by Kate A. Fox
Zoe nodded and smiled at me as though she was proud.
"Yes. You'll get to learn all about them in ritual studies."
"They also figure in a lot of our other classes." Keeya pointed out and I couldn't help but wonder what kinds of other classes I'd be taking. I would probably find out on Monday morning.
"Now that lesson is over, let's get down to the river." Keeya insisted, "The water is falling to me."
The other girls nodded and began to follow Keeya around the back of the temple.
I followed slightly slower, somehow feeling at home among the statues of the Gods and Goddesses.
We came to the back of the temple and found a line of bushes blocking the way. A simple wooden stile was the only way through and I struggled over after the others into an open meadow filled with wildflowers.
My heart stopped the moment I saw it. My mind was thrown back to my dream of Selene and the meadow I'd found myself in. Could this be the same meadow?
How could it be? I'd never seen this place before. And yet I got the eerie feeling that I had been here before.
CHAPTER 15
IT WASN'T UNTIL WE HAD PASSED THROUGH THE MEADOW that my nerves began to ease. The sound of running water hit my ears and I knew that we must be close to the river.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Keeya growled as joyful voices were carried to us on the breeze.
"Looks like someone else beat us to the best spot." Luci sighed and she looked sympathetically at her girlfriend, "Sorry, K."
"It doesn't matter. We'll go further upstream." Zoe assured her friends but Keeya certainly didn't seem happy about it.
Even as we passed down a path that winded around the edge of the meadow, passing beneath a row of oak trees that lined its other side, I could see kids playing on the riverbank. A couple of boys had taken to swinging on a rope swing that was tied to one of the oaks branches. As I watched one of them flung himself off the branch that made up the seat of the swing and he sickeningly dived into the river, disappearing beneath the surface. The second boy grabbed the rope as soon as it swung back to him and proceeded to follow.
"That poor tree." Luci sighed as though she had seen the whole thing, "I can almost hear it crying under their weight."
Could trees cry? I suppose anything was possible after all I'd learned so far.
"Don't worry. They'll get what's coming to them." Zoe promised and laid a hand comfortingly on her friend's shoulder.
We continued on until we came to an opening between the trees and bushes.
"This looks like a good place." Zoe said, turning to Keeya, "What do you think?"
"I guess it'll have to do." Keeya shrugged with an exasperated huff.
The place itself was a rocky outcrop that jutted out over the river, making it the perfect place to sit and dip your toes into the water.
And that's exactly the first thing Keeya did. I watched her slip off her ballet shoes and settle herself down on the very edge of the boulders.
Zoe and Luci moved to sit a little way off from her so that Luci could look at the flowers and bracken that were growing up through the crevices.
I was careful to stay back, sitting away from the edge, the incident in Billy's pool all too fresh in my memory.
Keeya leaned down to run her fingers through the surface of the water, leaving little ripples to move in small waves away from the shore.
"Bri, you have to watch this." Zoe exclaimed and as she did Keeya began to chant under her breath. Although I didn't recognise any of the words, I did recognise the lilting tone of her chanting. It was so similar to the chanting Merrin had done when she healed my broken wrist that it made me shiver as I was forced to remember the pain that had radiated up my arm.
The memory was quickly forgotten when I watched, amazed at the way the water began to swirl around Keeya's fingers. It seemed to rise up her arm, enveloping her from her fingertips to her shoulder.
Then she stopped chanting as the water fell away, splashing back into the river.
I gaped at the mocha skinned girl with a wide mouth.
"How did you do that?" I gasped.
"That's nothing." Keeya cast me a devilish smile before she turned her attention back to the river and began to chant again. I watched, equally amazed as balls of water began to rise from the surface and danced in the air like living crystals.
"Hey!" Zoe exclaimed as one of the balls burst over her head and doused her with river water.
"Sorry. You looked hot." Keeya chuckled as the other balls splashed back onto the river.
"Careful or she'll splash you and it'll take you all night to dry and straighten your hair." Luci warned her but I remained utterly speechless.
"What she said." Zoe chuckled, wringing water out of her short black locks.
The three girls turned to look at me then, chuckling when they saw the astonished look on my face.
"Keeya has an affinity to water." Zoe explained as though that made any sense of what I had just seen.
"Tell her the story, K!" Luci insisted and she looked fit to bursting with excitement as though she'd just asked her grandma to tell her her favourite fairy tale.
Keeya smiled warmly to her girlfriend before turning to me.
"So my dad was stationed in Plymouth last year." She began and my heart ached when I remembered Bobby. I made a quick mental note to ask if maybe Keeya knew her, before continuing to listen.
"It was a really sunny Saturday and both my parents were busy so I went down to the nearest beach with some of the older kids from school." She explained and I found myself nodding.
"I was bodyboarding because my dad taught me when I was little. He said I should know everything I could about the water before I went into it so he had taught me to swim really well." Keeya said and the tension in her voice grew as though something bad was coming, "I went too far out, thinking I was good enough to show off in front of the older girls in the group. But I got caught up in some rogue waves and before I knew it I was pulled under."
"She forgot to strap her safety line around her ankle!" Luci put in, a tone of terror in her voice like she already knew what was coming.
Keeya shot a frustrated look at Luci before continuing, "It was like Luci said and no matter how hard I fought, I just couldn't get back to the surface."
I groaned inwardly, remembering that feeling all too well.
"Then I remembered what my dad said about being calm and working with the water instead of against it." Keeya said and I could see her hands trembling though it didn't seem to be in fear. In fact, she looked excited.
Her next words stunned me with how familiar they sounded.
"I got this strange tingling sensation that started in my chest and began to go all through my body." She said and my heart skipped a beat.
"Almost like an anxiety attack?" I blurted out.
Keeya looked at me with a raised eyebrow and nodded before continuing, "I suddenly felt powerful, like I could have done anything and before I knew it, it was like the waves had manifested into hands and they were carrying me back to shore."
"So you didn't chant or anything like you were just doing?" I asked and Keeya shook her head.
"Celestria says that when we are panicked we can sometimes tap into our powers without a need for chanting but most of the time we need the right chants and spells and rituals to control the elements." Zoe explained with a warm smile.
"Yeah, anyway, I was washed up on the shore like half a mile away from the other beach goers. Luckily! And that's where Merrin found me." Keeya shrugged as though it wasn't a big deal.
"I…I think that something like that might have happened to me." I admitted, a little unnerved.
All three girls turned their attention on me. There were those bug eyes all over again.
"Tell us!" Luci insisted, her eyes beaming at me for a story.
"I...I'm not really sure what happened but there was this girl, at my old school, who was a real bully," I began, leaving out the fac
t that she had been bullying me because she was going out with my best friend, "And a couple of days ago she cornered me in the showerroom after PE and she was threatening me."
I paused, cringing at the memory of her shoving me.
"She pushed me and I felt that same tingling sensation that Keeya mentioned and when I opened my eyes a gust of wind almost knocked Lola right off her feet. Her and her little group of idiots were so scared I thought they were going to faint right there and then."
"That's how you handle a bully!" Keeya hooted and pounded the air with a fist.
"I wish someone would do that to Rhea!" Luci exclaimed.
"Do you guys understand what this means?" Zoe addressed us all but her eyes were fixed on me, "Bri has an affinity!"
"I'm so jealous. Why can't I have an affinity?" Luci scowled and pulled at a loose thread on the hem of her velvet green skirt.
"It'll happen for us both one day." Zoe assured her and Keeya gripped her girlfriend's hand as though she was attempting to comfort her. I guessed from Zoe's words that she hadn't found her affinity yet either.
At least knowing that Keeya had her own affinity made me feel like less of a freak.
"Did you get one of these?" Keeya asked, holding out her left wrist.
When I looked down I saw that Zoe had been telling the truth. There was a small wave-like pale blue symbol emblazoned on the inside.
"I'm sorry to say it, K, but Bri's mark is even better than that!" Zoe said gleefully and I shot her a warning glance. She'd promised me she wouldn't say anything.
Zoe shrugged and dipped her head as she mouthed, 'sorry'.
"Well then! Let's see it." Keeya insisted.
With a groan, I reluctantly turned so that they could get a good view of my neck and swept my hair over my shoulder.
Nobody spoke and after a few minutes I turned back around to see both Luci and Keeya gaping at me. Even Zoe looked shocked all over again.
"I just can't get over it!" Zoe said.
"Zo, is right!" Keeya bubbled, "That's the coolest mark I have ever seen!"
"You say that like you've seen hundreds!" Luci scowled back at her and I simply sat with my cheeks turning red all over again.
At least they hadn't all jumped up and run off screaming like I was some kind of freak.
"No but I've seen a couple of Fifth years with them and they are in quite a few books around here." Keeya shrugged, "I've never seen one like that before though.”
Zoe nodded in agreement with her and explained, "That's why we went to see Celestria this morning. We were hoping that she could tell us more."
"And? Did she?" Luci's huge, rounded eyes turned on me as though she guessed I was the only one allowed into the Grand Priestess's room.
I shrugged.
"She didn't really know much." Zoe said for me, "Just that the Goddess might have picked Bri for something and we would all have to wait to see what it was."
I gave her a grateful glance.
Just then the sound of snickering behind me made me jump and I whipped around to find three girls appearing from behind the bushes. Instinctively I covered my mark with my hair and shot a warning glance at my friends not to say anything.
My heart swelled as I realised that's exactly what they were becoming: my friends.
I could only imagine how Peter and Bobby would have reacted to my story. They would have probably insisted that I needed mental help. But these girls seemed to accept my story as something more than that and they even seemed to respect me for it because none of them said a word as Rhea and two girls I didn't recognise stepped out onto the overhang.
"Look girls, it's the dork squad." Rhea chuckled. And both girls, one with bleach blonde hair and another with naturally ashy blonde hair, chuckled at her words.
So it seemed Rhea had her own set of bots willing to say, 'how high?', when she told them to jump.
Just what I needed. At least this time I wasn't facing them alone.
"I'll show you dork!" Keeya jumped to her feet in a shot and began to chant just as she had been before story time.
"Keeya, no!" Zoe gasped, rushing to her feet to grip hold of her friend's shoulders, "You know we aren't allowed to use our powers against each other!"
Keeya barely seemed to hear her for a moment, glaring at Rhea as though she wanted to smack the smirk right off her face. Then Zoe gave her shoulders a good shake and she eased away from where she was squaring up to Rhea.
"You know, new girl, you could have found a much better group of friends here." Rhea glared at me and it appeared that everyone else in the 'dork squad' was forgotten. I'd been called many things in my fifteen years but dork was definitely not one of them.
I guessed that by ‘better group of friends’ she meant her own little posse. There was no way in hell that anyone was going to turn me into a bot.
I stepped forwards, slipping between Keeya and Zoe to stand right in front of Rhea.
"Why don't you go and stick your head in a cauldron or something?" I snarled at her, never allowing my eyes to falter from hers.
For just a moment she looked shocked at my standing up for myself. My satisfaction at the fact was short lived.
"Cauldron?" She chuckled, "I think you've been watching way too many human movies."
She said the word 'human' as though she found them disgusting.
"I think you're forgetting that you were once nothing more than human." Keeya snapped, obviously picking up on it too.
"Rhea has never been human!" The girl with bleached blonde hair spoke up then, "She's a Maxwell!"
"That doesn't make her better than anyone else." I told them and I could feel Luci and Zoe gaping at me as though I had totally lost my mind.
"Bri is right." Keeya stood strongly beside me while the other two girls cowered behind me.
"You think you're right, new girl?" Rhea said venomously and stepped forwards so that her nose was practically brushing mine.
"Correction. I know I'm right." I said, my hands balling into fists at the way she reminded me of Lola.
It was then that she raised her hands, planting them square on my shoulders. She shoved me back so unexpectedly that I lost my footing and found myself reeling backwards.
The heel of my pump caught in a crevice between the boulders and there was nothing I could do but accept my fate as I crashed towards the floor.
Sent straight backwards I felt my head connect painfully with the stone and my vision went sickeningly black.
CHAPTER 16
AM I DEAD? I THOUGHT THE WORDS DISTANTLY AND found that I lacked a will to be frightened.
You are not dead, my daughter. The familiar voice of the Goddess rang in my mind and a moment later my vision was filled with bright, shimmering stars.
I glanced all around me but could see nothing but twinkling lights almost as if I was somehow suspended in the middle of a starry night sky.
Night? Where had that come from? A few moments ago I'd been stood beside the river with the midday sun beating down on me.
Do not be frightened, my daughter. The voice came again and then the goddess suddenly appeared before me, her long flowing white dress floating out around her like wisps of white smoke.
Her silver hair danced around her hair once more like a halo just as it had been when she had come to me in the swimming pool.
You are strong, Brianna, daughter of my daughter. Her voice was sweet and calming and as she spoke the words I felt a surge of power rush through me.
Daughter of my daughter? Was she talking about my mum? The mum I had never met. Emelia who had left me with her best friend and said it was for my own good.
I didn't get the chance to ask because she continued to speak to me.
You are the light that will chase away the darkness. She told me. You are the wind that will sweep away evil. The fire that will burn bright. The water that will wash pure my children. The child of earth who will see new things grow. You are of my spirit and my body and my blood.
None of what she was saying made any sense but with every sensation I felt as though her warm breath was filling me with energy, giving me whatever I needed to see her will done.
Go back to your friends my daughter and right the wrongs that have been committed in my name.
What wrongs was she talking about? What had been done in her name? Who could probably do something wrong and lay the blame at such a mighty Goddess's feet?
All these questions filled my head as I began to reel, feeling as if I was falling back to earth at an alarmingly fast rate.
I braced myself, waiting for the pain to come but it never did.
When I blinked my eyes open again I found that the night had receded and the sun was once more blazing above me.
Shadows crowded in around me and it took me a moment to realise that it was my friends.
"Oh my Goddess! Look at her eyes!" Luci's voice swam to me as if coming from a great distance.
"They're glowing!" Zoe pointed out, her voice sounding a little nearer but not by much.
"W...what happened?" I groaned as I tried to sit up and felt hands grip my back to steady me from moving too fast.
"Careful. Don't move too fast." Keeya warned me and I realised that it was her who had hold of me, "You hit your head pretty damn hard."
She distantly noticed the way that she shot a glare at the girls still standing at the other end of the outcrop.
Both Rhea and her bots were staring at me. The two girls behind her were open mouthed with astonishment but Rhea's face was a mask of hatred if ever I saw one.
"Still think you are the big boss around here?" Keeya shot at her and Rhea practically hissed at her like a feral cat.
"Here. Let's get you up." Zoe offered me her hand and all together my friends helped me to stand, edging in close to me as though they thought I needed their support.
They were probably right. My head was banging, pain radiating from a sore spot on the back of my skull, and I was trembling from head to toe. My knees felt so weak that I knew if I moved a muscle I would probably collapse all over again.
