Gathering Water

by Regan Claire

  “All right, but this time just try to Gather. Using the Air to move the fan isn’t what we’re trying to do here.”

  “I am just Gathering. I don’t know how to do anything else.” He looked at me in that curious manner I’d been getting from nearly everyone lately, held his hand over the radio he kept by his beach chair for a few minutes, making it flicker on and off for a minute, then told me to do it again, watching me much more carefully than he had before.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. You shouldn’t be able to do that, you know.”

  “Do what?”

  “Gather as much as you are.”

  “Am I doing it wrong?”

  “No, you’re just doing it more. No matter, it’s a good thing. Means you’ll have more oomph and stamina. Just never seen it before.”

  “What were you doing with the radio there?”

  “I was Gathering Fire, then Tempering it. It’s what I’m about to teach you to do.”

  “Gathering, Reading, and Tempering. Aren’t there more fun ways of saying these things? How do you ‘Temper’ something?”

  “There are a few more terms, and they describe what they do young lady, but we’re just gonna talk about Tempering today. Stop asking questions for two minutes and let me teach you. Now, close your eyes and try to find where you put all that energy. Just the air energy. Do you have it? Now focus on it sinking inside you. Absorb it…”

  “But I thought that’s what Gathering was!”

  “Stop interrupting. Can you feel the Air inside you?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Now, make it a part of you, let it sink in,” he said, as if he were making perfect sense.

  “Can I open my eyes yet?” Nothing was happening and I was starting to feel silly.

  “Have you done what I told you to yet?”

  “No! I don’t think you’re explaining it right.” I heard the radio crackle again, then heard Luke stand up and walk until he stood right in front of me.

  "Ok, let’s try it this way. You've got a handle on where you Air is, right? Make sure it’s the Air you’re playing around with. Now, try and make it into the tightest ball you can. Right, that's it. Now let’s..."

  "Is this it?"

  "You interrupted again. Now for Tempering, you just do the opposite. Let it spread out everywhere, until it kind of sinks into you. Don't shake your head, that's the best way to explain it." Despite those vague instructions, I did start to understand what he meant. I let the ball of energy get thinner and thinner, and spread wider and wider until it took over my entire body, a thin cloud coating my body like a sheet. Then, very suddenly, the cloud was a part of me, not just in me but in me.

  “Now open your eyes,” said Luke. I opened my eyes, instantly got a little dizzy, and shut them again.

  “You all right there Della?” Luke’s words pounded into my skull, causing me to put my hands on my ears.

  “What’s happening? Why are you so loud?” Even my own voice sounded wrong, like I was speaking on a megaphone or something. Really loud. So really, really loud.

  “Della, uncover your ears and open up your eyes. You’re fine, this is supposed to happen,” he whispered to me, but even his whisper was almost deafening.

  Slowly, I put my hands down onto the counter and did what he said. There was so much light that I had to squint against it or be blinded by its brightness, but when I finally adjusted I looked around in wonder. I could see everything in such incredible detail, could count the individual fluffy white hair on Luke’s tanned arms. I could even see the tiny imperfections in the drink-case glass.

  “Oh. My. God. What did you do to me?” Again my voice sounded wrong, but before I could comment on it other sounds bombarded me: a thump-thump, like a heart beat, the hum of the computer back in Luke’s office, the tic-tic-tic of the white clock on the wall. Then a million other things that, coupled with the super-vision, were far more than overwhelming and made me scrunch my eyes and cover my ears again. I slid off the counter and sat on the floor with my knees bunched up and my hands over my ears.

  The fan whirred and papers scattered through the air. Various goods on the shelves started falling to the floor, banging so loudly that tears started streaming from my eyes.

  And if all that wasn’t overwhelming enough, the smells started kicking in. Old Spice, hot dogs, plastic, gasoline, dirt… I smelled wood chips, an apple, no an apple core, and paper. Paper!

  Luke’s heartbeat speed up, the thump-thump was coming from his chest, then the tangy smell of perspiration wafted toward me as he knelt down in front of me. “Della, honey, are you okay?”

  I groaned. Even though I knew he wasn’t shouting, it was still just so loud, and it hurt. He seemed to understand that something was wrong because I heard him walk to the front door and lock it, heard the click of the open sign turn off, heard him breathe. Luke’s thundering steps walked to the light switch and then another click signified the lights were off and a hum I had hardly noticed before stopped a little. Holy crap I could hear electricity humming! And barking outside, and cars starting, and leaves rustling…

  I was so distracted by the distant sound of waves crashing, and even of little creatures scurrying, that I jumped when Luke touched my knee.

  “Della, hun, you’re Tempering too much. You have a bit more oomph than I anticipated. I’m going to need to talk you through stopping, okay? Nod your head if you understand me,” Luke said with his forehead wrinkled in worry.

  I nodded, freaked out by the hinge-like sound my own neck made when I moved.

  “Okay, remember how you made a tight ball out of the energy before? You need to do that again. It’s going to be a little harder this time, but just concentrate, okay? I’ll be right here.”

  I tried to do what he said, really tried, but there was just so much in my head I couldn’t focus long enough to do it.

  “I can’t,” I mouthed, too afraid to speak aloud.

  “Della, you’re gonna have to, baby girl. I don’t know how long it would take you to burn through everything you’ve Gathered, so if you want it to stop you need to try? Start small, start at your feet and work your way up, all right? Draw it back out, that’s it.”

  I tried to make my thin cloud turn back into that dense ball, concentrating first on making the cloud leave my toes. Finally I felt the energy start to peel away from whatever it was leeched onto inside of me, and it slowly started working its way free of the rest of my feet, then ankles and legs, until I was ready to do the same thing with my hands and arms. At last all the energy was back into a tight ball, but even though my hearing and smell seemed to be back to normal it took me a few minutes to pluck up my courage to move my hands and open up my eyes. When I finally did everything was back to normal, well, except that the store was a wreck and Luke looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

  “Well, that was an adventure. Are you okay?” Luke walked back behind the counter on shaky legs and pulled out a small bottle of bourbon that he kept “for emergencies” and took a long pull before handing it to me.

  I’d never had alcohol before, not because I was a goody good or anything, but it was like my own little rebellion against my peers not to drink. But now I decided I deserved a sip, or gulp, of whatever happy-juice was sloshing around in the glass bottle, and barely sputtered after my first taste of straight bourbon.

  I looked around at the destruction in the store while the warm effects of the alcohol spread from my stomach. “Did I do all of this?”

  “Yes ma’am, you did,” Luke said with disheveled hair and wide eyes.

  I took another swig from the bottle. “Is this normal? Is that what Tempering does?”

  “Yes, in the way that a light rain does the same thing as a thunderstorm, or hurricane, sure.” Luke plopped down into his beach chair.

  Another swig. This stuff was really helping me find my calm.

  “Tempering does something different, depending on what element you use. Air enhances your sight, he
aring, and sense of smell. Just usually not so much.”

  “Yeah, I got that.” I giggled a little. It was suddenly kinda funny, and giggling seemed better than screaming my head off. Of course, my giggle made Luke look up at me; it made him notice my new best friend clutched tightly to my chest.

  “Christ, Della. How much did you drink?” He pulled the bottle from my clutch. Meany. He gave me a look, which I couldn’t really interpret, then walked to the back where I heard him call someone on the phone.

  For the tiniest fraction of a second I was tempted to tap into my super-sonic hearing power and listen in on the conversation, but the bourbon was probably affecting my judgment a little.

  I tried to clean up my mysterious mess while Luke was in the back room, and hoped he could explain why it looked like a whirlwind tore the place apart. It was difficult, since the room was spinning slightly.

  “Della, just leave that,” Luke said when he walked back into the room.

  “But it’s a mess, let me…”

  “No, I’ll take care of it. Sit back down.”

  “Well, okay.” I was actually glad that he was bullying me into sitting. It was hardly ten a.m. and I was already exhausted emotionally. The bourbon probably wasn’t helping.

  “So, you were telling me about how different elements do different things, right?”

  He leaned over and picked up a shelf that had been knocked over. “We don’t have to go over this stuff now, Della.”

  “Just tell me, Luke. Please. Pretty please. I promise I won’t destroy your store any more than it already is.”

  “Ok, yes. You already know what Air is responsible for. Earth will enhance your physical strength, makes you really strong and fast. Water makes your skin really sensitive. You’ll also heal up a little faster when you’re Tempering it…”

  “Heal faster? How much faster? Why didn’t we start with that one? It would help my headache.” Of course, the headache had only just started after I Tempered.

  “A little faster. It’s nothing miraculous, it doesn’t really happen before your eyes. It’ll make your blood clot faster if you’re bleeding, for instance. You can’t cut yourself and watch the skin instantly knit itself back together… but it is enough to help save your life if you get injured. The sensitivity comes in handy, though if you use it in a fight you need to be really careful to not get hit. Fire, well, that one’s a little hard to explain. It lets you see things, or feel them, or sense them. Well, it sort of lets you see beneath what’s there, to what’s real,” he said, once again without making any sense.

  “You’ve completely lost me.”

  “It lets you see the magic, though I don’t like calling it that. It lets you see power or energy. You can sense when it’s being used, see it being Gathered. You need to know how to do it to Find someone, and later to Hide as well.”

  “I’m never going to get all of this. Can we make flash cards or something?” I groaned at him. “Luke, why did I react that way? What’s wrong with me?”

  “Little girl, I don’t think anything’s wrong with you. I told you that you’d probably have a bit more power, a bit more oomph. Well, it was a major understatement. It’s going to make learning a little more tricky, but you’ll figure it out…”

  “Do I have to?” I whined.

  “Yes, you do. You need to learn how to use your power properly. You’ve got too much of it just to wing it,” he chided.

  “It still doesn’t explain why I nearly destroyed everything.”

  “Well, it was kind of an emotional time for you. Things can get out of control during something like that. Usually happens with the little ones, it’s why we start lessons so young.” He stood back up and walked to the front door, unlocking it and letting someone in. Thinking it was just a customer, though it was quite obvious we were closed, I bent over and rested my head on my knees, using my hands as an impromptu pillow.

  “Della are you okay?” I was really not expecting the sound of my Uncle Connor’s voice right then. He was supposed to be at work.

  “Uncle Connor? What are you doing here?” I asked him.

  “Luke called me to come and get you. Are you okay? Luke, what the hell did you do to her?” He rushed over, stopping in front of me and glaring at Luke.

  “Ah, don’t look at me like that. I was just teaching her how to Temper Air. She was Tempering too much though; she got overwhelmed. It took a few minutes for her to turn it off,” Luke told him, running a hand through his hair.

  “That explains the lights being off. But if she was Tempering so much, she should have burned through it really quickly, why…”

  “That’s the thing, Connor. Her Well is quite a bit deeper than ours. I noticed she was able to Gather more, faster, but there was no way to know that she was able to hold that much inside of her.”

  Connor took a few steps closer to Luke, poking him in the chest. “You should have been more careful. What if something had happened to her? Look around Luke, she could have brought the building down…”

  “Now just a minute, Connor. You should be thanking me. Imagine what could have happened if her first lesson had been with Bending,” Luke said with a raised voice.

  “I’m still not sure…”

  “Hello. Old guys. I’m right here. Or is invisibility a side effect of being magical? Can we do that? Become invisible? Do I get to go to Hogwarts?” Luke looked at me, slightly amused at my outburst.

  Uncle Connor just looked pissed. “Della, are you drunk? Luke, did you give her something to drink? She’s underage!” Uh-oh. Guess we were in trouble.

  “She’s fine. I gave her a little bourbon to calm her nerves.”

  “More than a little bourbon by the way she’s over there giggling right now.” It’s not that everything was suddenly funny, just laughing seemed like the best way to, I don’t know, breathe?

  “She might have, ah, taken a few more pulls on the bottle when I wasn’t looking,” Luke said sheepishy.

  “Same old irresponsible Uncle Luke! I can’t be…”

  “Oh no, Mom and Dad are fighting,” I said before bursting out laughing, interrupting Connor.

  “Connor, just take Della on home. I’ll clean up here, but you’re gonna need to take some time off work for her lessons. She needs something more involved then the biweekly schedule you did with Cash. And take her somewhere secluded for them. I’ll be around, work with her some more.”

  “I don’t think that will be necessary, Luke. Besides, don’t you think you’ve done enough?” Connor said, helping me up and leading me through the canned goods on the floor to the front door.

  “Connor, her Well is huge. She did all this, while Tempering, and she only Gathered the one time at the beginning of the lesson. I’ve only ever seen the Elfennol do something like this, but she was Tempering and Bending Air to do it. This is a serious issue, Connor.” Luke walked ahead of us.

  “She only Gathered one time? That’s impossible.” Connor finally got me to the front door, which Luke was semi-blocking.

  “It’s not impossible. I didn’t know how to stop it. If I could stop to Gather then I would have stopped, right? I knew I did something wrong!” I had to defend him. Luke had been nice to me, helped me stop the super hearing/smelling/sight power and kept me from going all the way crazy.

  Uncle Connor looked at me for a minute, as if he were deciding whether to believe me or not, then looked at Luke and nodded his head. “Fine, I’ll call Susan and tell her I’ll be working from home for the next little while. I’d appreciate the help, when you have the time. We’ll talk later. Come on Della, let’s get you home.”

  “Whatever you need. Della, you go drink a big glass of water and sleep it off. You’ll feel better after a good nap.”

  “Alrighty Luke. I’ll see ya later; it’s been magical.” And I walked the rest of the way to Connor’s car chortling at my own joke.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  November 3rd, 1968

  Dear Journal,

  Ani
se is becoming more deft at Bending, though her concentration is still lacking when doing the smaller things. I’m thinking of doing what my mother did to me, and tying her hands for an hour or two each day to make her use her abilities more often and accurately. I’ll never forget the day my mother bade me to brush my hair by Bending the brush! The tangles took days to unknot! It hasn’t come to that, yet.

  I woke the following morning to my sheets being ripped off. What got me out of bed, however, was the ice cube my evil cousin put on my neck when the cover yanking didn’t do its job, and which I angrily threw at him before burying my head in my pillow. Hey, I was tired. Exhausted more like.

  Even after taking a long nap the day before, and spending the afternoon nursing a booze-inflicted headache and watching movies on the couch with Cash and Dove, I still felt like I could sleep for a week. Or two. Cash got a good laugh at my overindulged state, and seemed to chalk up my exhaustion the rest of the day to having a hangover. He showed absolutely no interest in why his father picked me up, or why I felt the need for a strong adult beverage at ten a.m..

  Dove wasn’t so oblivious. He asked what was wrong with me as soon as he saw me groggily walk down the stairs to the living room after my restorative nap. Uncle Connor just replied, “family stuff” and left it at that. I guess Dove understood what that meant because he didn’t press it the rest of the day, and more importantly, didn’t fight me when I decided I deserved to spread out on the couch, pushing Cash onto the love seat and leaving Dove to act as my footrest on the opposite end of the sofa.

  I couldn’t believe I had slept in late enough for Cash to have to wake me up, until I noticed that the sun hadn’t come up outside my window.

  “Why in the world do you insist on waking me up at ungodly hours? Let me sleeeep.” I tried to use one of my pillows as a blanket for my bare legs; I was covered in goosebumps without the covers.

  “Seriously, Della, Dad took off work for your lessons, which he’s forcing me to attend so I can ‘practice’,” he rolled his eyes, “and if I have to be awake right now, so do you. So get up before I drag you out of bed.” For the first time since I’d met him, Cash looked dead serious.