Disclaimer: This story is based off of the Elemental Masters series by Mercedes Lackey. It is NOT ours. We recommend you read the series in its entirety as it is very good.

The Child Stealer

by Veresaun Santious and Raev Winters

Chapter One.

Two pairs of eyes gazed at the flora that surrounded them. Green glass clamored as the heavy rain beat down upon the conservatory. Their eyes were focused on the chalk diagram that circled the floor. The Arcane designs flickered across their eyes, their meaning indecipherable save for a knowing few. One gazed down at it proudly, chalk dust lining his hands. He dusted off his hands and a smirk tugged at his lips. He looked up at Veronica and raised a brow.

"So Veronica, are the lines straight enough for you yet?" She looked at it with a critical eye and frowned.

"You know I didn't like this idea to begin with, Lysander."

"Yes, but you agreed to it nonetheless, Miss Veronica." Veronica sighed and placed her hands on her hips.

"It's fine, Sand. However, if you call up a blizzard, I'm blaming you."

"Since undines are more into the realm of cold, even if it was on my head, it would still look suspicious." He stood up and walked over to get the tome. It only had simplistic spells, but it was sufficient for the task at hand. Veronica watched him, worry churning deep within her gut. Regardless of the fact that Lysander was about to do something against the rules, she was worried that it might end up disastrous.

"Are you sure about this, Sand? Nathaniel and Cecilia disapprove of experimentation. "

"No, Cecilia disapproves of experimentation, Nathaniel just listens to her because she is his wife."

"Regardless," Veronica stressed. "It is not advisable."

"It wasn't advisable to learn magic in the first place, but that didn't stop you. Trust me."

Trust me. Veronica knew that whenever he said those two words, there wasn't much she could do to convince him otherwise. And despite her better judgment, and all evidence to the contrary, she did. She knew better, of course, however, she also knew no matter what idea Sand came up with, it wasn't so terrible as to anger the elementals.

Lysander flipped through the pages. "Found it!" He exclaimed. "I knew it was in this book!"

"Wonderful," Veronica sighed. "Shall we get on with this, then?" Lysander rolled his eyes. Veronica moved over to the well, with it's own Arcane design drawn upon the stone. Her eyes followed Lysander as he faced her, smirking.

"Yes, we shall."

Veronica stepped forward and began to speak the incantation, her voice soothing and sweet. She called onto the undine, compelling it to come forward. Her hand dipped into the water and slowly, she traced a sigil. Lysander, across from her, pulled a flute hidden in his sleeve. He licked his lips and began to play a few notes, his fingers rising and falling with the tune. Veronica's eyes drifted back to the sigil, and from the water, came a glowing, ethereal creature- striking in her small stature, she bore great resemblance to a mermaid.

"You have called for me?" She spoke, her voice humming with harmony.

"A moment of your time, please- we are attempting something that also requires a slyph." The undine gave her a playful smile and nodded, content to wait for the moment. She was needed , and therefore, she would wait.

Lysander finished playing his flute. The air condensed around him into a small, glowing fog. It swirled in and out of his body until it finally paused and solidified. Floating before him was a slyph, quick and birdlike, it sat on his shoulder.

"Hello Lysander!" It chirped. "What do you need of me, today?" Lysander gave the slyph a mischievous grin.

"It seems to be raining and we need to change the weather." The sliph and undine laughed in merriment, their eyes gleaming. The two elementals lent them their energy, filling the two up and uplifting them before dispersing. Veronica made her way over to Lysander and they read from the book in unison.

"Nin o chithaeglar lasto bear thyer." The two lifted the spell into the air, and waited. The weather changed before their very eyes; the clouds soothed and dispersed, the rain softening until it came to a full stop.

Lysander beamed in accomplishment, and even Veronica could not help but smile at their success.

Their moment of triumph did not last long, however. Veronica turned, and found herself staring into the eyes of Cecilia.. Nathaniel stood off behind her. He was smirking in amusement, but when Cecilia spoke, he soon put on a frown. Lysander, however, was not intimidated by Cecilia's fierce frown. He gave a delirious sort of grin, exhaustion evident. Veronica, wisely, bowed her head. She knew not to mess with the woman before her. Kind as she was, Cecilia was not to be trifled with, or ignored.

"Do know what would have happened if you had messed up? Do you have any idea of the harm you two could have caused? You could have died! The elementals could have drained you!"

"But we didn't, and they weren't angry with us. It turned out all right."

Cecilia turned to him. "You, boy, are a lost cause, like my husband. I will not, however, allow you to poison Veronica's mind." She turned to Veronica, pointing at her. Veronica blushed, thoroughly admonished. "And you should have known better than to listen to him! You are the voice of reason, surely you could have persuaded him against it?"

Lysander snorted. "V knows she can't convince me of anything. Like you, she gave up on that a long time ago."

"It does not, however, mean that she should go along with it." Cecilia said with a scowl.

"I knew that he couldn't do it alone, and I didn't want him hurting himself." Veronica defended. "If I can't keep him from doing something, I may as well keep him safe." Cecilia turned red from anger, about to explode.

Nathaniel quickly came to their rescue. He placed a calming hand on her shoulder and led her away from them, speaking in soothing, hushed tones. Cecilia visibly relaxed, and Lysander smirked once again in triumph.

"Told you it would work."

"I never doubted that it would work," Veronica quipped. "I merely doubted in our ability to get away with it. And as you can see, I was right."

"No," Lysander said. "Cecilia scolded us. Not punished us. Technically, we got away with it."

"Shut it, Sandy."

Lysander gasped. "How dare you!" He said, mockingly. Veronica stuck out her tongue but smiled.

"Well, we may as well use the sunshine. Shall we go outside?"

"Yes, lets."