Chapter 209
Elsie's POV
It was a beautiful spring day and they were standing on a flat roof. Kites were being flown in the distance and there was the faint rustle of leaves when the cool breeze hit them.
"Do it," said Kitana. Her voice was low but urgent, tinged with an excitement that bubbled up from somewhere within. Her straight white teeth bit lightly on her bottom lip. Her face was flushed. Her eyes sparkled from eagerness to learn new ways to hurt people.
Doran turned to the chimney and held out his hand. He grunted, his face going red and the muscles in his neck standing out. It looked pretty funny until his hands started to glow. There was a light under his skin and it got brighter the more he concentrated.
"Oh, great," Seán said loudly. Likely so Kitana could hear him as they were on opposite sides of the roof to each other, Doran in between them. "We have the power of flashlights. Let the world beware."
"Quiet," Kitana said sharply. "Let him focus."
Elsie could see by his expression Seán didn't like it when Kitana dismissed him like that. He was obviously angry, embarrassed and hurt. If Elsie had ever used that tone on him, she doubted he'd even notice. Not that she ever would treat him like that. She wasn't like Kitana, who could spend a whole day mocking him and then, with one smile the next day, have him back under her thumb. Kitana was, in a word, an incredibly stereotypical bitch.
Elsie wasn't mean like Kitana, she reasoned to herself in the comfort of her head, but she also wasn't pretty like her either, or blonde like her, or slim like her. She was fat and ugly and all the dyed hair, black clothes and pierced lips in the world couldn't hide that. She swallowed and glanced at the floor before watching Doran's display.
A beam of light shot from Doran's hand, crackling and sizzling, and blasted a hole through the chimney.
Kitana whooped with joy and Seán stared, mouth open. Doran dropped his hands and grinned.
"It was easier that time," he said with a smirking grin. "Gets easier the more you do it."
Kitana ran to his side. "Teach me! Oh my God, teach me now!"
Doran laughed, stood behind her, using one hand to guide her while the other was on her hip. He spoke softly into her ear, and she nodded as she listened. Elsie looked at Seán. He wasn't looking impressed anymore. Now he just looked jealous. Elsie couldn't help it – she was disappointed. Doran was just a thug and an idiot who followed Kitana around like almost every other seventeen year old boy in their school. But Elsie had thought Seán was different.
She walked over from Kitana's side to Seán's.
Light flared in Kitana's hand and the rest of the chimney blew apart. She screamed in delight and hugged Doran.
"That was cool," Elsie said to Seán. He murmured. She smiled. "Maybe we could try it?"
"Knock yourself out," he muttered and walked away from her.
Her heart sunk. She tried not to think about it and followed Seán over to them, half-listened to the instructions they were given, and Doran got that look in his eye. She noticed it happened more depending on the clothes he was wearing. When he had his school uniform on, he was more of a bully, probably to make up for looking like everyone else, to feel like he had some attention. When he was wearing clothes his father had forced him to wear, which was usually jeans with a belt and a t-shirt, he was nicer, more mellow. But when he was dressed like he currently was, in an oversized shirt and grey – it was always grey – jogging bottoms, he was a different person. Not like when he was at school and a typical bullying guy, he was what Elsie was only willing to describe as a chav.
With that look in his eye, Doran began calling her names and Kitana laughed and egged him on. Seán was too preoccupied with figuring out how to do the new trick. She doubted he even noticed they were picking on her again. If he had noticed and did nothing about it, she'd have likely felt worse.
Finally, after many curses and insults Elsie let roll over her head, she began to feel the power in her hand, feeling how hot it was getting. Besides her, Seán's arm was trembling.
"Feel that heat?" Doran asked rhetorically, grinning predatorily. "Make it even hotter. Make it so that it almost hurts."
They stood in a circle on the flat cinema rooftop, all four of them, with their arms up towards the sky. Kitana had blasted white light into the air twice already.
"Feel it?" Doran asked.
"Yeah," said Seán impatiently. There was a pained strain in his voice. Her arm felt painful too but she tried not to show it. "What now?"
"Now you just push it out of you," Doran said. "All the energy, just push it straight out. Like this."
A beam of crackling energy shot out of his hand. A moment later, Kitana's beam joined it, a slightly deeper colour mingled with his.
"This is so cool," Elsie whispered.
Seán gritted his teeth. Seat rolled off his forehead and into his hoodie, a burgundy colour that matched his tracksuit bottoms. Then the light in his hand flashed even brighter and his own beam of energy raced towards the clouds and he laughed shakily.
Elsie became aware of Kitana's eyes on her and felt her stomach get sick.
"Last one, Elsie. You can do it." She said it was a hardness in her voice she never had when she spoke to the boys, or even other girls.
She wet her lips. "I'm trying."
"Try harder," she said bitchily. "You can't be the only one of us not able to do this stuff. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, have you ever heard that?"
Elsie had absolutely heard that phrase before but didn't answer her because she knew it was just how Kitana was. It was her way of making Elsie feel stupid so Kitana could feel smarter. She could feel her arm burning now, so hot it felt as if it would explode.
"Hurry up," Doran strained out. "I can't keep this up forever."
Elsie felt that heat and pushed it, tensing every muscle in her body, pushing it up, out of her skin, away from her, and then it burst through, a beam of orange energy, flashing to the sky and joining the others. Elsie couldn't help it, she laughed. It was beautiful, their four burning lights mingling in the sky above.
Almost immediately Doran's light shut out and he lowered his arm with a gasp. The other three followed quickly. Elsie felt exhausted but her body was tingling pleasantly. She couldn't wait to do it again!
Kitana almost said something but they all heard the car up below them with a screech. They went over to the edge of the building and looked down.
"What the hell do you kids think you're doing?!" The man shouted.
"None of your business, dude," Kitana called down with a roll of her eyes. "Fuck off or I'll kill you."
"Let's use him for target practice," Doran grinned.
Before Elsie could object, the man swung his arms. A strong gust of wind suddenly blew and he rose upwards like he was flying. Seán swore and they all backed away from him and the edge quickly. The man landed in front of them.
"Do you have any idea how risky that is?" The man immediately ranted. "You're out in the open, for Christ's sake! How stupid are you kids?"
"You're… you're like us," Kitana stated with a frown.
"I could see your damn lightshow from miles away. What were you trying to do? Were you trying to get noticed?"
"We didn't think there was anyone else," Kitana said.
The man stared. "Anyone else? What? What do you mean?"
"I mean other people with super-powers."
"What on earth – look, you're not superheroes, you don't have superpowers, and you cannot use magic where mortals can see. You're sorcerers and your number one priority is to stay hidden from everyone else. Got it? It's the literal law, you have no idea what you're doing!"
"We're very sorry mister," Kitana said in the same voice she used with Doran's dad whenever they had to meet him.
He sighed. "My name is Patrick Xebec."
"That's a stupid name," Doran immediately scoffed.
"Dorian," her voice full of scolding. "Don't be racist, it's obvious foreign."
Xebec shook his head. "We don't have time to get into this now. I'm on my lunch break and I'm not really qualified to go over this with you. But know that you need to come up with a new name or else other sorcerers can control you."
"Like, do what?" Kitana asked.
"Anything you want. I felt Xebec was right for me, so I took that name. Choose whatever fits you."
"Cool. I could be, like, Kitana Killherway, and no one can stop me?" She asked with a laugh in her voice.
"Sure, whatever you like," Xebec said with some annoyance.
"I'll be Doran Kickass."
"That's the stupidest name ever," Kitana giggled teasingly. "Seán, what about you?"
"I don't know," he said with a considering smile. "How about Seán Chill? Or Seán Destiny or something? Seán the King." He laughed. "Yeah, I'll be Seán the King."
The three laughed and Elsie awkwardly watched in play out with wide, anxious eyes. No one asked what her name would be.
"Look," Xebec said hurriedly, "pick whatever names you like, I don't care. I'm not qualified to take you through this at all. I don't like getting caught up in Sanctuary stuff. I just live my life and get on with it."
"What's the Sanctuary?"
"It's like our own private government, it had departments and soldiers and police and stuff. Normal government things. If you want my advice, don't get caught up in it. Anyone dealing with the Sanctuary is in the firing line and a whole lotta people end of dead working for the Sanctuary every year. These last five years have been hell in particular, let me tell you."
"Magic cops," Kitana mused. "I don't like the sound of that. Can they do what we do?"
"They're all different disciplines," he said. "I'm an Elemental. What can you do?"
"We don't know yet," said Kitana. "We keep finding new powers. Like, at first we were just strong, but then we could move stuff with our minds. And now we can fire beams of energy from our hands."
"I found out that one," Doran grinned at Xebec.
"I actually don't know what discipline that is," he said slowly. "Usually you can only do one thing, two at most. And even then you'd have to train for years."
"Maybe we're naturals," Kitana grinned. "So the cops can't do what we can?"
"No, not that I know of. I don't think anyone can," he said. "Look, I'll call the Sanctuary. You need training and resources, things I don't care to deal with. And then I need to get back to work, so just stay out of trouble while you wait for them, okay?"
He turned and walked to the edge of the roof. Seán went to follow but Kitana put a hand in front of him and he stopped.
"I don't think you should make that phone call," she called out.
Xebec turned back with a frown and put his hands in the air. "I don't know what else you want kid. Pretty sure I'd be breaking some law to not tell anyone about what you did."
"We understand. But we can't let you tell the magic cops on us," she said.
Doran raised his arm and held his breath. Barely a moment later, his hand glowed, far faster than it had last time, and it blasted into Xebec who didn't even have a long enough chance to beg before his leg was evaporated.
He fell screaming and Kitana took a step and glared at him. For a moment Elsie thought she was going to help him, but then Xebec's body went slack and he was dead.
"What did you do?" Seán asked breathlessly.
"I burst his brain with my mind," Kitana said, and she started to laugh.
I got married!
It happened. I know, I've been away for a while, I was just depressed mostly, but also I got married! It was very fun, there was a cat, I stroked it. It was just a legal ceremony and it was sweet and intimate with just me, husband (!), my aunt and three friends. We got some pictures too, some of them are very cute. I'm very happy :)
I began planning a *little* (read, already 10000 words and it's literally just a plan) Valith. I know it's not a Fletchyrie like many yearn for, but it's gay so. Also, Valkyrie is of age.
On a separate note, I am quitting my masters. The pressure my dudes. So much pressure. I could cope with an undergraduate degree, but this is too much for me personally. I've thought about it a lot and it's made me feel a lot better to chose to do that so I'm happier now already. I can't remember if I said in the last one too, I haven't checked, but I have been diagnosed with depression too which is fun. Genuinely is good, this is ten years of depression and it's finally on paper, it's very validating.
Sorry I was gone so long anyway, the lack of motivation hit me.
Remus Crux: I just like torturing Valkyrie, and what's worse than getting it hit the clit? Not a whole lot. Don't worry, I got the work in... but got a bad grade...
