“What’s this?” I asked, looking curiously at the small object in Ms. Higgins’ hand, that looked curiously like a flattened out whistle.
“The worst part of being a Child of an Element,” she said darkly. “This object will take all of your newly found power. You’ll wear it around your neck, necklace style. In an emergency, you open it, and jam it into your opponent’s body. Be warned, this will most likely kill both of you.”
“That’s um, nice,” I said sarcastically. “That’ s real good. What’s the point? What if someone accidently opens it, or you happen to open it in your sleep?”
“The point is for emergencies,” Ms. Higgins said wearily. “And it will only open when you command it to. That way, you cannot open it in your sleep.”
“Curious,” I murmured.
Higgins ignored my comment, and grasped the whistle like thing, with the mouth piece pointing towards me. The end was closed, and I was beginning to wonder why I’d thought it was a whistle in the first place. “This will hurt,” Higgins warned, “bad. It’s your worst pain you’ve ever experienced, magnified by ten.”
“Um, won’t that kill me?”
“Possibly.” She said, still brandishing the whistle. “Only the strongest survive. You will, Daughter of Water. You will. Now, maybe you can tell me: What was your worst pain?”
“Snapping my arm bone.” I said, wincing.
Ms. Higgins smiled. “Then this will be a bumpy ride,” she warned. “What we usually do with intense pain like that is offer you to bite down on something. Most choose a replica human hand.” She shrugged innocently.
“Um,” I said, “um, what? A . . . A human hand? What kind of sick people—”
“For training, Willow,” she explained, taking a step back. It’s strictly for training. You’ll be fine. Around here, it’s not weird at all. In fact, I’ve done it myself. Perfectly normal, really. Nothing to worry about. Unless, of course, you’d like to bite something else? Or perhaps nothing at all, that’d be—”
“Where will the pain be?” I asked, interrupting her. “Sorry, nervous I guess . . .”
“Everywhere.” Higgins said darkly. “Now, Willow, it’s really time we get this done . . .” Without further ado, Higgins came out me with the whistle like device. Up close, I could see it wasn’t at all like a whistle. It was an oval shaped, with one side rounded, and the other flat. It was about a half inch thick, and appeared to be rounded, except for one flat part by the flat end. A curious device, really.
When Higgins was about a yard away from me, she did something I wasn’t expecting. She stopped, turned to the shadowy corners of the room, and called out, “Sable!” Thinking the lady’ d gone mad, I backed away slowly.
“Who’s Sable?” I questioned. Soon, I got my answer. A small girl, I’d say maybe about five feet even, prowled out of the shadows. And I mean prowled. Everything about her was cat-like. Her odd, flickering green eyes, the way she held herself, even the way she walked. What was very curious though, were her ears, and tail. Yep. Tail.
Sable had gray ears poking out of her caramel hair, which tumbled town her head, and rested by the small of her back. One of her green eyes was completely covered by her silky hair, but the other eye regarded me curiously. The silver tabby striped tail flicking lazily around her back was what really got me, I must say. “Ah, Higgins,” She said with a smile, revealing thin, pointed canine teeth. “How long has it been since you’ve last called me here?”
Higgins smiled politely, and handed the device over to Sable. She stuck out a small, delicate hand, with long pink nails, and turned to me. “Willow,” she said with a grin. “You’re going to be a fun one, you are.”
“F-fun?” I asked. “That’s good, right?”
Sable’s grin widened, and her cat eyes twinkled. “Not at all, child. Come, let’s get this over with. It’s going to be a long, painful experience.”
My knees shook as Sable fingered the device curiously. When she looked back up at me, her eyes were glowing, the grin smeared off of her face. “Don’t move.” Was all she said.
It seemed like I didn’t have a choice to disobey her as I looked at her gorgeous face. A sharp twang of envy picked at my heart. Why couldn’t I be that pretty? Quickly, I scolded myself for thinking that. This wasn’t how I was raised! But, then again . . . She was so pretty, and I wasn’t . . . It just didn’t seem fair, how some people lucked out with looks, and others didn’t. Why was— “Ah!” was all I could shriek before the worst pain in the entire world stabbed at my chest. Unable to grasp what was happening, I lurched onto my hands and knees, retching, though nothing would come up. “Please! Stop!” I gasped, but nothing happened.
I couldn’t pinpoint this. It was horrible. It was Hell. I felt like I was being submerged in acid, getting mangled by a bulldozer, and getting gruesomely mauled by a bear all at once. I continued to shriek, curse, and struggle, but the pain only intensified.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the pain ebbed away, and I was left feeling weak, and woozy. Shaking, I looked up to see the device Sable had been holding glowing a sapphire blue, and gleaming in the dim light there was in the dull, gray room. The device then shrank, to about the size of a dollar coin, and a slinky-like chain appeared around it, like the chain of a necklace.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” I asked feebly, running my thumb over the device in my hand. I didn’t really feel like putting it around my neck, or anywhere really. It had now dulled to a light sky blue color. “What’s this even called?” I asked.
Sable laughed, her cat eyes flickering from a green to blue-gray. “That’s the Mortal ID. You must wear it, for it could be between life or death. You take this off, you’re no longer an Element Child: You’re a disgrace. You turn partly into the Element you were, but you remain human. Cursed, to do the Master—or Mistress’—bidding.”
Something clicked into place then, and I quickly jammed the ID around my neck, where it settled comfortably around my collar bone.
“Wait,” I said.
Bitterly, Sable met my widened eyes. “Yeah,” she said, with a flick of her silver tail, and her eyes flickered again, angrily. “I used to be an Element Child. Best one there was.; Unfortunately, for me, we didn’t know a whole lot ’bout ID’s then. Someone . . . They dared me to take it off, to see what would happen. Now . . . Now, we know.”
“You were an Animal Child.”
“Were.”
“Oh, Sable . . .” I said, my voice swelling with sympathy. “I didn’t know . . . There’s nothing, anything anyone can do?”
“We tried,” Sable began, “we tried to earn my power back, but I’d been completely drained. Nothing was left. If I were a full fledged Elementie, I might’ve had a chance, but since I wasn’t, there was just no way. But, it’s okay. I’m somewhat happy now, and I get to see new Element Children. I was even given the chance to become a sorceress. In fact, I still have that power, to an extent.” To prove her point, she snapped her fingers, and a six inch wooden wand appeared in her left hand. She flicked it lazily, and, to my surprise, her cat features disappeared, leaving behind an even prettier girl.
“Neat,” I said. It really was, though.
“Yeah well,” she said. Her eyelids drooped, and a faint outline of her ears and tail appeared. “This takes so much out of me,” she gasped, as the wand slipped out of her delicate hands, and fell to the floor. As soon as the wand left her hands, the catlike features came back, and she seemed to regain strength. “Better.” she said.
I’m not usually one to change the subject, but I was feeling wicked antsy at the moment. “What now?” I asked a bit more sharply than I’d intended.
Higgins looked at me, and smiled. “Training. Since there aren’t any more Water Children, you’ll train with me. I hope you don’t mind,”
“How can I be the last Water Child, if you’re going to train with me?”
Ms. Higgins shrugged. “I have special . . . Abilities. Some may call me an `Adaption’ Child, really. All I do is simply take hold of your shoulder in the training room, and I am granted your power for a certain period of time. It’s quite nice, really.”
“And when would this training take place?” I asked curiously. “A-S-A-P would be wonderful. Just, uh, puttin’ it out there . . .”
“Of course,” Sable piped up. Honestly, I’d forgotten the girl was still here, she’d been so quiet. “I’ll take you to the training room, Ms. Higgins grants it,” she said. Pleadingly, she looked up to Higgins, her head dipping ever so slightly to the left.
To my surprise, Higgins shook her head. “No.” She said firmly.
Clearly, Sable was as shocked as I was, because her eyes widened, and her small hands clenched into tight fists on either side of her. Then, she laughed. “M-Ms. Higgins,” she said, “What do you mean, no? I always take kids to their training! It’s the best part of the job! I’ve never even seen a Water Child’s training room!”
“Nor have I,” Higgins admitted. “And that’s why I’m not allowing you to bring her. Frankly,” she laughed, “I’m not even sure where this room is!”
At this, Sable’s tail whipped excitedly down by her ankles. “Prrfect,” she said with a dazzling smile. “I know where it is. I’ve a lot of free time on my hands, mind you. I could take Winslow—”
“Willow.” I snapped. Winslow?! Where had she even gotten that!? I was about to chew her out, when I stopped. Something didn’t add up . . . “Hang on,” I said, “how can it be nearly fatal, when she took hers off, and is alive?” I demanded. “It doesn’t make any sense!”
“She didn’t stab anyone with it,” Higgins said simply. “If she’d gotten really angry, at say me, and stabbed me with it, we both probably would’ve died. But that wasn’t the case, obviously.”
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