The Seventh Element

Chapter Thirteen

A month passed.

I was still resisting my ice powers. As time went on without me trying to work with them, they would have random outbursts. Nox were forgiving of me randomly freezing things or making it snow. None of the other elements were so tolerant. I was already a freak and was outcast even more.

I was also dealing with nightmares. Intense as if I were reliving memories that I didn't actually remember...if I remembered anything at all upon waking. I would just remember feeling restless and anxious. I began to struggle to fall asleep as I never had before and would end up rising during the night to try and get those images to fade. Given that their element was darkness, the Nox were always willing to get up with me, if someone wasn't up already.

I would have been lost without the Nox as a buffer. Vic, especially, was my lifeline. No matter what my powers did or how I didn't respond emotionally to his friendship, he stuck by me. He refused to let me drift aimlessly but didn't lecture me on what I should be doing. He was just there, offering comfort without judgment.

He was important to me though I had no real way to show it until one day when things went terribly wrong.

Vic and I were walking back to our dorm after class had finished for the day. Since I was still training with Aria (and getting absolutely nowhere), we were stuck with Aria and Lux for company. While I tried to convince Vic not to wait for me, he still showed up and walked back with me every day after class. Lux's hate for Nox came to the fore. I didn't like it, but it didn't seem to bother Vic as much and things never went far since both High Aria and High Sun were usually nearby.

But this time, both adults stayed behind for some reason and Lux took full advantage of that. Out in the open, with no one around to check them, they made their move. With a shove, they cut me off from Vic, much as I had seen our dogs cut a reindeer from the herd.

I tensed, sensing something was up but I caught Vic's eye, and he shook his head at me in silent warning.

"Hey, Camillo. I saw you improve a new technique today. Lux are the most advanced nova," Alessia began.

"Oh really?" Chase asked, looking over at the Lux nova. "I'd like to see that."

"No, don't," I said.

"I don't see why not," Allegra, one of the fifth-year Lux girls said. She looked at the others. "In fact, we all want to see, don't we?"

Agreement chimed from the crowd, though it was reluctant from Aria and some of them cast uneasy glances at Vic.

Allegra gave a smug smile. She nodded at Camillo.

The group made a space, but the Lux had Vic right up front, and the crowd was too thick for him to make his way through. He was trapped in front of a Lux that was about to demonstrate their power. One that could severely hurt or even kill my best friend.

Camillo lit up his hands with a high, concentrated beam. He made a show of flashing them across the crowd, directing them close to but never touching Vic.

"Stop!" I exclaimed, my body beginning to grow cold.

I realized the futility of it. Of course, they weren't going to listen to me. But I knew I had to make them.

As Camillo continued his little show, he began to bend the light at straight angles, lighting up first one student and then another...and then he directed a beam straight for Vic.

In desperation, I shoved my way through the crowd, and stood in front of Vic to shield him.

"I said stop!" I raised my hand in front of me and an icy blast pushed the crowd back.

Shards of ice sent Camillo flying, crashing into the glass wall of the Lux dorm, and shattering it, the glass raining down around his prone form.

Some students rushed to his aid while others merely stared, stiff with shock.

To my surprise, Vic was one of the former. He knelt at Camillo's side and the Lux nova groaned, cut and bleeding. He looked up at me with confusion and concern on his face. "What did you do?"

I flinched, as if he'd struck me.

"What is going on here?" High Sun had arrived. He swept through the crowd, eyes widening as he saw his nova on the ground, injured. "Who did this?"

"It was Tor!"

That's when I ran.

I ran past the tower and the train station before I finally slowed. No one was chasing me, but I didn't stop or look back. I merely followed the track that ran the length of the Peninsula. Reeling from what had just happened, I could think of nothing else except the destruction and pain my powers had caused.

That I had caused.

I'd never hurt someone before. Never wanted to hurt someone before and still didn't. But the fact remained that I had, and I hated my powers, hated myself for it. No wonder normal people were afraid of elementals. The Compromise was meant to protect as many people as possible from their powers and the destruction they could unleash without it.

I was a monster.

If I couldn't control my powers, I couldn't be around people. I couldn't go back to the Academy. None of them could help me and I was as much a danger to them as I was to non-mages. I couldn't go home and risk hurting my family. I'd rather die than let that happen.

Perhaps that was the only way out.

I no longer flinched at the thought as I once had. There was nothing left to live for. The future held nothing for me. My family was better off without me. With this decided, there was only one thing left to do.

I kept walking.