cascade | kotlc

6. Combat: Leap of Faith

not my best writing. had major writer's block and used up all my excess chapters, so yeahhhhh maybe the next ones will be better??? 

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"This is fucking stupid," Marella grumbled as she leaned closer to Linh on their shared jet ski. "We've been chasing that helicopter for an hour now."

They had, in fact, been chasing the helicopter for an hour now, Faye thought. It was quite depressing, and she couldn't do anything except gun the engine and continue down the course of the Niagara River.

A burst of annoyed flame caught her attention. "Why did they only get us jet skis for water travel? Don't humans have those bird machines with the flappy metal wings that can fly? What're they called? Panels? Planets? Naples?"

Faye snorted. "Naples?"

"Planes," Linh corrected, flipping on her dust goggles and rearing back the jet ski slightly as water cushioned up the front of the vehicle, making Marella squeal as her tunic brushed the whitewater splashes and adhered soggily to her skin. "They're called planes, dear."

"You don't have to sound so done with everything. Where'd the sweet, innocent, cherubic Linh go?"

Linh looked offended.

"If you were my brother I'd have already shoved you off this jet ski and you'd have drowned in the river already."

"You can try."

True to her word, Linh playfully shoved Marella, her blonde braids dancing with Linh's silver-tipped hair in the speeding wind. Condensating water clung to her pink-licked cheeks as she laughed and Marella hmphed teasingly.

"Stop being so cute, damnit," Faye muttered under her breath as a geyser of spring water caught them from tumbling into a dense cluster of sycamores that sussurated in the morning wind. "And no hydrokinesis out in the open!"

"You would've crashed if I didn't save you!" Linh argued as she revved the handlebars and piloted the jet ski dangerously close to Faye's. As their jet skis scraped each other's hulls, cinders from friction leapt up and collided with the foamy spray of the torrents, and Marella yelled like a cowgirl, whipping her hand like she was holding a lasso. "Yee-haw!"

Linh grinned at her antics and pulled away briefly before ramming the jet skis together again. More water flew everywhere as Marella yelled with glee, uncontrolled flames sparking at the base of her tunic and hands being quickly doused by the waves of water that bubbled like boiling water in a steaming pot of freshly catered broth.

"This is fun," she cheered, pointing her index finger and thumb outwards and imitating gunfire, surges of flames erupting from her nails as she popped her mouth and swallowed the frothy steam rising around her.

"Hun, you're boiling the water," Linh murmured, and the petite girl pulled back as she stared at the river.

The stream was actually boiling. Dead fish bobbed up and down limply as they were washed away by the current, their stomachs pale-white under the refracting light of the lathery water. The temperature cooled and returned to a normal near freezing degree.

"Oops," Marella stated unabashedly, scooping a fish from the water and gazing at it with sympathy before she tossed it back into the churning waves. Linh gagged as her cheeks tinted slightly green, and Marella held her palm to her face. The warmth from her hand slowly heated the sickness away and the pinkness returned as she brushed a sticky strand of hair away. Water trickled down her jaw as she opened her sweet lips and closed them again.

Fire licked up the loose strand and Linh didn't react, breathing slowly as her eyes flickered toward the flame. Ashes fell into Marella's palm as she whispered, "Lean in closer. It'll help."