Julia Lelieveld and the fifth element
~36~

It started to rain, and not just a little bit. It came in buckets from heaven. Before I knew it, I was soaked. Lucas looked at me suspiciously. He narrowed his eyes. The boy standing next to him took a step towards me.

Lucas let him have his way. He slowly walked towards me. The rain dripped from his face. I felt Renzo brace himself behind me. The girl was also heading our way. As if Lucas were in charge, he stopped and looked intrigued at the scene.

I felt the boy’s strength flare up. In my mind I also invoked the elements, the strength I would need to be able to defend us. The power that ran through my veins flared up. It took over my body.

Automatically I took in the environment, to see what I could use.

The rain that came down on us felt good. It felt like a second skin.

“How long have I waited for this. Combat with the fifth element. That doesn’t happen often.” He smiled mischievously at me. He cracked his fingers for a moment and I saw a ball of energy growing between his fingers. I thought about the orb I’d thrown at Lucas and Simone. I held my hands together so that a sphere of air could develop in the space between them.

“So you think you can do the same trick as me.” He laughed. And with that smile he sent the energy ball in my direction. At the same time I let go of my orb and they raced toward each other. In less than a second they crashed into each other. As if my orb was nothing, the boy’s energy orb raged through it and came full towards me. I knew I couldn’t jump sideways or Renzo would get hit in the back. I braced myself and gathered my energy. And with a big bang I got the ball against my right shoulder. The pain shot through my entire body. Without realizing it, I flipped over. But within half a second I was up again. I didn’t have to introduce myself now. I looked at the boy with the cutting pain that ran from my shoulder through my entire body. I heard him laugh, like Lucas still watching from the emergency exit.

“Did you really think you could catch me with that?”

He tilted his head to one side and looked at me inquiringly. As if a blast of fire shot through my body, I felt it flare up. I immediately knew it was Max. He was the first to answer my call. I felt Max’s strength meet my own strength and I suddenly knew what I had to do to conjure fire. Like Max was leading me. I made my hands into fists and when I opened them I felt the fire pressing against my palms. As if it wanted to leave my body.

Now I was the one who took a step in his direction. I felt behind me that Renzo was doing the same. I heard him run to the girl in the large puddles that had formed on the roof. I saw the boy look at me suspiciously.

I felt myself getting close to his force field. Somehow I could gauge him. I took another step in his direction, and with that I stepped into his personal zone. And he didn’t like it. I saw that in him. I hadn’t felt this with Simone. Perhaps it was also because of all the power raging through my body. I was within six feet of him. My palms really hurt now, the fire was really pushing from my body. As if to answer that, I pushed my open palms toward him. And to my surprise, two powerful fireballs came out. The boy was so surprised that he got them full on his chest. He fell a few feet back against the wall of the stairwell next to Lucas. He quickly jumped to his feet with a look that could almost kill me. I felt the hatred dripping from him. Lucas didn’t look happy either. I took a few steps back to keep a close eye on them. As if I had struck a chord, the boy ran towards me and before I could do anything, he stood in front of me and knocked me over with such force that I ended up on the other side of the roof. I slammed into the railing and felt my head begin to get heavy. I would have loved to close my eyes and wake up from this nightmare. But I couldn’t. I saw him come triumphantly towards me. I heard the fight between Renzo and the girl. I quickly looked in his direction. I saw that he had hit her well a few times, but that was still nothing with Renzo. He looked all bloodied and could barely stand up. I saw that the girl was just enjoying it. Who enjoyed it even more was Lucas. Even from this distance I saw him looking at the situation as the winner. No, this was not possible. This couldn’t be the end. I gathered my strength again. I felt the water rush under my hands as I pushed myself up to stand. As if taking in the power of the water, I made a wall of water with a single movement of my arms. I pushed my arms in the direction of the boy who was shocked and buried under the water. It gave me enough time to get myself up properly. In my mind I thanked Sara, I felt her presence.I heard a painful cry to my left. I looked up startled and saw Renzo lying on the floor. I saw the girl smile. The anger took over me.

Even though I was in such pain, I gathered all my strength and ran toward her. And without even realizing it, I was standing in front of her within seconds. She was surprised, she didn’t see me coming. I pushed her towards the edge of the roof with such fury that she flew through the air and crashed into the railing just like me. I quickly walked over to Renzo and knelt next to him. He lay on the ground with his eyes closed. Blood was seeping from a head wound and his arm was all wrong. I carefully turned him a little further on his back. He lay with his face in a puddle of rainwater, which could almost drown him. The rain came down on us with great speed and washed the blood all over the roof. He was not safe here. I had to do something about it. I looked around and saw the boy still fighting the water that was holding him against the wall. I saw the girl slowly scrambling to her feet. I saw a canopy on one edge of the roof, which made a passage to the next roof. I dragged Renzo over by his arm and carefully laid him there. So at least he was out of the rain. I gave him a quick kiss on the mouth before standing up again and bracing myself. The girl, furious, came running towards me.

“And now? Three to one?” She was just shivering with anger. I felt the anger coming off her.

Her eyes seemed to flicker a little. From the black they were now, to normal eyes. Her expression seemed shocked. She glanced quickly at the other boy who was possessed. Through the water I saw that he also looked shocked.

Suddenly she started screaming, as if she were on fire inside.

“No, this is not possible!”

She twitched her head in all directions, just like the other boy. Her eyes became more and more human than possessed. Her whole body began to tremble and suddenly she fell lifeless to the ground. I saw that the boy also fell to the ground, he fell with his face into the wall of water. With a single movement I made the wall disappear. I looked around in shock. What was going on here? What had just happened.

With difficulty I took a few steps forward, trying to ignore the pain.

“Well, I didn’t expect that. Then it’s between you and me now.” Lucas came my way with his mean badboy smile.

I looked behind me to see where Renzo was still lying lifeless on the floor. The rain was still pouring down from the sky. Although it was less. I felt Sara lose her powers. How she was exhausted. Just like Max. I felt the fire flare up less in my body. I wondered where Leo and Kate were. Wouldn’t they have heard me? I could really use them.

“What are you thinking of? What’s the best way to attack me? I’m not afraid of all your tricks, I can take a beating.”

He kept talking as he walked towards me.

I felt the fire pressing weakly against my palms. With a flick to Lucas, I shot the last bit of Max at him. I saw Lucas look hard and very deftly he dodged the fireballs.

I was so tired and injured that I didn’t have much strength left. I used the last remnant of Sara’s powers and let the path between Lucas and me freeze. He looked up to that. He had such a speed that he couldn’t stop and crashed hard.

Cursing, he stood up with difficulty. It was as if I had flipped a switch, as he was behind me in no time, holding me in a headlock. With his arm around my neck.

“Now I know why you don’t like this. My friends from a while ago said they’ve seen you before.” He laughed viciously in my ear.

It was as if the world stood still. No, this couldn’t be true.

“I do not know what you’re talking about.”

He roughened his grip a little more.

“Oh no? Shall I refresh your memory? You, your mother and your father? Too bad your mother didn’t survive, on the other hand you were lucky, because you shouldn’t even have been here.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I had to put it off or else I’d never be able to concentrate. I thought of Earth. I had to manage, even without Kate!

I felt how Earth listened to me. I thought of the gravel on the roof. How Kate had attacked me with the dirt and gravel in the old factory. In my mind I let the gravel rise behind Lucas and fire at him. It was difficult to concentrate as I was replaceing it increasingly difficult to breathe. Lucas’s grip was getting tighter and tighter, and there was no way I could get him off me. I had almost lost all my strength.

Now! I thought. I heard the whirring of the gravel coming our way. I didn’t have to worry about getting hit, because Lucas was a lot bigger than me. As if Lucas felt it coming, his grip loosened, but he was too late.

I felt him stiffen and with a loud moan he fell to the ground.

I quickly stepped aside. He lay with his face on the ground. His back was completely damaged by the gravel. He drew his knees up and rested on his hands. He mumbled something, but I couldn’t understand him. Before he could regain all his strength, I quickly ran to the emergency exit. But before I had even taken a few steps, I felt a hand around my ankle and it pulled me down. I hit my head hard on the frozen part of the roof. I felt the cold ice under my face warm from the blood that was mine. I felt myself getting dizzy.

Lucas grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet.

“You see, you’re not worth anything yet,” he hissed in my ear. I saw him blurry. He himself was also injured.

But the strength he still had to pull me up was not to be missed. I could barely stand on my feet with my own strength. I felt him pull me to the edge of the roof. No, this couldn’t happen. This couldn’t be the end of everything now. I felt tears come from my eyes. Thinking back to all the misery I’ve been through lately. It just couldn’t stop here. I was destined for more.

I was the chosen one. And daddy, I couldn’t let daddy down. I saw his sad look before me. No, this couldn’t be the end.

I tried to tear myself away from Lucas but he was holding me too tight. I tried to summon air, but I was too weak. I barely had the strength to stand on my feet.

“They’ll think my little brother threw you off the roof. I’ll take care of that.” He laughed a little. “Then he will now be put behind bars forever. It’s a shame we can’t kill our own kind. That would be one less worry.” Everything went through my head. Suddenly I felt my feet hit something, it was the railing of the roof.

“No, Lucas, don’t do this.” It was barely a whisper that came out of my mouth.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, so why the hell wouldn’t I throw you off the roof?” And with those words he gave me a hard kick in the back.