Caution to the Wind: Book One of the Elementals Series by F. R. Southerland Read Free Book Online

that's the only time someone ever had guts enough to touch it. Most are afraid and prefer to disbelieve from a distance.”
    She blushed and chuckled nervously. Glancing over, she saw Avery had stopped his workout. He removed his gloves as he made his way to them.
    “Fire, Water, Earth, and now Air. All the elements are present,” Eva said. “It feels as if we’ve been waiting a lifetime.”
    “Eighteen years, but who's counting?” Avery crossed his arms.
    Loren glanced down at her wet sneakers. Maybe now was as good a time as ever to ask the questions plaguing her since yesterday. “Avery said there wasn't much he could tell me. Just that I wasn’t alone, that there were others with powers. And that I had to help save the world?”
    Eva replied first, one slender eyebrow arching high. “Saving the world? Is that what you told her?”
    “It’s not a lie,” Avery defended. “What else are we doing?”
    “Perhaps not, but there really was no need to frighten her. I can only imagine the level of urgency you put into the matter.” There was an edge in her tone. “No wonder the poor girl is a nervous wreck.”   
    Before Loren had a chance to speak for herself, Avery turned to Eva. “We were told the reason we were given our powers was to one day save the world. I wasn’t wrong.”
    “I didn't say you were.” Eva lifted her head, her dangling earrings catching the light when she did. Before they’d even settled, that stern pointed look directed toward Avery once more. Loren waited for Eva to say something more, but in the end she sighed.
    “Can we move on?” Callum asked.
    Avery kept gaze intent on Eva. “By all means.”
    Callum smiled softly at Loren. “Would you please demonstrate your abilities for us? Something small. It doesn’t need to be flashy.”
    She nodded and stepped away from the group. She fiddled with the string around her neck as she walked. After a few feet, she turned. All eyes were on her. She took a deep breath and held it.
    It had always been difficult to contain her power, but if she focused, she could manage to do it. As she exhaled her breath slowly, she brought her arms up before her. She moved her hands. The air shifted beneath her fingers. Carefully, she directed the air and sent a powerful gust toward the punching bag. It hit with some force, causing it to swing wildly back and forth on its chain. With a flick of her wrists, Loren moved the air current to rustle the flower Eva had grown.
    The gust was too strong for the delicate flower, and several petals and leaves tore from it. Loren winced and muttered a small apology. It didn't help with her anxiety at all. This was the first time she had displayed her power to a group of understanding people, people who had powers as well. Even knowing that, it didn't stop her from conjuring all sorts of images.
    Fear. Anger. Laughter and pointing fingers. Worse—no one noticing anything extraordinary at all.
    Those brief thoughts were enough to break Loren’s concentration. She let out a shaky breath. “Oh no.”
    The air rushed and she couldn’t control it. It whipped through clothing. Something clattered to the floor. Her hair flew in her face and she brushed it away as she spun.
    Strands from Avery’s ponytail came loose. Eva moved back against a wall, hand clutching at her fluttering skirt. Levi fell and Callum pulled him back up as he shouted something Loren couldn’t hear over the roar of the wind.
    She had to calm down and stop the whirlwind. Everyone and everything in the room was in danger of blowing away.
    She gripped her hair, pressing her hands against the sides of her head. She couldn’t stifle it. Her eyes squeezed shut tightly.   
    It was no use. There was nothing but her and the air around her. She lifted her head as weightlessness consumed her. She focused on that as she brought her arms down. The wind caressed her skin and moved between her fingers. It became a part of her.
    A sudden, sharp prick of pain in