Chapter Six

Chapter Six

“Wow! A water elementalist, huh?” Amelia exclaims as she walks down the hall with me.

“Uh, yeah,” I say shyly, “That seems to be what I am…”

She grins, “That’s great news! Now training can actually go somewhere. We can start getting you used to your brand-new powers.”

I frown, remembering the moment I couldn’t control the water in front of Larry, “Yeah… about that�"”

She’s already ahead of me, holding open the door. Not wanting to seem rude, I head in. I’m surprised to see we’re outside.

“Wait, why are we out here?” I ask, my eyes naturally gazing at the river.

She laughs, “We could both do with a little fresh air. And besides, this is where Larry told me you first formed that bubble of water around you. That means you’re most comfortable here, so I thought it’d be a good spot to train at.”

“So how come you’re still my trainer?” I ask, already trying not to bring up my point. It seems useless now, and it’s not really worth mentioning.

She sits on the ground casually, resting her head on her fist, “Oh, there’s only four trainers here,” she holds up her fingers, counting as she lists, “Me, Mark, Ezra, and Ronan.”

“So you’re the only girl who’s a trainer?”

She flicks her hair and sarcastically says, “Yep, because I’m just the that awesome.”

I snort a little and smirk.

“So,” she claps her hands, “let’s see what you got!”

I twirl my hair, coming over to her, “Yeah… you see… about that…”

She waits patiently, tilting her head slightly. Seeing her expression changes my mind.

“Nevermind, it’s just nerves,” I say quickly.

She smiles kindly, “Don’t worry, it’s just early-power jitters. You’ll get used to it soon enough, I just need to see where we need to start.”

I nod as I try to bury the uneasy feeling rising inside of me. Before, with Larry, I had the pressure on me. But it didn’t feel like this. Why does it feel this way?

“Let’s start small: how about you try cupping the water in your hand, then try to control it in any way you can.”

Again, the uneasiness makes its way up my body, but I push it down. If I could do it last night, I can do it now.

I cautiously cup up the water, as if I were going to drink from it. I concentrate on it, willing myself to feel the tingling in my hands again. As I concentrate, I notice the water slowly seeping through my hands. 

Stop pouring out! I frustratingly think to myself LET ME CONTROL YOU! I suddenly know what I should control the water to do: TO STOP FLOWING OUT OF MY FRICKING HANDS. Angrily, I try to force my hands to make a barrier for the water, but to my dismay it still keeps sinking deeper and deeper. Until nothing is left.

I avoid Amelia’s gaze as I scoop up another handful to work on. I can feel her stare burning through me, but for the life of me I can’t make myself control the water. Why isn’t it working? Why can’t I use my powers?

I throw the water down into the creek violently. Amelia looks at me with surprise, but I don’t care. I bitterly sit, just staring at the creek. Then into my line of sight, Amelia appears.

“Wow. Pouty much,” she says with her head tilted, making her hair almost go upside-down.

I grumble something incoherent, even to myself, and she sighs.

“Look, it’s your first day since getting your powers. You aren’t going to get it on your first try. It just takes practice,” she shrugs, “And besides, now I know what we need to work on.”

“And what’s that?” I say, still crossing my arms crossly.

She grins, “You obviously don’t trust me, so now we get to work on that.”

I groan and cover my face, flinging myself to the ground.

“What if I don’t wanna?” I say weakly.

She tilts her head back up and takes a few paces backwards, “Hey, that’s your choice. You just won’t be able to control your powers, mate.”

Complaints and excuses fill my head, but I frown and sit up. Despite everything… I do want to at least know my power.

I sigh and call out to her, “Fineee.”

She smoothly swings her leg in the general direction, sitting in a strange style next to me.

“Yay! Bonding time!”

I roll my eyes, but smirk.

She smiles, “Good, if you’re actually smiling at my stupid jokes then that means you at least slightly trust me.”

Amelia gets more comfortable then says, “Okay, let’s start with the basic question: What’s your favorite color?”

“Blue,” I say automatically, almost no thought put into it.

She giggles, “I guess that makes sense. What with your powers and everything.”

I pause, deciphering her words. Suddenly, I get it and chuckle, “I never made that connection until now! What’s yours?”

She smiles, “Purple’s my personal favorite, though orange is very close to it.”

I nod as Amelia says, “Okay, next question: What’s something about you that most people don’t know about?”

I ponder the question a bit, rolling the words inside my head. Is there really anything that few people know about me? An answer comes to me, but I shake it away. Amelia may be nice, but it’s not like we’ve been friends a long time. 

Amelia frowns, “I can tell something’s on your mind, mate. Can’t hurt to tell me, I promise I’d never tell anyone.”

I shift uncomfortably, “You promise?”

She makes a gesture across her chest, “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

I take a deep breath, “Well, here’s the thing: I’m a very trusting person. Someone tells me something, I believe it. So… I guess the thing most people don’t know about is I’m still trying to push off the side of me that believes my country’s beliefs are right.”

She looks at me understandably, “I think I get that. You grew up almost your whole life in Cryptis. We can’t expect you to just go along with anything we say. It’ll take time, but I’ll believe you’ll get there,” she pauses, “Is there anything that is making you think Cryptis is right? Like, any facts?”

I shake my head, “No, it’s not like that. All your evidence actually makes sense. It clicks in my head like a giant puzzle. Just… there’s a feeling in me that I can’t seem to ignore. And it keeps telling me to side with President Cryptis.”

Amelia smiles, “Well, I’m sure you’ll sort it out sometime. Let’s do one last question before we have a break.”

I reorientate myself, focusing on her again. Just one more question. I will say, despite my feelings in the beginning, I’ve been enjoying talking to her. She’s just so… energetic.

“I was wondering�"“ she says, then adds, “And this is completely out of curiosity�" What was it like living in Cryptis?”

I frown, “Well, ever since I could remember I was in school. We get entered into school at the age of two, then we learn the basic things people should know. You know, like how to read, write, having a vocabulary, identifying guns by sight… Those sort of things�"“

Her eyes widen, “You knew about guns as a toddler?!”

I shrug, “Well, yeah we kinda had to.”

She shakes her head, “Wow, I didn’t know it was that bad… I had heard rumors but I just thought they exaggerated…”

Confusion rises in me, “Well, what was your childhood like if mine is so strange to you?”

She smiles brightly at me, “Actually, I didn’t start school for a long time. A public school, that is. My parents wanted to teach me everything themselves- and not just about the common things- they wanted to teach me about my powers. Generally, magic only comes to two siblings, a guy and a girl. Somehow the bond of a brother and sister seems to amplify the magic in the genes and POOF!” she says, gesturing wildly, “You have powers. Vex and Maryn, for example, are twins and just look at how crazy powerful they are.”

Curious, I ask, “You have a brother?”

Her smiles falters a bit as she tries to maintain eye contact with me, “He…” she coughs to clear her throat, “He died only a few hours after he was born. There was a problem with him… being born early.”

Surprise registers inside me, “Didn’t we fix early childbirths during the Revolutionary Period?”

Amelia’s face turns tense, “Yes, but only Cryptis figured it out. And they weren’t too kind to share that with the rest of the world.”

She sniffs, “But, enough about me. I said that was the last question and I hold to my word,” she smiles, “Let’s try lifting that water again.”

I purse my lips, trying my hardest not to tell her it wasn’t gonna work. There was no tingling feeling left in my body, nothing at all. But Amelia has been trying, and currently the only adult who I actually like…

I’ll try once, I tell myself stubbornly, and if it doesn’t work, it’ll be fine.

I inch toward the water, trying to bring up any power left in me. I can do this, I say to myself as I close my eyes to concentrate. C’mon, Rose. You can do this.

I cup some water in my hand, feeling the cool current rush past me as my hands disrupt it. It’s so wild, so free, so beautiful. A little bit of passion and happiness explodes in my heart, and immediately a warm feeling rushes through my body. I can do this.

Carefully, so as not to disrupt the harmony of the puddle in my hands, I brush my hand into the air above it, slightly waving the particles I could feel rising to me.

Opening my eyes, gasping, I see the water floating between my two hands. In harmony.

“I did it,” I whisper in amazement, “I really did it.”

“Wow! One of my eyes worked, crazy!” Amelia laughs sarcastically, “But nice job.”

I morph my hands around the water and throw it playfully at her, “Oh, shut up.”

She shrugs, brushing the water off her face at the same time, “Hey, I’m your mentor. It’s what I do. And you must respect me, pupil!” she adds in a deep voice.

I snort, “How’d you get to be so funny, Amelia?”

She flicks her hair, “Natural talent. Allll from the genes,” she smiles brightly, “Anyway, let’s try flicking that water at something other than me.”

I sigh, “But it’s just so much more fun that way.”

She looks at me and waves her pointer finger, “Oh no, you should not have said that.”

She raises her voice, cupping her mouth in her hands, “Fellas! Let’s show her what real fun looks like!”

My eyes widen as thumps start echoing in the forest like a crazy orchestra. Sounds of multiple animals fill the air, and a realization dawns on me as I remember Amelia’s power. 

“Um… can I take that back�"?” I start to ask shyly as a stampede of animals start coming across the river.

Elk, birds, squirrels, rabbits… I couldn’t even start to identify all the animals starting to come at me. I get up to run, but I am immediately crushed by a dog pile of all sorts.

“Ow, ow�" Okay, that hurts�" OW! Cut it out! I get your point, I get your point!” I shout from underneath the hundreds of pounds of animals.

Amelia laughs, “Okay, okay, guys. Lay off her.”

The animals slowly start walking toward Amelia, laying beside her and waiting for the cuddly pets they knew they were going to receive. As the last animal finally gets off me, I sit up and scowl at her.

“Not. Fair,” I say, crossing my arms.

Amelia nuzzles a fawn’s head, “Seemed pretty fair to me.”

I groan, “I’m going to be so sore today…”

She shrugs, “Well, that’s what y’a get, mate,” she brushes herself off, moving away from the animals and toward me, “Did y’a learn your lesson?”

“Yeah…” I sigh.

She beams, “Great, and that means we can continue training!”

~ • • • ~

I groan, trying to stretch out a muscle in my neck. I was starting to get a crook in it from bending over the river so much. Amelia had had me training for hours, and I was starting to get a little tired of it.

Amelia looks at me, worried, “You okay, mate?”

I sigh, “Just feeling sore… nothing to worry about.”

She frowns, “Let’s end this for today, yeah?” she looks over my shoulder to something behind me and smiles, “Plus, I think someone’s here to see you.”

I turn my head around and smile, “Hey, Lemon. How long have you been waiting?”

He shrugs, moving down from the concrete floor to the soft grass, “Not long, I didn’t want to interrupt you…”

I brush myself off, standing up, “You wanting to talk?”

He nods fervently, sending a little skip in my heart. Did something happen while I was training? He gestures for me to follow him back inside. I trot after him, a little panic spreading throughout my body.

What could have happened? Did he lose his power? Did something happen to the base, to the others? Why would he be so worried? He’s been so happy lately…

Leon leads me to a random corridor as I follow him. He leans on a wall and I follow suit. With no one around, sighs and crumples to the ground, “I hate my powers, Rose. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them.”

My worry turns to confusion, “What? Why?”

He shakes his head, “Everyone else has cool powers. They can actually fight someone, but all I have is stupid… mind reading. It’s not fair.”

I frown, “I think it’s cool.”

He avoids my gaze and sighs. A well of sadness rises up in me. A strong urge to comfort him overwhelms me, but I can’t think of anything. Think. Think. Think… An idea pops into my head.

“Read my thoughts,” I say to him.

He looks up groggily, “What?”

“Read my thoughts,” I repeat.

He opens his eyes wide, “Wha�" But�" You’re my sister! I-I can’t do that to you… it isn’t right…”

I smile, “Trust me, you’ll be fine.”

He looks up at me with his adorably bright, blue eyes staring up at me worriedly, “I…” he closes his eyes, “Okay… just… please tell me you’ll be okay.”

I kneel down, ignoring how sore it makes me feel, and hug him, “I promise.”

Still holding him tight, I close my eyes and try to imagine all the things I think of when I think of Leon. Brave, imaginative, amazing, compassionate, I kept adding more. I imagine his spectacular powers, and show how much I genuinely love them. He’s special and loving and caring and I love him more than anyone or anything. I fill my head with all sorts of colors, all the ones that give me the warm fuzzy feeling. Orange, yellow, bright green, they all flood past me in my thoughts. Hopefully it’s enough.

I open my eyes gently, looking directly at Leon’s face. Don’t be down on yourself, I say in my head, your power is just as good as anyone else’s, and you absolutely deserve to be here. You can fight Leon, you just have to think of it in a different way. Look in a new angle.

Leon looks up at me, his eyes watering. He surprises me by his voice in my head. His lips aren’t moving, his thoughts are. Thank you…

My eyes start to blur, he’s so amazing, “I love you, Lemon.”

He buries his head into me, “I love you too, Rose.”

An adoring feeling overwhelms me, and I rest my head on his. I close my eyes and smile warmly, hugging him even tighter. At least, upon everything going on in my crazy life, Leon will always be there with me. And I’ll be there for him.

I pull away slightly and shift my eyes downward, “Now, let’s go get some dinner, alright?”

His face sparkles, “Okay.”

~ • • • ~

I taste a little bit of my noodles as I smile. Leon had gone to go practice his powers, it looks like I really made an impact on him… I really hope he sticks with it. The gooey, rich taste of alfredo enters my mouth and I savor it. Food was so good here. I still can’t wrap my head around how much luxurious food they have available all the time. I wonder how the rest of the world is… If they’re like that.

I chew softly, thinking to myself slowly. There’s so many things here that I haven’t even heard of. How do people just… grow up with so much stuff? How did they not have a childhood filled with training and discipline? Since before I can even remember, I’ve been fighting. I was good at fighting. I was good at school, and I was set for a good life. I thought so… But what these people are doing? What The Rebellion is doing? That feels so much better.

As I stew on my thoughts, I notice movement in the corner of my eye. Strange, I think to myself, I should be the last one here… everyone else left like 15 minutes ago.

Carefully, I raise my eyes to see a dark figure hunched over a table. Who could it be? I look closer, could it be that someone broke in? There is that window that Maryn showed me… Could someone have broke through the glass?

I inch my hand closer to the glass of water near my plate. If it’s an intruder… I-I’ve got to do something… I slowly pick up the water, then rise up from my seat. Quietly, using my stealth classes to be silent and invisible, I step closer to the figure. He seems to not notice me as I slide nearer to the table. Trying to imagine my water turning into a huge wave, I close my eyes and keep a hand close to the cup. The tingling feeling arises, and I take a breath to prepare myself. Swiftly, I raise the cup and throw it at the shape. To my disappointment, it only splashed the water softly onto the back of their head.

“AGH!” I hear them cry out, “Okay, whoever did that you are so going to find a dead body attacking you tonight�"”

Realization hits me and I widen my eyes. Vex turns around and scowls at me.

“Not. Cool,” he says with a glare so dirty it would make a grown man run out of sight from fear.

“I am so sorry�"” I start to apologize.

“Mhm. Sureee you are,” he says crossing his arms, “What are you doing, stalking up on me anyway?”

I blush a deep red, “That is not what I was doing�"”

He rolls his eyes, “I’m only joking, Flower.”

I narrow my eyes angrily, “My name is Rose.”

He shrugs, “Meh, Flower’s easier to remember.”

I huff in frustration, heading back to my table, “Whatever, I’ll leave you alone.”

He leans on his elbow on the table, looking at me casually. I ignore him and finish my meal, trying to savor it like I was just minutes before. It tastes dry. I have an annoyed sigh as I get up to throw away my tray.

“Have fun being alone!” he crys out sarcastically to me.

I head toward the door, resisting an urge to punch him in the stomach. No use in violence now. I swing the doors open, heading to my room. I close my eyes, trying to remember the way to my room. A mental map forms in my head and I start following it. 

I reach my room without confusion. (It would have taken me forever to find my way if I got lost.) I open my door, but immediately I see something different. 

A tiny book with a blue cover sits on my bed, a little note sat right beside it. The pages look old and yellow, but for some reason I see a comfort in that. I walk toward my bed, sitting on the comfy foam mattress. I pick up the book, immediately knowing that I needed to be careful with this one.

The size of it was still surprising me. All the textbooks I had read were huge, bulky, and new. They were clean and had a precise purpose. They smelled of chemicals and oil. This book felt different. It smelled different. It felt like I held a fragile child in my hands, a dream on pages.

I read the title carefully, brushing my fingers over the slightly raised text, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. What a provoking title… I look to the note left beside it.

Dear Rose,

I hope this note finds you well, and that the book I have placed is still there. I find it an exceptional read, and I think you’ll really enjoy the feel of it.

      Maryn

I think back to the time Maryn had mentioned fictional books to me. Gosh, it feels so long ago… And she remembered it. She remembered me and her promise she made. A warm fuzziness enters me as I smile.

I open the book to the first page, laying my back against the wall behind my bed, and start to read.

~ • • • ~

After reading for only a few hours, I had finished it. I had finished The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. An amazed and satisfied feeling settles in me. I lay the book on my nightstand, staring up at the ceiling for a bit.

Their world… wasn’t perfect. It was full of war… kind of like mine. And then they found this world that they just… lived in. It was beautiful and there were parts that made me cry. I had never cried over a book before. There was a surprise when I felt so sympathetic for the fictional characters. How can that be? How can I feel emotions over just… words on a page?

I want to be in their world. I want to be with the characters, feel joy and sadness like them. I want to have that perfect of a life.

I look around my room with a smile on my face. But as I look around…

I remember I’m back in real life.

Author's Note

Ello! This chapter was finally completed on 9/11!

If you have any critiques, feel free to put down in the comments! (Though I do recommend you read the WHOLE book before deciding my writing isn't good enough lol-)