Elementals
an excerpt

The ear splitting sound of emergency bells is almost white noise. Mary Melaqua Hospital is buzzing with healers moving to and fro between rooms. Every moment or so there is a scream of pain or shock. Injured soldiers pour in from the dark crowded streets where a war is raging. Some of the wounds would make a normal person sick. Jazmine, however, is not the average eleven year old; she witnesses worse maladies on a daily basis. Since before she can remember the hospital has been her home.
"Jazzie!" One of the assistants calls from behind a crude curtain that Jazzie knows hides a man who suffered an axe blow to the head. Lucky for the soldier that only the flat side hit him. Still, he is barely alive; Jazmine wonders what is wrong.
"Jazzie get over here!" The girl dodges a team of healers who leave the hospital and barely misses a young child whose cries are drowned by the ringing bells. Jazzie is proud of Melaqua's hospital staff, especially its mobile unit which helps soldiers on the field.
The assistant's name is Amira, she is just out of the academy and still in training. Slipping into the secluded area Jazzie immediately recognizes the problem. The soldier's forehead injury has reopened and he is losing blood fast. The young girl leaps into action, grabbing the last clean cloth she presses it to his head and beckons Amira. The assistant healer shakes off her initial shock and pulls up her sleeves.
Healers like Amira learn to use their elemental energy, a combined force of mental and physical strength to heal patients. They typically do this by putting their elemental energy into the subject. Next a healer uses the inserted power to extract poison, mend skin, heal organs, or any other task. Jazzie loves the healers and wishes she was an elemental, even one as inexperienced as Amira. Upon turning nine the government tests for elemental possibility. Jazzie was disapointed when the test wound up negative.
"Hurry! Carefully place your hands here and let the power flow into the wound." Jazzie leaves one hand holding the cloth to his head. With the other she beckons Amira over.
It is typical for assistant healers to blank out on their first day. Besides that the other healers abandoned this man to care for 'more promising patients.' Since he is unconscious Amira's work is much easier. Jazzie takes her hands away to give Amira room. Still the young woman's face crinkles in frustration.
"Jazzie..."
"Don't worry about anything, just relax and allow your elemental energy to bind his skin together."
Amira quivers with the effort. Jazzie advises Amira based on lessons she 'accidentally' overheard. The young girl is proud to be part of the hospital family and hates the stuck-ups from high class Healing Centers. Jazzie wonders whether they are even admitting the soldiers.
A battle is raging outside and fortunately the Grand Allied Forces of Dryon are leading. Unlike the past, indigenous tribes are not on friendly terms with the government. Many of the healers pretend not to notice the honey hue of Jazzie's skin and the deep blue of her eyes. They ignore her indigenous heritage.
"Thanks Jazzie, your a life saver."
Amira's face glows with success. "Shouldn't you be in bed though?" her expression quickly morphs into a motherly scowl.
"Off with you!" Before Amira could say another word Jazzie dashed out, slipping through large swinging doors she makes her way up a large staircase and to the permanent care unit where she shares a room with Daniella, a young indigenous girl who is in a coma. Slipping into a small cozy bed Jazzie cannot sleep. The day had been longer than most, with the enemy commencing attack before dawn.
Since then Jazzie cleaned close to one hundred towels and made more beds than she thought possible. In between all those chores she took care of injured and guided civilians to rooms, one even tipped her despite Jazzie's protest. There was nowhere to spend it anyways.
Then there was Mrs. Sloth. The big-boned bill collector had a fit when the healers informed her that patients today were free of charge. It took three people including Jazzie to keep Mrs. Sloth from strangling the Hospital Director. The Director's name is Dominic, he is a young man with jet black hair, he is a renowned battlefield healer. It is said that when he was 14 he healed the Dryor (in disguise) at a small pub in the desert. Dom never comments on the story but Jazzie often testifies to its truth falsely when outside healers visit.
"Then, the whole room expanded with Dom's great elemental energy. The Dryor's torn body lifted into the air. Dom's power healed her in a second and then she vanished!" Jazzie basked in the oohs and ahs.
Contemplating all this she falls into a restless sleep. Tossing and turning in the sheets she dreams of the grotesque injuries she witnessed, and of the delirious patients. Everything she ignores and tries to forget comes back to her in sleep. The next bed over stirs, just a small movement.
Jazzie knew her parents died beside many others preventing a fire from spreading across Dyr. That was ten long years ago, sometimes the girl pretended she could see their faces. This truth, like so many others, was too much to bear. Dominic saw her alone on the street, still an infant, and took Jazzie to the hospital. Only a housekeeper could testify to her name and the death of her parents.
Jazzie starts, her heart thumping in her chest. The girl has a knack for quick thinking and jumps out of her covers. The cool night air of the desert planet is surprisingly chilling. Lighting a candle she takes a few timid steps toward her room mate. The small child's eyes flutter behind their thin lids and her arms shiver every now and then. Turning on her heels Jazzie runs from the room.
"Amira, Amira! You have to come see!" Confusedly Amira awakens.
"What in the name of the Dryor do you want?" Amira demands softly so as not to awake the other assistants. The ringing of the bells and bustling noises of the hospital are only a low drone. Jazzie cringes, and makes a mental note: Amira is not the type to mess with.
"It's Daniella!" Jazzie whispers excitedly, "She's out of the coma!" All remnants of sleep leave Amira. "Are you sure?" Jazzie grabs her friend's hand and pulls hard. "Positive." Still doubtful Amira lets the girl guide her through the vacant upper-floor hallways. "Just a little further and you'll see."
Jazzie and Amira enter the room, Amira glances over at the bed expectantly; obviously hoping to see a cheery little girl asking a thousand questions. Still holding hands they walk slowly to the bed. Amira looks down at Daniella. The girl's face is calm, her mouth almost in a smile and her eye lids continue to flutter excitedly.
"Well I'm no expert but she doesn't seem to be in a coma." Amira whispers hoarsely. Feeling the girl's face she frowns. "Her skin is ice cold. Close those-" Taking the time to look up she notices the windows aren't open at all. Disgruntled she turns to face Jazzie. "Wha-"
Amira's question couldn't even be asked because at that moment a motion comes from the bed, an unstable shake of her arms. In an instant Daniella's eyes fly open, her upper half lifts into the air as if she is a lifeless puppet on strings. Spine rigid as a board her arms are stretched forward to their limit. Daniella's veins and arteries show through her translucent skin.
The quick-witted Jazzie is floored, in no way was she expecting this. The screaming starts, horrible shrieks that put the ringing bells to shame. Amira falls to the floor covering her ears tightly. Jazzie jumps onto Daniella's bed and wraps the girl in a tackling hug. The din continues and Jazzie still attempts to force Daniella to the bed but despite looking frail the girl doesn't budge. Panicking Jazzie puts her hands over Daniella's temples.
"AIEEEEEE!"
"Stop, you can stop!"
The screaming does not abate and now Jazzie is crying. Desperate now to stop the noise she uses all her remaining strength to force the girl to the bed. A shock like static runs through the pair and the air is filled with warm blue light. Suspended in an odd kind of embrace Jazzie looks into Daniella's eyes and watches as sanity comes back to them. Silence envelopes the two and everything falls still, quite still. Only the faint blue light, like mist moves around them.
Loud unintelligible whispers bring Amira back to consciousness. Instinctually Amira groans at the second rude awakening that night. The voices suddenly cease. Amira sits up, what kind of gossip is there so early in the morning? Surely juicy news! Or at least that's what Amira hopes for. Following a minute or two of silence the loud whispering resumes.
"And you call yourself a psychic elemental!" A feminine voice comments rudely.
"There was interference, my control was broken."
"What could possibly break a psychic elemental's control over a mind?" The woman almost shrieks. Amira inches closer to the window where the sound seems to be coming from. A million questions cross her mind but she shuts them out. The man was answering her.
"Well... As far as I know only other psychics can break that control. You see, since the girl was unconscious I could easily get into her mind. Usually getting in is the hardest part, but some force removed my elemental energy from her."
"I never asked for an explanation of your useless power. More importantly: Are you saying that I didn't check?" The woman demands icily. Before letting him respond she continues, "I did, and there are no psychics in the hospital; Just as there were none anywhere else we struck! So, What's your excuse now?"
Next to the window now Amira wishes it was open. The two whisperers are difficult to hear and the hospital noises rise and fall rhythmically. Amira does not know the people but as an expert eavesdropper she senses awkward silence. Only then does it occur to Amira that the two must be on the roof. Noises at ground level are impossible to hear from the higher floors. Amira is on the sixth floor, the roof is the ninth floor. But what does that woman mean "anywhere else?"
"-I'm not at all concerned about your failure." Like an animal the snobbish woman recognizes his fear and feeds on it. "It is you who must explain your mistake!"
"You must answer to HER. It is SHE who will punish, and she is not forgiving as you rightly know." Whimpering now the man speaks with a stutter. "P-p-please, tell her I t-t-tried. Tell her I did all I c-c-could. What I mean is, all the others were successes." She laughs maliciously, it chills Amira's spine. Again with the "others." Were there attacks happening elsewhere? Should she run down and warn Dominic?
"Oh but you didn't do all you could, did you? All that is over now anyways. This was our last stop, we must depart." The man grunts in response. Amira in her curiosity cranes her neck to catch a glimpse of the two. The girl's face is pressed to the window and she looks up and sees a what looks like two dark blobs on the edge of the building.
The blobs leap and Amira screams as the figures rush past her window and toward the very solid earth below. Rushing out the doors Amira flies down the stairs and through the emergency healing area where she clumsily avoids the healers who eye her suspiciously. What she sees outside the hospital freezes her faster than the night air. There are no bodies, not even an indication of impact.
Amira wanders back to her bedroom after tucking the younger girl in. Jazzie did not need to know about this and Amira promises herself the girl won't find out. The assistant is back in bed and convinces herself it was all just a dream. Then the remaining hours of peace overtake her.