Chapter 1

Claire’s auburn hair flowed down her bent neck as she studied a thick book with yellowed pages and torn edges. An intricate illustration of a seed going through the stages of growth from germination to leaves decorated the page. Claire’s finger followed the line of text she read, her brow furrowed.

She looked up from the page to a small terracotta pot on the desk in front of her. She reached out with her mind to the soil in the pot and felt dismayed to detect only a tiny amount of nutrients being taken from it.

It’s barely growing. I better take it out before it dies, Claire thought as she used the faded red ribbon to mark her page. She closed the tome gently, her fingertips lingering on the embossed vines on the cover, wondering if the book would ever help in her quest to grow this difficult seed. She didn’t even know what plant the seed would grow. Her contact in Norway, who had sent Claire one of these rare seeds, had named it a ‘knowledge’ seed because five had been found with a stack of books written by elementals.

Claire pulled open the top draw of her worn desk. The wooden structure had been used by many generations of earth wielders at the elemental campus. The Rayden emblem had been carved into it many years ago.

Claire grabbed a specially made foil package from the top of the drawer and laid it open on the desk. Claire reached out with her mind to where the seed lay in the terracotta pot. She gently eased the soil surrounding the seed up and out of the pot taking the seed with it. She placed the dirt covered bundle onto her desk and used a brush in her hands to dust off the soil.

I wish my earth magic extended to plants, Claire thought as she folded the seed into the foil and pressed the edges to form a loose seal.

She placed the package on her desk as she packed up her other things for the day. She wrapped the old textbook in a protective fabric bag and slipped it into her backpack. She pocketed her phone and keys, and picked up the foil seed package.

Claire walked out of the greenhouse, locked the door behind her and walked up the compacted dirt path. The younger earth wielding students practiced their magic on the paths around Rayden, creating patterns—wombats and emus decorated them today.

A short way back to the original sandstone manor, Claire heard crying. She stopped, turned in the direction of the sobs and saw a student behind a classroom, head buried in their hands.

“Are you okay?” Claire called as she walked over.

The student lifted their head and Claire recognised the sandy haired air wielding student. Claire had been a teaching assistant as part of her studies last year and although Ryker wielded a different element to Claire, the classes were often taught alongside each other.

The ten year old boy looked up at Claire with wide watery eyes. “It’s—it’s—” Ryker tried to speak, but his breathing hitched each time.

“It’s okay,” Claire said with a gentle tone. “Take a deep breath.”

Claire inhaled deeply with him and they both exhaled. After three deep breaths, the tears stopped flowing and Ryker could speak.

“I have Ms Winterberry.”

Claire understood in an instant. Elemental control lessons were difficult at Rayden and Annie Winterberry was the strictest of all four elemental teachers. Despite attending Rayden since the age of four and staying on campus for additional years to become an earth wielding teacher, Claire had never seen Ms Winterberry smile.

“I get really scared when she speaks sometimes,” Ryker said. “I’m doing bad in my control classes. I can’t stop the air from whistling around us, no matter how hard I try to do what she says.”

Claire’s heart ached for Ryker. Listening to his struggle sent her right back to her own turbulent years as a young student at the school.

“I imagine it’s really hard to face her every day in class. I’m proud of you.” Claire hoped her words would lift Ryker’s spirits, and undo some of the damage from Ms Winterberry’s classes.

“She’s not. And neither are my parents.”

Ryker’s words pierced Claire’s heart with sadness and guilt.

“Did they say they aren’t?” Claire asked, hoping Ryker would respond no and realise they actually were proud of him.

It felt like the only way Claire could help him. She could bring Ryker to his dormitory supervisor, but they would do exactly what all the other teachers are instructed to—tell Ryker to bury his feelings.

The heart of the control within this elemental community was to not deal with emotions ever.

And when Claire had tried to teach another student to process their emotions, she’d almost been expelled.

“No, but I can tell,” Ryker said earnestly, as only a ten year old with raw emotional intelligence can.

A chill ran down Claire’s spine and she felt an insistent urge to get away from this secluded space. If someone sees me and thinks I’m using an unsanctioned method of control again…

“Why don’t you ask your friends to play rock soccer with you?” Claire asked as she stepped away from the building.

At least physical activity will get Ryker’s endorphins running again.

Ryker followed Claire as she walked back onto the path. Guilt squeezed Claire’s heart at his easy acceptance of her suggestion, but she ignored the emotion.

She didn’t agree with Rayden’s archaic training methods, but she couldn’t help change the school if she was expelled.

They parted ways at a fork in the path. Ryker waved as he sprinted up the path to the dormitories of kids ages nine to twelve. Claire continued towards the original sandstone manor that was first constructed when Rayden opened in the late eighteen hundreds.

Claire walked through the large jade front door that was already propped open during office hours. She passed through the foyer, waving to the receptionist and made her way through the cafeteria into the commercial kitchen, greeting other employees and students she knew along the way.

Claire left her backpack at the door to a massive walk-in freezer and stepped into the glacial interior, glad for the puffy winter coat she wore around campus during winter.

A metal case sat on the furthest rack in the freezer. It remained at an internal temperature of negative eighteen degrees Celsius to preserve the seeds. The campus’s own mini seed vault.

Claire typed her code into the pin pad and deposited the foil package on the second shelf. Knowledge seed was printed onto the package to avoid mix ups. Rayden had been given a small sample of the world’s most precious seeds—elemental and non-wielder. They were all meticulously labelled and catalogued. Even if earth elementals couldn’t control plants, they had a unique advantage of analysing the soil telepathically and feeling when nutrients were taken. It allowed earth wielders to adjust the conditions to grow the best plants and over time they had discovered some plants which only earth wielders could grow.

Claire relocked the vault and left the freezer. She slung her backpack over her shoulders again and walked back out of the sandstone manor.

Being a cold winter’s afternoon in July, the night sky already shone inky black over the buildings. Claire checked the time on her phone, not feeling surprised it was already five thirty after her conversation with Ryker. The security lighting and limited access around the campus would keep him safe, but he knew the curfew to be back within the student’s accommodation and activity area was quarter to six.

Unfortunately the parking lot wasn’t as well lit. All students at Rayden were required to learn how to use their element for self-defence. Claire kept her connection with the earth, prepared to rip up the bitumen if she had to, and remained alert of her surroundings.

She unlocked her sedan and slid into the front seat. She turned on her car, started the engine and switched on the heater. Claire rubbed her hands together thinking about the warm meal she and her boyfriend Harley would make together that evening.

Not for the first time in their relationship, as she drove away, Claire thought about what parts of her day she would tell Harley and what she would omit.

***

Claire sat her bag on the stool closest to the exposed brick wall. In the combined kitchen and dining area the bricks were a mixture of browns, reds, oranges and the occasional grey. In the lounge room the owner had modernized the room by painting the bricks white, but many features throughout the townhouse spoke of its nineteen-eighty’s birth.

Harley kissed Claire, before going to the fridge to pull out salad items. He put them on the breakfast bar next to a chopping board and knife. Diced chicken coated in a taco spice mix browned in a pan on the stove. Claire sat on one of the high backed bar stools and pulled the chopping board, knife and a tomato towards her.

“How was your day?” Harley asked, giving the chicken a stir.

Claire wrinkled her nose. “You first.”

“That bad?” Harley joked, taking a cheese grater from a drawer.

“Let me take my feelings out on this tomato first,” Claire said, brandishing the knife.

Harley laughed. “Mine wasn’t too bad. Our boss put the pressure on to deliver for a high profile client. Same old, same old, as I’m beginning to learn.”

“Doesn’t that drive you mad? Can’t you tell them their demands are unrealistic?” Claire asked, savagely hacking up the tomato into red, watery chunks.

“Not if I don’t want to get fired. I’m only a first year graduate.”

“Shouldn’t be like that,” Claire muttered, shoving the tomato into a bowl. She yanked the lettuce out of its bag and ripped a chunk off.

Harley leant his elbows on the breakfast bar and put his chin in his hands. “Want to tell me about your day now?”

Claire stilled her knife, trying to decide if she had the capacity to give Harley an altered version of her day.

After a few moments she laid the knife on the chopping board and looked up at Harley. “I found a student crying. He’s having a hard time with a teacher, facing the same crap that I tried to change when I came back from my exchange overseas. Students flourish better under empathetic teaching. Fear based learning is such bullshit. This kid—this ten year old—was so terrified to perform for his teacher he’d left class sobbing.”

“What was the subject?”

“Not important,” Claire said quickly, then added, “The subject isn’t the problem. I just wish our mental health care was more advanced than it is.”

Claire rubbed her face, feeling the mental exhaustion. She wondered what the future would hold for Ryker. She wondered if he would one day end up a nervous and terrified adult with no control on his emotions and all the power of the air at his fingertips.

She thought about the other five individuals who she knew had actually turned into dangerous elemental wielding adults. She had been privy to the reports of their behaviour and she had witnessed some of it firsthand. It was terrifying to see them lose control.

To see an earth wielder slam boulders at another human. To see a water wielder throw fully grown adults under a torrent of tumultuous waves. To see a fire wielder burn an entire building to the ground in seconds. To see an air wielder somehow shoot lightning at two people…

Claire dug her nails into her skin. Why couldn’t the rest of the elemental community see what was horrifically obvious?

“One day it will be,” Harley said. The openness in his expression stung Claire’s heart. “One day our generation will rule the world and we’ll have amazing people like you leading the charge.”

Claire picked up her knife again. “I’m only one person.” She sliced through a handful of torn lettuce leaves.

Despite wanting to do exactly what Harley said, Ryker’s situation demoralised Claire. It felt insurmountable to make a meaningful impact.

“If Mum was here she would reel off a motivational quote about one person creating ripples or something,” Harley said.

Claire smiled, but it didn’t reach her soul. A motivational quote won’t solved my problems, she thought, but chose not to share with Harley. I can’t risk losing control of my emotions. I might reveal something through my words or actions.

“Let’s eat before you burn that chicken,” she said.

Harley hastened to the stove and stirred the chicken around. He turned the flame off and transferred the chicken to a bowl. They put the individual bowls of filling in the middle of the round dining table and sat around it themselves. They had soft chicken tacos for dinner and munched in silence.

Claire hated it. The silence. She didn’t know if Harley thought it was companionable, but for her, the silence hid her secrets. It hid the things she wanted to tell Harley, but couldn’t yet.

She wanted to unburden her biggest family secret on him. She wanted to release some of her pain and burden by telling him. After almost a year together she knew she could trust him with her darkest emotions, but if she opened her mouth she would expose him to the elemental world—and it wasn’t safe for a non-wielder like him.

Not yet.

“Are you staying tonight?” Harley asked.

“Yes.”

“You could stay more often if you wanted to,” Harley said as he added more filling to his third taco.

“You know I don’t like to stay overnight when I’m studying.”

“I know.” Claire looked up and saw Harley grinning at her.

Claire smiled back, feeling warmth flood through her veins despite everything she’d been through and everything she was still going through.

She couldn’t share everything with Harley, but the light he brought into her life sustained her—provided his patience didn’t wear out before it was safe to tell him everything.

[End of Chapter 1]

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! I have no publication date as of May 2025, but please consider joining my waitlist below for updates! I'm also on Instagram and you can check out my bio page to learn more about me!

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