I'm woken up in the middle of the night by the sensation that my entire body has been set on fire. I feel as though I've been engulfed in flames as sweat secretes from every part of me. Discombobulated, I sit up straight and throw the covers off of me. I put a hand to my forehead but recoil instantly at the feeling that I've just touched a hot griddle. My heart beats against my chest as uneasiness settles in. It shouldn't even be physically possible to feel this hot.

With a shaky hand, I reach for my water bottle on my nightstand to chug it in a desperate attempt to feel some relief, but as soon as my hand makes contact with it, it disintegrates before my very eyes, leaving a pile of ash where it had once sat.

What the fuck?

My eyes widen in disbelief as my breathing picks up and panic consumes me. I swing my legs over the edge of my bed, but when I try to stand, I fall to the ground, unable to support myself. I'm rendered immobile as the burning sensation becomes unbearable and tears pour from my eyes. I cry out in pain, hoping my dad can hear me in his room downstairs but as the minutes pass, and I don't hear any footsteps, It's clear that he can't.

Just as I'm about to pass out from the pain, the burning stops as though the flames enveloping me were doused with a bucket of water. I'm practically panting like a dog as I lay on the ground trying to process whatever the hell just happened to me. When I get my breathing under control, I sit up and lean against my bed, tears still spilling from my eyes.

My mind keeps replaying what I had seen Amaya and Kai do yesterday and the conversation I had with Ilmari earlier today as I try to piece together an explanation for the crime I just committed against my water bottle. All of those things could be completely unrelated, but one thing is for sure: they're unusual—beyond unusual, they're crazy.

At that thought, I know what I have to do.

*****

The second day of school is as uneventful as the first, and I couldn't ask for anything more. The day went by relatively quickly, and now I'm stopping to drop off some things at my locker before I head home.

All day I thought about what happened last night. I had tried to go back to sleep after, but I was, unsurprisingly, not successful. I had planned on grilling Kai in homeroom this morning, but he came in late, so I didn't get the opportunity. All day I was running on three hours of sleep, and now I want to rip someone's head off.

My new plan is to interrogate Ronan. There's too many unusual things happening one after the other for them to not be related, and I'm determined to get answers. Ronan obviously knows what Kai and Amaya can do, so maybe he can provide me an explanation. I have to catch him first, though. I never saw him and his friends return last night, and his car was gone when I drove by his house on my way to school.

I push open the doors leading to the parking lot and spot Ronan and his crew piling into his car once again before speeding away. I let out a frustrated huff.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Tossing my bag into the passenger seat, I get into my car and pull out of the parking lot to make the short drive home.

When I pull into the driveway, I remain in the car, not quite ready to go inside yet. Movement in my rear view mirror catches my attention, and I turn my head to see a white van pulling into the driveway of Ilmari and Kai's house. I watch as Ilmari gets out the driver's side sporting a sweatshirt, jeans, and the same worn out work boots. Before I know what I'm doing, I'm out of the car and practically running across the street. I catch him right as he's sticking his key into the lock of the front door.

"I need to talk to you," I declare from the walkway leading up to the porch.

His head jerks in my direction at the sound of my voice, his eyebrows furrowed. I watch them relax as he realizes it's just me. He leaves his key in the door and steps down from the porch to stand in front of me.

"About what, exactly?" He questions, tilting his head.

I sigh, looking around as if someone might overhear what I'm about to tell him. "Something happened to me last night," I admit in a low voice.

He shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head, waiting for me to elaborate.

"Okay, look, I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't think what you said to me yesterday had something to do with it, or if I hadn't seen Amaya and your brother do some freaky shit, but last night I developed some kind of intense fever or something and—"

"I was wondering why you ran away like you'd seen a ghost," he interrupts.

"What?"

"When you saw what Amaya and Kai did, you ran away like you'd never seen anything like it before. And now it makes sense, because I know you haven't."

"Wait, pause. You saw me watching them?"

He nods. "You're not very discreet, but, anyway, you were saying...?" He waves a hand, indicating for me to continue.

"Yeah, last night. It's hard to describe, but I woke up feeling like I was burning from the inside out... like my entire body was on fire."

He raises an eyebrow as he looks me up and down. "Uh... sounds to me like you might want to get that checked out."

"I'm being serious," I deadpan.

"So am I."

I take a deep breath. "That's not all that happened."

He looks at me expectantly, obviously getting impatient and wanting me to get to the point.

"I went to grab my water bottle off of my nightstand and it... it incinerated. Just completely turned to ash."

He looks away, pursing his lips and nodding his head in contemplation. "Ah, so I was right. Fire is your thing. I was beginning to think you didn't have any abilities, but that's unheard of."

"Abilities?" I question.

He sighs. "It blows my mind that I have to explain this to you as if you're a human."

Huh?

"Like I'm a human? Ilmari, what else would I be?"

He releases an annoyed huff. "What you saw Kai and Amaya do wasn't magic. Those are the abilities they were born with. All Elementists, like you and me, are born with capabilities associated with one of the four elements, but some are able to do more than most. Amaya and Kai both happen to be able to manipulate water which--"

"Wait, s-slow down. All what?"

"Elementists. The race created by Mother Nature thousands of years ago? Damn, your father really never explained any of this to you?"

"My father?"

"Yes. He has to be an Elementist if you're one."

My stomach drops, and I'm left speechless, my mouth hanging open in disbelief.

This can't be real.

"H-how do you know I'm one?"

He rolls his eyes, annoyed with all my questioning. "Look, I'd love to stand here and explain this all in depth to you, but I'm on my lunch break, and I only get a half hour," he says, glancing down at the watch on his wrist.

I shake my head. "Right...uh, sorry," I say before turning and slowly making my way down his driveway and back to my house.

"Oh, happy birthday, by the way," I hear him call.

I don't say thank you or ask him how he even knows it's my birthday. I can't say anything.

I enter my house and shut the door behind me. Leaning back against it, I run a hand down my face. This is all too much to process. My dad's an elementist? Does that mean he can do the things Amaya and Kai can do? If so, how have I never seen him do anything of the sort? And, if that makes me an elementist too, how have I never shown any signs until last night?

It's impossible, all of it, but how can I deny what I've seen and what I did... what I've been told?

Ugh, what a mess.

I'm about to climb the stairs to my room when my dad emerges from his office. He works from home full time now, so my room is the pretty much the only place I can guarantee some solace.

"Hey, how was your second day?" He asks enthusiastically.

I don't answer for a moment, contemplating whether or not to say something about what Ilmari just told me. I decide to just mumble "fine" before taking the stairs two at a time. I can't deal with this anymore today and talking to my dad about it will just open up a whole new can of worms.

A few hours later, I'm trying my hardest to focus on chemistry homework when I hear the doorbell ring. Dad left about an hour ago to get something for dinner, so I'm forced to head downstairs and answer it.

I open the door to see Ronan standing there with an envelope in his hand and, of course, a smile on his face. I give him a confused look.

"You didn't think I forgot what day it is, did you?" He teases.

I can't help the smile from forming on my face. "You remembered."

"How could I ever forget? You made sure everyone in town knew it was your birthday when we were kids." He holds out the envelope with my name written on it.

I laugh. "You're not wrong." I take the envelope from him and open it. I remove a card with two kids, a boy and a girl holding hands on it and unfold it. The inside reads: from one longtime friend to another—happy birthday. There's also a gift card tucked into the other side.

"I know it's kinda corny, but I tried. The gift card is to a book store in town. I bought it hoping you're still as much as a book worm as you were when we were kids."

I almost burst into tears.

"Ronan, this is so sweet. And, yes, I'm still just as much of a book worm, if not even more of one."

He pulls me in for a hug, and I have to fight even harder to keep the tears at bay. I haven't made a single good friend since I moved away from here, and now that I'm back and Ronan's seemed to have reprised his role as my best friend, it's almost too much to bear. The fact that he remembered my birthday is just the icing on the cake.

When we separate, I know I'm going to ruin the moment, but I have to ask.

"Ronan, I have to talk to you about something."

"Sure, anything."

"You know what an Elementist is, correct?"

His eyes widen. And a moment of silence passes before he speaks.

"So you must've figured out what you can do, huh?" The shocked expression is gone and is replaced by a smirk.

"Ilmari thinks it's fire, but I don't know."

"Ilmari? You talked to him again?"

"Earlier today, yeah. I went to him because something weird happened to me last night. He told me I was an Elementist and explained what it is."

"What happened to you?"

"Well, first, my entire body felt like it was boiling alive, then I touched my water bottle, and it turned to ash."

"Jesus."

"Yeah."

He puts his hand on the back of his head and turns around to glance at Kai and Ilmari's house before turning back to me.

"We all thought you knew you were an Elementist, so imagine our surprise when Ilmari came to us yesterday and told us you acted confused when he asked you what your abilities were. I thought we were dropping it. I didn't know he talked to you again and explained it."

"Hardly, really. He seemed annoyed, and he said he was on his lunch break, so I left before he could go into depth."

He sighs, turning away and looking down the street, contemplating what to do next.

"Come with me," he instructs, making his way down my porch stairs.

"Where?"

"Across the street. We're gonna figure this out."

At that, I quick take my gift inside and grab my house key and phone. I lock the door behind me on the way out and shoot a text to my dad saying I'm stepping out.

I run to catch up with Ronan as he crosses the street to Ilmari's. He walks through the front yard and to the side of the house, the same side I had used as cover not too long ago to sneak up on him and his friends.

When we reach the backyard, we keep walking until we reach the dock where Ilmari, Kai, Amaya, Calida, Onyx, and Florian are gathered. Amaya, Kai, and Ilmari are sitting in the docked motor boat I had seen them in the other night while the rest remain on the dock. They're all laughing hysterically at something—that is until they spot Ronan and I.

They're faces morph into looks of confusion at my presence—everyone's except Ilmari's who's sporting his signature impassive look.

"Yo Ronan, what's good? What's she doing here?" Onyx asks, pointing at me.

Way to whip out the welcome wagon.

Ronan puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into his side. "Well, my friends, Zorya here needs our help."

"What do you mean?" Calida asks.

"She's an Elementist and—"

"Yeah, but that much we knew. So you're saying she knows it now, too?" The disparaging way in which she says this isn't lost on me.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, Calida."

Now, it's my turn to speak up. I may be an outcast, but I'm content with that. One thing I've never been, however, is a pushover. "I'm going to brush over that for now," I say looking at Calida. "But how did you guys know I'm an Elementist if I didn't?"

"Every Elementist can sense the presence of another Elementist," Ronan answers, "Kai, Onyx, and Florian could tell you were one the minute we were introduced to you."

"Are you one?" I ask, looking to him. I'm startled by the loud laughter that ensues.

"Ronan's far from one, but he's proved he can be trusted," Onyx says, patting Ronan on the back, still laughing.

"But the rest of you are? Not just Kai and Amaya?" I inquire, looking around at everyone.

"Ding ding!" Kai shouts from the boat.

"So what can the rest of you do?"

They all look at each other. "How about we show you?" Onyx says with a playful smile. At that, everyone begins to climb into the boat. When it's my turn, Ilmari offers me his hand. I take it and he pulls me onboard. I don't miss the weird look Ronan gives him.

Onyx starts the engine, and soon we're pulling away from the dock, past all the other houses, out of the neighborhood, and into the bayou.