Sooooo, this story was a fun experiment, but I'm struggling with it. There's a lot of characters and there were never really any plots. While I like having the supernatural aspect and may do something in the future with supernatural characters this story is running out of steam. It's mostly been about breakups, hookups and relationships which really isn't a story. I have a little more to tell for this story, but unless I get super inspired all of a sudden, I will be surprised if this goes more than ten chapters.
On the plus side whatever comes in second in the poll for what should replace Swirling Storm Inside will replace this. In No Particular City and We've Got to Learn to Live with these Ghosts are the forerunners in that poll. Which means both will likely start around the same time as Swirling Storm Inside only has two or three chapters left in it.
Ch. 7 She's Gonna Listen to Her Heart
(CLARE)
"I didn't mean to hurt him," I say when I feel Leland sit on the bed again.
"I know, he does too, Drew isn't hurt, physically anyway," Leland says putting a hand on my arm. "You just have to learn to control your powers better. You and Winnie are the only two beings at this school with nearly unlimited power. Your emotions are tied to your power, you have to learn control, or you could hurt people without meaning to. It's going to be even harder for you because you've been suppressing your powers since you were little. Winnie has always used her powers, she learned control from the start, you only learned to not use them."
"So, how do I learn control?" I question wiping my eyes.
"There are disciplines you can learn, methods of control for your emotions and your powers. All the teachers here can help you, we've all had to learn ways to cope. Sean and I have had to learn to control our emotions and tempers. I'll talk to him and we can start tomorrow if you like, I think you should rest this evening," Leland tells me.
"Yes, I want to learn. Do you mind if I stay here for a while? I'm not ready to go back to the dorm yet," I request.
"You can stay here as long as you like, I'll let Winnie know you're here," he replies. Leland begins to get up, to fly away I think, but I grab his arm before he can go.
"I'm sorry I kissed you, I don't know what came over me. I haven't been thinking very well today," I apologize. I can't quiet bring myself to look in his eyes though.
I feel his fingers brush under my chin lightly persuading me to look at him. Turning my head slowly to meet his eyes, biting my lip nervously. His shiny silvereyes are kind, he's smiling, and I release a breath.
"No need to apologize for the kiss, I enjoyed it. I'm just sorry you vanished in the middle of it," Leland replies.
Leland still has his fingers under my chin, he leans down and very gently brings our lips together. I close my eyes and don't open them until I feel the wind from his wings, I watch him fly away and lie back with a smile on my face. This morning it felt like my world had come crashing in on me, that the boy I liked had betrayed me and that my heart would never let another boy in like that. One soft, tender kiss from Leland and my heart is fluttering again. I look at the stars waiting for Leland's return, I hear his wings before he gets back to the roof. This time he lies on the bed with me looking up at the stars. We don't say anything, we lie there for a while before my stomach growls.
"Do you want to go to the dining hall for dinner or would you like to eat here?" Leland asks.
"I'd like to eat alone with you if that's alright?"
"Of course, I said you could stay as long as you like. I'll meet you in my kitchen," he says.
He flies down, and I teleport to his kitchen. I help Leland make a simple dinner and we eat at the table mostly in silence. After helping him clean up I decide I'd better head back to the dorm.
"Thanks for dinner, and for letting me stay, I think I'm ready to go back to the dorm."
"You're welcome here any time Clare. I'll speak to Winnie and Sean about discipline training and we can start tomorrow," Leland smiles.
I smile back, think about my room at the dorm and teleport there. It's pretty early on a Saturday evening and both my roommates are out. Probably a good thing, I don't feel much like talking. I set my bottle in its spot and take a nice long shower. I spend the rest of my night reading and thinking about Leland. He's even in my dream that night, but so are Drew and Alli. It's both a good dream and a bad one, I wake up wanting to be with Leland, apparently so much that as I'm thinking about being with him I teleport straight to his bedroom.
"Oops," I remark quietly seeing where I am. Leland opens his eyes and rolls on his side to look at me.
"Good morning, I think you forgot to get dressed," he comments seeing me in my pajamas.
"I didn't mean to actually teleport here, I had just woken up, I'm just gonna go back to my room now," I tell him.
"When you are ready you can return here to have breakfast," Leland tells me.
I smile and think about my room in the dorm teleporting back there. My bottle is right where I left it, Jane and Mia both appear to be asleep, but when I start picking out clothes they both wake up.
"I was wondering when you would come out of the bottle, we heard about Drew, we're sorry Clare," Jane says.
"It's okay, I was really angry yesterday, I almost destroyed the school, and Drew. But, I had a nice night and things are different now, I feel much better."
"You must have fallen into the arms of another boy," Jane grins.
"Not a boy, and more like his wings," I smile.
"Huh?" Mia questions.
"I spent most of yesterday with Leland, we even kissed, twice! I'm going back to his place for breakfast."
"For a girl without much dating experience you sure moved on fast," Mia remarks.
"I haven't moved on exactly. I'm still pretty angry at Drew, and I'm not sure the kisses with Leland meant anything. They were pretty fast and soft kisses. I feel a lot better around Leland though, even better than I had with Drew. Plus, Leland is going to help me learn to control my emotions better, so that I don't accidently destroy the school next time I'm angry," I explain as I begin getting dressed.
"Yeah, that would be good. Didn't you ever get angry at home?" Mia questions.
"Yeah, and there was usually a storm or bad weather or sometimes an electric surge. I didn't always realize it was me, and Mom could usually calm me down. Jake is really good at calming me down too. Of course, I've also never been as angry or felt as betrayed as I did yesterday after finding Drew with Alli. On Earth we moved a lot though, it was hard to make relationships deep enough with people when you only knew them for a few months at a time."
"I can't imagine moving so much," Mia comments.
"It was hard, but that's why I like it here," I reply. I'm now dressed, and I go into the washroom to finish getting ready for the day. Then I grab my bottle securing it to my waist and get ready to teleport. Deciding it's probably impolite to just teleport straight into his living room I teleport right outside his front door and knock.
"You could have just popped in," Leland remarks when he opens the door.
"I didn't want to be rude, and I hadn't meant to teleport into your bedroom this morning," I reply as I step into his house. I already smell breakfast cooking, sausage of some kind I think and something sweet.
"I don't mind, my door is always open, and you may as well just pop yourself in," Leland tells me.
I smile as he closes the front door again, then following him to the kitchen help him with the rest of breakfast. It appears to be the equivalent of pancakes, sausage and fruit on Earth. That is, there are pieces of meat on the griddle that seem to be sausage like, definitely spiced, although more rectangular shaped than round. There's something that looks like berries and melon in various colors and nothing like anything I've seen on Earth. The pancake is more like a large popover really, it's big and fluffy and mostly air. Leland tells me the name, but I can't pronounce it, then he shows me how you poke a hole in it with a fork and drizzle in syrup. I can't pronounce the food, but I sure can eat it, all of it is delicious.
"We'll meet with Sean after breakfast and begin your training," Leland tells me as we eat.
"Good, I'm ready to get started," I smile. We finish breakfast mostly in silence and I help Leland clean up. While we're washing dishes the front door opens and Sean comes in.
"Good timing, I was going to come get you, she's ready to start," Leland tells him.
"Shall we do it here?" Sean questions.
"I was thinking the mountains, quieter there. I'll finish these later let's go find a good spot for training," Leland comments and we walk outside together. "I'll fly ahead and find a good quiet spot, something near the lake, but somewhat isolated," Leland remarks before flying off.
Sean and I walk through the woods, when we come out to the lake we see Leland on a ledge of a cave. He found a cave in one of the far mountains so, Sean and I walk around the lake as far as we can. Sean gets part of the way up the mountains before changing into a wolf and having Leland fly him up. Leland describes the cave to me and I manage to teleport there successfully…on the third try. The first thing he has me do is start a fire, so we can see.
"You have to learn to control your thoughts, and thereby your emotions. We'll start with some techniques to use when you're very angry or upset, things to help you take back control before it's totally lost. Nothing like counting to ten slowly, that may work for humans, but not for us. And, closing your eyes probably not as good for you, if you're thinking about somewhere or someone when you do, and your thoughts are powerful enough it could just backfire on you. I'm not sure deep breaths will work either, so let's try concentration and distraction," Sean comments.
"Have you worked on levitation with Winnie at all?" Leland questions.
"No."
Leland picks up a pebble from the cave floor, holding it in his palm, "Make it levitate."
He doesn't tell me how I'm supposed to make it levitate, but as most of my powers are driven by thought I look at the pebble and think about it lifting from Leland's hand. I have to concentrate on it, picture it clearly, but after a moment I get it to lift from his palm a little.
"Good, of course this will be harder to do if you're in a confrontation with someone. There may also not be something to levitate, but you can always levitate yourself. Keep working on it until you can levitate larger objects on your own. The important thing is to control your thoughts and thus your emotions. Normally, I would say to think about someone or something you really love and makes you happy. Close your eyes and think about them with a few deep breaths. But, again in your case you may just end up teleporting yourself to that person or thing. So, let's work on shifting your thoughts to help quell your emotions," Sean says.
I spend the next few hours with Sean and Leland in the cave working on various semi-meditative techniques. Mostly learning to shift my thinking, so I don't accidentally hurt someone or accidentally destroy something. Leland told me it was pretty common for jinn to do in the past, but as it generally manifestedas a natural disaster it was often blamed on natural disasters.
When Sean's stomach growls we decide to break for lunch. Sean turns back into a wolf and Leland flies him down and across the lake. Once they land I teleport myself to where Sean is, he and I begin walking back toward the school, but Leland decides to fly.
"How come you know all of this?" I ask Sean as we start walking back.
"I've always been pretty hot tempered, as a full-blooded werewolf I retain most of abilities and powers even out of therian form. It got me into a lot of trouble when I was younger. I had to learn to control my thoughts and emotions, so that I wouldn't hurt others. I had to learn a lot of it on my own, but it forced me out into the world which was a good thing."
"I never learned to how to use my powers really, and since our family moved so much we were kind of all we had, we never really fought. We bickered sure, Jake and I would fight over toys or what to eat or something, but that was about it. Anytime I would get really annoyed or angry or sad Mom would tell me to take some time in my bottle. I guess it w…"
"Clare," Drew says stepping out from behind a tree suddenly and cutting me off, "please we need to talk."
I grit my teeth, clench my fists, Sean puts his hand on my shoulder and I remember what they just taught me. I see a branch on the ground, focus on it, make it levitate, and then make it spin, and force a breath out to calm down.
"Very good Clare," Sean smiles before looking at Drew. "I don't think she's ready to talk to you just yet."
"Please Clare it was a mistake, you don't even know what happened, at least hear me out," Drew begs.
"Okay, let's talk," I give in setting the stick down. It was very tempting to hit Drew with it though.
"You want me to stay?" Sean asks.
"No, we'll be okay, thanks Sean," I reply.
"Just remember what you learned," Sean tells me. Then he changes to his therian form and runs off.
"Let's walk," Drew says motioning back into the woods. I follow him, but walk about a foot away from him, concentrating on floating a leaf in front of us, trying to keep my emotions in control. "I know you're mad at me, but you could have talked to me, instead of hooking up with two of our teachers," Drew accuses. My concentration broken the leaf I'd been floating bursts into flames.
"If that's what we're going to talk about I'm teleporting to the dorm right now," I tell him. I feel my skin heating up, my hair blowing as the wind kicks up. "Control your thoughts Clare, happy thoughts, don't incinerate Drew," I scold myself internally and release a deep breath. "Instead of accusing me of things you know nothing about why don't you explain to me what you were doing with Alli yesterday? I saw you kissing or feeding from her, and neither of those make me feel very good."
"We fed from each other," Drew confesses.
"Why?"
"She…she offered," Drew says scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. "She said she would feed from me and then I could feed from her."
"So, all it takes is for a girl to offer to let you feed from her? You're that weak?"
"I'm not the one that ran into the arms of a teacher," Drew shoots back.
"I didn't run to the arms of a teacher Drew," I growl, and the wind picks up again. I force out a breath, looking at pebbles and rocks on the ground, focusing on lifting them up so, I don't lose control. "If not for Leland, Winnie and Sean I probably would have accidentally destroyed the school after I found you with Alli. I was angry Drew, and hurt, very hurt."
"I'm sorry Clare, it was stupid, a moment of weakness and I'd take it back if I could," he says with a pleading tone.
"But, you can't Drew. You fed from her, let her feed from you and no matter how you try and rationalize it that is an intimate act. Nothing is going on with Sean and I, he's simply helping Leland teach me control and focus. Leland and I have kissed, barely and I don't know if there's anything between us or not, but I do know that you and I aren't working. I really like you Drew, and maybe we can be friends, but being together isn't going to work."
Drew looks away and down, sighing heavily and looking back at me. "I understand, I'd like to be friends if we can, I do like you Clare. I'm sorry for what I did, that it ruined my chance with you and, I saw the way Leland looks at you, talks to you, I think there is something there."
I smile at Drew and kiss his cheek before teleporting away, but I don't teleport to the dorm. I need to talk to Leland, especially after what Drew said, so I teleport myself into Leland's living room.
"Hi," he smiles flying down from somewhere up above.
"Hi, I hope you don't mind that I just popped in."
"I told you to just pop in, any time," Leland grins.
"I officially broke things off with Drew. He and Alli fed from each other," I tell Leland looking down at my feet, even know it hurts to think about it. "He admitted it was a mistake, but I can't be with him and worry that he'll feed off any girl that offers it. I know it's instinct and something to survive, but it's still an intimate act. We're going to be friends or try anyway."
"I'm glad you stood up for yourself and knew what you wanted," Leland smiles.
"Yeah, speaking of things I want and standing up for myself I came to talk to you because I wanted to know if the kisses meant something or…" I get cut off when Leland takes me into his arms and joins our lips. Instantly I close my eyes, loop my arms around his neck and deepen the kiss.
"Does that answer your question?"
"Yes," I reply grinning so wide I'm sure my lips are stretching off my face. "I should probably go grab some lunch from the dining hall before they put it away. I never did make it there," I comment after a moment. I want to stay, but I'm afraid to be here too long, and I was here all day yesterday.
"You should return this evening and have dinner with me," Leland says.
"Okay," I smile biting one corner of my lip.
He grins back, seizes my lips again and then flies back up to wherever he was. I think of the dining hall and teleport myself there. Popping in on a table, I still need to work on getting to exact locations. I also happen to pop in right at the table where Jake is eating.
"Sorry everyone, still working on that," I apologize to the table. At least, I didn't end up in anyone's food.
"Oh good, I need to talk to you," Jake comments standing up.
"But, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since breakfast and they'll put it away soon," I whine to my brother.
"This won't take long," Jake replies helping me off the table. We leave the dining hall and go out to the hallway, walking a short distance until we're away from everyone.
"Are you dating a teacher?" Jake questions.
"I'm not sure what we are really, but I like kissing him. And, we're allowed to date the teachers here remember?"
"I know, Emma's been dating Johnnyfor the last few weeks, but you're my sister."
"At least, I don't have to worry about Leland feeding off some other girl."
"Yeah, I heard about Drew too, I'd offer to hurt him, but you could do more to him than I could."
"We talked, we're going to try and be friends."
"Just be careful okay?"
"I will, can I eat now?"
Jake sighs and nods, we start to walk back to the dining hall, but I grab his arm and kiss his cheek.
"Thanks for always looking out for me, even though I could turn you to stone if I wanted."
Jake laughs and puts his arm around me, we enter the dining hall again, he returns to his table and I finally get some lunch.
(ANYA)
"Hey Anya," Drew calls to me as we're leaving our smithing and metallurgy class. I stop in the hallway and wait for him. "You want to go out tonight? We could have a picnic by the lake?" Drew asks.
It's been three weekssince his breakup with Clare, she was now dating Leland and they were happy. Drew was pretty miserable for a week, and then he was kind of flirting with all the single girls, but in the last week he and I had been flirting a lot.
"I'd like that," I grin, "pick me up from the dorm at six."
Drew flashes me that gorgeous grin of his before going off to his next class. My last class is fashion with Paige, I like Paige and it's probably my favorite class.
"Drew finally asked me out," I tell Holly J and Fiona when I get into class and sit at my desk. I notice Becky turn in her chair and glare at me. It's no secret that as soon as Drew and Clare were no longer together she wanted him, but he's shown no interest in the kelpie.
"It's about time, you two have been flirting for weeks and Clare clearly moved on," Holly J comments.
"So, what are you going to do?" Fiona asks.
"Picnic by the lake tonight," I smile.
When school is done Fiona and Holly J return to my room with me and help me get ready for my date. Just before six Maya comes up to tell me that Drew is here.
"You look great," Drew grins when I open the front door.
"Thanks, so do you," I smile back.
"I have our food, and everything else, shall we?" He asks offering me his arm.
I smile and link my arm with his, we walk through the woods a little while before coming to a serene and quiet part of the lake. Drew and I spread out the blanket, he sets down the picnic basket and starts bringing out food. We eat and talk a little, watching the lake and the setting suns. When it's dusk I can hear the lake stirring softly, creatures swimming, probably looking for food, but I can't see any. I'm done eating and push the trash away, so I can spread out on the blanket.
"You look so beautiful right now," Drew smiles.
"I do?"
"Amazingly," he grins before leaning over and joining our lips.
I grip the back of his neck, my lips parting slightly, he runs his fingers into my hair. Drew's tongue probes between his lips, seeking access, just as I'm about to open my mouth further we both get hit by a huge splash. We break apart drenched and laughing.
"I wonder what that was?" I question.
"I don't know, I haven't seen too many of the lake creatures, but I'm not in any of the water classes. We might still be able to see it," Drew comments standing up and taking my hand.
He pulls me to the edge of the lake and we peer down, trying to see into the dark water in the fading light. Suddenly, there's a tail out of the water, a large splash hits Drew he turns away from it, our hands loosening their grip. The tail hits me in the legs and I fall, next thing I know I'm being pulled under the water. I try to see who has hold of me, but the water is too dark, I struggle to get free, but it's no use. I'm a mountain nymph, we like rock, maybe a shallow river or waterfall, but I don't even know how to swim, and I can feel the air I'm trying to hold onto fading fast…
I know I'm mean, but hey I'm not ending the story here. As I said there's still some story left. The next update will pick up from herein Drew's pov. Then we'll be jumping ahead a little to winter. Next story to be updated is Best thing that Never Happened.
