Tuesday was just like Monday, the girls got up, ate breakfast, went to classes, turned in their History of Elements questionnaires that they managed to complete, went to lunch, and then came back to their dorm to do it all over again Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. However, this Tuesday was different. At the end of lunch, the girls all parted ways to go to their last classes and each made it to their class with time left to spare. When class was over, each of the girls made their way back to the dorm. Everyone, with the exception of Grey, had made it back to the dorm. Finn was a bit worried but thought that maybe she had stayed behind to ask her Gardening teacher, Ms. Rosalind “Rosa” Flor, a question or to do extra work or something. She didn’t think too much more about it. Aurora suggested that they should go and see if she was still in the greenhouse, having remembered that that’s where Grey had once told her that’s where her gardening class was. Finn told her that Grey was probably just doing some extra work and she would be here in no time, but Aurora insisted. Emily thought Aurora had somewhat of a good idea, so she agreed with Aurora that they should go and see if she was still in the greenhouse. Finn eventually agreed with the other two and agreed to go check it out, but she also suggested that they stop by Reed’s room and see if he wanted to come with them. Emily stiffened a bit, knowing that Jake was Reed’s roommate and things could still be a little awkward between the two of them because of what happened in the gym, but she soon loosened up and was going to ask Jake if he wanted to come with them as well. Finn and Emily went to their rooms and changed out of their uniforms. Finn was wearing her white dress with white tights and white boots while Emily was wearing a black, long sleeved, wa-lolita dress with crimson lace trim near the collar and on the bottom of the skirt, which came to mid-thigh, black thigh-highs, and her Mary Janes. Aurora just wore her uniform and didn’t bother changing out of it. Then, they set out for Reed and Jake’s room.

The girls made it there in about ten minutes and Finn knocked on their door. Jake opened the door and Finn had half a mind to scream at him for what he did to Emily, but she didn’t.

“What are you girls doing here?”

“Grey hasn’t come back from her gardening class yet, we were just wondering if you and Reed wanted to come with us to go find her.”

“Yeah, why not. I don’t think we’re doing anything. Let me go get him.”

Jake disappeared into the room and they could hear him talking to Reed about the situation and asked if he wanted to come along with the group. Reed said he’d come along with them to look for Grey. The two boys came back to the door, came out into the hall, and closed their door.

“Her gardening class is in the greenhouse, so we should check there first,” Aurora said.

“Maybe we should split up so we can cover more ground at the same time,” Emily suggested.

“That does sound like a good idea, but where else are we going to search?” Finn asked.

“We should probably check the surrounding forest and also the dorm room, she may have gone back there since we left,” Emily replied.

“Alright, what’re our groups going to be?” Aurora asked.

“I’ll go with Jake and we’ll check out the forest,” Emily said.

“I’ll take Reed and check the dorm,” Finn told her.

“Then, I’ll check the greenhouse,” Aurora told them.

They each went their separate ways and began to look for Grey. Meanwhile, in the forest, after having been knocked out by a mysterious force, Grey woke up. She looked around at her surroundings, but it was dark. She figured she must either be blindfolded, although she couldn’t see anything like that around her eyes, it was just dark, or she was buried underground. She wasn’t in a coffin, it was more like an underground tunnel or room that she was in. Whatever knocked her out must have kidnaped her as well. If she was kidnaped, then it had to have been a person that knocked her out. She hoped someone was coming for her soon, because she had a feeling her captor wasn’t going to let her out so soon.

Finn and Reed went back to the girls’ dorm and looked around. No one was there, so she hadn’t made her way back to the dorm yet. They walked out, trying to think of any other places she would go or could be. They went to Sendry Hall next, to the dining hall. She wasn’t there either.

Aurora checked the greenhouse, but she wasn’t there. It didn’t look there were any clues left behind as to where she went either, so it would be difficult to locate her. Aurora was worried for Grey, she didn’t know where she was or what happened to her. For all she knew, she could be miles away, she could be hurt, or worse.

Emily and Jake traveled into the forest, hoping that they might find Grey there.

“Emily, about earlier…I have something for you, think of it as an apology gift. I stopped by your house one day with my mom sometime before I came here and your mother gave me this,” He held out a necklace box and continued, “she said she wanted you to have it. I have no idea what it is, but she said to give it to you.”

“Your apology is accepted and thank you for the gift. However, I don’t know why my mom is giving you things to give to me, but if she wants me to have this, it must be really important that I have it.”

She took the box and opened it. Inside was a necklace with a flame pendant on it.

“Will you help me put it on?”

He blushed slightly at her request and nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He took her necklace from her and clasped it around her neck. Immediately she felt as though there was someone inside her head and she clutched her head.

“Emily, what’s wrong?” Jake asked, panicked.

“Nothing, it’s nothing, I just feel as though there’s someone inside my head trying to speak with me.”

He just nodded and they continued walking further into the forest. Suddenly they both stopped.

“Do you sense that?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, I sense an earth type signature, two to be exact.”

“Yeah, me too. One’s Grey, we’ve found her, but I don’t know who the other one is.”

“If she’s out here and she’s not alone, she may have been ambushed or kidnaped.”

“Or both. She could’ve been ambushed and kidnaped, then brought here. But why?”

“Well, hello you two. Since you asked, I’ll tell you why the one you speak of was brought here.”

Emily and Jake both went into their self-defense poses at the sound of the new male voice.

“You were listening to us the whole entire time. Who are you and what do you want? Where is Grey?” Emily demanded.

“I’m Dunstan Simms and what I want is the special powers that only a ‘perfect set’ possesses. Those powers deserve to be mine. As for your little friend, let’s just say she’s hanging out with me for a little while.” He smiled devilishly.

“Give her back right now! And, what is this perfect set’?”

He laughed again, just a bit crazily.

“You mean you don’t know?!”

“No, that’s why I asked.”

He laughed crazily again.

“Oh man, and here I took you for a smart little thing. Kind of pretty, but not real smart, are you?”

Jake growled at Dunstan, rather jealously, for calling Emily pretty and Emily stared stoically at Dunstan for his comment.

“I’m plenty smart, smarter than you, that’s for sure. I just never came across any mention of a ‘perfect set’ in my studies.”

“You know what, I take back what I said about you being kind of pretty, you’re really pretty.” Dunstan said, ogling her legs and the expanse of skin that showed between her skirt and her socks.

Emily was disgusted by his perverted behavior and wished she had worn her tights with her dress. She was even more disgusted by the fact that he found her pretty. She heard Jake growl louder than he had before and she placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it what she hoped was a gentle squeeze, in order to calm him down. It worked because Jake stopped growling.

“Aren’t you a flatterer? They say flattery will get you nowhere and I tend to agree. Tell me where my friend is and I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“I wouldn’t make promises I can’t keep, newbie. I’ll never tell you where your little newbie friend is, but I can tell you that she isn’t worth crap since she can’t even move her own element. Ha, she’s such a weakling. I don’t even know why they let such a pathetic, little girl like her into the Academy,” he sneered.

Suddenly, Emily felt as though something was trying to get into her head again and it felt angry. It felt as though something was trying to claw its way out and it was very close to breaking free. She let out a scream and grasped her head, crying out in pain. She collapsed and Jake ran to catch her in his arms. He held her as she began to shiver and sweat began breaking out around her hairline. She moaned in pain and the sweat began to drip down her face in beads. Dunstan just continued to laugh madly, the sight of Emily in pain amusing him. Jake knew he had to protect her and free Grey, but in order to do that, he’d have to fight and defeat Dunstan or somehow persuade him to free Grey. Jake gently picked up Emily and moved her to a spot that was out of the way and she would be safe for the time being. He then prepared for a showdown with Dunstan.

Meanwhile, in Emily’s head, Emily was walking around a replica of her house. She looked around for any signs of her family, but it was like they had disappeared. She walked into each room of the house, all with the same outcome, no family. She made it to her room and when she walked in, she was taken aback. A light brown, bighorn ram was in her room. She didn’t know how to react to that, having never seen anything like this before, she was scared by it. She decided to approach it carefully, to know why it was there.

“Hello. Who are you and why are you here?” Emily asked the ram.

“Who am I? I have no name, that is for my mistress or master to decide. I am here because I was sent to protect.”

“Why are you in my head, why me?”

“I was sent to protect you, you are my mistress.”

“Why were you sent to protect me? Who were you sent by?”

“I was sent here by your mother to be your protector, your partner, your friend, whatever you want me to be. Right now, you are in danger and so are your friends. The boy with you is in danger from the one who kidnaped your friend. I know this because I know your thoughts and I can help you save them, but you need to let me out, set me free, and you will see what I can do, what I can help you do. You have an unnamed power inside you that I can help you unlock, but you need to trust me.”

“I trust you and I’ll do anything to help and protect my friends.”

“I know you would. Now, there are some last orders of business before we can return to the real world. First, my name is to be decided by my mistress or master, you. What name do you bestow upon me, my mistress?”

She thinks for a moment before coming onto the perfect name for her new guardian angel, er ram.

“How do you like the name Malachi?”

“Hebrew, it means ‘my guardian’ or ‘my angel’ depending on the context. I like it. Now, for the second order of business. You need to hold out your hands and concentrate.”

Emily looked confused as to why. She just wanted to get back and help Jake fight off Dunstan to free Grey.

“Malachi, I just want to get back and help my friend fight off that delinquent that decided to kidnap my friend.”

“I know you do, Emily, believe me, I know you want to get back and help the boy that means a lot to you fight off the one who stole your friend away from you, but this will help you do that.”

“The boy that means a lot to me is just a friend, nothing more.”

“Yes, but I can see that he likes you as more than a friend, however, you’re afraid of romance because you’ve never experienced it before, so it scares you. I assure you, and while I’ve never experienced it myself, it’s nothing to be scared of. A wise woman once said, ‘We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face. We must do the thing which we think we cannot do.’ You cannot tell me you feel nothing but friendship for this boy. I can see into your heart, I can read your thoughts. You like him as more than a friend, but you’re afraid to do or say anything.”

“We just met. He’s just a friend. That’s all, Malachi. Don’t make it out to be more than it is.”

“Alright then, Mistress, but you need to hold out your hands and concentrate if you want to help your friends out.”

“Yeah, yeah. I just don’t see how this is going to help, but if you tell me to do it because it’ll help them, then I’ll do it.”

Back in the forest, Jake was worried that Emily hadn’t awoken yet, but that was the least of his problems as Dunstan started flinging chunks of ground and rock at him. He blasted them away with blasts of air from his hands, but he wasn’t sure how long he could keep it up. He wished the others would get here soon. He could only hope they knew where him and Emily were. As he began dodging and blasting away more chunks of ground and rock coming toward him, he heard branches snapping. He sensed two air type signatures and a water type signature. He could still sense Emily’s fire type signature, which was good, because that meant she was still alive. She needed to come back soon. He saw Aurora, Finn, and Reed come into view and chunks of ground and rock immediately began flying at them. Finn and Aurora were confused as to why they were being attacked, but Reed put his arm out in front of them as if to protect them.

“I can sense two earth type signatures. The one attacking us is one of them and Grey is the other one. I think I know what happened to her now.”

“Reed, what’s going on?” Finn asked him.

“He,” Reed pointed to the dirt and rock slinging teen in front of them and continued, “kidnaped Grey from her class and brought her here. We don’t see her, so he must have hidden her somewhere. We need to either figure out where or we need to find a way to get him to free her.”

“Where’s Emily? Wasn’t she with you, Jake?” Finn asked him, still wary of him after what happened with him and Emily.

“She was, she is. We were fighting off this guy,” Jake pointed to Dunstan and continued, “then she had this weird pain in her head. She had had this pain before, after I gave her a necklace that her mother had given me to give to her. After she had this pain the second time, she began shaking and sweating and then she passed out. I moved her so that she would be safe if a fight began and she hasn’t moved or woken up yet. I’m really scared because, what if—what if she doesn’t wake up?”

“She’ll wake up, she has to. She can’t just not wake up!” Finn let out in a bit of anguish. Then, she kept muttering ‘she has to’ over and over again.

Back in Emily’s head, she was holding out her hands, concentrating as Malachi had told her to do.

“You’re doing good, Emily, you’re doing very good.”

She continued to concentrate and a name popped into her head. She had no idea of how the name got there, but she knew she had to continue concentrating in order to help her friends. Suddenly, she felt a warmth under her hands and fingertips. It was as if fire was hovering under her hands. She was a bit scared but continued to concentrate as the fire under her hands began to take on a shape. She felt it begin to mold itself into a shape she couldn’t recognize.

“Malachi, what’s going on? Why can I feel fire and why is it shaping itself?”

“It is molding itself into a form which will allow you to help your friends.”

“Into a form—” she trailed off, still confused about what form the fire was going to take.

As she was contemplating the form of the fire, her hands instinctively grasped around a solid object. She looked down and saw what she was holding. It was a silver handled scythe with a sleek, slim, umbrella shaped, silver blade.

“This is your unnamed power, a power that took shape to help you protect your friends and everyone else you care about. You must put a name to this power before we can return to your friends.” Malachi told her.

Emily held her scythe in front of her.

“Flare Bolt!”

“Good. We are now ready to return to your friends. Let’s go.”

After Malachi brought her back and his spirit returned back to her pendant, she awoke and sat up. She took note of the situation before standing and brushing her dress off. She calmly walked into the ensuing battle and a red glow enveloped her. She saw Reed and Jake exchanging blows with Dunstan and Finn and Aurora trying their best to help them out so they could free Grey once and for all. Jake looked over and saw her walking over to them.

“Emily!” he smiled in relief and joy, “You’re alright. I’m so happy you’re alright.”

Finn and Aurora smiled widely and Finn began crying tears of joy at seeing the girl she’d come to see as a friend alive and well. She ran up and hugged Emily and Emily was a bit shocked that she was being hugged, but she allowed herself to smile and hug Finn back. After their hug, she walked over to Aurora and hugged her as well, letting her know it would be alright and that she would get Grey back. She went over to Reed next and told him to make sure that if things got too bad that he would get Aurora and Finn out of there, that she didn’t want them getting hurt. Jake was the last person she came to. She hugged him and told him that she’d be back after this was over and they had Grey back. He hugged her back and moved his face closer to hers. She put her finger on his lips and slightly shook her head, then she took her hair out of her bun and pulled her hair back into two braids, tying them off with her hair ties. She walked over to stand in front of Dunstan.

“Alright, I told you to free my friend and I wouldn’t hurt you. You refused and now you must face me in battle. Let me warn you, I won’t hold back.”

Dunstan sneered at her, smiling wildly.

“Neither will I.”

Finn took Reed with her to go get a teacher to help them out, seeing as she felt that Emily didn’t have to fight another student in a bloody battle. She also didn’t want to break any school rules by letting Emily fight another student, because then Emily would also be breaking school rules. When they got back to the school, all the teachers must have either been at dinner or in their offices, because they weren’t anywhere in sight of Finn and Reed.

“I know one person who might be able to help, come on!” Finn thought of someone who might be able to help them.

They headed toward the vice principal’s office and once there, requested to see him. Permission was begrudgingly requested, but after Mr. Grayson waved off his secretary, he allowed Reed and Finn to speak with him.

“What can I do for you, Ms. Luna and Mr. Skylark?”

“Our friend, Grey, is in trouble. She’s been kidnaped by this jerky boy whose name I don’t know, but he controls the earth. Oh, he has sandy blonde hair and blue eyes and he’s somewhat tall, but not too tall, anyway, Emily’s there and she’s trying to get him to free Grey. I don’t want her to fight him, but that’s what it looked like when we came to get you. You have to help, please Mr. Grayson, please help!”

He nodded at what Finn was telling him.

“Alright, Ms. Luna, I will help you.” He smiled kindly as he spoke.

“Thank you, thank you so much! Come on, Mr. Grayson, I’ll lead the way. At this rate, I don’t think we’ll have much time before something happens between Emily and the boy.”

Reed and Finn practically ran out of Mr. Grayson’s office, him following behind them, telling his secretary that he was going to be taking a late lunch and to cancel his afternoon appointments. They hurried back to the forest, praying that Emily hadn’t begun her fight with the boy. Praying was the only thing Finn could do to keep her hopes alive that that was the case.

It didn’t take them long to reach the standoff in the forest where they saw Emily enveloped in a red aura and a scythe in her hand. A ram was standing next to her. She was glaring at the boy, hoping to break down his resolve enough that she could get him to release Grey, who was running out of time.

“Mal, I’m not going to need this.” Her scythe disappeared from her hand.

“Of course not, Mistress, plus I think his resolve is waning.”

She willed her aura to disappear, which it did, and she sensed two air type signatures and another earth type signature.

“I will not ask again. Release my friend, now!”

“Dunstan Simms, I should have known. Causing trouble with our first-year students, I see. What is this I hear about a kidnapping?”

Dunstan tried his best to come up with a lie, but Mr. Grayson saw right through him.

“Mr. Simms, please release the girl you’ve hidden, then you will be given a fitting punishment. Ms. Rhodes, please recall your guardian, and we will have a talk about this later. Nothing bad, I promise, just a friendly chat.

“Mal, return.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

Malachi returned to her pendant on her command.

“Who was that, Emily?” Finn and Aurora asked her.

“Malachi. He’s my friend and Guardian. He lives in this pendant that was given to me by my mother.

“I’ve never seen that necklace on you before.” Aurora said.

“Jake gave it to me as a gift. My mother gave it to him and he in turn gave it to me. It was meant for me, but my mother had no way of getting it to me, so she entrusted the task to Jake. I think the vice principal has him covered. Let’s go get our friend back.” She said her last statement with a triumphant smile on her face.

Finn, Emily, Aurora, Reed, and Jake all canvassed the immediate area, the boys searching for Grey’s specific earth type power signature. Reed and Jake looked at each other when they felt it, then they looked at the girls and gave a little nod. Jake, Reed, and the girls didn’t waste any time trying to free Grey. Everyone started digging, but no one knew just how deep down she was.

Down below, Grey was struggling to breathe, struggling to break free. She tried to move the earth by putting her hands up against the dirt ceiling, but the earth just wouldn’t move. She couldn’t tell how deep down she was, but she hated herself for getting kidnaped like this. She wanted to be strong, but when she was grabbed from behind, she didn’t know how to react. She couldn’t fight back, she wasn’t expecting it. She wasn’t trained for something like this, she was in training to control her element, not fight off another student from attacking her. She thought back to the day when she received the offer to come to the Academy. She was making rock sculptures for people for $20 and her first sculpture she made was a turtle. Suddenly, she remembered the man she made it for. The man was Mr. Doyle Grayson, their vice principal. The second sculpture she made was of an elephant, her favorite animal. She had made a second one and put it in her pocket. She had happened to wear the pair of pants that had the elephant in them. She pulled it out and looked at it but didn’t really know what it would do for her.

Suddenly she heard a voice in her head. She chalked it up to running out of air and that she was just hearing things.

“Name me and I will set you free.”

Grey heard the gentle female voice speak to her, but she was confused as to who and where it was coming from.

“Don’t be afraid, my mistress, you just have to give me a name and I can free you from this prison.”

“A-alright, I’m still not sure about this, but do you like the name Attia?”

“That name is lovely. You also have a second order of business before we leave.”

A pair of gloves appeared on her hands, a pair of boots appeared on her feet, and a giant African Elephant also appeared. The elephant was so large that it broke through the dirt ceiling of Grey’s prison.

“Please climb on my back and give a name to your gloves and boots, Mistress, then we will be out of here shortly.”

“What about Quaking Metal?”

“You may give them whatever name you see fit, Mistress, but that name sounds lovely for your new weapons. It’s very fitting.”

Once Grey’s weapon and Guardian received names, Attia began to climb out of the dirt prison with Grey on her back. Because of Attia’s size, it didn’t take long for Grey to be back above ground as it only took a matter of minutes for Attia to break through. Once back in front of the others, Grey slid off Attia’s back and landed in a heap on the ground. She was weak and could hardly move. Attia nudged her with her trunk worriedly and then turned to charge the person responsible for doing this to her mistress. Mr. Grayson laid a gentle hand on her trunk and began rubbing it, calming her down.

Attia and Quaking Metal returned to Grey’s stone elephant. Finn, Aurora, Emily, and the boys ran to her side.

“Grey, Grey, are you alright?” Finn asked.

“Is she alright?” Aurora asked.

“She was underground for a long time, so her lungs need time to adjust to being above ground and her body needs to regulate all its levels affected by her burial. Her passed out state is of great concern to me, however. She should be alright, but we need to get her to the nurse for immediate medical treatment.” Emily told the rest of the group.

“I agree with Emily,” Jake said before continuing, “We don’t know exactly how long she was down there for, but as Emily said, it was a long time. Let’s go.”

They left, Jake carrying Grey to the nurse’s office, and allowed Mr. Grayson to finish his business with Dunstan. Aurora led the way to the nurse’s office, knowing that it was next to where her healing class was. She ran into the nurse’s office and begged her to help them.

“Nurse Rayne, Nurse Rayne, you have to come quickly and help us. My friend Grey needs your help.”

“Bring her to me immediately.”

Aurora nodded and went to get the rest of the group. She led them into Nurse Rayne’s office, where in turn, Nurse Rayne led them into an examination room. She motioned to Jake to lay Grey on the bed so she could assess her injuries and treat them accordingly. Nurse Rayne looked over Grey’s injuries and determined them to be not life-threatening due to her powers giving her enhanced durability and resilience to attacks that would be life-threatening or fatal to the normal person. She then explained that after Grey’s body replenished its oxygen supply and she got some rest, she’d be just fine. She also told them that there wouldn’t be any lasting brain damage because there was just enough oxygen flowing to her brain to prevent that. Nurse Rayne told the group to leave and come back later. Reed led the girls out of the examination room and they headed back to Darwin Hall.