1.3 – Taylor

"…lets focus on your other powers."

Taylor paused, mind worrying over how much to tell him. This was her dad, and she'd already done something to him with her powers. She sighed, she should tell him everything.

"I-I think I can control any spirit. But there actually has to be a spirit for me to do something."

Her dad nodded, "So…you can only use your powers if there is a spirit." He repeated, rubbing his stubble, "And spirits only appear when there is an abundance of…something?"

Taylor nodded, understanding what he was getting at. "So I can only use my powers if there is a lot of something already there."

She grinned, causing a groan from her father. "I know that look, I saw it on your mother's face plenty of times before she suggested…" He grew red and muttered something under his breath.

Taylor raised an eyebrow but he ignored it.

"I've got an idea kiddo, but first, do you have a list or a diary of all the spirits you have seen?"

"Uhh, yeah its upstairs in my bag, I'll grab it quickly."

"You do that, we'll work out which ones will be safe for you to practice with."

Taylor paused with a hand on the door frame, and flashed a not-so-innocent grin, "So no throwing fire around yet?"

He put his head in his hand and she heard a muffled, "God no."

She dashed upstairs, into her room and slid the notebook out from her rucksack. Flicking through the pages, she found a spirit that would be safe-ish to use, and would be easily found in the house.

She almost skipped through the door, and slid the book across to her dad. He raised an eyebrow in response, "Ice spirits?"

"Yeah. The freezer! We can fill a plastic beaker with water, and I'll see if I can freeze it!"

"Hmm," He resumed stroking his chin.

"They're powers dad. They're never going to be completely safe."

"I guess, but I'm standing on the other side of the room."

Mock glaring at him, Taylor filled a beaker with water and set it on the floor next to the freezer. Taking a breath she opened the unit, curls of condensing air spreading outwards. Complex translucent shapes popped into existence, appearing in her mind as nodes, clearer this time. Mentally, she reached out to one and connected.

Cold. Freeze. Ice. Still.

Taylor could feel the iciness through the connection and reached out to it. The ice spirit's attention snapped onto her, and she pointed at the beaker. Freeze the water. It darted across the gap and submerged itself in the water. Almost immediately webs of ice appeared and spread throughout the liquid. As it progressed, more ice spirits appeared and latched onto the order she had given, the water freezing faster and faster, more and more connections forming. Once completely frozen, they turned their attention back to Taylor, and she pumped the air with her fist. She winked at her father before taking the washing up bowl, and filling it with water. This time she barely had to send an order and the spirits began freezing the new liquid.

An idea popped into Taylor's head and she focused her power. The spirits began moving to her will, freezing only the water she had directed them to. She gestured at her dad and he came over, gasping as he saw what she was doing. A massive, intricate snowflake was forming in the bowl.

Once it was finished, she pulled it out, barely noticing the cold. It was soft beneath he fingers, yet it didn't crumble. "Tada! I guess my control is a bit more refined than I realised."

He nodded, "It seems so."

"Um…" Taylor shuffled her feet, anticipating his response, "Can I try it with fire now? My control is pretty good, you know…" She gestured at the snowflake.

Her father's jaw set at that and he crossed his arms. "I'm not so sure that is a good idea, you only know you have good control with ice."

"We could test it outside? In the back garden?" A note of pleading entered her voice, and she strained to make puppy eyes.

"Ugh, I'm going to regret this but sure." He massaged his temples before grabbing some matches and a candle. "Let's get this over and done with."

They headed outside and her dad set the candle down in the middle of the garden before lighting it. He backed off. Slightly quicker than he needed to, she thought.

A singe flame spirit appeared and danced around the flickering flame, bathing in its heat. Its insectoid shape seemed to glow and writhe with ecstasy as it reclined. Taylor reached out to it and made contact.

Burn. Heat. Fire. Warmth.

She paused, she hadn't actually discussed with her dad what she was going to do. Shrugging, Taylor focused, her control felt more slippery than with the mass of ice spirits but she continued. Directing the flame spirit to burn caused no response and she grit her teeth. More heat. More fire.

This time something happened. The flame grew brighter, changing colour to a bright yellow. The candle began to melt quicker, and the flame increased in size. Another spirit uncurled from the centre and joined the first, the process speeding up as before. A third appeared just as the candle burnt out, the light vanishing. Taylor groaned and prepared to ask her dad for another candle when she noticed she spirits were still there. The effort to maintain the connections was increasing, and a faint pressure began to build at the back of her head.

She let the spirits go once her skull began to ache, the pain fading immediately.

Turning to look at her father, she spoke, "I guess I can keep the spirits here after the source disappears."

"Why did they fade away then?"

"It was giving me a headache, and becoming harder the longer they were there."

"Hmm, you might want to remember that. Oh and before we forget, it seems like you can create more spirits with spirits of the same type. With both the ice and fire ones…"

She interrupted him, "Yeah I noticed, the effect was greater the more there were as well, it was self-sustaining in a way."

"As long as there was fuel, yes it was." Her dad stared into the distance for a moment before replying, "I think it's an exponential increase, doubling the spirits means you can increase the effect twice as quickly, which in turn would double the number of spirits you can use."

"That sounds pretty powerful." Taylor grinned, her powers, as weird as they were, seemed pretty powerful. She needed time to ramp up – almost like Lung in a way, she thought with irony – but once she was, she would have a lot of power at her disposal.

"I'd be careful the process doesn't spiral out of control through, you don't want to accidentally burn down a building."

"I-I don't think that would be a problem, I have pretty good control over the spirits, and I form connections automatically once I've given an order."

"Hmm, that's a relief. But I don't want you practising with dangerous ones without me to oversee."

Taylor clenched her hands, and prepared to give a retort, but opening her mouth caused her dad to interrupt before she could.

"Taylor, you are fifteen. You'll be bound to take risks, and even if you do have a resistance to your own powers, everything around you doesn't." He paused, and walked over towards Taylor, resting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm just trying to be a parent. And powers are dangerous. Everyone knows that. I'm not going to restrict you forever, just until we both know you have full control. Okay sweetie?"

"I guess."

"And I'm not stopping you from using your powers, just the dangerous ones."

She let out a breath, and met his eyes. "I know…its just…I have powers! I can do something with this! I can make a difference, I won't be useless like they…" Taylor stopped talking as expression hardened.

"Useless? Who are they?"

"The bullies."

"Taylor, you are not useless. You are smart and beautiful…."

"I am neither dad! Everyone at school can see it, why can't you!"

She pushed him away and ran to the backdoor, not looking behind as she stormed upstairs. Red and white petals fluttered around her as she realised what she had said, and she reached up to her face, removing her glasses as tears seeped out of her eyes.

Red, bubbling shapes rose up from the ground and the blue, tear shaped spirits appeared as well.

Taylor reached out to one without thinking, one of the boiling, red pools. She connected…Anger. Stress. Aggression.

Disgusted, she broke the connection, the spirit dissolving into nothingness. Her thought stopped as she realised something; her anger was fading slightly. Taylor connected to a tear this time, and broke the connection in same way. She felt…slightly happier. Again, she connected to the spirits around her, anger, sadness and guilt. She broke them all at once and gasped at the shock that passed through her head. Clarity. Her mind felt lighter, all of the emotions just gone, replaced with a dull ache.

With the clarity of thought, she realised the impact of her words. Taylor grimaced and made her way back downstairs. Her dad was slumped on the sofa, the strange, ribbon-like spirit dancing around him…protectively. She ignored it and sat next to him.

"I'm…sorry."

"I know kiddo, I just wasn't expecting that."

"Heh," She grunted out a laugh, "Neither was I. I hadn't realised I was keeping all that bottled up. Guess I just needed to vent."

He pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her. Taylor lent into it and rested her head on his shoulder. "I didn't realise it was that bad, even after the…locker."

She smiled grimly, "Oh it is. High school…its literal hell on Earth."

He changed the subject, "These powers mean that much to you then?"

Taylor nodded, they really did. She could be a hero now. She could prove them wrong, all of them. "Yes."