An Ember's Tale

Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Ember wasn't sure if she was still in a dream or back into her reality when she opened her eyes. Her eyes squinted in the bright light streaming from a large window as she turned around, and her head ached as she clutched her temple and groaned.

"Rough night?"

She turned back around and sat up to find she was in a small bed hidden away in the corner of the room. Ember took off the thick comforter and got up. Her feet touched the cold floor, making her want to run back into the bed, but she still looked over to find Henry sitting at the desk looking over a large map. His amber eyes looked over to her as he smiled.

"Where?" she began to ask but stopped when her head continued to ache.

"You passed out on the deck of the ship," Henry looked back down at his map. "I brought you here since I figured you wouldn't want to spend the whole night there."

"And Mark?" Ember stepped closer to him. "Where is he?"

"He is perfectly fine," Henry said as she sat across from him and rested her pounding head against her hand. "He's with the physician right now."

"Why wasn't he with the physician before?" Ember raised an eyebrow.

"He didn't help save the ship before," Henry shrugged before he looked back up from the map and at her. "Maybe you should see the physician too."

She smiled and sat up in the chair. "They can't fix what's wrong with me."

His eyes gleamed with curiosity as he leaned in. "And what is wrong with you? I'm guessing Mark has no idea..."

"And he can't know," Ember narrowed her gaze. "Ever."

"My my," Henry leaned back in his chair before he took a knife and began to toy with it in his fingers. "I thought you two had a strong bond? No secrets... But you have my word. I won't tell him. It might be helpful if you told someone."

Ember pursed her lips. "It's very complicated." But Henry just sat back further and waited for her to begin. "I think... Well, I know that I was always meant for more. That my powers were meant for more. But all I want to do is get my brother back... is that so terrible of me? Everyone seems to be depending on me like I am some great savior, but I just want to live a quiet life."

"You're not selfish for wanting what everyone else has," Henry told her. "But something tells me there is more."

"Well, that part is infinitely more complicated."

Henry grinned. "Try me."

"I don't know what is real anymore," Ember told him as everything she had been holding in threatened to burst out of her. "I always felt as if reality was a strong and sturdy thing, but now I feel as if it's just a piece of glass beginning to shatter. I keep fading in and out until reality, and my dreams are just one singular thing. And I'm worried that I will keep slipping and won't be able to stop myself from living in between. Never knowing what is real and what is fake."

She looked up at him, but he was just frowning as he stopped playing the knife. "That is more complicated... When did this all begin?"

"After my brother was taken," Ember's hands began to fidget in her lap. "Maybe it did happen before, but I just never noticed."

"And I thought being an element just meant having powers," Henry mumbled. "Have you told anyone besides me?"

She pursed her lips in a thin line and shook her head. "Who would I tell? Mark... well, our situation is complicated. My brother is kidnapped... that's it."

"My advice is to tell someone soon," Henry told her. "Otherwise, it will only get worse."

"I will try," Ember looked back up at him and decided to change the morbid subject. "What happened last night? I only remember striking the storm..."