Flame Touch

Chapter 15-Melody

It felt great being back in the water.

I saw Knox drop from the sky and into the ocean with a thundering CRASH, if she could curse under water, I bet she would have. Her sweatshirt was soaking wet and her hair weighed her down, which is why I liked keeping mine short.

Sunny splashed down as well, not as messily as Knox, but not as gracefully as me either. I laughed when I saw the way Semba came in. I was in fits until I realized something that wasn’t supposed to be happening, was occurring. I was laughing. Underwater.

Crazy how that works.

I swam up to the surface where the others were waiting for me.

“Okay, now all we have to do is swim to shore which is about ten miles away, give or take,” Semba said looking quite nervous about the fact that he was in the water and was practically hanging on to Taris, who was quite stony faced. I really didn’t think ten miles was that bad, I had swum the whole breadth of the lake in less than three minutes, so it shouldn’t take that long. The others were the ones I was worrying about. I wondered if the element of your star colony also affected you, so Knox, Semba, and Taris would all be weak in water… or something like that. I turned when I heard Knox yell, “A WHOLE TEN MILES?!?! I CAN BARELY RUN ONE MILE HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO SWIM TEN EH?!?!” Sunny was nodding along with her (they’re both not very athletic, woe is me), but Taris looked at me and for the first time, without distaste, “Well, Melody here is a fi-Aquatic, so maybe she can…help us?” he mumbled that last part. Even though he looked awkward enough, I felt that I had a right to tease him, “Excuse me, what was that?” I asked innocently. Taris looked like he was about to grit his teeth, but he just sighed, “If you’re Aquatic, then ten miles in the water is nothing to you, so maybe you could ferry us to shore? Swimming is kind of hard for Semba, and Sunny, and Knox and…”

“And?” I asked, completely pushing my luck.

“Me.” He finished finally, his cheeks glowing, “Look, will you help or not?” he asked, voice tighter than usual.

I am such an evil little gurl.

“Oh, I suppose.” I said, still feigning innocence while both Knox and Sunny were trying hard not to crack up. I bet Semba would have had the same reaction if he wasn’t trying so hard to stay afloat. I took him first by both hands, if only to make sure he wouldn’t drown in the next five minutes. Though I had to say, I was curious as to why he seemed so much worse in water than Taris or Knox, which I asked him on the way to the shore. It would have taken me about five minutes flat to reach it if I were going at top speed, even though I was swimming backwards, but I wasn’t in a rush or anything.

Semba groaned at my question, “Well, you see. Luminosity has a strong connection with the stars. Sometimes that’s a good thing and means that we’re better in the day than at night because of the sun, but sometimes it’s bad because it makes other element’s advantages a bigger disadvantage for us. My colony, Leo, has a stronger connection than Sagittarius, so I’m weaker in water than Knox. My mom, the Cassiopeia constellation, also has a strong aversion to water. It’s so bad that she doesn’t even like to drink the stuff.” I nodded my head, “That’s weird I mean-wait a minute- you’re telling me Ms. Cassio is a constellation?! Are you ok? I mean, she might be a bit wonky, but she’s definitely not a giant gaseous ball of...” I stopped myself and remembered that I just came out of a tornado in the middle of the ocean.

Things could be weirder

 “I mean, I though your parents didn’t have to be a colo-whatever for you to be one too. And how come she’s a constellation?” I asked, swimming a bit slower so that I could hear the full explanation. Semba nodded, “Well, that’s true, but my mom is and it just worked out like that,” he shrugged, “it happens. My mom is a high advisor of the head figure, Leo, so she was put as a constellation. Taris’s first constellation was Saggita, we both competed for that one but…” he droned off. My guess was that he must have lost this competition, because apparently you compete to get your very own constellation. I can see it now. WALMART SALES! BUY ONE GET ONE FIFTY PERCENT OFF OF YOUR VERY OWN CONSTELLATION! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS GO THROUGH A BLOODY OBSTACLE COURSE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT! I sped up and we made it to the shore in about thirty seconds, “Wait here, I’ll be right back.” I said and quickly carried Knox and Sunny to shore about eighty times faster than I did with Semba. I guess that he was so relieved to be out of the water that he didn’t notice.

That left Taris. He didn’t really say anything when I started out, but I was going nice and slow, kind of like mental torture, and not for the same reason I was going slowly with Semba. Even though he was apparently not that bad in the water, he still looked super uncomfortable.

Muahahaha

“You finally learned my name hothead?” I asked, very pleased about my new nickname for him. It sounded better than fish, but you take what you get. He looked up quizzically, which you should never do when you’re swimming because it makes your legs go down, but I let that slide, “You finally learned my name was Melody when you used it earlier.” I said, surprised that I had made that observation. Taris wouldn’t look at me.

 Grrr…

 I went slower and slower until he finally let out an exasperated gasp, “Look, I’m glad to know your name is Melody, but can you hurry up a bit?” he asked going a little pale. I smiled at the fact that I was annoying him, “You can say sorry for the fish comments.” I said happily. He didn’t say anything for a while, and then I went slower, “Ok! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he burst out with a strain. Which was unexpected, I thought he would take longer so I sped up until we finally reached shore, still a bit disappointed. Taris stumbled and would have fallen face first if Semba wasn’t there to catch him.

“Whoa there! What’s the matter? Did Melody put you under water when she was bringing you?” Semba asked, Taris shook his head and sat down on the sand the arrow mark on his arm was glowing white, like it was burning him, “Can’t…take…water.” he said tightly, looking worse than Semba when he was in the water, “I’ll be…fine” he closed his eyes tightly and I looked at Semba with utter confusion, “I thought that you were worst than him in the water!” I said in a yell/whisper. Semba shook his head, “No, I meant I’m worse than most of the Sagittarius colonists, but the head figures are a different story. Because they have a sizeable amount of power, they’re disadvantages almost triplicate. I-I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear, but it’s not your fault though, you went as fast as you could.” Semba said with an apologetic smile. Oh that’s classic, he’s a saying sorry to me. Great. Now I just fell like a first class loser. Someone bury me please.

After a while, Taris finally got up, the mark on his arm went back to normal. Even though I really didn’t like that guy, I felt kind of bad for dragging him. I wondered why he didn’t say anything, or why he didn’t speak up about the fact that I took him last. Stupid boy pride. Guess I have to swallow my pride now I thought.“Look, I didn’t exactly go as fast as I could because-” Taris rolled his eyes, his voice normal, “Yes Melody, you don’t have to announce to the world that I was a bit too heavy for you. Sorry for being hungry, fig newtons and pretzels aren’t exactly filling.” he said, his voice layered with sarcasm. Semba laughed, “He does have to lay off of the sweets, he’s starting to poke out like a pregnant women!” He poked Taris in the stomach repeatedly. Taris rolled his eyes and punched Semba in the arm, “Says the potbelly.” While they continued with their little scuffle, I walked over to Knox and Sunny, “Hey guys!” I said cheerfully. Sunny smiled at me and then looked at my hair weirdly.

“What?”

“Your hair looks like seaweed! Maybe we should call you the seaweed monster! ALL HAIL SEAWEED MONSTER BEFORE SHE EATS OUT SOULS!!!” Sunny said, running around me, pretending to worship my feet. Knox groaned, “She wouldn’t shut up about your hair the whole time we were on land. Please save me.” I laughed really loudly. Knox had such a small, quiet laugh, but mine was like someone took all the balloons from that movie Up and popped them all at once with a porcupine pin. In other words, ugh. Sunny stopped when Semba and Taris came over, but she didn’t stop quick enough to prevent them from seeing her doing her rain dance in circles around me. Semba looked thoroughly confused as she tried to pretend she wasn’t doing anything. Taris laughed and looked at us, “Ok, now we need a ride to the center of town, anyone got any ideas?” I felt the gears working in my head. If there’s one thing that living in San Francisco has taught me, it’s how to stea-er-catch a ride. I’m sure Knox and Sunny were thinking the same thing because they were smiling in a weird way. I smiled to, and then I remembered with a start, that Taris said my name again. Not that I cared. He was still a hot head. I jumped when I felt a hand on my back and turned to see Sunny behind me. “There’s a fishy on your back!” she said happily. I twisted to see a Pisces mark on my spine. I nodded.

Cool fishy.