Discovering Synergy, page 4
“Now you’re just taunting me,” I said nudging his arm encouragingly.
“The story claims that Aiden Ryevick started going crazy in his older age. This fountain was the last piece he created before he lost his mind and died. When people asked him what it represented, he would explain it like this.” He was setting up the tale expertly. “As you can see there are five human figures holding hands with an additional human figure standing in the middle of them. He said that each one represented an element.”
I frowned at this, “Wait. I thought there were only four elements: earth, wind, water, and fire. What are the other two?”
“The fifth element is less commonly known; it is called by a few different names. Some people call it aether and others call it spirit. I actually have a friend who likes to call it heart.” His eyes were shining with mystery. “The final one in the middle is what Aiden called Synergy.”
“Synergy isn’t an element at all. It’s more of an action, isn’t it?” I asked, knowing I had heard the word before.
“Synergy means to combine one or more elements to make them stronger,” Brayden said giving me an answer straight from the dictionary.
“Okay, so how do the elements relate to the figures in the fountain?” I asked confused.
“This is where the fiction comes into play. He explained to one of his students that five men were gifted with these elemental powers by angels. If they fought for good and didn’t turn evil, then one day they would be gifted a great power. This power was titled Synergy. These magical warriors were not told what Synergy would be or when it would appear, they just had to continue defending the world from demons and they would someday be rewarded. Aiden had always envisioned that Synergy would be another human, so he made this fountain to represent the five warriors and when they were gifted Synergy.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.
I took in the fountain with a whole new perspective. I noticed that each of the figures had a symbol carved into it. I could only assume the symbols represented each element. “That is a beautiful story, did they ever discover their hidden Synergy?” I asked looking back at Brayden.
A shadow of sadness flickered through his eyes before he started walking away from the fountain. “The story, as far as I know, hasn’t been finished yet, seems they are still in an endless journey of looking and waiting.”
“Stories like that are why I fell in love with history. If I’d never come here to try something new, then I would’ve never known this amazing story about this school. Sure, it might be fiction, but what life doesn’t need a little dash of fantasy to make it interesting?”
“I can see why you and Cami are friends, she sees the world through technicolor lenses and hates to be sucked into the humdrum of life,” he said with a wistfulness in his voice. “Ah look. There are our tour groups. Seems we are meeting them on their way over to the reflecting pool.”
Brayden and I waited till the groups caught up to us and I filed into one, not caring if it was the right one. This time I was determined to stick with them and not get left behind again. Before I could wander too far off, Brayden gently grabbed my elbow.
“It was lovely to meet you Lailah, I hope we run into each other again some time,” Brayden said with a smile that gave my stomach butterflies.
“I would like that. Maybe you can share some more stories with me about the school,” I said blushing and falling in with my original class group.
Chapter 5 Brayden
I was having a hard time staying focused as I helped with the rest of the tour. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do much. I answered any questions that the students had, but even then I gave half-hearted answers. My mind kept wandering back to those clear blue eyes and long golden hair. I’d originally planned to just walk past her because I was already late for the grounds tour. Yet seeing her lost and alone made my protective instincts run wild. Something about Lailah drew me to her. I could’ve sworn that I felt my powers react when I grasped her hand.
I had watched her face carefully as I told the story about the Elementi, and she listened with rapt attention. What would she do if she knew the story was true? Would she still see it as something so magical? What would she do if she knew the current five Elementi Warriors were actually failures?
In the last week, demons had been sneaking onto the school grounds more and more. Every night, the five of us took turns patrolling the school. There seemed to be something drawing them here. The previous generations of Elementi Warriors had always been able to band together as a united front and keep up the wards guarding the school. We had failed to find a way to work as a team and fuse our powers to recharge the wards. With the lack of added security, the lesser demons had been able to sneak through the cracks.
My uncle was the previous Earth Elementi Warrior, but he died before I ever got to meet him. He had been killed on a mission when I was six years old, but Michael, my older brother, was eighteen months older than me and had worshipped him. What would Michael think if he could see the five of us now? He would’ve been able to figure out a way to bond us together. I continue to fail every time I try.
My phone vibrated in my pocket and pulled me out of my melancholy thoughts. I looked down to see that it was a text from Micah.
‘Beth has me patrolling with that idiot again’
I sighed. Micah had been my best friend for almost my whole life, but I couldn’t understand the animosity between him and Parker.
‘It can’t be that bad’
‘How would you know? You always get paired up with Hudson or Jay. Why can’t you and I just be a team every time and call it good?’
‘You know why. If we can’t get you and Parker to get along, then there's no hope for our group ever coming together. Also, you hate going on patrol with Hudson and Jay. You need to pull your head out of your ass and deal. The rest of us seem to make it work.’
‘Some fucking help you are.’
I shook my head and put my phone away. If Synergy was really out there and Aiden Ryevick was right about it being human, I didn’t envy that person being stuck with this dysfunctional family.
Chapter 6 Lailah
The next few days went by smoothly, and I didn’t have too many problems getting lost. I made sure that I never went very far from the places I recognized, and called Cami if I doubted my surroundings at all. Which, unfortunately, was all the time. Cami was a good sport though, and helped me find my way around. The plan we had set in place the first week worked flawlessly.
It was only day two, and a few of my professors had decided to assign homework on the first day. I was looking over an English assignment at the coffee shop while I waited for Cami, when a shadow fell over my textbook. I assumed she had arrived.
But when I looked up, I saw Brayden instead.
“Hello!” I said smiling. I was happy to see him again.
“I hope I’m not interrupting,” he said, looking from the textbook to me.
“Nope, not at all. I was just glancing over this assignment for one of my classes. Would you like to sit?” I asked gesturing to the chair across from me.
“Truly, I would love to, but I’m just grabbing a coffee before my student council meeting.” He gave me an apologetic look.
“No worries, I’m glad you stopped to say hi. Maybe next time we can actually chat,” I said, hoping he would agree.
“For sure, maybe we could even plan the next time.” He pulled a pen out of his bookbag and wrote his number on my open notebook. “Feel free to text me the next time you're coming here and I’ll try and meet up with you.”
Oh, my, god, did Brayden just give me his number? I nodded, the only answer I could give, because I was so nervous that my tongue began to stick to the roof of my mouth.
“Medium latte for Brayden!” the barista called.
“That’s me.” He turned to go and gave me a parting wave.
I waved back because I didn’t know what else to do. Once he was gone, I propped my textbook up on the table and hid my head behind it so I could freak out in privacy. Could I have been any more awkward? It’s not every day that a gorgeous, sweet guy gave me his number. And I couldn’t think of one thing to say?
“Um, hello? You okay back there, Lala?” Cami’s voice asked from the other side of my book.
I peeked over the top of it to find her sitting across from me. “How long have you been there?” I asked.
“Long enough to get tired of listening to you mutter to yourself,” she retorted. “Wanna tell me what’s up?”
“Nothing much. Except one of the hottest guys I’ve ever met just gave me his phone number,” I said almost hysterical.
Cami reached out with both hands and slammed my textbook closed. “I cannot have this conversation with you while you’re hiding behind an English textbook. Now start at the beginning. Where did we meet this guy?”
“On the grounds tour. When I was with my group, I got distracted and ended up separated from them. I tried to find them again, only to get extremely lost.”
“Why am I not shocked?” Cami said resting her head on her hand and giving me a knowing look.
“Shh! If you’re not going to be helpful, no comments from the peanut gallery,” I said frowning.
“I’m sorry, are you calling me small?” she said in mock horror. “Just kidding, I resemble that remark.”
“Anyway...” I said getting back to my story, “I ended up by the reflecting pool and he found me sitting there. He helped get me back to the rest of the group”
“Wait! That’s it? He found you and then brought you back to the group? What kind of romance is this? Nope, I’m using my best friend card and vetoing this guy.” Cami reached over to rip off the corner of my notebook that had his number on it.
I lunged forward and pulled the notebook away from her. “No, that’s not all. He shared his favorite story about that ornate fountain in the reflecting pool. Then, he kept asking me questions and wanted to know more about me. He was so easy to be around.” I felt butterflies bouncing around in my stomach.
“So, what’s your next move? Are you going to text him, or are you more a talking-on-the-phone kind of gal?” Cami asked seeming to change her mind about writing this guy off.
“Who says I’m going to do anything about it?” I grumbled.
Cami just laughed at me. “Oh Lala, you kill me. Of course, you’re going to do something about it. Look at you, you’re twitterpated for sure.”
“I am not!” I said slapping the notebook back down on the table.
“Oh girl, if I were you, I'd be all over that like a monkey on a cupcake. When was the last time you had your biscuit buttered?” Cami asked leaning in closer.
“What?” I was totally confused.
“You know! Bumping uglies, a good old slap and tickle, Netflix and chill.” Cami raised her brows higher at every phrase. “Wait! Hold the phone! Are you a virgin?”
“No. Well, I don’t think so. I’ve only done it once.” I could feel my face burning with embarrassment.
“Okay, let’s take this all the way back to the basics. Did he sheath his sword? If the answer is yes, then you are no longer a pure maiden.” Cami was grinning at me.
“Yes, he did and it was awful. I’m not really interested in going through that again.” I was shivering at the thought of it.
“I may be more into gal pals, but I do know my fair share about sex. If you hated it that much, then that asshole was doing it all wrong.” Cami scooched her chair closer to me. “Now tell me the whole story with all the ugly gross bits, so I can smash his face in for you.”
“His name is Freddy.”
“I hate him even more now,” Cami said. “Sorry, go on.”
“He was on the football team at my high school. We ran into each other all the time because I was on the track team. We trained at the same time after school, the track was around the football field. It was about two months through my freshman year when he started trying to get my attention. He was a junior and one of the best players on the team.”
“Scratch that, football makes me despise him more than his name did,” Cami cut in.
“Are you going to let me tell this or not?” I snapped frowning at her.
Cami mimed by zipping her lips closed and tossing away the key. Then she motioned for me to continue.
“He asked me to the homecoming dance for our first date. Of course, I said yes. How many freshmen got the chance to go with an upperclassman who was also on the football team? After that, we dated for about six months. He was charming and funny, of course, he was fit with all the training he did for football. I didn’t care for the other guys on the team, but he seemed to be a little more interested in the world outside of football. He would even let me drag him to the museums in Chicago in the spring.”
Cami rolled her eyes at this but kept her mouth shut.
“I’m sure you can guess at this point that he asked if we could sleep together. We’d made out of course and we had gotten in each other's pants, but never more than heavy petting. My parents had always told my siblings and me about how they waited until marriage. They are so in love, it will make you gag. I always dreamed of having a love like that. Somehow Freddy had convinced me that sleeping together would deepen our relationship.”
Cami couldn’t help but laugh at this and I did too, thinking of it from Freddy’s perspective.
“I finally gave in and he came up with some lame plan to leave prom early. Freddy had picked a place for us to go afterward. When we got there, I discovered it was a pool house at one of his teammates houses. He didn’t make an effort to make it look nice. There wasn’t anything romantic about it, it was just a place we could be alone.” I paused and closed my eyes. Now that I was reliving the moment, I realized I’d been a naive idiot. “I remember thinking I couldn’t change my mind because if I did, he would have dumped me for sure. So, I went along with every awkward, painful moment of it. It ended fairly quickly and he just left making me think I had done something to make him upset.”
Cami’s arms wrapped around me and she hugged me tightly. “I’m so sorry, Lailah.”
I could feel my throat begin to tighten and my eyes stung with tears as I remembered that night. “That’s not the worst part,” I continued.
“How could it possibly get any worse?” Cami asked, leaning back to look at me.
“It turned out that the only reason he was interested in me was that my two ex-best friends from middle school had spread rumors that I was a slut. Obviously, Freddy realized that this was a lie, but then he made a bet with the football team that he could take my virginity at prom. If those girls hadn’t spread those lies, then he never would have taken a second look at me. Needless to say, I spent the rest of my high school days as a slut and I was endlessly teased by the whole football team.” I brushed away the tears that slipped out.
“Why would anyone do that to you?” Cami demanded.
“One of the girls had a crush on my older brother and I thought I was being a good friend by telling him about it. When I went back and told her that he was interested in another girl at school, she freaked out on me. They decided that I wasn’t good enough to be friends with them, so they cut ties with me after that.”
Cami tackled me with her another hug and would’ve knocked me out of my chair if it wasn’t for the wall behind me. “You have me now. I’ll never let anything like that happen to you ever again. Any guy that even looks in your direction will have to be vetted by me before they can even talk to you.”
I laughed at Cami’s protectiveness and soaked up every ounce of it. Meeting her and becoming friends had been a dream come true. “Same goes for me. Any girl who thinks she can just waltz into your life will be cleared with me first. We’ll protect each other.”
“Preach sister!” Cami yelled across the cafe causing everyone to stare at us. “Now tell me the name of this mysterious fountain man. I’ll need to check him out.”
“Actually, you already know him. It’s Brayden.” I looked at Cami out of the corner of my eye.
Cami paused and looked a little shocked, “Huh?”
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked exasperated.
Cami shrugged her shoulders. “I would just take it slow, no matter who you decide to make a move on. This time though, you’ll have me to do some investigating. As for Brayden, he’s got a huge white knight complex, but there could be worse things about a guy.”
I grinned because I had experienced his white knight skills the other day. I mulled over what she said about taking it slow though. It was only the first week of school. There was no need to jump into anything. I looked down at my watch and noticed the time.
“We better get to the dining hall if we want to get dinner before it’s all picked over. I really don’t want to have another PB&J sandwich,” I said stuffing my schoolbooks into my bag.
Chapter 7 Lailah
I should have known better than to expect I could just breeze through the classes at Ryevick. The first week lulled you into thinking things would be easy, but once the second week started, I was hit with project after project. I felt like I was starting to live in the common area of our dorm, just studying my life away. I had gotten into this school on a scholarship and I needed to prove that they hadn’t made a mistake. I wanted to be worthy of the gift they had given me. Cami would come to check on me from time to time, but I was too focused to be bothered for long. This time, Cami came with a bribe.
“Come up for some air, Lala. I brought you one of those god-awful chai lattes,” Cami said holding a cup in front of my face.
“Now, if I remember correctly, you said you’d never order one of these for me,” I said smirking at Cami as I took the cup.
“One of the baristas who knows me took my order, so I wasn’t worried he thought it was for me. I also needed to grab a few things in town, so I brought you this.” She was holding up a white paper bag.
