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THE SPARK WITHIN

Chapter One

Legionaries

 

"OUR FUTURE IS HERE!” I sing, collapsing onto the bench in front of the window, my eyes locked onto the trees I’m forbidden to enter. I imagine the lines on the frosted glass are bars in a jail cell as golden light creeps over the horizon, saturating the world in a faint glow. The dark cobalt of sky blends with shades of orange and pink as the grounds of LindonGale Manor awaken before my eyes. I blow out a ragged breath, grateful I made it in time.

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“You see them?” Abby hollers as the shower turns off.

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I look behind my shoulder at the light streaming through the opening of her bathroom door, illuminating her canopy bed covered in greenery. “Not yet, any moment!"

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Six months have passed since the last group of legionaries arrived. More recruits to protect our secluded community in the mountains of Oregon from Commoners who see our abilities as a threat. New faces are always exciting, but this morning is different; my fate lies with one of them. I awoke in a panic, thinking I’d missed their arrival, and ran across the manor to Abby’s room. She has the best view of the front grounds.

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I wipe the condensation from the window to calm my racing heart. Breathing in, I twitch my fingertips, pulling the water into tiny droplets, and with a light exhale, they drift toward her wall of exotic flowers. The water collides with the thin petals of purple and pink beauties—a combination of amaryllis and rose.

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My eyes latch onto motion beyond the garden, past the orchards, where the forest begins. Black shapes emerge from the trees, arriving as the first warm rays of a new day hit their faces. I wish I had a closer view, but I’m not allowed to be near them as an unmatched young woman, unless I want to be thrown out of the community, doomed to live alone among those who threaten to wipe out our people. Although, watching doesn’t hurt.

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The window squeaks in protest as I push it as high as it will go. The early spring air blows in, caressing my cheeks and raising goose bumps on my arms. I lean out a bit; being three stories up, I doubt they’ll notice.

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The figures are copies of each other, wearing all black, matching the darkness looming behind them. Dressed in high, laced-up boots, tight pants, long-sleeve shirts, and hooded vests that obscure their faces, they cover the front lawn of the manor, spreading through the beautifully crafted garden like roots from a tree. Their rhythmic footsteps draw closer to the structure next door: Legion Headquarters. The sharp-edged, cubed building veiled in windows reflecting the surrounding forest is nothing like the log manor I’ve been confined to for five years.

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I lean out as far as I can, the window ledge digging into my stomach as I try to get a better look. At that moment, one of the dark legion soldiers tilts his head. The sun reflects off his startling bright blue eyes, a stark contrast against his sable face. Feeling his gaze, I smile timidly. My heart leaps. I’ve known I would be getting matched ever since the unpleasant medical intrusion we had to suffer to ensure our bodies were in prime development a year ago. Luckily for me, my reproductive system was given five stars. Before now, it hasn’t felt real, but to be this close, knowing my mate is amongst those men, a shiver runs down my spine. Despite what I told my mom, I don’t know if I’m ready to choose my forever companion.

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“Why didn’t you come get me?” Abby yells.

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The noise makes me jump. I twist to see Abby coming out of her bathroom, draped in a robe and scrunching her wet auburn hair with a towel, her eyes throwing daggers at me. The movement upsets my balance, and my hands slip off the edge. I frantically grasp for something to hold onto, my arms flying out and seizing the ledge.

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My fingers slip off the smooth windowsill, and I grapple with the rough texture of the logs beneath, digging my nails in, but there’s nowhere to grip; gravity pulls me down. Abby’s stunned expression, still frozen in the bathroom door frame, is the last thing I see as the air rushes past me.

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I scream as the rose bushes below come to claim my demise. I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to die at eighteen without ever living a normal life or even experiencing my first kiss; yet I don’t want to live through having every bone in my body broken. The only consolation would be my dad greeting me in whatever afterlife waits for us.

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Wait, how am I still falling?

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Opening my eyelids a fraction, I notice that I’m not on the ground, nor am I dead. My pulse is loud and clear in my ears. I’m suspended in midair with another two stories to drop. I flail my arms, letting out another shriek, and start my descent. Oh no. This could only mean one thing—the help of an Aura.

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I crane my neck, trying to spot the Aura, who must be manipulating the air around me. To my horror, the whole legion is surrounding me. Faces become more distinct. Masculinity radiates from the group of chiseled jawlines and trimmed beards. My stomach drops as over thirty men take in my disheveled appearance: tattered gray sweats and my dad’s old AC/DC shirt on full display.

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I stretch out my legs, preparing to land as gracefully as possible, but instead, strong arms wrap around my torso and slide underneath my knees. I try, unsuccessfully, to slow my racing pulse as I look into the eyes of my savior.

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Gold-flecked hazel eyes peer back from under the hood, a smile playing on his lips. I’ve seen those eyes before I realize with a sudden certainty. As I try to place the tug on my memory, his eyebrows rise momentarily before his face hardens, and he sets me down. Was that a flicker of recognition?

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“Thank you,” I start, but as I turn, he’s gone, lost in the hoard of legionaries.

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“You’re welcome,” says a posh British voice.

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Scanning the crowd to find the man attached to the dreamy accent, a guy steps forward, pulling back his hood to reveal a head of dirty blond hair and light gray eyes.

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“You saved me? But what about—” I look around. The stranger whose arms I landed in is nowhere to be found, as if I imagined it. I shake my head in confusion.

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“Yes, I slowed your descent.” He smiles and looks at me in a way that makes heat rise in my cheeks.

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I nervously pull on a loose curl from my top knot, but then cringe; my hair must be a mess. At least I have my bra on. I’m about to ask his name when a deep, threatening voice freezes the words in my mouth.

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“Okay, that’s enough. Get to Legion Headquarters,” booms Commander Lawrence.

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The Aura who saved me leaves with a wink as I regrettably turn my attention to the tall man approaching me. His bald head glistens in the rising sun, and two thick caterpillar eyebrows raise in question. He’s daunting to everyone else, but I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. I have memories of him and his family coming over for barbecue dinners while we lived in the suburbs of Portland. But that was before the violent chaos at the start of the war five years ago when the Coms attacked our kind. Most lost loved ones, and he lost his whole family: a mate and two daughters. Something like that can harden anyone’s heart.

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“Maya, you’re very lucky. What were you thinking?” he grumbles, as if I purposely threw myself out of the window.

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Holding myself back from rolling my eyes, I shrug. “I slipped.”

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He makes a noise in the back of his throat. “You are a matched young woman. Behaving in such a manner is inexcusable.”

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I open my mouth to argue, but he’s right. With their arrival, I’m officially matched. I swallow, trying not to look at the line of men. I’ll have to choose between two of them in a matter of weeks. I don’t know which two yet. However, my mother, the geneticist and brains behind the matching system, does.

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He holds back a smile at my struggle to find words, a small break in his hard exterior.

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I say in a strangled voice, “I’ll try not to, uh, fall out of a window again.”

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As I turn to flee, I use the chance to scan the departing legionaries casting looks in my direction. But I don’t see the one with hazel eyes who caught me. I suppress a shudder, still feeling the warmth of his arms around my body. I couldn’t have imagined that, could I?

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“Five miles for whoever is still out here in ten seconds!”

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He isn’t talking to me, but just in case, I peel my eyes away and all but fly to the front doors. Throwing them open, Abby and I smack into each other, landing ungracefully on our backsides inside the foyer.

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“Ow!”

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“What are you doing?” I ask, rubbing my forehead.

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“I came down as quickly as possible! I’m so sorry. I froze, Maya! You could have died, and it would have been all my fault.”

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I pull her in for a hug, smoothing her wet ringlets until she stops shaking. She wipes hastily at her big brown eyes and looks around. We’re not supposed to display such emotions. Heightened emotions are dangerous. We can’t control our elements properly in such a state.

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We hurry up the grand staircase and through a mahogany door that matches the dozens of others lining the beige hallway. Only the sound of our feet against the winding metal stairs rings through the air as we pass the second floor filled with offices, labs, and the rec room and finish our ascent to the third floor, the level where all match-eligible young women live.

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I close my bedroom door behind Abby, pass my tan leather couch, and fall onto my bed, unleashing a scream into my pillow. Frustrated, I replay the conversation with my mother two days ago, when she casually told me she had found my matches.

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“Things are heating up on the war front, and the committee has decided to change the age of match eligibility. Anyone over eighteen is eligible to get matched; we plan on making the announcement today,” she said as I lounged on her bed, snacking on blueberries.

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I choked on one as I sat up, accidentally squishing the rest in my palm. “What? I thought I had two more years?”

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She shook her head. “I know, but you’ve known this was coming.”

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“In two years!”

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“Do you not feel ready?”

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I hesitated. This is what I wanted. To get matched, fall in love, and fulfill my duty in rearing a stronger generation to take out the Commoners. Or at least, it’s what I’m supposed to want. “I’m ready.”

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She smiled, pride showing on her face. “I found your first match about a year ago.”

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I gasped. “You’ve known for that long?”

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“Well, yes, dear, one match is fairly easy. But finding two that can completely enhance every trait of yours and, most importantly, the abilities you pass down to your children, can be challenging. I found your second match with the newest recruits coming in a couple days.”

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“Are you going to tell me what you’re thinking, or am I going to have to get the vines to tie you up and force it out of you?” Abby asks, breaking me from the memory. Only a Terra would say such a thing.

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“You wouldn’t dare,” I say, twisting my face toward her.

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Abby is at the foot of my bed, twitching her fingers with a grin. I glance to my windows, where a thick green vine knocks. I throw my pillow at her, and she collapses in a fit of giggles.

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I scoot against my headboard with a sigh. “I’m still reeling from the fact that we’re getting matched so soon, and now they’re here. And they all saw me fall out of a window, looking like this!” I point to myself, feeling the hysterics rising.

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She sits up, placing a hand on my foot, her face serious. “I feel awful. I should have reacted. It’s a good thing I won’t be a legionary.” She bites her lip, holding back a smile, as she releases me. “But, you know, if you had set your alarm like I did, none of this would have happened.”

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I glare at her perfect bouncy curls. She’s always been the more beautiful one between us, even with bedhead. She is well-endowed, has hourglass curves, and gorgeous bronze skin. Guys have been drooling over her since puberty hit. We’d walk through the gardens near headquarters when we knew the legion was in training, and men would openly gawk at her like I wasn’t even there. She shrugs me off whenever I mention it. On the other hand, puberty did nothing for me, and I have the body of a twelve-year-old boy.

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“It’s just a two-year jump.” She shrugs. “I’m happy they made the change. Honestly, this is going to be so much fun! We’ll finally get to talk to guys, Maya.”

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“Yeah, talk to, kiss, and then hope we choose the right one to bond ourselves to for an eternity.” I won’t admit it to Abby, but deep down, I’m terrified. I’m thrilled for a change after five years, excited for an opportunity to date, but so unbelievably scared. What if I don’t fall in love? What if I choose wrong? What if I don’t even like them? And under all that, I have no idea what I’m doing. Being prohibited from even talking to an unmatched male makes for very inexperienced females. I don’t know how the other girls got through it. They were at least a little older. They didn’t spend the entirety of their teen years in the remote wilderness. “You know we would just be graduating high school in the outside world?”

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“That world doesn’t exist anymore,” she says, looking away from me, her face pained.

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I wince, remembering the bombed, deserted streets of our old neighborhood that we drove through that last night, my little brother crying in the backseat, and the fire that almost devoured us on the only road out of the city.

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I push down the memory where it belongs, locked away with the other painful experiences of my childhood. We escaped, and it’s been five years since the night my family arrived on LyndonGale’s doorstep and our new life of isolation began. Once I choose a match and am bonded, my abilities will strengthen, and I can join the war effort. I can’t imagine ever doing anything worthy enough to be a commander like my mom, but I’ll fulfill my duty, have children, and create a stronger generation to defeat the Coms. Then maybe we can ask to be transferred. Leaving these walls seems like a pipe dream. It could happen, though. I know there are other Elemental communities like ours out there. Freedom is only a match away.

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I barely notice Abby drifting to my door, saying something about meeting me at breakfast. With a grunt goodbye, I force myself to get ready for the day. I throw on a pair of cotton shorts and a fresh tank. Braiding my hair down my back, I look at the few pictures I brought from home—my real home, which most likely isn’t standing anymore—in the suburbs of Portland. Taped around my mirror are images of Abby and me as young children, easier days when all we had to worry about was getting home before the streetlights turned on. Boy talk back then wasn’t as intense. Not like there were many cute boys to choose from amongst the Elemental kids. Those with abilities were few in number, since Elementals were often homeschooled. And I wouldn’t have dared to have a crush on a Com boy, even back then, when they treated us semi-civilly. As unthinkable as it is to be with somebody of a different element, it’s an act of terrorism to be with a Com, somebody without abilities.

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At least I had Millie. I touch the picture of our old black Lab, feeling that prickle in my throat. She was the best dog. My parents got her when I was a toddler. She died right before the chaos started, a minor miracle. One picture of my baby brother, Cal, with cheeks you could nibble on for days is underneath, then one of my dad, holding me in his arms. My father’s smile is forever frozen in time. It’s how I remember him: his square-rimmed glasses hanging off his nose, his dark hair that looks just like Cal’s, slightly mussed. I’m about four in the picture, my hair in pigtails and redder than the strawberry blond it is now, peeking up at my dad. I was such a daddy’s girl.

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The pain creeps in, the burning sensation in my lungs crawling to take hold. Pushing it down, I shove away from my vanity and lace my tennis shoes. I head out my back glass doors toward the wild, unkempt grass behind the manor. Nothing will ever dim the pain of being responsible for his death.

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