Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
The sea was deadly, deceptive, and soothing at the same time. Those traits always fascinated me. I wanted to be close to the water since I was little. At first, I was scared it would pull me under and never release me again, but then, I grew more courageous and challenging. Sometimes, I wished that the sea would try to drown me again, just so that I could free myself and prove to the world that I was invincible. That I was a winner. At the same time, I was aware that I was way more scared to drown. It took dad a while until he convinced me to go swimming again after the accident. Now, I dared to swim in the deeper spots of the sea again, but some part of me still feared the memories, what it felt like to almost drown and not be able to breathe. It was only a matter of time until those fears would get the best of me.
Since I had left the house of the Jones in a hurry, one hour had passed. Driving had always reassured me. According to dad, he and mum took turns in driving me around when I have been crying a lot as a baby. In the meanwhile, the storm had stopped. It didn't rain anymore, but the sky was still cloudy. I was sitting on the bonnet of my car, the music that was blaring from my headphones was drowning out the splashes of the waves. Only my buzzing phone pulled me out of my daydreaming. It was not the first time my phone had disturbed me since I went to the beach and I was surprised that my battery didn't die yet, after all, the sun would set soon. I sighed and grabbed said device.
Eleanor hadn't called or texted me yet, but I wasn't surprised. She knew me better than anyone else and wanted to give me time to process the new information, other than dad. Since we had that discussion at the pub, he had sent me more than ten texts and tried to call me more than just once. I gritted my teeth. If merely the argument about my nightly hunts stood between us, I would have answered him long ago. But he lied to me. He didn't tell me who I was in reality and where I was from. What I was capable of doing. And I had no idea how to handle that.
The latest text wasn't from dad, though. It was from Blaine. Oh, damn. I totally forgot that we were supposed to drive back to Quiraing to put down the elementals from yesterday. Before I could text him back, my phone was buzzing again. Of course, it was him again.
Blaine: where are you?
I typed in an answer, put back the phone, and stared into the sea. Soon, that beach would be crowded because of the tourists that came here every summer, but now, I was all alone. I deeply inhaled the salty air and exhaled it slowly. There were no raindrops and no snowflakes. That was a good sign, right? It just needed to be. Just like that fact that I still didn't turn into one of those monsters I hunted down at night. I bit my lower lip. At the same time, a strong wave hit the rock in front of me, its spray almost sprinkled my car. Oh yes. Everything had calmed down. I scoffed. As if! Sebastian had claimed that I belonged to a clan. But whatever that was supposed to mean – if he had told the truth- I didn't want all that. I didn't want mysterious powers. I didn't want to control the sea, the rain, or any darned liquid close to me! Most of all, I didn't want to turn into one of those creatures I hunted down and killed all my life. The monsters that just murdered my mother. How could dad not tell me about that?
Three repeats of Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory later, I heard how someone braked next to me, I put off my headphones without turning around. The engine died down, a car door opened and was slammed shut. Someone walked over to me. And now, Blaine sat down next to me on the bonnet. He must have been close or else, he wouldn't have been here so fast.
"People are talking…", he said after a while.
"About what?"
"About the unusual change in weather this afternoon. It even snowed."
My stomach started twisting violently with guilt, but I tried everything in my power to look indifferent. No movement until Blaine turned to me.
"Did you know?" His brown eyes looked at me scrutinizingly. I might have imagined it, but he kind of looked…distrustful?
I hesitated. If there was anyone I could talk to about what happened today, it was him. He knew about elementals and their powers. He fought them. But that was the problem. Blaine was a hunter. How would he react if I told him that I had supernatural powers myself and could manipulate water? Would he be shocked? Understanding? Or would he try to stab me? I would do exactly that if I was him. I would hold my dagger against his throat and demand answers. Whether I would be able to end his life? What if he was? I didn't know. Dad always said that I was defied death, and he was right, in a way. But I wasn't completely stupid.
"No", I decided to answer and hated myself for my weak voice. Before he could look through my lie, I stared to the sea. "I didn't."
I didn't know of the phenomenon – I was involved in it. And I was its source, according to Sebastian and Eleanor.
"Really?" This time, the skepticism in his voice was hard to miss. "But you are always so well informed."
I shrugged, trying to stay cool. "This time, you knew more than me."
He snorted quietly. Even though everything within me wanted it, I didn't dare to look at him. I knew that one glance was enough for him to tell that I was lying. Blaine and I didn't know each other that long, but whenever we went hunting together, we trusted each other blindly. I couldn't just lie to him. Not after we saved each other's lives countless times. Not after we sat on my car all those nights until dawn while we waited for elementals to emerge. Not after I fell asleep next to him once and he woke me up in time so that I could make it home in time before dad and Carole noticed I was gone.
If he learned what happened to me…Nope. Just no. I couldn't allow that.
Blaine put his face in his hands and took a deep breath. But he didn't dig deeper. "And what's the plan? Do you want to keep staring at the sea instead of hunting elementals?"
I scoffed. "I don't know what I want to do." To be honest, I had no idea what to do now. I didn't even know anymore who I was. Or what I was, for that matter. "But staring into the sea doesn't sound appealing anymore."
Now, he was looking at me intensely. "What else do you want?" His voice was quieter now. Deeper.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I jumped off the bonnet. "Let's go for a swim?"
Blaine just stared at me. "You want to swim? Now?"
I just wanted to forget.
"What?", I mocked him and turned to him. "Are you scared of the water? Or don't you like the cold?"
While I was talking, I put off my shoes and kicked them away. My cardigan, shirt, and trousers were next. Blaine watched me curiously, even though the twitching corners of his mouth showed me he liked what he saw. Was this a bad idea? Maybe, but I couldn't care less. I deserved a break after that disastrous afternoon. One, two hours where I didn't need to think and just pretend nothing life changing had happened to me. As if my life didn't just turn into a chaos I couldn't control.
Blaine shook his head slowly. "I'm not scared." He landed next to me on the sand. "Just for the record: You didn't want it the other way."
With that, he pulled off his shirt and threw it next to the bonnet. A long scar was visible on his torso, but that wasn't the only body part that was scarred. Next were his shoes, and then his jeans. I bit my lower lip while I watched him undress. We had already seen each other in swimming trunks, but this time, it was different. It felt…intimate.
He requited my glance while he pulled down his jeans. There was still this cold wind, but I hardly noticed it. I felt hot for some reason. Hot enough to crave the refreshment in the sea. Or maybe something different? Whatever it was, I could read it in his eyes too.
"You like what you see?" He sounded amused, but I could tell that he also wanted to provoke me.
"Almost." Challenging, I cocked an eyebrow. "You could spin around once so that I can see all of you."
He laughed shortly – and did me the favor. It was obvious that he worked out – and that he fought monsters at night. The wound on his neck was still sore, but at least, it had stopped bleeding after I had tended to it not even twenty-four hours ago. The tattoos on the back of his neck caught my glance. I was tempted to touch them all, one by one, but when Blaine turned around again, he looked at me in an amused way. I wish I could say that the tension between us got less, but when he looked me up and down, it got stronger. It was prickling on my skin, not even the cold water would cool it down when we finally went in. The waves gave me goosebumps, but at least, I got distracted. Just like Blaine.
When the water went to my thighs, I took a deep breath and jumped in entirely. The water submerged me, reminding me of what had happened ten years ago, but I didn't allow that the panic controlled me. I gasped for air after I swam to the surface. For a while, I stayed afloat at the same spot. The water was deep enough for me to make my heart beat faster whenever a new wave hit me.
"I thought you wanted to swim." Blaine had resurfaced next to me. Other than me, he had already been farther out, where the water was darker and not shallow. I suppressed a shiver and stuck out my chin instead. "I am swimming."
"I can see that." I cleared my throat when I felt how the tension returned. "What's the matter with those tattoos?"
Blaine turned to me quizzically. "Why are you asking?" I got the feeling that he wanted to ask why I asked him about them now.
I shrugged. "I just wondered."
In reality, I wondered for a long time what does signs meant. Maybe he was just into geometrical signs, even though those signs' order was weird. The tattoo started with a circle, an upward triangle was right underneath it. The last sign was a triangle divided by a horizontal line crossing through it, but its vertex pointed downwards. This time, I was courageous enough to touch the last triangle. He got goosebumps on that spot; I held my breath while I traced the sign with my fingers. I had no idea what all these signs were supposed to mean. And Blaine didn't look like he wanted to explain them to me.
Slowly, he turned to me and was so close I could make out the different nuances of his brown eyes. They were not that bright, but not that dark either. A frown appeared on his face while he looked at me.
"Something about you is different today…"
My heart was racing, but I forced myself to smile at him. "Maybe because I'm half naked?"
"Believe me, that's hard to unsee." The corners of his mouth twitched. "And just as interesting as hunting elementals."
"Oh, really?" I did everything in my power to not grin goofily. "Wow! Says the same bloke that's not that easy to impress."
He cocked his head to the side. "Really? How do you know?"
"Because it's true." I held my breath when the next wave hit us. "Whenever we get surprise-exams?" I pointed at him. "Unimpressed. Whenever you get hit on by the most popular boy in school? Unimpressed. And whenever a fire elemental shows up in front of you? Unimpressed."
His smile faltered, but his intense glance stayed. "You are quite observant…"
"...to someone that is as self-absorbed as you?", I ended his sentence with a cocked brow. "Go ahead. Say it!"
He shook his head. "That's not at all what I wanted to say."
I leaned forward. "Liar", I mouthed.
Blaine still got it; the corners of his mouth twitched again. But when I wanted to lean back again, he held my wrists. My heard skipped a beat while his fingers glid along my arm. The touch felt just like an electric shock. The hairs on my neck stood on end, but I didn't back away, didn't try to free myself. I was so close to him I could see all the drops on his skin. He had brushed his wet hair out of his face, but water was still running down his temple and neck. When I wanted to brush the waterdrop away, he grabbed my hand before I could touch him. His eyes widened. I exhaled shakily. The heat within me didn't allow me to get cold again. Softly, he pulled me closer until our chests almost touched. I laid my hands around his waist while his hands touched my neck. Feeling his fingers on my body gave me goosebumps again. Something changed in his eyes, got darker, but also hesitating. Questioning. I gulped. Until Blaine showed up here, I was positive that this day couldn't get crazier. But I was wrong.
That was crazy, without a doubt.
I wanted to kiss him, forget everything around me, but most of all, I wanted to feel how his lips felt on mine, feel his skin under my hands and his hair between my fingers. All my senses focused on him. Too bad that was the reason I noticed the quake way too late. A giant wave hit us and tore us apart. I reopened my eyes, but I couldn't see anything. Instead, I swallowed a handful of water and needed to cough. For seconds, I was the little boy that almost drowned like his mother, but also the young man that was about to kiss his best friend. The past and the present didn't matter any longer, they became one.
Panic threated to pull me under. I kicked with my legs and tried everything to get back to the surface. When I did, I inhaled deeply and tried dragging myself to the shore, coughing. But the sea was relentless. It tried pulling my back into its depths. I threw myself into the sand and tried grabbing something for halt. In vain.
When I looked up, I forgot for one instant to fight the waves. Two elementals were at the beach. One seemed to consist of branches, tendrils, and leaves, the other one of rock, sand, and sticks. I knew both of them, I had seen them the night before. Why the hell were they here and no longer in Quiraing where we had left them behind last time? Before I could think of an answer, the second creature's tendril surged forward and right to my right wrist. I lost my balance and fell to the sand. I had no time to check whether Blaine was alright. Instead, I gathered my physical strength and tried walking to the rocks that were a few feet from where I was. The stone was slippery under my feet, but I could still use it for a leap. The sudden force let the tendril break apart and fall off my arm before it turned to dust.
Breathing heavily, I lifted my head and looked around. My throat was still burning because of the saltwater I had swallowed. My muscles felt sore, and my eyes were burning. Blaine was a couple of steps away from me and blocked the attacks of the second elemental. In vain. Those creatures were too strong, too powerful to defeat them without weapons or preparation. I scanned the surrounding for my car. The metal chain was still in my schoolbag, but when I wanted to get moving to get it, tendrils came closer to me. I threw myself onto he ground, ignoring the burning of my irritated skin, and tried taking cover behind the rock. The plant missed me by a hair. Dammit.
There was nothing out here we could use for protection, the sea was way too dangerous. Besides, the elementals would just wait for us on the beach until we drowned in the water or came out. I bit my lower lip when it started raining. Without mercy, the drops started drenching us all while the waves behind us splashed the rocks angrily. The elementals halted for a second as if they could sense the change, but that was not possible. They were violent monsters, after all. Instinct driven. With no minds of their own. No emotions. No remorse.
The tendrils tried to grope me again. I needed to get to my car. Carefully, I rolled over to the next rock and hid. Blaine surely had more weapons than me, but his car was further away. I just needed to make it to my car. That was our only chance.
Just when I wanted to stand up, the ground under us was trembling. I lost my balance and needed to grab the rock to stay on my feet. Pain was jolting through my body. Blaine tripped as well but managed not to fall. Just at that moment, a third creature dissolved from the rock wall next to him. It inhaled sand, small rocks, and twigs until it looked almost humanoid.
"Blaine!"
My voice echoed across the beach – and all of a sudden, I felt how the sea reacted. How it mirrored my anger and my fear. A giant tidal wave that came out of nowhere threatened to flush us all away: The elemental creatures, but also me and Blaine.
I jumped up and broke into a run.
I could hear the blood rush in my ears. Everything happened in a blur and in slow motion at the same time. Too fast. I was only two steps away from him when the wave hit me and pulled me in. Hectically, I flailed, fought the power of the sea I had summoned myself, but in vain. The water pulled me into its depths without mercy. Was it supposed to end like that? Before I got the chance to avenge the death of my mother? Before I could find out who I was?
No way.
I forced the panic away and started swimming. Faster, faster, until I resurfaced and gasped for air. Without orientation, I looked around. I wasn't that far from the beach. Only two out of three elementals were visible: the rock monster and the sandmonster. Blaine just got up, coughing, and drenched after the waves had washed him ashore. The creatures were confused as well, but that sentiment quickly passed. I opened my mouth to shout something to Blaine, but he already went towards the creatures. His posture changed, his steps became more determined, the drops disappeared from his skin, and the sand under his feet changed its color. First, the grains were black, but then grey, as if they had been drained of their color. I inhaled deeply and tried swimming to the shore again, but the sea was still rampant and making it impossible for me to move. My heart raced, my limbs started hurting, but giving up was no option. At the same moment, Blaine reached the monster. It hauled off – but instead of dodging the attack, Blaine caught it with his hands. The creature froze. It opened its mouth, but there was no cry. Without warning, it fell into thousands of pieces and dissolved. Lighting flashed across the sky, so close I could almost hear its crackling. My instincst told me to swim to the shore before I would turn into grilled meat.
There was no thunder. Apart from my own wheezing and the waves, it was way too silent. The last elemental attacked Blaine. He stretched out his arm. As if he was in command of the lighting, it struck him, electrical sparks danced on his skin until they were on the palm of his hands. The electrical crackling was so loud it hurt my ears.
When I waded out of the water, Blaine threw the thunderbolt at the creature. Stunned, I watched him. The electricity tore the creature apart until it turned to dust. The ground looked as if lightning had struck not long ago. The waves only went to my ankles now, my naked feet sank deeper into the wet sand. Still, I couldn't move. My heart was racing again. Slowly, Blaine turned to me with an unreadable face expression. Normally, I could read his emotions like an open book because we knew each other well enough to understand each other with no words. But now, I had no idea what he was thinking.
Or what I was thinking, for that matter.
What just happened? Did he really just put down two elementals? With nothing but his bare hands and with…lightning? What did Eleanor say again? Five clans. Five elements. Fire, earth, air, water…and energy, right?
Energy.
We stared at each other as if we would see each other for the first time. Slowly, I shook my head. But how was I supposed to not believe what I just witnessed with my own eyes? How was I supposed to fight that new reality if I kept experiencing things that should be impossible? If everyone around me seemed to know things I didn't?
"You…" I licked my desert-dry lips. "You are part of a clan…" Those words were hard to say out loud with my hoarse voice.
Blaine narrowed his eyes at me. His face expression was devoid of emotions when he said the exact words I didn't want to accept: "So are you."
