Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
The storm had died down when I parked the car at the driveway of our house and turned off the engine, but I had no idea how much time I had left until it would rain again. Or snow. Or rain icicles. I rubbed my temples with my cold fingers. My head hurt a little and I was looking forward to the Tylenol and the hot cup of tea at home.
The light was still on in the house. I bit my lower lip but forced myself to get out of the car anyway. Besides, I needed to apologise to Carole that I freaked out, or that I almost waterlogged our home.
The warmth was embracing me when I entered the house and closed the door behind me. There was quiet music, as well as the scent of tea, coffee, scones, and a little bit of whiskey in the air. Heavy footsteps came closer, and my dad appeared on the hallway. He was frowning, his eyes were looking at me worriedly. "There you are, kiddo!", he shouted and pulled me closer for a hug.
For a couple of seconds, I enjoyed the warm greeting, but then, dad pulled me an arm's length away to scrutinize me. "You're wet. What happened?"
"You are here…", I stated with surprise even though I had hoped he would return for me, despite his business trip.
"Mrs Jones called me and told me everything. I drove back immediately." He gently pushed me to the stairs. "Dress up and warm up first, and then we can talk."
I nodded gratefully and went up the stairs. Weirdly enough, I didn't feel cold earlier that day, but now my hands were shaking when I pulled off my boots. My clothes were completely useless now. Damp, sweaty, full of grass stains and holes. I put them off and looked down on myself. My arms and knees were muddy, bruises were on my right thigh, my hands were scratched. Not even my underwear had stayed dry. Even though I craved a long hot bath, I resisted the temptation and showered only shortly to feel somewhat normal again. Finally, I put on a new pair of trousers, a grey sweater, and warm socks, ready to face that conversation with my dad.
I slowly went downstairs and to the kitchen. The mess from before was gone completely. There was no wet floor, no puddles. Everything seemed normal, only the waterbottles on the counter were gone. I either ruined them all or Carole had put them away to save them from me. Now, she and dad were seated at the kitchen table with hot mugs and a glass in front of them. The plate of scones I had baked not long ago was sitting between them. My empty stomach started complaining.
As if on cue, both turned to me. Carole with an indulgent face expression and a reassuring smile. Dad with worry.
"You knew, right?" My voice sounded hoarse, probably because of all the screaming and shouting. If there were still fairies at Fairy Glen, I must have woken them all up.
Dad was standing in front of me now, but I turned away when he wanted to lay his hand onto my shoulder. He frowned at me.
"You knew of the clans. Of me. Who am I? What am I?", I added when he still stayed silent.
He hesitated. I could see how he debated with himself, one part of me wished he didn't have anything to do with all that even though I knew better. But he didn't do me that favour. He exchanged glances with Carole before he nodded shortly. And with that movement, my world was destroyed. I knew it, Eleanor's mother and Blaine had hinted it, but standing in front of him and learning it from him? The confirmation that he lied to me all my life?
"You lied…", I whispered.
"I acted like a father and did everything in my power to protect you. Even though it meant to protect you from yourself."
Yes, he did. Dad had always protected me, always put my luck over his own. But we were always honest to each other. At least I thought so. Nevertheless, he kept the biggest and most important truth from me. The water pipes in the house made weird noises. A moment later, thick raindrops were hammering against the rooftop as if they wanted to destroy it. I gritted my teeth and made myself take deep breaths even though I felt like screaming. The method of Blaine seemed to have worked, albeit shortly.
Dad touched my arm softly. "I hoped it would never come that far. There was always the possiblitly that you would get no powers at all. There is no fixed age and obviously, one moment of shock is the trigger. I prayed and hoped every day you would be spared."
I let out a quiet scoff. That made two of us. "Mum? Was…she…?"
"She was a Campbell", he confirmed "Officially the last one with powers."
"Officially?"
"We didn't know you would get them. Not every clan member got magic, it nearly got extinct. I wasn't even sure whether you would ever develop abilities."
He put his hand on my back and softly pushed me to the table where a hot mug of tea was waiting for me. I hadn't noticed how Carole had used the water kettle in the background while we have been talking. Even though she was sitting with us, she didn't get involved in the conversation and left it to me and dad to talk everything over.
Dad took a seat on the opposite of me and put his palms flatly on the table. "I trained you because there are elementals on our island. The danger is real, whether you are in the possession of abilities or not. I tried preparing you for what would possibly expect you one day. And because your mother wanted you to have a normal life as long as possible."
I rubbed my eyes that were burning suddenly and took a scone even though my appetite was gone. My mum wanted me to have a normal life? Even though hers was so different?
"But she also wanted you to get to know the territory of the Campbells and to learn more about the clan", he went on "That's why she took you to the ferry to Harris. She wanted to show you the other islands the Campbells ruled."
"The crossing where the elementals attacked us…", I muttered. The trip mum never returned from. I always thought it had been a coincidence ever since dad had told me about the creatures for the first time. A tragical accident that was as bad for other families as for me, that day, dozens of people went down with that ship and drowned in the depths of the sea. But I never would have thought it was a targeted attack. Now I wasn't so sure about that anymore.
I forced myself to voice my thoughts even though it hurt: "That ship accident ten years ago…it was no accident, right? The elementals came because of us. Because of mum."
Pain was evident in dad's eyes, but he nodded silently.
I clutched my mug closer I hadn't touched until now. Slowly, all the pieces added up together. It was no tragical accident. The elementals didn't just attack the ferry randomly. They were after mum. Probably after me as well. But why? And Sebastian…what the hell did he do ten years ago at Skye? He had been a child. Did he teleport himself to the island alone? At the right moment to pull me out of the water to save my life? That was impossible. His presence on the island that day was no coincidence. But that would mean that there had been more members of the fire clan on the island. Maybe, they had not been the only clan. The tea was bubbling a little. I took a tentative sip, the warmth of the liquid was running down my throat and spreading in my stomach.
"What if there were not only elementals?", I asked "What if there was someone else behind this?"
"The clans?" Dad frowned. "I don't know much about them. Your mother hadn't had any contact with the Campbells for years, but I doubt that her family wanted to see her dead. Or the other clans. The times of clan wars are long over. Today, they are cooperating and negotiating. It must have been elementals. You know the reports."
I nodded, in the past years I had been researching all the newspaper articles and reports about the accident. Officially, an unexpected tempest and the strong waves were to blame. The weather had changed all of a sudden and the haven had been closed. Only one unfortunate ferry had been out there. There had been a storm, the ferry burst into flames, probably because of lightning strikes. According to eyewitnesses, there had been weird creatures and even monsters. Not that I could remember any of that, that day was just a blurry mess in my memories. But the feeling to fall into the waves and get pulled down by someone or something was still haunting me. The moment I let go of mum's hand was my last memory of her. No fight. No attack. Only that moment.
"Kurt."
I looked up and stared at dad and Carole. It had gotten cold; our breaths were visible as little puffs. I looked to the left - and right into the glittering ice on the wall.
"I…I'm sorry…"
"It's okay." Dad put his hand on mine and squeezed it. His warmth was transferred to me and freed me from the chills. The ice started disappearing and the room was warm again. Dad squeezed my hand again and nodded at me. I somehow smiled even though I didn't feel like it. I tried focusing on the main topic again without freezing everything around me.
"Mum never came back again…", I muttered. She was just gone. Taken away by the sea. But now, with all the new information I had learned, that she had been in the possession of water magic herself, I started doubting it. I started to hope. "What if she survived somehow? What if she…?"
Dad stayed silent. He was still silent when it became unbearable. Then, he ruffled his baseball cap. "At first, I hoped she would show up here one day. They never found her dead body. The grave is empty. But when you both were on the ferry…" He shook his head. "I had never seen a storm like that before. One second, everything was silent, the next, the worst storm this island had ever seen haunted us."
Dad looked up from his mug and I took another sip. Not only to please dad and Carole but also because the mug had started shaking a little. Despite the tea warming me internally, I still felt cold and hollow. So many questions popped up in my head, it was hard to focus on them properly. Was mum maybe alive? And if she was, why did she never try to come back home to us? Back to her family? Or was dad right and she really died that day even though they never found her body? Who was responsible for the attack on the ferry? Were it elementals, an assumption I had believed half my life? Or was there more to it? Another clan? An old enemy of my mother? Only when I had drunken my tea and eaten my scone, dad continued talking. "Your mum was scared. She never told me who or what the threat was but I could see her panic."
I tried picturing her and her facial features, but my memories of her became holier with the passage of time. Whenever I thought of her, there was this warmth. I knew that she smelt of velvet, that she always choked on her laughter and gave the best hugs a child could wish for. She had the same blue eyes as me, but her hair was dark blond and long. I always wanted to make braids for her and needed the entire afternoon to get them done. I also remembered that she loved the sea. For hours, I took a walk with her and dad at the beach and collected shells and stones. I still had some of those to this day. She had been a good person. A great mum. I just wished I could have gotten to know her better.
"Why did you stay on Skye after mum's death?", I asked quietly "Why didn't you leave the island with me and return to the US?" Other than mum, dad's roots were in Lima, Ohio, that's where I got the accent from. In the meantime, I almost grew out of it, though.
"Because that's still your home and you belong here. I know I pressured you to think about your future after highschool…" He sighed and rubbed his hands. "I wanted you away from the elementals. Away from the clans and…"
The Campbells. So many people had told me by now and even reproached me for belonging to the Campbells, but I just didn't consider myself a clan member. I refused to just accept that. Not without proof. Cause if I accepted that I was a Campbell, I needed to accept that I had powers and had more in common with those elementals. I rubbed my temples again, but the pain didn't stop, it just got stronger the more I learned and the more questions I posed myself.
"I need to know…" Only when I heard my own voice, I noticed I had voiced my thoughts. I lifted my head and looked into two questioning faces. "I need to know what really happened ten years ago. Whether I really am a Campbell…" Whether I would turn into an elemental. I bit my lower lip. "Just everything."
He nodded slowly without answering.
I took a deep breath and looked back and forth between my parents. "And what now?"
"I don't know, Kurt." Dad took my hand and squeezed it. "But whatever happens, we will get through this. Together."
