Free The Elementals by Annalynne Thorne

Look, Bryne, it doesn't have to be this way. Come home with me and we'll all be ok."
                He shrugged her hand off. "Mari said the exact same thing."
                "Because it's true." Terra explained.
                "The prophet said that, sure, but don't you know that it's ever that simple? You three have been safe your whole lives because the danger was with me. I'm a prisoner here, and yeah, I can easily give you over, we can all fight this together. But why? Why fight and lose four when we can surrender and lose one?"
                Terra shivered at the prospect, but it was nothing that she hadn't known. "Why lose one when we can win as four?"
                "Because, I'm damaged. Remember, I'm fire. Don't you get it, Terra? I'm not air, or water, or earth. You three will always be around, but fire... Fire will always be extinguished in the end. Water can end me, without air I can't survive, and I will destroy you. I am meant to die."
                "We are not the elements, our powers are." She touched his arm hoping to convey the strength in Era's words that she had taken. "See? I'm not physically hurting you. So see? We can beat this. Together. Please, come with me and we can get started."
                "This is very screwed up. Our freedom has been stolen from us because of what we can do. We are the freaks of the freaks. It's all so cliché, teenagers saving the world. It's a collect all four and rule the world."
                A cord struck within her. "What?"
                He raised a thick brow. "What aren’t you understanding?"
                "What did you say? Rule the world?" Terra asked.
                "Yeah, what about it?"
                She went cold, ice pouring over her stomach. "That's what this is about? Power?"
                "That's the most important thing, right?" Bryan replied.
                She disagreed and she knew he disagreed too. She never thought... Never tried to guess what the danger was... It was power; someone was trying to gain power. "One of the Kin?"
                "An old one, yes." Bryan looked out the window, seeing a place that was not there. He was remembering.
                "You know this person." Terra questioned.
                "Terra, I thought that Mari would've told you."
                "I sent her to school."
            "Yes. I know the person. He's of the Kin. An elder." Stated Bryan .
                Of everything she had heard growing up, the threats on their lives, that right there, was the scariest thing Terra ever heard. An elder of their community was putting four children in danger, and it was likely that that wasn't all. What other acts of sins had they committed?
                "Bryne, I want to see the scars. Please?"
                He assessed her for a few seconds, and then nodded. He twisted facing the window, and unbuttoned his shirt. It took her breath away. They were not scars of an awry fire like she had guessed, but a free-handed brand, the block words "this" scrawled in paper-white over the blades of his shoulders.
                "What does it mean?"
                Turning back to her he held out his forearms. Written across them in the same fashion was a word for each. "Remember" and "warning."
                "Bryne..."
                "Don't say you're sorry. Mari started bawling on me, I don't want you to do it too."
                "Marissa's an empath," Terra choked in explanation. She went to touch the words, compelled somehow to make certain they were real, but he jerked from her. "Remember this warning?"
                "It doesn't matter….”
                "It does!" She noticed his necklace hanging low on his chest, a large Carnelian stone.