I tried to interject. “Adam–”
He shot me down with a glare. There was a fire in his eyes I hadn’t seen there before.
“No, Dawn something’s up! Why else would Helen be here? She said that something was coming.” He glanced at her, and she looked away. “I’m your best friend, Dawn. You’re supposed to tell me everything. Well, here’s your chance. Are you like Helen?”
I looked at my mother, and she nodded, throwing her hands in the air. I looked at Nick, who was so surprised his eyes hadn’t left Adam. Finally, I looked at Helen. She smiled and glanced back toward my mom. She had already told us he would take it well if we told him the truth. Now we were about to find out.
“I’m not quite like Helen,” I said softly.
“Not quite?”
By way of an answer, I held my hands up in front of me and let the fire fly. Two solid balls appeared, one flaming red, the other blazing white. When Adam’s eyes widened, I willed the fire away. Then I buried my face in my hands, hardly daring to peek out at him through my fingers.
“How did you do that?” he demanded furiously, grabbing my hands from my face, and turning them over.
“Adam, maybe you need to sit down,” my mother suggested. “There is a lot that needs to be explained; it would appear.”
I groaned inwardly. Nothing was going the way we had planned it.
“So much for not telling the human,” Nick muttered grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest.
“He’ll take it alright, you’ll see,” said Helen consolingly.
“Listen, Adam...” my mother paused to gather her thoughts, “…Helen and Dawn are part of a much larger picture. They are two of four chosen ones. What I’m about to tell you could very well change the way that you feel about these two.”
Adam gave us both an exceedingly long, intense look; then he seemed to come to a decision and sat down, taking my hand in his and squeezing it gently. “There is nothing that could change how I think or feel about the two of them.”
That seemed to give my mother the confidence to continue. “Okay. I’ll give you the condensed version. I am Puriel. Once I guarded the gates of Heaven and passed judgment on those that came from Earth. I met Vetis, Dawn’s father, through a mutual acquaintance. After several centuries of secret meetings, I became with child. Both of us were banished from our posts and sent to Earth. Before we left, God bestowed upon the unborn child the role of Warden. He never said what she would protect, or the powers she would possess.” She paused and looked at Adam.
“So, you’re telling me that Dawn is the product of a tryst between an angel and a demon?” Adam asked, looking at me. I half expected him to drop my hand in horror, but instead, he only squeezed it harder.
“That is precisely what I’m saying,” my mother agreed.
Mom went on to give him an abridged version of what we were. For two hours Adam did nothing but ask questions, to which we replied as honestly as we were able. He took all of it much better than when we had discussed our fallen classmates. I couldn’t believe that just the night before we had decided to keep him in the dark.
Helen had been right. Adam was different.
****
“So, what are you going to do?” Adam asked when the question and answer session was wrapping up.
“There really isn’t a plan yet,” I said, smiling at him. Telling him everything had taken a huge burden off my chest.
“You need one. I mean, if beasts are chasing after you guys you need to figure some way to keep them at bay. Helen, you talked about a fire of protection. Would it keep this place safe?” he asked, transferring his gaze from me to Helen.
“Well, let’s put it this way. You start a fire that is supposed to stay lit, and sooner or later someone is going to call the fire department.”
“True. Yet all these people are dying because these beings mean to destroy you.” He stopped as a thought struck him. “What happens if they do?”
“We don’t really know,” replied Nick. “There can be other Wardens born, but only if there is a union of both sides. As Angie stated, each of them carries the core of the first element. Helen is earth, Krista is wind, and Dawn is fire. Each of them is tasked with protecting the master element. If one of them fails, the world will suffer until the next Warden is born. To my understanding, the last time fire was lost was in the Dark Ages. Right now, we are at a loss with wind because she’s stuck between worlds.”
I could tell by Nick’s expression he was not pleased with the way things had gone. He would have been content keeping Adam in the dark. As we couldn’t, I suspected he would only give Adam enough information to keep him quiet.
“Earth, wind and fire…” Adam stifled a snicker, and I rolled my eyes. I knew what he found so amusing. “What about water?”
“We don’t know who it is,” Helen said.
“How can you find out?”
“The Prophet here is having an issue,” Helen replied, smacking Nick on the arm. “He hasn’t had a vision since he showed up here two days ago.”
Nick gave her a withering glare. “It’s not that easy, Helen. I can’t summon visions like you can summon crops.”
“You can do that?” Adam asked, staring at Helen.
“Of course, I can.”
Adam breathed out slowly. “Okay, I’m in,” he blurted out.
“What?” My mother asked, her eyes going wide.
“This
