Authors: Annalynne Thorne
They fell into silence going on with their day. Era had retreated to the corner road when it was time for the car to be put through the car wash. The noises from the car wash brushes were too hard on her sensitive ears.
In comparison, the library was a great reprieve. There were only two other cars which likely belonged to the employees. One was an elderly white haired lady in her sixties and the other was a sour faced boy with a glare that would kill.
They both stood behind the counter shuffling books and checking in others.
The library was as small as everything else in the town. It was also old with dull red and blue carpet that was as worn out as the carpeting in their house. It had only two aisles of books which were ancient, creaking and dusty, tickling Era’s nose with every one she opened.
Era disappeared into the mystery section and Terra went off to the fiction. Browsing through all the books was making Terra sleepy. She hadn't slept well. She picked out five random books and left to find Era.
At a small circular table in the farthest nook of the building sat Era, her slate blue eyes wide as she read the newspaper she was holding. Terra approached taking the paper out of Era’s shaking hands.
Without looking she asked, "What is it Era?"
"The headline, its a few years old..."
Just like Era, Terra’s eyes widened, and her hands trembled. She stopped breathing for a moment. The headline read: "Johnston Town High School Fire." She read quickly, catching the emphasis of words like "ablaze," "unknown cause," "rebuilding."
"Wait... the school wasn't really old... It was built out of scraps." She shook her head. "I know what this seems like, Era, but it's not what you think. There are a lot of accidents. Some rebellious teen probably forgot to put out his cigarette. We can't assume that he's here."
Era opened her mouth to say something but quickly snapped it shut and simultaneously the paper was ripped out of Terra's hands. The boy from behind the counter stood in front of her, his eyes burning like the abyss into hers. There was a crackle in the air, Era's face flushed and Terra could suddenly feel herself burning from the heat he was emitting. It was more than she had ever witnessed.
The boy was tall, nearing six foot five, coal black hair that swept down over his brows, his skin naturally tan as if he had been out in the sun. The sun... Burning... Fire... He looked to Era, and she swore there was softening, just a little, but he was still crackling.
"What do you think you're doing?" The boy asked.
"I don't think it's any of your business," Era calmly told him while trying to hide her smile. "This is a library and we're looking at what we would like to check out."
"You can't check this out." He said.
"Why can’t we?" Era questioned.
"None of your business," he then turned and walked away.
"Wait. Can we talk?"
"No," and he kept walking, the aisles hiding him from view.
Terra let out the remainder of her breath, falling into the seat next to Era. "We found him. I can't believe it. We found fire."
"I know..."
Terra felt her keys in her jeans pocket and stood. "Come on, we're taking Marissa out of school."
"What for?"
"Because we need a plan”, Terra explained. “He's not like you; he won't just come with us. He's dangerous."
Era reached behind her in the cabinet lining the short wall, and withdrew another folded newspaper. "A copy," she explained, “I think Marissa will be interested in seeing this too.”
Terra's hand tightened around the keys. It finally came, after all that time, for all their lives waiting for the four to meet, it happened, their future coming together.
It never seemed as though it was true. They knew better than to doubt their aunt and the Kin, but she couldn't wrap her head around such things like prophecies, anything that she couldn't touch, but there it was. It was real.
Era took her hand giving it a gentle squeeze. “What's going to happen Terra?”
Terra laughed quietly. “I think you're asking the wrong person. That's why we have to get Marissa. She'll be able to tell us.”
The start of an army. It was hardly a metaphor, for they would be an army.
"We're here for Marissa Webb. We're her sisters, Terra and Era," Terra told the haggard receptionist that clicked rapidly on her worn out keyboard. "We're on her enrollment form."
"Who's her teacher?"
The receptionist glimpsed to Era who held a blank look. "Um, we're not sure. We move a lot, see, and….”
"Don't bother, I can look her up. Is there a reason that you're taking her out of class? Is there an emergency?"
"Our Aunt is sick," Era said airily while inspecting the floral painting over the witch's head.
The receptionist then picked up the phone.
"Mr. Elmond, do you have a student named Marissa Webb, I've never heard of her, they say she's new, moves a lot or some such. Oh, you do. Hm. Okay," she grinned like a cat that caught a mouse. "Thank you very much, Mr. Elmond." She hung up the phone with much force causing Era to rub her ear in pain. The receptionist leaned her elbows on her desk. "Your sister is in the principles office. She should be out in a moment. Take a seat."
Terra glared at the obnoxious woman and sat in the rough, scratchy seats with Era. She didn't sit there for long until she stood and leaned against the wall beside her.
"She's never been in trouble before," Era commented. "I wonder what she could've done..."
"I don't know..." She got up and went back to the desk. "Can we go in and see her?"
"No!,” the receptionist squawked.
"Excuse me, miss, but work on your bedside manner. There is no reason why we shouldn't be in there; it's suspicious that the principle wouldn't want to speak to us." Terra scolded.
"Excuse me, young lady, but if you can’t…."
The door opened, promptly causing the woman to shut her mouth. A young and quite short principle walked out, a strict disappointed smile on his face. "I expect that I will see a doctor's note, Miss Weber."
"Yes sir." Marissa said.
His attention locked on Terra and Era who came forward, surprised to see that Marissa didn't have her sunglasses on, her watery blue gaze and streaks where tears still fell. Era proceeded to wrap her arms around her comfortingly.
"Are you Miss Weber's family," the principle asked.
"Yes, sir," Terra answered. "We're her sisters. Our aunt is sick, we're taking her home. What did she do?"
"Oh, nothing too terrible, just a refusal to take off her sunglasses. I can understand if they are prescription but she doesn't have a doctor's note. In order to continue to wear them here, she must have a doctor’s note."
"We understand. We'll have one for you tomorrow."
"Thank you. Hope your aunt gets well soon. Goodbye, Miss Weber. I hope I won't see you here again."
"No, sir," Marissa hiccupped. "Can I please have them back?"
He looked apprehensive. "You broke the rule, Miss Weber."
Terra looked out one of the windows. "It's sunny, she does need them."
Reluctantly he brought them out of his front pocket handed them to her. "There you go. I better see a doctor’s note or not see them at all tomorrow."
"Yes sir."
Terra took Marissa’s clammy hand leading her out to the car. Once outside, Era took a deep breath, having claimed earlier that it smelled like gym socks, an overdose of cologne and perfume. Terra could only smell the sweat and cleaning supplies (the strongest of the scents).
"How am I going to get the prescription by tomorrow?" Marissa worried.
"I'll call Ingrid, she'll write one for you. It won't be here for a couple of days, so unless the next two are cloudy, you'll be at home."
"I guess..."
"You're usually ahead of the class; you have nothing to be concerned about."
Terra unlocked her door and pressed a switch on the inside for the others to unlock as well. "We'll have something to get your mind off of it. Era, show her what we found at the library."
Once inside the car Era picked up the newspaper from the floor and handed it to Marissa. It took mere seconds for the de-wrinkling and the gasp to come. Then there was a disbelieving silence. Terra glimpsed in the overhead mirror to see her brows furrowed in either confusion or distrust.
"You believe this, Terra?
You
think this was caused by fire?” Marissa asked.
“There's no evidence to say it's him..."
"You don't think so," Era questioned.
"Well... Our time is running out and this is pretty convincing. It says they weren't able to discern a cause... I just... Terra believes this?"
They all laughed, and Terra intervened, blinking and trying to keep her hands steady on the wheel. "I do, but with good reason. We saw him today, Issa. We met fire at the library."
"What?!" She jumped between their seats gripping their shoulders like vices. "Really?! You did?! How did you know?!"
"He's very strong. The atmosphere was if, it was almost
crackling,
as if in ablaze.
It was a sharp experience, there's no doubt it's him. Quite the hot head though, not that it's any surprise."
"You know what this means, right?! The search is over! We're safe! Just wait until we tell Aunt Gwen! What's his name?!"
"Wait," Terra said, suddenly serious. "We haven't told
him
yet. Just because we always knew doesn't mean he has. Maybe he has powers similar to mine. Until I was physically harmed I had no idea what I could do even if I knew who I was." She recalled the time she fell off her bike while learning to ride. She skinned the whole side of her left leg, from the top of her socks to the hem of her shorts. Red spots emerged under the raised skin but it was not long, even before the tears came to her eyes, the skin was put together, the redness and irritation gone, and when she wiped the blood away, there was nothing to be seen, as if the drops had been put there without cause. There were no normal thoughts of going crazy, but pure elation, for she learned then that she had a talent. After seeing her sister materialize into water, she was proud to have something of her own.