A Sea of Shadows and Memories

Chapter II

Emery refuses to turn around and face him instead she continues practicing. She can feel him roll his eyes. "Come on Tarasovna don't be like that," He whines. "I'm not doing this with you Solovev," Emery states, unable to keep the exhaustion from her voice. "Tough time sleeping," He questions.

"You don't care."

"My my Miss.Tarasovna! How rude of you to tell people what they care about."

"You care?"

" Only when my plaything becomes boring."

She cranes her neck to his position on the beach, disgust clear on her face. "I am not your ... plaything."

"Don't be so ungrateful, most girls would jump at the chance to be my pet."

"Ungrateful?-"

"Yes, you should be down on your knees thanking me."

"Thank you?"

"You are welcome."

"I hate you."

"Feelings mutual, doll." He winks at her. Taking a sharp breath she focuses on the water around her. He stands at the edge of the lake smirking.

"What do you want?" Her voice is small. He smirks, "checking out the competition is all."

"Competition for what?" She asks turning her back on him. She feels him wading through the water towards her. Taking a shaky breath she focuses on making her waves bigger, trying to calm her sporadic heart. "To stay at the little palace and train for the Darkling of course," Emery jumps at the feeling of his warm breath on the shell of her ear. "Of course, you're no match for me or the eight-year-olds for that matter," He says matter of factly. Emery lets the water fall, wrapping her arms around herself. "Then why?" She asks, refusing to look at him. The smell of pine and smoke invades her nostrils. His hand grips her chin ruffly forcing it up. His brown eyes jaunt with mockery.

He smirks at her, "You're fun to play with pet." Her eyes widen, face still trapped in his grip. Emery stumbles back as if burned; the water sloshing around her feet. "Why?" she whimpers- why her? Madame Belovna's high-pitched voice cuts through the clearing calling the Tidemakers to her by the lake. "Till next time Tarasovna," He murmurs before strutting back to the summoner's pavilion. Mortified Emery walks over to the instructor.

"Today we will be focusing on pulling moisture from the air into the lake and vice versa," Madame Belovna squeaks. The sound of her voice made the pounding in Emery's head grow. Massaging her temple she spreads out with the other tidemakers around the lake. Taking slow breaths she works on pulling moisture from the air. Her head feeling ready to explode any minute; she tries to focus on her summoning. After numerous attempts, she is able to do it. Tiny droplets form on her hands before she flicks her wrist causing the droplets to form a light mist  traveling to the lake's surface.

Emery repeats this process a few times while Madame Belovna paces around correcting some students. "Remember to concentrate boys and girls," She instructs in her shrill voice, breaking nearly half the student's focus. Groans echoed through the group as Belovna goes on her usual rant, "You must learn to concentrate. If you can't focus while I am talking, what makes you think you can focus when a Drüskelle is trying to kill you?"

"If I have to listen to this woman's voice one more second then the Drüskelle will be doing me a favor," Emery's classmate, Mikołaj, whispers to his friend. They both snicker, Emery, rolls her eyes. "Miss. Tarasovna is there anything you wish to say?" Madame Belovna questions sharply. "No Madame," Emery replies curtly. "No I didn't think so," Madame Belovna responds, turning away. The rest of the lesson seemed to take ages to pass. By the end, Emery had almost forgotten the interaction she had with Solovev.