Worlds of Magic

“I have been many places in my lifetime. London. Japan. Australia. But nothing could prepare me for the path destiny was about to take me on.”

-Diary of Kitsune Arashi

Kitsune Arashi smiled as she watched her friends goofing off in the seats across from her. Pheonix Reynolds was holding Lexus Blaze’s notebook at arm’s length, keeping it away from the younger girl. Tasha Silver shook her head from the seat next to Kitsune, watching the two with a soft smile.

For almost two years, the four had been working on saving money and waiting for all of them to turn eighteen so they could take this trip. The first part of the trip was taking them to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, a place that both Kitsune and Pheonix knew very well. After that, they were scheduled to take one of Kitsune’s grandfather’s private jets to spend Kitsune’s birth month in London, and then to Hawaii for a couple weeks of fun in the sun and surf.

At the moment, they were sitting in the nearly empty terminal, waiting for their flight to Denver, Colorado where their two-hour layover would be. After running up and down the length of the Will Rodgers Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Pheonix finally settled in the seat next to where Lexus was writing and started teasing her. Kitsune shook her head as she pulled her laptop from her bag, leaning closer to Tasha when the younger teen tugged on her sleeve.

“How the hell can Pheonix have this much energy at this hour? It’s almost midnight.” Kitsune smiled, glancing at the other two before answering.

“Red Bull, hon.” Tasha groaned, burying her face in her hands as Kitsune entered her password into the laptop and pulled up the travel program she had on her desktop. When she was done making the minor changes her friends knew nothing about in the open page, she closed the program down, eyes catching on the picture of the four of them that was her background. Her eyes roamed the photo as she thought about everything the four had been through.

Pheonix moved with her family from hot and dry Las Vegas to humid and every-changing Shawnee, Oklahoma when she was younger, and she dreamed of one day returning to Vegas perminatly. Lexus lived with her verbally abusive mother, and physically abusive step-father until Kitsune found out what was going on, and fought to have the darker-skinned teen legally emancipated from her parent’s custody. Tasha spent most of her life with her mother, running from her father, who before they started running had been beating and raping the silverette. Kitsune moved from California to Shawnee, and lost her parents in a fire that marred the skin on her back forever.

They had each been put through many trials, and had eventually found each other. One would think, after everything the four had been through, they would be depressed and afraid to open up, and at first they were. But, they soon found that each brought something to the group, and they slowly began to help the others heal. Pheonix, with her enormous amount of energy, brought the antics and ideas that often got Kitsune, Lexus, and Pheonix herself in trouble. Tasha, with her quiet air and gentle touch, brought the peace to the hot tempered Lexus and Kitsune. Lexus, with her fierce protective instincts, brought the strength that kept the others going even when they were ready to give up. Kitsune, with her large amount of kindness and even larger heart, brought the love that the other three had lost as children.

Amongst these traits, the girls brought something else. Something that quickly became their shared secret.  Together, they worked together to help and support each other with everything they had on keeping control of and training with their secret.  Each girl could control a different element, and together, with only the support of the others, and Kitsune’s grandfather, they hid in a world that feared and punished those who were different.

Pheonix had the ability to control water.  She found out about her powers at age ten, when she accidently used them to protect herself and her younger sister in a car crash on a stormy night. Thinking it was nothing but her imagination, she ignored it until her thirteenth birthday, when she learned of her ability to make the water around her dance in pretty forms.

Lexus was able to play with fire. She found her gift at the age of twelve, on one of the very few camping trips her family took. Her little brother was too close to the fire, neither of her parents were paying attention, and she had barely thought of putting out the fire when the flames suddenly died. Since then, she practiced with her girt until she was able to create fire out of nowhere. It was actually thanks to Lexus that Kitsune survived the fire that took her parents.

Tasha was gifted with the earth. Her power showed up at the age of thirteen, when she was visiting her grandparents. She was spending time in her grandmother’s vast garden when the plants just suddenly started moving to her. She accepted her powers a little faster than Lexus and Pheonix, but slower than Kitsune.

Kitsune had grown up with her gifts, which were linked to her emotions. She was also the one who had to exercise the most control, for her gifts could cause more damage than the others if left unchecked. The weather and air surrounding her responded to her calls, and changed with her emotions. When she was angry, storms and earthquakes erupted wherever she was. When she was sad and brooding, it rained and snowed. When she was happy, the sun blared brightly. Kitsune also had a second gift, one that ran through her father’s bloodline. She had the ability to scry the winds and future. Sometimes, she did it on purpose. Others, the images came unbidden.

Kitsune was broken out of her thoughts but Lexus flopping into the seat on her other side, notebook in hand. Pheonix pouted as she sat in the seat on Tasha’s other side. Kitsune shook her head, smiling, as Lexus shoved the notebook back in her bag, grumbling. She powered down her laptop and slipped it back in its case before digging for her bottle of water.

They sat for another half an hour longer before their flight was called. There was a flurry of movement as the girls grabbed their gear and got in line to get on the plane. They showed their tickets to the stewardess and were shown to their seats in the private, first class section.

Though she didn’t dress and act like it, Kitsune’s family was rich. Her grandfather was the CEO of a billion dollar industry and her father had been his partner. Upon her parents’ deaths, she became jr. partner, and inherited everything her parents owned. She didn’t normally like to show her money off, but when it came to her friends, she loved to spend it on them. This was their first trip since the fire, and Kitsune had sprung for the best she could in order to make everything as special for her friends, her lovers and sister, as she possibly could.

Pheonix laughed as she settled into the plush seat by the window on the left side of the plane, Lexus in the aisle seat beside her. Kitsune automatically took the seat beside the window on the right side, Tasha taking the aisle seat next to her. The raven-haired girl rested her forehead against the window for a second before turning to look at the others.

“Kit, even though we agreed not doing anything outrageous, this is totally awesome!” Pheonix said, playing with the fan above her head. The cooler air toyed with her green-blue-and-purple streaked blond hair, dancing into her multicolored eyes. Lexus nodded, idly flipping through the “Sky Mall” catalog from the pocket attached to the wall in front of their seat. Kitsune grinned and, before the other girls could do anything, snapped a photo with the camera she had hidden in her pocket before checking their bags. Tasha laughed and tried to hide before her girlfriend took a second picture, failing as the flash went off in her eyes. There was the sound of an intercom coming on, and the four settled down to “pay attention” to the stewardess.