Emma had wasted almost half of her break but she didn't care. She had done it to help Rhia and in doing so, she was able to get her to talk and to smile. As she neared the garden she could see six boys fiercely playing soccer. She could pick out the tall African boy, Lysander, with his long black dreadlocks. He towered over the rest of the boys so he was easy to pick out. He was sixteen and inseparable from his best friend, Tancred… her crush. As Emma walked closer she saw Olivia standing by the sidelines shouting her lungs out at the boys.
"Come on Fido! Steal the ball! I could do better than that and I'm in heels! Come on! Yeah Billy! Go go!" she cheered. Emma smiled. That was Olivia for you, always so active and full of excitement. Running quickly over to Olivia, Emma dropped her bag to the ground.
"Hey Em!" Olivia said joyfully greeting her. "Why are you so late? You've missed a great game of soccer," as Billy scored a goal and the boys decided to call it quits. Being the goalie, Charlie picked up the ball and followed the rest of the boys as they headed for the girls.
"Hey Em!" Fidelio said breathlessly, "Where've you been?"
Emma laughed. It was sure good to hang with the gang again. "Olivia just asked me that. I was in painting class helping a girl clean up."
"What happened?" Charlie asked, his voice filled with interest.
"Well," Emma said slowly, "We were doing a warm up in class when the girl next to me dropped her paint container onto the ground and some spilled all over her and her painting." Looking at Billy she said, "It was Rhia, the girl you told me about earlier."
"She's in your class," Billy asked surprised.
"Yes and I don't think it was her fault either."
"Expand on that," Olivia said eagerly.
"I think it might've been a girl named Melanie. She's around sixteen and she has dark brown hair. She doesn't seem very friendly but she sure seems like a player. She acts really sweet and innocent and I'm betting you she was the one who got Rhia in trouble. I think Melanie may be endowed because she wasn't anywhere near Rhia when it happened. She was sitting on the other side of me."
"Telekinesis, do you suppose?" Gabriel asked.
"Yeah, possibly. But I also think she might have super speed or something."
"What?" a boy with spiky blonde hair cried out. Emma turned to look at him and immediately her heart began to pump hard. Why must she always feel this way whenever he was near? It's not like she had never seen him or anything like that. He was one of her best friends, so why did she always feel these strange sensations? Sure, she had a crush on him but was this really necessary?
"Someone can't have two different endowments… can they?" The boy asked looking around confused.
"I don't know," Emma said, "but I do know that she has those two powers… it's strange."
"Strange…" Olivia said. She frowned her brow as she concentrated hard but then she lit up and said excitedly, "Guess what I did this summer?!"
"Great," Charlie said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and jokingly nudging Fidelio with his elbow.
"Stop it!" Fidelio said annoyed, "What was that for anyway?"
Tancred and Lysander exchanged glances and Emma couldn't help but smile. It was just like Olivia to quickly change the subject, something centered on her. What a diva, she thought, she has the attention span of a two year old.
"Well, anyway, this summer my mom and I went to a pre party. There was this little acting section where anyone who had wanted to was able to go up in front of everyone and do a little monologue or something… you know just for fun..."
"How can it be just fun?" Fidelio interrupted, "You're up in front of like the famous people. What if you made a fool of yourself? Then what?"
"Why?" Olivia immediately took offense to this statement, "Are you saying I might have made a fool of myself?"
"No no," Fidelio said hurriedly, "I just simply meant… for those people… you know who weren't as good as you. What if they made a fool of themselves?"
"Well…" Olivia said slowly, and then she began laughing extremely hard.
"What?" Fidelio said indignantly. "What did I say?"
"No, no, it has nothing to do with you," Olivia said laughing hard. "It was just something that happened at the party. There was this one really weird dude there and he wanted to do a monologue and it just so funny."
"What happened?" Billy and Fidelio said at the same time.
"Oh the guy just went up there and performed but like everyone in the audience was like, "OMG! You think you can act?" He was horrible and it was so funny because there was this one actress, Stephanie Adams, who just told him to stop it and leave the stage."
"What did she say?"
"She just said," Olivia went to clear her voice and did a perfect imitation, "Please, dude, you're giving everyone a headache. Just leave the stage and never come back."
"Did the guy leave?" Fidelio asked.
"Yes but then he came back on, two or three times after I think. He tried wearing different costumes but it didn't work."
"So… what's the news that you wanted to tell us then?" Lysander asked.
"Oh yeah," Olivia said grinning broadly, "So naturally I decided to go up and act right?" Everyone nodded. "Well, I did a small monologue from the play, 'Before I Die" with Evelyn Martinez and Frida Christy. And then…"
Olivia paused for suspense. Emma could feel everyone holding their breaths as they awaited the news Olivia was going to share. "And then, after the show, during the dinner section of the party, this woman came up to me and asked to sign me up to her agency!! Do you know who this woman was?" Not waiting for answer Olivia immediately said, "It was Kim Zepnik!"
"No way!" Emma exclaimed. "Kim Zepnik!"
"She's like one of the most famous agencies ever!" Charlie said in astonishment.
"Um… yeah!" Olivia said excitedly. "Isn't that amazing?! So now I"ll be able to go to more auditions and she'll be able to hook me up with projects through all her many connections."
"That's awesome, Livvy!" Emma said happily. She gave Olivia a big hug and the boys all gave her a pat or a punch.
"Oh yeah!" Olivia said once the excitement had passed, well, not quite but once it had settled down, "Billy, how was your summer?" Now everyone's attention turned to Billy and this made him very nervous.
"Yeah Billy. How was your very first summer with the Onimouses?" Lysander asked.
"Well," Billy said slowly, "It was pretty different… I mean from my other summers. The Onimouses took me lots of places. They took me to the beach and then to another country. I don't remember the name but it was really beautiful."
"How's it like living with all the animals now?" Tancred asked playfully.
"It's hard." Billy said matter-of-factly, "They're constantly talking, sometimes I can't hear myself speak… and with Una as well…"
"Yeah, how's Una like?" Charlie asked. The last time he had saw her was last year when they needed her help to transport the magic locket.
"Una is very… she's like Olivia." Billy said smiling.
"Hey!" Olivia said, "Is that meant to be an insult?"
"No, of course not," Billy said, "I'm using you as a… model you know. Because Una is very active and talkative just like you. I wouldn't want you to be quiet and… boring."
"Nice save," Tancred said. Billy cocked his head proudly. Emma stared quietly on as the group continued to speak. Billy sure has changed. she thought as she watched Billy excitedly recount his summer.
Then the horn sounded, signaling the end of break. Luckily it was now lunch so therefore, the group of eight was able to talk more. As they headed for the cafeteria to get in line for food, Emma lagged behind. She didn't know why but she felt kind of out of place at the moment. She couldn't tell what and was caught by surprise and Tancred appeared by her side.
"Hey Em," he said, "I haven't talked to you yet. You were really quiet on the bus this morning and you didn't say much just now. What's up?'
"Nothing's up." Emma said though she knew clear well that there was something bothering her, but she couldn't tell him, not when even she didn't know what it was. She bent her head down and stared at the floor.
"Are you sure?" Tancred asked. "It's not like you to be this quiet."
"I know," Emma said. Hesitantly she said, "there is something bothering me… but I don't know what it is."
"Well I guess I can't help you much then, huh?" Tancred asked. His voice was unusually gentle at the moment.
"I guess not," Emma said.
"Hey! I've got an idea that might cheer you up." Tancred said causing Emma to stop and look up in surprise. The two stopped just shy of the arch leading into the cafeteria.
"What's your idea?"
"I was thinking… well, maybe after classes, during that break before homework, maybe we could have a game of soccer… you know, just the two of us." This shocked Emma greatly causing her to step back and trip. Twisting in the air, Emma reached out her hand to try and break her fall. Falling flat on her face, Emma scrunched her eyes so as to prevent hot tears of embarrassment from coming out.
"Are you ok?" Tancred asked holding out his hand for her.
"Yeah, I guess I'm ok." Emma said sheepishly. She grabbed Tancred's hand and felt him strongly pull her up. Wiping the dust from her clothes she looked up into Tancred's eyes and began to blush furiously. She felt like slapping herself for acting so foolishly in front of Tancred. This was ridiculous. She had never acted like this before. Suddenly, Tancred began laugh. He tried to hold it in but failed desperately.
"What's so funny?" Emma demanded.
"Nothing." However, Tancred continued to laugh and Emma finally had the nerve to slap him hard on the shoulder. "Ow!" he exclaimed.
"Now tell me," Emma demanded. "What's so funny."
"Nothing, I was just asking myself when you became so clumsy." At this, Tancred immediately ran into the cafeteria. Feeling infuriated, Emma slowly followed him into the cafeteria. Once inside the cafeteria, she looked around for him but could not. He must have ran into the cafeteria line or something. What a coward. Emma made her way into the line and grabbed her lunch. Sitting herself down beside Olivia she began eating, listening to the conversation that was currently taking place. Then came Tancred looking sheepish.
"There you are!" Emma said. Everyone looked at her at this abrupt outburst.
"What just happened?" Olivia asked. "Did something happened while we were in here?
"He was laughing at me," Emma said indignantly.
"Was not!" Tancred countered.
Emma simply ignored him. The arguing would've gotten no where and she was extremely hungry, not to mention the others would have had a kick out of this, so the brief argument ended as the others continued to discuss the summer and this term. Emma simply ate in silence, listening but not speaking.
As the conversation continued, briefly touching on the Pet's Café, Manfred, the new kids etc, Lysander stood up and said, "I have to go to the art room to finish my sculpture."
"What are you building?" Billy asked.
"Just a small animal, a tiger."
"Ooo… maybe it'll save Tancred like the last ones did," Fidelio joked.
"Shut up Fido," Tancred said, "You're lucky the Flames were able to clear the water from my lungs otherwise I wouldn't be here at the moment."
"Right," Fidelio said solemnly, "Sorry. See you Sander!" As Lysander left the table, Fidelio said, "That reminds me, I have a rehearsal. Darn. I guess that's what happens when you're gifted in music."
"Forget about music, I have drama," Olivia said standing up quickly, "I'll go with you Fido. Wait for me." Together the two walked off. The table quickly fell silent for a moment before Billy said, "Guess we now know who does most of the talking."
"Yeah," Charlie agreed. "Fido and Livvy talks more then the animals at Pet's Café does, I bet."
"Close enough," Billy said shrugging his shoulders, "Hey Charlie."
"Hm…"
"Can we go to see Cook? I don't think she's busy now that the rush is over. I want to tell her about my summer."
"Sure, Billy. Let's go now then. We have plenty of time."
"I'll go with you," Gabriel said quickly. Together, the three sauntered over to the kitchen area, in search for Cook.
Watching them go Emma muttered under her breath, "Great. Now I'm all alone."
"What do you mean you're alone?" Tancred said on the other side of the table. "I'm still here aren't I? I could leave if you want to."
"Of course not!" Emma said. Emma quickly looked down at her food tray, unable to make contact with him in fear of how she might feel if she does.
For a moment, none of the two spoke and to Emma, it seemed like the longest, most awkward silences ever. Finally, Tancred decided to break the ice by sighing.
"What's that sigh for?" Emma asked looking up.
"Oh nothing," Tancred said. "Just bored and you're not saying anything."
"What should I say?"
"Well, for starters you can tell me how your summer was."
"Boring, I didn't do all that much. Just helped my aunt with the bookstore and then I went with Olivia to the beach and stuff."
"Sounds more fun that I had," Tancred muttered.
"What did you do?" Emma asked. The awkwardness had gone away and Emma felt nothing more then brotherly love for Tancred… at the moment.
"Boring stuff. Hang out with Sander, um… I don't know… other stuff. I don't remember."
"You don't remember?" Emma asked incredulously.
"Well you'd forget too if you had a boring summer."
"Whatever."
"So…" Tancred said slowly. "Do you have anywhere to go?"
"No, not right now. I'm stuck here with you." Emma joked.
"You've grown cheekier," Tancred said giving her a small punch.
"Ow,"
"That did not hurt."
"Did too."
"Whatever, you're weak then. Do you have anything to do before homework tonight?" Tancred asked casually.
"No, why?" Emma asked.
"Because I wanted to spend more time with you so since you're not busy," Tancred hesitated. Emma's stomach gave a flip as she waited for him to finish. "I was just wondering whether you'd like to play some soccer with me and Sander."
"Ok," Emma readily agreed. She was pretty good at soccer and she was just as good as the two boys so it would be a fun game. Also, she will get to spend time with Tancred and that, of course, she looked forward to.
"But right now, I want to show you something. It's pretty awesome." Tancred's eyes sparkled mysteriously.
"Ok…" Emma said slyly, her eyes sparkling at the thought of adventure.
"Well, be warned," Tancred teased, "It's not exactly awesome but cool enough." Tancred grabbed his bag and stood up and Emma quickly followed. He headed out the arch and into the garden.
"Where are we going?" Emma asked.
"You'll see," Tancred said. He led her to the very corner of the garden, where the ruin maze entrance was. Around this are were large bushes of roses. Tancred placed his bag down and gestured for Emma to come closer. Emma did so and eyed the bush curiously. She couldn't see anything.
"I don't see anything," Emma said confused. What could Tancred possible be up to?
"Do you remember what type of weather elements I can control?" Tancred asked.
"Um…" Emma said uncomfortably, "I know you can control the wind, snow, heat…lightening…" Her voice drifted off as she thought hard of what else he could do
"All right. Now watch this," Tancred ordered. He signaled to a nearby rose on the bush. Emma followed his instructions and watched it. Suddenly, she backed back in surprise as the rose burst into flames, disintegrating into ash. She stared in horror as the burning rose entered her mind, triggering another horrible memory. She could hear screaming and she watched as the rose was burnt to a crisp. She heard her own voice screaming in terror inside her head. "Mama, mama!" It shouted. "Mama don't leave me!"
"Tancred! What did you do?!" Emma cried in shock. "That's awful!"
"I know…" Tancred said slowly, "but isn't it awesome?!"
"What's so awesome about burning a rose?" She stared in horror as the memory intensified. The burnt, crisped rose petals slowly fell and watching in made Emma cringe in terror, shutting her eyes as if shutting out some terror.
"Nothing. It's the power Em. I can control fire." Tancred said.
"Oh great!" Emma's voice began rising, "So now you think you can just destroy everything because you have fire right? You're always abusing your powers Tancred! You never think when to use them. You just use them!" Tancred backed in surprise. Why was Emma acting like this all of a sudden.
"Em, chill. I never said I will do any of those things. Just relax."
"I will not chill. You killed a flower and with that power you'll kill loads of other things as well I bet." Emma cried hysterically. She began shaking violently and Tancred stared in astonishment. He just wanted to share his happiness with Emma. Never had he thought that Emma would blow up like this. What had he done wrong? Tancred tried desperately to calm her down but to no avail. As a last resort, Tancred wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.
"Em," he said, "Please calm down. I'm sorry if I scared or offended you in any way. Please just calm down and tell me what's bothering you. You know I just want to help."
Emma took a deep shuddering breath. Feeling Tancred's arms around her calmed her down greatly and she immediately felt guilty for her actions. For a while she did not speak. She tried to find a way to tell Tancred how deeply sorry she was, but she simply could not find the right words. She was confused. Why had she reacted so strongly when he burnt the rose? The even had happened so long ago… when did Tancred get this power? … why was Tancred holding her? She just couldn't find the answers to any of these questions, and as hard as she searched all she received was a slight mind grain. Tancred released her and took her hand.
"Are you going to say anything? If not then I want to show you something else." Tancred asked?
"I guess not…" Emma said. Tancred gave her hand a pull and Emma reluctantly allowed herself to follow him.
Tancred led her into the ancient castle. He led her into the great hallway and up the windy stairs.
"Where are we going?" Emma asked, her anger long gone, now replaced by curiosity.
"I'm going to show you the something else. I was going to do it to another rose but since you freaked when I burnt the flower, I thought maybe I could show you the thing another way. I don't know, I've only tried it a few times. We'll see."
"Um… ok," Emma said. They kept climbing the windy stairs and at one time, Emma thought they will never reach their destination. Then, as they passed two floors, the stairs become more narrower and finally, they climbed the last flight of steps. They entered a deserted room and Tancred led her to the only window in the room. Staring out, Emma saw that they must have been in one of the numerous towers here at Bloor's. Emma could see all the way down to the garden but the people she saw walking around were only as big as ants.
"Tanc.. what's…?" However, Before Emma finished, Tancred walked up besides her and pointed down at the garden.
"Just watch that part ok? I'm going to see if it works." Emma did so and what she saw made her insides melt as she watched. The grass had begun to freeze over forming a white, frosty dove. On its right, the grass began to slowly freeze to form the wards 'Emma' in a script like font.
"Aww," Emma said speechless for words. She turned around and gave Tancred a big hug. "That's so sweet Tancred."
"Thanks," Tancred said blushing, something he had never done till now.
"Way better then the flower to the ash trick." Emma joked. However Tancred didn't see it as a joke but instead took it quite serious.
"I'm sorry. It wasn't meant to be a trick. I thought you would have enjoyed it. Really I did," Tancred apologized.
This caused Emma to giggle. "I was only joking Tancred." Seeing Tancred's skeptical face she added, "Look, I'm really sorry I blew up at you. It's just… well, I've had bad memories with roses catching on fire and watching them just relights those memories."
"Oh do you care to expand?" Tancred asked empathetically. When Emma shook her head, Tancred nodded.
Emma looked out the window to avoid the awkwardness that was stirring in the air. However, when she looked out, she was disappointed to see that her dove and name had disappeared.
"Aw," she said sadly, "the dove and my name disappeared."
"Yeah, it only stays when I focus and concentrate. If I lose focus then it disappears."
"So how do you use it to fight against… say Dagbert." Emma asked.
"Well I don't need much focus when I'm fighting against Dagbert. I just need enough to create the brief attacks… but when it comes to artwork like this, that's when I have to concentrate a bit more to make it the way I want it to be."
"Oh, so you can't make permanent ice sculptures?" Emma asked a bit disappointed.
"I can," Tancred said, "I just have to concentrate hard enough until the ice… I guess, hardens or something like that."
"Oh ok. That's quite cool." Emma said, her anger and guilt long gone. Now it was just about her and Tancred being friends, having fun.
"Yep, I made some sculptures at home when I first found out. I'll bring some to Pet's Café this weekend if you want to see some. The others may like them too." he said grinning with pride.
"Yeah," Emma replied, "that'll be nice." She took out her cell phone and flipped it open to check the time. "We have three minutes left."
"Wow, time sure flies when you're having fun." Tancred said.
"Yeah," Emma agreed, "I think we'd better head on down now. We're going to be late." Nodding, Tancred grabbed his bag and followed Emma down the stairs. As they ran down the stairs in a hurry, they ran into Blessed, the old Basset Hound.
"Hey Blessed," Emma said quickly as she and Tancred ran by him. Blessed gave a mournful howl, so mournful it was enough to break any person's heart. Emma stopped in her tracks as the horn sounded, signaling the end of lunch.
"Em, come on. The horn sounded. We should get to class now."
"You go ahead, Tanc. Meet up with Sander. I'll reach my class before the horn sounds. We have like 10 minutes so I'll be fine." Emma replied kneeling beside the moaning dog.
"All right, don't forget about soccer tonight."
"I wont," Tancred smiled, as the young girl responded softly, her focus on the homely dog. "See you later," he said and quickly turned around. He ran out through the grand hall, towards the art room. As he ran past the art rooms, he cast a glance into one of the rooms and immediately spotted Lysander. Catching his eye, Tancred mouthed the words, "hurry up." Lysander quickly nodded and went off to finish returning his supplies. Tancred impatiently waited, dreading his teacher's reaction if they were late.
"Hurry up, Sander! We'll be late," Tancred cried as Lysander finally grabbed his bag and came out. Nodding, Lysander quickly ran straight, in the direction of their chemistry class. Tancred was not far behind. Then, the horn sounded.
"Crap!" Tancred said. "Hurry up!" he cried. Sprinting the last stretch, he reached the door breathless with Lysander close behind.
"You're late," the teacher scowled as they entered, "I should expect with a ten minute chance to get here you'd be well on time."
"So sorry, sir," Tancred quickly said. The teacher motioned to their lab tables and said, "Get started then. The instructions are on the table and I expect it to be finished by the time you leave this class today."
Tancred and Lysander quickly dropped their bags at the leg of the table and put on their goggles and lab coats. Luckily, none of the other students paid much attention to them as they were busily working.
"So…" Lysander said as he bent down to read the instructions.
"What do you mean by so…?" Tancred asked, dreading the answer he already knew.
"Oh you know what I mean. I want to hear everything." Lysander said nonchalantly.
Tancred smiled. He grabbed a beaker and filled it with a chemical. Lowering his voice, he began telling Lysander everything.