by A. N. Sage
When she walked into the training room, she almost tripped over. Liam had filled the entire room with about two dozen buckets of water. She looked at him in surprise.
“I may have upgraded the coffee cup.” He smiled. “Oh! I have something for you!”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright blue rock.
“Is that a sapphire?”
“Yup. I figured since the stones make our powers stronger, you could maybe use it to tap into yours.”
“So, what do we do with these?” She gestured at the buckets, tucking the rock into her pocket.
“Same as always. Or have you forgotten it all already? Somehow, I thought you’d be smarter than this.”
“Hey!” she yelled out, quickly realizing that he was trying to get her upset. “Just take it easy, we still don’t know for sure that’s going to work.”
“Maybe this whole thing won’t work. Maybe you being here is a mistake.”
“Liam, stop.”
“Stop what? You said you knew where the sword is but as far as I can see, you’re just some scared little girl playing with powers you don’t understand. It’s sad.”
“I said, stop.” This wasn’t working. She wasn’t getting sad and he was starting to cross the line.
“Why? You’re scared you can’t handle it? You need to remember your training.”
“I do remember.”
“Prove it. Your whole life you’ve been hiding behind a camera. You’re scared of people, you can’t talk to guys, no wonder your parents shipped you off to Westerlake.” He saw tears start to form in her eyes. “Remember your training, Ruby. Or have you forgotten it like you’ve forgotten your friend in the hospital?”
He was wrong. This wasn’t making her upset or sad. Nothing about this was going to help her move the water in the bucket at her feet. She didn’t feel sadness, she felt everything, all of her emotions combined. They were coursing through her veins like they had been in her dream. Pushing through her system, looking for a way out. She could feel her emotions intertwine and form a ball in the pit of her stomach. Pulsating and sending energy to the tips of her fingers.
“That’s enough!” She yelled and pushed her hand towards him. The energy moved to the tip of her fingers and shot out in a black fog. It hit Liam’s chest and catapulted him into the wall on the other end of the room. His back hit the metal, and he fell on the ground.
Ruby’s eyes were wide with shock. She looked at her hands, unable to believe what just happened. She bolted to Liam’s side, tears still running down her cheeks.
“Liam! Oh my God!” She knelt beside him, cupping his face with her hands. “Liam, please wake up.”
His eyes opened slowly, and he looked up at Ruby. Her tears were like waterfalls, and her hair a mess of loose waves across her face. He had never seen anyone more beautiful. He pushed himself up, so he was sitting in front of her. Her hands still on his face, he put his palm on the back of her head and pulled her in.
As their lips touched, Ruby’s emotions settled. The ball in her stomach was gone, and she no longer felt like a ticking bomb of energy. She let him press her closer to him and felt the warmth of his lips transfer to hers. His hands squeezed her waist, pushing the air out of her lungs. Her temperature rose and her breath grew shallow. She pulled at his hair, using it to stabilize herself. Her body falling onto his hard chest, burning up from the heat rising from his skin. Nothing had ever made her feel like this. Powerful and weak at the same time.
When they pulled away, she studied his face as their thoughts shifted to what happened before the kiss.
“Well, that was new.” he said.
“Which part?” Ruby smiled and put her hand on his.
“All of it.”
Chapter 26
Toiletries
Ruby was frantically trying to squeeze the clothes she had tossed on her bed into an overnight bag. It didn’t make sense to keep staying in the apartment. With Shaylah still gone and the amount of time she was spending training: she should be closer to the resistance. Even with Liam staying on the couch, she still felt scared in the apartment at night.
It wasn’t tough to convince Liam to let her move in. They hadn’t spoken about the kiss since it happened, but she could see he was ecstatic when she told him she was temporarily moving in. Maybe without the added pressure of worrying about her safety they could finally figure out what was starting to happen between them. Ruby was more than just confused about their relationship. She knew she wanted him, but that was about all she knew.
“How’s it going in there?” he yelled out from the kitchen.
“It’s ok. Just trying to figure out what I need to bring.” She was narrowing down her outfit choices to functional attire.
“Well, don’t stress over it. We can always come back and get what you’re missing.”
He was right. It’s not like she was moving there forever. She eyed a dress she’d borrowed from Shaylah a few months ago and threw it in with the mix of sweats and jeans. She would probably never get a chance to wear it, but after the kiss, there was a new need in her to impress Liam.
You’re being childish. It’s not some cute vacation you’re going on. You must concentrate on the plan.
It’d been days since her dream about the sword, and she still had not told Liam about her plan to unite the Elemental houses. In her defense, there wasn’t much to tell. She knew she wanted to get a hold of the sword before any of the resistance Elementals had a chance to claim it. Especially Alice. If the sword got into the hands of the elders, there was little chance of ending the war.
She understood their need for its power. If someone was lording over her and her family for years, she would probably want the same. But that wouldn’t stop a war. In fact, it would likely start a bigger one, Air and Water would not surrender without a fight. If the resistance gets the sword, she was certain the other houses would do everything they could to get it back. How many innocent people would be hurt in the crossfire? How many more humans would end up hospitalized like Shaylah?
She couldn’t risk endangering more people. More importantly, if the visions she had about Jake were about his safety, he could very well be the next collateral damage.
The only thing Ruby could say for certain was that the sword had to end up in her hands, somehow. She still had no idea what she would do with it once it was found, but anything she did would be better than more fighting. Maybe she could get the houses to listen to reason, she had to at least try.
“I’m going to go grab a couple of coffees, you think you’ll be done in fifteen minutes or so?” She peeked out through the bedroom door and saw Liam putting on his shoes. She wanted nothing more than to run over to him right now, to feel his burning lips on hers. But he’d been acting like that first kiss had never happened, and she was starting to wonder if he wasn’t pretending. What if she imagined the entire thing? Worse, what if it was a vision? She was spending so much time daydreaming about the kiss that it never occurred to her to consider the possibility that her visions were getting stronger.
“Yeah, that should be fine. I just need to pack some toiletries.”
She grabbed the dress from her bag and tossed it back in the closet. There was no time for her delusions of romance right now. Liam’s casual behavior was how things had to stay between them for the moment. They both needed to concentrate on finding the sword and getting her in shape and ready for battle.
The broken camera lens on the table reminded her how simple life was before all of this. Before that awful train ride, before the Elementals, before her friends were in danger. But all of that was also before Liam, and if given the chance, she would not change a thing that happened. She needed him in her life.
Filling her bag with a few more things, she put on her boots just as the door handle turned.
“Ready?” Liam said from behind two giant coffee cups.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She smiled, and for the first time in a long whi
le, she meant every word.
Chapter 27
We need to talk
Her hands were on fire, but she couldn’t feel the heat. There were embers in the corner of the room from the last fireball she’d tossed. Closing one of her fists, she let smoke escape from the dying flames.
One handed, she pushed a boulder from her side of the room to block the exit. Her other hand shot a fireball in front of it and the ground lit up in a blazing wall. She turned just in time to see Liam grab a knife from the table and lunge towards her. With both her hands intertwined, she pointed at the knife and shot a turbulent wind in its direction, knocking it out of Liam’s hand and onto the floor.
Breathing heavily, she stood directly in front of him and flipped her palms. The air around them began to shift, forming a thick, black fog. She brought her hands together and sharply straightened her arm, pointing at the space between herself and Liam. The fog expanded and thickened, enveloping Liam. She could see him struggling to see through it.
She swiftly dropped to the ground and rolled towards the knife, grabbing it with one of her hands. One leg extended and still crouching she twisted like an ice-skater getting ready to leap, knocking the feet from under Liam. She pounced through the fog, landing seated on his chest. The knife at his throat. Game over.
“Ok, ok. You win.” He was laughing and holding his arms up in defeat.
Ruby smiled and loosened the knife from his neck. She could see the red mark she’d left when she’d pressed into him and reached for his throat with her fingers to soothe it. Still sitting on top of him, she flipped her hair out of the way and began to lean in. She was almost an inch away from his face when she heard a clapping sound emerge from the other side of the fog still around them.
“Well done, Ruby!” Alice was standing only a few feet away from them. Each clap sent the fog away from her, revealing her face. She seemed pleased with Ruby’s progress. “You’ve really picked up the training, I see.”
Ruby brushed herself off as she got up to stand. She extended her arm to help Liam, who accepted without hesitation.
“I’m really impressed with you two. It seems that Ruby will be a more integral use for the resistance than anyone could have expected.”
“Alice,” Ruby walked over to the elder, “any news on what that vision I had about Jake might mean?”
It had been weeks and no one had any new information. Alice had said she had tasked one of the elders who was proficient in symbology to decipher its meaning, but she hadn’t heard anything since.
“We’re still trying to figure it out. It wasn’t much to go by, and since you haven’t had another vision again, we’re really flying blind here. But I promise you we will get to the bottom of it. Your friend will be fine.”
“It’s just, he’s supposed to leave soon and...” she didn’t know how to finish the sentence.
“You want to make sure you’re around to protect him.” Liam finished it for her. She could see the hurt in his eyes when he spoke about Jake. Maybe she didn’t imagine their kiss after all.
“Well, yeah. He’s my friend. I have to make sure he doesn’t get caught up in this.” She tried to reassure Liam with her eyes. “Like Shaylah.”
“Don’t worry, honey, we will figure it out. No one will let your friend get hurt.” Alice put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “For now, you should concentrate on getting stronger. You’re no good to Jake if you leave yourself exposed to danger.”
She turned around and walked out of the room, extinguishing the fires from Ruby’s fireballs as she left. Despite not trusting her entirely, Ruby was in awe of Alice. The way she carried herself and the ease with which she used her powers. She could only hope to be that skilled one day. Alice was right as always, she needed to practice. But how could she concentrate on honing her emotions with everything that was happening around her? She needed to have a clear mind in order to train properly and there was only one way to do that.
“Liam,” She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to her, “we need to talk.”
Chapter 28
Shaylah is awake
“What’s wrong?” Liam’s questioning eyes pierced through her, there was no turning back now.
“Nothing. It’s not bad, I just...” What did she want to say here? “I just wanted to talk about what happened.”
“Happened when? Right now? At training?”
“No. The other day, when we kissed.”
“Oh. I mean, what’s to talk about?” He shrugged and pulled away from her hand.
“Well, what did it mean?”
“Why did it have to mean something?”
“Uhm. I guess it didn’t. I thought that maybe it meant something. To you.” She felt foolish now. He obviously did not care, and she hadn’t read the situation right and let herself get carried away. “Maybe I was wrong. Never mind.”
He was already starting to gather up the props for the next training session. “All right. So, we’re good?”
“I guess.”
Ruby’s cheeks looked like someone had painted her with freshly boiled beets. She was embarrassed, but even more than that, she was hurt. She cared for Liam, and she thought that what had happened meant that those feelings were returned. His reaction just now made her feel like a childish schoolgirl with a crush. There was nothing on his mind other than the resistance. How could she have misread the situation so badly?
She was about to walk out of the room to get some water from the kitchen when she saw her backpack move from the vibration of the phone inside.
“Hello? Yes, it’s me.” She nodded. “Of course! I’ll be there shortly. Thank you for calling me!”
“Who was that?” Liam asked.
“The hospital. Shaylah is awake. She’s asking to see me.”
“All right, I’ll just tidy up here and we’ll head over.”
“You know, it might be better if I go alone.” Ruby wanted to get away from the resistance and from him. The last thing she needed right now was a reminder of the rejection.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It’s for the best, really. I think we both need a break from each other for an afternoon.”
As she walked out of the room she looked back through the doorway. Hoping for some semblance of emotion, to give her a glimpse into his feelings for her. Anything to make her feel like she wasn’t crazy and hadn’t created an entire relationship out of thin air. Liam was crouched on the floor, cleaning up the mess from their battle. His attention on the training room.
Letting out a disappointed sigh, she ran towards the exit. Fleeing the resistance and her own broken heart.
Chapter 29
I care about you, Rue
Shaylah’s face had begun to regain some color and Ruby was relieved to see her friend’s rosy cheeks. She had crawled sheepishly into the hospital room while Shaylah’s parents went to get some food, feeling an immense amount of guilt over her friend’s accident.
“Hey, Fish. Thanks for coming.” Shaylah said and started to sit up in her bed.
“Of course. How are you feeling?”
“Oh, you know. Like a house fell on me.”
“I’m so sorry, Shay. I was so worried. We all were.”
“It’s not your fault. Wrong place, wrong time.” Shaylah straightened the blanket on her to a more comfortable position. “Were a lot of people hurt?”
“A few. No one as bad as you.”
“Lucky me, I guess.”
Ruby’s eyes were wells now, overflowing to the brim. The idea of her friend being in this situation made her sick to her stomach. She knew the attack wasn’t her fault but still felt responsible. If she had just been more aggressive with the resistance maybe she could have found out about it before it was too late. What was the point of having all these powers if she couldn’t even save her own friends?
“I really wish I could have gotten you out of there sooner.”
“Yeah, about that...” Shaylah’s questioning eyes watched Rub
y in a hawk-like manner, “how exactly did you get me out?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I remember the building starting to fall apart, and being trapped under that giant marble block. Then you trying to lift it. I could have sworn you shattered it in half. Like, with your hands.”
“What? You know I’m not some ninja, right?” She was trying to laugh it off and change the subject. “I probably kicked it in a weird spot when I was trying to move it.”
“I know how heavy that thing was. There is no way you could have kicked it in half.”
“Well, I don’t know. Maybe it was already cracked or something. I’m honestly just glad that I was able to get the guard to help me.”
“I guess. Yeah.” Shaylah did not look convinced. “I just think it’s a little weird.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it right now; you need to concentrate on getting better.”
“You should listen to her, you know.” Jake said from the doorway. Ruby was so concerned with her friend that she hadn’t even heard him come in. “You need to get some rest and get the heck out of this place.”
“I know.” Shaylah smiled. “Thanks for coming by guys. It’s nice to see your faces again. Really.”
Ruby squeezed her friend’s hand and looked back at Jake. He was gesturing for them to leave. Shaylah needed to rest and get better. There was nothing either of them could do from inside a hospital room.
They were walking towards the subway when Jake stopped her in the middle of the street.
“Rue, we need to talk.”
“Oh, ok. What’s up?” Trying to figure out what he wanted to discuss.
