Ch. 4 – Slipping

Patch got up and walked to the door. Afraid to touch the knob again, he flicked his finger, and the knob turned. He grabbed the wood of the door, walked out, and then walked down the hall to his room.

He walked in, slammed the door, locked it with a wink, and then pointed at the fire place like it had just cursed at him. A fire roared to life almost immediately. Then, he set into work on Dani.

"What did you do to me Dantalion? What on Earth did you do?"

He could sense Dani's anger. Dani replied with a tone that had Patch quaking in his boots.

"I was just helping you, Master, doing something that you could never do. You are a one man show, and they are dead weight. You only need me."

"Those dead weights are my best friends, and if you continue to insult them, then I will have to start ignoring you Dani, even if it means being a weaker sorcerer," replied Patch.

"Yes, Master," Dani said with a sarcastic tone, which Patch reluctantly ignored.

Jamie looked at everyone else.

"Did that seem a little weird to you guys? I mean he like rushed out of here like…really quick."

"Yeah, you're right. I think it's just everything that's happened lately to him, to all of us," said Amber.

"While we are on the subject, have either of you been having bad dreams lately, about your families and that kind of stuff?" asked Jordan.

Jaime and Amber looked at each other.

"Yes," they both said sheepishly.

"Ok, at least I don't feel like an idiot anymore," said Jordan.

"Why should you feel like an idiot, Jordan? You lost you family, and so did we. I would be scared if we weren't having dreams and being sad," Jamie said in a matter-of-fact tone.

He nodded to show that he understood, and he got up. He walked on to the balcony, carrying the picture of his family with him. Jamie and Amber followed him out, and they realized that he was crying again.

"Oh no, Jordan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad, please don't cry," said Jamie.

"It wasn't you, Jamie. It's just that I can't help asking…why us? Why do we have to save the world? Why do we have to be this stupid quartet? Our lives were just pulled out from under us, and our families are gone! We didn't do anything! We helped those people in the fire, stood up for the nerds at school, kept our grades up, we respected other people, just to name a few of the things we've done! We were the freaking model teenagers that every parent wants. Come on! What did we do to deserve this?"

During his rant, he has screamed quite a few times, and he noticed Jamie and Amber staring at him.

"Well?" he asked.

"I…I…don't know what to say Jordan. I mean I agree with you, but I don't have an answer. I'm sorry. I really am." Amber finished her sentence, and walked back in the room. They heard the door close, and later heard a faint slam. They both assumed Amber was in her room, doing the exact same questioning as Jordan.

"I'm sorry to Jordan." Jamie walked over, gave him a big hug. She too walked out of the room, and went to her room.

Jamie sat in her room. It had same bed as Patch's room, with the wrap around stair. It also had a desk, and a night stand. It had the same balcony door and fire place, which she lit, but unlike Patch's fire, Jamie's was blue. She realized, after later re-reading the Legend, she had to be the Supreme, the controller of water. She had always loved the water, and had always been a swimmer. She figured she should live up to her title, so she used water where ever she could.

She sat down at her vanity, and started brushing her hair. After about a minute, she slammed the brushed down and broke into tears. She missed her mom so much. Her father had died when she was little, and she had been an only child. Her mom had been her best friend, and she felt like a piece of her was gone, like it had just slipped away along with the mom.

She looked into the mirror, but something was wrong. Then it hit her, there was no reflection in the mirror. It was like liquid or something. She reached out to touch it, and it was…water. Then her reflection was back, but something, again, was wrong. Her reflection had red eyes, and it was smiling, but she wasn't.

"Hello, Jamie."

Jamie just stared.

"Don't be afraid, Jamie. I'm a friend of your mother. She's still alive you know."

Jamie shook her head. "No, she isn't. My mother is dead."

"No, sweet child, she is very much alive. She's right here." The mirror twisted and turned, and there was her mom.

"Mom? Is that really you?" Jamie just stared.

"Yes darling, I'm here. Please don't cry."

"But... but how mom?" Jamie asked.

"Don't worry about it, hunny. Just know that I'm here. I'm here in the mirror whenever you need me."

Jamie noticed that her mom had the same red eyes, but thought nothing of it.

"Hunny, I need to go, but remember, I am always here if you need me. I love you Jamie."

The mirror shimmed, and then she was gone.

"You can have her back," said Jamie's reflection, "all you have to do is trust me."

"I'll do anything to have my mother back, please, just tell me how."

"Touch the mirror, my child, and you'll have all the power to bring her back."

Jamie reached her hand towards the mirror. The water felt cool against her skin, and it made her remember when she first started swimming. She felt normal again, like everything could be okay. Then, some touched her hand, and it hurt. She couldn't move her hand, and the "thing" was pushing on her hand. It felt like it was going into her hand. She tried to scream but she couldn't. She tried crying for help, but again, nothing came out.

Finally it was over. Her hand hurt really bad, but nothing looked different on it, No cuts, no bruises, no…nothing. What had happened?

She got up, and wiped her head. Then she looked at the fire place. It suddenly roared to life, even more then it had been in the first place. She ran over to it to extinguish it, but strangely it went out, almost immediately after she had thought about it.

"That's new," she thought. "I've never been able to do that before."

Then she looked at her walls. They seemed…dull. She blinked, and they were instantly her favorite color, blue. The entire room was different, and she liked it.

She remembered her reflection's promise. She could bring her mom back now. She closed her eyes, and then thought about her mom. When she opened her eyes, there was her mom. She ran over to her, and gave her a hug, but instead of holding her mom, she went right though her, and hit the ground. It hurt, too.

She was soaked. She has brought a puddle to life, not her mom. She was torn to pieces. She flicked her wrist at the imitation, and it flew right off the balcony. She ran into her bathroom, and cried while she took a long hot shower.

Jamie made number two for Dantalion. Two down, two to go. The Quartet was slowly being infected, and soon, no one would be able to cure them. They were slowly slipping apart, and shortly, they were going to pay the ultimate sacrifice for it, and nothing could stop it.