A+Rainy+Night

a rainy night really big number The lake smelled fresh as I leaned into him; he wrapped his arms around me. This was my favourite place in the whole world, but he sighed, wishing he could be watching the stupid football game. “Go then!” I snapped. He looked down at me wishing he could go without me being mad at him. Honestly, I already was; I mean, I’ve shown him my favourite place, my own private retreat that nobody knows about, except me, and he just wants to go sit on that stupid couch and watch the game. “Just go,” I said gentler, and he stood. He looked down at me and I could tell he regretted leaving me here but I just stared at the lake. I was not going to let him drag me to the couch to watch the stupic football game with him again.I hate football. I don’t like playing it because I’m small. I don’t like watching many sports, and I especially don’t like watching a bunch of guys try to kill each other for a a living. We don’t live very far apart so we walked here together, and I can easily walk home by myself. Seriously, I can’t stand guys who think I’m totally helpless. I’m a good fighter; I have three older brothers, and once I was thirteen, I decided that I was done being sat and burped on, so I joined karate. Once I was forteen, I ruled the house. “Looks like I’m walking home by myself,” I said to no one in particular, “Oh well.” I closed my eyes, listening to the lake, the sea gulls that never seems to land and seeing the saok through my eyelids, turning my vision red. Soon I was half asleep and the sun wasn’t there anymore. I forced my eyes open to see twilight at it’s finest. The sky wsa reflecting it’s colors onto the lake, the gulls still overhead. “Oops,” I said. Sometimes I fall asleep out here, though I know it’s kind of dangerous to do in the city.  “Oh well.” I said to no one in particular. Again. So I got up and brushed off all the grass and mud that had gotten into my hair and on my clothes. The street lights had come on and I was getting around the big bush that hid my pond, or lake, whatever you want to call it, when I heard him calling my name. “What?” I yelled back to him. “Where have you been?!” He yelled at me. Good lord, I can’t stand it when people yell at me. It makes me so mad. “Wherever I wanted to be!” I yelled back at him. He glared at me and said, “Well, everybody’s been looking for you.”He took out his cell phone and texted everybody to tell them where I was, and that he’d bring me home. I didn’t to go home right now. I wanted to go to my grams house. She always made me feel better. “Come on, let’s get you home.” He said while grabbing my arm and steering me toward his car. “What if I don’t want to go?!” I yelled at him, jerking my arm from his grasp. “Don’t be stupid.” He said already knowing that I was going to be stubborn and that I didn’t plan on going home without a fight. It makes me so mad when people accuse me of being stupid. He is so used to me being stubborn that he thinks I’m stupid about it. Normally when he tells me I’m being stupid about it I cave, and I stop being stubborn but this time I stand my ground. I don’t even know why. I just stood there and yelled back, “Maybe I’ll run away just to spite you, and you couldn’t stop me if I tried!” He didn’t know I fought with my brothers daily, verbally and physically; he didn’t know I always won. I can cut anybody down, burn them, and reduce them to a pile of ashes, with only my words as weapons. Not literally, but my brothers always retreat to their rooms and I normally don’t see them till the next day. He looked at me kind of weird and took a step back. He looked afraid. The fact that he looked afraid snapped me out of it; I realized that I probably looked like I wanted to hit him. I don’t ever hit anybody but my brothers unless they start the fight. I turned around and ran, back into my little pond area. He’d have to climb through the bush and that was pretty hard the first few times. It kind of uses muscles you kind of forget about until you have to use them to climb this bush. Anyway, I’m faster at climbing than he is. He ran after me as fast as he could, and he’s in decent shape from track. But I felt like I was flying. I jumped to get into a tree, and I landed perfectly on the branch. I’d never been able to get into this tree before, so this was totally new ground. I vaguely wondered how I managed to get onto this branch when I’d been trying for the last month. I jumped from tree to tree, him running below me watching me with terrified eyes. “Come down from there!” He yelled at me. I finally realized how high in the trees I was. I was terrified. I carefully climbed down wondering how I’d managed to fly through the trees like that. When I jumped to the ground he scooped me up into a hug before I could say anything. I rested there a minute letting my heart slow down. ‘”Where did that come from?” He asked me, gently leading me back to his car, not so forcefully this time. For some reason this made me feel so good, like, ha! I’m better than you thought so you’d better watch out or I could get you! “I don’t know,” I said, just because it seemed like the right answer. I didn’t mind being handled with care, but it got to me when somebody thought that I’d do whatever they told me to. “You’re eyes changed color,” He said staring at me. “They were brown and now they’re ice blue.” He said, and I could tell he was shocked. I stopped in my tracks and pulled out my compact, to see if it was just a trick of the light. They were a truly frightening shade of ice blue, that looked dangerous, but as I watched, sky blue soaked out from my pupil, shocking me even more. I just about fainted right then and there, but through sheer will power I stayed conscious. “Oh, uh, that happens from time to time.” I said automatically. I had been about to swear and tell him that it had never happened before but it just popped out of my mouth like it was on instinct. Which has never happened before. I walked to his car and got into the back seat and layed down and put a seatbelt on. It was really uncomfortable but I felt like if he saw me collapse in the front seat he might question me. I closed my eyes and layed there, and when I felt the gentle lurch of the car, I realized that my house was only a couple of blocks away. I pulled out my compact again and looked at my eyes. They were their normal shade of brown. Thank God. When we got back to my house, I just walked through the questioning neighbors and family members, went straight up the stairs,and went to bed. I took off my shoes and collapsed onto the bed. My mom burst into the dark room and said in a calm, serene voice, that obviously was restraining anger, “Where were you?” She demanded. “Wherever I wanted to be.” I said back in an exhausted voice that got her attention. She knows that stress wheres me down, and that’s about the only thing that can. “Can I tell you tommorrow?” I practically begged. “Fine. But I’m going to hold you to that.” She said taking mercy on me. I slept as soon as she turned out the light. // You’ve been chosen, my child. // I heard this and woke up right away. I brought my hand to my head to rub my brow and there was a four seasons thing tattood there. In the middle of my palm, There was a snowflake, a rain drop, a sun, and a leaf, on my palm. It was only the size of a quarter, but I knew that there was something wrong with it. I’d wanted a tattoo a couple of years ago, when I was trying to get into the ‘cool crowd’ so I’d looked everything up to try and convince my mom that I was mature enough to get one. I know that they itch for a while at first, but if you itch them, they get all messed up. This one felt like it had been burned into my skin and that was that. No time to mess it up, and no time to get the skin off. It felt like I’d had it for a year or two already. I’d been marked. I don’t know how, and I don’t know by whom, but I’d been marked. I was wide awake now and I realized my mom would think I’d been at the tattoo parlor if she saw it. I went over to my dresser where I kept my makeup and I found my cover up. I put the liquid stuff on my palm, and sprayed it over with this special stuff that my aunt got me that makes it water proof and so that you can’t rub it off. I went to the bathroom and looked at my face, my neck, and my back and arms, but other than the tattoo on my hand, there weren’t any other marks that hadn’t been there before. But all of a sudden I looked at my eyes and wondered why they were green now. My mom isn’t very understanding about this stuff, so I decided totry and calm myself down like I did last night to get them to turn back to their normal color. I thought about flowers, and gardening, staring out at the lake, and climbing, and I watched my eyes turn back to their normal brown. Even weirder than the tattoo in my mind was the control I suddenly had over my eye color. I decided to stay completely calm, tell the truth and then head straight over to grandmas house. I think she’d understand better than my mom. She has a thing for understanding things. I went down stairs, and got some breakfast. My entire family was home, which only happens on Saturdays, so I had about five pairs of eyes on me. Including my own. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop looking at my hand, to make sure the tattoo, or mark, was still covered. I had gotten about half way through a bowl of cereal, when my oldest brother grabbed my hand and turned it over. “Why do you keep looking at this? There’s nothing here,” He said, definitely annoyed. “I slept on it wrong.” I said in retort, knowing that I needed to focus on my food more. Then I looked into his eyes and felt so young and scared. Then I remembered to stay calm, so I thought of grandma’s farm. The calm filled me with more peace than what I’d had all night; I relaxed. “Where were you last night?” My mom demanded in the same voice that she’d used last night. “I was at the pond. I fell asleep.” I said in a calm voice, my nerves getting all worked up. Then I remembered that they didn’t know about my favorite place. “What pond?” She asked. “There’s a pond behind a bush a little ways away from here. I go there a lot. And I’m going to grandmas in about an hour.” I said calmly and confidently. “Not until you show me this pond you’re not.” She said. “I already called and told her that I’ll be there in an hour.” I responded, knowing this was a perfectly fallible plan. “You can call her back.” Mom said. “But I won’t.” I said, feeling myself starting to get worked up about this. I needed guidance and she wasn’t going to stop me from getting it. Her eyebrows shot up in an expression that obviously challenged me. My eyes were probably changing to icy blue right now. I closed my eyes and I thought of flowers and thought about slowing my pulse. Once I was calm again I opened my eyes again to see them all looking at me with pure curiosity. Oh, yeah, I’m not known for holding back when somebody argues with me. My family knows this the best of everybody. “I’m going to her house, in an hour. I see no reason to show you where I relax and get away from the noise.” I said calmly. Th e fury on her face was actually funny. I got up and washed out my bowl, and went upstairs. I packed a small overnight bag, throwing in my favorite PJs, and my favorite clothes, though she doesn’t really like them. So my favorite shirt is a little low cut. And so are my favorite pants. I threw in a belly shirt and some too short shorts, out of instinct. Once I was ready, I went downstairs and I saw my youngest brother, Isaiah, was ready too. “I’m going alone.” I said in the sharpest tone I could use with him. He’s my favorite brother; he’s always been so good to me. “No, you’re not.” He said, and then I knew that he was supposed to go with me. “Okay.” I sighed. I needed his car anyway so it would work out better this way. “Let’s go.” I caught a glare from my mother and my two other brothers on my way out. We climbed into his car, and as we left he asked what this was about. “What’s what about?” I said, knowing perfectly well what he meant. “Come on. You never hold back your temper from any of us. I know something’s wrong.” He said, and I decided to tell him. I had the remover for the cover up in my purse, and I pulled it out. I took it off of my palm and showed him the mark. He pulled right over, and thank God, we weren’t on a busy street. “You went and go t a tattoo?” He yelled at me. “NO!” I yelled back. I could feel a fury that I hadn’t even felt when my boyfriend had yelled at me boiling inside. He went deathly silent, and stared at me with fear. “I woke up with it, and my eyes have been changing colors. I went into a fury last night when my boyfriend found me, and you should have seen me fly through the trees. It was scary; I was scaryMy eyes had turned ice blue, and I looked dangerous. I don’t know what to do.” I said. I was totally monopolizing the conversation and I hated doing that. He’d always been the quietest of my brothers and lately he’d never show any emotion at all. And whenever he did he’d never let you see his eyes. This ran through my min d at this moment. “You’re not the only one.” He said, and he looked at me. His eyes were the same shade of green my eyes had been when I’d been looking myself over before. “It’s you too,” I said, oddly thankful that somebody else could go through this with me. “How did it happen for you?” I asked. “The tattoo?” He asked, pulling back onto the road. “I didn’t actually tell grandma that I was coming. And you can start with the tattoo, and tell me the rest.” I said hoping I wasn’t getting into a touchy area. “I called her last night and told her that you’d probably want to come over today, so she knows.” He said, and he relaxed, like he realized that he wouldn’t have to go through this alone too. “I woke up one morning after the weirdest dream and-“ “What was so weird about the dream?” I asked wondering if he heard the same strange voice that I had. “Well, umm… I heard this voice that was like, really weird, and I said ‘you are chosen my child’ and then I woke up in a cold sweat, and I had the same tattoo on my right hand. He rubbed his hand on his pant leg and showed it to me. I took his hand and there was like an electrical shock that went up both our bodies, and we both jumped so high that we both hit our heads on the top of the car. The car swerved a bit but Isaiah is a good driver, so he kept us on the road. He proceeded to tell me how he got really mad after a football game and he ran all the way home, in less than five minutes. “People probably thought I was possessed.” He said as we pulled up into grandmas driveway. “They probably did.” I said, sitting back wondering how we were going to explain this to grandma. “Okay, let’s go.” I said as I climbed out of the car. We went up the steps together and knocked. She came out and hugged us both. “So, I heard you got into a bit of trouble last night, huh?” She said. She’s not really that old, she’s only fifty something. “Yeah, um, grandma, we have something to tell you.” I said, as I grabbed Isaiah’s hand, and we both jumped again. But after the initial shock, there felt like a meant to be partnership thing. Like a sibling team, that would work together so well, and I knew this was the best friend I’d ever have. She looked at us weird, like she already knew. “Come in you two and hands apart, before you hurt something, or someone.” We dropped each other’s hands, and we came into a home that we’d known longer than we’d known our home now. . We’d only moved into this house a couple of years ago. I was so happy to be here, and I knew that I’d be excepted here, even if we were both freaks. Why was this happening to us? Why not somebody else? “Uh, we woke up one morning with these tattoo’s, and our eyes keep changing colors and-“ “Be quiet!” She said loudly. She has this thing agaisnt saying shutup to anyone, but I really don’t get it. It’s a word, and it’s not even swearing! Whatever. “Calm down, or you’ll be cleaning up the mess.” She said, calm as anything. I don’t know how she stays calm through everything. No matter what she has to go through she’s always calm through it. “You’ve been chosen by the elders of the tribe that I came from. They want you to come and protect them. It’s your choice whether or not to. I'm not associated with them anymore ever since they kicked out your grandfather. They chose me as well and I have the same tattoo on my hands. I chose to protect them, and when I learned to control the powers that came with the eye color that changes according to mood, I got the second tattoo. It took a lot of hard work so don’t take this lightly. Everything will go back to normal if you choose not to do this for them. They will choose one of your cuosins, and they will have to do it. If everybody rejects it, I will be the protector of the tribe until I die. I don’t want this responsibility anymore, and it’s stuck within our family.” She said as we sat down with tea and cookies in front of us. This was too much information and way too fast. A few seconds later averything went black. // “Child, it’s you and your brother we need. You are the chosen. Protect my people or they will die. All of them will die…” // I woke up with my grandmother and my brother hoverring over me. “What did the ancestress say?” She asked. She knew who had spoken to me. “She said that we had to do it or all your people will die.” I said. I was definitely shaken. “How do you know who spoke to me?” I asked. “Every time you hear a voice, you will hear our ancestress. Isaiah will hear an ancestor, but you will hear a female voice. They have the same intentions, but the male one is stricter and will talk to you more in your sleep, but our ancestress talks to you more during the day. She is also much kinder and sympathizes with emotions more. She deals with the women protectors, because she knows how to deal with emotion better. She spoke to me in times of danger, and she has helped me a lot through the years to stay calm.” So that’s who spoke to me. Wish I knew her name but oh well. “So, are you going to do it? Because if you are we’re going to have to start training you now.” She asked. “Yeah, I think I will. But how are we going to going to explain this to mom?” I asked her. We’ll probably be over here a lot more than usual. “We’ll tell her of course. She had to deal with me doing this too, so she knows how to deal with it. She isn’t really qualified to train either of you, and this is all your choice. She can’t tell you no on this, so don’t let her tell you anything else.” Grandma said. “Oh, we haven’t even gotten Isaiahs consent to do this yet. Isaiah, do you want to do this?” She asked turning to Isaiah. He looked at me with pleading eyes; he’s always wanted to fit in better. He’s always had trouble fitting in. He’s always wished to be normal. “Isaiah, I think we have to do this. I don’t think I could go through this with anybody else, and I need you next to me through this.” I pleaded. His face was a mask that didn’t reveal anything he was thinking. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking and that scared me more than this whole ordeal. I used to be so close to me other brothers, and once they got to a certain age, they got a stealed will that made them argue with me and too protective of me. This was the expression they wore the first time they told me that they didn’t want me along with them. It hurt so bad to see them like that and it hurt twice as bad with him. He’d been through everything with me. Then his face unclouded and I could see the sun again. “You’re actually willing to do this?” He asked me, he looked so doubtful that I almost said no. But now that I’d heard so much about this I wanted to do it. “Yeah,” I said looking at him with so much fervor in my voice that there was no way he could deny me. “Oh fine. I already don’t fit in, what’s wrong with making it worse. Whatever you want.” He said giving in. “Are you sure? This is going to be a painful experience and it’s going to be hard; you won’t be able to let your emotions control you any more.” Grandma said. I could see true concern in her eyes. . “I can do it if you can Isaiah.” I said. “July, you do realize this applies to you a little more than it does to me?” Isaiah asked to me. “Shut up. I know that, and I’m willing.” I retorted. “Fine; you’re both in now.” Grandma said. She grabbed our hands and put them together, and grabbed one from each of us for herself. We stood there in this little circle for a second and she said, “I share my burden with you.” // You’ve done well so far. // I didn’t pass out this time. It felt natural now, but I couldn’t figure out why. “Your eyes are turning green, what’s confusing you?” Grandma asked me. “she spoke to me again and I didn’t pass out or anything.” I answered. “Because you’ve accepted the responsibility, and now you are prone to hearing her. Your body is adjusting to hearing her.” She said. “Now clear your mind, both of you.” She waited. “Isaiah, I know your mind isn’t clear, your eyes are still gray.” I could see him concentrate. “Isaiah, think of the flowers and the birds.” I said, trying to be helpful. Then his face went completely blank, like he was asleep and he swayed. “I heard him. He told me how to do this right. Are my eyes calm now?” He asked grandma. “Yes, perfect.” She said, and then she looked at me. “You have some kind of natural ability to calm yourself. That took me weeks to do alone. Clearing your mind completely think of a place that you are nothing but you in. Isaiah, what do you think of first?” She asked him, looking at him expectantly. “Whenever I’m with July.” He said looking at me somewhat sheepishly. “Okay, I’ll take that as wherever you are July. Where is the first place you think of?” She asked, looking at me expectantly. “My pond,” I answered automatically. It took no thought whatsoever on my part. This was my place. “Okay, then lets go there. You’re going to have to bring a change of clothes, something you’re totally confident in and you know you can do anything in. Probably shorts for you July. I don’t know about you Isaiah.” She said. “I’ll go change in the bathroom then.” I said. I felt so lucky, I was thin enough that I was totally comfortable in shorts and a tank top. Isaiah used to be a swimmer, but I hadn’t seen hi, swim in forever. Some guys had been making fun of him when they saw him swimming a while ago, and then he started working out, and he looked about their size now, but he was still uncomfortable around anybody without his shirt on now. I vaguely wondered if he would go without his shirt this time. // “Child, it’s you and your brother we need. You are the chosen. Protect my people or they will die. All of them will die…” // I woke up with my grandmother and my brother hoverring over me. “What did the ancestress say?” She asked. She knew who had spoken to me. “She said that we had to do it or all your people will die.” I said. I was definitely shaken. “How do you know who spoke to me?” I asked. “Every time you hear a voice, you will hear our ancestress. Isaiah will hear an ancestor, but you will hear a female voice. They have the same intentions, but the male one is stricter and will talk to you more in your sleep, but our ancestress talks to you more during the day. She is also much kinder and sympathizes with emotions more. She deals with the women protectors, because she knows how to deal with emotion better. She spoke to me in times of danger, and she has helped me a lot through the years to stay calm.” So that’s who spoke to me. Wish I knew her name but oh well. “So, are you going to do it? Because if you are we’re going to have to start training you now.” She asked. “Yeah, I think I will. But how are we going to going to explain this to mom?” I asked her. We’ll probably be over here a lot more than usual. “We’ll tell her of course. She had to deal with me doing this too, so she knows how to deal with it. She isn’t really qualified to train either of you, and this is all your choice. She can’t tell you no on this, so don’t let her tell you anything else.” Grandma said. “Oh, we haven’t even gotten Isaiahs consent to do this yet. Isaiah, do you want to do this?” She asked turning to Isaiah. He looked at me with pleading eyes; he’s always wanted to fit in better. He’s always had trouble fitting in. He’s always wished to be normal. “Isaiah, I think we have to do this. I don’t think I could go through this with anybody else, and I need you next to me through this.” I pleaded. His face was a mask that didn’t reveal anything he was thinking. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking and that scared me more than this whole ordeal. I used to be so close to me other brothers, and once they got to a certain age, they got a stealed will that made them argue with me and too protective of me. This was the expression they wore the first time they told me that they didn’t want me along with them. It hurt so bad to see them like that and it hurt twice as bad with him. He’d been through everything with me. Then his face unclouded and I could see the sun again. “You’re actually willing to do this?” He asked me, he looked so doubtful that I almost said no. But now that I’d heard so much about this I wanted to do it. “Yeah,” I said looking at him with so much fervor in my voice that there was no way he could deny me. “Oh fine. I already don’t fit in, what’s wrong with making it worse. Whatever you want.” He said giving in. “Are you sure? This is going to be a painful experience and it’s going to be hard; you won’t be able to let your emotions control you any more.” Grandma said. I could see true concern in her eyes. . “I can do it if you can Isaiah.” I said. “July, you do realize this applies to you a little more than it does to me?” Isaiah asked to me. “Shut up. I know that, and I’m willing.” I retorted. “Fine; you’re both in now.” Grandma said. She grabbed our hands and put them together, and grabbed one from each of us for herself. We stood there in this little circle for a second and she said, “I share my burden with you.” // You’ve done well so far. // I didn’t pass out this time. It felt natural now, but I couldn’t figure out why. “Your eyes are turning green, what’s confusing you?” Grandma asked me. “she spoke to me again and I didn’t pass out or anything.” I answered. “Because you’ve accepted the responsibility, and now you are prone to hearing her. Your body is adjusting to hearing her.” She said. “Now clear your mind, both of you.” She waited. “Isaiah, I know your mind isn’t clear, your eyes are still gray.” I could see him concentrate. “Isaiah, think of the flowers and the birds.” I said, trying to be helpful. Then his face went completely blank, like he was asleep and he swayed. “I heard him. He told me how to do this right. Are my eyes calm now?” He asked grandma. “Yes, perfect.” She said, and then she looked at me. “You have some kind of natural ability to calm yourself. That took me weeks to do alone. Clearing your mind completely think of a place that you are nothing but you in. Isaiah, what do you think of first?” She asked him, looking at him expectantly. “Whenever I’m with July.” He said looking at me somewhat sheepishly. “Okay, I’ll take that as wherever you are July. Where is the first place you think of?” She asked, looking at me expectantly. “My pond,” I answered automatically. It took no thought whatsoever on my part. This was my place. “Okay, then lets go there. You’re going to have to bring a change of clothes, something you’re totally confident in and you know you can do anything in. Probably shorts for you July. I don’t know about you Isaiah.” She said. “I’ll go change in the bathroom then.” I said. I felt so lucky, I was thin enough that I was totally comfortable in shorts and a tank top. Isaiah used to be a swimmer, but I hadn’t seen hi, swim in forever. Some guys had been making fun of him when they saw him swimming a while ago, and then he started working out, and he looked about their size now, but he was still uncomfortable around anybody without his shirt on now. I vaguely wondered if he would go without his shirt this time. . As I changed into my too tight shirt, and too short shorts, I knew that this was going to be hard. I came back out at the same time Isaiah did, and we ran into each other. He was across the hallway in the guest bedroom, so when we ran into eachother, since the hallway is only like, three feet apart, we ran into each other head on. “Hi…” I said feeling awkward. “What?” He said looking extremely self conscious. “Come on you two!” Grandma yelled at us. We loaded into her car without any hesitation. “No, July, you’re driving.” Grandma said. I gave her a questioning look and got into the drivers seat. “Now, take us to your pond.” I started driving, wondering why they were so quiet. I looked back during a stoplight and sure enough he was asleep. This was the only time he looked totally comfortable and at peace. It was nice to see him like that every once in a while; he didn’t sleep peacefully often. I drove in a daze, wondering what she ws going to teach us. Probably some meditation techniques. Well this should be fun, I thought. Yoga was something I was good at. After about a half an hour we got to my pond. “This is very close to your house; that’s good. You’ll both be coming here often.” I showed her how I climbed through the bush, and she mimicked me exactly. You know, for fifty something she’s in pretty good shape. Isaiah climbed through after her, a little awkwardly, but not as bad at it as my boyfriend did. “This is beautiful,” Grandma said. I jumped into the pond and screamed at the freezing water, loving the rush of adrenaline. “Are you going to be able to be calm in there, July?” Grandma asked looking skeptical. Isaiah took off his shirt and took a running jump into the pond. “Cannonball!” He yelled as he met the surface of the water. We splashed around for a while and yelled and just had fun. I hadn’t seen Isaiah this happy in a long time. “July, you need to come out of there. I need to tell you what powers come with this responsibility.” Grandma said. Shock froze me in place, and I almost went under until I couldn’t breathe for a second and realized I was under water. “I have powers?” I asked in shock. “Yes and you need to learn to control them as well as which emotions will make them strongest.” Grandma said. “What kind of powers?” I asked her in a hesitant voice, knowing how cautious my eyes would be. “You can control elements now; water, earth, air, and fire.” Grandma said. “No way. I can not have mythical powers.” I said looking at my hands and swimming to the shore. When I got there I realized that I didn’t have a swimsuit on and I was sopping wet. She met me there and right away I could see her focus and with a gesture of her hand, a gust of wind almost knocked me off my feet. Then it twirled around me in a mini tornado and after about thirty seconds, I was dry and it went away. I stared at her in shock. “I’m still cold,” I said to see what she would do. She smiled gently at me and told me, “Think of something that makes you mad and focus the anger in your hand.” I thought of people telling me that I couldn’t do something. Telling me I couldn’t do it because I was a girl, and that I needed more muscle to lift this, or I needed to I needed to be thinner to catch his eye or something. I felt a heat in my hand. It felt like it should have been searing my hand but it wasn’t unpleasant. It wasn’t burning my skin. It just sat there and I could feel it bending to my will. I opened my eyes and saw the fire in my hands and gasped. I threw it up into the air and caught it with my other hand. The burn of it felt good. “Now don’t play with that too much yet, you might burn this place to ashes.” Grandma said. I turned around and saw Isaiah playing with the fire too. I grinned and said, “Hey, we could be the awesome fire juggling siblings,” I said and he started laughing. We’d had this idea when we were young that we could juggle flaming knives for a living; our first set of stitches in the middle of a hand. Mom wasn’t happy about it, but it gave her the chance to tech us how to do stitches. Since we’d both needed them she’d had us do our own stitches. It seriously hurt, but we thought twice about most of our bright ideas to see if we would end up reliving that experience. “Seriously July, I need to teach you how to play with water before the fire gets out of control.” She said. That got my attention so I stopped focusing on my hands and the fire went out. She looked at me openmouthed. “I didn’t even tell you how to put the fire out yet!” She said incredulously. I looked at Isaiah and he’d put his fire out too. “Okay maybe you’re getting some extra help from the ancestors. Manipulate some water July.” She told me. I looked her like, how do you expect me to do that. I focused on my memories, and a distant one, one that didn’t feel like it was from this lifetime, popped into my head, directly to the front of my mind. I concentrated on my hands with calm feelings, letting the energy flow through my hands. A gently cool touch of liquid flowed on my hand and I opened my eyes and saw the water defying gravity. It was in the air and it was beautiful to see and the calm feelings were making everything so surreal. It was amazing. I was shocked and confused by this amazing gift. How could it be mine? The water shivered like it wasn’t sure if it wanted to stay in the air. I focused on the calm feelings and the water solidified. Then I remembered coming here. How my boyfriend didn’t want to be here with me. The angry thoughts boiled into my hands, and then there was a small fire under my water. The water was over the fire already but this feeling of true power was thrilling; I didn’t put out the fire. I put the water closer to my fire and after a couple seconds it was so much less effort than it was at first. I felt the anger burn and the calm feelings were still there. The energy of this moment was almost unbearable. It was incredible, uncomprehensible, imposible. Then I realized nothing was imposible. Bending the water to my will took so little consentration, and I could feel my mind expanding to fit this power; expanding to make room for my body to hold so many emotions at the same time. I put the water above the fire and watched it boil after a couple seconds. It was amazing and then I had a thought. What if I can bend the steam to my will too? I consentrated for a moment and then I knew what to do. I focused on free feelings, felt light as a feather thinking about running barefoot in the grass. I thought of singing to the radio and driving to grandmas when I’d had a good day and wanted to tell her about it. I focused on the air around. Then I thought to the air, //lift me//. And then I was flying. I opened my eyes and looked at my grandma and she was standing there gaping at me. “July, I haven’t mastered flying yet! That’s just purely unfair.” Isaiah was looking at like //cool//. I came down next to him. “How do I mess with earth grandma?” I asked her. “You tell me,” she said looking at me expectantly. I thought hard, and another memory distant, from another life came to me. Boundless confidence the memory said. I thought of how fearless I was when I was with Isaiah, or my boyfriend, when I was with grandma. I was confident around them, it was easy to be myself and confident about it around them. I guess I haven’t told you his name again, so his name is Samuel. I just thought I’d name him. But anyway, I focused on the boundless confidence. //What do you want to do with the earth?// My ancestress asked me. It took me by surprise. //What is your name, your story?// I asked her. Shock registered in my mind and it occurred to me that she was in my head, could sense everything about me and that I might be able to access her too. //You cannot access my feelings or memories without my permission, so don’t try.// She told me. Well this is an interesting development. I’m hearing voices in my head. I focused on the confidence and brought the earth up in the form of a chair. I sat down and thought to her, //Can I talk to you whenever I want to?// I waited for a second, and then she responded, //Of course, I’m that little voice in your head now.// I could hear the almost laughter in her voice. Or is it even a voice, if I can’t physically hear it, is it just a thought the way mine are? I could hear her laughing her butt off at me and I briefly saw her on her back in a village and I knew this was my home, the place we were protecting now. She was laughing so hard she was crying. //Nobody has ever really thought much of me, and your questions are incredibly humorous and as confounding to me as they are to you. Normally I don’t really talk to my host unless they’re in danger. But I need to teach you so much.// She seemed like somebody who would make a good friend. “ July, what are you doing? It looks like you’re thinking hard.” Isaiah asked me. I jumped because I was thinking inward to hear voices and now his voice startled me. “I think I’m talking to our ancestress…” I said uncertainly. Grandma looked at me weird. Then I could hear the same ancestress say to her, //It is I, not an enemy//, and it still slightly shocked me. This is going to be very interesting. Granma taught Isaiah when the memories wouldn’t come to him right away. She taught him how to control the earth, the air, the water, the fire. As he learned I could see his eyes and face maturing in front of and it was amazing. I could see him getting older, and I could see his mind expanding and he wasn’t as distracted. His focus looked easier and more effortless. It had probably looked the same with me. His eyes looked intense and it was scary; intense stares like that just melt me to my bones, I can’t take it. I stood up and made myself a more comfortable chair out of the earth. It was so simple thinking of my confidence, thinking of how I’d be able to cope with anything with the new space in my head. That was the easy part. Now I had to decide if I wanted to keep talking to my ancestress right now or wait till later so I could fully concentrate. //You can talk to me whenever you want to, I don’t have anywhere else to go.// She said to me. //That’s a good point, but is this something you want grandma and Isaiah to know? If it’s not then I won’t mention it to them again.// I said to her in my mind. I almost said it out loud but I kept my mouth shut. //It might make your grandmother jealous; I haven’t spoken to her much. Her mind is very burdened with worry; it can feel troublesome to speak with her too much. She wishes to be more accepted by her children. They resent her for not being there for them more than she was. It was a troubling time in the village; children were starting to speak out against the old ways. They didn’t like that women couldn’t lead the tribe and though she was the most powerful women in the village, she didn’t speak with them. If she would have spoken they would have changed the law sooner than they did, with a lot less strife from the young women in the village.// I was too shocked by this information to respond. //I’ve said too much, I should have taken into consideration that you need to drive your grandmother home yet. I’m sorry.// She said. //That’s alright; I can sleep on the way back. Both ways. You claiming me or whatever you did took a lot out of me and neither of them will question it.// I thought to her, while yawning. “Oh! Look at the time; it’s almost time for dinner!” Grandma said looking at her watch. “Why don’t you two walk home and I’ll bring the car back tomorrow when I come over for your next lesson.” I showed Isaiah how to climb through the bush right. All the way home I thought about how we were going to tell mom. We got home and she took one look at us and didn’t even bother to ask where we were for so long. Only grandma would let us get this dirty and come home to mom. Mom is a total neat freak. Normally we didn’t go to grandma’s for so long. Normally we came back in time for our meals because grandma wasn’t always the best cook. I went straight to bed thinking to my ancestress, //I still don’t know your name,// and she thought back //go eat! You can talk to me all tomorrow and a little of tonight.// I dragged myself back downstairs and went into the kitchen. Mom had pounced on Isaiah and he was having a hard time not telling her everything. “Isaiah, can you make me something to eat?” I asked him, mostly to get him out of the spotlight. He was a good cook anyway. “No! You can make your own food! I’m speaking with Isaiah, so you go eat.” My mom said. “Isaiah, do you want the conversation to continue?” I asked him, watching my mom as I said it. She detected something weird going on. “No, I’m done talking to mom.” Isaiah said with a grateful look my way then a hard look at mom. That took her by surprise; Isaiah didn’t often speak up for himself. She was speechless as he left the dining room to make us both food. “What is going on?!” She yelled at me. “We’re getting older. We’re not going to tell you everything that happens to us. Get over it.” I said kind of distracted. I was trying to keep myself calm so my eyes were the same color. //Pay attention to your mother, and use your subconscious mind to control your eye color.// My ancestress told me. I looked her in the eye and my subconscious mind did keep me calm. “What did that woman tell you?” She said to me her eyes burning with fury; I almost lost control. “Nothing I didn’t ask to know; either way it wasn’t about you so leave it be.” I said to her, acid dripping from every word. //My eyes are going to change to ice blue, and I don’t see an easy way out of this.// I said to my ancestress. //You could walk away.// She told me in a //duh// voice. //Oh. I guess that works.// I said to her. I walked into the kitchen. Isaiah had already started making spaghetti. “Your eyes have a faint blue silver to them.” He said to me. “I know. I’m going to need some practice at keeping my temper.” I said to him regretfully. I sat down in a chair. He cooked the spaghetti in silence and I realized he was as exhausted as I was. We ate in silence. I went upstairs and crawled into bed before I realized I was still dirty and in my clothes, however scanty they were they weren’t comfortable enough to sleep in. I got up and put on some pajamas and as I did I saw a new inscription. Or tattoo; I couldn’t tell which it was. Anyway the symbol was on my back, and it was in diamond shape. On top, was a cloud, symbolizing air and wind. To the right was fire, symbolized by a single flame and to the left was a single rain drop. The bottom corner had a small tree, but the details were exquisite. In the center was just a faint shade of purple mist cloud that confused me. It twisted and twirled around the rest of the symbols. I thought we just controlled wind, fire, water, and earth. //The purple symbolizes strength of spirit, the thoughts that go into controlling the elements. You’ll have more strength and speed than you did before if you learn to control the spirit. It’s frightening and beautiful at the same time. It’s amazing.// I climbed into bed and decided to talk to my ancestress tomorrow. //Wait, you still haven’t told me your name yet.// I thought at her. //Fine; my name is Rya. Now sleep. We can talk tomorrow.// She said. Rya; that’s an odd name, but it just kind of fit. I fell asleep contemplating her name. I woke with a startlingly clear vision of a woman in a village and I knew it was Rya. She was beautiful, with long flowing black hair and dark skin like a Native American. She was wearing a leather dress that was intricately beaded and moccasins that were old and worn, but still looked healthy and in good repair. //I saw you.// I said to her. //Huh? What do you want this early in the morning?// She responded groggily. She took a moment to wake up and then read in my mind what I’d seen. //Oh, um. I guess you saw into my unconscious mind. That might happen every once in a while.// Rya said to me. I got up and showered. I was so calm; everything felt right. I wished the water could just stop making the typical puddle right outside the shower. //Then put the water back into the tub, you can bend it remember?// Rya said to me. //Oh yeah. I forgot about that.// I replied. I thought of calm feelings and put the water back into the tub. It felt good to use my new powers. I brushed my hair out and when I looked into the mirror to decide how I was going to wear it today, I saw Rya. It should have been me, but it was still Rya. Then I noticed the clothes and realized it was actually me. I had wondered why Rya looked so much like me. I had dark skin, I’d gotten it from my mom’s side, and if I grew out my hair I’d look exactly like Rya. //Have I always looked like this?// I asked Rya. //No, yesterday you held yourself with a bit of a hunch and with less discipline. Now you have a slight touch of me in your posture and the way you walk and hold yourself. It’s not too obvious and it would be hard to point out. It’s more of a muscle memory thing that comes with sharing my mind.// I noticed the slightly more dignified way my body looked and the slightly more bent my knees were and how natural it felt. My hair was still wet so I thought of running through the grass in my bare feet and told the air to dry my hair. I walked back to my room in a towel and noticed how I didn’t walk on my heels and how walked in more of a prowl now. I was walking a bit on my toes. It was so quiet it was freaky. I got in my room and when I went to grab a shirt my hand went to a dark brown dress automatically, a color I haven’t worn very often. I pulled it on without thinking. I put on a pair of jeans and left my hair down and straight. I’d never worn a look like this before but I was just letting Rya dress me. She put on pair of moccasins that grandma had given me for my last birthday. They felt good and natural on my feet. I looked in the mirror and I looked like a modernized Indian. I was absolutely shocked. The outfit was comfortable, so I went with it. //Do you want to wear makeup?// Rya asked me. //What feels better to you?// I asked her. //Going without makeup. But you haven’t gone outside without makeup in a long time. Are you going to be comfortable?// She asked me. //I wear makeup so I look more American and more modern, but this is an older outfit. It’s fine by me.// So we’d agreed on not going without putting on makeup. I walked downstairs and got some breakfast and when Isaiah saw me his jaw dropped. “Wow. The Indians have officially invaded. Hey did you get a tattoo on your back too?” He asked me. “Yeah, the elements thingy?” I asked him. “Yep. How many tattoos are we going to get from this?” He said. I got some food and he stared at me the entire time. “You’re so different. It’s weird.” Isaiah said. “I know. But this is gonna be the new me.” I finished eating and washed my dishes. “I’m going to my pond, so don’t freak if I’m not back in an hour.” I said to him. He nodded in acknowledgement. I walked to my pond and then I focused on the boundless confidence and made myself a nice little bed of grass that was just slightly raised from the ground. //So, tell me about you.// I said to Rya. //What do you want to know?// She asked me. //Are there any restrictions on the powers? What are the boundaries for them and what are the other things you mentioned about controlling spirit?// I asked her. //Well, the restrictions are basically if you seriously screw up then you’ll lose your powers and if you completely betray the tribe then you’ll lose every power, you’re eyes stop turning color and you won’t have the same strength of will. It’s only happened a couple of times that the elders have decided to take away somebody’s powers. They almost took your grandmother’s powers away because they thought she was betraying them. But they realized she was being loyal to her heart by standing up to them about the rules of who she could marry. It was the climax of the 'what women could and couldn’t do' rebellion. They let her keep her powers but asked her to leave the village. They changed the rules of the village because of her though. That was her final stand at the village. They still call on her from time to time to keep things in good shape and to make sure that everything is safe; whenever they need their protector.// //The boundaries are that I have to control you whenever your emotions get too out of hand. Well, moreover if you’re overwhelmed by anger or jealousy or something negative. You cannot move mountains or anything quite that extreme with your abilities, and believe me I’ve tried it before. The repercussions were really bad but it was funny to see the elders’ faces when I kept moving the mountain. They were trying to perform this insanely boring ritual to present the next generation of protectors their official position in the tribe. They had to take the first step up the mountain to show the leadership.// Rya started laughing hard in my mind. I could see her in my mind laughing so hard she was crying. //But I kept moving the mountain away when they tried to take the step up. They were utterly confused until I burst out laughing. Everybody there laughed so hard they cried. Except the elders; they gave me the job to see how I liked it. I enjoy my job as coach to the female protectors. And they were all the more frustrated with me and my humor over the years.// When Rya was done with this story I sat and wondered. //Do you still live in the village?// I asked Rya. //My spirit is still in the village. Why?// She asked me. //What would happen if your spirit left the village?// I asked her. //It would be the best practical joke I’d played in years that’s what!// She enthused back. //Would they get mad at you? And how would that make a good joke?// I asked her, truly bemused. //Well, if they saw my spirit walking out of the village, they’d say I was passing on finally. I’d come back and I’d say I was the ghost of Rya’s spirit and they’d be in a total frenzy! It would be hilarious. Shall I come and visit you so you can talk to me in person? I can even be solid and teach you personally.// Rya said. //That would be so awesome!// I said back. //But isn’t there some grave danger you need to use me to protect the village from?// I asked her. //Actually, an old demon is getting restless, but it’s unlikely he’ll rise for a long time. But it will have to be you and your brother because you two are actually up to the task and nobody else in your family is. None of my other decedents are mentally or physically capable of it.// Rya said in a mournful tone. This was a shameful thing, but at least we were able to do it one way or the other. //Would you mind getting your brother to your training area as well? I’ll bring my husband so he can teach your brother. I’ll contact your grandmother; tell her I’m pulling a joke on the tribe so my husband and I will be training both of you today.// I heard her contacting her husband, telling him her plan. I could feel his pleasure at something besides the dull tedium of everyday life in the village. I was picking up my cell phone and dialing Isaiah’s cell number when the bush behind me rustled and Sam came into the clearing. //Rya! Issue!// I panicked at her. //Just tell him to go away!// She said back. “Hi, Sam,” I said to him. “Hi, July, you wanna hang out?” He asked hopefully. “Actually I’ve got to go get Isaiah and work on this thing for my grandma.” I responded, trying to be slightly truthful. “Can I help?” He asked, and I could totally see how hard he was trying. It was touching, but it just wasn’t working. Not today. “Sorry, it’s strictly family.” I said, trying to think of something else to get rid of him. “And either way, I thought you wanted to hang with Chase today,” I said, trying to give a reason to hang out with somebody else. “You’re trying to get rid of me.” He said it blunt, not an accusation, because he knew I could deny anything to the point of a hissy fit if he got me started. “Right now, yes I’m trying to get rid of you. Normally I’d love to hang out but I need to get my brother right now.” If he was going to be blunt then I’d be just as honest. “Fine, but I was kind of trying to make up for the other day. I am sorry about that.” “It’s fine, but bugging when I’m busy isn’t helping so bye.” I said, climbing through the bush. I walked home and found Isaiah. “The ancestors want to teach us personally.” I said outright and grabbed his hand. “I’m on the phone!” He said. “I can’t hang out right now!” “Isaiah, it’s not a choice this time!” I said grabbing his hand again. He looked at me and his eyes were icy blue. “I’ll call you back after I deal with my sister.” He said then hung up. “What do you want now?” He asked me his voice dripping with acid. “The ancestors want to train us personally. We’re going to the pond.” I said to him controlling my temper. “That was your boyfriend asking why you were being so hostile.” He said, and looked at me with his eyebrows raised. “He also wanted to know when you stopped wearing makeup and started dressing like an Indian wannabe.” I almost laughed. “Did you not hear me? The ancestors want to train us personally. As in they’re coming here to teach us.” I said. It looked like it actually sank in this time. “Seriously? They’re gonna come here and teach us?” He asked me. “Yeah, now let’s go.” I said grabbing his hand and dragged him outside and dropped his hand. He followed me without complaint. We got back to my pond in time to watch Sam drive away in his car. We climbed through the bush and sat there talking for a while. A few minutes later the bush rustled again, and a woman that looked like a slightly older me and a man a couple of years older than her came into the clearing. Isaiah stood there staring, but immediately I approached them. “Rya,” I greeted her. She grinned and said, “You can still speak to me in your mind while I’m here. It’s easier to hear for me anyways. Your brother will be able to hear us if you want him to.” She said. She handed me a bag. I looked inside and a leather dress and leggings were in it. //You already had the moccasins, so you just needed the rest of the regular outfit for girls in our village. Go try them on.// I gave her look that said //huh?// And she said; //tell the earth to come up around you like the walls of a dressing room. It’s not hard to do.// I thought of boundless confidence and brought the earth up in dressing room walls like Rya had told me to. I stripped down to my underwear and put on the leather clothing. Then I realized that it had to be laced up the back and thought to Rya, //will you lace me in?// A moment later a door shaped form was cut out of my dressing room of earth and Rya walked in and she motioned the earth to close behind her. She laced me in and took my hair out of the pony tail that I’d put in my hair automatically. It was an unconscious habit to tie my hair up. //You look so much like me it’s scary.// She thought to me. I noticed one streak of silver in her hair. It looked so natural and it just seemed to scream that this woman was wise. //You can take the dressing room down now that you’re laced.// I took the dressing room down and when Isaiah saw me, he gasped. “So he said I was dressing like a wannabe Indian?” I said grinning. “You look like a tribe leader, like you seriously have the lineage and the knowledge to lead.” Isaiah said looking at me with pure astonishment. I heard a vehicle approach and froze mid-grin. “Who is that?” Isaiah asked Rya and I. “Ohmygosh, what if Sam came back to piss me off, get back at me for being mean to him.” I said, scared out of my mind. What if he saw me? That would be so impossible to explain. //I have a feeling he’s more understanding than that, and anyway, I think he’s closer to you in many ways neither of you have realized yet.// Rya said to me. Her words confounded me and I didn’t know what to do about it. I had a feeling she couldn’t tell me any more right now. Sam came through the bush and stopped dead. “Rya?” He asked her, looking confused. “What are you doing outside the village? Don’t you have to protect the village?” He asked her. “The protector that didn’t leave the village is still there and he is perfectly capable of protecting them for a day.” Rya said with confidence. “Well what are you doing here anyway?” He asked her. “Training the next generation of protectors, that’s what.” She said getting annoyed. He looked behind her and saw me and his jaw dropped. Then he saw Isaiah and it just about knocked him out. “You are the next protectors?” He asked me looking totally shocked. “Yes.” I said, simply and plainly. “Cool, but shouldn’t your grandmother be teaching you?” He asked. Rya’s’ husband spoke up. “We are training them right now and that’s all the village needs to know right this moment. Tell that to your mother so that the elders don’t replace us before we get back.” He said with a grin, looking at Rya. “And please tell me our walking out of the village cause uproar of some sort.” Rya said with a huge grin. “The elders were frantic. It was pretty funny to watch them debate what was happening. They have some pretty crazy ideas.” Sam said grinning. “They always do.” She said the grin still plastered across her face. I’d gotten over the initial shock and my legs were about to break under me. I summoned the boundless confidence and told the earth to make me a chair. The earth sprang up to catch me as my knees buckled. //Are you all right?// Rya asked me in her mind. //Just let me get through the shock that I’m dating a guy from my grandma’s village without knowing that there’s a good chance that we’re related.// I said to her, my head lolling back to the headrest that the earth sprang up to make when I got lightheaded. The armrests came up and I got really comfortable. “Okay, now you’re just being ridiculous.” She said out loud. “You know what I’m thinking. We’re both lucky that I haven’t passed out yet.” I said. Then I was doused with water. “Stand up.” Rya said with a glare. I thought of running and summoned the air and told it, //dry me.// A burst of air came and dried me. She glared harder. “You know you can’t fight with me like this.” She said to me. “Why not? I think it’s kinda fun.” I challenged her. “For me yes, but you’re gonna have to learn one way or the other that I’m better than you at bending the elements to my will.” She said, and then my chair was melting beneath me. An arm of mud came around my waist, dragging me into the earth. My mind knew she wouldn’t truly hurt me but my body betrayed the fear of being swallowed. I remembered to stay calm and told the earth, //engulf me with air to spare,// and it did. There were screams from above me including Rya’s scream. //Bring me up behind her.// I told the earth and it did as it was told. I screamed and she just about fell over. My knees gave out under me and I was laughing my butt off in front of all of them. //You are so dead.// She thought to me. //You know that was funny.// I said back. Her husband started laughing extremely hard at Rya’s expression. “She has your sense of humor.” She glared at him, and then returned her glare to me. The earth started to engulf me and I told it, //take me into the water.// I told the air//; bring me a little bubble to survive under water.// As soon as I was under the water the air reached me, and Rya was looking for me under the earth. I could tell she was. I told the water, //make a big splash and make sure you get all of them on my cue.// I swam to the top of the lake and told the water, //now!// The splash was huge and the shocked eyes of all of them were so funny I almost drowned laughing. I swam to the edge and laughed till I cried. When I finally calmed down I saw that Rya was standing over me. “You are the only one who has ever used their powers to prank their teacher repeatedly. Especially when that teacher is me.” She said and she grinned. A huge burst of air picked me up, swirled me so fast that I almost threw up, and then put down. //Now we’re even.// She said. “You are going to grow your hair out so that you look like the other girls in the village right?” Sam said to me. “Yeah…Why?” I asked him. “Because then you and Rya would be almost indistinguishable. It would be really cool.” He said. Then he came over and hugged me. In that moment I felt utterly safe, comforted, I was home. I’d been dreading hiding this from Sam. I told him everything about my family, except my grandmother. He was the person I went to, to talk, whenever Isaiah couldn’t talk to me about something, and I told him what I told Isaiah too. He was my second closest friend, just behind Isaiah. And I knew right then and there that this burden would be so much easier now that he knew. I was free, and calm in his arms and it was my home. All of a sudden we were flying and we just stared at each other and when we could look at something besides each others’ eyes we saw the air and water swirling around us. “July, you need to take us down.” He said his voice emotionless. I could tell this frightened him. He only talked like this when he was frightened for more than one person. I concentrated on wheat fields passing by; dull, boring, wheat fields. We slowly drifted back to the earth. We were only a few feet up but he didn’t let go of me, so that made it harder to concentrate. When we did touch the ground again he grinned and let go of me. I was surprised that the water hadn’t even touched me yet, and then I jinxed it. All the water chose me as the common target and dumped on me. When I was done spluttering from inhaling it, Rya came over with the biggest grin on her face. //You need to remember to focus on keeping your emotions in check or whenever you kiss him; you’ll end up in South America. Trust me, we have been there, done that, and it’s pretty embarrassing. Not fun; so we’re going to have to work on self control. Even if you’re that calm and free when he holds you.// Wait a minute… //How did you know how I felt when he was holding me?// I accused. //You control water when you’re calm, and air when you’re lighthearted and free; Duh.// She retorted looking at me like, get a clue. I was blushing really bad now. And I had a strange urge to run. Fast. Far. So I ran. I ran toward a tree that I hadn’t climbed yet, and jumped. I grabbed a thick branch and focused on the earth, letting it tell me which branches were going to hold me and which weren’t. I climbed higher and higher, going from tree to tree, and I didn’t think at all. Just felt. It was a moment of ‘wow, this is unbelievably divine.’ I climbed and flew through the trees. When I got to the top of the tallest tree in the entire clearing, I remembered where I was, who I was, and that this should have been impossible, it was improbable, incomprehensible, mine. This was my ability, my freedom, and my responsibility. The responsibility was heavy but the burden would be light with Sam and Isaiah supporting me through this. This was my independence. //Come down from there! What if you fall?// Rya screamed in my mind. I swung down from the tree like I’d climbed it a million times and landed directly in front of her. “Yes?” I asked grinning. “Don’t kill yourself. I know it’s fun to do stuff like that but one of the branches might break.” Rya said understanding in her eyes. “It was like the trees and the branches were speaking to me, telling me where to go next so I could go higher and farther and it was so cool!” I said to her, giddy with joy. She looked at me weird. There was a calculating look in her eyes. “Sam, come here.” She said to him. He came when he was called. She whispered something into his ear, and his eyes widened with shock. I tried to find out what she was thinking by prodding at her mind, but her mind was sealed well. As I prodded at her mind trying to find a breach to find out what she was doing, the back of my mind registered Sam approaching me. It wasn’t until his breath was in my hair that I fully registered that he was holding me. His hands were traveling from the small of my back up tracing patterns on my back and a shiver ran through my spine. His hands trapped my head where it was. One of them was on the back of my neck, intertwined with the hair at the nape of my neck. The other came out front and brought my chin up to meet his mouth. We hadn’t kissed much and normally they were just quick pecks, but he really kissed me. As his mouth moved mine in new ways, I tried to think of what Rya could gain from this and when my mouth became unresponsive he stopped. His mouth moved from mine, to my neck, kissing my jaw line as he went and it was amazing how he could make me feel. When I started leaning into him as I stopped thinking and just felt, he moved his mouth back to mine and kissed me like he meant it. My mind completely detached itself from my body. After a couple of minutes like that I remembered that I needed to breathe every once in a while. When I broke away I could see something from all of the elements swirling around me and the wind had started whispering, //what do you need, want, wish? We will fulfill it.// It was extraordinary. I felt the adrenaline rushing through me and I felt my heart pumping. I felt alive; I felt powerful. “Amazing; you have all the same powers as I have. You, my dear, have an even more special connection with the elements than the normal protectors for the village.” Rya said to me, looking amazed, and she looked like she might have something up her sleeve. “Come, Isaiah, what do you do when you don’t want to feel, how do you meditate? Wait, I could just have you meditate. That’s what you did, right?” She said looking to her husband. “Yes.” He said simply. “Isaiah, come here.” Rya said. He came forth looking slightly hesitant. “I want you to sit cross legged in the grass and think of…” Rya trailed off and looked at her husband. “Try to summon the very soul of your being to the surface.” He said. “Can you really summon the soul of your being to your surface?” Isaiah asked. “No, not really, but focusing on your mind and heart like that leads to a true peace that helps keep your sanity through this ordeal.” Isaiah sat on the grass and I watched him concentrate. I watched him relax and search for his soul, find it and try to let it out. He got a slight glow to him and I gasped. He opened his eyes and saw his skin radiating a purplish glow. “What does this mean?” He asked our ancestors. “This means that the demon will rise again while you two are alive and the active protectors. And that you have an unusual connection to the spirit. That’s good though. It means you have the determination to defeat the demon. And you will defeat it, you are strong enough together.” Rya said. “But now, we need to introduce you to the village. Sam, would you like to come along?” Rya asked, looking at him expectantly. He looked surprised to see that she was inviting him. “Yes, I would.” He said simply, looking at me with a grin. “What?” I said feeling nervous. Adults that met me never liked me too much. I have a couple of ear piercings and like to wear skulls and stuff a lot. What can I say? They’re cool, and I like them. “Okay let’s go then. Well, I guess since you two can’t fly too much yet, and it might be dangerous to fly you around, Sam. Do you have your car with you?” She looked at Sam expectantly. “Uh, yeah.” He headed toward the bush that marked the exit closest to the road. We followed him obediently, and when it was time to load into the car, we looked at Rya and her husband to see if there was a preference. “Go on and drive.” She said looking at Sam. She motioned for Isaiah to get in the front and for me to in first. She sat in the middle, with her husband on one side and me on the other. “You know the way to the village, Sam.” She said and Sam started driving. I was exhausted already, and it was only about 1 p.m. I was so hungry. “Can we get food?” I asked and there was an echo of three stomachs to my request. “Go ahead and get some fast food. I think you’ve earned the treat.” Rya said. Sam pulled up to a McDonalds, and we ordered enough four seven people and between him, Isaiah, and I, we ate it all. When we were all full enough that we could barely keep our eyes open, we sat for a few moments, and then we got back into the car. I was on one side of Rya, and Isaiah was on the other this time. I couldn’t even stay awake now. I was asleep within minutes, my head on her shoulder. I woke to somebody shaking my shoulder gently. //We’re here, sleeping beauty. Time to wake up. Or should I have prince charming kiss you awake?// I sat up and glared at her and her husband laughed. “Wait a minute, you can hear it too when we talk to each other like that?” I asked my eyes wide with horror. “Only when you want me to, and she doesn’t have a problem with me hearing her tease you.” He responded. “Okay good.” I said relieved. My eyes started getting heavier, and I almost slipped under again. //Okay I’ll go get Sam then,// Rya thought to me, got up, and started walking toward Sam. “Wait! I’m up!” I yelled and tripped after her. And I mean literally tripped after her. I tripped trying to follow her out of the car. As I tried to regain my balance I felt the earth shift under my feat. Before I could grab Rya’s hand to keep her from messing with Sam, I fell on my face and there were earth walls surrounding me. I panicked and screamed at the earth, //get me out!// The earth raced skyward and stopped abruptly and I flew fifty feet in the air screaming. My mind wasn’t fully functional, so it screamed at the air, //get me down!// I flew toward the ground at the speed of light. The adrenalines kicked in and I told the air, lift me, make //me fly!// I stopped abruptly before hitting the ground, and went another fifty feet in the air; upside down of course. I was still screaming and I was starting to get lightheaded from screaming. I stopped and told the air, //put me down gently. Do NOT let me get hurt.// It put me down, on my head of course, in front of Rya. She was laughing so hard she looked like she might pee herself. “Shut up.” I said rubbing my head where I’d been dropped. “You did not deserve to be put down lightly after trying to assault our leader, and then being so disrespectful to her after she was so kind to you is unforgivable.” A man who looked like he was grandma’s age said. There was air above my head all of a sudden, and it turned to ice. It became a dagger-like icicle and he said, “Rise and fight.” I got up on command, shifting into a fighting stance. The ice flew at me. I dodged it and when it came back at me I told the water, //become rain.// It dissolved on the spot. I looked at the sky and it had become cloudy. //Rain,// I thought to it. It began to rain. Rya was still laughing, and playing the scene of me flying around screaming in our heads, so I told the rain, //soak her.// A huge portion of the rain came down on her and when she came up spluttering she glared at me. The old guy was looking at me like, //huh?// Rya got up and the water melted away from her body. It was cool to watch. It stopped raining. “You’re not supposed to make it rain,” she said to me. “He tried to attack me! I was gonna use the water to fight if I had to.” I argued. She grinned. “Well, I guess it’s not as bad as moving mountains for a laugh.” I laughed. “Isaiah, come here.” She said, and when he was next to me she said to the man, “These are our new protectors. If you have an issue with them you can talk to me about it.” She said this in a way that implied that he’d better not have any complaints about us. “My apologies.” He responded. I could see that he already didn’t like us. As I walked past him I heard him whisper to the elements, //make sure they hate it here.// I whispered to the elements, //slap him upside the head.// The earth came up to attack me all of a sudden, and I told it right away, //be calm. I am your master. You will not attack me.// It stopped immediately. Rya was looking at the earth and then she asked me, //what did you do? Why did it attack you?// I responded, //The guy back there told the elements to make introducing me a royal pain. I don’t know why, but it might be a pain.// A surprised look came to her eyes, and she said loudly, “Elements! Be still! Do not attack my decendents July, or Isaiah! Lift the curse!” There was a stillness in the air, and then the elements whispered back, //we shall obey the ancient one.// Rya smiled and told me to hurry. “We need to introduce you to the elders.” She said. Then she looked me over, and dragged to a hut. “This was my home when I was truly alive. My possesions have faded away, but most of these are exact replicas. Except this brush. This is just a modern convenience.” She said while handing the brush. She took my hair down, again, because I’d put it back up. It was just what I did. She grabbed another brush and started on the other side of my head. My hair was thick, and constantly tangled, so this was going to take some actual effort. About ten minutes later we were finished brushing my hair. She started rifling through an old trunk in the corner, and threw me a worn looking and intricately beaded leather dress, the same style as the one I was still wearing. Well, about the same shape and the same size as the one I was wearing. She threw me some leggings too. //We’re wearing the same outfits, Isaiah is going to match my husband.// I debated if I should care if I changed in front of her. I decided I wouldn’t care. I took off the dress I was wearing and slid on the one she’d handed me. //You could have made youself a dressing room,// Rya said, shaking her head. //Does it bother you?// I asked her, truly confused, so used to undressing in front of other girls. Either in gym, or just because I needed to change and my friends were in the room. She thought for a moment, and then she thought to me, //I guess not, but it was unexpected. I didn’t think you’d just start undressing in front of me. Whenever the other women I’ve trained needed to change, they’d always put up a screan of some sort.// I slipped off the moccasins and the leggings and pulled on the ones she’d given me to wear. The outfit felt well worn, and I was comfortable in it. I looked at Rya, and she was staring at me. “You look just like me when I was your age. It’s scary.” She said. She put up a dressing room and changed quickly, and when she took it down, she looked like an older me. She put a braid in my hair in the exact same place her silver strand was. She braided her silver strand. She showed me a mirror and I saw that the braid made me look older and wiser. She was in the exact same outfit, and in the mirror we stood next to each other, and appart from the silver strand, we were indistinguishable. It was so cool. We came out of the hut to see Isaiah, looking like he felt awkward with Rya’s husband and it was kinda funny to see them trying to interact. “Isaiah!” I said, surprising him. He froze and looked between Rya and I, and it was funny to watch him move his head to look at each of us. Then he noticed the silver streak in Rya’s hair and looked at me with releif. Sam came out and saw which of us had the gray streak and said to me, “That’s just scary.” “Okay, so, do you want to meat the elders sometime soon? Or can you not tell which of us is which yet?” She said looking at all of them expectantly. “Let’s go meet the elders then.” Isaiah said and came up and took my arm in his.. I took Rya’s arm and she jumped. //How is it that you surprise me the most?// She asked me. //Because I’m so used to being with people differently than you are. You had different customs in your time and everybody else you’ve taught thought of you strictly as a teacher and nothing else. I think of you as a friend as much as I think of you as a teacher.// I told her. She looked at me and grinned. //Good.// We walked through the village, getting a brief tour as we went, and then we came to another hut. There were only three huts in the village. The rest were old fashioned houses. We entered the hut, and five old men and three women were sitting there arguing over it sounded like, water portions for the male verses female. When Rya stopped in front of them and they still didn’t notice her she took her free hand in front of her and twisted it. All of their chairs turned to face her. The people in them looked baffled as their chairs moved against their will, and after a second their faces went smooth. They saw Rya, and they stood to bow and offer her the propper respect. She had told me to stand behind her and mirror her movements. She took a step forward and when I mirrored her step my foot sank into the ground. As I tried to tear my foot out of the hole that had engulfed in something sharp ran across the bottom of my foot. I cried out in pain, and Rya turned around to see what the issue was. When she saw me struggling with up to the middle of my calf stuck in the ground she came over to me. She showed me how to get the earth to relese my foot. She had put up a dressing room to give us the privacy to fix this issue. When my foot came up from the earth, it was bleeding horibly. It would need stitches. The sight of so much blood almost put me under but instead it boosted my adrenaline levels way higher than they should have been able to go. A memory even more ancient than the ones from Rya’s lifetime came to the front of my mind. I summoned water, and the dressing room kept me from getting the water. I told the earth, //bo back to your original position.// It did. I saw that my moccasin had come off when I’d taken the step to shadow Rya. I called water to me, then I called fire, and air. Earth was the last I called to me, and then I focused on the memory. I called all of the elements, and then I said to them, //focus into my hand//. They did and I focused on the memory again. I put the hand with all of the elments to the cut. //Water, wash the wound, air dry it. Earth, bind the wound together, and fire seal it with your heat.// I could feel each of these things happening to my body, but they weren’t visible. //Water, cool the blaze in my wound and finish my healing.// The heat went away and there was only a faint bit of a scar where the cut had been. Rya was staring at me with wide eyes. “How did you do that?” She demanded. “I think I followed your grandma’s memory.” I said, and I had an image of her grandmother. “She was a great healer, but her generation didn’t have a female protector.” One the elders said. //Are you sure about that?// I asked Rya. //They aren’t but she wasn’t supposed to be capable of it because she was a woman, and she wasn’t part of the chief’s family. I married into the chiefs family, but then my husband died in war and I married the strongest warrior in the batallion he led.// She said looking at her husband. //He’d been the one I’d wanted to marry the entire time. I’d never wanted to marry the chief’s son, but it was my duty to my family. My grandma never got around to teaching me how to heal. I couldn’t access her memories. She was burried under here.// She said. I focused on the earth. I felt an old and traditional indian burial under where I’d tripped. I went over to where I’d tripped and saw a bone. It was what I’d scraped my foot on. //Pick up one of her bones and use your connection to the elements. I think you’ll be able to access all her memories. You’ll have to be crafty in how you get one of the bones.// I told Rya. She looked at me, completely and utterly appalled. //She’d want you to be able to use her knowledge to help the tribe. If you put the bone back where it belongs, she wouldn’t have minded.// She looked utterly appalled, but after a moment her face went stony in a poker face that didn’t fool me. I knew she wanted to learn how to heal, and she wanted something more mature to read and learn about. She hadn’t learned any new tricks for a while and she was human in the truest sense. Curiosity was a powerful thing. She nodded quickly, just one bob of the head and then she brought me over to the elders. . “This is July. She is the next generation of protectors.” Rya said introducing me. //Hold your head high, look them straight in the eyes, don’t blink until they look away, and do it with confidence. Basically, I want you to stare them down. It will earn you respect the fastest.// I did as I was told and they met my stare with ones of their own. My eyes started to get dry. //Water, keep my eyes from getting dry,// I said to the water that was in the air. It kept my eyes moist but after a few more seconds without blinking they all looked away and I swear they all squirmed. It was funny watching all these older people who were wiser and smarter than me squirm under my stare. I blinked and gave them my most rebellious grin. The oldest of them gave me a disaprooving look; they could tell I’d be a handful. Rya’s husband stepped forward and introduced Isaiah, though he didn’t bother trying to stare down the elders. Her husband must have realized that Isaiah couldn’t stare a three year old down. He didn’t prompt Isaiah to stare them down; Isaiah looked at the elders with respect. They smiled at him and I could tell they favored him. Rya stepped forward and stood next to me and a recognition spread through all of the elders as they registered how much alike we looked. It was weird watching them recognize me in ways that I hadn’t recognized completely yet. “We will be showing them around the village, we need to call their mother and tell her that they are staying at their grandmother’s home for the night.” Rya said confidently. The elders nodded and then I took my cell phone out of the pocket I’d put it in. They stared at me in shock. I looked back at them with an attitude that told them that I wasn’t going to change. //You’re not supposed to call in the presence of the elders. You’re not supposed to really address anybody else in the presence of the elders.// Rya told me and she looked embarassed. I grinnedd my most defiant grin at her and said to her, //then maybe they need to get with the times. I’m not changing to get along with a bunch of old geazers who think they’re so important ‘cause they have some power at the village.// Then I proceeded to dial my home number. When my mom picked up the phone I said, “Hi, mom, I’m staying with grandma tonight and so is Isaiah. We’ll see you tommorrow.” And then I hung up to her stuttering and getting ready to put up a fight. The elders were staring at me with obvious outrage. “Who do you think you are? You are not the only eligible young woman for protector! I decree-“ The youngest started yelling. I yelled to the elements, //quiet them, make them listen!// A loud clap of thunder rocked the room and they all went dead silent. The air was rushing around me and I spoke. “I’m not going to change who I am for this role. I’m stubborn, but I will be one of the strongest protectors you will ever have. I will be me, but I’m not going to give you my respect without you earning it. That’s the world I grew up in and that’s how I function. Deal with it.” The first of my words were magnified to deafening levels and then I told the elements, //a little quieter.// My voice was still magnified but it was more like a couple of speakers instead of thunder. They were staring at me, some of them with outrage, some with respect, some with awe. I told the elements, //thank you. Fill this place with warmth and peace.// A slight breaze came into the room, carrying the freshness of an ocean breeze, and the scent of fresh lilacs. Everybody in the room relaxed. Rya was looking at me with awe. We walked out then. “I don’t know how you just did that with no reprucussions, but you have definitely gained their respect. Nobody has really stood up to the elders since…well… since me I guess. Especially when the elders are formally introduced. The magnification of your voice was a nice touch, though it was a bit loud at first. And then sending in warm and fuzzy feelings to end it was a perfect way to walk out.” She said looking at me with pure admiration. I grinned and then all of a sudden something grabbed my foot. Then it grabbed my other foot. The earth had engulfed both of my feet. It took me all the way back to the elders hut. It brought me in front of they’re little raised podium of earth. “Yes?” I asked, trying for indifference and just barely missing. “We were not finished with you.” A small woman said. She looked slightly familiar. “Great aunt Maggie?” I asked. Her eyebrows raised. “You’ve met me all of twice and you actually remember me? I’m honored.” She said sarcastically. “Yeah, I remember you and grandma fighting a couple of christamasses ago. It kinda ruined that christamas for our family.” I said, my eyebrows pulling together. She frowned too. Something attacked me from behind. It stabbed my back andit hurt; really bad. I cried out in pain; I wanted to cry. I turned as much as I could with my feet stuck in the ground. This big figure of ice was behind me. It scared me so bad, I almost screamed and then, I remembered to stay calm. I focussed on an old memory, and I told the earth, //protect me until I know how to deal with this.// The earth came up as the creature struck again and it did nothing to stop it. It struck me across the face and I cried out in pain. I could see the blood pouring out from my face, and knew it would kill me if I didn’t figure out how to kill it fast. I couldn’t think straight with the blood pouring down my face. I stood and told the air, //carry me away from here.// It did. It took me out of the hut. The thing followed. It couldn’t fly, so I was safe in the earth. // Water, wash the wound, air dry it. Earth, bind the wound together, and fire seal it with your heat. // I said to the elements and the wounds on my face disappeared. //Water, cool the blaze in my wound and finish my healing.// I was healed now, and I could think straight again. The monster was staring at me and it looked like it was really mad at me. I couldn’t figure out what to do. It wasn’t attacking anybody else so I folded my legs in the air and meditated. I focused on my spirit, and all of a sudden I was out of my body. I was trasnperant and was all the elements. I was everything that was, and everything that wasn’t. I came towards the ice monster and when it tried to attack me, the claws went right through me. I saw bindings from the creature, and they led to Great aunt Maggie. //She’s controlling it, so I have to get to her to stop it.// This realization hit me so hard I fell back into my body. I saw everybody watching me with wary eyes. At least the elders were. Isaiah was looking at me and I knew he was scared for me, and Rya and her husband were looking at me with panic. They thought I was going to get myself killed. I looked at the monster and sped toward him. I landed with my foot straight out and hit the earth and told it, //attack Maggie. Knock her off balance; knock her to her knees and bind her down. Do not let her attack me again.// The strike to the ground went under the beast and it threw Maggie into the air and then the earth came and caught her in the air in a full body bind that left nothing but her head uncovered. The beast disolved. There were still cuts on my neck and hands. I used the elements to heal myself and then I walked up to the binding that I’d put on Maggie. “That thing could have killed me. You were aiming to kill. You would have lost both of us. You had no right to attack me and I should kill you; you would have killed me. It would only be fair.” There was such genuine fear in her eyes. Nobody was even breathing. The entire village had gathered round and the entire village was holding it’s breathe. “But I won’t. I’m not like you, and I’m not going to act like you.” Everybody started breathing again. “But don’t forget that I can.” I said and turned away from her, letting the earth fall back to it’s natural position. I was in as much shock as they were but I walked calmly and serenely away. I kept my face determined; didn’t let my exhaustion show on it, the fact that I was dead on my feet wouldn’t look all that tough. The old guy who’d attacked me before was looking at me in awe that made me proud and I held my head a little higher. I went to the hut that Rya had taken me to so I could change. As I pulled the traditional clothes off she walked in and just stared. “Where am I sleeping?” I asked her aloud, half because I wasn’t sure she’d here me if I asked her through our mental link, and half because I needed to break the silence. It snapped her out of her shock and she pointed to a slightly more modern house. It was slightly disguised as a hut to give that general feel, but it was obvious that it was basically a modern structure. It definitely had insulation; most likely heated and air conditioned. I nodded and threw on my pajama shirt. I vaguely wondered how my clothes had gotten here, but I was too tired to care. Then she disapeared. I jumped and my eyes darted around and searched for her. I was about to scream for help when she said, //I’m getting ready for bed too. I can basically sleep with whitchever generation or woman that I’ve trained. Don’t panic, it gets so annoying.// I calmed down and then I told the water and air, //make me a mirror reflection.// It showed my eyes sky blue and I thought of running and climbing. They slowly turned their normal shade of hazel. It was still slightly curious but I loved it. My eyes looked so knowing with this slight tint of curious blue. I walked out of the hut and over to the newer one. I entered and it went dead silent. The chatter had been almost deafening before. Now it was so quiet that it tortured my ear drums, pushing on them with such force that I wanted to cry out. I tried for a smile but I think all I got was a grimace. They watched me warily. I saw Maggie and saw the fear freeze her in place. I walked toward her and every woman there stopped breathing. When I was in front of her, she had the nerve to look me in the eye but the fear was still so present in her face that I knew it was the hardest thing in the world for her not to run. I threw my arms around her and hugged her for a long time. She was stiff at first and she had absolutely no idea what to do with this. Then her arms came around me and she started to cry. I told the earth to make us a couch and we sat down and cried for a long time. They breathed again but didn’t disturb us. We held each other as we cried and I could feel her forgive me and I forgave her. She had done what she thought had been expected of her. Eventually we stopped crying and she hicupped. I giggled and she did too, hicupping again. “Where am I supposed to sleep?” I asked her when the hicupps subsided. She pointed at a mat in the corner. It looked the same as everybody else’s. The equality comforted me. I walked over using the last of my strength and collapsed next to it. “Crap.” I muttered. I tried to muster a last reserve of strength but it just wasn’t there. I heard a general murmur of low laughter. A couple of the women came over and dragged me onto the mat and covered me with the balnket and made sure my head on the pillow. “Thank you.” I barely murmured. They heard me and smiled back. I was asleep as soon as I knew they had received my thanks. I woke to light streaming in the window. I was sore and aching all over but I knew that it was definitely time to get up. //Water come to me. And could you please be fresh?// I said to the element. The water floated in the air waiting for further instruction. I sat up and drank it. The liquid poured into my mouth willingly enough. The water helped me become more aware of my surroundings. The hut was small enough to be comfortable. The women around me were busy at work. I got to my knees in my old pajamas, and looked at the other beds. They were all made, so I made mine. I hadn’t stood yet so I tried. My legs didn’t want to hold me yet so I fell back to my knees. I laid on top of my bed. I closed my eyes but sleep was done for now. My mind had had enough rest and my body would ache if I had twenty hours of sleep. My legs still felt like Jello so I just layed there. The women chose not to notice me yet. After an hour of listening to their hustling and bustling, a foot prodded my side. I opened my eyes to see Rya standing over me with a disaprooving look in her eyes. “Weren’t you supposed to have school?” She asked skeptically. “Probably, but if I went and slept through all my classes and an earthquake happened whenever they woke me they’d suspect something weird was happening.” I said a bit sarcastically. She offered me her hand and I took it. My legs still didn’t want to hold me. When I fell back to my knees in front of her she looked at me skeptically. “You can’t stay in bed all day,” she reminded me. “Just a while longer.” I said and curled up under the blankets. And then I was soaking wet. I would have screamed but I honestly didn’t care. When Rya didn’t get the reaction she wanted she snorted and everything was burning hot. //Water, cool me.// I said to the element and then everything had its correct temperature. Now I knew she was getting mad. The ground got really lumpy in ways that were so uncomfortable that I couldn’t be comfortable. I rolled over onto the ground and she squaked in disbeleif. All the women had stopped working and were watching and a couple had already started laughing really hard. Then I was flying. I was heading toward the ceiling. Before I had left the ground I’d managed to grab a pillow. I put it under my head and mimicked sleeping in the air. Then I was falling from fifty feet high and I was screaming. I landed in the laundry. I was on top so I got comfortable and slept. Rya grabbed a pillow and started beating me with it until I got out of the laundry pile. My legs finally caught me and supported me. I walked around on my sore legs and realized they weren’t too sore. A scattering of applause broke out; I luaghed and mock bowed. As I was bent over, Rya came up behind me and kicked me in the butt. As I toppled facefirst into the ground, Sam, Isaiah, Rya’s husband and the elders all came in to find me. I was looking at Rya feeling pretty ruffled; I told water to soak her. Abruptly she was soaking wet. I grinned at her and she tackled me. We rolled aroun on the ground, her just giving me a hug to get me more wet, and I was tickling her. We were both laughing hystarically, and it was obvious how strong our friendship had gotten in the little amount of time we’d been together. Sam came up to me and started tickling me in one of the only spots I was ticklish and I started laughing so much harder. Rya had sat up when I’d stopped tickling her and stood up. Sam stopped and offered me a hand; I took it and when I stood I kissed him. He blushed a deep red and looked at the ground. “What?” I asked him, and then I noticed the elders watching us. A younger woman was with this time and she was beaming at Sam. His mom; she had the same eyes and skin tone. Her hair was the same too. I blushed and looked at Rya who just cracked up. I told the earth to topple her over. It did of course and then she glared at me. I grabbed at Sam’s hand nad went over to give her the other. She grabbed it and we all walked hand in hand over to the elders. I know it was corny but it was fun being corny. Maggie just shook her head and grinned. The other elders didn’t know what to make of both Maggie and I being on good terms. Sam’s mom came over and hugged me. I didn’t know what to do so I just stood there, feeling awkward. Rya really cracked up at that and this time when I told the water to saok her it turned and at freezing temperature it came at me. I was released from the hug and I was running as fast as I could away from it. Then I turned it on Rya and we had a battle of wills over who would get doused. Eventually the water just dropped like it was exhausted over being torn appart. “Are you two done yet?” Sam’s mom asked us as we just sort of glared and grinned at the same time. She moved her body to face them, and moved her foot which moved the ground and I almost did the splits. I fell over backwards. A chuckle escaped her lips before she could conceal it. The elders just glared at her. “So, we think that Rya and her husband should come to school with both of you, enroll, just untill you both learn how to control the urge to get back at people. Do you object?” She asked us. Rya looked absolutely shocked. “How am I going to pass as a modern day high school student?” She asked them accusingly. “You are perfectly capable of changing into a younger form.” Sam’s mom replied. “I’m keeping my silver streak.” Rya said in an argumental tone. “Yeah, we can’t tell you apart without it. You two are like identical twins.” I grinned at her. “What?” She asked, looking at me skeptically. “I’m doing your makeup.” I said and my grin grew into a full blown smirk. A look of horror crossed her face; I almost fell over laughing. Sam cracked up with me, not as hard, out of respect for Rya, but he laughed. The rest of the day flew by, but I learned how to navigate the village, and I knew how to make leather by the end of the day. I didn’t mind doing the women’s normal work and it didn’t bother me that I should be in school. As we drove home, I slept with my head in Rya’s lap again. Her head was on her husbands lap. They’d already turned into high school kids, Rya the same grade as me, her husband the same grade as Isaiah. Isaiah was driving and we were all so completely content that it was a shock when we got home. I sat up, and the vertigo almost made me lie back down. Rya seemed to have the effect on her. We’d rehearsed what we’d say to mom, and we were confident it would work. When I got out of the car, Rya followed, her husband on the other side of the car. The school had already excepted them and they were given the exact same schedules that Isaiah and I had. As soon as we walked into the house she bombarded us with questions about when we decided we were staying at grandma’s on a school night. We answered that there were some cousins that were from her first husband’s side of the family. Grandma had had to marry into the chief’s family too, and her first husband had died of pnumonia. It was pretty sad. They had asked if they could stay with us because they had had to switch schools from the bullying issues at their last one. They were in our school now. Mom melted like butter, and invited them in. We waved them in and she gasped when she saw Rya. Rya looked exactly like me and she was searing the one new outfit that we’d had to get her. It looked good on her. Which was to say that it looked good on me as well. //What do you think she’s going to say? Do you think she’ll suspect anything?// I asked Rya. // No. She might be wondering if the man she thought was her father, really was her father or her stepfather. Or if she’d had twins and one had been taken by somebody else. // That actually sounded like my mom. She was a very logical person. “Okay, well at least there’s something to tell you apart by.” Mom said trying to find something positive. When Rya’s husband walked in in his new clothes mom thought nothing of it. “So, what are your names?” She asked politely. “I am Rya, and this is Qued.” Rya said. So that’s her husbands name. It’s been bugging me awhile. Mom made us some food, asking some basic questions to find out about where they’d come from and who they basically were. It was really routine and comfortable. After we’d eaten, we went up to bed. As I started to undress for bed Rya disappeared again. It didn’t bother me this time. It was easy and natural. I crawled into bed and slept soundly. I woke to a rustling. Rya was trying to decide what to wear and couldn’t find anything that she liked in my closet. “Having trouble?” I asked her skeptically, yawning. She turned around and she was still struggling to keep the shower towel up around her. I laughed. “Do you want underwear?” I asked her teasingly. //Your underwear is so odd looking. You have no traditional clothing and that’s all I’ve ever worn.// I laughed. I went to my underwear drawer and threw her some undnergarments. I threw off my pajama shirt and showed her how your supposed to put them on. She looked at me doubtfully. She mimicked me, and then I went over to my closet and grabbed a pair of skinny jeans. “There is no way I’m wearing those.” She said stepping back. “Then you’ll stick out like a sore thumb. I have looser jeans if you want those.” I said, throwing her a shirt. She looked at it and grabbed a tanktop from another drawer. She put that on and then the shirt. I was glad I didn’t need to explain the need of the tanktop to her. Whenever my friends borrowed one of my shirts they never wore tank tops under them, and my mother never let me wear them again because after that she thought they were slutty. I gave her some flares and she didn’t even look at them before putting them on. I was about to put my hair up in my usual bun that I wore to school. Rya stopped me, “Keep your hair down. It’s beautiful, why do you hide it?” Her question baffled me. I hadn’t realized that I was hiding my hair, but now I saw that clear as day. I left my hair down. I’d showered the night before, and as brushed my hair again since I wasn’t tying it up. We went downstairs and we were both starving. We ate a huge breakfaskt and when we went out to Isaiahs car, Quen and Isaiah were already waiting. Rya and I loaded into the back. Isaiah started driving. “These people are going to swear and make light of things that you normally wouldn’t even talk about it public. Do not be offended.” Isaiah said to Rya and Qwen. “We’ve been in your public school before and not gotten ofended. We can deal with it.” Qwen said. “But I bet they didn’t think of you as equals, or peers before. You were probably adults. They’re going to bug you more now.” I told them. They considered this in silence and Isaiah made eye contact with me through the mirror. We were both worried. When we got to school we went straight to our lockers instead of our usual hangout spot. A couple of our friends saw us anyway and then our whole group of friends were surounding us and the “new kids” trying to get a good look. They saw the similarities between Rya and I and they would not let cousin pass. They opted for long lost twin. When they finally let us go to our lockers and to homeroom, we were late. We said goodbye to Qwen and Isaiah, and headed for my homeroom. They introduced Rya and the general murmurings were enough to iritate her. I saw the fire burn in her eyes. They went from the same hazel as mine to ice blue. //Temper!// I yelled at her and grinned. She flinched at the inward word. She calmed down, but she still had a silver undertone to her eyes. When she took her seat next to me I ribbed her a bit about it then she started burning my hand. I smacked her with the burning hand so she fel tit too. She jumped and flinched at the burn. “Doesn’t that hurt you?” She asked me. //I feel the heat, but it doesn’t burn my skin or flesh. It feels so weird.// I said to her. //That means you have an even stronger link to the elements than we thought. That’s good.// She said. As we left class, a bunch of the meanest girls in my grade, they hated me for some reason, came up and started messing with Rya. Rya looked at them with such a confused expression that they all laughed and a couple of them hit her. Her eyes went coal black with an underglow of red. “What’s wrong with your eyes?” One of the girls said, her voice filled with malice. Then she punched Rya in the eye. Rya punched her right back, but harder. The girl flew back. The rest of the girls looked at her slgithly worried; that was the biggest girl of the bunch. Then three of them decided to jump Rya at once. I was right next to Rya so I go the first punch in the face. A bunch of kids started crowding around and a couple of guys yelled “Catfight!” I saw Sam in the crowd and when I made eye contact he cut in. He grabbed Rya from on top of the next biggest girl. I followed him willingly. A bunch of people booed him, and the rest of the group got in his face. They yelled at him and started hitting him. He stood there and took it. I got so mad that fire started burning and a some of my hair started smoking. When he smelled the smoke he looked at me and when they all saw me, they backed way up. There was fear in their eyes. “What’s wrong with you, Retard?” They said to me. Sam took me to a deserted hallway. “Both of you need to either get out of this school, or calm down. Either one works just fine. As long as you don’t burn your hair, or the building.” He said in a low voice. He was bruised bad. I grabbed his and Rya’s hands and we walked out of the school. I took us to the pond and we sat there for a while. Then I remembered that we all had bruises. I showed Rya how to heal and she healed herself, and I healed Sam and then myself. Once we were all in spotless condition, we just laid there. “Do you want to go back now?” Sam asked me. I started to tell him that I didn’t but Rya cut in. “We have to. If those bullies think they can drive us from school that easily, then they’ll do it again.” I knew she had a point but I really didn’t want to go back. “Come on. I’ve missed enough of my first day of classes.” She said and grabbed my hand. We all walked back to the school. It was lunchtime when we got back so we went straight to lunch. Rya looked at the food on her plate with disgust. I laughed at her. “How do you eat this?” She asked pointing at the pizza. “You pick it up with your hands and put it in your mouth, that’s how.” I said, taking a bite out of mine. It was better than most of our lunches so it was easier to not gag. She took a bite out of it and did a spit take; on me. I glared at her and the girls from before laughed and came over to taunt us some more. I glared at them, but didn’t say anything. I grabbed some napkins and pretended to clean my shirt, while really using air and water to fix it. Rya kicked me under the table. “What?” I complained. //You know better.// She said to me. I rolled my eyes. She kicked me harder. //I’m giong to end up needing to heal myself in front of them if you don’t stop.// I warned her. She considered that and flciked some more pizza at my face. It hit me sqaure in the mouth. Before it slid down my face onto my shirt, I used my toungue to eat it. She gawked at me. “How do you eat that? It’s barely even cooked!” She said. It was slightly burned. It wasn’t specifically warm at the moment. I heated it up mildly. It was much warmer when I took my next bite. It actually tasted good when it was warm. She kicked me again. I laughed at her. The girls were looking at us weird. “What?” I finally asked them after being watched for five minutes. “Where are the bruises?” the biggest and dumbest girl asked. She was all bronze and no brains. The other girls looked at our faces and arms, realized that she might have a point and looked at us weird, but they sat down with us. “So, where’d you go?” One of the girls asked knowing they’d driven us out of the school. “Hooky is fun sometimes,” I said with a grin. “I mean, if you actually think during class, and pass the class, the break is nice.” I said baiting them. The biggest girl tried to punch me and I dodged easily. I had never dodged anything before. I wasn’t very fast before. I had a temper, but I wasn’t all that strong. I was now, and they were starting to notice. Two more came up behind me and I heated up my skin and when they hit me they burned their hands. They screamed and jumped back. They were looking at me with fear. Rya stood up and grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out of the school. “I’ll take your powers myself if you don’t start behaving. Or we can homeschool you and tell Sam to stop coming around.” She threatened. “You can’t do that!” I yelled at her. Her eyes glazed over with silver and so did mine. I remebered to calm down, but she didn’t. I thought of how I just rocked the worlds of the girls that had been harassing me for so long and soon I was holding back a grin. Rya got angrier. Her eyes were starting to become solid silver steel. It didn’t scare me. I was so calm I almost yawned. A faint aura started forming around her. It was an agitated yellow. It was weird, but I understood exactly what she was feeling. I was still calm and relaxed and she started yellin enfuriating things at me. But it didn’t bother me. I knew she was blowing off steam, and I didn’t fight back. She said things that scared me but I stayed calm. It was confusing me how nothing could touch me right now. I started seeing auras around around people. I knew the emotions they were feeling by the auras. I knew nothing could touch me anymore unless I let it. I knew that this was a strong element, I knew they hadn’t told me something. “Are you even listening to me? I just said I’m taking your powers away, right now, and you haven’t even said anything to stop me! What’s wrong with you?” She nearly yelled at me. I briefly considered that somebody might hear her, but then I noticed the air was thicker for about five feat around and knew that she had made a soundprrof barrier. This amazed me and I stared at her. She came up to me close and slapped me hard across the face. I slapped her right back of reflex reaction rather than actually caring that she’d slapped me. She looked at me with a shocked expression as I walked out of her soundproof barrier. I kept walking till I reached the pond and then I took my shirt and shoes off and dove into the water. I had a bubble of air imediately. It was an unconscious effort to keep myself still breathing. Without noise I could focus. I felt Rya enter the pond area, and I knew she was absolutely furious. I shot myself into the earth and decided to go home. The earth brought me into the backyard. I climbed up the side of the porch and swung into my parents bedroom. I walked to my room from there, and I sat on my bed in absolute silence. I laid my head down and thoguht for a long time. They weren’t tellin gme something important. I’d definitely proven myself. I could kill one of the most powerful people in the village, I had powers of an ancestor from centuries before me, and they expected me to defeat some kind of demon for them. I can’t do this without knowing everything. This is like betrayal, like ripping me apart and disecting me before you trust me to know the secrets of the village they expect me to protect. From a demon. A demon? A demon! How do they expect me to do that, to be able to win if they aren’t giving me every advantage that I can have because they haven’t finished disecting me? How am I supposed know how to defeat a demon anyway? I’m a kid! How much do they expect of me? Why can’t Rya defeat it again? She did it once didn’t she? As I pondered this for a long while, I could feel Rya trying to find me underwater, under the earth, but only in the pond. She had no clue that I’d come home. That I was for enough away from her that she couldn’t read my aura if she could see it. This confounded me. She couldn’t find me. I didn’t understand why she didn’t just locate me through the mental bond we shared. It was stronger than ever now, so why didn’t she use it to her advantage? It was a confusing thought. At that moment she tried to see if she could find my mental waves, and she heard that thought. //Oh yeah. Duh.// She thought and then she came into my mind, and appeared in front of me a moment later. When she saw our surroundings she looked at me with a, you’re pathetic expression on her face. I glared at her and walked out of my room. “Why are you all of a sudden so quiet, and mad at me? Will you decide if you’re mad or not already?” She asked me with an exasperated expression. “I’m mad at you and your tribe.” I said and went downstairs. She followed me looking frantic. “I was just blowing off steam when I said I was going to take your powers away!” She was truly panicked. She looked like she was seriously half crazy. “But you didn’t tell me about seeing auras.” I said while staring her down. Her knees buckled under her. She was kneeling on my kiitchen floor looking so shocked, so bewildered that I almost laughed. But this wasn’t funny. It hurt that they hadn’t trusted me with it yet. “We were going to get to that lesson soon. Normally the protectors of the tribe learn to control their emotions so completely that they see other people’s emotions. Not until they’ve had plenty of years to master their powers. It’s…unbeleiveable that you’ve mastered this so quickly…I don’t know what ot say. I haven’t truly mastered this so I’m unsure what to tell you. My husband has and he normally teaches that lesson, but, he’s not here right now. I don’t know how to teach this, actually, so stop glaring at me.” She said to me when my scowl got deeper. She got up and hugged me. I didn’t know how to receive her hug. Normally she didn’t show much affection physically. It was weird, but I broke down and cried there on her shoulder. We went back upstairs, and laid on the bed. We fell asleep. When we woke up my head was cushioned on her stomach and she had the pillow. My legs were hanging off the bed and I coulnd’t feel them; I moved them and the prickles of pain from unexpectedly letting the blood come back to my legs surprised me. Isaiah and Qwen, were standing in the doorway. Sam was behind them. When I saw them, the auras told me that Qwen was disapointed, his aura was a dull gray, Isaiah was feeling relieved, his aura was sky blue. Sam’s aura was a slight pink and I knew he thought the scene of us sleeping was adorable. He thought it was cute that we’d fallen asleep. I sat up and fell off the bed. As I rubbed my tail bone, I asked Qwen, “We didn’t do anything wrong, I didn’t blow any of the girls to pieces so what’s the problem?” Then I realized his face was smiling. Isaiah and Sam looked at me weird. Everybodies aruas went lavender, for confusion. “I’m not mad at you, either of you, I was smiling so…” Qwen said. I glared at him. “You were disapointed, so I figured you thought we’d done something insufficient,” I said to him. Ryas’ face obviously went through all the stages of realization. She’d thought I had found out by Sam, but now she realized, truly realized and excepted that I could see the aruras now. “She can see auras.” Rya told him and he nearly fell over. Isaiah had to catch him and Sam just stared at me with shock. His aura was a shining silver. It was beautiful. I sat back on the bed and Rya sat next to me. She had gotten up in reflex to catch her husband. When Isaiah caught him she had an awkward stance of not knowing what to do with herself. I put my head on her shoulder and the tears coursed down my face, but I didn’t know what emotion they were from. I lifted my hand to my face and saw a deep blue surrounding it. I was sad. I searched in my mind for reasons I was sad. I wasn’t normal. Even for a protector. I’d never beene truly normal with the people my age, my friends were all missfits. It normally didn’t bother not to fit in but this was just too much. I loved this power, this control, but it scared me just as much anything else. “Do not be afraid.” Qwen said. I realized he could see my aura as well. “Why don’t you sit down with us and we’ll explain all of this.” We went to the living room and sat in a circle on the floor. Qwen began explaining everything about the auras.after a while my head ended up in Rya’s lap, with Isaiah’s head on my stomach. He explained about how you had to become untouchable to the normal stresses and harassments of a regular life before you could control spirit. It was a strong element, but once you could put up with all the drama of regular life you were ready to use spirit. It was the core of every being. We discussed this for a very long time. The intake of knowledge, the overwhelming responsibility that I finally realized I was taking on made me hungry. We got up and made food. Isaiah made us a good healthy meal, and we ate. My mom came home and started checking messages. One from my school came up saying that I’d missed first and second period; and fifth and sixth. “What? You only went to third and fourth period today? Why bother to go to school then?” She said, rounding on me and yelling at me. When she was done yelling at me with her initial reaction I said, “I was having some issues that weren’t…good to deal with in school.” I said simply. “What kind of issues?” She asked me warily. “Issues with some of the girls in my class.” I said knowing what came next. “I don’t care if you hate every person in your class! You have to pass them to get into a decent college!” Then came the lecture about how important college was. I sat through it just to humor her. //You should tell her that you and Isaiah are the protectors of the tribe. Now, or you’ll never get the chance again.// Rya said to me. I looked at her with panicked eyes. My mom saw this and looked at us with wary eyes. “Is there something you need to tell me?” She asked hesitantly. “Mom, you should sit down.” I said, giving in to Rya’s intense stare that told me if I didn’t she would. My mom sat down looking at me like she thought I was going to announce pregnancy. She was staring at my stomach, searching for the baby bump. Of course it wasn’t there but I looked anyway. I liked my thin enough form; I wasn’t planning on letting it change anytime soon. “Mom, you know the tribe you grew up in?” I asked her. She looked utterly confused. “I don’t remember telling you about it.” She said, a bit confused, and just a hint of anger in her voice. “Well, it doesn’t matter who told me about it.” I said firmly, trying to get her attention on the matter at hand and not the who told me and how and why. She looked at me, unsure. “Mom…they’ve called Isaiah and I to be their protectors.” I said and waited for the yelling. It didn’t come. “They want you to be like grandma, don’t they?” She said after a long time. “Yes, and we’ve chosen to do it. We are the next generation of protectors. I couldn’t be in school because I was thinking of burning up those girls.” I said to her. She looked at me with shocked eyes. “I didn’t realize you had such violent thoughts toward them.” She said looking at me despizingly. She hates violence. “They are cruel and ruthless little-“ “They are rude and disrespectfull is what July is trying to say.” Rya said looking at me with a hard expression. “Who are you?” My mom suddenly asked her. “You’re definitely not some longlost cousin.” My mom was done with the lies. //Should we tell her the truth?// I asked Rya. A quick bob of the head was my response. I pointed at her and she sighed. “Remember when your mom used to talk about hearing a little voice in her head that told her how to keep her temper? Or her sanity through everything she went through?” Rya waited and my mom nodded. “I’m that voice. Well, the voice belongs to me at least. I am your ancestor from a thousand years back, before the village had ever thought about womens rights at all. I am training July to keep her temper, to become a true protector instead a short tempered brat.” She looked me over. “So far, the only thing that we haven’t truly fixed is the brat part.” I threw a gust of air into her face and it totally messed up her hair. She looked shocked, and she totally didn’t know what to next. She glared at me. I grinned. My mom just stared and stared. Qwen stepped forward and introduced himself as Isaiah’s teacher. We went back upstairs after finishing our meal in silence. Rya got ready for bed like a normal teenage girl would. My mom knocked on the door and she told her to come in. I was brushing out my hair befroe bed and she was checking herself out in the mirror wearing the shorts she’d found in my pajama drawer. “Are these seriously your most modest pajamas?” She asked me. I looked at her like she was crazy. They were loose enough to work out it and they reached about the knee. She was wearing one of my tanktops too. My mom looked at her and laughed. She looked like she was so un…fit to wear shorts. “I bet you’d never even seen a pair of shorts in the village, did you?” My mom asked her. Rya shook her head. “We still wear all the traditional clothing. The leggings don’t have to cover your entire leg now but we still are modest. It’s so…odd to see myself wearing something so short.” Rya looked at me in my short shorts and tank top and shook her head. My mom laughed. She looked at me with eyes that said she wished I hadn’t done this to her, but she knew I was going to be stubborn about it. Once I chose something I almost never took it back. Especially stuff like this. “Good night both of you.” She finnaly said to us. I crawled into bed and Rya crawled in beside me. My bed was big enough for two, which was good. //That went over better than I thought it would.// //I thought to Rya. It had gone over so well… it was like she was in shock. //// Yes, she was in shock. She’s tried to keep you a secret from us so we couldn’t choose you. She had sworn your grandmother to secrecy, but I still knew. I couldn’t be the only source telling them that there were direct grandchildren from her second marrige. Which was to the chief of the village. Then Sam met your grandmother and knew that there were direct decendants. He told his mother who has close ties to the elders and then they chose you. She did a good job of hiding you two for seventeen years. No, Isaiah is eighteen years old. So she’s hidden her family for eighteen years. We knew about her first two sons but when I tried to connect with them, I couldn’t. Meaning that they were not going to truly protect our village with their whole hearts. But you will. ////She told me. I snuggled deaper into the covers and then asked her, //// How come you aren’t disappearing into my mind like you normally do? // She shrugged. //I don’t really feel like it, and it’s nice to sleep in my own body every once in a while.// She responded. //I haven’t slept in my own body for a long time.// She had a flash of sleeping next to her husband, snuggled into his arms. The smell of wet grass, and damp earth washed over me. The feel of a mans arms around me, warm and loving flowed through my mind. The taste of rain in my mouth, the sound of the gentle pitter patter on the hut. The memory of it was so strong, so vivid that I wanted to feel the same thing. It was a desire so deep it hurt. Then I was back in my bed and the want was still there, but not a potent need. I rolled over and stare at her. She had a sheepish look on her face. “Sorry. That was totally unintentional. I’m not used to having a close bond to who I’m teaching. Our minds are so close that you just saw a memory. Felt it too.” She looked seriously embarassed. “It’s fine, but seriously, I already started missing the village. That’s not helping.” I grinned to her. I stretched and rolled back over and imagined being held and I fell asleep so quickly that I didn’t een notice it. I woke up to her rummaging through my clothes. “Don’t you have anything that would be loose enough to make me comfortable?” She asked me, seeing my eyes squinting against the light that was pouring in through the window. I pulled the blanket over my eyes. “Get up.” She said. When I didn’t move, she jumped on me. The impact jarred the bed and knocked the breath out of me. “Ack!” I complained as a strand of her hair got into my mouth. She was laughing and her eyes were shining. “It’s day lazybones! Time to get up!” “Alright already. Just calm down, optimism is frowned upon in my generation.” I said grumpily. She glared at me, but her aura was a bright highlighter yellow. She was flying high for some reason. “I can go back to the village now that you have mastered spirit. I’m glad not to have to go back to that horrid school.” She said. “You have to go to school with me until the village tells you otherwise, so don’t get your hopes up.” I said mercilessly. She glared at me, and her aura went a dull gray. She knew I was right. She was definitely disappointed about it. I grinned and went to the closet. I threw her a pair of jeans and a shirt. “These are both too tight.” She said appraising them. “That’s the way they’re supposed to be.” I said taking off my pajama shirt and throwing it at the still open pajama drawer. There was a door between my room and the bathroom so I wouldn’t really need to walk around naked or anything. I got in the shower and told fire to heat up the water. When I got out of the shower and came into my room wrapped in a bath towel Rya was still looking at them with disgust. “What’s wrong with them?” I said grabbing underwear. “There’s a rip here, here, and here.” She said pointing it the rips. “They’re meant to be there.” I told her. She looked at me with a shocked expression. I laughed at her while I pulled on another pair of jeans. “Do you want a skirt instead?” I asked her and purposely pulled out the shortest skirt I had. It was so short it barely covered my butt. She nearly fainted. I almost passed out myself from laughing so hard. She scowled at me so hard that it looked like the expression would be stuck on her face permanently. I pulled on a shirt and told her to just get dressed. “Fine.” She said angrily. When she had them on, she looked like any normal teenage girl. I already had my makeup on by then. I went over to Isaiah’s room and knocked. “Come in.” Qwen said. I walked in and nearly missed getting hit with a gust of air. “Hey! I just got my hair the way I like it!” I complained at Isaiah who had only a pair of jeans on. Qwen was in a pair of jeans too and I realized that if he cut his hair right, he’d look exactly like Isaiah. Then I got an idea. If Rya cut her hair right, just a couple inches shorter, and if Qwen got a haircut like Isaiah then nobody would be able to tell us apart. It would be the best prank ever. We’d be identical. I ran out of the room. They stared at me with shocked expressions. I ran straight into Rya. “You’re cutting your hair about two inches and I’m dying mine so it has the same silver streak.” I said to her. She didn’t have anything to say yet. She didn’t have an issue with anything yet. “If we can get Qwen to cut his hair like Isaiah then we’ll all be completely identical.” I said to her. She looked at Qwen longingly and then nodded. //We’ll cut his hair next time he sleeps. He’s a deep sleeper and he hates to sleep outside his own body.// She said. //Can we skip school today? We can go get our hair done identically.// I suggested. It was almost the last week of school anyway. I was caught up and it wouldn’t bother anything. She nodded excitedly. I went into my room and grabbed my stash of money for a ‘rainy day’, counted it and realized I had enough to get our hair done and get manicures. I grinned and we slipped out the back window. We walked all the way to the pond. “Can we fly or something?” I asked her. “Well, since you can play with spirit now…” She said and grinned. She showed me how to bend air and spirit together to become no more than a spirit. We spirited our way to uptown and found an empty alley to become solid again. //Where are you two?!// Qwen thought to us. //I’m teaching July some new techniques.// Rya responded. I could tell he didn’t like it but he wanted to get Isaiah to school. So we had the day to ourselves. We walked to the salon and got Rya’s hair cut like mine. I got mine cut again, so there was absolutely nothing to tell us apart. We showed them her hair and they grabbed a dye that was the exact same color. They did the streak in the exact same place and when we turned around to look at each other there wasn’t a single difference to tell us apart by except our postures. She stood with an Indian awareness, ready to run, knees slightly bent and eyes that darted around more often than a city kids would. Her attention was more focused, more singular than most city kids is. My posture, I evaluated in the mirror, was comfortable, not really bent enough to run on a dime. I had the more scattered look of a city kid, waiting for a text, waiting for the light to turn, always waiting. I had a less stealthy look to my feet and legs; it was less graceful, the way I walked. My eyes didn’t dart to look for some kind of prey or a danger that I should contain or destroy. It was still going to be possible to tell us apart. “They’re still going to be able to tell us apart. This isn’t going to be a good joke if they can still tell us apart.” I said to Rya. She looked at me with a confused expression. Her aura was a shade of lavender. “The lavender isn’t helping me see right, Rya.” I said to her. “I’m going to have to teach you to shield your eyes from the emotions of others, or you’re not going to fit in very well. And, how are they going to be able to tell us apart?” She asked me. “Our postures, they way we walk, talk, and stand. The ways our eyes move.” I said to her. She looked at us in the mirror, and she saw what I was talking about. She knew it wasn’t going to work unless we learned to walk, talk, and act like each other. I paid for our treatments, and we went to a park. //Alright//, //so all you have to do is put it in the back of your mind how other people are feeling, or, a more considerate way is to ask spirit to hide this extra vision, hold it into you. It will hold it in, but then when you let it back, make sure you’re not in a room full of people. The colors will either give you a seizure or a headache. Not fun, either of them.// She told me. I asked spirit to hold all of this extra vision to itself, or at least put it into the back of my mind. Immediately, all the confusing colors went away. Rya saw my shoulders and eyes relax and grinned. //We need to learn to walk, talk and act like each other if this joke is going to be pulled off right. So, teach me how to walk like an Indian.// She brought me to a slightly wooded area. “Walk without making a single sound. When you can manage it here, we’ll go to an actual forest and you’ll figure it out there.” She told me. “How do I walk like you now?” She asked me. “Walk like you don’t care who sees you and like you couldn’t care less how graceful you look.” I said to her. She looked at me despairingly and started walking like I would through a park. I nodded and after a few hours of walking through this little forest I could manage it without a single sound. She walked through it with me once and our movements were so exactly the same it was scary. We were like a mirror image to each other. It was almost scary. We walked through uptown through with my stride and it was comfortable to be with her like this. We went and got lunch. Then we went to a wooded area near the village. After about an hour of walking around I could walk with an Indian silence. It was frightening and beautiful all at the same time. She showed me how to make a bow out of natural materials. She had me make my own bow and then some arrows. She started a training session. I’d taken a few courses on how to use a bow and arrow and I’d been naturally good at it to begin with, so I always hit my mark. Not always in the center like she wanted me to, but that was okay. She used the earth to teach me how to deal with multiple attackers coming at me at once. She brought three or four slabs of earth at me at once to begin with, one for each direction. I always had to be watching my back. It drove me crazy. She had my cell phone and whenever my friends texted her she had to text back. She had to talk like a normal teenager though and that was her biggest issue. I became a talented fighter with a bow and arrow, a skilled hunter. I was now a menace to anybody when I was armed right. She had become a modern teenager in a day. It was amazing. By this time we were ready for dinner. We spirited ourselves home. When we got home we took one look at my mom and turned the other way. She grabbed us both by the ear and let go of both of our ears seconds after she’d grabbed them. We’d both gotten kinda mad when she’d grabbed our ears. Fire was a hard element to control. She looked at us with a shocked expression. “Which of you is which?” She asked starting to lose the last of her patience. She didn’t care that I’d gotten my hair dyed, thank God. I’d dyed my hair millions of times, and she didn’t really have the heart to put up a fuss anymore. “I’m Rya.” Rya said. My mom glared at her. “Why did you let her do this?” She asked Rya. “Because it was funny to watch everybody look at us and try to figure out who’s who.” I said. It was pretty funny to watch my mom figure out that Rya had my sense of humor. She’d thought Rya was more mature than me. She’d thought so wrong. She turned her glare on me. “What?” I asked her with a sarcastic grin. “You skipped school to do that to your hair?” She said with a threat under toning her voice. “No, I skipped school because I wasn’t ready to go back to school without traumatizing those girls.” I said glaring back at her. She didn’t have anything to say to that. Rya and I went and got some dinner. Isaiah and Qwen were in the dining room, Qwen was glaring at Rya and she stared right back at him. She was happy that she was getting away from my school. She wasn’t going to apologize for skipping with me. I don’t know how he knew us apart. Isaiah looked at us bemusedly, not knowing which of us was which, and I laughed. Sam walked in the back door and I could feel my face light up. I weaved through the people in my way with an Indian grace and stealth. I threw my arms around him and kissed him. He looked shocked and he pushed me away. Rya came around the corner from the dining room and shook her head at me. “You know, he probably doesn’t know which of us is which.” She said. He looked at both of us and kissed me. He knew which of us was which now. I kissed him back enthusiastically. After a couple of minutes I heard my mom clearing her throat and then I realized we weren’t alone. I pulled back and stepped away from him. He grinned at me and then to Rya he said “You two aren’t going to be able to tell each other apart.” He stepped forward and I realized he walked with an Indian grace as well. He learned to walk in the village. I was comfortable with this and it didn’t bother me that the village was already his home as much as this house was my home. He put his arms around me and I leaned into him. I had a brief flash of memory, remembering being angry at him because he wanted to see the game. My life had changed so much that night. I thought back over the past few days. It all started Saturday, and today is Wednesday. Five days, a whole new life, and I’m already comfortable with it. That night, as Qwen and Isaiah slept, we snuck into their room with a pair of scissors. We cut Isaiahs hair first, just barely any shorter. Then we moved on to Qwen. It took a long time but we managed to cut his hair exactly like Isaiahs hair. We snuck out and when we got back to my room. Qwen walked into the room right after us. He glared at us and just stood there. He looked so much like Isaiah that it scared me. After a long while, he just came over and sat on my bed. He motioned for us to come and sit next to him. Rya began to sit on the opposite end from him and he grabbed her arm and tugged her to him. She was flinching in a protective stance. He held her for a long time. It was so peaceful to see them together like that. They both had their eyes closed so I snuck into Isaiah’s room and took over Qwens bed. //Thank you.// Rya told me about an hour later. She was nestled into Qwen’s arms and he was fast asleep. //He’s sleeping better, and he was asleep about ten minutes after you left the room.// She told me. I fell asleep so fast afterward that I didn’t have time to respond to her. respond to her. When I woke up in the morning Isaiah was still asleep. As I sat up I knocked something down off of the shelf above my head. I wondered how I’d missed that stupid book last night. Isaiah sat up in bed right away like he’d been jolted and stared at me with shocked eyes. “Da!...ng…” I yelled nearly cursing. “July, what are you doing in here? And why are you in Qwen’s bed?” He asked. “Qwen and Rya needed to talk alone and it was kinda late so I just took over his bed.” I responded sleepily. I got up and walked over to the bathroom soundlessly. I looked in the mirrorr, and I blinked hard. I saw Rya in my reflection. I rubbed my eyes, hard, and looked again and Rya was still the image of my reflection. I started pacing and the woman in the mirror looked even more like Rya, with her unusual grace and the serenity with which she walked. I ran into my room and saw Rya and Qwen still cuddled into each other. Then I remembered that yesterday I’d changed myself as much as I could to be the mirror of Rya. I felt so different, so much older. I felt a thousand years old, and only seventeen at the same time. A young fear, an ancient burden. I walked back out of my room, and got into the shower. When I was clean again, I came into my room to find them both still sleeping. I grabbed some clothes and headed back into the bathroom, changed and brushed out my hair. The exact image of Rya in the mirror thrilled me, and I knew I was indistinguishable from her. I called wind to me and it dried my hair. I gently combed my hair through once more. A knock came to the door. I opened it and Rya nearly fell over when she saw me and I had to remind her that I was July not a ghost from her past. She turned me around and looked at the back of my neck. “You are a fully fledged protector now. You have the spirit tattoo.” She told me. I nearly fell over but I managed to get to my room before I did so. I fell onto my bed and saw Qwen checking out his new hairdo. “Do you like it?” I asked him. “It’s not my favourite, but I’ve definitely had worse.” He anwsered wearily. Isaiah came in and fell to his knees when he saw Qwen. “We did your hair too.” I said to him and he scrambled over to the mirror. “I don’t have split ends anymore huh?” He said looking like he was in shock. I laughed at him. He glared at me for giving him such a scare. He’d thought there’d been two of him. Qwen was watching him with the amusement a parent watches a toddler with. Rya came into the room with nothing but a towel on and stopped dead. “Both of you two,” she said pointing at them, “need to get out so I can get dressed.” They hurried out and closed the door behind them. I picked out an outfit for her as she grabbed some underwear. When I threw them at her she looked at me like I was crazy. “You do realize that I can’t wear either of these, right?” She asked me. “If I can, then you can.” I said to her. She glared at me. “I’m not going to cave anytime soon. You need to get comfortable in modern clothes. At least they’re long.” I said. They were moderately tight though. //I’m not wearing them.// She said trying to throw them back at me. I caught them and left the room. I grabbed Qwen and Isaiah, told them that we needed to get Rya to wear something modern and everything modern was slightly tight. I came back in the room with her rifling through my wardrobe trying to find something loose. They held her down and I put the outfit that I’d picked out for her on her, with a lot of yelling and screaming on her part. Once it was on and they’d gotten off of her she imediately tried to take it off. “I’m gonna put it back on you if you take it off, so don’t bother.” I said to her. She glared at me but she could tell I was serious. We all went downstairs and had a good breakfast with Rya glaring at us the entire time. We loaded up into the car, and when we got to school it was hilarious. Nobody could tell which of us was which. It was the most fun I’d had in a long time. At least at school. When we came home we got comfortable, did homework, and repeated the pattern till Friday. Friday, when I got back from school with Rya, Isaiah and Qwen, Sam was already waiting on my doorstep. “Hey, what’s up?” I asked him. He grabbed both me and Isaiah by the necks and turned us around, pushing my hair up. As soon as he saw the tattoos, he dropped us. “Rya, Qwen, your duties to stay in school with them until they learn how to control themselves have been releived.” He said in a curt, official voice that didn’t truly belong to him. It scared me. “What’s wrong with you?” I demanded. “The village could be under attack kat any time, and the animals are getting antsy.” He said to Rya specifically. “Why can’t you protect the village the way you did the first time Rya?” I asked her. “I am truly a memory. I’m living through all of you. If I’m killed, all the living protectors lives will be ended, I’m so connected to you.” She told me. My mind went blank. “My best friend is a memory?” I asked her. She smiled wearily. She knew how I felt. She could feel it through my mind. “Is there a way to make you more than a memory?” I asked her. She smiled tiredly at Qwen and responded, “The demon that you’ll have to face made us this way when we were your age. These are the exact same bodies that we were eternally caged in. If you defeat the demon, truly kill it, we will become whole, human. We will no longer be a memory. We would die, once we’d lived out our life span, starting from where we’d left off.” She looked at her husband longingly. “You want that more than anything, don’t you?” I asked her. “Yes.” She stated simply. I wanted to free her with everything in me. We went inside, Sam in tow. There weren’t enough seats, so I sat in Sam’s lap, as usual. “Would you still be connected to my mind?” I asked her. “If you wanted it to be like that, then we could reastablish the mental bond.” She anwsered. She liked the idea as well. “When will the demon attack?” I asked her. She seamed to leave her body, become a spirit. A long while later, she reapered in the same spot. I’d moved to her spot so she ended up on my lap. “Hi,” I said, when all of a sudden there was a 140 pound weight on my legs that I hadn’t expected. “The demon is coming soon. Not today, but maybe a couple of weeks.” She said looking tired. I almost spit out my food. “In two weeks?” I asked skeptically. “Yes, more or less.” She responded. “I’m not going back to school.” I said. She nodded, and Isaiah understood that he wasn’t either, I could tell that by his eyes. “Can we go to the village then?” I asked her. “Do you want to go tonight?” She asked me, surprised. “Why not?” I asked her. “This very well could be…the last time you see this town…the last time you see anything outside the village.” She said hesitantly. “It isn’t; it won’t be.” I said confidently. Anything that plans to threaten my home is dead. Seriously dead. “Go say goodbye to your mother, your brothers, and make sure you tell them that you love them.” She said. She looked worried. I went upstairs and told my mom I loved her and that I had to go to the village to protect it. Isaiah came in and hugged her next. “Why are you acting like this is goodbye?” She asked me. “Because this very well could be. We’re fighting a demon, mom, and we might die.” I said looking at her pityingly. I wasn’t afraid for my own life, I knew I’d live, but I wasn’t sure that I’d come back in one piece, or if I’d be battered up. She gasped and grabbed me. “You can’t go! I won’t let you!” She yelled at me. “You can’t stop either of us. We control the elements. I can burn through your hands and disapear into the earth right now if I want to. So can he.” I said. She started crying in desperate and hysterical gasps. “Please! Please, don’t do this to me!” She begged. “Mom, I have to. It’s my duty, my purpose. Nobody else can do this mom, and what if that demon doesn’t think that the village is enough, and decides to go into town for a snack, what happens then?” I asked her. She was still hysterical, insane with fear. My other brothers had come into the room to see what was happening. “July, for the last time demons aren’t real, there are no monsters.” My oldest brother says. “Hold her down! Don’t let her leave!” My mom begged them. They grabbed me and pinned me. “Monsters aren’t real? And neither are powers?” I asked them. “Duh, July!” They nearly yelled at me. I started burning; they let go instantly. They pulled their hands up to their hands up and they were burnt badly. “Ooh… a little too much, sorry.” I said. I called water to me and aproached them. They were frozen in place by the fact that I’d just burnt them. I grabbed the closest hand and healed it. They watched in awe. Once they were healed, I said to them, “Grandma’s village chose Isaiah and I to protect it. We have to fight a demon, so this might be goodbye.” I hugged them both long and hard. I was crying at the thought that I might not ever see them again. Then I remembered that I was going to live through this. I stopped crying and Isaiah stopped as well. He saw the resolve form in my eyes. He knew I’d try harder to keep us alive than fifty people would. I had that kind of heart and soul. I could fight through anything if I was determined. Everything had been surreal, until now. I knew I was fighting an actual demon and now I knew was going to fight it. I let go of my second oldest brother and Isaiah let go of our oldest brother. “I love you all, but we need to go.” I said and walked out. Isaiah said his “I love you” s and followed after me. We loaded into the car and drove to the village silently. I remembered our prank on the elders, and reminded Rya. She didn’t have as much heart for it but she agreed to follow through with it. We all put on the exact same outfits and put on the same stride and walk. We all linked arms and entered the hut with the elders in it. We all held our heads high and walked with Indian grace, silently and carefully. When they saw us there was a lot of blinking and a lot mouths dropping and a lot of eyes shooting back and forth between each of us. It was funny but my whole heart wasn’t into it. They told us we were going to train our butts off for the next couple of weeks. I saw Maggie and I grinned. She couldn’t tell which of us it was so I said,”So, now that you can’t tell me apart from Rya, what are you going to do? Brand us?” She grinned. “Well, //July,//” She emphasized my name so that the rest of the council knew which of us was which. They all looked at me relieved. I grinned. “You might get some new tattoos unexpectedly.” She said to me. I grinned. “My mom is going to freak out enough about the tattoos I have.” I said with a grin. She grinned. They weren’t so old anymore. They just seemed like people now. They weren’t scary anymore. I knew I could handle them now. When Rya and I got back to the hut I asked Rya, //Do you want to study your grandmother’s bones and her memories? She might have an idea on how to rid of the demon.// She looked at me with exhaustion. “Let me sleep first.” She said. We both headed over to the hut with all the women in it. Qwen came by and grabbed Rya, kissed her right in front of me, and led her away with a mischievous look in his eyes. //Have fun,// I thought to her and all I got back was a feeling of excitement and what could only be described as a definite exclamation point. I saw Sam heading to another hut and I decided to follow him. The other hut was full of all of the men, and the older boys, of the tribe. When one of them saw me he whooped and pointed. It was probably the most awkward moment of my life with everybody’s eyes on me, thinking I don’t want to know what, and Sam freezing in place. He turned around and blushed so fervently that he looked away immediately. Some of the guys hollered at him and there were a couple of whistles and I did not understand why they were acting this way. Isaiah walked up to me and whispered in my ear, “When a woman seeks out a man at their sleeping courters that usually is taken as something inappropriate.” He said prodding me in the side. I blushed more fervently, stuttered an assurance to Isaiah that that was not the case. He grinned; then he started laughing at me. “You’d better not be laughing at me,” I threatened. “Or what?” He asked with a glint in his eyes. This wasn’t how he usually acted. I had a weird feeling about the way he was acting. I asked the air to hold me, and I flew up into the air and crossed my legs. I focused on my spirit and when I came out of my body, I saw the guy who had confronted me in the beginning using Isaiah as a puppet. My spirit went straight back to my body. I called earth to me and told it to attack the man controlling Isaiah, knock him off guard. I came down fast at Isaiah and he looked up at me skeptically, binding his feet to the ground and making a small elemental shield. I slammed my foot down right in front of it and the earth took the force of my blow to knock the guy controlling Isaiah ten feet in the air. Isaiah collapsed. //Earth, imprison him, do not let him move.// I said the earth. He was imprisoned and he couldn’t move. He looked truly frightened as I walked up to him. //Rya, what do I do if the guy who attacked me the first day I came here possessed Isaiah?// I asked her. I saw where she was at the moment, in a really hot make out session with Qwen and when her lips stilled his eyes questioned her. She got up, walked out of their hut and he followed. She walked into the hut that I was in looking seriously pissed. All the guys got far out of her way. She bent down and touched Isaiah’s forehead and closed her eyes. I watched as the memories of having the man take control of Isaiah’s body without Isaiah’s permission, completely by force played in both of our minds. Her eyes snapped open and there was a fury so deep and frightening that I went and grabbed her. I called water to me, and spirit. //Make her calm.// I told them. I watched as they poured into her and her eyes became the same brown hazel mine were. She walked up to the man. “You have possessed the control of this boy’s body without his permission. Taken control of it completely by force. You have no right to your powers anymore, and by decree of the council and ancient souls, we take your powers and memories of them.” She said and placed her hand on his forehead and the most pained, tortured cry escaped his lips that I collapsed, and for the second time in my life, fainted. // It had to happen. It is best for the tribe. // Rya’s voice echoed in my head and my eyes fluttered open. Isaiah and Sam were the first ones I saw. My hand reached out and took Sam’s hand though there were many others being offered. He helped me to my feet, and I cowered into him. He held me so gently, like he thought I’d break. It was peace. Then I remembered what had caused me to faint and my knees gave out. He caught me and picked me up. I was tense for a moment, shock flooding me; I hadn’t realized he was strong enough to carry me. I loosened after a moment, and he brought me over to a mat. He laid me there and I just relaxed a moment, letting this knowledge seep through me and I felt so guilty. The tears came against my will, but after a moment of trying to stop them, this overwhelming sadness threw me into an abyss. I grabbed him, sat up. He’d been sitting, or rather crouching, and I’d pulled him to his knees. I sobbed into him with heart wrenching sobs. All the stress, sadness, and pain that had hurt me in the past couple of weeks came crashing down on me. I sobbed harder as each realization hit me. I’d never be normal. I’d never be accepted into normal society, my changing eye color repulsing people. I’d just robbed a man of the most precious gift I had ever received. Of a power and control and peace that he’d never feel again. He’d probably be shunned in the village for the rest of his life from one mistake, one bad choice. I’d always be a freak, a hurt, a fear. Eventually Sam picked me up again and brought me to a different hut. He set me down on the only mat there and I vaguely registered that it seemed to be meant for two people. He left for a moment and it hurt that he was deserting me. I sobbed even harder. He came back in pajamas and in the back of my mind I registered that he was getting ready for bed. “Rya?” He asked her. Earth walls came up around me and I wanted to scream but I knew I shouldn’t. She entered this little dressing room she had created, and gave me my pajamas. I stared at them blankly for a moment and couldn’t imagine what she wanted me to do. I sobbed harder still. She sighed, but there was compassion in her eyes. She approached me and slipped my shirt off of me and replaced it with my pajama shirt. I understood now and grabbed my pants off the small bench she’d made and put them on. She came up from behind me and tied my hair back the way I always do for bed. The walls were suddenly gone and she caught me when I stumbled because I’d been leaning on one of them. She lowered me to the mat, and my sobs still hadn’t stopped. Sam scooted over and tugged me close to his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and held me there for a very long time. After what felt like an eternity my sobs stopped. I wasn’t sure if I still had tears left. He hugged me closer and then relaxed seeing that it was over. I finally realized what they’d set up. It wasn’t the same hut as Rya’s, I could feel her snug in Qwens’ arms, hurting, but not letting him see it. I rolled over and looked at the ceiling. Sam let me roll out of his arms. “I’ll go and sleep in the women’s tent.” I said getting up. My legs didn’t really want to support me but my will was definitely stronger than that. He got up faster and smoother than I did. When I finally managed to rise from the ground, he was right there in front of me. “What are you doing?” I asked him. “You’re sleeping here,” He said with a certainty that annoyed me. “Give me one good reason that I should sleep in here with you.” I said sarcastically. “Well, because if a woman leaves a man’s tent before dawn it is both disrespectful to the man and shameful to him as well.” He said looking awkward. “That’s not a good enough reason.” I said. “Fine; because I’m not going to let you leave right now.” He said with a confidence and finality that I almost didn’t want to fight back just to respect the confidence. But that is not how I work. “And you think you can make me stay why?” I asked him. “Try to get through me then.” He challenged me. I tried to get to the door of the tent and he blocked me every time I tried. I tried going through him but he was a solid boulder. I tried to call an element to me but the sapping to my strength had me swaying on the spot. He caught me and picked me up. Sam carried me the two feet it was to the mat and laid me there and scooted himself next to me. He put one of his arms around my waist and the other under my head as a pillow. He pulled me close enough that his chest was touching mine. He was so warm and easy to get comfortable with that I just couldn’t fight it anymore. I woke up when he tried to switch himself with a blanket and a pillow. When he saw my eyes open he grinned guiltily. I was still groggy and tired so I didn’t really think. I just grabbed him by his pajama shirt and pulled him back down to me. I curled into him and was almost asleep when he said, “So I can’t get you to sleep here, or in the same bed as me last night, and now you’re pulling me down to sleep longer.” He said with a smile in his voice. I smacked his chest and snuggled into him and fell back to sleep. I woke up this time to an intrusion of light on my face. I got up in a defensive stance right away sensing an unwelcome presence. It was a bunch of the guys from the hut last night. Sam woke up a little slower than me but when he saw them he groaned. “I was having the best dream too,” he complained. “What do you guys want?” He asked them tiredly. The vertigo hit me hard and I plopped back on the mat, butt-first. I curled into him out of pure instinct. They grinned and they grabbed a camera out of a bag on one of the guys shoulder. I groaned this time. They snapped a couple of photos and were about to take a third when I said aloud, “Fire come to me. Would you burn up that camera for me?” I asked it. A fire burst out from the lens of the camera, consuming it whole in less than a few seconds. They all stared at me in shock as I snuggled into Sam, on the edge of sleep again. “That’s just scary.” They said, and then I dove into my realm, my dreamland. Sam shook my shoulder for a second and when he saw my eyes open he said, “We’re gonna miss lunch too if you don’t move soon.” He said. I sat up. Once his arm was free he went outside and grabbed a bag. He threw me my clothes and he grabbed some fresh clothes and disappeared outside the tent. I scrambled after him. “Uhh…What am I doing?” I asked him. He pointed to the hut next to the one he was headed to. “Showers.” He said bluntly. “Oh… Thanks, I guess.” I said unsure if he was pointing this out because I stunk or because he was showering too. When I entered to see the few stragglers they grinned at me and looked away quickly. Oh my gosh, this is so impossible. I found a stall and showered. When I came out to grab my clothes they were as wet as I was. I sighed in frustration. “Air come to me. Can you dry me and my clothes?” I asked the air. The air dried me quickly and then it dried my clothes. When my clothes were dry I put them on and felt good to be in something normal during this time of total abnormality. My shorts were short and my tank top was fitted to modern tightness, not the looseness of the clothing Rya gave me. I was completely at ease brushing my hair when Rya came up behind me. “You do realize that that outfit is absolutely scandalous here, right?” She asked me, looking annoyed. I hadn’t thought of that, truthfully. “Well, this is what I’m wearing.” I said with a challenge in my voice. She could tell I was willing to fight about this so she let it go. I left the bathrooms and the cool air hit me like a breathe of heaven. I ran out and did a cartwheel. I started a flip when somebody grabbed my legs and let me hang upside down like a toddler. “You are not going to wear that here.” The male voice said. “I have a right to wear whatever I want. I do not follow dress codes.” I said remembering the schools dress code. They’d given up trying to get me to follow the dress code. They knew they couldn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to. “If you plan on staying in this village, you abide by our rules on clothing.” He said. “Then I guess you’re out of a protector.” I said using the air to right myself. He looked at me shocked. “Wait! You can’t do that!” He said completely shocked. “You can’t make me wear a uniform either, and I have never let dress codes define what I wear. You can ask any school I’ve been to if they could make me follow the dress codes, and they’ll tell you that they couldn’t.” He looked at me shocked and slightly pissed. “Fine, but nobody is going to stop them from calling you a slut.” He said giving in, seeing that this tactic wasn’t going to work. I walked proudly out into the open then I decided it was time to fly. I flew over to the trees and I jumped and climbed, my senses and my connection to the elements guide me. I was soaring through the trees when I remembered that I was missing lunch. I swung over the branch I was on and let go of the branch soaring through the air. The exhilarating beauty of it had me breathless. I got to the meal area quickly. All of a sudden I dropped out of the air. “I told you not to wear that!” Rya yelled at me. “You wanna go through my memories and find a time when I abided by the dress code?” I asked her. Then an amazing thing happened. She actually did try to find a time when I had abided by the dress code. She tried for a good ten minutes while I got a plate for myself, willingly letting her sift through my memories. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d fully abided by the dress code and since I couldn’t remember one she couldn’t find one either. Eventually she slumped and gave up. “Fine, dress like a slut in my village.” She said, and then she turned to the rest of the people eating lunch. “You all have a right to call her on what she wears. If you don’t like it you can tell her.” She said to them all. “Just make sure you don’t tell Rya you don’t like her outfits, and since we look so much alike it might be hard to tell.” I said, and the people who were looking like they were thinking of telling me what they thought of my outfit realized that they might say it to Rya by accident. That scared them a little bit. I found Sam and sat next to him. When the guys saw me they looked me over, and I couldn’t help it. I met their stares with red eyes, and they looked away quickly. They could tell I wasn’t going to put up with it. We ate in silence while people gawked at me and my shorts and tank top. When I was done eating, I cleaned up after myself and then I went back to the trees. I climbed and climbed. I climbed for hours, until I was at the top of the tallest tree. I looked down and it was as breathtakingly frightening as it was profoundly, amazingly beautiful. I decided to sit on the branch I was on and then I searched for my spirit. I found it instantly and it came out of my body. As I focused more and more on my spirit, the clearer it became. I saw what this world looked like in this form. I could see the spirit of everything living. It was astounding; the spirit’s of different species different colors, the bright colors the things that moved, the duller ones the plants. The image it created was incredible. I studied this for hours, learned the colors of specific plants, specific species, specific people. I learned all of the colors for each person in the village. The people had the same colors as the animal they were most like, except in a lighter or darker shade. I looked at myself and found that I was a shade lighter than a wolf. Then, all of a sudden, my body was falling. The branch I’d been on broke. I charged my soul at my body and as soon as I was in my I told the air to stop my fall. I stopped falling and landed on the ground with a small, muted thud. I could see Rya and Qwen running toward me as fast as they could. Isaiah and Sam were coming from a different direction but they were also running as fast as they could. I couple of squirrels had come to find out what I was and that had broken the branch. I saw the frightened squirrels running up and down the tree having absolutely no idea what had just happened. My knees gave out and I fell to the ground. My stomach grumbled and I realized that it should be nearing dinnertime. When I saw their auras, I understood them so much better knowing their spirit animals. They were so easy to read now. I laid flat on the ground and closed my eyes. I let my senses reach out and the earth told me when they all gathered around me. Rya had a slab of stone raise me for examining and when she reached her hand in to find a pulse I yelled at the top of my lungs and they all screamed and fell over. I was beside myself with laughter, and their expressions almost made me wet myself and I always laugh at good expressions. Rya and Qwen glared but Isaiah and Sam hugged me. “When’s dinner? I’m starving.” I said to Sam. He picked me up off the earth and started carrying me toward the dining area. “You don’t have to carry me, seriously, I’m not hurt.” I complained. “But you don’t mind being carried so why not?” He said with a grin. “And how would you know that?” I asked him skeptically. “I know that because if you actually cared you would kick me or something to make me put you down.” He said simply. I realized he was right. I didn’t mind him carrying me so I just laid there comfortable as can be, and let him carry me. When we got to the dining area he put me down on a bench and went to grab us both food. When I tried to get up and follow him he turned around. “I’m getting food, stay here.” He said the last bit a command. I walked ahead of him and he jumped on me. “Stay over there,” he said pointing to the table he had put me on. “What is with you?” I asked him rolling over so I was pinning him instead of the other way around. “Just… please, can’t you follow directions for once in your life?” He asked me, his eyes begging me. I didn’t trust it, but his eyes begged me and that’s what really gets me. I stopped pinning him and just sat there. He sat up and kissed me and as he kissed me he freed his legs and when his legs were free he really deepened the kiss. I couldn’t think of why I’d been arguing with him, my mind was so blank and my body just working and responding to his. He picked me back up and put me back on the bench I’d been on before. I was lucky there was a backrest because as he broke the kiss I slumped against it. My mind kept on replaying the kiss, and I couldn’t see what was going on around me. I vaguely registered Rya sitting next to me and sneaking peeks at me that left her with the biggest grin I’d ever seen on her face. There was some kind of joke that I just wasn’t getting. Sam finally came back with two plates of food. When he sat down I saw him and grabbed him by his shirt and kissed him like it was a need and not even a choice anymore. He gently put the plates on the table and kissed me gently though I was trying to kiss him rough and fast. After a moment of him controlling himself way more than I could at that moment I gave up with a huff. I sat there pouting and he laughed. I got up and walked toward the showers. He grabbed my arm and steered me toward the table. I told the earth to move us toward the showers. When the earth started moving and he didn’t have a choice where he was going he looked at me skeptically. When there was a building between us and the dining area I turned and kissed him just as fervently as before. He was shocked and his lips didn’t respond at first but then he forgot himself. He kissed me rough and fast and I was completely happy for a long moment. He pushed me up against the building and kissed me with a passion that left me breathless. “Sam!” Rya reprimanded him. He jumped back from me and I let my arms which were intertwined around his neck pull me forward as he moved back. He patiently but forcefully untangled my arms and stepped back again. I could feel my eyes going a depressed deep blue. Rya saw my eyes and hers showed compassion and understanding. She knew how I felt. She could feel it herself through our minds’ link. She knew that this hurt. “Come on you two, they’re all waiting for you.” She said with a grin. My mind was still mourning over his rejection but when she said this she got my full attention. “Huh?” I asked her with confusion seeping into my monosyllabic word like water into the ground. “Come on,” Sam said while grabbing my arm and leading me back toward the eating area. I tripped and I cried out. A branch had been sticking out of the earth and I heard the sickening snap of my ankle as it broke cleanly. I nearly screamed but then the adrenaline of the pain kept me conscious and kept me from screaming. Rya and Sam looked at me with shock and fear and I had to think clearly since I was the only one who could at the moment. I thought back and called water to me. Then I called spirit and fire, earth and air to me. When I bent over my broken ankle searing pain almost made me faint, but out of pure will power I stayed conscious. “Heal me elements!” I commanded them and a soothing buzz went from my hip all the way to the broken ankle, I could feel the elements at work. I felt water soothing the pain, earth putting the bones where they belonged, fire searing them together, air holding the fire back from burning muscles, and spirit numbing my mind so I didn’t cry out. It took about a minute of them standing there to figure out that I was hurt, and it took one minute exactly for me to heal myself. They helped me up and they were going to try and take me to a healer in the village but I was already healed. Once they had me on my feet I pulled out of their arms and ran. I ran and cart wheeled and flipped. I jumped and rejoiced at the power I had. I was nearly singing for joy when Sam caught up with me. “Calm down, you’re drawing way more attention than strictly necessary.” He said. Everybody in the eating area was staring at me. I grinned to him and made myself a spirit, flying above him. His eyes got really wide and when they were all looking at him he blushed and turned the other way. Rya was right behind him and steered him toward his food, and made her hand a spirit capturing thing and grabbed me right out of the air and I immediately became solid again. I fell to the ground with a great big thud. I glared at her as I got up and she grinned at me with a superior smirk. When I was up she grabbed me and steered me toward her hut. “What?” I asked her sounding incredibly annoyed. “There is a huge rip in your tank top that shows more than half of your bra.” She said mercilessly. I looked down and saw my bra, and a tad of tank top left. I blushed and turned into a spirit again. She did the same and we went to her tent. “Take those off and put these on.” She said throwing me some leggings, and a semi-traditional dress. “Can I modify the leggings so they’re comfy?” I asked her. “You can just wear the shorts then.” She said. My whole face lit up. She knew I was going to so she took the leggings back. I slipped the dress over my head and realized it was as comfortable as my tank top. When we came out it looked like the meal was already being eaten. “Race you!” I yelled to Rya taking off. We ran neck and neck and it was the most fun I’d had since I’d gotten to the village. Then the tables were in the way. I flipped over each one like it was no bigger than a Barbie house. She ran around them and I got to my plate first. “I win!” I yelled. She tackled me to the ground and we had a full out war. Qwen and Sam ended up pealing us off each other and we were laughing so hard that tears were pouring down our faces. “I still won.” I said to her and she stuck her tongue out at me. I grinned and grabbed a fork and took a big bite of chicken. It tasted so good that I piled it on the peace of bread on my plate and ate it like a sandwich. Sam just sat there, already done with his meal, waiting for me to finish mine. I was done eating in record time and so was Rya. I grinned at her. Then I was wet. Water had poured onto me and it was //cold.// I poured some on her. She squealed and we had a war of water. It eventually just dropped. I called air to me and had it dry me. Rya was doing the same thing. I told the air to dry her hair all foofed up. When her hair dried it was all foofed up and absolutely nobody laughed. //Water, air, and make her a mirror so she can see her hair.// I commanded of the elements. They do and when she sees her hair she tries to do the same thing to me. “Enough you two.” Qwen commanded. He gave Rya a long look and she grinned at me. I laughed at her ridiculously foofed up hair and she fixed it. She threw air at me once more and then stopped when Qwen glared at her. I tried to do the same but Sam stared me down. I pouted there next to him and he put his arm around me. I realized I was cold and snuggled into him. Everybody in the village was staring at us. Sam bent down and kissed me gently. I kissed him back hesitantly. When he tried to deepen the kiss, I pulled away. “What?” He asked me, looking every bit too innocent as he tried to fake confusion. “In front of the whole village?” I asked him skeptically. “Do you have an issue with that?” He asked me skeptically. I stood up but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back down. “Hey!” I protested. //Wait till he gets up first, July.// Rya told me. //Why should I? Any modern girl would slap him hard for pulling her down for no reason.// I complained to her. //You’re kinda tied to him since you followed him to his hut last night so now you’re basically tied to him. You have to listen to what he tells you to do, and you have to let him lead you sometimes. It’s stupid I know, but you have to follow him for a couple of weeks. It won’t be too bad, promise.// She said. “What?!” I nearly yelled. “I didn’t even know what I was doing, I just wanted to talk to him not be bound to him!” I said a bit quieter. She grinned and shrugged. I glared at her. I got up and when he tried to grab me I was burning hot. I ran and I ran and I ran, as fast as I could. I screamed and screamed, I ran and I ran, and then when I just couldn’t anymore, I summoned all of the elements and they swirled around me and I felt like I was exploding. I let all of the anger at this stupid development out through the elements. It felt good. When the drain of the elements kicked in I fell hard from the air. The anger was sapped from me and all that was left was confusion. When I hit the ground it hurt me. I cried. I cried for about a minute before strong hands lifted me up. I opened my eyes to see Sam and my eyes questioned him. “Rya and Qwen explained to the village that you didn’t know about the… short term marriage thingy so they have excused your…anger and panic from running away from me as unexpected information frightening you and not me treating you badly.” He explained, already running with me in his arms. He ran for a long time while I processed what he’d said. When we got to the mini hut that we’d slept in before he put me down and started to lead me inside when I froze. I was exhausted but what got to me was ‘short term marriage’. I stopped and then I started walking toward the women’s hut. He grabbed my arm and led me into the hut we’d been in the night before. When we got in I rounded on him and yelled at him, “Who do you think you are? I am not going to be led around like some sheep! I don’t care what tradition here says, I’m going to do what I want and if you keep on grabbing me I’m going to burn you!” He looked frightened. He didn’t know what to do. //We can here you clear on the other end of the village.// Rya said. //He’s doing what he was trained to do either way. That’s how the men in this tribe handle women who aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do. They put them in their place and they prod them in the right direction. He wasn’t trained on how to deal with a protector. They didn’t expect a protector to end up in any kind of serious relationship with anyone but the leaders’ kids. Do not burn him.// She lectured at me. I glared at the floor. Suddenly, his arms were around me. I wanted to cry some more but the tears wouldn’t come. He went and changed into pajamas and lay down on the mat. He didn’t beckon for me to join him, didn’t grab me and pull me down, he just stared at me. I left the hut and grabbed my clothes. I headed toward the showers and when I was clean, my hair brushed and still in a towel, I couldn’t find my pajamas. I sighed and grabbed a loose, hole filled shirt from the bottom of my bag that I used for a swimsuit cover and some really loose, baggy shorts that were last year’s gym shorts and left. I was clean and my mind was calm. When I went back to the hut, Sam was gone. I panicked, and right away everything got super cold and I could feel my skin paling. I’d been so disobedient that he was disgracing me. I ran to the men’s huts and when I entered it was really, super quiet. It had been filled with chatter before but it had gone deadly silent. I saw Sam, already asleep and went over to his mat. I scooted him over a little bit and curled up next to him. They all sat there in a stunned silence. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was better than going back to the hut he had been in, or the women’s hut to be disgraced there. Tears began coursing down my face and a heart wrenched gasp broke through my lips. I quickly stifled it but not fast enough so that it wouldn’t wake him up. His eyes opened and when he turned over, still barely awake, to find me next to him, he sat straight up. It seemed that he wanted to glare, but he couldn’t manage it when he was this far asleep. I got up, and grabbed his hand and tried to lead him out of the hut. The men grouped around the only exit and wouldn’t let me pass. “Are you serious? I am dead tired, and I so can’t deal with you right now.” I said tiredly. “If he has rejected your company you have no right to-““Oh yes I do! And I swear I’m gonna burn all of you if you don’t move!” I yelled at them. None of them looked afraid. “Ugh. This village is such a pain.” I said. //Rya, help.// I begged her through our minds link. She sighed through the link and came to me. Sam let go of my hand and went back to bed. Rya was right behind me but I’d definitely had enough. I used the earth to swallow me whole and I when I came up I was outside of the hut. I ran, further and faster than I had before. But I was so tired. I tripped and fell on my face. I couldn’t handle the pain and the hurt anymore. I blacked out. I woke still in the wilderness, but instead of wanting to be as far away from the village, I needed to be there. I had the earth envelop me and told it to take me back to the village. I ended up right outside of the hut that Sam and I had stayed in the night before. It hurt to look at it. My knees gave out and I cried, mourned and hurt for a while in front of that stupid hut. Rya came and held me, and then she led me to her hut. Qwen was with the men in their hut. I cried and cried where he would normally lie. I eventually cried myself to sleep. When I woke up it was morning and I knew I couldn’t face the village today. I got up and I used my connection to the earth to find the nearest lake. The nearest lake was about half a mile away and when I left the hut, I had some appropriate clothing in hand and I started to run. Maggie stopped me. “You have to stay here. You cannot leave.” She said with an air of authority. “I can’t stay here right now.” I said to her, letting her see my pain. She took a step back, her eyes wide. “What has you hurting so much?” She asked me. I explained about Sam, how he’d hurt me, how angry he’d made me, how…I didn’t know what to do. She hugged me and she brought me to the showers. The women looked at me with a look of superiority or with pity. It was always one or the other; no in between. Both annoyed me. I showered quickly and Maggie combed out my hair while I threw on my leggings and traditional dress. I didn’t put any makeup on and I left my hair down. I looked in a mirror and was frightened for a moment to see Rya in my place and then I remembered that that was me. I turned around and Maggie gasped. “Can I go to the lake now?” I asked her. “You can’t avoid the village forever so why not face it now?” She asked me. “Because I don’t have to live here after I kill this stupid demon.” I said wearily. “But you’ll want to come back. Rya would still come back often.” I started to walk toward where the lake was. She grabbed me by the waist and steered me the opposite way, toward the dining area. “I don’t want to go there; anywhere but there, anywhere.” I begged her. “Okay fine,” She said and began steering me toward the men’s hut. “Or there!” I begged her. She didn’t let me out of it. She was even more stubborn than Rya. She fought about it more than Rya too. When we got to the entrance, I dropped to the ground. I used the earth to take me away. Then when I came up I was inside the men’s hut. I cried out and tried to dive back into the earth. They looked at me with pity. Maggie moved the earth under me toward Sam. Part of me wanted to be near him but the sane part of me knew how much it would hurt and I’ve never been a masochist. I used all of my power to try to get out of it. I took to the air and she flew me toward him. I became a spirit and she grabbed my spirit right out of the air. Finally I thought of something she couldn’t get me out of. I focused on my spirit and came out of my body. My consciousness wasn’t in my body so all the resistance was gone. I was next to Sam in moments, but I was dead to the world. She went over to me and slapped me a couple of times, but it didn’t make me come back to my body. She knew I was alive but I was unconscious. She picked me up and that shocked me into my body. I screamed. I threw off the dress, and the insect that had gotten into it skittered around and I told earth to crush it. It did. I put my dress back on after shaking it out a few times. Sam was staring at me with incredulous eyes. I made eye contact and it hurt too much. I ran. Maggie tried to stop me but I was fast. When I finally stopped I was a little ways away from the village. There was a bear. And it did not look happy with me. I told the earth to envelop me and take me to somewhere safe. It took me into the village, in front of Rya. Of course she was talking to Maggie. Maggie saw me and pounced. She steered me toward Sam and I focused on my spirit and this time when I left my body, she caught me. “How? Why is she fainting?” She asked Rya. Rya unzipped the dress and saw my tattoos. When the spirit symbolisms came into view, they glowed. She gasped and so did anybody else who saw them. She rolled me over with her foot. “A little respect!” I demanded. I realized I was back in my body. I tried to zip up my dress and when I finally managed to I glared at Rya. I got up and brushed the dirt off my back, flipped my hair at her, and ran smack into Sam. I blushed and my eyes darted to my feet out of shame. He put his hand under my chin and lifted my face to his. When he kissed me I couldn’t even think of why he was kissing me. I didn’t understand but I wanted him to kiss me. I kissed him back with everything in me and eventually he broke away, gasping for breath. He held me close and I cried. He led me back to the hut we’d been in before. He asked me why I’d left him, just to come back. I said I’d gone to shower so I could think for a while and calm down. He thought I’d gone back to where I’d slept before and thought he’d been disgraced and I thought the same but the other way around. We sat there for a long time, just talking. Eventually, I lay down and he lays down with me, and we just keep talking. After a while I get really tired and I put my head on his chest. He put his arms around me and I slept. I woke up to Rya talking to Sam. He was awake but still holding me. I snuggled deeper into him. She looked at me and saw I was awake. “How are you, sleeping beauty?” She asked and patted my foot. “Better; much better.” I said, snuggling closer to Sam. He kissed my forehead, and I almost fell back asleep. “Do you want breakfast today?” She asked us. I shook my head and drifted closer to sleep. She laughed, and yelled, “Snake!” I was up real quick then I put an elemental shield around Sam and me. Rya snorted and got into it. By jumping on me. I rolled over to avoid her, ending up pretty much on top of Sam; I rolled off the other side of him. Then I pushed him over some and snuggled into him. He started tickling me and I cringed away complaining. “Okay, okay I’m up!” I said getting annoyed. Rya left and I grabbed some different clothes. He went out to find something and since I was the only one in the hut, I started changing. I had on some flare bottomed jeans and a bra when Sam came back in. We looked at each other for a long time and then I continued getting dressed. He just shook his head and grabbed his shirt from last night. Once I had a normal shirt on I left the hut and found him. He was talking to a bunch of guys about our age. I came up behind him and when he turned around to go back and see if I was ready to go get breakfast he ran smack into me. I hugged him and he held me for a moment, and then he led me over to the dining area. I let him lead me this time and when he sat me down I didn’t argue. Rya sat next to me and I asked her, “So, how long am I supposed to be following him like a sheep?” She laughed. “Till one of you get’s really sick of the other and you can’t put up with each other anymore.” She answered. I looked at her for a long time. “And what if we can always put up with each other?” I asked her incredulously. “After a year, the couple sets a date for a wedding.” She answered. My shocked eyes must have conveyed my surprise. She laughed. “Well, unless one of them doesn’t honestly want to get married. Then they just move on.” She said. “So, do their parents have any say in it?” I asked her. “If they don’t want you to be married they have to stop it right away, or else they don’t have any say in it. The man can also propose before the year is up, or before they even try living in the same hut.” She said. “The woman can’t?” I asked her. “Well, they can, but they don’t do it often.” She said. “Unless they want to marry the chief’s kid. There, it’s a half and half kinda thing. Sometimes it’s the woman who proposes, and sometimes it’s the man.” She explained. We talked about it for a little while longer and then Sam came with the food. He put it down in front of me and I stood to kiss him. Most of the village was watching us, but I really didn’t care. He sat next to me and started eating. When we were finished we cleaned our plates and I headed back to the hut. His hands came down on my waist. “You’ve slept enough, you need to train.” He told me and steered toward Rya. “I need to study something else. I already know most of her tricks. I’m studying something else.” I explained to him. “Uh-uh. You need to go learn from Rya.” He said steering me toward Rya. I was starting to get annoyed. “I will study with her later.” I said to him. He was about to tell me no again when I spun on him. “I will study how I need to. Do not tell me how to live my life.” I tore away from him. He caught me again. “You’re supposed to be listening to me.” He said exhaustedly. I rolled my eyes and headed toward the hut. “Okay, tell me what you’re doing to train then.” He said to me, keeping pace with me. “Remember when I blacked out and my tattoos were glowing?” I asked him. He nodded fervently. “I leave my body, and my consciousness shows me what kind of powers are being used. It was how I knew Maggie was the one controlling that thing that one time, how I knew that one guy was controlling Isaiah. I’m trying to learn what else I can find out through that realm.” I told him. He was beside himself with shock. He walked with me to the hut and he sat with me as I tried to focus. I climbed into his lap and relaxed. He held me and I put my hands on his arms. I focused on my spirit and I was out of my body. I looked around and saw something that baffled me so much it knocked me into my body. My eyes opened; “I took you with me,” I said to him. He looked stunned. “Do it again.” He said. I held his arm and focused on my spirit and brought him with me again. We both learned it all, the colors of specific trees and specific flowers, specific people. We learned that if people have the same color of belt around their auras that they were bound by marriage or love. It was amazing. I learned who was married, who was in love with who, all the gossip I’d need for a lifetime. I remembered that we were dead to world and grabbed Sam. “It’s time to go back.” I said and he nodded. I focused on my body and we were back. A bunch of people were crowded around us. I blushed and got up. And yelled on the top of my lungs. I clutched my legs and cried as the blood trickled back into them painfully. Sam held me as I got feeling in my legs. Rya and Qwen shooed everybody out of the hut and asked what had happened. I explained everything to them. I could tell Rya wanted to know everything later and grinned to her. My stomach grumbled loudly. “When’s dinner?” I asked. “Um… I think it’s like, now.” Sam said looking at his watch. I stood up, ignoring the pain in my legs and left the hut. Sam grabbed me and I was about ready to smack him hard when his lips came down hard on mine and he kissed me with every bit of him. I broke away after a minute, needing to breath. He led me, still breathless toward the dining area. He sat me on the bench and before he left, I grabbed his hand. He turned and looked at me. “I have gotten myself one breakfast and I wanna see what they have for dinner.” He gave me a weird look. “So you want to come with me?” He asked me. “Yeah,” I said, waiting for him to tell me some kind of regulation about that. He pulled me to my feet and led me to where we got food. I got my food, and we went back to our spot. We ate in silence but only because we were just that hungry. I finished my food and took my plate to clean it and got a couple of weird looks from a couple of women. I didn’t really care, I was getting used to them. I came back to the table and said to Sam, “I’m going to go climb some trees. I need some movement.” He nodded. There were a bunch of the older guys talking to him that I remembered from last night. They looked at me, their eyes wide. “You’ve adjusted quickly to telling him where you are.” One of them said. I nodded. I’d been telling him where I was all day when I wanted to go somewhere without him. He was used to it. I ran to the forest and jumped and climbed for a long time. When I was dead tired I started to climb down. I walked back to the village. I’d gotten a few bruises and cuts from climbing and I was definitely sore. When I got back to the hut, I came in without knocking or asked, just came right in. Sam only had boxers on and was looking for his pajama pants. I had to try hard not to laugh at his bright blue boxers. He sat there for a long moment looking horrified and the expression was what got me. I laughed until I cried and he tried his best to find his pajama pants. He eventually put his jeans back on. I was trying hard not to wet myself so I didn’t notice when he came up behind me. I didn’t notice anything until he gave me a weggie. He laughed so hard at me and my bright pink underwear that he cried. I tackled him and was in the process of trying to pin him and sort of sitting on his stomach instead because he kept lifting his legs up before I could get on his knees when Maggie came in. She took in the scene and walked right out. We both got dead quiet and stared at each other. He rolled over while I was distracted and tried to pin me but I used the exact same tactic for not getting pinned as he used and ended up sitting on my stomach. Rya came in and took one look at us and walked out as well. I rolled over while he was distracted and followed her. “You should get ready for bed.” She said to me, without looking at me. I didn’t get why she was treating me this way, but I was suddenly too tired to find out. I went back to the hut and Sam had found his pajama bottoms but still couldn’t find the top. I went and grabbed my bag of clothes and searched for my pajamas. All I had was this skimpy night shirt and too short for public shorts. Ugh. “Sam, look that way and don’t turn around.” I ordered him. “Why?” He asked not really paying attention.”I’m changing.” I answered. I could see his ears go red and knew he wouldn’t turn around. I pulled my shirt over my head and put on the top. It was a bit tight, but I could live with that. I took off my pants just as Rya came back in the room. She saw us both half naked and left. Crap. I pulled the shorts on fast and followed her. “Yeah?” I asked her. She turned around, saw me and blushed. “This is the only nightwear that I can find, all my other stuff disappeared.” I explained hastily. “I could loan you something, but I think you’ll be fine. It is supposed to get really hot later when the clouds go away.” She was doing this on purpose. I glared at her and she grinned. I spun and stomped back to my hut with a huff. When I came back in tying my hair up Sam looked at me. He blushed so furiously he had to look away. I climbed into bed and got comfortable. He hesitantly crawled into bed. I scooted closer to him and he put his arms around me. I fell asleep quickly. I woke up when Sam rolled over and brought me with him. And apparently he decided to sleep on his back now. So I was laying on top of him and when I tried to get out of it, his arms squeezed harder. I gave up. Rya chose that moment to walk in to wake us up and saw me on top of him. Her expression was seriously funny. I choked back a laugh and she gave me a suggestive expression. I glared at her. “Why don’t you get up?” She asked me. “Because every time I try to move he squeezes me harder.” I said. She laughed. I tried to roll over and we rolled of the mat and he rolled on top of me. Rya was beside herself with laughter. I called water to me and splashed her with most of it and splashed Sam with the rest of it. He woke up confused and when he saw that he was on top of me he immediately rolled over, this time without me. He was blushing furiously. Rya was wet now but she was still laughing herself sick. Sam grabbed some clothes and went into the other room that I’d forgotten about last night. I grabbed of my own clothes and started pealing off my pajamas. As I was switching my bra Sam came back out and saw me in my jeans and he saw my bare back. He blushed and looked away, going back in the other room. I vaguely saw Rya’s face twist with skepticism at his reaction. I rolled my eyes at her and found a different bra. I put on a shirt and called Sam back into the room. I stood up and hugged him. I just wanted to be held right now and it was seriously weird, because he’d held me all night. Rya slipped out of the hut and we just stood there. I called the earth and had it make us a couch and we sat there. He held me and I let him hold me. I felt so safe there that I couldn’t imagine anything better than being right there in that moment. I sat there and then my spirit soared. I focused on it and by accident I brought both of us out of our bodies. He grinned at me and we flew off into the village, and we didn’t go back until sometime around lunch. We both learned how this world led you, how it would show you something if you asked it the right way. When we got back to our bodies we went and got food. We ate in silence and then when we left the dining area we started talking a million miles a minute. We talked for hours and when Rya came to find me with my head on his lap and us just talking, she looked utterly baffled. “What are you two even doing?” She asked us. “Talking,” We both said at the same time and then I yelled “Jynx!” He laughed and tickled me until I said his name. Rya just left shaking her head. When we came out for dinner a lot of people just looked at us like we were crazy. Sam didn’t have to tell me anything for me to do it. In the line to get food he would reach out a hand and I would put what he wanted in it and when I grabbed a tea bag he was already filling a cup with hot water, we were finishing each others’ movements. It felt right and comfortable. The people just stared. When we sat down and ate, we talked at all the right times so we neither of us ever had to talk with their mouth full. Rya and Qwen watched us in awe. “I need to get some exercise,” I told him when we were cleaning our dishes. He nodded and when we were done with our dishes we went our separate ways. Again, I ran and climbed. I got to a high branch and focused on my spirit. I came out of my body. I flew around and I went all the way to the showers to see what my spirit looked like. I saw the mirror, but what was in it shocked me. I saw myself, but there was a deep red sash around my waist. I went and found Sam, and he had the exact same red sash on his waist. I touched the sash around my waist and I felt true loving feelings spread throughout my spirit, so strong that they snapped me back into my body. I was in that tree thinking for a long time. About an hour after dark, I climbed down. I went and found Rya. “Rya, can I talk to you?” I asked her. “Sure,” She said and she started walking with me. I told her about my episode. “I’m in love with him.” I told her flat out after beating around the bush for a while. She smiled at me and hugged me hard. “Now you have to tell him.” She told me. I felt myself pale and the horror that spread throughout me had my knees weak. She caught me when I fell and she sat there with me for a while. “He’s going to get worried soon; you’d better go.” She said to me. “Where are my pajamas?” I asked her simply. “How should I know? They’re your clothes.” She responded. “I can tell you’re lying, and if you don’t give my pajamas back I’ll wear mine all day tomorrow.” She could tell I was serious so she got up and went into her hut. She came back out with my pajamas. “Thank you.” I said. She turned around and went to her hut and she didn’t come back out. I got up and went into my hut. When Sam saw me he hugged me and I could tell he noticed my stiffness. He went into the other room so I started changing. He came back out with his pajama shirt, thinking all I had was the pj top from last night. I only had on my undergarments so when he saw me he blushed. I pulled on my pajama top and bottom and got into the bed. He climbed in after and pulled me to him. He was so gentle with me that I almost cried. When he was obviously on the edge of consciousness I whispered, “I love you,” and then I let myself fall into my dreams. I woke up to him moving about in the hut. I vaguely wondered how he’d managed to move me without me waking up. I got up and headed over to the showers. When I went to breakfast after that he was already there and eating. “Where were you? Or did you seriously take that long in the shower?” He teased me. I grinned slightly and went back to eating. Rya saw me acting this way and kicked me under the table. When she didn’t even get a jump out of me I could tell she was giving up. I ate in silence and when I was finished I cleaned my plate and headed back to the hut. I was laying on the bed when he came in. “What’s wrong?” He asked me gently, lying down next to me. “Nothing; I’m adjusting to something.” I said truthfully. I grabbed his hand and focused on my spirit, and we left our bodies together. He looked at me incredulously. I couldn’t meet his gaze anymore so I looked down. He followed my gaze and his eyes widened when he saw the deep red sash around my waist. “What-?” He asked me. I pointed back at him, and he looked down. He saw his sash and I brought us back to our bodies. He just stared at me for a long time. He didn’t know what to think. “Wow.” He said still not beleiving. I nodded and started crying. He held me for a long time and I could tell he was just as frightened as I was. He didn’t understand it at all and he was falling head over heels with me, and this feeling was mutual. We sat there for a long time, but of course we couldn’t stay in that moment forever. Rya came in and saw us, me crying and him holding me. I sat up and saw that Sam was crying too. I touched his face and wiped away his tears, and he did the same for me. I hugged him again and we sat there for a while. “You told him?” She asked me. “Well, moreover showed him.” I replied. He wasn’t surprised that I’d told her first. “We’re going to have to train you in using the elements some more before the demon gets here and you’ve already spent three days with him.” Rya said. “And I’m spending one more day with him.” I said stubbornly. She smiled and came over to me. She tied my hair back and pushed me over. She sat on me for about an hour with Sam and I just talking. “Will you get off of me?” I asked her when I started to feel my body molding to her shape and the bones cracking in ways they shouldn’t. She got off but only to pin me. I rolled over and pinned her right back. She rolled over and pinned me. I rolled over and pinned her. She rolled over and I ended up on top of Sam. She laughed when we both scrambled to separate ourselves. We both ended up rolling off the mat. I sat up and then pinned Sam. “I win.” I said with a grin. He rolled over and pinned me. “I win.” He responded. When I tried to roll over he used his superior weight to keep me stuck there. I sat there for a moment and then said to Rya, “Come here,” She did. “Grab my hand.” She did, looking confused. I focused on my spirit and brought all three of us out of our bodies. When she saw what happened she was shocked. She saw our red sashes and grinned. “I told you it was cool; and watch it. You have your own sash so shutup.” I told her. She looked down and saw her peach colored sash. We all went and found Qwen and when we did Rya asked me, “What would happen if I tied my sash to Qwens’?” I thought for a moment and then I found an ancient memory. One of her grandmother’s memories. “If you tie your sashes together, you will be bound to him until you die, in a way that would be painful to separate.” I told her. Sam looked at me and so did Rya. They were both shocked and unsure of whether or not they liked that I could know this on a dime.