CHAPTER SEVEN

Awakening

"Why's my hair white?" James demanded and grabbed onto Carlos' shirt front. "I can't be aging pre-maturely! I. WANT. MY. HAIR. BACK."

"Don't panic, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this." Logan stated, holding his hands up, trying to calm everybody down. His eyes grew wide when he saw his hands. "Maybe we've been out in the sun for too long."

"Oh yeah, then how come our eyes have changed color?" Carlos demanded as he pried James' hands off of his shirt. "I'm sure that sitting in the sun for too long shouldn't change your eye color."

"There's a scientific explanation for that too." Logan replied. "The pigments of the sunlight against the color of your shirt-"

"Didn't you hear anything that those kids told you?' Kendall interrupted. "There is no scientific explanation for any of this. What we need to do is find them so we're able to get their help to figure out what's going on." He looked around at his friends before rubbing his chin. "Now, the only thing that's going to be really hard if finding out where they are." Suddenly there was a rush of wind that lightly pulled at the boys' clothes.

"You rang?" a cheeky voice asked. The four boys turned around and saw Sydney standing at the top of the swirly slide, leaning against the banister. "I was wondering how long it would take for you guys to need us."

"How'd you get in here?" James asked as he looked around. He gasped when he noticed that the front door was wide open. "Didn't you close the door behind you when you guys came in?" he asked Kendall, Logan, and Carlos. They all nodded slowly in reply, eyes resting on the little boy. He smiled again, dimples slicing into his cheeks and his blue eyes landed on Logan.

"We told you before, science doesn't explain everything." He stated and slid down the slide. "Such as how I got in here," he brushed off his clothes as he stood up. "I ran in here."

"How did we not see you?" Carlos asked in a whisper. "Are you a ghost?"

Sydney looked at him funny before giggling. "No, I'm not a ghost." He replied. "I'm a human, just like you guys." He smirked and turned towards the window at the back of the apartment. "I was sitting on the roof and scaled in here." He turned back and smiled at the boys. "It was fun." He changed the subject and turned serious, going back to what he was talking about before. "It's like we said before, we're elementals. And that's the reason why your hair and eye color changed. It changes when you tap into your power." His smile grew wider. "You guys have finally awakened.

"Awakened?" Logan repeated. "Elementals? Power? You have to tell us what's going on."

"Alright," Sydney shrugged casually and suddenly disappeared from sight. "But I was getting hungry." His voice came from behind the four of them and they whirled around to see him sitting on the kitchen counter, peeling a banana. He took a large bite, chewed it and swallowed before speaking again. "That's better. Now I can give you the reader's digest version of what's going on." He looked each boy in the eye.

"You're an elemental;" he explained seriously. "A human that has the ability to control and element. And from what I've seen today, Kendall, you harbor the power of water. Logan, the power of earth. James, the power of air. And Carlos, the power of Fire. When you control an element, you get abilities that other humans don't have, other than being able to control the element. You're not twice as strong as the normal human."

To show what he meant, he walked over to the couch and lifted it over his head easily, smiling as the boys' mouths dropped open with shock. He put the couch back down and dusted off his hands. "And you can now run faster than the speed of sound." To demonstrate, he moved from the couch to the top of the swirly slide again. "And there are other things that you can do, once you fully awakened and see your guardian."

"Guardian?" Carlos repeated. "Like a guardian angel?"

"Sort of." Sydney's hands glowed a bright blue as a strange mark appeared in the middle of his forehead. "You can tell that you're an elemental, because you have an element mark." A glow suddenly appeared under the boys' shirts, in the same colors their hands were glowing. "And I'm assuming that yours are there."

Kendall lifted up his shirt and saw a wave symbol on his chest, over his heart. Carlos, Logan, and James had theirs in the same places but there's were in the shape of a fire ball, a plant, and a cloud.

"Now, to make you awaken fully." Sydney's hands started to glow brighter. "Close your eyes and concentrate on the energy of your element." He waited until they did as they were told and he gently touched each of their foreheads. "Now, open your eyes."

The boys did as they were told and saw four animals sitting in front of them. In front of Kendall was a cheetah, in front of Carlos was a tiger, in front of Logan was a jaguar, and in front of James was a black panther.

"Meet Kadin, Cairo, Laken, and Jaeger, your guardians."

A/N: Yes, I know another short chapter. But I promise after this, the chapters will be much longer. I just needed to explain a few things. I hope you guys still like it, oh and I hope you guys liked the reference that I put in there to make the four of the boys stick together, I made all of their guardians a type of a cat. Next chapter will be up soon and don't forget to read my other stories 'Big Time Rivalry' and 'Live and Let Live' and Rhuben's story 'Welcome to the Big Time'

-Riley