Chapter 4

Dinner went by in a haze of uncomfortable silence and gently clinking cutlery, before Steven swallowed the last of his dessert and excused himself. He started up the stairs, perspiration once again breaking over his forehead as he felt Jessica's eyes bore into his back. Jessica, though a very nice person overall, was just a trifle too impulsive and curious for her own good. He just hoped her curiosity wasn't enough to propel her into investigating the strange voices in his bedroom.

As he approached his room, he didn't open the door immediately; instead, he leaned against the cool wall next to the door and closed his eyes, trying to get his thoughts straight. Just until this afternoon, he'd been what one could call a typical, normal high school kid, with absolutely no worries ranging beyond school assignments, basketball championships and fights with his girlfriend. Now, though… now, he had found out he had a different mother, who had been the professed saviour of a nearly-annihilated magic-practising race of people, only to die of pneumonia, leaving him to be the only hope and survivor of the race, with enemies who could be anyone around him and an enigmatic 'advisor' of a species of creatures Steven had never fathomed of in his wildest dreams, leave alone heard of. Whew!

With a sigh, he opened the door and went into the room. He glanced at the open book.

"Okay, Kal," he said dully, "You can come out now."

The light appeared once again, and Kal was soon standing in front of Steven, in an expectant stance. Steven sat down on his bed and rubbed his forehead tiredly. Now that the excitement of finding Kal and his true origins had faded, increasing confusion had begun to sink in. What the hell am I supposed to do?

"I see you are slightly bewildered after tonight's events," Kal said. When Steven didn't answer, Kal continued, "It is understandable, considering the rapidity at which you have been receiving startling information."

Steven lifted his head and stared at Kal, chin resting on laced fingers. "What are you?"

Kal tilted his head. "You imply by that question…?"

"I mean, I've never seen anything like you on Earth before. I don't think anyone, except the Magic Clan have even heard of firsks. And you can speak English perfectly."

Yellow teeth flashed as Kal shot Steven a rueful grin. "I am the only surviving member of firsks, now, I'm afraid. About how we firsks came into being, that's a story for later."

A cold gust of wind entered the room. Steven got up and closed the window. "Okay, Kal," Steven said, "What am I supposed to do now? I mean, how do I defeat the Raydevils, whoever they are?"

Kal grinned again. "First things first, Steven. We'll start by bringing out your powers before starting to worry about that."

Steven turned slowly, glacially, almost apprehensively.

"You want to start now, yes?" Kal guessed.

Steven didn't say anything. He just sat down on his bed and looked at Kal expectantly.

"All right then," Kal said, settling himself on the floor, "It's pretty simple, really, for a person with the Potential. Close your eyes and meditate."

Predictable, Steven thought sourly, but followed Kal's instructions. After a few minutes, Steven gave out a sigh and opened one eye. "This isn't going anywhere."

"Of course it wouldn't go anywhere," Kal replied. Steven opened both eyes.

"What?"

Kal stared back at him, an unfathomable expression in his eyes. "You aren't concentrating. You are so focused on physical changes, that you aren't aware of the mental processes." The firsk blinked his eyes, slowly, and then continued, "Try again; this time, forget the outside world, forget that anything is going to happen; just reach within yourself."

Steven raised an eyebrow, but did as Kal said once again. He steadied his breathing to a soft, rhythmic inhalation and exhalation. Everything went so quiet he could hear his own heart beat. In fact, so quiet that he could hear the trees growing outside; the gentle splash of each raindrop on the green blades of grass, the ruffle of feathers as a bird settled down to sleep through a rainy night, the faint scratching of carbon against paper as Elizabeth worked in the opposite room, the chatter of millions of insects, the raspy breathing of Kal…

As he revelled in the plethora of sounds he could now perceive, he felt increasing warmth in his hands, which were folded on his lap. It increased to the point where he felt his hands were on fire. With a small yelp, he opened his eyes. What he saw caused his jaw to drop down what seemed like a couple of metres.

Blue flame surrounded his hands.

Kal stared at him in awe, brown eyes wide, and golden pupils dilated. "You have found it so quickly… you are indeed the son of Lady Alisa."

Steven shuddered; the flame flickered and died. "Wha- what was that?" he gasped, breathing heavily.

"That is the magic you can generate from your union with the elements."

Steven stared at his hands. "But what does it do?"

"More than you can imagine." Kal gazed at him earnestly. "You see, with a lot more refinement, you can actually control the elements. Now that you have discovered your first taste, there's no stopping you, son of the great family of McClaire, to complete your journey- except the Raydevils."

Kal's expression grew more serious. "You must be careful, Steven. Anybody around you could be a Raydevil, or a descendant of a Raydevils, whose powers have gone into dormancy. Now that your magic has been awakened, you have to be very careful. I will be there to help you, of course; but there's only so much I can do."

Steven's gaze shifted between his hands and Kal in astonished succession; his brain struggled to keep up with it all. A scabby hand touched his. It was Kal.

"Do not worry. I have no doubt that the Clan would triumph, yet again."

Yet again? Steven got to his feet; it was then that he realised how exhausted he was: his knees seemed rubbery and his head felt like three tons of bricks had been dropped on it. The bed beckoned invitingly- there would be no time to do homework; besides, he was sure in no mood to do anything other than sleep. He deserved that, didn't he, after what he'd been put through that day?

Without bothering to change, Steven fell back on to the covers, eyes closed even before his head hit the pillow. Kal smiled at him affectionately and pulled the covers over Steven's body.

"Indeed Lady Alisa's son."

With that, the firsk once more retired into the book.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Not tonight, Tanya; tomorrow's the test, you know that."

Steven leaned against the locker, gazing plaintively at his girlfriend. School had just ended, and though he wasn't eager to study or even go home at all, he was even less inclined to go on a date that night.

Tanya looked puzzled. "Test? There's no test tomorrow."

Steven bit back a groan. "Um, I've got to- take- er- a retest, yeah, a retest in -er- Chemistry."

Tanya smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. "You can't lie to me, Steven Wakefield. You and retests just don't… connect."

Steven didn't know whether to be flattered or exasperated. He settled for rolling his eyes and turning to open his locker.

Tanya's smirk melted into a frown. "Well, I'm not going to stand here begging you, or anything. I've got much better things to do too, you know."

Uh oh. Steven turned back. "Tanya, beautiful, I—"

"Don't beautiful me," Tanya snapped. "Nowadays you hardly seem to have time for me; it's always either basketball, or studying, or-"

Steven couldn't take it anymore. "Shut up," he said. When met with an incredulous stare, he repeated, "Shut up; you're way too nagging, you know that?"

Fire flared in Tanya's vivid green eyes. "Nagging, am I? Well, Steven, I'm sure you'll be glad to know that it's now over between us." With that, she turned around and strode down the corridor, soon out of sight.

"Tanya," Steven started weakly, but was just too tired to try to make up with her. He made a mental note to take her out soon and try to sort things out. Normally, Steven and Tanya wouldn't have that many fights; even if they did, it wouldn't last for long. For Tanya to actually break up with him was unnatural, and already Steven could feel the aching loss of her companionship.

Unnatural. Funny, that in just a day that word had taken on a whole lot of a new meaning for him.

As Steven turned back to his locker, he once again, for possibly the millionth time that day, thought about the happenings of the previous evening. Even now, he could feel his new-found magic tingling his nerves, the excitement and sheer power coursing his veins; a part of him almost felt eager to resume his 'training'.

Almost.

Slowly he closed his locker and slung his backpack over one shoulder. Another part of him, the more sensitive part, was still trying to make sense of it all; the discovery of a lie that he'd been living throughout his life weighed down on his chest like a ton of bricks.

He stepped out of the school; the salty breeze greeted him, ruffling his hair. The sun shone down as brightly as usual, despite it being early evening and the chatter of the students leaving for home filled his ears.

"Steven!" He turned to see Joe approaching him, a rather amused smile on his face.

"I see you have finally proved yourself and Tanya to be human!" Joe declared heartily. Steven frowned quizzically. "What do you mean?"

Joe grinned. "I heard the whole thing, man. It's about time you and Tanya had a fight."

Steven smiled and shook his head. Joe had always been envious that he and Tanya hardly fought, while Joe and his girlfriend, Isabella McArthur, fought and patched up practically every other day.

"Speaking of girlfriends," Joe said, glancing at his watch, "I promised I'd meet Isabella after school; I'm already late." He smiled and clapped Steven on the back. "I'll be seeing you around."

Once Joe had gone out of sight, Steven walked on. But his legs didn't take him home. He turned instead toward the beach, where he would usually go, whenever something was troubling him, or when he really needed to think.

Like now.

Once he had neared the shore of the nearly empty beach, he dropped his backpack onto the sand, kicked off his shoes, and sat down, allowing the salty water to lap at his bare feet. Once again, he let his mind relax, wander, reach the wonderful exalted state he had experienced the previous evening.

As he revelled in the sounds of the teems of life that the vast ocean held, he experienced something else: the enormous power, the potential of power locked up within the ocean. He also remembered something Kal had told him:

"With a lot more refinement, you can actually control the elements"…

Control, Steven mused. Sounds interesting. He opened his eyes and got to his feet, shaking the sand off his jeans legs. The sound of the ocean resonant in his mind, he held out his arm, palm facing the vast expanse of water. The blue flame surrounded his hand once again. Willing himself not to freak out again, he concentrated harder, and the intensity of the blue flame maintained a direct relationship with the level of his concentration.

Eyes closed, Steven heard the sound of the waves getting louder and louder, and the salty spray seemed to be hitting him harder than usual…

He opened his eyes, and gasped.

An enormous wave, controlled by the power concentrated in his hand, towered menacingly above the horizon.