Gathering Water (9 page)

“Ok, so I can tell because my family also has gifts. They’re different
from yours, but that’s why me and Cash have always gotten along so well, you know?” he said while adding more pressure to my toe.

“What kind of gifts?”

“Well, my mom’s mom was a Medicine Woman in a local tribe, and my dad’s family have some healing abilities. We don’t work with the elements really. Well, I can work with Nature. You know, hear it and stuff. That’s why I can tell when you Gather, I can kinda feel it going inside you. And I can sorta see it inside you or something,” he explained, though I still only half understood.

“Tell me about the element thing.”

“Well, I’m not the best…”

“I don’t car
e, just tell me what you know,” I demanded.

“From what Cash has told me, you guys can Gather from the four elements; Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth.
” I opened my mouth to ask a question, but was stopped. “No, don’t interrupt. I know its sounds cliché. So, you can use that elemental power to do things. Like, Cash is big on taking a little energy from his lighter, then using it as a sparkler with his finger. Um, that’s just fun though. Oh, he can use the water to make his waves better when surfing. He never has a problem paddling out. It’s cheating in my opinion. Let’s see, with the air he can make little tornados, or lift up a girl’s skirt. I’m sure there are better things he can do, but those are just things I’ve seen. I’m just a healer, I only work on living things.

“So, you can like heal
people?” I said disbelievingly, causing him to laugh. “It’s not funny!”

“Yes, it is. After knowing the types of things you can do, and hearing about some of the things Cash can do
, you think healing sounds outrageous, and that’s funny. Here, fixed your toe.” And he raised his hanky up and shoved the bloody thing back in his pocket.

At first I thought he’d just stopped the
bleeding, then I looked a little closer.

“Oh my God! It’s healed! Holy crap.” I faced forward on the bench now,
and leaned down with my elbows on my knees and my head resting in my hands.

“What’s wrong Della? Does it still hurt?”

“I’m living in a fantasy novel, that’s what’s wrong!” Dover looked at me. Just sat there and looked at me for a few moments. Then he started laughing. Laughing so hard that tears started streaming from his eyes while he held his sides together. I didn’t understand what was funny though, and smiled meekly at the non-existent joke, wondering if he was having a mental break, or if I were just missing something.

“Della. Oh man. You’re acting like this is a bad thing, like you just saw me turn someone inside out. It isn’t bad; i
t’s awesome. I can heal things. You can control the freaking elements. We’re incredible. We’re some of the coolest people ever, like superheroes without the spandex.”

I thought about it for a minute. He
was right. This was awesome -- really incredibly strange and unbelievable, but still awesome.

“So we’re like X-Men then?”
I asked hopefully.

“Kind of, sure.” He chuckled.

“Does Cash really make girls’ skirts blow up?”

“Ha, yes he does, usually d
resses,” he said with a funny little smile on his face.

“Boys are pigs!” I huffed out, thoroughly disgusted with the lot of them.

“Hey! I don’t do it, why am I a pig?

“Because you look!” I
threw my hands up and shot him an exasperated look.

“Well yeah. Can’t ignore a nice view like that, no way.”
He stood, then held his hand out to help me up. I didn’t really need the help standing up from a park bench, I wasn’t eighty, but I took his hand anyway then jokingly pushed him a little for the comment.

“See? Pig.” We started walki
ng in the direction back to my uncle’s house.

“If I didn’t look, then those poor girls would suffer in embarrassment for nothing. I’m just appreciating the natural beauty. Would you avert your eyes from the pyramids just because they were built by slaves? Same thing.”

“No, no it’s not the same thing. I hear the first sign of being a pig is denial.” He had me laughing, though.

“So,
what else do you know about it? My family powers, or whatever?” I asked after we walked in silence for a couple of minutes.

“Well, you can only draw from one type of element at a time, and I think you have to use it before you Gather from some other type. I think that Cash has mentioned divining from the elements, but I have no idea how or even if he can.”

“Divining? Is that like seeing the future?”

“Yeah, I think. It’s
way outside my realm of knowledge. Let’s see, oh I’ve seen him Gather then get really strong before. He did it in an arm-wrestling match, the cheater. I don’t really know what that’s about either. It’s not like he shares everything with me.”

Since we had been walking back in a direct route, it didn’t take us long to get back to the house. I went directly upsta
irs to take a shower while Dove went back to the living room to play CoD with Cash, who had only just gotten off the phone.

September 20
th
,

Dear Journal,

Lessons with the Neale boys are going well. L and T are both very talented in Tempering, as all Neales are. I’m hoping that Anise was able to see the importance of that skill, even though it is one that comes with more difficulty for the Deare family. Our Bending abilities are unequaled, and Anise is doing quite well with them. I’m afraid that T Neale has a crush on my daughter, something of which she and his own brother are completely unaware. L seemed calmer than he has in recent months. My meeting with my Native acquaintance went well. He, too, has been hearing troubling rumors about our future. He seemed surprised by my belief in a possible connection between my family and his, but said that he would look into it and get back to me.

I woke up really excited the next day
, excited that the house was almost finished, excited that I would see Luke later and could possibly get him to answer some more of my questions, and just plain old thrilled to be young and alive. I know, it’s cheesy. But I was just happy to exist. It’s a good way to feel.

After getting dressed and brushing my teeth, I grabbed Cash’s grey bike and made my way to Luke’s store to start my
shift. He always had cheese danishes waiting for me on my morning shifts, so I didn’t worry about eating before I left the house.

I used my key to let myself in through the front door. I could have gone around back, but the bike racks are up front and I didn’t feel like walking around the building. Luke was in the back putting away the most recent delivery, only noticing me enough to smile my way as I grabbed one of t
he tan aprons out of his office and clocked in on the ancient computer he’d invested in. I turned on the lights, brewed a carafe of the complimentary coffee and stocked up the foam cups, while thinking about how to steer the conversation with Luke the way I wanted it to go.

“So, Conno
r called me last night. Told me about y’alls dinner conversation,” Luke said behind me, just oozing “casual old guy”; he was sitting next to the counter in his favorite floral beach chair, whittling. Yes, whittling. That thing I’d only ever seen in movies, usually by the grandfather-type on the front porch in some ridiculously small town.

“Jeez Luke! You’re like
eight feet tall. How do you manage to sneak up on me?” I yelped at the giant.

“Well, you seemed a bit lost in your own thoughts.”

“Sure it wasn’t magic?” I earned a very rumbly chuckle at that.

“Well, you’re taking this ne
ws a bit better than I expected.”

“Oh, because I didn’t storm and pout? No, I started suspecting something was a little different a few weeks back. I didn’t tell Cash or Connor this, but there were some journals in the safety deposit box; I’ve been reading a little bit in one of them each night. So, I think that helped a bit.” I didn’t bother telling him the intense fear I’d had of being a complete nut-cake
. Let him think I was a champ at believing the impossible. Or at least keep him from thinking I was emotionally unstable.

“Really? Whose diary?”
He paused his whittling to ask.

“A woman named Llewellyn. She was my great-grandmother, right?”

“Certainly was. A little strict if you ask me, of course Anise was a little bit of a free spirit so can’t say that I blame her. Llewellyn was really adept at Reading; no one has been able to match her since, though Anise was all right at it.”

“What does that mean? Reading? Is it
divination, like in Harry Potter? Did she read tea leaves and stuff?” Please, don’t laugh at me. It was the only reference I could think of, the only time I’d ever heard the term.

Luke shook his head, doing his little chuckle again.

“No, you don’t read tea leaves. I’ll tell you what I know, but first why don’t you go unlock those doors and help Mr. Clure find what he needs.” He shooed me towards the front door where the customer waited.

Mr. Clure
was a widower who came by a couple of times a week. He always wanted me to help him pick out “his goodies”, usually only about fifteen dollars’ worth of merchandise, varying from candy to fish tackle, which Luke told me he gave away, piece by piece, on his walk home to anyone he saw on the way. When he finally left twenty minutes later, he had his reusable bag filled with a green kite, two cartons of lemonade, and a handful of blow-pops.

Luke was still sitting in his chair, carving God knows what, and making a decent sized mess on the floor that I would
eventually have to sweep up. Because there wasn’t anyone else in the store, I hopped onto the counter next to him, making sure not to bump into the coffee maker, and looked down at him while swinging my legs like a child.

“So, no tea leaves,
” I prompted.

“No tea leaves. How much do you know about your powers? You know that it’s all elemental, right?”

“Yeah, I made Dove spill what he knew last night.”

“He’s a goo
d kid. Knew his grandma. Anyway, Reading isn’t really the best term, because you don’t always see it. It depends on what element you use. But that isn’t something that the Neale side of the family really does too well,” he said.

“Ok. So what
can
you tell me about?” I asked.

“Well, the Neale side focuses a little more on the physical. We’ll start at the beginning; do you know how to Gather already?”

“Yes, that’s what prompted yesterday’s convo at the restaurant. Are we going to do this here, now?” I looked around the store to make sure a customer hadn’t sneaked by.

“Great, and yes.
Tuesday mornings aren’t really our busy time so we might as well be productive. Unless you want to organize the stock room?” I did
not
want to organize the stock room, so I shut my mouth. “That’s what I thought. Go grab that fan by the register.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so, that’s why.”

I hopped off the counter and grabbed the small fan, and started bending over to plug it in for him when he stopped me.

“No, don’t worry about the plug. This is just the easiest way to tell if you’re Gathering Air properly. The fan should start rotating a bit. Go ahead, give it a try.”

I closed my eyes and made myself relax
, let that tingly sensation take over and tried to focus on the air around me. When I felt like it was working I opened my eyes and looked at the fan, amazed at how quickly it was spinning around.

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

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

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

“Do what?”

“Gather as much as you are.”

“Am I doing it wrong?”

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

“What were you doing with the radio there?”

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes.”

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

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

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

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

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

"Is this it?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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