by Sarah Reeves
“Let’s go, Alex. Today you’re learning to use your power.” At that, Alex actually sat up, and squinted at her new mentor.
“Are we really?” When Adrien nodded, Alex got up and padded to the adjoining bathroom. “At least let me brush my teeth and shower first. Two weeks enduring unimaginable torture really makes you appreciate the little things.”
“Okay. Meet me in the yard when you’re done.”
Thirty minutes later, Alex walked out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel and feeling like she had just watched a year’s worth of grime slide down the drain. She went to her bag, still on the floor from where she had started to unpack, and began to rummage through it. What did she even need to wear for this sort of thing? Learning to wield fire wasn’t a particularly strenuous activity, was it? Eventually, Alex settled on a pair of exercise pants and an old t-shirt. One that she knew she wouldn’t miss if it caught fire. She wore a tank top underneath, just in case.
She made it out to the front yard, tying her hair back and trying to pretend like her stomach wasn’t jumping with nerves. Adrien was already by the little pond, wearing an outfit made of material Alex didn’t recognize. She turned as Alex made her way towards her.
“You took a while,” was all she said.
“I was savoring the moment,” replied Alex, with a slight amount of sarcasm. When Adrien only gave a dry smile, Alex asked: “How do I start?”
“First, take these and go change.” Adrien threw a bundle of clothing in Alex’s direction. The teen caught it reflexively. It was brown and leathery-looking. “Training clothes, ones that won’t catch fire if you make a mistake.” She shooed Alex toward the house, and Alex went, rather reluctantly. The clothes looked uncomfortable. She put them on, surprised at how easily she was able to move in them, and went back out to her mentor. Adrien continued to speak as though Alex had never left.
“Drawing out your power isn’t done with the same technique as Shifting. You remember how you Shifted?” The younger woman nodded, and Adrien continued. “This is different. With Shifting, you peeled back your power, piece by piece, until you changed shape. With actually using your power, it’s more like you have to let it go completely, and direct it to where you want it to go. Before your body started trying to Shift, you said you accidentally set your covers on fire. How did that feel?”
“My chest got really hot, and then the heat kind of, like, shot down my arm and came out of my hand.”
“Good, so you know what it’s supposed to feel like when it happens, then. You just have to recreate that feeling.”
“Yeah, but I was really freaking out when that happened. I can’t be that level of freaked out any time I want to use my power.”
“Exactly,” Adrien lifted her hand, palm facing the sky. “ That’s why I’m training you. You need to get to where you can do it by will. Like this.” The sunlight dappling the trees around them seemed to dim slightly as a ball of light roughly the size of Adrien’s palm took shape in the air above her hand. It was a tiny sun, hanging in the air, and Alex watched, transfixed, as it grew larger and larger. It stopped growing when it was the size of Alex’s head. Alex reached forward, intending to touch it, but Adrien simply closed her hand, and it disappeared.
“Hey,-” Alex started to protest, but Adrien stopped her with a look.
“You need to be able to do the same thing. After that, I want you to experiment with what else you can do. I’ll leave you here for one hour. I want you to be able to conjure flames in your palm, like I can with light.” With that, she turned and went into the house. Alex watched the door close, then turned back to face the pond. How the hell was she supposed to do what Adrien wanted? She hadn’t even given Alex any instructions about how to make it happen!
Alex sat on the ground by the edge of the water, and held her palm out like Adrien had done. Might as well try. She was going to be there for an hour regardless. Closing her eyes, Alex drew out the image of her power again. It was coming to the forefront of her mind more easily now, barely requiring any focus. It was a sphere, like last time, and Alex poked at it mentally for a moment. She felt out with her senses, and felt the warmth next to her heart more prominently. Now all I have to do is make it move.
Alex took a deep breath, relaxed her muscles bit by bit, and began to loosen the ball of flame in her mind as well. It started to lose it’s shape, and Alex could feel the heat behind her sternum spread, infinitesimally. Alex gritted her teeth, and it spread some more. It got to her shoulder, her elbow. After what seemed like the entire allotted hour, the heat got to her palm, which got unbelievably hot. Excitement coursed through Alex, and she opened her eyes to see that her hand was glowing. Flames began to form, shivery and weak, in the space above her palm. Alex was panting now, concentrating with all her might. Finally, finally, there was a finished ball of flame in her hand. Alex lifted her other hand and wiped the sweat from her brow, then cupped the ball in both hands. Elation soared within her, and Alex let out a whoop.
“I did it!” It was all she could do to hold it in place, but she found that it was easier if she kept her hands together underneath it. Shakily, she stood and turned to face the house. “I did it!” she shouted again, raising her hands.
The door opened, and Adrien stuck her head out, eyes narrowed. “Good,” she called. “Do it again.” She retreated back into the house.
“Again?” Alex said incredulously. “You only said I have to do it once!” After a moment of waiting to see if Adrien would come back out, Alex turned back around. In her irritation, the flames had waned, and Alex clenched her fist. The fire disappeared. For a moment, Alex just stood by the edge of the water. Then she sat back down, cross legged. “Might as well try again.” I’m probably going to pass out, though. She held her hand out, palm up, and repeated the process of closing her eyes and bringing up the image of her power. There has to be an easier way to do this. As the thought ran through her mind, an idea began to surface. What if…
Taking a deep breath, Alex plunged her consciousness into the seat of her power. She immersed herself in it, letting it wash over her in warm waves. Heat flashed in her chest, a tiny inferno that rushed down her arm. Alex opened her eyes again, and there was a perfect ball of fire in her palm. It was dancing merrily, no longer weak and see-through but strong and radiant. Alex held up her other hand, hesitated, then touched the flames. There was no pain. She held her fingers in the fire for a full minute, and all she felt was a tickling sensation, a bit like running her fingers over velvet in the wrong direction.
Alex gave an incredulous laugh, reveling in the rush of power and adrenaline in her system. For a moment, she stared at the flames, trying to commit them to memory. Alex also stared because she thought that if she blinked, all of what was happening to her would disappear, and despite the danger they were in, she didn’t want to wake up from this dream quite yet. So focused was she that she nearly leapt into the pond when Adrien’s voice sounded behind her. The ball of fire dissipated at the sudden shock.
“Good job, you figured out how to do it,” said Adrien, coming around to stand next to the younger woman. Alex glared up at her, irritated that she had made the flames disappear. “Do it again.”
Alex stared at her trainer for another second with narrowed eyes. When Adrien only met her gaze indifferently, Alex huffed out a breath and closed her eyes, going through the same process as before. Within seconds she had recreated the flaming sphere, and held it up for Adrien to see. Her mentor examined it closely for a moment, then stood back and looked down at Alex.
“You did it wrong,” she said.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You did it wrong. It doesn’t look the way it’s supposed to.” Adrien took her hand and brought it to Alex’s eye level. “Look. See the middle? There’s no flame there.”
“Yes, there is,” Alex looked up at Adrien again. “It’s just darker than the rest. See?” Alex made the flame smaller and smaller until the sphere was about the size of a golf ball. True to her word,
the core of the sphere was a different color than the rest of it, taking on a dark purple hue that flickered darkly over her palm. Alex heard Adrien take in a deep breath, and looked over at her. Confusion was all over her face, and Alex frowned slightly. “What’s wrong?” When Adrien didn’t answer, Alex continued. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Not necessarily…” Adrien came closer to the flame, close enough that Alex could see it’s reflection in her eyes. “I can’t say I’ve ever seen it before though. Did you do it on purpose?
“No.”
“Hmm. Make it disappear and do it again.” Alex complied, and when the same thing happened, Adrien leaned back. “Strange. Come with me.” Alex stood, extinguishing her flame, and followed her mentor into the house. The cool air conditioning washed over her in a soothing wave, making Alex sigh in relief. She hadn’t realized it until then, but she was burning up.
She went with Adrien into the living room, where Teagan was playing with the dolls her mother had mentioned earlier that day. They were very creepy, Jennifer hadn’t been lying when she’d said so. Alex’s baby sister looked up, a large smile breaking out over her face as Alex walked in the room.
“Alex!” Teagan jumped up and threw her arms around her older sister’s legs. “What were you doing outside?”
“I was learning how to use my powers,” Alex replied, taking Teagan’s hand when the little girl let go. She led her over to the light colored couch, and sat down, putting Teagan on her lap. “Watch this.” Adrien and Teagan looked on as Alex held her hand out again, and made the ball of flame appear. It was becoming easier and easier to manifest her power, and Alex felt a surge of pride at her abilities. She didn’t catch Adrien’s worried look, nor did she notice that the core of her power had grown ever so slightly darker. All she saw was her sister, whose eyes were wide with delight and wonder.
“Wow, Alex! That’s so cool!” Teagan’s small hand reached forward, only to encounter air when Alex extinguished the flames. “Awww, I wanted to touch it.”
“You know you can’t play with fire, silly, you’ll get burned.” Alex ruffled Teagan’s auburn hair playfully.
“You play with it.” The little girl stuck out her bottom lip. “Why can’t I play with it too?”
“That’s because you and I aren’t the same, remember? Fire doesn’t hurt me, but it will hurt you if you’re not careful. Okay?”
“Because you’re an alien?”
Alex chuckled, and hugged her baby sister. “Yes, because I am an alien.”
“Okay.” Pause. Then: “Can I see your wings again?”
“Sure! Hold --”
“If you’re going to do that, you should go outside,” Adrien interrupted. She was standing with her arms folded, her mouth in a grim line. Alex frowned slightly. “There are a lot of breakable things in here, and your Shifted form is going to get bigger every day.” Bending down, Adrien put on a smile for Teagan. “Do you know where your mother is? I need to speak to her while you and your sister play outside.”
“She’s sleeping. You shouldn’t wake her up, Mommy says it’s rude to do that.”
Adrien laughed, and nodded her head. “You are absolutely right, little one. That’s why I will just check to see if she’s awake. I won’t make her wake up, if she’s still sleeping. I promise.”
Teagan’s eyes narrowed; after a moment, she brightened. “Okay! C’mon, Alex! I wanna see your wings.” She took Alex’s hand, dragging her older sister from the room. Alex made eye contact with Adrien. She had gotten rid of the smile, and wore the same sobered expression she had before. She looked away just before the front door closed.
Outside, Teagan let go of her sister’s hand and ran to the edge of the pond. “Show me, show me, show me!” She shouted, bouncing on the spot.
“Okay, okay, okay,” Alex mirrored her little sister’s cadence and took her by the hands when she had caught up to her. “Hold on a second. I gotta remember how to do it.” She released her, and backed up a few steps. She hadn’t been lying. The last time she had been in her half-human form (still couldn’t quite wrap her head around that), it was going from dragon to human. Alex felt doing the opposite would prove to be a challenge. She rolled her shoulders back, closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath. Like before, Alex called up her power in her mind. It appeared almost instantaneously, making Alex grin. Hell yeah, she thought. This is getting to be pretty easy. This time, instead of peeling away so many layers of her power, Alex took one piece at a time, pausing after each one to gauge what was going on with her body. As a result, the uncomfortable feeling she got when Shifting lasted longer, but it was only a few minutes before Teagan shrieked excitedly. Alex opened her eyes.
Her wings had grown out, but that wasn’t the only thing that had happened. Alex had grown more scales than she’d had the last time this had happened, enough to cover the lower half of her arms and her hands, which were now tipped with claws. She felt weight on the base of her spine, and assumed she had also grown her tail.
“Huh.” Alex lifted a hand, examining herself. “I guess I need to work on accuracy a little, don’t I, Teagan?” She looked down, but Teagan wasn’t in front of her anymore. “Teagan?” No answer. Alex’s heart hit her stomach, and she whirled, eyes frantic, searching for Teagan, but not finding her. “TEAGAN!” She yelled. She spun again, and heard it: giggling. “What--” Alex twisted her head around to look directly behind her, and discovered her little sister, hanging onto one of the spines of her tail and straddling it like a horse.
“Turn around again! That was fun,” Teagan gave a small shriek as Alex brought her tail around to her front and yanked her little sister from it, setting her down roughly. She maintained the grip she had on Teagan’s upper arms, but was careful to keep her claws from making contact.
“Don’t you ever do something like that again, you hear me?” Alex shook Teagan slightly, and saw her eyes get round with shock. She had to take a deep breath and remind herself that Teagan had no clue why Alex was so upset. Releasing the young girl, Alex crouched in front of her, folding her wings to her back and taking another second to calm down. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. You just scared me, that’s all. I don’t like it when you disappear like that, okay?” When Teagan nodded, Alex continued. “Next time, tell me where you are the first time I call your name, yeah?” The little girl nodded again. “Thank you.” Alex stood and grinned down at Teagan. “Now, wanna see if I can fly?”
“Yeah! Fly, Alex!” Teagan clapped her hands together, seriousness forgotten. Alex laughed at her enthusiasm, then flared her wings.
“Okay,” Alex muttered to herself. “I can do this. I can fly. Right? It’s easy.” She gently flapped her wings, feeling the way they caught on the air during the downstroke. Two more flaps, a little harder, and she felt herself rise to the tips of her toes. “Yeah.” She rolled her shoulders back and grinned. “I can do this.” She raised her wings until they were nearly vertical, then brought them down hard.
Alex rocketed off the ground, and realized two things very quickly. First, flying was at least three times more terrifying than she had originally thought. Second, she had seriously misjudged how fast and how high she was going to go. Otherwise, she would have gotten completely out from under the tree. Alex immediately became tangled in the branches of the willow, so much so that she was left hanging there, suspended by her wings. Pain shot through her shoulders, and she cried out.
“Alex!” The girl in question twisted her head around (she was mostly upside down), and caught sight of her mother and Adrien striding across the yard, Teagan running along behind them. Her sister must have gone inside to grab them when she saw Alex get caught in the tree. Alex made eye contact with Jennifer, and the hilarity of her situation set in. Never in a million years did she think she would have this kind of problem, and that fact combined with the looks on the faces of Adrien and Jennifer caused Alex to begin to laugh. She laughed until tears formed in her eyes and her stomach hurt. Below, the trio joined in.<
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“Help me get down!” Alex could feel the blood rushing to her head, and squirmed, trying to flap her wings and stop giggling. “Ouch! Shit!”
“Hold still, I’ll get you out of there.” The voice, full of amusement, came from somewhere next to Alex’s head, and she turned it to see Adrien, carefully hovering next to her. For a moment, Alex just stared. She hadn’t seen her mentor’s wings yet, and was astonished at how very like her own they were in shape and color. She felt gentle hands untangling her wings from the tree, but paid no attention. Until she fell, at least.
Alex hit the ground hard, and lay there for a second. She didn’t feel like she was injured, except for the stinging cuts in her wings, arms, and back from the branches of the tree, so she stood up and brushed herself off. She caught sight of Adrien, who had landed next to her, and glanced at her wings again. That’s when she noticed the scars.
They covered the membrane on Adrien’s wings, the scar tissue nearly opalescent where the sunlight hit them. Some were small, superficial at best, but some were long, jagged, and made Alex cringe to look at them. Other parts of Adrien’s wings had scales missing here and there. She raised her eyes to Adrien’s face.
“What happened to you?” It was a simple question, but it made her mentor’s face go white with some unknown emotion, then carefully blank a split second later.
“A story for another time,” Adrien said flatly. Jennifer and Teagan were silent, watching this exchange with trepidation. “Right now, we should treat your cuts. We don’t want them to get infected.” She walked back towards the house. Jennifer cast her daughter an apologetic look, then went after her, Teagan in tow. Alex made to follow, but Adrien called back before she could take more than a step. “You stay out here, Alex. There won’t be enough room indoors to properly clean your wings.”
Alex watched the door close, then turned to stare at the pond. She hadn’t meant to make Adrien upset. She had only been curious.Those scars told pretty violent stories, though. I should apologize. Alex turned to walk into the house, determined to do just that; before she had taken two steps, however, she was hit from behind, and fell forward. Rolling to the side, she looked up to see what looked like black smoke swirling through the air above her head. It seemed to make everything around it dim, and a thrill of terror ran through Alex the second before the Unseen dove for her head. Alex shrieked, throwing her arms over her face, but it was no use. Everything went dark, and in her mind Alex got the sudden and terrifying impression that she wasn’t alone.
