The Elemental Trials

Fifteen

Luke

"I think we should at least try." I said in a slightly hushed voice, watching as Marcus rubbed his chin in consideration before letting out a sigh. "I agree. I just can't see it going well." He responded, equally as quiet, as we both sat across from each other in the desolate living room. "Regardless of how it goes, I'll be able to rest easy knowing we tried. Won't you?" I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince more, Marcus or myself. We were on the same page it seemed, but it was as though we were each waiting for the other to finally break the discussion and actually go for it. 

The longer we talked, the more I was starting to think that person would have to be me. 

It was around ten o'clock at night. The girls had turned in early for bed; Skye seemed physically exhausted and Aurora seemed unwilling to deal with Marcus for the night, so off they had gone. I had considered asking them to join us when we had started off our topic of discussion, but a voice in the back of my mind told me that subtlety was key here. The two of us should be able to do what we needed to, as long as Marcus kept his head on.

Silence had fallen between us. I couldn't stand lingering, even though we barely even had a rough plan, so I finally stood up and gave a firm nod - more so to myself than the boy in front of me. "Right. Let's stop messing about and do it then." Marcus' face blanched slightly at the prospect before him. "Wait, wait, isn't there like-...shouldn't we have like, a plan? Or a tactic or something?" I thought he was scrambling for any excuse to delay it, but in all honesty he was probably right. Still, I was uncharacteristically antsy - and I had a feeling we could spend all night working out a tactic and it still wouldn't get us anywhere.

"We won't know what to expect until we go ahead and do it. This isn't something we can prepare for, we just need to rip the band-aid off." I stated firmly, more self-assured now that I was faced with Marcus' hesitation. He looked down at the floor, biting his lip slightly, then let out a deep huff and shot to his feet suddenly. "Fuck it then, come on. Before I convince myself how stupid this is." I flashed him a quick reassuring smile, but his features remained miserable all the same.

The two of us began walking towards Alex's room. Surprisingly, Marcus took the lead and marched himself right up to the door with me following silently behind him. He knocked gently, probably hoping that Alex had somehow left without us noticing, or was fast asleep. Those hopes weren't answered however; Alex had opened the door strikingly fast and his eyes were scanning the two of us in quiet contemplation. 

"We want to talk." Marcus said, again surprising me with how firm his voice was despite having seemed to be on the verge of getting cold feet. "To you." The last part was probably unnecessary but that was just Marcus being Marcus. Alex regarded us coolly, his gaze and features betraying nothing about what he was thinking or feeling at that moment. 

Silently and slowly, like he was testing whether we were serious or not, Alex stepped back from the door and let his arm twitch infinitesimally in the direction of the room. As far as I was aware, no-one in the house had been in his room before. The uncharted territory before us made me both excited and nervous, and I had a feeling Marcus was thinking the same. But it was too late now to give up, and Alex being somewhat civil seemed like as good a start as we could hope for.  

We both entered, gazing around the room unabashedly as we moved towards its centre. It was a little smaller than I had expected it to be but I was surprised by how remarkably tidy it was. Alex has a personality that is fairly difficult to pinpoint; sometimes I believe him to be eccentric and excitable, and other times cool, wise and easy-going. His room was definitely a reflection of the latter. 

There was a neatly made bed pushed up against the far corner, with a single cabinet next to the headrest, and on the wall opposite sat an old looking couch with a purple throw draped over the back and a few comfy, bright coloured pillows with strange artistic patterns across them. The centrepiece of the room, however, was the enormous bookshelf that lay in the far corner.