In chapter 5, I accidently said that Talia couldn't see Adriana until her punishment was up, but this Talia wasn't punished for anything. So, I changed it to Adri going home for school.
Chapter 6
Past and Present
I heard Golaith's anguished roars echo in my ears as I woke up. Was that the past? I frowned. I didn't understand.
"Talia, breakfast time." Owen called.
"Ok." I called back and got dressed. I ate breakfast then had to try to focus on my lessons.
"Alright, take out your English notebook." Owen told me.
As the lesson when on, I felt like it was leading somewhere and I was completely right. Owen wanted me to write a short story.
"You what?" I scoffed.
"Your assignment is to write a short story or poem based around a word of your choosing." He said.
"How do I choose?" I asked.
He took out a small basket with slips of paper in it. "You've got to be kidding me."
"I'm not." His eyes showed no emotion.
"Here we go." I sighed and grabbed a piece of paper from basket. I looked at it. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"Talia?" Owen asked.
"Statue?! Of all the things I get it's statue?!" I rested my head on the desk in defeat.
"I look forward to seeing what you come up with." There was the barest hint of something in his voice. "Class dismissed."
I gathered my things up and left. Is this what Adri felt when she had to do some bullshit for art? She loved art, but some of things the teacher made them do…
I went to my room and started brainstorming. Statues, statues… Gargoyles? Nah. I twirled my pen around and then got distracted by trying to catch like a baton. Then I tried to catch it with my magic. And then it was dinnertime. Luckily, nobody asked about it. I decided to see if working in the library helped.
"What are you doing, Talia?" Goliath asked from his ladder.
"Owen wants me to write a short story or poem about statues. I thought it'd help if I worked somewhere studious." I sighed. "That glass eyed, wooden plank of… I have a great idea." I smiled.
"Talia?" Goliath asked.
I scribbled down the beginnings of my poem and recited as I wrote. "Statues can be made of many things. Be they stone, metal or wood. But ones made of flesh are rare. Perhaps it's the way they move so silently from room to room. Or how their faces never change. Maybe no one likes their glasslike pearl eyes and unwavering stare. Perhaps it's the unpredictability of when they will move again. Statues can be made of many things and I rather they not be made of flesh."
"That's the best thing I've heard all week." Puck laughed.
"Puck?" I frowned, gulping.
"You've got to turn that in." He smiled.
"No way! I was just letting off steam." I shook my head.
"Why not? It meets all the requirements." He floated over and ruffled my hair. "You got talent, kiddo."
"Let me go!" I hissed.
"Don't be such sourpuss, Talia. Owen can take a little heat." He perched on a chair across from me.
"Why are you here, Puck?" Goliath asked.
"Can't I check on my student? I am her teacher after all." He smiled, now sitting on the back of the chair and letting his leg dangle lazily.
"Is this your way of telling me it's magic time?" I asked.
"I never thought you'd ask!" He smiled and teleported me to my room.
Talia's POV End
Puck's POV
"This must be some kind of record for you, big guy. You never let Alex's pranks go on for this long." I smiled. "I think you deserve a medal." I tossed a medal with "Not a spoilsport" on it to him.
"I still think withholding this information is dangerous." He growled his famous growl.
"Oh, relax. Owen gives her structure she needs and Puck gives her the fun she wants." I told him.
"Perhaps, but for better or worse, she's your responsibility now." Goliath frowned and paused. "Don't keep her waiting."
"Ok…" I side eyed him before leaving.
Puck's POV End
Talia's POV
"What took you so long?" I asked when he returned.
"Just chatting with Goliath." He replied.
"What's the lesson today?" I wondered.
"Levitation." He floated above me to prove a point.
I kept my remark about my suicide attempt to myself. This was too important to mess up. "How?"
"Imagine that you're lighter than air. That you move freely in the air as well as you can walk." Puck told me.
"Ok…" I got the image in my head and let my magic lift me up. "It works! This is so great!" I whooped and flew circles around him.
"Alex was just as excited when he first learned." Puck smiled.
"I wanna go outside." I went to window and looked at him.
He paused, probably because Alex told him I tried to jump off the building. "I don't know…"
"I'm not going to drop myself out of the sky." Yet. "Besides, this room is too small. I have to practice somewhere big."
"I know just the place." He smiled and teleported us to the gym.
I faltered and dipped a bit in the air before catching myself. "That was weird. And this isn't what I wanted!"
"It's a perfect place to practice. Look, there's even a foam mat if you fall." He gestured to the floor.
I growled.
"Kiddo, we'll go outside later. You just learned how to levitate less than a minute ago." He reminded me.
"First one to the mat loses?" I asked.
"Huh?" He looked at me.
"First one to hit the mat loses." I sighed.
"Like a dogfight?" He started to catch my drift.
"Yeah, but no airplanes. Or dying in fiery explosions." I said.
"I guess we better start on the ground then." He smiled.
We landed and he looked at me. "The minute you start feeling weak, tell me."
"Ok, Puck." I said quickly.
"I mean it, Tai. Your health is important." He frowned sternly.
"I'll tell you when I feel weak." I sighed.
"That's a good girl." He smiled. "Now, on your mark, get set… and go!"
He was in the air faster than me, but I used the feeling from earlier to get to up in the air. He tried to force me to the ground, but I slipped out of his… grasp (?) and threw an energy bolt at him.
"When did you learn that?" He asked dodging.
"Um…" I frowned and decided it was better to get away than answer.
"Oh, c'mon, Talia, you can tell me." He cooed as he chased me.
"Couple a months ago, I snuck out and got coffee. Nobody noticed me because I didn't want them to. And I changed my eye color." I said as I tried to change the tide.
"Invisibility?" He wondered.
"I can't control it yet." I stopping running and attempted to shoot lighting at him. It blew up to a flash of light with thunder. I used it to my advantage and snuck behind him.
Puck looked around before I tackled him and sped toward the ground. He growled as we grappled. I don't think he was used to fighting like this. We had ended up a little sideways now, but he just had to hit the mat first. With a loud slam, Puck hit the mat and I was thrown off him and landed a few feet away.
"You alright, kiddo?" He sat up.
"I'm a little tired, but- Ow, my hand!" I clutched it close to my chest.
Puck jumped up and rushed to my side. "What's wrong? Let me see your hand, kiddo." I let him take my arm. "You must have hurt it when you made that ball of energy."
"It burns." I whimpered with tears in my eyes.
Puck made the pain go away, but the circular burn mark was still there. "There we go. You're fine, Sweetheart, you're fine." He petted my hair.
He held me and stroked my hair for a few more minutes before I sat up.
"I'm ok." I said, wiping my eyes.
"Don't scare me like that again, Tai. C'mon, let's go put some stuff on that burn." He teleported us to castle level and we found some ointment for my hand.
I winced a little as he rubbed it on the burn. "It's tender."
"I'll be gentle." He soothed and made good on his promise before wrapping my hand in a bandage. "Let's get you to bed."
I made no protest as I found myself in bed again. "I wish your lessons didn't keep ending like this."
"It's only happened once before." I told him.
"If it happens again, it'll be the third time." He said.
"I'll stick to the lessons from now on." I looked at him.
"We'll work offensive magic another day. Now, sleep, Talia." He said softly and his magic washed over me. The last thing I remembered was Puck brushing my hair away from my face.
Talia's POV End
Puck's POV
"Sweetheart?" Xanatos asked, leaning on the doorframe.
"She was hurt." I reverted back to Owen.
Puck's POV End
Owen's POV
"Sir, Puck was trying to comfort our student." I told him.
"That doesn't bother me, Owen. What bothers me is that this is the second time this has happened. Is there really no way you can stop her from hurting herself with her magic?" He asked.
"I cannot limit her magic because she needs it to live. An iron bracelet would just irritate her skin, possibly make her break out in hives, while draining her magic." I explained.
"I see." He hummed, displeased. "Owen, I know you like having your hand back, but stop playing with Talia's hair."
I looked down and saw that I was playing with her hair. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't realize I was doing that."
"Let's let her sleep." Mister Xanatos waited for me in the hall and I closed her bedroom door.
Owen's POV End
Talia's POV
"I wonder if the city's ready for you guys." Elisa pondered, looking into the rising sun.
I groaned and rubbed my eyes. That was a long vision. I saw the bandage on my hand and flexed it.
"Ah!" I hissed.
"Talia, are you alright?" Owen asked.
"My hand's still sore." I answered.
"Puck is very sorry you got hurt." He told me.
"You talk to him?" I asked.
"We're your teachers, Talia." He said.
I furrowed my eyebrows, pausing. Puck had said something just like that last night.
I got dressed and went to breakfast. It was hard to eat with my hand still recovering. And I had a hard time concentrating on my lessons because of my vision.
"Owen?" I asked.
"Yes, Talia?" He looked at me.
"Wh- What happened when the clan first woke up in Manhattan?" I decided this was the better question to ask than what happened to Demona.
"That is a question for after class. Now…" He continued on with the lesson.
I stayed quiet and halfheartedly paid attention. After class was over, I wrote a new poem to turn in and went to Goliath, sitting on the wall next to him.
"Hey, big guy. I know you're asleep right now, but I don't know who to go to. You see, I've been having visions of the past, your past, and it's really confusing. It started yesterday, but today I had like 4 visions squished into one. Did Alex ever have visions? Does Puck? I guess I'd have to ask them, but I dunno. This feels like a gift somehow. Anyway, this was nice. See ya tonight." I hopped off the edge and fell for a couple seconds before flying back to my room.
It felt good to fly outside like I knew it would, but it was also chilly. I made it to my window and let myself inside. I read until dinner.
I ate dinner with everyone and David said. "Talia, you worried me when you jumped off of Goliath's tower this afternoon."
"She what?" Fox asked astonished.
"I can fly now, it's ok." I said.
"Don't do that again. Or you're grounded." He warned.
"Fine." I mumbled.
Puck wasn't happy about it either and smacked me upside the head.
"Ow…" I rubbed my head.
"I told you we would go outside later as in together, Talia." He glared at me.
"Why does everyone go for the head?" I complained.
"Why were you at Goliath's tower anyway?" He wondered.
"Just chatting with him." I replied.
He hummed. "If you're not going to tell me, fine. But no more jumping off the castle."
"Ok, Dad." I sighed.
"Now, let's work on that invisiblity, daughter." He grinned.
Talia's POV End
