Everall | The Magicae

Two - Aqualana

Smoke.

I can smell it in the air.

Fire.

I hear the screaming, the crying, the sirens. Too far off. They won't make it in time. No one will.

Next I see it as I round the corner. A building is burning. People are in the windows crying out to the crowd that had gathered, for help.

I know what I have to do. Looking around and seeing no one watching me, I put my hood up. I extend my mind letting it feel the water in the air.

I'm too far away, I need to get closer. I won't let them burn. Not ever again, now that I know I can stop it. One step, two steps, three, then I'm running. I hear gasps as I push through the crowd, moving as fast as I can. I stop much closer to the building, only a few meters away. Now I can read the sign: "Gilded Candle." A motel, I think.

"Get back!" I yell to the gathered crowd, throwing my arms out in front of me, and mentally grasping at all the moisture in the air. Thankfully, the morning dew hasn't evaporated yet.

I hear someone start to yell to me, "You need to get aw-," they stop mid sentence as a wave of water slams into the building, putting out most of the fire near the windows. Solidifying water is draining but those still in the building need to get out, so I crystalize water at their feet..

I feel a tug in the back of my mind, like a string come loose on a knit blanket. I pull at it as I feel the now pulsating water. The rhythm falls inline with my heart beat and it crystalizes.

"Jump!" I yell to the people above me. The pressure on the platforms I'd made under each window skyrockets. I reinforce the platforms as more people get on them.

Looking up, there are a lot more people than I thought there had been, but slowly lowering them to the ground is easy enough. They jump off and run into the crowd.

"Wait!" a woman yells. "Cindy! She's not down here!" She seems panicked. Cindy must be her daughter. The woman runs up to me, "Please, please save her!" Tears are streaming down her face, "She's still up there! My baby!"

I bolt inside the building, feeling the heat as simply warm. It doesn't burn as I run floor to floor calling Cindy's name. Then I hear her.

"Help! Someone! Mom!" That must be Cindy. She, surprisingly, doesn't sound panicked, only worried.

I yell back in reply," Stay where you are! I'm here to hel-" A beam falls from the burning ceiling, cutting me off. I yelp, jumping back, only barely avoiding the falling beam.

She asks in a loud voice," Are you okay?" She's too calm.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Where are you?" I call back, praying to god she's safe and uninjured. It takes a second but I find a way around the fallen beam. She's there, around the next corner, safe and somehow unburned. "Who's that?" I ask calmly, pointing at the other girl lying on the floor as I continue towards the girl I presume to be Cindy.

"Her name's Penelope. She's my best friend."

I rush over and feel for Penelope's pulse. It's there, quiet but definitely there. "Why are you so calm?" I ask. "You're in the middle of a fire, and your best friend has passed out cold."

She wanders closer to the fire before I can stop her. Reaching out for it, she says to me, "It should burn, shouldn't it? But it doesn't, not to me. She passed out from inhaling smoke, I think." It doesn't click in my head that she means Penelope until she points to her.

"Smoke inhalation does make sense, but why haven't you passed out, then?" I ask as I pick Penelope up in my arms. She's burned all around her legs. Her long ginger hair is darker in some places, it had burned, too. I look over the rest of her burns feeling bile rise in my throat. "These burns won't heal fully." I mutter to myself.