The Lost Paradise E-Book

Cassie Corbin

• Herausgeber: BQB Publishing
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

The fifth elemental has been unveiled. Vita's memory of her reaction lingers just outside of her reach, Adrian's past holds him prisoner, and guardian Lucas Sawyer is now an enemy to his people.
With the prophecy coming into fruition, Dr. Guyer's desperation for the philosopher's stone grows in a most violent way. When Annie's well-being is threatened for the sake of the stone, Dos turns to the only source he can think of for help: the angels themselves.

Leseprobe

The Lost Paradise: Book 2 of The Hidden Element trilogy

© 2025 Cassie Corbin. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopying, or recording except for the inclusion in a review, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Published in the United States by BQB Publishing

(an imprint of Boutique of Quality Books Publishing)

www.bqbpublishing.com

979-8-88633-048-9 (p)

979-8-88633-049-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2025939005

Book design by Robin Krauss www.bookformatters.com

Cover design by Mellody Stout www.mellodystout.com

First Editor: Andrea Vande Vorde

Second Editor: Allison Itterly

Trigger Warning

The Lost Paradise discusses topics of:

Mental health

Death (including death of children)

Emotional manipulation

Burns and injuries caused by fire

Physical violence and torture

To my dear friend, Richard, who is as kind as he is well-read.

CONTENTS

Prologue

CHAPTER 1 Guardian

CHAPTER 2 Fire

CHAPTER 3 Guardian

CHAPTER 4 Water

CHAPTER 5 Air

CHAPTER 6 Earth

CHAPTER 7 Guardian

CHAPTER 8 Guardian

CHAPTER 9 Guardian

CHAPTER 10 Fire

CHAPTER 11 Guardian

CHAPTER 12 Air

CHAPTER 13 Fire

CHAPTER 14 Guardian

CHAPTER 15 Water

CHAPTER 16 Guardian

CHAPTER 17 Guardian

CHAPTER 18 Fire

CHAPTER 19 Guardian

CHAPTER 20 Fire

CHAPTER 21 Air

CHAPTER 22 Guardian

CHAPTER 23 Fire

CHAPTER 24 Earth

CHAPTER 25 Air

CHAPTER 26 Fire

CHAPTER 27 Guardian

CHAPTER 28 Water

CHAPTER 29 Fire

CHAPTER 30 Earth

CHAPTER 31 Water

CHAPTER 32 Guardian

CHAPTER 33 Fire

CHAPTER 34 Earth

CHAPTER 35 Guardian

CHAPTER 36 Air

CHAPTER 37 Fire

CHAPTER 38 Guardian

CHAPTER 39 Guardian

CHAPTER 40 Water

CHAPTER 41 Earth

CHAPTER 42 Water

CHAPTER 43 Guardian

CHAPTER 44 Guardian

CHAPTER 45 Guardian

CHAPTER 46 Earth

CHAPTER 47 Fire

CHAPTER 48 Air

CHAPTER 49 Guardian

CHAPTER 50 Water

CHAPTER 51 Earth

CHAPTER 52 Guardian

CHAPTER 53 Air

CHAPTER 54 Fire

CHAPTER 55 Guardian

CHAPTER 56 Fire

CHAPTER 57 Water

CHAPTER 58 Guardian

CHAPTER 59 Fire

CHAPTER 60 Guardian

CHAPTER 61 Earth

CHAPTER 62 Guardian

CHAPTER 63 Guardian

CHAPTER 64 Fire

CHAPTER 65 Air

CHAPTER 66 Generation 23

CHAPTER 67 Guardian

CHAPTER 68 Water

CHAPTER 69 Generation 23

CHAPTER 70 Guardian

Acknowledgments

About the Author

“Beware the children of this day, for they shall change humanity forever. They will mirror Generation 6 and wield powers of the mind. The fourteenth son shall mend the divide between man and the heavens. His power has never been seen before, and his might is unmatched. He will vanquish the Gatekeeper. For immortality to be attained, the breath of life must be paid.”

— Final Completed Prophecy of Dr. John Dee, intended for Generation 23. Predicted June 13th, 1609

Prologue

SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO

Ababy’s cry could rip a snoozing man out of sleep, shoot that man with adrenaline, then proceed to shatter his eardrums with the high-pitched wails of a siren. Especially at three in the morning when every creak, bend, and scream had an echo.

It was with this shocking awakening that Mason jolted out of bed and blearily stumbled into his daughter’s nursery. Vita was consistent on her feeding schedule, he’d give her that. He thought after a full day of being around the other elemental babies, she’d sleep through the night, but no. The girl had an appetite.

“Okay, little Angel. Daddy’s here.” Mason yawned. “Hungry?”

Vita continued crying, which obviously meant yes. Mason fixed a bottle and carefully picked her up from her crib. At four months, she had started chewing on her fingers when she was hungry. She was practically gnawing on her little fist now. It would be cute if she weren’t also screaming like a banshee. With a voice like that, she’d wake all of Elondoh.

“Hey, it’s okay. Daddy’s got you.”

Once comfortable in the rocking chair, he fed her the bottle and tried not to fall asleep. His usual method of staying awake was singing a nursery song while she ate.

Mason carefully burped her, praying to any Angel who was awake right now that Vita wouldn’t vomit her midnight snack on his shirt. Again.

He tiredly reminisced on his days as a young bachelor when he chose to stay up this late with his friends, causing trouble and not feeling the slightest bit tired.

Now, only a few years later, he was rocking his baby and wondering how he was going to function if he continued sleeping this little. Vita watched him as she lost her fight against sleep, her tiny fingers wrapping around his thumb like it somehow made her feel safer.

At some point, Mason nodded off with Vita slumbering in his arms. Both of them slept with their mouths slightly agape and various pitches of snores.

It was about an hour later when Mason’s eyes opened, glowing entirely green—even the whites of his eyes and pupils—unlike when he normally used his abilities. In a robotic motion, he sat up and rigidly lowered the baby back into her crib, then stepped out of the house and made his way toward the hospital. He didn’t stop to put on his shoes or grab a coat, despite the blanket of snow and sheets of ice. He couldn’t feel the cold anyway.

A woman, sick with cancer, lay in room fourteen on the fourth floor of the hospital. At her bedside table sat a vase of vibrant yellow roses that Mason had brought her earlier that morning. Her soft green eyes blinked open at his entrance.

“Mason?” she tiredly murmured. “What on earth are you doing here at this hour? Oh Angels, your eyes!”

She reached for her call button but didn’t make it in time. Mason took the roses out of the nearby vase and tossed them onto her, and at his command, they immediately wrapped around her neck to strangle her. “Mason . . . stop! This isn’t you!”

The stems tightened until she couldn’t breathe enough to form her last words.

Mason watched through blank eyes as she struggled against the roses. Her hands slackened, and the already waning life left her eyes.

He returned the roses to their vase, then laid a single white rose on her bedside table before walking out.

When Mason awoke the next morning, he was back in Vita’s nursery, with his baby snoring in his arms and no memory of what had transpired the night before. His back hurt from sleeping in that rocking chair again. Was this a sign that he was getting old? And why were his feet so cold?

Damn, I really am a shadow of my younger self.

Wind rattled against the window, the snow falling hard enough that Mason couldn’t see through it. In a community so secluded from the outside world, a power outage could be fatal. The elementals would likely be called in soon to shield the community from the brunt of this surprise storm.

June stepped into the nursery with a hand over her mouth.

“Did they call for me?” Mason asked through a yawn. He placed Vita back in her crib, trying desperately not to wake her. “Don’t worry, love. I’ll only be gone a few minutes. Hopefully we’ll have something up before the power—”

“Mason,” June interrupted with a thick voice. “Natalie just called. Clarice Guyer passed away last night.”

CHAPTER 1Guardian

PRESENT DAY

This trial was every guardian’s worst nightmare.

It was a moment that was never meant to happen. It simply couldn’t be real. A man wasn’t built to sit quietly as his heroes condemned his entire existence. It was inhumane.

And yet, it was exactly what Guardian Lucas Sawyer was going through at this very moment.

Across the floor and caged within the wood-paneled walls of Elondoh’s courtroom, dozens of guardians and Elondoh’s most prominent politicians scrutinized Lucas like a shaved lion within a circus cage. They pointed their fingers at him, hissed slander, questioned his very existence as if it was a game to see who could insult him the loudest. He sat there, detached, as men he had once looked up to exercised their fear through their rage. Of course they feared him. A non-Angelic being with Angelic abilities, apparently, could only be demonic.

The last time Lucas checked, he wasn’t demonic, but then, how would he know any better? A man couldn’t be trusted to speak about his own humanity. That responsibility lay entirely in the hands of his comrades, and right now, his comrades despised him.

By Elondohnian law, his father, Chief Jack Sawyer, couldn’t argue against the allegations, but his face reddened as he watched these men curse his son.

It was only fair that Chief and Lucas should silently suffer through this trial. After all, Lucas had killed another guardian. He’d broken one of the most sacred rules of the guardian code.

Never turn against your fellow guardian.

Guardian Jason Boyd had secretly worked as Dr. Guyer’s pawn to cause an Angelic Reaction within Vita. He’d killed her. And when Lucas saw Vita die, his abilities surged awake. Not a day went by that Lucas didn’t hear the faint buzz of Boyd’s final cry as the black hole Lucas had created swallowed Boyd whole.

Now it was Lucas’s trial—to see if he’d be punished, how severe his punishment would be, and if he’d ever get to be chief. He was supposed to be granted a turn to defend himself, to share his side of the story, but there was too much outrage from the attending guardians. It was such a rare, unfathomable, and unpredictable circumstance. Nobody seemed to care about Boyd’s actions leading up to the event. None of the other guardians who were there would admit to what had happened.

The only one who’d come to Lucas’s defense was Timothy Hogan. He served on the elemental guard as Annie’s guardian and had been the only guardian to help Lucas during Vita’s Reaction. “None of you are listening!” Hogan shouted, rising from the stands of the small courthouse. His voice ripped Lucas from the slippery slope that was his memory. “None of you were there. You didn’t see the efforts made to stop Guardian Boyd. You didn’t see how they turned against us. We tried to prevent this from happening! Jason Boyd threatened to kill us both.”

“Sit down, boy. You are as guilty as he is,” Guardian Andrew James growled. His son, Ethan, served on the elemental guard as Adrian’s guardian, and at one point, had tried courting Vita.

“Don’t you dare accuse my son if you do not have the evidence to prove it,” Instructor Beth Hogan, Timothy’s mother, barked.

The arguing continued until the judge banged his gavel, the echoes of the hammer silencing the chaos. Elondoh had only one judge who worked in tandem with Chief. Judge Morrison, a retired guardian with balding gray hair and a gravelly voice, had the final say for this trial.

“Guardian Sawyer,” Judge Morrison started, his voice some how booming over the room despite the lack of a microphone. “Give us your statement. I expect all in attendance will be silent during this recount.” The judge swept a threatening scowl across the room.

Lucas did as he was told, recounting every moment of his activation day. His thumb ran over the impulse bracelet on his right wrist. His elemental symbol—two adjacent triangles, one standard, one inverted, pierced by two parallel lines—was burned on his skin. Had it already been a week since his activation? It felt like only yesterday when he’d held Vita as she was dying. And she had died—he’d felt her final heartbeat. Then, three days later, he had woken up in an observation cell being told that not only was he the fifth elemental, but that he’d somehow brought Vita, the woman he loved, back from the dead.

She’s alive, he reminded himself. She’s safe.

He finished his recount and watched the reactions of the guardians in attendance. Elondohnian civilians weren’t allowed to attend. This matter was too delicate, and he was grateful for it. He didn’t want more eyes to see the slander he would endure.

He didn’t want any of this, but it was supposedly inevitable. He was the “defeater of the Gatekeeper.” Whatever that meant. Dr. Guyer had spent an afternoon explaining it to him, but it all felt like nonsense. According to Dr. Guyer, Lucas could control molecules because first, he was the fourteenth male in a line of warriors, and second, when he was a baby in his mother’s womb, he’d been given an elixir that helped his human genetics accept his ability.

Lucas understood it as, “You’re significant because John Dee and King Carmara said so.”

“You killed Guardian Boyd,” Guardian Ethan James growled, despite the previous order to remain silent during Lucas’s account. “He was Dr. Guyer’s personal guardian, a previous member of the elemental guard, son to Guardian Isaac Boyd—a well-renowned guardian! Whether or not you’d care to admit it, you turned against your fellow man.”

“He harmed an elemental,” Lucas argued, straining to withhold his temper. “If we’d lost Vita, we would’ve lost the entire Earth line, and then the philosopher’s stone would never be an option again. Were Jason Boyd alive today, he’d be on trial for his reckless abandonment of Elondoh’s mission.”

“But he’s not, is he? Because of you.”

Lucas didn’t have an answer for that. Instead, he cast his gaze down. “I have concluded my account, Judge Morrison.”

Judge Morrison motioned to Chief. “I have conferred with Dr. Guyer on this event.”

Lucas perked up. Dr. Guyer had once been his hero, a man he believed would save the human race from disease. Instead, the man was maniacal and twisted in every way. But had he told Judge Morrison the truth? That he’d planned Vita’s Reaction in order to activate Lucas’s Molecular Control abilities? That the death of Vita, Boyd, and the man Vita had killed, was his fault?

“Regarding the death of Guardian Jason Boyd,” the judge continued, “we have agreed that Guardian Lucas Sawyer will not face punishment due to the nature of the event. Guardian Boyd did turn against his fellow man and inevitably killed an elemental.”

Dissents and arguments rose again, but the judge continued, “However! The decision of chiefhood is not under Dr. Guyer’s decision. It is mine.”

Several senior guardians stood, all making the same arguments that their sons and daughters were the best fit for this role. But they were all wrong. They claimed their child had the best scores, cared the most for Elondoh, and were model citizens.

As if Lucas hadn’t been raised for this.

“Do any of your sons have the discipline to miss every childhood event just to train or study?” Lucas asked, though his voice was drowned out by the shouting. He stood and raised his voice louder. “Have any of your precious children given up everything to prepare for the role of chief? Are they humble enough to accept the community slander and still protect you? Would they stand here and still vow to die for you even after the lies you’ve said about them? Would they?” He chuckled grimly and shook his head. “Even you know they wouldn’t.”

“You are a sin against the Angels!” Senior Guardian James bellowed.

“Then beg them to strike me down where I stand, because I’m not going anywhere. Your children are not the best fit for chief. I am.” Lucas felt a warning buzz from his impulse bracelet, but he gritted his teeth and glared down at the mob in front of him. “I dare you to take it from me.”

“He can’t even perform his guardian duties,” one of the guardians shouted. “He’ll be training his new abilities. How can you allow him to be chief when he won’t have time to prepare?”

“He’s had his entire life to prepare,” Chief argued. “He might need some time to learn how to be an elemental, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be both.”

More uprising and shouts from the guardians, as if they were personally ready to challenge Lucas. Judge Morrison tried to gain control over the room while Chief leaned toward Lucas and whispered, “Go wait outside. They won’t think straight with you in the same room.”

Lucas did as he was told and slipped out of the courtroom through the back door, pushing it open with a grumbled curse. He was immediately thrown back by a stinging slap across his face. He stumbled and pressed his hand over his throbbing cheek.

Jason Boyd’s parents stood in front of him, both with dark skin and cold brown eyes. Mrs. Boyd glared at Lucas with the same hatred her son had on the day he’d shot Vita. But Mr. Boyd—he’d turned in his guardian rank—stood at a distance with an empty glaze in his eyes, like his soul had simply evaporated.

“Murderer!” Mrs. Boyd shouted. “You should suffer for what you’ve done to him.”

Lucas wasn’t sure what to say. He knew this time would come, but he hadn’t expected it so soon. Chief had said the Boyds were leaving Elondoh, and a selfish part of Lucas had hoped they would leave without confronting him.

Mrs. Boyd shoved Lucas, and he simply let her, though he stood firmer in his stance now. “He was a boy. A child! You have everything he deserved. The career, the power, love! You stole his chance of having all of that.”

Lucas wanted to shout back at her. Remind her that her son was a murderous psychopath. That if her son hadn’t killed Vita, he’d still be alive to this day. If Jason hadn’t been so desperate for status and approval, he would be with her now.

Instead, he kept all of that in, as any good chief would. Because in the wide eyes he looked into, he wasn’t talking to a woman who’d raised a murderer. He was talking to a mother who was grieving her child. And behind her stood a father who seemed lost without his son.

He imagined his own parents in their shoes. The idea of his mother as broken as the woman before him, or his strong father becoming a shell of a man like Mr. Boyd, pained Lucas.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas offered. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

She snarled, “May the Angels take from you what you stole from him, and may it bring you the pain you brought me. Only then will you know how worthless your sorry is.”

She whirled around and stormed off. Mr. Boyd met Lucas’s eyes. A chill shivered through Lucas’s spine as a tear slid down Mr. Boyd’s cheek. Without a word, Mr. Boyd turned and followed his wife.

Abomination. Sin. Murderer.

Lucas glanced at the burn mark still healing on the inside of his wrist. He could feel his abilities in his veins now, like a constant humming in his mind, awaiting his command.

I hate you. If I could, I would get rid of you.

CHAPTER 2Fire

Dos tasted blood as it coated his throbbing lip and slid down his swollen jaw. A guardian held his arms back while another punched him over and over again. As if they worried he would try to fight back. He wouldn’t. He never did. By this point, the impulse bracelet had shocked him so many times that he stopped bothering to protect himself and simply took the hits. Unlike the other elementals, he was used to the punishment inflicted by the impulse bracelets. The scars on his wrist were evident of being raised as an elemental in Elondoh. They seemed to make room for new ones every time he used his abilities without permission during training. He was going numb now, but it would end soon. The guardians would grow tired, and Dr. Guyer would be satisfied.

It wasn’t as if Dos could cry out for help. They kept him in an observation cell, a prison built specifically for misbehaving elementals, located on a subterranean floor beneath the courthouse, where no one in the community could hear his pleas. If he even tried to use his abilities, a gas would be released to knock him out.

The guardian holding Dos let him drop to the cold tile floor and stepped back.

The senior guardian who’d hit him wiped the blood from his knuckles. Dos didn’t need his connection ability to know these guardians felt their cruelty was justified. In their eyes, Dos deserved the beating because their fellow guardian was dead.

But Dos was not the one who killed Jason Boyd. In fact, more people would be dead if Dos hadn’t stopped Lucas from creating that black hole, but none of the guardians cared. Lucas Sawyer was untouchable, the prophesied fourteenth son. Dos was not afforded that privilege. As the only elemental that had been around to receive Dr. Guyer’s wrath, he’d grown accustomed to his role in Elondoh: an outlet for Dr. Guyer’s disdain toward the elementals. An experiment. A slave for the philosopher’s stone.

Dr. Guyer stepped toward Dos and regarded him with an indifferent gaze. “All those years of training. All the time and resources invested to help you become a better, less violent being, was wasted. What do you have to say for yourself, Two?”

Two. It was the elemental number assigned to him at birth. The only name that Dr. Guyer and his mother allowed him to have. He never knew he deserved one until Annie gave him the name of “Dos.”

Dos tried to respond but coughed instead. His ribs ached where they’d been kicked, and his left eye was swollen shut. He propped himself up on his elbow and gasped through the pain in his ribs. Elementals healed quickly, but the constant beating didn’t allow him to properly recover. Dr. Guyer had planned it that way.

Dr. Guyer continued, “Tsk, tsk. I allowed you so much freedom within our community. I dedicated time to you, to nurture you when you had no other parent to do so. No father to be had, no mother to love you. I stepped up and raised you to be better than this. I am disappointed.”

Dos raised a shaking hand to smear blood away from the corner of his mouth. His mother had not seen him since their return to Elondoh from Vita’s Reaction. That wasn’t surprising. She never visited him when Dr. Guyer punished him. It had been a week since Lucas’s Molecular Control abilities had activated, and every day since, Dos was kept in this observation cell. He was given just enough food and water to survive, but never enough to be satisfied. He’d led the fight against the guardians that day, and they’d made sure he learned just how bad the idea truly was.

Still, for his friends, he’d do it again.

Today was the worst beating of them all. He didn’t know the state of the other elementals, where they were, or if they were being treated the same way.

Where is Annie? Is she okay? Are they hurting her?

Dr. Guyer knelt to one knee and looked into Dos’s eyes. His sharp blue eyes were distant, cold, but almost . . . gleeful. Satisfied. As if he finally got something he’d wanted for a long time.

“What do you have to say for your disgusting actions, Two?” Dr. Guyer asked again.

I hate you. If I could, I would kill you.

“My name,” he rasped, “is Dos.”

That glint of joy disappeared from Dr. Guyer’s eyes as he stood and nodded curtly at the guardians. Dos didn’t flinch, nor did he look away. The last thing he saw was the front of a boot.

Dos was finally dismissed.

As he walked through the front door of his home, his mother, Dr. Winifred Novak, was sitting at the kitchen table. She looked him over, observing his bruises, the cut on his jaw, and frowned. “There are always consequences to disobedience, and none of them are merciful. You should have known better.”

Mercy, Dos thought bitterly. What did she know about mercy? Dr. Novak never acted as warmly or loving as Dos’s observations of the other elemental parents. Dos’s rare interactions with her were filled with cold glares, harsh condemnations, and physical violence if he dared step out of line. “I would like to rest,” Dos said, straining to not snap at her.

She dismissed him, so he went upstairs. The shower felt luxurious, and clean clothes felt heavenly. He was still hungry and in pain, but he was too exhausted to care.

Dos opened the balcony doors and stepped out into the night. It was brisk and cool on his skin. A welcome gift to distract him from the hate brewing within him.

“Dos!” a hushed voice gasped.

He opened his eyes and spotted Annie standing on her balcony. Her townhome was directly next to his. Her eyes were wide, and her pale blonde hair flickered in the autumn wind. He quickly turned away from her, ashamed to show her his bruising face.

A second later, a small breeze ruffled his clothing as she landed on his balcony. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face her. Before he could get a proper look at her, she pulled him into a hug.

“Oh my God,” she breathed. “Look what they’ve done to you. Those assholes.”

“Annie, you cannot be here. Someone might catch us.”

“I don’t care. I needed to see you.” She pulled away, her eyes glossy. “I was so worried about you. We have to get you to Vita. She can heal you.”

Waves of sorrow and the sour scent of worry radiated from her. It wasn’t right for him to cause her such pain. He pulled those emotions away from her, replacing them with peace. He’d never truly appreciated his connection ability until he’d met the others and learned of happiness, peace . . . and attraction.

Her shoulders lowered, but then her eyes widened. Her anger fought against the shades of peace, growing more as he retracted the lavender-scented emotion away. Still, the effect lingered on her. It usually took a while for his work to fade, depending on the potency of his work.

Her tone was calm, if not a little defensive. “Don’t do that.”

He shrank back. “My apologies. I did not mean to further upset you. I only wanted to help.”

Annie’s irritation faded, replaced with swirls of shame. She reached for his hand but froze when he flinched. Her hand dropped back to her side.

“I shouldn’t have snapped. You didn’t do anything bad, I just . . . I want to feel everything. Joy, pain, love, fear. They’re all proof that we live. I was upset because I care about you, and I hate seeing how these freaks hurt you. I’m sorry.”

He met her eyes and accepted her hand. He had shown weakness in front of her, and it disgusted him. She deserved better. “I just wanted to do something good. For once.”

Annie pressed her forehead against his. The scent of her—not her emotions, but her—greeted him in a way that felt like peace. “You are good, Dos. Lucas caught me up on what happened and how you helped. Fighting back against those guardians, facing that black hole to stop Lucas, helping even though you were hurt. You were so brave.”

“You think too highly of me,” he said.

“No, you just think too low of yourself.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. The press of her lips pushed away his woe, his pain, his anger. How was she capable of such a thing? Of taking such a horrible day and giving it a glimmer of joy?

Not for the first time, he wondered what it would be like if he weren’t so lowly and she didn’t have to sneak around to see him. If he were better, if he were a guardian or a politician’s son, perhaps she wouldn’t have to worry about him so much. And perhaps he wouldn’t feel so guilty for having her affection.

He pulled away from her. “You should not care for me the way you do.”

“I can’t just make my feelings go away.”

“I could.”

She jerked back and stared at him. “You would take away how I feel for you?”

He nodded. “You would not have to worry about Dr. Guyer finding out, and you would be free to be with anyone else.”

“But you would still care about me,” she said. Then, in a shy voice, she asked, “Wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.” Despite knowing better, he could never dampen his desire for her. He would accept his suffering.

“I would never forgive you,” Annie declared. She tilted his chin so he was forced to look at her. “Promise you’ll never do that to me. Please.”

Perhaps he should try to convince her anyway, but instead, all he felt was relief. He nodded. “I promise, Annie. I will never manipulate your emotions without your permission again.”

She smiled in a way that made his heart flutter, and then hugged him, tucking her head beneath his chin. For the first time in days, he felt at peace.

CHAPTER 3Guardian

It was early February now, six months after Lucas became the fifth elemental. He stood in the training room, holding his hand over a metal cup and gritting his teeth. His impulse bracelet had been removed so he could exercise his element without getting shocked. His wrist was already scarred from subconscious attempts to use his abilities, so it was a relief to be free of the bracelet, even if it meant using this unholy power.

Dr. Guyer sat at a desk at the front of the training room, where he could comfortably watch the elementals at work. Enough chairs and tables were situated in the back of the room, where the elementals sat when they weren’t actively demonstrating their abilities. For now, Lucas was the only elemental in the room, standing in the center for Dr. Guyer and his assistant, Dr. Wilson, to observe him. Rain pattered against the four large windows on the left wall, providing an uneven drumbeat to further distract Lucas’s concentration.

His goal for this task was to move the cup from one side of the table to the other by manipulating the cup’s molecules. Whatever that meant. He still wasn’t sure.

The cup sizzled away from its original form and reappeared on the marked end destination.

Hold it. Don’t . . . lose . . . focus . . .

The rim was the last to form, completing the solidification of the cup. For the first time, Lucas had managed to move the cup without any trouble—until excitement bubbled up in his ears with the roar of a thousand lions, making him flinch. The cup’s form spiked and moved like vibrating water, simply waiting to burst.

Damn it, no!

“Control it, Guardian Sawyer,” Dr. Wilson chided, adjusting his safety goggles.

Guardian Sawyer . . . Lucas would’ve scoffed if he weren’t so concentrated on his work. It was a small mercy that Judge Morrison decided to let Lucas keep the rank and title even if he couldn’t perform any guardian duties while training to control his element. He was a guardian in name only, and he hated it. At least he was allowed to keep the guardian’s belt—a tool belt each guardian was given upon graduation with a set of tools: a handgun, a taser, their badge, and for elemental guardians, an impulse bracelet key and tranquilizer gun. They didn’t trust him enough to go without an impulse bracelet, but apparently, they trusted him not to unlock it on his own.

Lucas tried to focus his efforts, but the screaming in his ears and the familiar rush of adrenaline raging through his veins threatened to rip his muscles apart. He couldn’t breathe, let alone focus. His ability suffocated him.

And sure enough, the cup exploded outward, splattering steaming hot metal onto the wall with a loud pop.

“Damn it!” Lucas kicked at the table leg. Another exploded cup to join the melted pile of failed attempts.

Dr. Wilson sighed and wrote on his clipboard. Probably something along the lines of, The fourteenth son is a disappointing failure, and humanity is doomed.

“What caused a reaction this time?” Dr. Guyer asked.

“I’m not sure, sir,” Lucas answered stiffly.

“You were meant to pay attention to your thoughts and emotions if this happened again.”

“I can only concentrate on so many things at once. You’ll have to pick which one that is,” Lucas snapped, then quickly added, “sir.”

The door to the lab room opened, allowing the other elementals and their guardians to file in. Guardians Ethan James and Timothy Hogan conversed with each other while Annie, Dos, and Adrian talked among themselves. Otis walked in first, followed by Vita and her new guardian, Ruth Taylor.

Guardian Taylor took Lucas’s former post by the entrance. She was tall and muscular with short red hair and observant blue eyes. At twenty-one, she was a couple of years older than Lucas. He’d had known her in school, so he trusted her to be Vita’s new guardian. But he had to stifle his jealousy about Ruth taking his place.

Last year, the elementals were brought to Elondoh against their will after having been raised in the outside world. Because they were prophesied to be a dangerous generation of elementals, Lucas and the other guardians had trained their entire lives to protect them and, if necessary, subdue them. Lucas had never expected to become an elemental himself. Vita offered Lucas a gentle smile and rested her hand on his burned wrist. A faint buzz later, his wrist was healed. Again.

“Why did the cookie go to the hospital?” Vita whispered with a conspiratorial smile.

Despite the previous feelings of woe, a weight lifted from his chest. “Why?”

“Because he felt crumby.” She winked at him and walked off to her usual seat by the window, leaving him smiling to himself at her outside-world jokes.

The one and only good thing that came out of this entire elemental mess was that Vita and Lucas had grown closer. When his abilities had first activated, he worried Dr. Guyer would forbid their relationship, but one key factor allowed them to be together: Lucas didn’t have Angelic blood. Elementals weren’t allowed to mix with each other because nobody knew the risks of combining two Angelic beings. Lucas was fully human, so the relationship was allowed. They’d been dating for six months, and he planned to ask for her courtship at the Ascension Day Feast.

They were “late bloomers” compared to the others their age. Most Elondohnians were already married, or close to it, by nineteen. But Lucas and Vita, both having turned nineteen in the past six months, were still taking it slow. Typical of outside-world relationships, from what Lucas understood.

Dr. Guyer stood and flipped through his clipboard. “Good morning, elementals!”

Collectively, the elementals grimaced, like they always did at the sound of his voice—except for Vita. She had no memory of her Angelic Reaction, so she didn’t know of Dr. Guyer’s manipulative ways. He’d broken the other elementals’ trust by planting the seeds that led to Vita’s Angelic Reaction, raising the opportunity to kill her in order to activate Lucas’s Molecular Control abilities. To Vita, Dr. Guyer was just an aging alchemist determined to get the philosopher’s stone and use it to save humanity from disease.

“Today, we—” Dr. Guyer stopped abruptly, succumbing to a fit of watery coughs. He hadn’t had a cough like that since Vita had healed most of his illness away last year. Strangely, Vita was able to eradicate any disease she’d encountered—except for Dr. Guyer’s illness. She had claimed there was still the tiniest piece of it left in him that she couldn’t clear, but that it had gone dormant during her healing.

Vita hurried over to Dr. Guyer and quickly rested a hand on his back to heal him. Dr. Guyer pulled his handkerchief from his lips and gasped until he could breathe evenly. He nodded in thanks to Vita, but she frowned at the bloody specks on the handkerchief.

“Sir,” Vita started softly. “It’s coming back.”

“Nothing to worry about for now,” he said, wiping at his mouth. “Dr. Wilson, take over for the morning session.”

He walked out, letting Dr. Wilson start the training session by inviting Adrian to demonstrate his Water abilities. Watching the abilities in action was supposed to help Lucas learn how to manipulate them, but so far, it had proven fruitless. Lucas didn’t know anything about manipulating the elements, but the scientists here were convinced that he should be able to do so. He’d watched Vita bend the earth, Annie command the air, Adrian work with water, and Dos control fire, and yet Lucas hadn’t been able to replicate a single thing.

There were a lot of things he should be able to do, but the prophecy hadn’t exactly left him an instruction manual.

Beware the children of this day, for they shall change humanity forever. They will mirror Generation 6 and wield powers of the mind. The fourteenth son shall mend the divide between man and the heavens. His power has never been seen before, and his might is unmatched. He will vanquish the Gatekeeper. For immortality to be attained, the breath of life must be paid.

Lucas, the fourteenth son, the fifth elemental, hero of all humanity had no idea what in the Angel’s name he was doing.

Lucas walked into the buffet line next to Hogan and Violet, who wore a new bracelet on her right wrist with a silver rabbit charm. They’d officially started courting about a month ago, and the couple was so in love that Lucas wouldn’t be surprised if they got married before spring. They were two of the few Elondohnians who didn’t treat Lucas like a pariah, and for that, he was happy to celebrate their relationship.

He picked up a lunch tray and reached for a bowl of stew that was served for today’s lunch. As he extended his hand, a kitchen worker grabbed the food pan and walked away, sparing a glare at him. He recognized her as the wife of a guardian who vied for chiefhood.

He sighed and moved on to the sandwiches. But another worker removed that tray and walked away before he could argue. She had offered Lucas her introduction last summer. It was funny how much things had changed. This was now the typical treatment Lucas received since the announcement of his abilities. He should be used to it by now.

So many family members of other guardians wanted their loved one to have the chance for chiefhood. Other devout Elondohnians felt Lucas’s abilities were a sin against the Angels. Some whispered at how terrible it was that Lucas’s part in the prophecy had been hidden from the community for so long. Shouldn’t a fifth elemental be announced sooner, considering the community’s purpose was to honor the elementals? Shouldn’t a community of alchemists, and those who support the alchemists, know that the key to the philosopher’s stone lived within Lucas Sawyer?

And to top it all off, he’d stood during his trial and demanded the chiefhood as his birthright.

I just had to dare the community to test me. Now I’ll starve because of my Angel-forsaken ego.

“Excuse me!” Violet said to one of the workers. “You took food away from Guardian Sawyer. He has a right to eat, does he not?”

One worker sneered and left him a bowl of stew, but it was cold to the touch, as if it’d been sitting in a refrigerator for hours. She quirked an eyebrow at Lucas as if to ask, What will you do about it?

He decided to offer her the customary Elondoh blessing, as a good chief would do. “May the Angels fly with you.” He picked up the tray and thanked Violet before joining the elementals’ table.

Vita eyed his bowl and put down her utensils. “They did it again, didn’t they?”

Lucas shrugged. “I’m not that hungry anyway.”

She stood, hard eyes set on the kitchen staff, but Lucas took her hand. “It’s just lunch, Vita.”

“It ain’t right for them to treat you like that.”

Annie leaned forward with a conspiratorial grin. “I’ll slip something into their food if you distract them. I heard one of them is afraid of centipedes.”

“No,” Lucas said. “They’ll grow bored of it and move on. Just leave it alone. A good chief can work under any conditions, and I’ll prove that to them.”

Vita sat down with an annoyed click of her tongue. Was she kind to everyone? Yes, sometimes to a fault. But was she also protective of her loved ones? Also yes, and also sometimes to a fault. Lucas was just glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of that glare. At least, not anymore.

Dos studied Lucas’s food with glowing red eyes. Soon, the stew was steaming and edible. Lucas gave him an appreciative nod and started on his meal.

Dr. Guyer, escorted by his new retinue of personal guardians, made his way to the front of the dining hall. Dr. Wilson followed, nervously wringing his tie. Chief strolled in and stopped at the elemental table.

“Be sure you pay attention to this announcement,” he warned before taking his place behind Dr. Guyer.

Dr. Guyer stood at the small podium where morning announcements were usually made and tapped on the microphone. The entire hall fell silent, the community’s attention falling on the head alchemist like a cloak on a king. Some watched him with utter reverence, while others merely offered the politeness of pausing their conversation as they continued to eat.

The head alchemist oversaw nearly everything in Elondoh and thus had earned the community’s respect. Vita had once equated Dr. Guyer to Elondoh’s president, but Lucas wasn’t sure if the president of the United States also ran alchemical tests as his main priority. Dr. Guyer’s main burden was training the elementals to create the philosopher’s stone and saving humanity from disease. Dr. Guyer didn’t often make community-wide announcements, but when he did, it always related to the stone.

“Forgive my intrusion of your midday meal,” Dr. Guyer said with his practiced paternal smile. The very smile that had once fooled Lucas. “I promise I won’t be long. I have an announcement to make—one that only I can deliver, rather than delegating it to my wonderful staff.”

“Please tell me he’s retiring or something,” Annie groaned.

Lucas scoffed. That would never happen.

“This Ascension Day Feast will be my last as your head alchemist,” Dr. Guyer announced.

Gasps all around. Lucas met his father’s eyes. Chief nodded once.

Annie’s eyebrows shot up. “I can’t believe that just worked.”

Dr. Guyer smiled, as if consoling a sad child. Indeed, some citizens started weeping. “Do not worry yourself. I’ll still be around, but I will be retiring and allowing our dear Dr. Wilson to take my place.”

Dr. Wilson shrank under all the attention. Whispers followed the announcement, most of them taunts. He blushed and pushed up his glasses.

“As you know, my health requires my full attention,” Dr. Guyer said. “But I can assure you, before I go, I will have the philosopher’s stone. This, I swear to you by the Angels above. Officially, my retirement date is set for a year from now, so we have plenty of time together.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes at the old man. Surely, this was another lie. The question was why?

“Please enjoy your meals and have faith! Our mission will be accomplished.” Dr. Guyer left the stand, coughing into a handkerchief. His guardians escorted him out, and the dining hall erupted with chatter.

Lucas looked at Adrian. “Read his mind. Tell me if he’s lying.”

Adrian’s eyes glowed blue, zoning out for a moment before fading back to green. “He’s telling the truth. He wants the stone, and then he’ll retire. He genuinely thinks he can accomplish it before a year’s out.”

Lucas and Dos exchanged surprised looks.

“I cannot believe it,” Dos whispered.

“Neither can I,” Lucas said.

“What does this change?” Vita asked.

Dr. Guyer had been the head alchemist even when Chief was a boy. Elondoh had always been under Dr. Guyer’s rule. He was the reason most citizens of Elondoh feared that Lucas’s generation of elementals would mirror Generation 6’s atrocities—a mass Angelic Reaction that led to thousands of citizens’ deaths. He was the reason the elementals were confined behind the walls of Elondoh. He was the root of their strife. With Dr. Guyer gone, there was a chance for peace.

Lucas shook his head. “It changes everything.”

CHAPTER 4Water

Adrian followed the others into the training hall after lunch, only partially paying attention to the conversation. He mentally searched the grounds of Elondoh, always keeping a mind out for something interesting. Mostly, he heard gossip and theories about Dr. Guyer’s retirement.

His head throbbed from using his mind-reading connection ability so often—the damn side effects. Once every few generations, elementals developed connection abilities—a gift that connected their Angelic soul to their human body. They changed with every generation, and it always came with consequences. Vita’s healing depleted her energy, Dos’s emotional manipulation gave him fevers, and Adrian’s mind-reading gave him migraines. When it came to elemental matters, there was no give without take. Annie didn’t know how lucky she was that she didn’t yet carry the burden of having a connection ability. Even so, there were some perks. His mind-reading also meant he could rummage through a person’s memories and see through their eyes.

He sensed another mind on the outskirts of Elondoh’s borders. It was new yet familiar to Adrian. Like he knew the mind but had never read the thoughts. It only became noticeable in the past hour or so.

The range of his mind-reading skills had expanded. Previously, he’d needed to be in the same room as a person to read their mind, but now he could go through the entire community and comfortably pop into anyone’s head. He could just barely hear whispers from the outside world, but this was harder because the closest town was an hour away, and Adrian couldn’t reach that far yet. It felt like stretching his arm out enough for his fingertips to brush against something, only for it to scurry away. Maybe this new frequency was a mind from the outside world, and he’d somehow gotten ahold of it.

The elementals all sat at tables situated in the training room and waited for Dr. Guyer to begin.

“Good afternoon,” the alchemist greeted. “I know my announcement during lunch was a bit disheartening, but worry not. I have wonderful news to share with you.”

“This should be good,” Annie grumbled, crossing her arms.

“With the growing progress in our mission, I felt it prudent to bring the newest and brightest minds to our ranks. My team sent off discreet testing to various colleges and analyzed the highest scores. We now have three new scientists on our team. Help me welcome them!”

The door opened, and three people stepped inside, all wearing white coats over their outside-world clothing, as opposed to the gray jumpsuits Elondohnians wore during work. The warmth left Adrian’s body as he watched the last one walk in.

She had sleek black hair that fell down her back, bronze skin with a hint of pink beneath her cheeks, and the richest dark eyes. She smiled politely, but the wavering dimple on her chin proved she was nervous.

But Adrian knew that smile and had fallen in love with it at the age of seven the moment she’d called him a butthead on the playground. He knew the green bracelet on her left wrist; she’d called it her lucky charm and wore it to every one of Adrian’s football games.

Her smile dropped into a wide-eyed stare at Adrian. She had no idea he’d been drugged and taken here by force. She had no idea that he’d tried his hardest to reach out to her, to send a message that he was okay. All those nights dreaming about this reunion, all the clever one-liners he could’ve said, all attempts of intelligent speech simply crumbled as Adrian jumped to his feet and breathed out, “Naomi . . .”

She stormed out, and Adrian ran after her into the hallway.

“Naomi!” he called. He caught up to her and grabbed her hand to stop her. “Baby, just wait—”

She whirled around and shoved him. All he could do was stand there and stare at her. He almost forgot how beautiful she was. She sniffled and stared at him with hurt eyes.

“I thought you were dead!” she cried.

“I can explain. I promise.”

“I filed police report after police report. I called your parents, and nobody answered. I went to the media, I went online, I did everything to try and find you!”

“Naomi—”

“Every attempt I made just mysteriously disappeared. I was starting to think I’d dreamed you up and was going insane. The counselors at school started suggesting I take a break from classes! They said the pressure was getting to my head. I’m pretty sure one of them threatened me if I kept pursuing it.” She gasped through her tears. “I got offered this internship at the most prestigious medical community I’ve ever heard of, and I thought maybe it would be good to get a change of scenery, but here you are. You’re not dead, not missing—you’re alive. And you’re a liar. You left without so much as a text goodbye!”

“Babe!” He gently grabbed her shoulders so he could get a word in. “I tried to talk to you. They wouldn’t even let me call to say goodbye. They dragged me here against my will. I swear, I never meant to put you through this.”

“Why are you here?”

“I . . . I’m what they’re studying. I’m the Water elemental. According to these weird alchemists, there’s Angelic blood in my veins, and that gives me the ability to do . . . well, this.” His eyes glowed blue as the water from a nearby drinking fountain shot out of the spout and swirled up into the air. The water circled around Adrian’s head, then shot back into the fountain’s drain. Naomi’s eyes widened as she watched him. Then he poked into her mind. It was the strange frequency he’d felt earlier, the one that was new and yet so pleasantly familiar.

I love you.

“What . . .” she stepped back, momentarily forgetting about her distress. “But . . . no. That can’t be possible. All I’ve read about . . .” She shook her head. “How long have you been like this?”

Here came the hard part. “All my life.”

She paused and gave him a look that could only be described as heartbreak. Her voice was stiff despite the tears blinking out of her eyes. “All. Your. Life?”

“I wanted to tell you, but—”

“I’ve known you all your life, and you never—not once—thought to tell me? You know everything about me, but here you are, a veritable stranger. Did you not trust me?”

“I wanted to tell you, but my parents always said I couldn’t tell anyone. They were scared I would tell the wrong person and we’d get dragged back here. But it didn’t matter anyway. I didn’t even know how to use my stupid abilities until I got here. Believe me, I’d much rather leave Elondoh behind.” He tried his signature apologetic smile. “Why do you think I never wanted to go to the beach, even when you tempted me with a bikini?”

Her eyes hardened into a glare.

Nope, that wasn’t the right move.

“You could’ve trusted me,” Naomi hissed. “I wouldn’t have told anyone. I had your back no matter what. When were you going to tell me? After we got married and had kids with Water abilities, and I’m left wondering what the hell is wrong with them?”

“I don’t know, okay? I just didn’t want to scare you away. I hated my abilities, I hated that I couldn’t tell you, and I hate that you went through so much pain because of me. I’m sorry. But now that you’re here, we can fix this. Right?”

She looked away. “I don’t know. This was a really big bomb drop. I . . . I need time to think.”

“Okay, sure. That’s fair.” He took her hand and was relieved when she didn’t pull it away. “I really am sorry. I missed you every day.”

Naomi closed her eyes and sighed. She barely squeezed his hand. “I’m so relieved that you’re alive.”

“Ms. Brooks?” Dr. Wilson poked his head out of the room and pushed up his glasses. “Will you be joining us? We wouldn’t want you to miss the ability demonstrations.”

Naomi lifted her chin, and any signs of her heartache disappeared. “Yes, of course. I’ll be right there.”

Adrian offered her an encouraging smile, but she didn’t even look at him. She breezed past him and walked into the room.

CHAPTER 5Air

“And what is her connection ability?” asked one of the interns as Annie floated down to the floor from her demonstration.

“I don’t have one,” Annie answered.

“Yet!” Dr. Guyer butted in, smiling that annoyingly stiff smile. “We are sure it will unlock soon. Annie, dear, could I speak to you outside for a moment?”

Annie pursed her lips as she begrudgingly followed Dr. Guyer into the hall. On the way out, she locked eyes with Dos.

Their exchange lasted no longer than a breath, and honestly, it shouldn’t have happened at all. Their little tryst wasn’t allowed around here, and if anyone found out, they’d be majorly screwed. As in, locked-in-an-observation-cell kind of screwed. They needed to be more careful, but it was dangerously reassuring that Dos had his eyes on her too.

“Annie, dear,” Dr. Guyer started once they were alone. “I think it’s time we try to manually activate your connection ability.”

Annie cocked an eyebrow. “What does that entail?”