Will's mother sat back into the sofa. Her eyelids were heavy and she could feel herself drifting off, but she refused to go to bed until her son turned up as she always did. She pressed the central button on her TV remote and examined the time; one-fifteen a.m. He was usually home by now. Panic attempted to spirit away her mind, but she refused to let it take her completely. She blew on the hot tea she was cradling and sighed. Her hand was beginning to warm up, so she took a sip and placed it gently on the coaster next to her. There was nothing particularly interesting playing through the TV, just the omnibus soap catch ups, the worried mom wasn't paying an awful lot attention to it. She simply stared blankly at the screen. The woman gave up any hope of a domestic, normal life when she discovered her hydromancing, and gave birth to a geomancer. Before long, the night had taken her. Her head was bowed, her eyes were closed and her breathing was deep.
She didn't know how long she'd lay there before she heard the door burst open. She leapt up, ready to give her son a lecture at his late return. Worry set in as she heard the groaning, and her pace quickened through the tight hallway. Stood before her was not just her son, covered in snow and late as usual, but also his friend Cathy. Will's eyes were wide and panicked and he was somewhat hunched forward with the girl's arm wrapped around his neck. She was wincing in pain, grasping a bleeding wound on her thigh. The shiny red liquid seemed to be bleeding through at a steady pace, and she was pale. Her eyes couldn't seem to focus on anything in particular; they seemed to be almost rolling back inside her head.
"Get her on the couch, lay her flat and prop her leg up to stop the bleeding." Will's mom let out in a somewhat accusatory tone. They'd brought each other back in all sorts of states, practicing mancing. But this didn't look to her like a practicing wound. She followed the kids through the hallway, and instead of turning right into the sitting room instead walked into the kitchen. She steadied her breathing and emptied the washing up bowl into the sink, there was a clanking as the dishes and mugs hit the reflective silver sink but cutlery was hardly important right now. She twisted the cold tap on and the water gushed into the bowl, rinsed it and flowed back into the basin. The mother then let the bowl fill up to the brim with ice-cold water. Will's Mom pulled her sleeves up and grabbed the bowl from each side, carrying it into the living room.
The bowl was placed crudely on the ground with some water splashing onto the navy-coloured carpet. The hydromancer drove her hands into the liquid and pulled them out rapidly; the water coated her hands in a thick aqueous layer. She placed her hands on Catherine's bleeding thigh and closed her eyes. "Hmm. This one's pretty bad. The main artery supplying blood to the muscles in your leg has punctured. It's nothing I can't fix, but I just wish you'd gotten here sooner. She's lost a lot of blood." Will's Mom massaged her hands over the air above the wound on Cathy's thigh, the suspended water emitting an iridescent blue glow. She turned her attention to Will. "What happened out there? What did you do? Don't lie to me William. This wasn't done by geomancing. Were you attacked? Mugged?"
"I don't really know what happened…" he replied with, to the dissatisfaction of his interrogator. "I saw Cathy being attacked by troops, so I helped her out, and we ended up fighting a hydromancer for our freedom. He hit her in the thigh with knives made from ice…" His mother was gawping at her son in disbelief.
"Where did all of this happen?" She yelled at him in disbelief.
"In the old quarter of town, in that abandoned flat block…"
"You manced in public? Did they follow you back?" the tension in the room was rising, she couldn't believe her son had been so stupid.
"I had to, to protect Cathy! We got away safe, Cathy called on something called the Agni Kai, they let us go."
The atmosphere became icy; Will's mother avoided eye contact with him, instead focusing her attention on the open wound she was knitting with water. It was hard for her to look at her son right now, even though she hadn't heard the full story. She was so angry with him. She felt the blood vessel closing its gaps and manipulated the water back into the empty bowl beside her. She picked it up, rose to her feet, and exited the room swiftly.
Will held the hand of his friend who had seemed to be much calmer after the treatment. Her eyes flickered open and closed, she must have been exhausted after the night they'd had. And they both had to go into college tomorrow. Will turned his head to the window, it was pitch black outside, the street lights had been turned off as they often were at this time. His eyes were hanging heavy as well, to the point it was difficult for him to stay awake. The boy's head was like a tornado of thoughts and worries, about what was going to happen next, and what had already happened, and how long it would be before they came for them again. For him again. He could hear the running water of the tap in the kitchen, and angry mumblings from his mother. The gravity of the situation finally hit him, the army would come back for him. And they wouldn't just take him. They'd take his mother, and everyone on the street, and Cathy's family too. She had a younger sister, and both her parents were still alive. What a mess.
"Will get Cathy up to your bed, you can sleep on the couch…" Echoed Will's Mom's voice throughout the hallway. As she turned into the living room and saw the two sleeping adolescents, she lent on the door frame, closed her eyes and sighed. She thought of moving them, but decided it was best to just leave them as they were. They would be exhausted after what had happened, but things were going to change. The woman ran her fingers through her greasy dark brown bob-haircut and turned back into the corridor. She decided it was best to get as much sleep as she could; she had a lot of packing to do tomorrow.
"And so when the bonds between two glucose molecules are broken, this is known as a hydrolysis reaction and produces an H2O molecule…" Will was already bored to death of his biology lecture. The teacher's voice was flat and monotone, and the last few months had been painfully slow. The geomancer wasn't the most intelligent guy around, but he could work faster than 'this oaf' could teach him. His mind was still playing up, he was getting flash backs of the night before, the fight, running away from the soldiers.
Cathy passing out.
He didn't want to go into college, but his Mom forced him. They had to pretend that everything was normal. They had to act naturally. 'Well I'm bored just as much as usual' the teenager thought to himself. Nothing abnormal about that; a kid bored in college. How cliché. The bell rang, signalling the end of the lecture (and Will's torture) and he fled the room in what seemed quicker a manner than his escape the previous night. Will's eyes still hung heavily, he hadn't slept particularly well upright on the sofa, but at least Cathy had been okay. She was obviously a no show, but then again she never showed up, so that was nothing unusual either.
The geomancer headed towards the library, where he would spend the next hour of his life, or so he thought. As he settled down with a psychology textbook and a blank sheet of note-paper in front of him, his phone vibrated on the table. There was an incessant shushing from the librarian, to which he mouthed sorry and picked up his phone, half-heartedly staring at the screen. The message was from his mother, and read 'Don't worry Billy, everything is going to be fine. Not leaving now, see you later tonight. Love mummy. X" the message struck him as odd as soon he read the name Billy; his mother never called him that. Will packed his things into his bag and made a swift exist from the library, choosing to ignore the scowling of the librarian as he knocked over her cup of tea with his bag. Partially on purpose.
Will's phone rang again. He answered it quickly, something was definitely wrong. "Hello, William." His fears were confirmed; that wasn't his mother's voice on the other end of the phone. It sounded like a young woman, and her tone was very serious. "Now I need you to do some things for me. Firstly, I need you to leave college without making a scene." The teenager was in shock; his eyes wide open and his pupils dilated. Beads of sweat formed under his fringe, and his mouth was partially open. He was paralysed with fear. "William, I would very much like you to confirm this. Can you please say something to me?" again with the serious tone. It was impossible for him to make out what was going on. They sounded official. They sounded contrived.
"Wh-Who are you?" he managed to stutter out into the mic. The voice simply sighed.
"We will meet soon enough. Now, get out of college and go to the train station. I will give you your next instruction once you are there. And then you will find out just who I am." A flat tone was emitted through the speaker, indicating the person had hung up. Will closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing, then opened them and padded across the grass towards the pavement. Nobody said anything to him as he jumped the small, green metal fence and outside of the college boundaries. This was going eerily smoothly. Normally an attendant was waiting to drag the students back into the college.
The terrified youth walked with his head down; the train station was only a five minute walk. He would have ran, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself any more than he already had. The sky was dark and the air was bitter with cold; Will's breath condensed into a light mist as he breathed out. He focused on this, watching the small clouds leaving his mouth as he exhaled. He pulled out a cigarette from the packet in his right jean and lit it, savouring the sour taste of the nicotine. The anxious feeling in his chest dissipated slightly, but it was still there. Still nagging. Wondering what the hell was going on with his mother. Was that text a warning telling him to go home? Will took systematic drags on his cigarette, burning down the nicotine stick quicker than usual. He dropped it on the floor as he finished it, and stubbed it out with the toe of his boot.
As he turned the corner behind the superstore, Will could vaguely make out two figures stood in front of the glass doors leading into the train station. One was a young woman he didn't recognise, most probably the one who had called his phone. The second was his mother; head down, hands tied behind her back. The woman flicked a cigarette from her hand onto the floor and stood up straight. She was garbed in a black trousers and a black shirt, with a green camouflage body-warmer hanging from her shoulders and covering her breasts. Steel toe-capped boots protected her feet, and her light blonde hair was tied back into a short pony tail. She had a gun in a holster on her right leg, and a baton hung from her belt.
"Your mother was been arrested for the crimes of being a hydromancer, whilst concealing a geomancer and a pyromancer from officials. You are charged with being a geomancer and for resisting arrest. You are both coming to the army centre with me where you will be detained for questioning and to await trial." She spat onto the ground. Will moved his feet apart and stood with his fists forward. "And don't even think about fighting back, or I'll kill you and your mother before you've even tossed a pebble at me." She patted the gun in its holster. 'Damn she's good.' Will whispered to himself. Letting out a sigh of defeat he dropped his stance, pandering forward with his arms out in front of him, submitting to arrest. The young woman pulled a pair of handcuffs out from the back of her belt and advanced towards Will, ready to encapsulate him into her custody. The geomancer winced as the first link went around his wrist; the fit was tight, and the friction between his bare wrist and the metal handcuffs caused his skin to turn red. Will closed his eyes in submission as he waited for the second link to close around his left wrist and steal his freedom.
From behind his eyes, Will could not see what happened next. But he felt the heat of the attack, and he felt the fire dissipate just before it hit his face. Bravely, he opened his eyes. The woman was mancing a shell of air around both her and Will, and a jet of fire was being projected onto the shell. Her arms were moving like lightning, jolting randomly and fiercely as she attempted to keep the barrier between her and the fire. The geomancer took his opportunity while the woman was distracted, flicking his hand up in a quick jolt, causing the earth to rise beneath his captor rapidly and without warning. She was thrown wildly into the air, where she was hit in the stomach by a dense whip of water – extending from Will's mother's arm. She must have utilized the chance to break through her handcuffs and mance the snow whilst the official wasn't looking.
Cathy shook Will as she grabbed his shoulders and stared into his eyes, screaming "are you okay? Snap out of it!" The geomancer managed a nod and turned to face the second army official the pair had assaulted.
"Don't you know who I am? You all just made a big mistake! I am Commander Flynn of the Central Army! And now you're all going to die!" Screamed the scorned aeromancer as she slowly landed herself onto the snowy pavement, cushioned by a platform of air. She glared at the three united mancers, who stared back, all stood in an offensive stance, ready to strike.