Page 101 of Elemasters

“I’m kinda pissed at Sima for not telling us this place had a fucking hot tub sooner,” Chris said, his eyes closed in bliss as he rested his head on Bailey’s shoulder, “I know it’s supposed to be for healing or whatever, but damn it’s peaceful,”

“You’re so right babe,” Bailey hummed in agreement, “do we like… have to leave? Because I could totally live here,”

“I’ll drink to that girl,” Chloe raised an invisible toast, “the Palace is more than spacious enough for five bedrooms,”

“Me and Dustin only need one,” James wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, but then his expression dropped a bit, “actually… I snore like a woodchipper. Baobei, you might want your own space,”

Dustin and the others broke into laughter, and he playfully splashed James before sitting up and resting against one of the tree’s roots where it dipped into the water.

“Unfortunately, we’ve gotta do damage control sooner or later. Even if the church folks didn’t tell anyone about us using our powers to save them, I’m sure the storm did a lot of damage to the town. We’ve gotta help out however we can,”

“Uuuugh,” Chris squeezed his eyes shut tighter, “can’t we leave this one to the adultier adults? We’ve done enough for a lifetime,”

“Not how that works bro,”

“I know… which is why I’m pissed about it. I’ll help, but I will be complaining the entire time,”

“It would be weirder if you didn’t,”

“Well, you said we gotta do it ‘sooner or later’… I pick later,” Chloe fully let herself melt into the water, “for now, we’ve earned a little TLC,”

Dustin had absolutely no desire to argue.

TLC sounded pretty damn good.

The streets of Pacific Cove looked like the aftermath of a damn warzone.

The fierce winds from the unnatural storm were enough to shatter windows, lightning strikes left craters in the pavement, and the intense rain was enough to cause flooding in some parts of town.

Sima Yao sent the Elemasters back to the Blood of Life Ministries parking lot, where James immediately got to work getting rid of the impossibly tall tree he’d summoned earlier that night. Dustin’s first instinct was to knock on the church doors to check on the people inside, but before he could do so, the sound of screeching tires got his attention.

His mother’s minivan came careening into the parking lot, skidding to a stop as she hopped out and ran over to him.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?! ARE YOU INSANE!” Charlotte immediately started yelling, pulling Dustin into a bone-crushing hug and checking him all over as if the storm personally beat him up… which, it kinda did but she didn’t know that, “that storm is the worst one I’ve ever seen! You told me you were at home!”

“And you were supposed to be getting a motel for the night instead of risking it on the road,” Dustin reminded her, “so I got it from my mom,”

“I should pinch you for that, but I’m just glad you’re not hurt,” Charlotte said, exhaling a shaky laugh, “but you still didn’t answer me. What are you doing here at the church?”

“Looking for that asshole,” Dustin just nodded to the space behind Charlotte… where Chris was standing with a big smile plastered across his face. Charlotte’s expression ran the full gamut from disbelief to absolute, unadulterated elation as she laid eyes on her other son.

“CHRISTIAN?!”

“Present and accounted for, babe,” Chris began, but his words were cut off by his mom’s arms wrapping around him.

“God, I have a million questions. Where have you been?! You clearly haven’t been eating! I swear you better not have been doing drugs or I’m going to ground you until you’re a hundred!”

“Okaasan, chill,” Chris assured her, putting his large hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eye, “I haven’t been doing drugs. I just… I needed to be MIA for a while, but then I ended up getting lost in a really dark place. Trust me, I’m okay now. Thanks to Dustin. Thanks to all these guys, really,”

The tension in Charlotte’s shoulders slowly dissolved as she took a deep breath.

“Well, I can’t possibly thank all of you enough for this. Why don’t you all come back to our house and I’ll make Manju buns? A celebration seems appropriate,”

Dustin looked around at the battered buildings and streets, hearing sirens blaring in the distance as the emergency response finally came.

“Shouldn’t we stay and help? I’m sure the first responders are gonna need all the hands they can get,”

“There will be plenty of work left for us if you’re so desperate to do community service, but I’m not passing up the chance to taste your mom’s food again,” Chloe said, “now get your big booty in the car and let’s go eat. I’m starving,”