Fictober Prompt 14: "Your information was wrong."
Fanning the Flames
Her older brother was getting very comfortable with a psychic.
She expected that from Raz, not Dion. Frazie thought Dion had a few brain cells tingling in his head than to get involved with psychics. But from her perch on a high hill overlooking the Questionable Area, she discovered him exchanging flirty looks with that Junior Psychonaut again.
Eavesdropping was more Mirtala's schtick, but she didn't care one bit as she flattened herself to the grass. She smoothed back her curly hair, looping her long longs into a thick, singular ponytail. The grass tickled her chin and arms, and she wriggled her nose, suppressing a sneeze. Brushing a few ants away, Frazie peered over the edge, bits of rocky debris falling as she observed them.
"So," Dion said, his voice carried by the wind, "psychics really don't drink blood?"
Gisu chortled, twirling her skateboard - lev board, Frazie believed Raz had called it - on her finger. "No idea where you heard that one! The answer is no, but there might be one psychic who does."
"Who? Is it the, uh, lady who wore some kind of prickly get-up? I saw her roaming around the Forgetful Forest."
"Who? Oh, the Green Needle Witch? Nah. She only wore that to scare away intruders." Gisu tossed her lev board to the ground, kicking up dirt as it floated. Frazie squinted, noticing the glowing outlines of two small lime green levitation balls the size of water balloons holding it up. Gisu stepped on her board and rocked from side to side, her knees bending. "If you ask my friend, Lizzie, then she'll tell you all about being a vampiric psychic."
She heard her brother suck in a sharp gasp. "Seriously? Is that true?" he asked, pressing his knuckles on his hips.
"Oh, definitely. Lizzie will be delighted if you ask her. She loves staying up late and avoiding garlic and crosses." Her grin stretched. "In fact, when she's forced to go outside, she always, always, always stays in the shade."
Frazie rolled her eyes. Dion was eating out of the palm of Gisu's hand. Psychics might have been real, but vampires weren't. They belonged in horror novels, not real life. The temptation to chuck pine cones at them crossed her mind, but Frazie hesitated when she noticed a tall, lean shadow draping over her.
"Spying on your brother, eh?" Augustus asked as Frazie whipped her head over her shoulder.
She bit back her urge to shriek. Augustus chuckled and sat next to her, unbothered. He lifted his head, watching the sunlight filter through the trees, and Frazie pushed herself upright into a sitting position. She crossed her legs and curled her toes a few times, Gisu explaining the legend of the Green Needle Witch to an enraptured Dion.
Augustus smiled at his daughter. He gestured at her hair. "It's pretty that way. You remind me of your mother when she was your age and rocking the lone ponytail."
Her grin inched on her face. "Aw, thanks. Guess that's just part of having good genetics."
"Great hair from both sides of the family," he mused, rubbing his beard.
Snickering behind her palm, Frazie looked at her dad. The bags under his eyes seemed more prominent than yesterday. After the truth came to light about the Aquatos, Augustus hadn't slept well. She remembered hearing him weeping in the dead of night, the caravan walls painfully thin, while her mother comforted him. He had lost Nona. They all had when that cruel codger whisked her away to Green Needle Gulch, and there had also been a lifetime of mistruths for them to grapple, unravel, and confront.
Augustus met her gaze. On the exterior, he was still the same father. Inside were thoughts that drastically clashed with her memories of the acrobat who had raised her. He supported psychics after years of despising them over a calculated fraud. He wanted to embrace his mental abilities; the nosy Junior Psychonaut with oversized glasses reached out to him to teach him pyrokinesis and make amends for using him, which he had eagerly accepted.
Frazie had hidden her powers from him for years. She levitated in secret behind the caravan or trees. She tossed pine cones with telekinesis, disguising her throws as her real strength. Whenever she felt a flare-up burning in her gut, she'd pushed it down until the smoke smothered it out. Frazie had believed her father would have hated her, and what had happened to Raz after their father shredded his summer camp pamphlet had only proven her right.
He sighed. "Frazie, I spoke with Razputin earlier. He asked about you-"
She clenched her teeth and fists. "Oh, Pooter, you little troll. You said-"
"-out of concern for your well-being," Augustus finished, patting her back. "I promised him that I would let you come to me to discuss your gifts, but when I noticed you out here, well, I decided that we should talk." He paused, then removed his hand. "Only if you want to. You were in the middle of snooping on Dion."
He didn't have a sarcastic bone in his body. His earnest behavior would have been refreshing if she wasn't confused. An itch crossed her scalp, and she drummed her fingers against her head. It spread to her face, and she rubbed her jaw, unsure of what to say.
Augustus pursed his lips. He nodded at her, adding, "You don't have to talk to me if you're not ready. I'll give you your privacy."
"No, uh-" She swallowed. "-I can talk if you want."
"Frazie," Augustus said when she lowered her eyes, "it's okay. If you feel like I've sprung this on you, then I'm sorry for that. I know this is very sudden and new. It's much different from what you're expecting of me." He gazed at Dion, watching him gasp at something Gisu had said. "You're used to me telling stories about the cruelties of psychics. You're used to me telling you that psychics killed your grandfather and that psychics aren't welcomed in this home."
"And they're the root of all evil," Frazie piped up, observing Dion. He had once believed that with all his heart. Now, that notion seemed to ebb away the longer he spoke with Gisu.
Augustus made a clicking sound with his tongue. He rubbed his brow, shaking his head as if realizing the foolishness behind his words. He looked at Frazie, fiddling with the safety pin on his shirt. Taking a breath, he held it, then peered to Dion, who barked out another disbelieving shout that Gisu gleefully shot down.
"I thought I was doing what was right for our family. Now, I realize I was wrong, horribly wrong," he said, resting his arms on his knees. "By denying you and your brother the chance to explore your powers, I made you feel like you needed to hide from me. You were afraid of me, Frazie, afraid if I would blow up at you, too."
"Dad, no," Frazie automatically started, her denial coming out faster than she expected.
He smiled at her. "It's okay, my daughter. You don't have to defend your old man. Even if I had my memories twisted, I still had the responsibility to ensure that you felt safe in your home." He sighed, closing his eyes. "Instead, you found safety by hiding from me because of what I said and did. I'm sorry, Frazie."
Her tongue felt tied in several knots. Her father was a strong, independent parent who defended his family with righteous fury, not a vulnerable man who regretted his decisions. Whatever he did was for the good of the Aquatos.
But as she considered his words, she remembered the cool shade behind the caravan as she levitated. The fear that crawled up her back if she sensed her father's presence, plummeting to the ground and pretending to slack off whenever he found her, had her heart skipping a beat. Whenever Raz had wanted to practice telekinesis, starry-eyed and jubilant, she always recalled the warnings passed down by their father. She had scolded him just as Augustus would, drilling the fear into his skull until she thought it was sufficient when Raz ran from her. And whenever she wanted to unleash the flames, fueled by the in-fighting between her family members, she felt like she was roasting alive, her skin slick with sweat and burning to the touch.
It had been difficult, but she didn't blame him one bit. He wasn't wrong; he had been deceived his entire life. Augustus only wanted to protect them from a force that chased him out of his country and drove him to wander ever since he was a boy. And if he had known the truth, then their lives would have been different in a way Frazie couldn't have fathomed.
"Well, um, I guess your information was wrong if that's a good way to phrase it? With what you were told all your life by Nona and how it was passed down to us," Frazie offered, scratching her neck. "It wasn't really your fault. I mean, that old guy messed up your mind and made you think fortune tellers-"
"Psychics," he gently corrected.
"-right, sorry, psychics were after our lives and cursed us to drown," she finished, sighing. She felt that itch again, this time centering on her side. She raked her fingers against her skin and huffed. "Dad, it's still confusing. So much has changed in just a few days, and - and I dunno, you're the same but different now."
Augustus raised his arm, and Frazie shuffled into him. She placed her head on his broad shoulder, just as she did all her life when she was afraid of the dark or had a bad break-up. He cradled her, and Frazie slowly wreathed her arms around him as well, his warmth one of the few aspects about him that hadn't changed.
"Is it for the better?" he quietly asked.
"I guess so," she muttered, glancing at Dion.
Augustus embraced her tighter. "Then, I'll have to keep working to make 'I guess so' a real 'yes.'"
For now, as Dion and Gisu laughed, that was all Frazie needed to hear.