Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
So are you.
Those words haunted me and reminded me of the things Mrs Jones, Sebastian, and Eleanor had told me. About elementals, clans, elements, and the lies they had told me all my life. And of all people, the boy that had let me forget everything around me for one astounding second pulled me back to my icecold reality. While I was still too shocked to react, Blaine turned around and started walking back to his car. Only when he put on his shirt, I was able to move again. I followed him, when I was standing next to him, he was about to put on his trousers.
"Why didn't you tell me?", I blurted out and grabbed my own clothes that were on the bonnet of my car.
"Tell you what?" Blaine looked at me coldly.
"That!" I pointed at the blackish traces on the sand and on the spot where lightning had struck. It still smelled of smoke.
I shook my head, tried focusing on him again, but it was so hard. Because it hurt so much. For some reason, it hurt so much more to know that Blaine had fooled me. More than Eleanor who hadn't known of my nightly trips. More than dad who may have trained me, but had never been out there with me. It wasn't him who fought by my side, again and again. Even though Blaine and I had gotten in each other's ways at the beginning, we were a dynamic team now. Well, that's what I thought until today.
"There is nothing to tell", he answered icily and got up when he had laced his shoes. "Besides, you didn't tell me either. At least, I don't use a fake last name to fool everyone around me. I stand by my identity. By my family."
What? Until a couple of hours ago, I didn't even know about all of that, that not only elementals had powers, but also humans. Entire clans. But if we humans were able to have powers like those…what did that say about us? What was the difference between us and those murdering monsters?
"I didn't know!", I hissed, surprised and horror stricken about the breathlessness of my voice.
Blaine noticed too because he hesitated, debated with himself, but his anger won. "Do you really think I buy that? Hell, you hunted elementals with me! You knew of their powers and what they could do!"
"That doesn't mean I knew of clans or that I have powers myself!", I yelled. "Did you really think that I belong to one of those darned clans?"
"No", Blaine admitted "I didn't think that you belonged to the clan that has a blood feud with my family for centuries. I thought you were just…just…" He trailed off, searched for words – and gave it up. Shaking his head, he turned away. "Forget it. What I thought doesn't matter."
"Why not?" I got into his way before he could get into his own car. My heart was racing just as fast as at the attack not even ten minutes ago. Maybe faster. "Why doesn't it matter?"
"Because it's not important."
"But maybe it's important to me!"
Big raindrops started raining down on us as I said those words. Lightning flashed across the sky and lit up Blaine's angry and remorseful face. But those emotions didn't make me feel sick; it was the disappointment in his eyes.
"It's not." His voice was sharp and icecold. "Believe me, it's not." With these words, he left.
I heard him get into his car, slam his door, and turn on the engine, but I couldn't turn to him, I just couldn't. Instead, I stared into the horizon in front of me until my eyes started burning and I needed to blink.
I was alone now. Blaine was gone.
For the first time, I didn't feel so invincible. I always felt indestructible, looked for danger, and fought elementals – which was a death wish, I know. Maybe, I hadn't been aware of that, maybe I never had something to lose. But now, it was different. While I looked at the traces of the tires on the sand, I realised that I had indeed something to lose. Or rather someone. My nightly companion, fighting partner, schoolmate, and…friend. But why did the thought of losing him panic me even though he never really belonged to me?
…
Thick raindrops were hammering against my pane and drowned out the piano music from my phone while I let the hot water in my bathtub embrace me. Since the latest change in weather on the beach, it had stopped raining, I wondered whether I was its cause or whether it was a natural phenomenon. Not that rain was a rarity in Scotland. After our swim, I had arrived at home, all wet and went straight to the bathtub. Again, it paid off to have to working parents because Carole was still at the pub and dad at his business trip. I still ignored his texts he had sent me. I just texted him shortly so that he didn't worry unnecessarily, but I couldn't talk to him yet. Not now. Not after what happened.
Did he forbid me to hunt elementals because he knew what would happen? Which powers I would develop? I narrowed my eyes and focused on the water in the tub, but nothing happened. No wild waves, no sudden rain in the bathroom. Not even a blub.
Maybe I just imagined those powers? But then, the words of Eleanor and her mum came to my mind again, as well as the reactions of Blaine and Sebastian. It seemed to be a big deal to have water abilities, but to be honest, I could pass on them. I had a great life without those, or without some clan that was supposed to be my family. Family…I scoffed. I already had a family. I had dad and Carole and Finn and Eleanor; I didn't need a second family. A family that didn't want me, at that.
Sighing, I sank deeper into the water until the bathwater was tickling my nose. It was silent in our house. Apart from the quiet raindrops hammering against the windows, the quiet music, and the dropping faucet.
There was almost no traffic, no other people, and when I listened closely, I could make out bleats of sheep here and there. Hopefully, those poor animals were not drenched from the rain and returned to their barns. Even though I loved listening to the rain, I hated standing outside whenever it got wet. What had happened a lot of times lately, for my taste.
I absentmindedly traced patterns of the water and let my mind wander. What if Eleanor was right and I really had powers? What if I learned to control them like Blaine and Sebastian? I froze and stared down my fingers. My skin was all wrinkly from the hot water and because I sat in the bathtub for two hours now. I flexed my fingers, just for fun.
Nothing.
Hm.
I tried different hand movements, but they did nothing. Sighing, I leaned back again. With powers like these, I could fight elementals more easily. It was weird to encounter many of those at the same time in Quiraing – but today at the beach? The exact same creatures? One coincidence was fine, but two? Could it be that they teamed up? That they worked together? But that meant that they had some kind of intellect, and until now, I was convinced they had no minds whatsoever. Maybe, they were hunting down something, or someone.
When I thought about how Blaine had defeated those two elementals, I got goosebumps on my arms. No, I needed to correct myself. He didn't just defeat them, he annihilated them. First with his bare hands, as if he drained their life energies, then with lightning that became one with him.
I shuddered. Were those monsters after him? Or was I their target? But other than Blaine, I didn't have those powers last night. The water around me had started going crazy when Sebastian showed up here after school.
Sebastian…He may look different from ten years ago, but I would have recognized those eyes anywhere. As if he was still torn between his duties and his morals. But maybe I was misinterpreting things again. I knew that those psychology courses were a bad idea, one of the few college courses I had made because dad told me to. According to him, I should find out what I wanted to do after school, even though I already knew it. I wanted to hunt elementals, extinguish them until I found the ones that had killed mum. Even if it would take my entire life to find them. It didn't matter. I needed to put down the monsters that took my mum.
A seething distracted me. My eyes widened when I stared at the small whirl that just came out of nowhere on the other end of the bathtub. It turned faster and faster until even the bathtub was trembling.
"Wow…", I breathed. A small smile was curling on my lips. The whirl under my hand got faster and faster, … and bigger. So big I got the feeling it would suck me in any moment. I jerked back my hand and something white spread on the surface that froze. Ice. Oh god, I just made ice! And it got more with every second that passed. I flinched anxiously, jumped up – and slipped. The hot and cold water submerged me while the ice continued spreading. The panic threatened to pull me down, paralyze me, but I grabbed the edges of the bathtub and dragged myself out of the water. Gasping for air, I breathed heavily. My heart was hammering against my chest. I stared at the ice that swam beneath my feet and started melting. And on the fading red in the water. Blood. My left knee was aching. I must have cut it on the ice during that involuntary dive.
In the meantime, the water got considerably colder and the relaxed feeling I had was gone. Freezing, I got out of the tub, took the towel, and wrapped myself in it without looking away from the water. What the hell just happened? What was happening to me? The water was not moving any longer, it didn't look as if there had been a supernatural phenomenon just a few seconds ago. Or as if I didn't almost drown in my own bathtub.
My hands were shaking when I clutched the towel tighter and took my clothes. Whether I liked it or not, I needed to find out what all this was about. I needed answers.
