cry,” he stuttered.

“I’m tr-trying no-not to!” I said, but I could already feel my breath coming out in small hiccups.

Henry began looking frantically around the room, like a man who couldn’t swim on a sinking ship. Tears began to flow down my cheeks and fall onto the floor. Suddenly I felt two arms wrap around me and press me into something warm. My body stiffened as I realized what was happening. Henry was hugging me. But it was not one of those warm hugs, more like the hug you give a metal pole after you have accidentally ran into it.

He let me go after a few very uncomfortable seconds and I stared at him wide-eyed.

“Um, we will send her a message to let her know you’re okay.” His face has turn bright red. Well, I guess Mr. Cold didn’t always play it so cool. I nodded my head without saying anything. “I’ll take you to your dorm,” he said walking to the wall and making the stones dissolve again.

We walked in awkward silence as he led me up the staircase. We went up the right side and he began leading me down a long hallway lit on both sides by smaller versions of the torches downstairs.

“What element are you?” I asked breaking the silence.

“Fire, isn’t it obvious?” I detected a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

“Well, how did you do that thing with the wall then?”

He looked at me and smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know, little girl?” he taunted.

“Not really,” I lied, “but I would like to know why you get so scared when a little girl starts crying?” I smirked at him

He stiffened and looked away from me. “Brings back bad childhood memories.”

“Oh,” I said and my smirked drop. I looked down at the ground. Nice going Violet, bring We lapsed back into another awkward silence.

We were halfway down the hallway when he stopped in front of a section of wall. He put his hand on it and did his little dissolving trick. The wall melted away to reveal a tiny room with a desk, bed, a lamp, and a tiny window. “This is your dorm.” He held out his hand and gestured to the room before quickly dropping his hand back to his side.

I walked in and sat on the bed, it was surprisingly comfortable. I looked around the room. “It looks more like a prison cell,” I commented. “Can I just please go back home and we can work out some home monitoring deal?” I looked at him half-hopefully.

He frowned at me. “I was going to take you here anyways; you’re much too dangerous to be let alone,” he said very seriously.

I snorted. “If I’m dangerous to anyone it would be myself, I trip over air,” I grinned at him, he didn’t smile back.

“No, you are far more dangerous to everyone else then hopefully you’ll ever know.” He stared intently at me with his unnaturally blue eyes. I looked away, uncomfortable with their intensity.

“I’m not expecting you to tell me the reason why I am dangerous, but can you tell me how to make me less dangerous?” I asked.

“No.” He went to leave.

“Wait!” I said quickly.

He stopped at the entrance of the hole in the wall. “What?” he asked, sounding annoyed.

“l still don’t what you were saying when you know... I was zoning out back there.”

“Well, whose fault is that?” He said, the hole closing behind him.

Once he was gone I fell back onto the bed and groaned. I was tired of the world not making sense anymore. How could I be so dangerous that I needed to be locked away? I laid there for a couple of minutes before I got up and walked towards the window. I looked out to see a group of kids around my age in a courtyard. They were all gathered around an old lady with blue hair. She was pointing to a rock and saying something. I watched as she went on and on about the stupid rock. I soon lost interest and began snooping through the dorm. I didn’t find anything besides a notebook and a pencil. I spent the next hour doodling in it.

Halfway through drawing a flower I looked up at the wall where we had come in. I put the notebook and pencil down and walked over to it. I placed my hand on its cool surface and pushed lightly on it to really see if the wall was truly solid, it was. I then tried to remember if Henry said or did anything when he did his little magic trick. I couldn’t recall if he did. Frustrated I smacked the wall, not the brightest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I heard a giggle from behind me as I shook my throbbing hand back and forth. I froze as goosebumps began forming on my skin.

No not this again, I thought despairingly. I had nowhere to run this time. Well might as well get this over with, I turned around to see a girl with long red hair sitting on the bed. She was dressed in what appeared to be an older version of the uniforms the kids I had seen earlier had on. She looked normal, except for the fact she had black holes where her eyes should’ve l been.

She smiled at me and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “I can teach you how to go through the walls.” Her voice was only a little bit louder than a whisper.

“No, I’m not going to fall for that one,” I said pointing accusingly at her. “You’ll probably kill me then and turn me into a ghost because ghost can go through walls.”

Her smile disappeared and she looked at me with a blank face. “It would be my luck that the only living person who could see me is dumb.”

“Hey,” I yelled, any kind of fear I held towards her dissolving into anger. “First off, I’m not stupid. I’m just lacking in the common sense department. Second off, how dumb are you to make the only person that can see you not like you?”

“Hmm, true.” She tilted her head to the side. “I’m sorry then.”

I let out a huff of air. “You don’t mean it.”

“Right, I don’t. Wow, you’re smarter than I thought you were.” She smirked at me.

I opened my mouth to say a comeback put she raised her hand. “I didn’t come here to fight with you, I need your help,” said dropping her smirk.

I narrowed my eyes. “And why should I help you?”

“Because I know how to do that little wall trick, I know you want to know it, and I won’t leave you alone until you help me.” She smiled at me and a chill when down my spine. I had a strong feeling she would keep her word.

“How can I help you?” I said throwing up my hands. “I need help myself.”

“Well then let me help you help yourself.” She got off the bed and floated over to the wall. I moved over to the other side of the room from her and waited.

“Wow, you can actually learn what I’m about to teach you from all the way over there?” she asked sarcastically.

She was right, I forced myself to get closer to her until I was about a foot away.

“Okay, first you need to know something important about RIGC, it’s not a regular building. Its walls are so saturated with magic, so much so that it’s close to being alive.”

I looked at the wall. “So what does that mean?”

“It means the walls can take on your will and bend and flex however you want them to. Put your hand on the wall and close your eyes,” she instructed.

I did what she told me and closed my eyes. I felt something reach out from within the wall and brush against my mind. I drew my hand away in surprise.

“You felt it, didn’t you?” She smiled knowingly at me. “Drawing the magic forth is the easiest part; it’s making it understand what you want is where it gets tricky.

“Will you teach me how?”

“Yes.” She nodded her head. “But you got to help me, remember?”

“Okay, what do I need to do?”

“Get at least one of the people that are responsible for my death to confess, but it might be a little hard.”

I felt my heart sink. “Why might it be hard?” I asked hesitantly.

“Well, they both kind of help run this school.”