Authors: Annalynne Thorne
"Sit down, Terra."
She suddenly realized she was still on the bottom of the stairs. Terra walked over to Aunt Gwen falling into the nearest seat. It was then that she noticed the small cactus set aside in a brown pot. She pulled it towards her feeling instant happiness.
"A welcome home present" Aunt Gwen said, clearly proud of herself for coming up with it. "I got it from our last house in
Phoenix
. I've been waiting to give it to you but I'm so busy... I hope you like it."
It was peculiar since Aunt Gwen, in all the times they had moved, had never given any of them a “homecoming present.”
"Thank you but... You think we're staying at this new house?" Terra asked.
"We don't have a lot of time. The prophecy has to come true soon."
"Aunt Gwen," she sighed. "What if we just stayed in one place? If it's going to happen, won't he or she find us?"
She tapped her long manicured finger against the ceramic mug, a ticking sound in perfect timing to her foot. "I always knew that you and Marissa never took this seriously."
"It's not that…”
"I thought finding Era would have been proof but I guess not," she continued loftily. "Don't get me wrong, I love all three of you very much, but none of you understand the importance of this prophecy. All of our futures depend on it, not just yours. This isn't some game Terra. This is real, and it could be the end of our existence, and when I say 'our' I mean our kind. We're not a common breed anymore, doubt has clouded and genetics has given to a different kind of species. All things were one and biology set us apart. Fear isolated us."
Terra's brows furrowed in concentration, "Why us?"
"You've always been the one to ask too many questions."
"It's not too many questions, if this is important we should know. What is it that we don't understand? None of it makes any sense. What's this danger that we're in and who came up with that prediction in the first place? If we talk with her maybe she could help us understand?"
Aunt Gwen placed a hand over Terra’s, encasing it in the residual heat from the cup. "I want you all to be safe. You won't be until all four of you are together. There are answers to those questions that I can't give you. It's best if you learn them on your own. If you can't trust what is, then trust me. I would never steer you wrong. This is all for your safety.”
Safety! It was such a contradiction, to be kept in the dark and be safe? Wasn't it best if they knew and saw what they were headed towards? As if she picked the thought right from her brain, Aunt Gwen added, “You’re safer not knowing because it would change how this is supposed to end.”
“How is it supposed to end?” Terra questioned.
“With all of you alive”
Ice cascaded down Terra’s spine. Whoever said knowledge was power had never been in their shoes.
Marissa ran into the stalls of the bathroom and the ruling of her emotions overtaking her, she melted. Literally, she was a puddle and right then, as all luck would have it, the janitor came in.
An hour of sleep was not enough to function on, but Terra satisfied herself with the thought that once she saw Marissa off to school she could go back to her warm and welcoming bed. Grumpily, she pondered why Marissa couldn't go to her first day of school alone. She was fifteen after all and it seemed rather childish, but that was the way Marissa was. She had to have the company of her family in order to feel safe.
There was that word again: Safe. None of them were safe. With great anger she threw down her toothbrush, clattering in its holder knocking the whole thing over. Maybe they had all been mistaken and she was fire. She was showing a lot of the traits, then again it was her natural earth stubbornness at being uprooted every time that was coming out indirectly. Terra had to straighten her mood out before she was to send Marissa off. Her empathic little sister did not need to feel Marissa’s ill tempered vibes.
She breathed deeply, looked at herself in the mirror and combed her hair with her fingers. She would've taken better care of her appearance but the bags under her eyes showed why she didn't care. She didn't even bother looking at what she was wearing. She simply pulled out any clothes that she first saw and tugged them on.
At the table Marissa was bent over stuffing a final book into her bulging brown backpack. Era was at the sink washing a glass cup with cotton balls stuffed into her ears. It did not stop her from hearing but it helped keep out most of the noise. Even though the noise was muffled and it was like being underwater, Era could still hear Terra’s footsteps.
"I was just about to wake you." Era said.
"No, she wasn't," Marissa argued. "I wasn't going to let her. You can go back to sleep, you are exhausted."
"I'm fine, Issa. I've never missed any of your first days at school and I don't plan to now. Are you ready," Terra yawned.
"Yes, are you?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because your socks don't match…"
She looked down and saw that Marissa was right. She had one green sock on her left and a purple stripped on her right. She shrugged, "ah well. I can say that I raided Era's closet." Terra smiled at her out of the corner of her eye, observing her long white skirt and white button up top.
"I'm matching, mind you." Era furrowed her brow.
"You haven't always."
Daintily Era shrugged. "We need to go now or we'll be late. Is everything packed Marissa?"
"Yeah..."
"I can home school you if you would like, Marissa," Terra offered. Just another one of the many times she had done so.
"No..."
"You're putting yourself through a lot for little," Terra said. "Why do you like it so much? You're bombarded with petty emotions every day when you could just stay here."
"For the same reason Era refuses to stay cooped up in a sound proof room. I want to be normal." Marissa explained.
Terra sighed, spotting Marissa’s Opal stone against the heart of her silk blouse. "Tuck in your stone then. Don't want anyone asking questions."
"No one ever asks questions," Marissa argued, but slipped it inside of her collar anyway. "If someone does ask, it's not all that uncommon. Lots of people wear necklaces."
Era floated by tossing the keys to Terra. "We'll tell them we're gypsies. It's not too far from the truth."
Terra fought the rolling her eyes and followed them out the door to their waiting car. The dirt roads they had passed coated the bottom half of the car. She silently made a note in her head to have it cleaned once she dropped Era off at home.
The school building was a ten minute drive past farm houses with cows and horses.
The school itself was small, not even three stories and the students were cheerfully chattering dressed in jeans and wrinkled t-shirts. A stark comparison to the strict uniforms Marissa had worn previously.
Terra caught sight of Marissa in the backseat looking nervously down at her outfit. She had on what she usually wore, black knee -length skirt and a button white top with a few front pieces of her hair clipped back.
"I'm over dressed," she said letting out a sigh. "I knew I should've worn my regular clothes."
"You look lovely," Era rebuked lightly.
"You do," Terra agreed quickly. "I'll be back to pick you up, okay?"
She moved to the edge of her seat, her hands grasping the armrests. "What if I melt again?"
Era chuckled, remembering what they were all thinking. The last school was extremely strict but Aunt Gwen swore that with Marissa's grades (the one thing she was never nervous about thanks to Era's tutoring), she should go to a prominent school. Thankfully, after what happened, even Aunt Gwen accepted that it would be best to put her back into a public school.
A few stuck-up girls made fun of her for something she could no longer remember, Marissa ran into the stalls of the bathroom, and before she realized what happened, she melted. There she was as a puddle of water when as all luck would have it, the janitor came in. She was mopped up, then once alone in the janitor’s closet, she materialized again, wet and dirty. It took a few hours to get that story out of her, but when they did, no one laughed because they felt so bad for her. It was proof that no matter where they went, they would always be different from everyone else. No one would understand them or the bond they shared. The teasing from those girls was insignificant as it really wasn’t about her being different, rather it was a reminder, and for that she was grateful they had each other.
Era popped open the glove box. Among scattered papers were three tiny cell phones. She picked up two, handing one to Terra and Marissa. Terra flipped it open to see a picture of a hot air balloon traveling over the screen, the time in the upper right hand corner.
"When did you get these," Marissa asked in awe.
"A few days ago, I figured it was about time we had a way of keeping in touch. If we find fire soon we all need to be there and this is the best way to gather quickly. I programmed all of our numbers in speed dial. I'm one, because I can get there fastest. Terra you're two and Marissa you're three."
"This is brilliant! Thank you, Era!" Marissa hopped up and kissed her cheek. "I'll see you after school?"
"I'll be waiting out here for you," Terra said.
In turn, Marissa kissed her cheek jumped out of the car and walked up to the double front doors, her backpack bouncing on her back. They watched until she was inside, and once she was, they pulled out of the parking lot.
"Doing anything today Terra?" Era asked.
Terra nodded. "I'm going to take this car to the wash and I thought maybe I'd go by the local library. Maybe I can get some books for Marissa."
"That sounds nice."
"Would you like to come Era? It should be fairly quiet, I doubt if anyone will even be there."
Era broke out a wide grin. "It's nice, isn’t it; to be in a small town."
"All we have to do is keep a low profile. As long as none of us uses any of our powers or gets close to anyone we should be okay."