Caution to the Wind: Book One of the Elementals Series by F. R. Southerland Page B

blurred vision, she saw the old man as he walked toward her. His hair was white and his face wrinkled and speckled with age spots. He moved past her, giving her a cursory glance. He approached the bushes. It took him some effort to retrieve her fallen bag and amble back to her. She didn’t know how he’d gotten there, or how he had known to take the inhaler from her backpack, but he did.
    She took it from him with shaking hands. She puffed deeply once, twice. The medicine took immediate effect and she breathed with ease once again.
    His eyes were a warm brown. His smile was kind, but sad.
    He pushed the stone into her hand. It was small and flat, the color of egg yolk, smooth on two sides and jagged on the others. It fit perfectly in her palm.
    The man had a soft-spoken voice and his words were few. “This stone is very important, as important as you are. Keep it.”
    Before she could ask what he had meant, he spoke again. She didn't understand the words and, to this day, she still didn't. He placed his warm hand atop her head.
    Colors flashed in her vision before everything swam into focus again, more vibrant than before. She took a deep breath and exhaled. Everything hummed around her.
    The old man kept the sad smile on his face. “Be careful. Be safe. Keep it with you.” He walked away, his footsteps shuffling through the gravel. Loren remained there with the stone in her hand until the man was no longer in sight. Dark clouds rolled in and it began to rain.
    She ran the rest of the way home, faster than the wind, the stone clutched in her fist.
    As she looked at the picture, her eyes watered, but she didn’t cry. All the same, she wiped at them with the back of her hand. When Callum offered a handkerchief, she took it.
    “I only met him once. He gave me my powers and he walked away. I never saw him again. He said I was important and he—” Her voice trembled and she stopped talking.
    “He was a good man.”
    “Yeah. I uh got that impression.” Loren glanced off to the side. “I didn’t know who he was, or his name or anything.”
    “He was a friend of my father’s—an old friend from way back. I remember first meeting him when I was a boy.” Callum studied the photograph. “I've been waiting to see if you’d mention him.” He paused there and looked at her. “We all got our powers from him.”
    “How?” she asked. “Why?”
    “He met my father in the 1970’s. Castle was already an old man by then. He possessed abilities, like ours. No,” he paused and corrected himself, “ exactly like ours. All the elements. He could control them. My father used to tell me he was more powerful than the richest, most influential leader in the world. He had a lot of respect for him. And trust.” He sighed. “They were close.”
    He placed a gentle hand on Loren's arm. “Walk with me.” She gave one last look at Fredrick Castle’s portrait before she fell into step beside Callum. His hand remained on her arm.
    “Castle wasn’t human, at least, not in the beginning of his life. It’s extraordinary and unbelievable, but he came from another world.”
    “Another world? Not human?” Loren blinked a few times, trying to process the new, incredible information.
    “Yes. He came from another world, nearly one hundred years ago.”
    Her mouth dropped open, mouthing a silent oh . A hundred years. What was the guy’s secret to aging so well?
    She drew her own conclusions. “He’s immortal. He came from another world and had all these magical powers. Is he a—”
    “A god? Yes.” Callum nodded. “Incredible, isn’t it?”
    She shook her head in disbelief. “That’s insane.”
    “Do you want me to continue?”
    She nodded. It was a lot of fantastic and heavy information, but it was also essential. If she didn’t know the details, she’d never feel like she’d fit in, be important, or understand. She needed to know for her own sake.
    “He came into our world through a portal—a magical doorway between