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“It’s blocking my view,” I replied matter of factly. “I want to look at all your markings. You will get it back in a minute.” And then I entered her mind, sending images of what I saw to her, allowing her to look at her back markings just as I saw them. Her mind was wide open for me, so I did my best not to go to her thoughts, keeping myself void, only focusing on the task at hand. But it was really fucking tempting to push further, to figure out why she stopped kissing me so suddenly last night, why she pretended to fall asleep, to know exactly how standing here madeherfeel.
“The water is too deep. The bottom half of your markings are cut off,” I said as I looked down at where the water hit her back. I wrapped my hands around her waist, lifting her up so her entire back was now exposed. She let out a small yelp as the chilly air hit her breasts but stopped protesting as we both focused on the images of her back. I could hear her breath quicken as my hands gripped her hips.
“Am I interrupting?” a familiar voice laughed from the distance. I set Scottie down immediately as she grabbed her brassiere out of my hand, ducking into the water to hide herself from Peter.
“We’ll be right there,” I yelled over to him and then looked at Scottie.
She was giving me the death stare. “You didn’t think to warn me that he was coming?” she bristled.
“I thought he wouldn’t be here until later.” I shrugged, then started walking out of the lake before she could protest.
Once we were all dressed, we sat in front of the fire. Scottie dragged one of the blankets out to wrap around herself. She was still shivering but sat slightly further from the flames than Peter and I did.
“It seems like I got the wrong end of this deal,” Peter finally said, breaking the awkward silence. “I’m out here dealing with a bunch of disgusting old males from the High Council and rusty ancient books, while Sie gets to swim naked with Scottie.” He grinned at her. I wanted to smack him for that comment. There would be no way of getting her back into the water now.
Scottie turned bright red as she pulled the blanket up higher on her neck. I was surprised when she spoke before I did. “Shut up, Peter. We were doing research.”
“Right. Research. Researching what? The opposite sex? Sie, I didn’t know you needed help in that department.” Peter was cut off by the slap Scottie threw across his face. I couldn’t help but laugh. Peter grinned at her as he rubbed his cheek. “Ow. I haven’t seen you in almost a week, and that’s how you greet me? No hug? No heartfelt hello? Just a slap across my pretty face?”
“Did you find it?” I asked, bringing the attention back to why he was actually here. Peter reached into his pack and pulled out an ancient leather-bound book.
“Here.” He smiled as he chucked the book at me, causing dusk to fly off the edges. “This was the only one they had in Addler. There were none in Palm. I checked their library first.”
“What is it?” Scottie asked as she watched me open the book and flip through the pages.
“It’s a book on Lux. It has information regarding their powers and markings. We thought it might be helpful in figuring out your abilities,” Peter said.
“A book about Lux? But how did you get it?” Scottie asked Peter, her eyes flaring wide.
Peter shrugged. “It was in the restricted section in the library in Addler.”
“What are your abilities?” she asked suddenly.
It was weird seeing them interact together. I knew they had grown really close and had become friends, but I was never around to watch it firsthand. I tried to distract myself in the pages of the book and not pay attention to them.
“Well, well, well, Scottie. Why so curious all of a sudden?”
She narrowed her eyes at him as she stuck out her tongue. Such playful banter they had. Their relationship seemed easygoing and carefree. I couldn’t help but be jealous of Peter.
“Hmm. I would rather not tell you.”
“What?” Scottie practically yelled as she grabbed his upper arm and shook him. “That is not fair. You have to tell me!”
Peter smiled, exposing both of his dimples. “I’ll make you a deal, Scottie. Figure out what your powers are first. Then I will show you mine.”
“Show me?”
“Yes,” he grinned. “It will be so much more fun to show you than just tell you.”
I interrupted the two of them. “Here, look,” I said as I pointed to the page I had opened. “This says that Luxian markings typically have meanings behind their symbols. It has some examples, but pages are missing once it gets to the rare abilities, almost as if someone wanted to keep those powers hidden.” I held up the book for them to see. Flames symbolized fire. Waves were water. Wings were air. Ground users were the only elemental ability that seemed to be depicted over multiple designs. Mountains, tree, and flowers were all used interchangeably.
“So you think Scottie has a rare ability? One that they don’t want to keep in the books?” Peter asked as Scottie paled.
“Possibly. Scottie, your markings are unique. It has pieces of everything in it. You have symbols for fire, water, air, ground, healing, and other ones I can’t recognize, all over your back.” I flashed the images of Scottie’s wet back from the lake into Peter’s mind, so he could see what we were talking about. He nodded as he took it in.
Her upper back had two beautiful feathered wings entwined in flowers spread across her shoulder blades. One wing was dripping in water while the other had feathers burning to ash. Straight down the center of the wings was a large trunk covered in thick bark, separating the two sides. Then scattered throughout, I noticed the healer’s cross and the blade for Alluse. More water designs were painted up her sides mixed with other symbols that I didn’t recognize.
“Do you think she possesses all the Luxian abilities then?” Peter asked as he took in all the symbols scattered across her back.
