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“Thank you for this,” I said softly as I held onto the gold and blue necklace. He nodded once before he turned toward the woods. I was left puzzled about how he would get back to the castle since Sie brought us here through teleportation.
Once Peter was gone, I slowly made my way back to the camp. Sie was reading through the pages of the book. If he’d heard Peter’s and my conversation, he didn’t show it.
“I want to try a different approach for your training today,” he said, not looking up.
“What would that be?”
“These past couple of days, you have been working tocreate, which is generally a higher ranking Luxian trait. Fire users can bring a flame to light out of thin air, and water users can call upon waves that previously didn’t exist. But maybe that’s not the same for you. I want to try all the markings on your back, each one again, but this time use a different approach with them. Let’s start with water since that will be handy for you to master before moving onto fire. I don’t feel like dying today. I want you to use the water from the lake that is already there and see if you can do anything with it. Maybe you can’tcreate,but you canmanipulatewhat’s around you. It usually means you have a lower ranking, but it’s worth a shot.”
What he said made sense. These past couple of days, I’d been trying to produce the elements from nothing. Maybe I could control them, but only with what I had in front of me. “And what if I can’t even manipulate?”
“Well, we aren’t going to find out by just staring at each other. Just try it.”
“So, what do you want me to do?” I asked awkwardly, looking at the vastness of the lake before us.
“See if you can move the water at all. In any way, any amount, even if it’s just a drop.”
I walked over to the wooden dock that was off to the side of the lake. There was no way I was getting back into that freezing water when I was just finally starting to dry off. Sie followed, and I noticed him staring at me. I tried to ignore him as I focused on the water in front of me. I closed my eyes and imagined it moving, but nothing happened.
Another hour passed, and still nothing. All I’d managed to do was stare at the deep water while it stared back at me, completely unmoving.
Two hours in and something jumped out of the water, causing a splash as it returned to its home under the velvet caress of the blue. I jumped with excitement thinking that I’d finally done it, that I finally made the water move, only to realize it was just a fish. Sie laughed at me.
I turned my gaze to him. “Can you not mock me?” He threw both of his hands up in the air before leaving me alone. I could still see him smirking as he slumped into a seat by our tent. I waited to resume trying until I saw him open the Luxian book.
I stared at the water for another forty minutes before it rippled. I thought it was the wind at first, but the air was stagnant and the small wave was moving faster and faster. I did it. I could move the water. My heart thundered against my chest because, for the first time, I let myself believe that I was not a nix. I knew I could breathe underwater from what Kole had done to me, but this was the first time I could actively do something with my abilities. It was an absolute rush. I felt like I had power. Like I was strong. I was no longer the weak little girl afraid of flames. If I could master water, I could douse any fires that came my way. Except, the amount of water I’d moved wasn’t even big enough to harm an insect. I also had no idea how I did it.
I’d known my whole life that I wasn’t a nix. I just never let myself truly believe it because I had never been able to use an ability. I always felt weak and useless when it came to powers, which was why I wanted to train my body well in combat to make up for it.
I felt the mental exhaustion take over as sweat started dripping down my neck, and a headache was pounding at my temples. I couldn’t believe I’d been freezing just hours before because the exertion of trying to use abilities had me panting.
I looked over my shoulder to steal a glance at Sie, who was still consumed in his book. I didn’t want to call him over yet. I wanted to keep practicing. I wanted to get better before I let him know. I wanted to be able to control the water on my own without it being a fluke incident, so I turned back to face the vast blue of the lake and tried again. And again and again and again. I tried until the small wave turned into the size of my palm, until I could make a wave big enough to spray the bottom of my pants as the water crashed upon the dock.
Manipulate not create. Sie said it meant I had a lower ranking, but I could still do something. I was so focused on moving the water that I didn’t realize Sie had come up behind me until his breath slithered over my exposed neck. The water I was hovering over my head came crashing down, drenching us both.
He gave me a lazy, half-soaked grin. “Good.”
“Does this mean that I’m a water user?” I asked him.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted with a frown. I could tell he hadn’t gotten very far deciphering my markings from the book. “You definitely possess water abilities, but it’s different from what others claim to have. I don’t think it’s the same. And your markings still don’t make sense, unless you have two powers.” He paused, then shook out his wet locks, sending water spraying over my face. “Once you can control water enough to be able to bring a wave to douse a fire, I want you to turn to that. To practice fire. See if you can move fire in the same way. Then once you master fire, we can move onto ground abilities. Tomorrow we will head to the force shield on our way back to the castle to see if you possess any abilities of air as well.”
“Will I still be able to train when we are back at the castle?”
“Not much. I want you to practice the big stuff while we have privacy here. In my room—ourroom,” he corrected, “we can practice smaller, less noticeable things like Alluse and healing.”
“How will we do that?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I’ll have you try to block my mind powers without your necklace on for Alluse. I don’t think you possess the ability, but maybe it’s similar to my mind reading where you have to actively use it.”
That scared me. I wasn’t ready for him to enter my mind. “And to see if I have healing abilities?”
“You can heal me.”
“Heal you from what?”
“A small cut won’t kill me, Scotlind.”
“I’m not cutting you.” I spat out quickly, horrified that his mind went to that.
