Chapter 5 - Pt 1

       A bell jingles when I walk into a book store called “Jinx’s Magic Shop” and my nose is immediately assaulted by the smell of stale books mixed in with a lemon-scented air freshener.

     Moving away when someone tries to exit the store, I look around and admire the place. It looks pretty causal, with lines of shelves surrounding every corner of the left side of the room and comfortable sofas on the other. The crowd in the store is pretty small, with only a few settled down as they quietly read, and situated in the middle is a large desk occupied by a young brunette with glasses. There’s a computer on the desk and its surrounded by a lot of books heaped upon one another, she raises her head and smiles in greeting when I drew closer and shuts the novel she was reading.

   “Can I help you?”

    “Hmm, I just wanted to look around. Hope that’s okay.”

     “Yeah, of course, you can.” She nods, motioning for me to go ahead.

     Saying a quick thanks, I make my way through the shelves and run my hands down the lines of books. I searched around for any book that could be related to elemental’s and found a few, just when I was about to trace my way back to the storefront and settle down on one of the sofa’s to read, the sound of something being hit made me pause. Frowning, I step closer to the shelf behind me and stare at the couple on the other side over the rim of books. A female blonde is standing impossibly close as she whispers to a guy, her hand raised on the shelf behind his head and the other settled on the guy's bicep to stop him from leaving.

      The male has his hair dyed platinum blonde with his dark roots showing. He’s in a fitted green t-shirt, the name Jinx’s bookshop written in bold letters in the middle and his back is practically plastered to the shelf behind him as he unsuccessfully tries to lean away from her touch. He’s glaring down at the blonde with barely concealed annoyance, and I raise a brow in interest, sneakily moving closer so I can hear what they’re talking about. “Look, Lia, I already helped you locate your book so if that’s all you need from me then I need to go.”

      He quickly steps away from her and looks about ready to bolt but she grabs onto his arm and pulls him back with force, almost knocking down some books from the shelves. Wow, she’s strong. “Wait a minute, aren’t you forgetting something."

      “Oh, that’s right,” Holding back the anger blazing in his eyes, he brushed her hand off his body in annoyance. “Make sure to purchase the book before you leave.”

     “That isn’t what I meant and you know it,” She narrows her eyes, taking a step closer so she’s crowding his personal space. Both hands raised on the bookshelf to cage him in. I wasn’t the only one to notice the way her generous breasts threatened to spill out of her top when she pressed her body very close to his, but the guy looked unaffected by the sight. Or at least he’s trying to look unaffected, either that or he’s constipated. “You still haven’t replied to my messages?”

     “I thought my blatant show of ignoring you was enough of an answer but it seems I just need to be direct.” He smiles tightly. “No thanks Lia, I’m not interested in being your boy toy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do.”

      Well ouch!

     He used her shock to push her aside and slip from out of her hold as he hurries away, pretending to be looking at the books on the shelf I duck a little when he walks past where I’m standing. Releasing a sigh of relief when he didn’t notice me, I straighten and turn my attention back to the girl named Lia, watching as she let out an irritated huff and threw the book in her hand in anger. Childishly, she stomps on it with her heeled boot to appease her rage before letting out a small scream of frustration.

     I watch her make a dramatic exit before stepping out from between the shelves a couple of seconds later, eyes cautiously searching just in case.

     Shaking my head in amusement I trace my way back to the storefront and settle on one of the sofa’s to read. I feel the need to arm myself with a lot of knowledge now that I know what I could become, the first book I’d picked is called History of Elementals. On the first page is the beautiful design of the black interlaced knots in the middle of the page. Seeing the knot, I’m reminded of my black triquetra tattoo and shift uncomfortably.

      Shaking off my wandering thoughts I quickly flip through the next few pages until I get to the first chapter. I read the brief description of how elemental conjurers came to be, surprised to find out we’re not aliens nor do we come from some supernatural race. Our powers came about due to an unknown energy spread in certain parts of Europe by particles of an asteroid that fell upon earth centuries ago, but what confused me is that this energy only affected a few newborn babies brought into this world at that specific time the asteroids landed on earth. No one knew anything about the energy, nor did they see or sense it, the only indication that a change occurred on earth was when the first batch of 15-year-old teenagers had their tattoos and started to experience changes. I swipe to the next page and see the name CORAL AILEEN KENSWORTH written in bold letters. The title of the chapter reads CORAL’S BEGINNING, and I settle back to read.

       Coral Aileen Kensworth, born on the 4th of August 1420. Daughter to the late Crown Prince Kent Kensworth and Crown Princess Victoria Kensworth, and granddaughter to the late King of England. King Edward Lucas Kensworth. She was once engaged to be married to a Duke’s son, Ronald Lockhart, but the engagement was broken off after her disguised death at sea. Coral formed elemental society by recruiting 40 young conjurers after travelling through Europe with her beloved husband, a young lad who was her most trusted confidant, and her loyal maid. Knight Nicholai Vent, Coral’s husband was the first person she met and recruited for her cause due to his ability over the Air Element, they fell in love a few months later and lived in Scotland for an entire year before leaving for a different country after their marriage.

      A young, Scottish lad whose name was John McKinney, became her second recruit. She discovered him in France and coerced him to join her cause after discovering his powers over the Earth Element.

      Anastasia Litton, a poor orphan found in the streets of Rome became her third recruit and her maid. She had the ability over the Water Element.

      Through years of searching, the four of them were finally able to gather 40 more recruits and with their help, Coral&Knight Academy came to be in Paris. It took years to grow the society in secret under the watchful eyes of the world, but from that moment Elemental society was formed. Coral was not only famous for her success in forming a hidden society for people with magical abilities, but also for her abilities to control all four main elements. She was known to be extremely powerful and a strict monarch who ruled her kingdom with a mountain of courage, fairness, and bravery in the heart. I swipe the page expecting to see more history written on Coral but was disappointed to see that was it. The history of her husband, Nicholai Vent, and maid, Anastasia Litton is very brief and pretty much everything said beneath their names is the same thing written under Coral’s. The only difference is, and possibly the reason why her maid is talked about at all is that Anastasia Litton happened to be the mother to societies first ever sub and defect.

      It’s stated that she was impregnated by an unknown man, whom many believe had been human, and had given birth to a set of twins with a lot of complication that unfortunately led to her death. These twins, when of age were discovered to be what society now calls a sub and a defect. I also checked if the file had anything more to say about the young boy who became Coral’s trusted confidant but there was absolutely nothing interesting that could be said about him. The book only stated he’d grown up to be a scientific researcher who’d written down his theoretic research in 6 different dairies, these dairies have either ended up being lost or concealed within the council’s reach. There is one notable thing said about him though, it is said that he discovered a stone inscription written in a foreign language lost with time.

      And this stone is believed to be something of importance to society and our history. There’s a picture of the stone down below but I don’t give the picture more than a glance.

      According to history, Coral’s tattoo is unique in the world of elemental’s for multiple reasons, one because there’s none like it, two because of it’s placement, three because her powers are theorized to be unlimited. It says here that her ability to control all elements aren’t the end of her powers, she also can conjure every unique ability only within the control of subs. 

     While every other pure elemental is stronger, their powers are only limited with conjuring the element they possess. Meaning, they can’t conjure heat or ice, or control vines like the subs, and likewise, the subs don’t have control over the main element. It’s another thing that separates these two different classes of elemental’s. Coral’s powers do not stop there though, she also controls a dark, and dangerous ability called the blood element. With this element, she can bend and manipulate the blood of any human or animal under her control. Meaning if she so chooses, she could simply exterminate the life of anyone she chooses by simply manipulating the blood vessels within the heart of her enemy.

      Though never used before an audience, many rumours circulated that she had used this ability on quite a several people who dared to become her enemy which is one of the reasons she became a leader both feared and loved. Loved for her stance to fight for a better future for their society, but also feared because of how powerful she truly was.

      Sighing, I run a hand through my hair and rub my eyes tiredly. Shutting the book close I decided to focus on another one, I don’t think I’d be able to stay sane if I continued reading. If I inherited this ancestor’s abilities, I don’t want to think about what dangerous ability I can control. The next book talks vastly about our elements and tattoos. How our tattoos are connected to our abilities, and how these tattoos grant us the abilities to manipulate each element without having to draw from the main source itself. As each century pass, it’s being discovered that quite a several subs are developing unique abilities with every generation being born and no one knows why or how. It’s simple as if their blood is advancing but different from that of a pure elemental.

     The bell hanging on the front door jingles and distracts me, and I raise my head to see the redhead from yesterday, Rae, walk in with a wide smile on her face. She waves as soon as she spots me and I sit up in surprise, rising to my feet when she draws closer.

      “Hey, what-” Before I could finish I was tackled in a hug and had to keep my feet planted on the ground to stay upright. I wince when the action made the injury on my shoulder hurt slightly.

    “Oh my gosh am so glad you’re alright,” She pulled back and ran her eyes swiftly over me. “Dana told me to stay away and let you rest for a bit but I was so excited to see you that I couldn’t wait.”

     She grinned in that peppy cheerleader way and I just stared at her with a puzzled frown. “Am sure you must have billions of questions so don’t worry, I’m here to answer them.”

      “Uhh… how about we introduce ourselves first and then talk.” I smile slightly, motioning for her to take a seat on the sofa across from me as I settle back down.

     “Oh silly me,” She giggled and rolled her eyes, stretching out a hand. “Am Rae Carter, your cousin!”

    "Cousin?”