Gathering Water (10 page)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“But it’s a mess, let me…”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You’ve completely lost me.”

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

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

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

“Do I have to?” I whined.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I’m still not sure…”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

November 3
rd
, 1968

Dear Journal,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Okay okay, I’m up, I’m up!” I told him in my most ungracious voice. I’d get up, but I didn’t have to be happy about it.

I got dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and my favorite purple tank top then made my way downstairs, where about a pound of bacon, a couple of eggs, and a croissant were waiting for me.

“Eat up, Della. You’re going to need the energy. Cash, leave her bacon alone, there’s plenty over here.” My uncle defended my bacon. I knew I liked him for a reason.

It took a few moments of food shoveling for my stomach to feel almost uncomfortably full.

“So, what’s on the agenda today?” I asked finally, shooting a disgusted look over at Cash who looked like he was training for a food-eating competition.

“I know a good spot with some privacy. We’ll talk over the basics first, discuss what you already know and what you think you’ve done already, then we’ll go from there.”

“Why do I have to be there, Dad? I learned this stuff years ago,” Cash said, finally halting his gorging to chime in.

“Because you need to work on your shielding,” his father told him.

“But Della’s nowhere near ready for that yet. I still don’t get why I have to go.”

“Della’s powers were a little, er, unpredictable at Uncle Luke’s yesterday. We’ll need to shield her when we start working on things. This will be a good opportunity for some real life practice for you.”

Connor didn’t give Cash a chance to reply and shoved a sloshing cooler into his arms to take to the car.

“So, I’m unpredictable?” I asked while standing up from the kitchen table.

“No one could have predicted what happened at Luke’s store yesterday; so yes, you are. I’m still not sure I believe you did all that with only one Gather, but it’s better to be safe. We’ve got to get a move on though, kiddo. Leave the dishes, Ellis knows we’re in a rush today,” he said before I had a chance to finish rinsing my breakfast plate.

I didn’t really know why we were in a rush, or why I was considered unpredictable, or even why only one Gather shouldn’t be able to explain the destruction in the store the day before. No matter how frequently I didn’t know something, I still couldn’t get used to it; in fact, I was pretty sure my curiosity was giving me ulcers.

We took my uncle’s dark sedan, both me and Cash sitting in the backseat like children. After several minutes, and going over the causeway and into the picturesque town on the water called Manteo, we pulled into the parking lot of the Waterside Theatre.

“Dad, what are we doing here?” Cash asked as we all got out of the car.

“I wanted a little more privacy for our lessons with Della. It’s why we need to be here so early; we only have until two before rehearsals start.”

“What is this place? Is it a movie theatre?” I asked doubtfully. It was outside, so it couldn’t be a normal movie theatre. I’d certainly never heard of it.

“No, it’s an outdoor theatre for plays. The Lost Colony is playing right now. We’ll take you some time. It’s a great show, and every Outer Banker needs to know the story. I’ve worked something out, and we’re allowed to practice here during the day Monday through Thursday. I’ve got another place in mind for the weekends. We just have to be done by two,” my Uncle told us as he led the way through the gates and into the massive amphitheatre.

I vaguely remembered something about a lost colony from my American History class in high school. Well, high schools. But I didn’t really remember the details other than its being lost.

Connor led us down the center aisle until we were at the stage area. It was close to the water, and even though I couldn’t see it over the back of the stage walls, which looked like a wooden fort, I could still smell the distinctive Sound smell.

“Ok, Della, tell me everything that you know, or think, about our abilities,” Uncle Connor said.

“Not much. Aren’t you supposed to be telling me?” I didn’t know much, after all.

“I just need to know what you know.”

So I spent the next five minutes telling him about Gathering elements, how I could make the water come towards me before absorbing it. I told him about the day before with Luke, how it felt to Temper Air. As an afterthought, I told him about the runs I’ve always enjoyed, especially during rainy weather. “And Dove said that he could see me Gathering through my feet. Is that why I like running barefoot?”

“Yes, you’ve probably been unconsciously Gathering a little bit every time you do that. I’ll have to say Della, for a while I wasn’t sure you had any of our abilities. You have a very strong Shield. It seems you only let it down during those times when you are more at ease.”

“What’s Shielding?”

“It’s our most defensive ability, and the only one we can do with the Spirit Element, since we’re doing it with our own Spirit, or aura as Dover would call it. We can also Shield with different Elements, depending on what’s needed. It’s very difficult, and Cash is still learning. It’s protecting ourselves. Usually from detection or from an elemental attack. I’m not sure how you would have subconsciously learned it…” Then he shut his mouth, thinking about a childhood where you have to subconsciously learn a powerful defense mechanism to survive would be like.

Bad. Really bad. It couldn’t be all that impressive a defensive magic if I really had been using it all these years. If it had been, I suspect my childhood would have been a lot less therapy-inducing. I kept my thoughts to myself, however. I didn’t want Uncle Connor to feel guilty over something he’d had no control over.

“So,” he finally continued, “you know about Gathering, and Tempering, and now a little bit about Shielding. There is also Bending, and Reading. Bending is manipulating the elements. Cash, Bend Air for your cousin.”

Suddenly the light breeze I had been enjoying turned into a large gust of wind, nearly knocking me over. It ended as quickly as it began, allowing me to regain my balance and glare at my cousin.

Uncle Connor chuckled at us, the continued. “Reading is both very easy, and very difficult. It depends on what you’re trying to discover, and which Element you use. You can hear conversations that are happening, see past events, or glimpse a piece of the future. It’s easiest to do something of the present, or past. The future is really tricky. I never managed the talent but my mother had several accurate premonitions. Even she wasn’t as good as my grandmother Llewellyn.”

“Wait, so we can tell the future?” It sounded so useful!

“Well, potentially, yes some of us can see a glimpse of the future. Enough to prepare if something’s going to go wrong,” he said.

“Is there anything else?”

“Of course there is, but we aren’t going to bother with it until you get the basics down.” Now it was Connor’s turn to get my evil eye.

“Ok, so why don’t we work on Bending right now,” then he shouted over to his son. “Cash, Shield up with Earth, okay?”

“Why?” My cousin asked, not one for instant obedience.

“Because you’re terrible at it, and if you’d seen Luke’s store yesterday you’d realize you might need something a little more substantial.” Connor looked at me, “Okay, Della, we’re going to Bend Air since it’s easiest, for obvious reasons.”

“Wait, what obvious reasons?” Nothing about this was obvious, and I kinda wished Luke were there with his gentle-giant voice.

“Well, for one thing, you’ve already done it, even if you didn’t mean to. For another, there’s a decent breeze today,” he said, not explaining anything at all.

“Um. I still don’t understand.” I could see Connor take a breath to keep his patience, it’s like he forgot that I really was new to all of this.

“Well, I’m pretty sure you bent Air yesterday at the store, it’s the only thing that explains the destruction. And it’s hard to bend something that’s stationary. It’s why we work with Earth last. Water can be easy too, but not always convenient on land. Fire is too dangerous to start with, and though it’s easy to Bend, you should wait until you have more control or you could hurt someone.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a red lighter. “Now, to Bend Air, you first have to Gather it. Anything you do, whether it’s Tempering, Bending, or Reading, will use up energy, and you need to collect before you try to do anything. Eventually you’ll learn to replenish as you go, which is necessary for Shielding and why it’s so difficult. Now, go ahead.” And he did something I thought was strange; he took the lighter in his hand, flicked a flame on, then made it disappear.

“I’m going to Temper Fire while you do this, so I can see what’s happening and direct you better,” he explained when he caught sight of my questioning look. I looked around for a couple minutes trying to think of another question to ask, when I realized I was procrastinating.

“Okay, here I go.” I closed my eyes and started to Gather, adding more Air to the stuff I already felt inside of me from before. I kept going, thinking that Connor would tell me to stop, but he didn’t, so I kept collecting more and more of the element until I started to feel full in a very zingy kind of way.

I finally opened my eyes, unable to Gather any more of the element, and looked at Connor for some guidance on what to do next.

“Shit,” was all he said, his eyes wide with shock, and his chest puffing a little quickly like he was out of breath.

“What did you do, Della? Dad never swears!” Cash said from his spot a few feet away, where he was brushing dirt off his hands, probably from touching the ground to Gather Earth. I shrugged since I had no idea what I’d done.

“She didn’t do anything I didn’t ask her to do, son. Just give me a minute to catch my breath.” Cash and I exchanged very confused looks before Connor went on, “You Gathered so much so fast, Della, that the air closest to you started thinning out. Made it hard to take a full breath.”

“I didn’t notice anything,” Cash said unbelievingly.

“You were far enough away, it only seemed to affect the four to five feet around her.”

“Oh, I read about that in Llewellyn’s diary.” I had only told him about the journal, not the specific entries. “She said something about being able to suck the air away…”

“No, no. That’s something different. You can learn to do that with Bending air. This was… you were like a funnel, you were Gathering so much. While I was Tempering, you looked like the eye of a small cyclone.” He looked at me for a moment with something like awe. “At least now I know that Luke wasn’t exaggerating.”

“What does it mean?”

“Not sure, other than you have a deep Well for storing energy.” My uncle’s words held no meaning for me.

“He means you can hold a lot. Usually, our ‘Wells’ are kind of shallow, which is why it is so important to Gather often when doing anything.” Cash explained much better than his father.

“Oh. So, it’s not bad or anything.” Cash rolled his eyes at me, something I thought only teenage girls did.

“Cash, I want you to go stand over there, just in case, and start Shielding while I walk Della through Bending.” I didn’t like the sound of “just in case”, but since we were going to continue with the lesson, what I was about to do couldn’t be that dangerous. Right?