Page 38 of Cleansed By Water (The Nature Hunters Academy 3)

Tara’s eyes went wide. “Um, okay.”

“Well, then,” said Professor Warren, “let’s get started.”

Lawson and Cara's hands immediately ignited. Without speaking, they began channeling a jet of flame toward the frozen surface of the lake. In moments, the ice began popping, then fizzing, then breaking off in chunks before bobbing along the surface of the water. Professor Warren held her hands out before her. The water writhed and roiled. Soon, a current was created that carried the chunks of ice off to the deeper parts of the lake. The two fire elementalists began walking around the shoreline in opposite directions, angling their jets of flame out in front of them.

“Our turn,” said Elias. He squatted and placed his palms on the ground.

“And, um, what exactly am I doing here?” asked Tara as she knelt next to him.

“Just put your palms on the ground. You should be able to feel my magic digging deeper into the earth.”

Tara obeyed. As soon as her palms hit the dirt, which she was surprised wasn’t the slightest bit chilly, she felt the vibrations of Elias’s magic.

“Now,” he continued, “make a conscious effort to force your magic into the ground. Let it join with my own. It will want to merge with mine.”

She screwed up her face and imagined sending pulses of light from her body into the earth. Tara wasn’t sure how she knew what to do, but when the magic left her body, it felt as natural as breathing. She could feel her magic intertwine with Elias’s. Together they sent their power deeper and deeper into the ground. She could actually feel the earth parting beneath them, making way for their combined forces of will. Tara expected the power to wane as the magic traveled deeper. Instead, it grew stronger, as if it was drawing strength from the earth itself. Miles and miles passed, then Tara gasped and pulled her hand away.

“It’s hot!”

“That would be the aforementioned magma we talked about,” said Elias.

“I don’t like that.” Because honestly, who would willingly burn their hands and think “Oh, this is fun?”

“It’s okay. Imagine your hands are encased in rock, pure quartz crystal. It has a very high melting point.”

Tara put her hands on the ground again and pictured they were covered in crystal. Somehow, it worked. She could still feel the heat, but it was no longer unpleasant.

“Now,” said Elias, “we pull.”

She imagined dragging the magma upward from deep within the earth. The popping and sizzling of the lake intensified. She took a moment to glance over at the surface of the water. The ice was rapidly disappearing.

“Good job, Tara,” said Professor Warren. “This is actually progressing better than I expec—”

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently, cutting off the professor’s words.

“Elias?” asked Professor Warren, “what are you doing?”

“Not me,” he replied.

“Then what the hell is it?”

Elias closed his eyes and held very still. He cocked his head. “Uh, oh.”

“What uh, oh?” asked Tara. “Why is there an uh, oh? Uh, ohs are not allowed when we’re pulling freaking hot magma from the earth’s core. Uh, ohs are for when we spill milk and crap like that.”

“I’m not sure what it is,” said Elias, “but it’s big and moving this way fast.”

It was then that Tara noticed the rumbling wasn’t continuous. It was actually a pattern of short bursts of shaking coming in rapid succession, almost like … pounding footsteps. Just then the forest exploded behind them, and a moving mountain came sprinting straight toward them. No, it wasn't actually a mountain. It only looked like one. Instead it was a giant humanoid figure that appeared to be carved from solid stone.

“Mountain troll,” Professor Warren yelled.

Of course, Tara was terrified at first. But then she realized this creature probably wasn’t that dangerous. Everyone knew that mountain trolls were slow, lumbering beasts with IQs that barely ranked above banana slugs. All she had to do was stay out of the way of its slow-swinging club and she’d be fine. Except this one didn’t have a club.Why was there no club?Tara was mentally prepared for a club battle, but the troll wasn’t cooperating. Its hands were empty.Strange. Oh, well. One less thing to worry about.But the monster didn’t exactly lumber. In fact, it moved just like a human would, only on a much larger scale, which meant it covered ground considerably faster than a human.

Elias immediately sprang up from the ground and leaped in front of Tara. He thrust his hands forward, and the ground rose up in front of the troll. It only reached his knee, but the beast’s foot hit the rising earth as it ran, causing it to stumble. It righted itself before falling and then stood up straight. It looked at Elias, shook its head, then held up a finger and waggled it at him.

Okay, that’s just funny.Then something happened which Tara found extremely surprising: it spoke.

“Silly little human. You think to trip me up. I wield the power of the Great White North. You are nothing.”

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