Free Awaken the Elements (Elemental Trilogy) by Ellie Potts

looked back over at the skating fools. Envy and Anatha made it over to the bumper car island. They were looking for the on switch. She held all the power in her pocket. Looking back at the crowd of guys, she wanted to look away again. A jolt of shyness hit her. She let the shyness fade away with a deep breath.
                  “I got something you guys might find rather interesting,” she told them. She reached into her pocket, pulling out the keys. She held them up.
                  “What are those for?” Frank asked.
                  “Bitch,” Richard said with a smile. “She has the keys.”
     
    ****
                  “What is Autumn doing?” Envy asked, watching her sister.
                  Anatha was watching too. “I don’t know.”
     
    ****
                  “Flip on the power, girl,” Richard told her.
                  Going  to the main power switches over by the funhouse, she thought of a way to get back at Richard for calling her, girl. Hell, she was older than him. She had a few years to make up for all the bossing around he had done all their lives. Her eyes focused on the funhouse, and she knew she was going in there before she went off to bed.
                  She inserted the biggest key. How did she know it was the one that fit? Call it a hunch, plus it was the biggest key. It’s usually the big things that hold most of the power, or thought they did anyway. She turned it right. Little red lights came to life on the panel next to her. She switched the switches on until all the lights were green. Everything hummed and turned on. The carousel started to play its music, you could hear the hum of the bumper cars, and the fun house came to life too.
                  “We have power,” she whispered to herself. She left the switches and went back to the crowd of guys.
                  “That still doesn’t help with the video game problem,” Frank said.
                  “There should be a key to the little room over there that should hold the tokens.” She tossed the keys to him. “Go get ‘em.”
                  Some of the guys played the video games alone, while others competed against each other. River and Stefan both asked Autumn to participate with them. She was beating River at some car game, when he crept up behind her vehicle and started gaining speed.              “No,” she gasped and stepped on the fake gas pedal.
                  “I can floor it too,” he stepped on his gas pedal. They hit the finish line at the same time.
                  “A tie!” He watched as the stats rolled along the screen.
                  “My best score!” She smiled happily.
                  He put out his fist and cocked an eyebrow. “Come on.”
                  “Fine,” she laughed and bumped her fist against his.
                  “Hey wan    ” he started, but Richard was there dragging her away. She mouthed sorry over her shoulder.
                  “Damn, I thought I would never get you away,” he said, finally letting her go.
                  “What’s up, cuz?”
                  “Are you okay?” he said, looking at her.
                  She turned, surveying the group of people scattered about playing. “I will be.”
                  “Just because you feel the need to be the mother does not mean you have to carry the burden all by yourself.”
                  She turned to him. “Would it make you feel better if I started to cry? Do you need me to break down to make you feel better?”
                  He took a step back, shocked. “I’m sorry.”
                  She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I just don’t     I don’t