elemental 01 - whirlwind by Larissa Ladd Read Free Book Online

closely. He felt the heat building up in his body as he focused his fire affinity, concentrating it into his hands. It was a difficult trick to summon fire on his own, instead of controlling it, but he was able to do it when sufficiently motivated.
    A moment later, Aiden was surrounded by howling winds and the cries of dozens of predatory birds, all appearing from what seemed to be nowhere. They surrounded Aira, hovering around her as she rose fifteen feet above him, glaring at him balefully. She held up her hand and the attention of all of the birds—ranging from small but dangerous-looking jays to hawks—turned their gazes upon him. “Would you call this limited?” She asked him.
    Aiden heard the challenge in her voice. He grinned, in spite of the fact that the hawks looked fairly formidable. There were no animals his fire alignment allowed him to command close by; but he focused his mind on his hands, pouring heat through them, feeling his skin crackling. He rubbed them together quickly and with a snapping, shuddering roar of heat, a ball of fire appeared between them.
    “Birds aren’t too bad,” he said. He maintained his grin. “But they’re pretty easily defeated by fire.”
    Aira’s scowl intensified and Aiden saw the thoughts running through her mind. He knew she was trying to think of a way to combat the fire he had at his disposal. Not being water-aligned, however, it was going to be difficult. Aiden directed more energy into the fire he held in his hands, growing the flames into a larger ball. He tossed the fireball into the air and caught it, even as the wind began to build up even more. He considered what he could do to impress upon his charge that he was the one with the power in the situation. He didn’t want to actually cause a fire or any injury.
    He decided simply tossing the fireball wasn’t enough.
    “How would you defend yourself against a fully-fledged fire elemental when they can do this?” He threw the flames in her direction, keeping his focus to recall the ball of crackling fire back to his hands at the last moment. Instead, however, the wind shifted abruptly. A tunnel of gale-force knocking the orb out of its trajectory and spinning it off. The same wind tunnel turned and came directly at him and pushing him off of his feet until he landed in the dirt. Looking with panic through the gale, Aiden saw the fireball wheeling off towards the trees where it would certainly set something ablaze. The wind had not just sent the fireball off its target, it had caused the flames to expand and the ball to grow twice its size. Not at all what Aiden expected.
    He struggled to sit up in spite of the torrent of wind that plastered him to the ground. He extended his awareness out to the ball of fire as it moved away from him faster and faster, heading for a wooded area. He grabbed for it with his mind, desperate to keep it away from the trees, and called it back to him, maliciously passing it close to the birds on its path back to his hands. The smaller birds fluttered, initially spooked, but in the next moment the hawks were descending upon him, and Aiden had to hold the ball of fire over his head to ward them off.
    “What else have you got, fire boy?” Aira called down to him, and Aiden found himself expanding the ball of fire further, dodging the fearless dives of the hawks, who were followed by the smaller birds. Aiden wracked his brain, trying to think of what he could do safely. It was only a matter of time before his brother sensed his predicament, and he wanted to make sure he had impressed a lesson on the woman he was supposed to be protecting. He had a sudden inspiration. Focusing on the fire in his hands, he changed its shape, lengthening it, seeing the new shape in his mind. He sharpened the angle of the pole the fireball had become, flattening it into a sword. He waved the sword over his head, dispersing the birds, though the hawks tried to get in around the movements he made. Aiden