Chapter 14.
"One of what? What are you talking about?"
Dave still stood a meter away from me and stared. He looks me up and down like he's seeing a new person.
"Dave, I am one of what? Tell me!" His eyes find mine again.
"Your one of them. You're a Nesahla."
Excuse me, what? I stand, feet rooted to ground. It feels like an atomic bomb has gone off but I just stop and stare.
"No, no I'm not. I think I'd know if I was one of them. I'd know." I turn away from him.
"Id know, id know if I was a Nesahla, id know." I whisper. I feel seconds away from hysterics.
"Think about it Vienna." Out of nowhere, his stern voice is back, like it was when we were in the visions telling me to concentrate on the details. At least one of us has their bearings back.
"Think about the visions, why would they show you them if you weren't one" What does he mean they?
As he says it all, all the pieces come together. I look like them. Louella, the woman in my visions, she had long, black hair and bluish green eyes. It makes sense why I would feel so connected to the history I'm shown in the visions. What about the book?
"What's all this got to do with the book? I mean, most of my visions are about the book." I gape at him. I can feel myself slowly derailing into hysterics.
"I don't know, I don't know that part yet," he walks over and grabs my shoulders, "Hey, calm down, this is new information, you'll be fine. We can figure it all out but you have to make sure no one knows about this, Vienna, or you will be killed."
He stares at me levelly at that last part.
"Killed?! Why the hell would I be killed for having a different last name?! No, no no, this isn't happening, it's not real" I sit back on the bed and bring my knees to my chest. I close my eyes, this is all a dream. It has to be. When I open my eyes again, the scene hasn't changed though Dave is now kneeling in front of me.
"Because of the History, it goes long before the people you see in visions, which is what you need to understand." I see the pleading in his eyes.
"What about my parents? I mean if were all from the first Vienna Markson, they must be related to her as well?"
"That's the part I don't understand yet. These sort of powers only manifest in some people, some are direct relatives, some aren't." He places his fingers over the bridge of his nose like he is trying to think this through.
Direct relatives? I guess Im not the only one that is trying to wrap my head around this new information.
"What do you mean direct relatives? If I am, my parents have to be as well." I'm chewing on my bottom lip and at this stage I taste a slight tang in my mouth, indicating I've drawn blood.
"Only one of your parents are. Or maybe neither of them are." He pauses for a moment, "Is there any chance, ""He says slowly, like he's trying to catch a stray cat, "That you could be adopted?" No, no there isn't. I'm not adopted. No, I can't be. This is impossible. But as those things run through my head, so do other details.
How I look nothing like my parents, I never got any of their traits. I look at hands and find them shaking. This is too much information to process. Dave is still kneeling in front of me and looks legitimately concerned.
Something floats through my mind, how would he know all of this?
I look back to him.
"How do you know all of this? About the powers, and the relatives and the first Vienna. How do you know?"
He smirks at me. "All in good time"
"God dammit! Can you just tell me and stop with your mysterious avoiding tactics and tell me who you are and how you know all this!" I'm screaming at this point. I can't help myself.
"Not yet, I can't tell you yet. I still need information and until I get it, I can't tell you who I am. You will eventually know, just not yet." He says. I sigh and put my head down into the space where my arms are crossed. Before I even have a chance to think, I feel a hot tear fall down onto my hands. I sniffle.
I hear Dave stand up, then the bed dips. I feel his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to him. I let myself fall into him and he cradles me as more fresh tears fall. I can't deal with all this right now. I close my eyes and try to control my sobs. It's all so overwhelming. He strokes my hair to soothe me and it does slightly. I feel comfortable with him. I sniffle again and he leans his chin on my head.
We sit like this for a while until I can control my breathing and I've stopped crying. I almost fall asleep and It isn't until he moves slightly that I open my eyes. He sits me up and holds my shoulders.
"Are you ok? I've got to go but I want to make sure you're ok before I go."
He looks at me, trying to access how I'm feeling. I do the same. I'm ok, I guess. I mean I have so much information to process. I have to ask my parents if I'm adopted, though I dread it. Moroi adoptions are so rare.
I nod and he still stares at me for a moment, as if he is double checking or giving me a chance to change my mind.
"I'm ok, I just need to think for a while."
Dave gives a small nod and stands up, opening his arm for a hug. I stand up and fold into his chest. I close my eyes for a brief second and sit back on my bed as he walks out the door. He gives me one last glance and quietly shuts the door.
As soon as he is gone, I feel a tightness in my throat. But it's not because I need to cry, it's because of the thought that my parents may not really be mine. That someone gave me up.
I sleep for a good portion of the day, luckily it's the weekend. Everything that has happened has just exhausted me. Its only when I hear Max's voice at the door, do I crawl out of my bed. I open the door and see Max's cheery face, though it drops when he sees my face.
"Whoa, hey, what's wrong? Are you ok?" he quickly comes in, shuts the door, and embraces me in a tight hug. I breathe his familiar smell. Like Lavender mixed with some spice.
"It's just been a long day. I miss my family." Of course he knows that is a complete lie, he knows I hardly miss my family besides mum. He looks down at me but doesn't press me for answers.
"You weren't out at lunch and I was worried. We were supposed to be practicing different magic elements afterwards, so when you didn't show up I knew something was wrong." He gives me a small smile. Shit, I forgot about that.
"Crap, I'm sorry, I forgot. Do you still want to practice?" I say hopefully. I need a distraction.
"Are you sure you want to? I mean I'm up for it." He searches through my eyes for any shred of doubt. Though there isn't any, I need something to do. I nod and I gather my things and we head to a spot on the quad where we can't be seen.
There aren't many people around campus because it's the weekend, it's all sleep ins and movies.
"So what element do you want to try? Fire might be pretty dangerous, I mean, I know you might not even be able to do it, but if you can, it might like set fire to something, you know? Like that's not something I think either of us can deal with right now, though water might be a good one, so would earth, water might be easy, but it's completely up to you." I smile at his ramblings and he gives one back.
"Water is probably a good idea. Wouldn't want to set your hair on fire now would we." I smirk, great now I'm doing it, and run a hand through his hair and rough it up. He tries to stop me by tickling me, I laugh and fall to the ground in a fit. I haven't been tickled in a long time. By the time I beg him to stop, I'm laughing uncontrollably and trying to catch my breath.
"There it is," he says will a grin, "I missed that laugh." He leans over and kisses me on the forehead just as I finally have my laughing under control. He tucks a stray piece of my hair behind my ear. Then he is down to business.
From his bag, he gets out a water bottle and fills it up from the fountain opposite us before returning to me. He sets the bottle down then looks at me expectantly and I nod.
Ok. Time to give this a try.
I concentrate on the water, trying to summon the magic that controls it. After a few moments, I feel some heat rush through my head I quickly try to expel it towards to water bottle. I take a deep breath and let it out. Without quite entirely seeing it, a bout of steam rises out from the top of the water bottle. I gape at it. Did I really do that?
I slowly turn my head toward Max, who is staring at the bottle. He picks it up and examines it. When his hands touch it, he gives a slight gasp. He looks to me and hands over the bottle. As soon as I touch it I understand his reaction. The bottle is warm. Like it's just been heated. I look back to Max.
"Did I, um, I, did I, do that?" I stutter.
"Well it wasn't me." He says, completely stunned. I let out a small laugh. I did it. I can use another elements. Maybe air isn't mine. "Wait, did you use water to do that, or fire? Cause fire can heat it too." Victory over. My smile drops and I set the bottle down.
"I don't know, I mean I felt some sort of magic come through but I don't know what it was."
"Hey, you still did it, you used another element, that's huge Ve." I scoot over and Max wraps his arms around me.
"I guess."
"It's a small victory for today. You'll get it eventually, I mean this is your first time trying. Who knows, soon you'll be creating oceans or starting a bushfire" he laughs, "who knows. Just be patient." He kisses my forehead again. A small victory for today.
Because I'm completely exhausted, we pack everything up and he walks me back to my room. Max is rambling on about something but I don't pay attention. I have other matters going through my head. The stuff about adoption. If anyone can give me answers for those, it's my parents. When we reach my room, Max leaves me to attend to some errands, of course not without leaving me with a soft kiss. When he is gone, I saunter over to the computer. Even though I should ask in person, that isn't an option right now.
I open my email and type it out in simple words so my father can't twist my words to avoid an answer like he usually does.
"Am I adopted?"
Its just three simple words. I immediately hit send so I don't have a chance to rethink it. I need answers but then I run through what his answer might be. Yes, you are adopted, your real parents didn't love you enough so they gave you up. No, you're are not adopted, you are my one and only daughter. It could be anything but I also fear, would they tell me the truth?