Opposites: The Staff of Light [Book One]

15. From the Infirmary to Broken Bulbs (sort of)

Annabeth

It’s all about the First Cohort. You are all elemental. Why don’t you eight use your own powers?

My eyes flew open and I felt a soft bed under my head. I looked around. At my side was Alex, who had his back on me as he looked away. “What happened?” I croaked, trying to get up.

“Woah,” Alex said as he made a gesture. “Lay down. Don’t push yourself too hard. You were out for about half an hour.” So that was how long a spontaneous combustion can regenerate when poured on by soda. “Stay put. You need all the rest you can get.”

“But Alex,” I reasoned, sitting up. “I’m perfectly fine. What happened while I was out?”

The entire cohort rushed over to me, surrounding the bed. I locked eyes with Alice’s concerned eyes. “Nothing much actually,” Georgina said, placing her hand on my forehead. I purposely thought about fire due to their annoying reactions. Georgina started waving her hand in the air as if she had just touched the top of a functioning oven. “Okay, that was certainly a bad idea.”

“I’m fine,” I growled, getting onto my feet. I almost outbalanced if Colton hadn’t caught me. “Okay, strike that off my list. I lied.”

Alice

I never really thought that Annabeth knew how to lie.

Anyway, I was at the cabin sitting on my bed as the others were trying to refresh their minds for the Games before dinner. We were all doing different things. I couldn’t really tell a lot from what I observed. My eyes fixed on Tyler who had the bed next to mine. He smiled at me and somehow it felt like the world froze. And that was only because of a smile. Gods, that was hard.

“Hey,” he said with the same warm smile, snapping a finger at my face. I flicked back to reality. What do we say it these days? Reality ruined my life. Isn’t that a part of One Direction’s ‘I Would’ single? Well, whatever, I like music. “Are you alright? You’ve been staring at me for seconds. I couldn’t help but notice.”

I felt myself blush. “Nothing,” I looked down. “I was thinking.”

Suddenly, Annabeth clapped her hands, signaling all attention to her. When we all looked, I noticed how she looked that surprised, and I thought that would be normal. She may have lost contact with these things she calls outsiders, but so far, I knew exactly that she felt uneasy getting that much attention, thought she fit in pretty well. “O-okay,” she began, clearing her voice. “Dinner should come around soon. And a thought just came into my mind.”

“What’s that?” Mitch asked, his hands still moving on his Wii Nintendo. “Is it something important, maybe?”

Annabeth suddenly looked embarrassed. “It’s, um, sort of important, actually. Alex, you’ll be attacking Rebecca Smythe.”

“What?” Alex cried and his eyes widened. “But Annabeth, you told me strictly to not—”

“I know what I said!” she snapped. Flames burst around her. Alex backed away slowly. Annabeth massaged her temples, looking down. “I-I’m sorry for yelling. But, really, just trust me and everything will be okay. I want you, Alex, to attack Rebecca. The rest of you, stay away from water as much as possible, particularly me, but you all get the idea, don’t you?”

“And why is that important?” I asked. “I mean, let’s say that we get surrounded by water. Let’s say that one of us is in water. Or maybe… okay, maybe Mitch gets himself in a puddle and he goes like: Oh, no! A puddle! I stepped on a hideous deep puddle! I’m dying!” Everyone laughed except for Mitch who hesitated he’d do something so stupid (which I know he’d probably do). I tried my best not to laugh along. I waited until the noise had died. “What happens to him then?”

“Well, a relief—and you said it yourself, Alice—he’s gonna die,” Annabeth grinned at Mitch, who’d given her an annoyed look. “What’s the matter? It’s true.” I opened my mouth to ask why he could die, but before I could even say it aloud, Annabeth continued. “If any of you steps in water, well, I’ll see you in heaven. Alex will electrocute every water source as far as his powers can manage, and please don’t strain yourself, Alex. But yes, one step in water or damp soil, you can die to electrocution. Now, any more questions?” No one answered. “Does anyone want a demonstration?” We all raised our hands.

“We’ll need water, then,” Tyler said. “Maybe you could make water with Alice. It could go out well.”

Annabeth and I exchanged looks. Annabeth was freaking scared of water. I wasn’t sure if I could myself to the test to scare her so much. She might burn me—even worse, she might burn the entire camp in scampering. But it was worth a shot. “Ready, Annabeth?” I asked. My sister nodded. I thought of ice in concentration, feeling my veins slowly getting frozen until a mini-iceberg slid across the floor from my hands. Annabeth’s hand blazed to life, and a fireball hit my little product.

A puddle was in the middle of the room, still and near to boiling. Annabeth didn’t say a word, but she gave me a look that said to me perfectly: Good job, Alice. I smiled, trying to return the message. Without even a warning, a wave of electricity struck on the puddle, sparks flew when it hit it in a millisecond, the light bulb exploded onto the floor and suddenly it was dark. I had enough time to put my hands over my ears before it all happened. Once it was done, I looked over my shoulder and saw a red light, flashing on and off. Tyler had recorded the entire thing with a camera. “That was amazing!” Raven cried through the dark. “Oh, you should see your faces, it’s hilarious. I can see you, guys. That’s awesome, isn’t it?”

Annabeth’s face suddenly came into view, hitting her right side with a look that said: Seriously? Annabeth likes to make messages like that. She was awesome when she goes silent but sometimes, it got quite boring. “Alex, I am proud of you,” Annabeth spoke, her entire body blazed with fire. It felt like a campfire by the middle of the room. That time, everything was almost near visible. “But we should have worked how weak or strong your electric waves should strike.”

“Sorry,” Alex grumbled. I saw him shrug. “It’s the weakest I can do. I haven’t learned a lot from elemental class a lot yet.” He looked around, seeing awkward faces on different people. “Um… you guys are making me feel weird. You can sure make an eleven-year-old feel so weird. Can I please just turn the lights back on?”

“You can’t, stupid,” I chuckled. My voice hardened, getting annoyed. “Idiot, you made the bulbs explode!”

“Oh,” Alex suddenly broke into an innocent grin. “Sorry about that. I actually found that quite funny. So, I guess we’re on Annabeth fire-light duty now?” Everyone looked at Annabeth, our only source of light. “Great, now you’re making her feel weird. Anyone! Please, just fix the bulbs! Probably ginger would work!”

Annabeth was playing with her fire, molding out shapes. “Wait!” Annabeth cried, when a light bulb formed from fire morphed above her head. “That’s it! I got an idea!”

“Well, you sure got that,” Mitch smiled. “Dude, that’s a bit obvious.”

“What is?” Mitch pointed above his head and Annabeth looked up. “Oh. Now that’s… new. I guess I got myself a light bulb.  Anyway, back to the plan. Perhaps we could—” A bell rang. “Oh, great, everyone, get out and have dinner. And expect this game a victory, if you guys wanna gain the respect back.”