Elemental Read Online Free

enough.” She fixed me with her withering gaze. “I’m not an invalid yet.”
    I stared right back. For once, it was Lora who looked away first.
    We trudged along the half-mile stretch of road that led to the hurricane shelter. To either side, marsh gave way to scrub grass, and then the ground was littered with rubble, the remains of a bigger settlement. No one knew precisely when the area had been abandoned, or why, but it was impossible not to marvel at what the colonists had accomplished: buildings of smooth stone, and bridges that soared for a mile or more across the waterways. And a hurricane shelter that was still miraculously intact after who knew how many years?
    Near the shelter the crumbling road intersected with another, equally battered one. The buildings still stood here, in various states of disrepair. I’d named the place Skeleton Town after them; they reminded me of the rotting fish that sometimes washed ashore on the beach. The name had stuck ever since.
    I wondered how Lora felt, returning here now. Her husband had died in one of the buildings—fell through a rotten floorboard and slid deep into a hidden shaft. The walls had collapsed on top of him. The Guardians had attempted to pull him out with ropes, but it was no use. He was completely trapped. Lora had passed him food and water and talked to him until, finally, he’d stopped answering.
    Every one of us had been hurt here at some point: mostly from the broken glass littered around the buildings. The safest place was the center of the road. No one deviated far from it.
    I glanced at the buildings to either side. Where had the strange materials come from? What had destroyed the place? Why did the colonists leave? Skeleton Town was one gigantic mystery, and every time we returned I found it more fascinating.
    Suddenly, there was a flash of movement in the building to my left—a person, I thought, although that was impossible. I stared through the remains of a window. Broken furniture littered the floor. Shelves dangled from the walls at awkward angles. But there was no movement. It must have been the wind and rain playing tricks on me.
    When we reached the intersection, Alice whistled. “Just look at these buildings,” she said. “I reckon there were hundreds of people living here once. Why do you think they left, Guardian Lora?”
    â€œI don’t know. It was uninhabited when we discovered it many years ago.” It was Lora’s usual reply.
    â€œBut you must’ve thought about it.”
    â€œWell, it was probably the Plague. Like on the mainland.”
    â€œBut there was no sign of the Plague when you settled here, right?”
    â€œNo. I suppose not.”
    â€œHmm.” Alice paused. “Mother says Skeleton Town may have been destroyed in the storm that grounded your ship on Hatteras Island.”
    â€œPossibly.”
    â€œI don’t think so. There’s no way everyone on board would’ve survived a storm that was powerful enough to destroy a town.” She clicked her tongue. “Which reminds me: Why didn’t Kyte predict
that
storm?”
    â€œFor the same reason he missed today’s. Nobody’s perfect, Alice. You of all people should be aware of that.”
    Lora no doubt sensed that Alice’s questions were far from over—she clamped her mouth shut and stared straight ahead. None of the Guardians liked to discuss the hazardous voyage that had brought them to Hatteras Island years before we were born. All we knew for certain was that they had taken to the ocean in a desperate attempt to escape the Plague.
    They weren’t alone, either. Every now and then we’d glimpse clan ships on the horizon. The crews never disembarked, but sometimes they anchored offshore and the Guardians would row out to trade with them. When they departed, the fifty or so people on board—young and old—would stand against the rail and wave to us. Those were