Wisps of the past

Chapter 15, New struggles and fun

So my computer isn't working. My parents guess it's a virus or something (even though I haven't been on it since I last updated this) so we're hoping to get it fixed by a repair guy on Monday. But I had to download Wattpad on my phone to publish this chapter, so sorry if it looks weird.
Jane clapped her hands together, getting the kids attention. Rio wanted to tell them to go away, even if she did like Pentice, and was starting to warm up to Jane and Jake. One just doesn't disturb someone who is reading a good book. But she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to get into trouble.
"So, we decided that Khalid and Prentice will be coming over every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to help with Jake in special ability training. We will have P.E and Elementium on Monday, and we will have History and Universal on Friday. If you want to do other classes, come to us."
The three of them nodded. Rio wasn't quite sure what Jane meant about other classes.
"On the weekends, you can do what you want, with the normal rules of ten and eleven year olds still being applied. You also won't normally get to leave, but you can if we are with you. We can see if we can bring over kids your age or not. Any questions?"
"What if we want to do school on the weekends?" This was, of course, asked by Asurli. Rio wasn't surprised.
Jane shot a quick look at Jake, who shrugged back. "We'll talk about that later."
"Plus, all of you are pretty young. I won't expect you to be able to pull all of it off at once. I mean, your brains aren't fully developed, so..." Jane said in a condescending tone.
Draven started, "between the three of us-"
"-we were able to defeat both of you in the balloon hide-and-seek, so don't forget that we're capable of doing something." Rio cut him off, disliking Jane's tone.
A flash of silver made Rio jolt backwards. A silver spoon stood on its end, vibrating a hair's breadth away from Jane's big toe, on her right foot. Rio had to give her big sister credit for not throwing a knife. She figured that throwing the spoon was a smart move. Spoons are harmless, right?
"Don't forget what we've become, because of what you've done." Asurli simply stated, reaching out her hand. The spoon melted into a thick puddle around Jane's right foot, never touching her skin. Asurli flicked her fingers, and the puddle spread, then lifted. It shattered into tiny particles midair. It seemed like bright moonlight shone throughout the room, before Asurli blew out a quiet breath. The silver beam dashed quickly back into her pocket, almost like a stream of water.
"Amazing control." Prentice murmured. "If I didn't know better, I'd have thought that was a beam of light. Or water of some kind."
"Light and water. Jane, those abilities you restricted. Could we have them back?" Draven asked.
All of the adults gave each other uneasy glances. Prentice rubbed his temples, and sighed. After a while, Jane broke the silence.
"One each." Her body tensed. "And if you misuse them, then-"
"It's in the parent's rights to revoke and restrict access to such tools, if need be, as the children are still minors." Asurli nodded with a great air of seriousness. "I understand. I've gone through this process. Some time before... I think..." She winced ever so slightly.
"All right, then." Jake gave each child a stern, fatherly glare. "We'll be here, so don't hesitate to ask us if you need something."
Three simultaneous chimes of "mm-hum." sounded at once.
"Three. Two. One..." Jane counted down. "And... now!"
Rio staggered back, as she felt the pull of each cold object in the room. She could feel each atom in the atmosphere, and could call them down in such a way that the entire room would be bathed in ice.
Draven's eyebrows had disappeared off his forehead in surprise, and he had a slight flicker to his body. Rio then noticed that flicker was thanks to changing lights coming from his open palm. "The light and the dark. I can feel both." He whispered.
Rio then turned to Asurli. She was sitting perfectly still, her features at utmost peace. Her eyes were closed, and a dreamy smile sat upon her lips.
Something's off. Rio thought. I don't know what, but it's not... No, it's not with Asurli. It's with me. It's- A great tugging filled her body, and she tensed. No, no, no. Don't let it win. "Hey, is a pull normal?" Rio heard her far off voice asking.
"Yes. Rio. Just, resist it. Breathe." One of the new mentors told her.
She did, then choked on her saliva. With a shout, blizzards formed near the ceiling, and all the furniture creaked. The floor grew icy tentacles.
The blizzards will fall. Then we'll all be covered in it, and we won't be able to escape. We'll be buried alive! We'll be-! The blizzards grew, and she groaned, flopping to the floor. Warm hands shook her, but with each shake, the blizzards only drew nearer.
"Jane! Take the ability away!" That was Khalid. A great mentor already, wanting to restrict her ability from the get go.
"No. She needs this." Jane replied anxiously. "She can do this."
It's building! Rio shouted in her mind, accidentally transmitting it into every one's mind. What should I do?
Frenzied shouts broke out, and she didn't know who to listen to.
Hold-
See-
Resist it.
Think of something else!
The words were blending into each other, and she couldn't follow. Then... the pull got even stronger. Was she Rio, or was she the blizzard? She needed the blizzard. She couldn't live without it. I'm going to let it come down. It'll be like a really nice poofy pillow. I love poofy pillows!
She smiled, and opened her arms wide, welcoming it. There was a high pitched shriek of wind from the blizzard, then... nothing.
Rio's mind cleared slowly, and she realized that pull was easing. Someone was gently maneuvering her into a seated position.
An entire stream of water coated the ceiling, rippling with a gentle current. Great ice chunks were inside it, reminding her of the pictures in her human textbook of Antarctica.
"Um?" The highly intelligent word slipped out of her mouth.
"Yeah. Sorry about that." Asurli's voice sounded from behind her. She realized that Asurli was the one helping her up into a seated position. "I figured that the water would combine with the snow, and make ice chunks, like putting ice into a glass of water on a warm summer day. They stick together."
"How... how are you... not affected?" Rio whispered wearily.
"I-" Asurli sniffed. "Well, my metal kind of works like this. When you want it to change shape, it fights back. You have to force it to become something else. Otherwise, if you fail, then the amount of energy released can be catastrophic. I once almost blew my brother's head off." Asurli chuckled. "But to be fair, he did end up giving me a burn another time, because his control slipped, so we're even. Well, we were."
The air shimmered, and the ice and water seemed to disappear. "Wait-? Am I losing my mind?" Rio asked, pointing up.
"They're still there." Asurli turned to Draven, whose hands were in the air.
"Sorry, that's me." Draven twisted his hands, and the air shimmered again, before the water and ice reappeared. "I can feel the shadows and light. I can sort of bend them, so that it makes new images?" Draven waved his arms, and an infinite mirror image of them gaping up at the reflections of the water filled ceiling.
Rio waved, and infinite Rio's in the ceiling waved back, one after another. This made her giggle.
Asurli rubbed her eyes and sighed. "Draven, please stop doing that. It's hurting my mind."
Draven waved it away, but created a mirror image of himself, studying it. "Huh. I always thought that I have a slightly lighter shade of eyes than yours, Asurli. Guess not."
"Well." Rio and Asurli said at the same time. They chuckled, before continuing, "that's-"
"Freaky" Asurli mumbled, the second Rio exclaimed, "cool!"
"I never did like illusions." Asurli shuddered. "There's something wrong about them. I guess that's why my brother taught me to be able to walk in the dark, with a White Cane, if we ever got into assignments that required it."
"Is that a candy cane?" Rio inquired, honestly intrigued.
"No, it's a mobility device that blind or visually imapred people use. It's... well, a crude way of putting it is that it's a stick that can poke things in front of you, so that you don't end up hitting the objects yourself."
"Interesting. That sounds like a very good tool to use."
"Mmm. Well, I could use it to poke things in front of me, now that I don't know what's real and what's fake. It might be able to hit something, or it will go through the fake beam." Asurli ran a hand through her hair, before guiding Rio to the couch, and sitting down beside her.
Jane opened a window, and Asurli coaxed the water back outside.
The adults were clamoring around them, but gave them a respectable bubble of space. Rio kind of wished that they were closer, though. She could use a hug.
Both Draven and Asulri's arms wrapped around her. She jumped in surprise.
"You always have that face, Rio. I'd compare it to Asurli's dog, but I don't want to insult you." Draven whispered to her.
"Asurli had a dog?"
"Yes, and my dog's not ugly! He's cute!" Asurli cried, indignant.
A light apparition appeared of a fawn pug with an adorable expression. It danced through the room. Rio smiled at the dog. She always wanted a dog, a golden retriever specifically, but her human parents had always told her she was too young. While she knew she was elf now, she hoped she could get a dog.
Asurli eyed it warily, before bending over, and pretending to pet it. Draven twisted his hands, and the dog rolled over onto its belly, the curly tail wagging faster than a plane's propellers. The dog's tongue stuck out, and licked Asurli's hand.
The triplets chuckled, before Asurli gave Draven a nod. "Thank you."
"Well, this has been quite the day. No one died, so I think that's a plus!" Mr. Khalid chirped, making all the adults slightly glare at him. Khalid sighed, before putting his hands on his hips.
"I guess that means you three will need to get another mentor. A Flasher for Draven, a Hydrokinetic for Asulri, and a Froster for Rio."
Jake, Jane, and Pentice nodded.
"Jane just brought a Froster into the Black Swan. She's new, but reliable. Prentice knows a Flasher quite well, and she can help. But I don't know what to do for a Hydrokinetic Mentor." Jake answered. The rest thought for a bit, before Prentice snapped his fingers, and the answer was clear on his face.
"A friend of mine works with a Hydrokinetic. She might be able to help. And before you ask, I do trust her."
This made the three other adults close their mouths, seemingly about to ask that question.
"We can split the day for Tuesday to Thursday, so then the three can be trained equally in their two abilities." Jane finished, making the rest nod. Rio yawned, followed by her siblings. Rio looked out the window, and was surprised to see it was sunset. But apparently her body decided it was like the middle of the night, as her eyes started to become droopy, and she leaned against Draven, who leaned against Rio and Asurli, who both were also falling asleep.
Rio heard a distant chuckle, and voices. The voices were planning something, Tuesday or whatever, before footsteps were heard, and a door was opened and shut. Footsteps were heard again, this time in front of them.
"Come on, time for bed." A blurred female voice said. Rio mumbled in protest a little. She heard two chuckles, before a second later she felt herself being picked up. She forced her eyes to open a little, and saw Draven and Asulir being picked up by Jake. No, Dad. Her mind went, surprising her a little. She looked up, seeing Jane, Mom, her mind went, smiling down at her, as the two adults brought their kids to their respective rooms.
Jane helped Rio undress into pajamas, tucked her in, gave her favorite stuffed animal, before turning off the lights. But before she left, she walked back over, and kissed her forehead. Then she left the room, and Rio fell into her peaceful, but adventures, dreams