Free Elemental by Antony John

have to worry about keeping watch yet. It’ll take the pirates a while to search Hatteras, like Thom said. For now, we need provisions.”
    â€œWhere are we going to get provisions?” I asked.
    Alice was gripping her dune box so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. “Just . . . explore this place, okay? If you find something useful, bring it back.”
    A silence descended over us. Rose fingered her tunic, which was smeared with blood.
    â€œYou’ve got to bandage your hands,” I said. “Better clean them too.”
    She bit her lip. “We’ll need water for that.”
    â€œThere’s a water tower right next to us,” Alice reminded her. “I’ll fill the canisters now before the pirates start watching.”
    â€œHow will we know if the water’s safe?” I asked.
    â€œI’ll know,” replied Rose confidently.
    I wanted to ask more. Catching fish barehanded and testing the purity of water were entirely different. Besides, she was still a full year from becoming an Apprentice. So why was she speaking with a Guardian’s confidence? Had someone been working with her in secret too, the way Eleanor had with Dennis?
    I wondered then if everyone knew things they shouldn’t, and if I was the only one in the dark.

CHAPTER 11
    A lice tucked our water canisters into her bag and slid the strap over her left shoulder. She climbed the ladder nimbly, and clambered onto the top of the tower’s giant tank. It looked decrepit, but didn’t shift at all under her weight.
    We lost sight of her for a while. When she reappeared, she tossed full canisters over the side. I cushioned the fall with my own bag.
    It was almost evening and we were hungry. The trout was inedible by now, its flesh burned so badly that it crumbled into pieces when Alice retrieved it from the spit. We couldn’t afford to make another fire either—a plume of smoke would give us away.
    Rose handed out the canisters. “It’s all right to drink.”
    â€œHow can you tell?” I asked.
    â€œIt’s my element. I can see and smell the quality of water. I can taste the impurities in a single drop.”
    I took a long swig. The water tasted good. “Thanks. We’d be in trouble without you.”
    Rose stared at her hands. She’d used her cloth hair band as bandages for her palms, and now her hair draped across her face. “We’re still in trouble. And I don’t think water’s going to change that.”
    In the silence that followed, I tried to think of something reassuring to say. But
what
? Rose was hurt. Dennis was scared. Even Griffin still seemed to be in shock, a full day after his seizure. I wondered yet again what he’d foreseen. Lora’s death? Our father’s death? The death of every Guardian? It seemed more important than ever to know, but I couldn’t ask. How would I forgive him if he’d known everything that would happen, and hadn’t warned me?
    With maybe one strike of daylight remaining, we left the shelter to search for supplies. The air was still, the sky dotted with wisps of clouds. The fires on Hatteras must have been extinguished, because the smoke was gone. Through the binoculars I saw only one or two men walking the shore. They clearly didn’t know we were on Roanoke, which was a relief.
    Rose announced that she’d scout the land just beyond Skeleton Town. Alice said she’d forage for food in the area around the shelter. Dennis and I joined her.
    We passed battered buildings on either side of the main road. While Alice and Dennis pressed on, I stopped to peer into each one. Most were only one floor, just like our cabins. They were large, though, and made of a smooth rock-like material that seemed immensely strong. The shells were fairly intact—about half the buildings still had roofs—but the guts had been destroyed when the windows had broken. It was hard to see the