The Sun Weilders

7

I went downstairs to get some dinner. My grandmother was making chicken on our gas range stove. She looked up and smiled at me. I realized that the stiff woman that I had seen this morning was gone, and my beautiful grandmother was right before my eyes.

"Hey," she said softly, and put some dinner on a plate for me.

"What was with you this morning? Why were you so zoned-out?" I asked.

"I was just thinking about things. You. Life. You know, the usual grandmotherly things."

I nodded. Then I thought about the...incident... with Crimson.
"Grandmother, can you take me to school tomorrow?"

My grandmother frowned, the wrinkles in her face deepening.
"You know I can't see that well. Can you drive?"

I remembered the last time I had driven a car, and shuddered. I had rammed into the bumper of a middl-aged grouchy man. And that wasn't a pleasurable experience.

But I also remembered I would do anything for my grandmother.

"Sure," was all I could say, and I headed up the creaky wooden stairs to get a good night's sleep.

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I was nervous when I woke up. No dreams had come to me about the sun. In fact, my sleep had been pleasurable, and that scared me.

I remembered that Mr.Dougal said this would be my first day of real training. I put on a short sleeve T-shirt that read "Beware of Girl" and capris.

My grandmother was wearing her Sunday-best dress. I always thought it made her look years younger, and then I wondered what she looked like when she was my age.
Beautiful, probably.

I shook my head and we walked out the door.
I wanted to get started early, and the outline of the moon was faint as I waked towards my grandmother's Buick.

The drive down my neighborhood was easy, besides the fact that I hopped the curb when turning.
My sweaty palms left moisture on the steering wheel.
Why am I so nervous about this? I thought.

I turned to get onto the highway.

My grandmother, who had been silent, spoke. "I don't think you need to be training anymore," she said in a clear voice.

My breath caught. "Why?" I asked, hearing the anger in my voice.

"I started thinking about it, and I left the Sun Weilder world because I met your grandfather. He was all I needed at the moment, and I was only a few years older than you when that happened."

"So you want me to quit because you quit?"

"No. I just think it would be in your best interest to put this behind you before it consumes you."

"Since when have you cared about what I do? I've had to have Crimson take me to school for the last six months of last year. I've had to get a job to buy the things I want. Tell me, grandmother, since when have you cared about what I do?"

I didn't realize I had swerved into the lane to the left of me, and I skidded cautiously back into my own.

"You have no jurisdiction to tell me what I have and have not done for you. All your other relatives didn't lift a finger when I begged them to take you in. So I took you in myself, raised you as my own. Does that not count as caring?"

I was aware that tiny flames were enveloping the steering wheel, and I was definitely aware of the sharp intake of my grandmother's breath. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, when I saw a flash of blue to my left.