Dani

I was the last to be dropped off at my house. I ran up to the front door of the house and ran in. Inside my mom was waiting with a freshly made cake and other sweets arranged on the cabinet in our kitchen.

"I missed you so much." I told my mom after she had engulfed me in a hug. She was sobbing on my shoulder and, to tell the truth, I wasn't that far off either.

"I missed you too, baby," She replied. Then mom wiped her eyes with her hands and lead me to the kitchen. "There's something I need to tell you, you might wanna sit down."

"What is it?" I asked suspiciously, taking a seat at the table. She put her face in her hands and then looked up to tell me whatever I needed to know.

"It's time I told you about your father."

"What about him? I know practically everything."

"Just listen Danica. Your father and I were subjects for the Elemental project, they injected us with a serum that turned your father and I into Elementals, not just you. Your father was an electricity element and I am a light element.

"We never were taught to control our powers though, and your father got made at the scientists one day. Since he couldn't control his powers a lightning bolt struck him."

I was in shock. It was a good thing my mom had told me to sit, because my vision started to get blurry.

"It's all their fault." I grumbled.

"No sweetie," my mom said. "You can't think like that. You need to work with these people to save the world. Once everything's done you can hold a grudge, but not now."

I nodded at her mutely, but then the fire went out and I started crying. Mom nearly made the chair fall over trying to get to me. She hugged me fiercely repeating, "I know, I know."

Then Cole walked in the door and told me that it was time to leave. Talk about great timing. Mom gripped me tighter and asked for more time.

"Ma'am, I would, but it would be against my orders." Cole told her.

"Cole, please?" I begged.

"Fine," he relented, smiling. "But only if you give me some of that cake." I smiled widely back and jumped up to give him a kiss on the check, which resulted in my mom squealing too.

"What?" I asked, shocked.

"You never told me you had a boyfriend." I laughed and Cole backed away shyly. Whoops.

"Sorry mom. Mom, this is Cole, Cole this is my mom."

"Hello Mrs. Bodway." Cole greeted sticking out his hand for my mom to shake.

"There's no need to call me that Cole," she told him, shaking his hand. "Call me Betsy."

"Which part, lots of icing or the middle?" I asked.

"The icing."

While they talked a bit I grabbed Cole a piece of cake and handed the plate to him. He devoured it and and then stood up to leave. I stood up after him and hugged my mother.

"You take care of her Cole." My mother told him as we walked out. I blushed a bit and hurried out the door to get away.

"I'm really sorry about my mom. She can get carried away at times." I apologized.

"It's fine Dani. I liked her." When he knew I didn't believe a single word he said he took my hand in his own. "Really, chill Dani."

"That's easy for you to say." I grumbled.

I jumped back into the car with Cole behind me. We were alone since no one else had been picked up yet, but Raidon lives almost next door so it wouldn't be for long.

When we got back it was time for lunch, but not a single one of us could eat. I wasn't sure whether it was to do with seeing our parents again, having them tell is everything, or the fact that I had eaten cake and cookies before coming here.

"Did you and your parents have fun?" I asked Iris who was sitting beside me. Her warm eyes darkened after what I said.

"I was only with my dad. My mamma died when I was a baby. She don't know how to control how powers." It struck me that the same thing had happened to my dad. Iris had tears welling up behind her eyes. I had to comfort her somehow.

"The same thing happened to my dad. He died just after I was born. If you ever need to talk about it you can come to me." Iris smiled at me and then starting eating, which resulted in most of us to at least pretend to eat our own food.

I think we all jumped when our watches signaled the next class, powers practice. Every one of us was in a daze thinking about what had happened. We filed into the classroom and Cole stood in front of us.

"I want you to work with your EDs today. You haven't had nearly enough time to bond or form a trust that you'll need if you're ever fighting someone. You need to become a fluid team, like you have with the 8 of you. So, I've brought them in here. All I want you to do is play with them." Cole instructed. Then he signaled for some men to come in, each one dragging an ED with it.

The one dragging my fire like ED, Ember was having a hard time. Ember kept trying to bite or light the guy on fire, but she had a good reason. The man was being way too rough with her and I wasn't going to have it.

"Hey!" I shouted at the man, running up to take Ember away. "I don't ever wanna see you touching her like that again." I glared at him and he almost seemed to melt. Then he scattered away.

"Are you ok Ember?" I asked, even though I knew she couldn't really answer. I rubbed the scales under her chin and she panted like a dog. "Now, what do you wanna do today?"

Ember extended her wings as of asking to fly. "Wow, you know I'm afraid of heights. Could we do something else first?"

"You know," A voice said behind me. I jumped and Ember skittered a bit. "You're gonna have to get over your fear at some point. You have to fly Ember over to Australia to get the serum and antiserum." It was only Astrid, an invisible one, but Astrid just the same.

"You have to stop scaring me like that." I told her.

"Oh, sorry Dani. But don't change the subject, you have to fly her at some point. Even Jade got over her fears of heights." I looked and Jade was flying her dragon, Gem. She was right, I had to get on her and fly.

Ember nudged me gently and then I patted her head. "Ok, get ready to fly."

I got her bridle and other gear on her and then cautiously sat down on her back. Gripping her sides tightly with my knees, I signaled for her to start flying.

"Dani, she can tell you're tense. You're only gonna make Ember nervous too." Cole called out from below.

"I can't help it." I shouted back.

"You're going to have to calm down. Gale's watching to make sure you don't fall. Do you trust Gale?"

"Yeah." I answered, and I did. So I closed my eyes and let all my muscles relax. Ember obviously felt better then because she took off extremely fast. I screamed as she went upside down and did flips in the air.

I got used to it at some point when I realized I wasn't going to fall on the ground and crack like an egg. Giving a big laugh, I urged Ember to do flip after flip in the air until we both got too dizzy to do any more.

"That's the spirit!" Gale yelled.

"This is amazing!" I shouted back. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins and eventually I had to stop before I got too crazy.

My hair was all over the place by the time I landed. Astrid run up to me and gave me a high five and a huge hug. I hugged her back and have Gale a high five behind her back.

Ember nudged my butt. "You want some love too?" I asked. She grunted and I hugged her neck.

She lost interest in me as soon as Cole's ED came in though. Ember immediately went over to Glacier. They nuzzled each other and both left Cole to fly together. The two must play together when we aren't training with them. It was pretty cute.

"We just got rejected by our EDs." I said once I had reached Cole.

He laughed, "I know. It doesn't look like we'll get them back soon either."