The Last Elementalist

Chapter 12

The twins were standing and having some sort of conversation in an odd sign language. Connor didn't remember being able to talk when he was four months old. Maybe his parents changed his age to go with his appearance. Was he really thirteen? These children were definitely not new born babies.

"Well we definitely need new clothes. Maybe their growth spurts will allow us to sneak them into the Thunderthrillers before they turn one, then they won't be such a risk."

"It won't work until their genes become readable. When they start walking and talking we should check them ourselves. Maybe they'll grow faster since they're twins-"

"If anything the time would be double," he argued.

"Doesn't matter. We need to see if there's a way to accelerate growth and maturity-"

"It could take years to find a way to do that and we'd need the equipment and-"

"I'll figure it out, Connor." Connor loved the way she looked like she was eleven, still a child, even after all they had been through that week. He trusted her just as much as he trusted Evie, but he was not sure this was even possible. Maybe because she was short? He wished he could do that.

"Fine," he agreed. "You can try. But don't do it so that it accelerates growth, only the maturity of powers-ah, abilities. They're already seven months so they may end soon anyway. They're standing so hopefully not much longer."

"Ya," she smiled softly. "Thanks for trusting me Connor."

Her red leather jacket shined ever so slightly as she turned around to face the children in the makeshift crib. They seemed to grow a bit more over the course of their conversation. They already looked like one year olds, but when would they act like they were old enough? Any time in the next two to four months his youngest siblings would be older than the toddlers they already appeared to be. He needed to protect them in any way possible.

Slinging their arms around each other, they headed toward the entrance for lunch, laughing and talking and throwing away all their problems, diving headfirst to their initiations.

* * * * *

The meal seemed normal until the initiation began with Daniel's voice booming over the loudspeaker, "I now would like to invite our new initiates to join me."

They all got up silently, trying to avoid looking back into the hungry eyes of the Thunderthrillers. Daniel greeted them with open arms and steered them to the center of the brightly lit cafeteria.

"We have five new initiates, a large amount for an initiation, I know, my Thunderdudes. We will, as always, begin with the youngest. They are our future, after all."

Daniel pulled out a notepad and flipped it open.

"Jean Travis," he announced. "This talented young girl is known to us all as the president's daughter, to some of us a Michael Travis's daughter. To all of us, she is now Traveler Jean Travis, initiate of the proud Thunderthrillers of tomorrow.

"Thunderthrillers save, not destroy." Everyone cheered the Thunderthriller motto. "Jean," he continued, "We are honored to have you here and invite you to come with us to bear the mark of the Thunderthrillers."

Cheers erupted from the crowd as Jean was steered down an isle to a chair. She was laid on her side as a girl named Dara that they had met earlier attached a needle to a machine. A tattoo gun, Connor realized.

They laid it on the skin of the right side of her neck and began to draw through a stencil. "This is the mark that will be added to once you receive a job here," he explained. "The color represents your ability and the design represents us as a whole."