Chapter 3
Outside the house, there is a much different mix of emotions. Nestled on the hardened ground, Ellie, Jane, and the Chosen One, Tabatha, sit cross-legged watching Tobias. The two littles and Tobias have been accompanying Tabatha during her morning training, but today the young warrior had a lesson of his own.
Captivating his audience with extra spiraled curls and pants hovering above his ankles, revealing his growth spurt; he moves his hands apart like parting a wave, ushering his three audience members to scoot a little further apart.
“Give yourself more room. That way you won’t be close enough to cheat.” His broad smile widens in anticipation of his trick.
“Tobias, hurry,” Ellie groans. “Jane and I want to have a tea party, and you’re making us late.”
“Uh huh,” Jane contributes as a light grin rests on Tabatha’s lips. In these last months, she has enjoyed watching the siblings interact. They remind her much of the dynamic between her and Daniel, her older brother in her world. When she was a child, like these three, she too enjoyed tormenting her older brother. Much of the little one's interactions bring her joyful memories and rare homesickness. Now that she considers it, she rarely feels like her world is home.
“Okay, you three are far enough away. Now, a brief lesson.” He holds up his finger as if he’s a mini college professor waiting for his class’s attention. With their eyes fixed on him, he brushes a fallen curl back, revealing how the sun has tanned his deep cocoa brow. “We often overlook the wind element. But its invisible nature makes it the perfect weapon for sneak attacks or whipping up a dust storm to blind your enemies.”
“Hurry, Bias!” Jane taunts. The little one recently celebrated her eighth birthday and has begun teasing her older siblings a little more. While the little one tries to assert her big-girlness, her older siblings, Ellie, nine; Tobias, twelve; and Alora, fourteen, remind her she is the runt of the family.
Tobias gives his sister a sullen glare and then continues his mock lecture. “You three might have thought I had been playing these past few weeks. But I have been honing my elemental skills with science.”
He raises his eyebrows, and his sisters giggle as they move like furry caterpillars. “Okay, this is the moment you have been waiting for!”
Wind whistles by, leaving a bristling feeling on their skin. The gust is mighty, rattling the tops of the trees. The towering greenery shakes and hums to the melody of the wind, giving thanks for its gift of movement.
“Wow!” Jane and Ellie stare with wonder, while Tobias becomes bashful.
“That wasn’t me, but this is.” Cupping his hands over his lips, the three onlookers watch as his cheeks move. They do not hear a word. When he brings his hands away from his mouth, he blows out the air like pushing a bubble. His three onlookers sit confused and uninspired until a whistling sound brushes past their ears. At first, it seemed as if the whistle was nothing, but then their brains registered the tiny wind whisper.
With their mouths agape, Tobias beams and dances in place.
“You can speak through the wind!” they simultaneously exclaim, getting a triumphant laugh from Tobias.
“What was the message you heard?”
Ellie places her finger to her nose, and quickly darts her eyes to Tabatha, “Not it.”
Jane leans forward. “I know what the message was! You said Alora is a poopie head.”
Tobias snorts and doubles over with laughter. “Sure is. Did you two hear it t—”
The young boy stops talking to throw himself to the ground and out of the way of a massive fireball that slams into the rock just behind him. They turn to look at the blackened center, evidence of the scorching attack.
When they turn from the rock to Alora, she is heaving up and down, and her anger warms the air.
“Say it to my face!” she snarls as her eyes darken.
The sight of the young warrior so menacing sends a chill through Tabatha, who pushes herself from the ground. “Let’s all take a step back. Alora, what Tobias said wasn’t kind, but we don’t need this level of anger. Not for this.”
Alora glares at her brother like she doesn’t hear the words, like she doesn’t even see him. The young warrior stares as if she sees an enemy.
Observing his sister itching for a fight, Tobias does not back down. “Fine, you want me to say it to your face, I will. Alora, you are a poopie head who is so afraid you ruin everything.”
Tabatha’s stomach drops at the hurtful words. Over the past few weeks, with tensions running high, both sides have hurled hurtful words at each other, but this attack cut the deepest. She steps forward to correct the situation, but Alora throws Tabatha to the side as she barrels past to wrap her hands around Tobias’ neck. Gritting his teeth, he shoves her back, and she winces at the impact.
“Stop!” Tabatha yells, but this battle is far beyond words, as Alora charges again and the two siblings fall to the ground. Jane draws into a ball as she cries for her siblings to stop.
“Ellie, go get your mom or dad. I will try to pull them apart.” The little one sprints back to the house before Tabatha finishes her instruction.
Fists connect with cheeks and teeth bite into arms as the siblings tussle, neither wanting to yield to the other. Tabatha forces her arm between the siblings, trying to separate them, but as soon as she creates space, one of them slips around and pulls the other back to the ground. A kick to her spleen jostles Tabatha, and one sibling reaches through her curls to grab the other person. It is a chaotic jambalaya of attacks and sibling-saving interventions that yields nothing but bitter insults and bruises.
Suddenly, like a ray of light peeking through grey clouds, levity comes as Eli removes Alora from Tabatha’s back. The torrential teen thrashes and grunts as Eli keeps her from the ground. Talia rushes by in a blur as she goes to Tobias’ side and places a tender hand on his swelling eye. He tries to rise, but Talia pulls him into her grasp.
“What is wrong with you two?” The warrior mother breathes as Tobias stills in her arms. “You two do not harm each other, not like this, not ever.”
Eli rests Alora on the ground, and she steps toward her sibling, but the mountain man towers in front of her, and his tone is halting as he commands, “Not another step. You heard your mother’s instruction. Do not make her repeat herself.”
“But he—” Alora begins, but the big man silences her.
“I do not care what he has done. Nothing should make you draw blood from your sibling.”
The air is tense with Alora’s heat and the commanding presence of her parents. The teen enters a stare-down with her father, but he is unyielding. For a moment, it seems like Alora will not back down. Fearful this will escalate into another round of arguments, Talia says, “Alora, come with me, we will—”
“No,” Eli says, ending his wife’s intervention. The look Talia gives him signals she will war with him in a far greater manner than the sibling’s altercation, forcing the big man to shift his tone. “I mean, Alora and I should speak. You tend to Tobias.”
Talia’s nod is curt as she submits to Eli—this time. Alora opens her mouth to protest, but Eli’s gaze quiets her objection. His broad hand is gentle as he places it on her shoulder. He waits for her anger to ease before he brings forth a portal.
The air shifts as particles fuse and energies meld into a blueish-white hue that leads to a mountainous and barren landscape. They step forward and allow the portal to fizzle closed like an exhale of a heavy breath as the remaining families stay behind to clean up the broken pieces.
Eclipse is book 3 in the trilogy. In this fiery conclusion, new beginnings take shape and deadly realizations about the true enemy come to light.
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