Andie loved her mother. But their relationship had been bumpy for a while, now. When she and Hannah had been younger, they were pretty much inseparable. And then... Andie had grown up. She wasn't sure when or how it had happened. But one day when Andie was about fifteen years old, Lauren had gotten angry because she had gotten home late because of a movie lasting longer than she'd expected. Andie had sensed trouble when she'd seen the fifteen missed calls and ten text messages on her phone. She had tried calling her, thinking she'd just gotten worried.

"Adrianna, what in the world are you doing? You were supposed to be at home over half an hour ago!" Lauren had screamed.

"Sorry, Mom, the movie was longer than I thought, and phones aren't allowed in the movie theatre..."

"Then you should have left the room and given me a call!"

Yes, and draw even more attention to myself? No, thanks, Andie thought.

"Mom, I was fine, it's... it's no big deal..."

"Get home, now. We'll discuss it later."

 Andie still remembered how confused she'd been. She'd nothing wrong! And even now, it wasn't like she'd been out until three in the morning! She sighed and fell back on her bed. Just then, there was a soft knock on her door.

"Who is it?" Andie asked.

"It's me," her father's voice said. "Can I come in?"

"Yes," Andie said.

The door opened and Hank came in, holding a plate. Andie smiled as her stomach rumbled.

"I thought you might be hungry," he grinned. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." Andie sighed. "I just don't understand why she was so freaked out..."

"You know how she is. She hates not knowing something, no matter how small. You should see her at work, she's always looking for every tiny detail."

"I get that it's important to not let anything out when you're defending someone, but it was like I'd gotten a tattoo, or sneaked out or something! I was only a bit late and she blew it out of proportion!"

"You're never so late, or very rarely, so she got worried. But when she does, I'll admit she has a tendency to..."

"Be a tyrant?" Andie suggested.

"Overreact," Hank tempered. "But you know she loves you."

"Of course I do. It's just... she has a funny way of showing it, sometimes."

"Ah, we all get a little silly with people we love," Hank said wisely. "I'll talk to her."

He kissed her forehead and headed out.

"Dad?" Andie called as he reached the doorway.

"Yes?"

"I love you," Andie said.

He smiled that warm smile Andie was sure had made her mother fall in love with him.

"I love you too, honey."

He closed the door behind him. Andie sighed and fell back on her bed again. Just then, her phone rang. She reached for it.

"Hello?"

"It's me," Bane's voice said.

"Bane! Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. You?"

"Aside from my mom being furious with me, I'm fine," she said.

"She was worried about you." Bane said, a strange note in his tone.

Andie then remembered with a pang of embarassment that Bane was an orphan.

"Oh... sorry... I'm talking about my mom when..."

"When mine's dead. I know. Don't worry about it."

"What about your dad?"

"... I never knew him. I live with my uncle."

"Oh... sorry."

"That's alright. I'm guessing you're bursting with questions about tonight, aren't you?"

"... Kind of, yes..." Andie admitted, but knew better than to throw them at him now.

"... I can't talk about it right now. But tomorrow. I promise."

"Okay... where and when?"

"... Chambers Lake Park, after school?"

"... Okay," Andie said, slightly surprised at the location.

"Okay. Be careful. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"You too. Bye", Andie said and hung up.

But as she put her phone back on her bedside table, she couldn't help things just kept getting weirder.

Bane drove silently. He wasn't alone, anymore, but he didn't want to have the conversation that was coming.

"You shouldn't have told her that." a voice beside him said

Bane glanced briefly to his right, where his mentor was sitting.

"... She could have been killed." he said. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"You should have said it was just an animal, or something. You should never have shown her your powers."

"Yeah, and that demon would have followed her to her house!" Bane retorted. "She has an ten year old sister, Balon! And she couldn't have defended herself!"

"They're not ready." Balon said.

"Of course they're not! We never told them who they are!" Bane retorted.

"You know why we did it."

"Yes, I do. And I know why I wasn't treated the same. But now that the circle is formed, we can't keep them in the dark, anymore. Things have already gone too far, and you know it."

Balon didn't answer at once.

"... I do know that. But I still think..."

"It's not about what we think anymore. It's about doing what's best to protect them and everyone else. Because I won't let them be killed because I never told them the truth."

"You're letting your feelings get in the way."

"No, I'm not! Stop always using that explanation!" Bane retorted hotly. "But now that the circle has been formed, their powers will start to grow, and there's going to be more attacks like this one. We can't just leave them to face it unprepared! I don't understand why you just won't accept that."

"Because I felt the same, once long ago, and look where it got me!" Balon answered.

"We're not you," Bane replied calmly. "And we don't have any other choice."

There was a silence. Then, finally, he said:

"... Maybe you're right."

"I know I am. I would want to be told if I was in danger or even just different. Their powers are probably already showing in some way, and it's probably freaking them out."

Bane couldn't forget the time he'd first discovered his powers. He'd been a lot younger, barely ten. And he'd been glad to have someone to explain everything to him.

"Look, I know you're against this," Bane finished. "But I'm telling them tomorrow."

Lauren and Hank had another business trip and left the next morning. Andie and Lauren were cordial with each other, even if the argument from the night before was still very present in the air. They had their breakfast as usual, got ready for work and school, said their goodbyes and gave their final recommendations. Andie listened, though she'd heard them a hundred times before, and was almost relieved when her parents were gone. She loved them, but they seemed to find it hard to see that she was an adult now. And it was a little tiresome. She sighed. As she looked at her car, Andie's mind traveled back to the events of the previous night. She still got chills just thinking about it. But she still didn't know what that was all about. She'd tried calling Bane, but he hadn't answered. Probably because he knew what she would be after. Answers.

"Okay... well, he'll have to answer me this afternoon," Andie told herself.

She turned to look inside.

"Hannah, are you ready? We're going to be late!"

"Coming!" Hannah's little voice called.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, she was in the doorway, coat and bag on her back.

"Good," Andie smiled.

She'd already made sure she had all her books and her lunch box.

"Come on, let's go."

Hannah climbed into the back seat while Andie took the wheel. Once both she and Hannah were safely buckled up, they set off.

The roads were busy, as they always were at this time.

"Andie?"

"Yeah?"

"Why was mom mad at us last night?"

Andie bit her lip.

"Honey, she wasn't mad at you. Just me."

"Why?"

"... Because I was late, and she got worried."

"What were you doing?"

"I ran into Jessica when I left school", Andie lied. "You know how it is when we're together, we get talking and it's almost impossible to stop!"

She hated lying to her family, but they would never believe her if she did tell them the truth. What was more, she didn't want the demons or whatever that thing the night before had been to target them too.

Andie stopped outside Hannah's school and climbed out too. The school was full of children noisily running around. Usually, Andie smiled at these scenes because she had always liked children, but this time her mind was too busy thinking about the night before. The sun was up, but it didn't soothe her quite as efficiently as usual. Some were playing with a ball, others just talking about their latest action figure or collectible card. Andie had been more of a loner at the time. Shy and laughed at because of her name, it had only been her close friendship with Jessica that had helped her be more outgoing and confident. She still had her insecurities, of course, but didn't everyone?

"Okay, you behave, okay?" Andie told her sister.

"I always do!" Hannah protested.

Andie smiled.

"Okay, I'll give you that."

It was true. As far as ten year olds went, Hannah was fairly well behaved. Then, Andie bit her lip and crouched down to her sister's level.

"... Listen. You remember what I always tell you if you're in trouble?"

"Run as fast as I can and find an adult?"

"Yes."

"What about it?"

"... If anything weird happens you do that, okay? Promise?"

"... Okay..." Hannah said, looking slightly confused.

Andie didn't blame her. She was being very weird and cryptic.

"Good. I have to go. I'll see you tonight."

She kissed her sister's forehead and watched her head into the school like all the other children.

"Is something wrong, miss?"

Andie jumped. One of the teachers was looking curiously at her. Andie realized she'd been scouting the area for black shadows.

"Uh... no, I'm fine," Andie said, forcing a smile. "Excuse me, I have to go."

She quickly got into her car and drove off but could still see the teacher's perplexed look.

Andie parked outside the school and sat in silence a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. How had one night changed so much? She didn't understand what Bane had meant. Why were demons after her, she'd never even gotten told off in class! She could understand that Bane would be a target, because he had - was she really thinking this? - powers. How, why, she had no idea. But she would definitely find out. She took a deep breath, checked her reflection in the mirror, deemed herself presentable, and got out. Jessica, Emily and Isabelle were standing by the gate, as usual.

"Hey, there she is," Jessica said, spotting Andie and waving.

Andie forced a smile and waved back before walking towards them. They were as cheerful as she'd always known them.

"Hey, guys!"

"Morning!" Emily greeted her.

"Your parents are out of town again, right?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, that's right."

Andie had been secretly relieved. If the demon came again, or if another did, she would be able to handle it better. Hopefully.

"What's wrong?" Jessica asked, eying her shrewdly.

"What? Nothing, why?" Andie said, though she knew it sounded a little over enthusiastic.

"Andie Galestone, you're many wonderful things, but a terrible liar." Jessica said, her hands on her hips as her piercing green eyes stared at Andie.

Andie hesitated. She had never lied to her friends. And she hated having to do it, but she wanted to try and understand what was going on better first. She decided on a partial truth.

"My mom and I had a fight last night... and it's bugging me," she said, which was true.

She hated when her mother and she fought. She knew it was inevitable in families, and even in any relationship, but that didn't mean it was any more pleasant. It helped that she could at least be partially honest.

"Oh..." Jessica said, her eyes narrowing slightly in concern.

"You guys have had arguments before, right? I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Andie agreed.

"Hey, guys," said a voice that sent a shiver of shock through Andie's spine.

Bane had appeared beside Emily.

"Hey, Bane," she said, slapping another forced smile on, "how are you?"

"I'm good, you?"

He was a little less good at hiding the concern or... whatever she could see in his eyes.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said. "I'm glad you got through that essay last night."

He frowned slightly then caught on.

"Oh, yeah, right. Thanks so much for your help with that, by the way."

Now Andie was thrown. She didn't think she'd been much help at all, to be honest.

"Oh, it was nothing," she shrugged.

Jessica was looking from one to the other.

"Okay, something is definitely weird, here. What is it?"

"Nothing," Bane and Andie said together, before kicking themselves mentally.

"If something's going on between you, you can just say it, we'd be fine with it," Emily said.

'What? No!" Andie said, and she and Bane giggled. "It's nothing like that!"

But Bane must have been more skilled at concealing his feelings than she'd thought, because she didn't notice the flash of pain that went though his eyes before he laughed.

The bell rang soon after, so they went off to their separate classes. And for the most part, that morning went on normally. Well, in Andie's case, as normal as it could. She kept glancing around her looking for dark shadows, and found it hard to concentrate. She couldn't get the creature out of her mind. She half had a mind to run to her sister's school during break and check on her but forced herself to dismiss the idea. Firstly, it would take her a good half hour, and her break was only half that long. Secondly, both schools would probably think it odd that an eighteen year old ask about her sister for no apparent reason. And thirdly, she didn't want to draw any more attention than necessary on her sister. As she and Bane walked to lunch from Spanish, she couldn't help peering over her shoulder every now and then. So far, nothing suspicious.

"You have to stop doing that," Bane whispered.

"What?" Andie asked, looking at him.

"Acting like some monster's going to jump out at you any second." Bane answered in a low voice, glancing around to make sure no one was listening.

Andie couldn't believe he was so calm about the situation. They had been attacked by a demon, he had some kind super power she still knew nothing about, and he was acting like it was as normal as breathing!

"I know last night was scary, but it's not going to happen every second of the day." he said.

"Well, excuse me, when I know I have a demon on my tail, possibly more, I feel a little nervous," she hissed, emphasizing "little" with her fingers. "I have my parents, my sister, if they want me and try and get to them..."

"I know," Bane said.

He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down. They won't attack in a public location like this, especially not in broad daylight." Bane said.

"We were here last night when that thing came after us!" Andie retorted. "Just outside the school!"

"Alone," he reminded her. "And that is the only reason it attacked us."

Andie bit her lip, trying to think. Eventually, she realized he was right.

"Fine. Why me, then? What is it they want from me? And why do you know so much about it?"

"... It's complicated. We'll talk later, I promise. I can't here."

"... Fine... but I will hold you to that," she warned.

She walked off and didn't hear Bane whisper:

"I know you will..."

"Hey, are you and Bane fighting, or something?" Isabelle asked Andie.

It was just the two of them for the moment. Emily and Jessica hadn't arrived yet.

"What? No... no, why?"

"He's not sitting with us." She said nodding to the right.

Andie looked round and saw that sure enough, he was sitting alone at a table near the door.

"Oh... well... we're not fighting... but let's just say we had a disagreement. I didn't ask him to sit there."

"Oh... well, I hope you guys work it out."

Andie glanced at him.

"Yes... me too."

"Forget him, I have big news!" Jessica said as she sat down at their lunch table.

The cafeteria was full of students talking, so it was a good place to not be overheard.

"What, the mall has another sale on running shoes?" Emily grinned

"Very funny," Jessica said, sticking her tongue at her. "No. I have a secret admirer!"

"What?!" Emily squeaked. "How do you know?"

"I found this in my locker earlier." Jessica said, pulling out a piece of paper.

"There is something important we need to discuss. Please meet me at Chambers Lake Park this afternoon after school by the old bridge." Emily read out loud over her shoulder. "Weird place to meet..."

"No, it's not, it's perfect for privacy!"

"That's weird though... I got the exact same note..." Emily said.

Andie, who had frozen, snapped out of her daze.

"What?"

"Yeah, so did I..." Isabelle frowned. "Weird... what about you, Andie?"

"Huh? Oh, uh... I didn't get a note."

"Weird..."

"Hand me those notes, guys, would you?"

They looked curiously at each other but did as they were asked. Andie set them side by side on the table and looked at them.

"I knew it." she muttered.

"What did you say?"

"These were written by the same person."

"What? How do you know?"

"The handwriting's the same, look." Andie said, showing them.

They looked too and saw she was right.

"Why would someone do something like this?"

Andie forced herself not to look at Bane.

"I'll be right back, okay?" she said with a smile before rising to her feet and walking calmly towards Bane's table.

He saw her coming and seemed unsure how to react.

"Andie...?"

"Hallway. Now." she said.

She walked towards the door, and soon heard Bane's footsteps behind her. They stepped into the now empty corridor, though both glanced around to be sure no one was around. Andie spun around and looked at Bane.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Andie asked, keeping her voice down just in case.

"Tell you what?"

"About the girls! They're the others you were talking about last night, aren't they?"

Bane nodded silently.

"Then why the secrecy? You know we're all friends!" Andie said.

"Exactly. And that's why I didn't tell you."

Andie didn't understand his logic, and was about to say so when it hit her.

"... You were hoping to spare us, weren't you?"

"Yes... and I didn't want to bring more eyes on them than necessary."

"... But with me you had no choice," Andie realized.

"Pretty much," Bane agreed.

"... But why? I don't understand... why are they targetting us?"

Bane's blue eyes bore into hers.

"Because you're not like everyone else." he said. "You're special."

Andie wasn't sure, but she wondered if he didn't mean something else that she couldn't quite decipher.

"I'll explain everything tonight. I promise. It's just... I don't think I could explain it more than once."

They looked at each other.

"... Okay..."

He made to walk away when Andie reached forward and touched his arm.

"Hey... Thanks, Bane."

"... For what?"

"You saved my life." She said. "And I haven't been very nice since last night... I'm sorry."

"No, I understand. But I promise, you'll understand what's going on tonight. And as for saving your life... I could never have dome anything else."

Then, to her surprise, he leaned forwards and kissed her cheek before heading off.

Andie didn't think she'd ever had so much trouble concentrating on her classes that afternoon. She couldn't get the conversation she'd had with Bane out of her head. What had he meant...? He'd made it sound like he'd known them longer than just the past couple of weeks... but how? They had never spoken before she had noticed him in her Spanish class... but then... how did he seem to know so much about them that they didn't? It didn't make sense...

"Miss Galestone!"

Andie snapped out of her reverie. Mrs Bishop, her English teacher had called her name.

"Oh... uh..."

"Perhaps you can tell us the name of Mr Darcy's young sister?"

They had been studying Pride and Prejudice. Most people in her class hated reading, and found the story boring. But Andie liked it.

"Uh... Georgiana. She is ten years younger than Mr Darcy and they are very close."

Mrs Bishop couldn't berate her for not paying attention, so she merely looked disapprovingly at Andie before turning back to the rest of the class. Andie tried to keep her mind on the lesson, not just because she didn't want to be put in detention or given extra homework, but because she was actually feeling increasingly nervous about what was to occur after the last bell rang. And when it did, she walked a little more slowly than was natural as she made her way to her car. As she drove, many questions buzzed in her head. What would she learn? What was so terrible they had to keep it a secret? What did they have that made them so... what was the word he'd used? "Special". She wasn't particularly bright, or pretty... nothing out of the ordinary... and she didn't know how Isabelle, Emily and Jessica fit into this either... And then... when she thought carefully about it, there had been a few odd things since the five of them were friends... that time when she and Isabelle's hands had touched and she'd felt a jolt. They'd written it off as static electricity, at the time... but what if that hadn't been...? And that dream... with the flames... that had definitely been weird. She had thought about asking them if any of them had had similar dreams, but she'd eventually decided against it. They'd probably find it weird that she'd ask something like that. And why in the world would they have dreamed of fire?

Andie eventually reached Chambers Lake Park. She spotted Jessica,'s car, along with Emily's. One of them had probably brought Isabelle along. She clambered out and made her way towards the bridge. After a while, she finally reached it. Sure enough, her friends were standing there, looking a little confused.

"Hey, guys," she said, as she joined them.

"Andie...? Why are you here, you said you didn't have a note..."

"... No... I kind of got asked here personally."

They raised their eyebrows like a single being.

"... By who?" Jessica asked, frowning.

Andie heard footsteps and looked up.

"... By him."

And sure enough, Bane arrived.

"Hey, guys, thanks for coming."

"... Bane?" Emily asked in surprised.

"You put those notes in our lockers?" Jessica asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry, I know it probably looks weird, and maybe even borderline creepy but... I couldn't disclose anything."

"... What makes this place any different?" Jessica asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We're in a protective circle. We can't be seen or heard, and only the chosen can enter it."

"... Chosen?" Isabelle repeated.

"Yes."

Andie held her breath. This was it. The answer to her questions.

"... You see... we are not exactly ordinary people. Have any of you experienced strange dreams involving the elements?"

There was a silence, and Andie realized maybe the girls really had had those strange dreams after all.

"I thought so. Now, there's a reason for that... shortly after we were all born, we were chosen for a very special purpose. A long time ago, before our time, there was a war between a demon and five warriors. They were the masters of nature. Four were the guardians of the elements, and the fifth was their protector."

"What does that have to do with us? I mean, sure, we're five, but..." Jessica began.

Andie elbowed her to silence her.

"But the thing was, the demon, Zorak, was too strong. They defeated him, but they didn't trust him to never return. And if that did happen, they knew they wouldn't survive. So they gave their powers to five humans, hoping that if Zorak did come back, he would never be able to obtain them because he wouldn't know who had them."

Andie's eyes widened as she began to understand what he was saying.

"Yes. We are the new masters of Nature."

***********************************************************

Oh, Snap! I didn't see that coming, did you? Let us know in the comments, and vote if you did expect this!

Who are these strangers? What are the masters of Nature exactly? Let's find out in the next chapter!