Change [Book 1 of The Elemental Marks]

Chapter 8

Lina told herself the time difference was the reason she couldn't sleep. After all, things were different in another part of the world. She was also caught up thinking of Tommie and how things were going with him. It left her tossing and turning for a good part of the night.

But the real reason she didn't find herself tired was because she spent most of the night digging through Charlie's bookshelf with a witch light. She hadn't even started reading anything, just pulling out books and trying to figure out what was what. She learned that most of the books were handwritten journals. All of the typed ones had one consistent symbol on them: a river.

She didn't know exactly what it meant, but she suspected it categorized them as waterbending material. All of Charlie's books had something or another to do with waterbending. Lina couldn't help but wonder if there were any left in the regular library.

She eventually made it to sleep, but not for very long. Just as the sun was rising, there was noise outside her door. It started with footsteps but gradually turned into talking.

"Did Damian say anything to you?" a voice asked. It was clearly male, but Lina wasn't quite sure who it belonged to until someone else responded.

"Damian and I talk regularly, yes." The sarcasm-filled response was definitely from Carson.

"Dude, I'm serious," Wyatt said. His voice grew slightly quieter as he explained, "Did he tell you to talk to Lina?"

There was a moment of silence between the boys. Lina was now sitting up in bed, as close to the door as she could lean without getting up and making noise. After a long minute, Carson finally said, "No, he didn't." He sounded confused, while on the other side of the door, Lina was just curious.

"I just figured, since Charlie talked to us when we got here, and you talked to Alia, you were taking over this thing."

Was he being purposefully vague now? She didn't know.

"I don't know, maybe I am. Look, she basically just got here. Give it some time. Damian is still on edge about her anyway," Carson said to him, as if it were a sort of reminder that Wyatt should already know this. Lina on the other hand had not been informed.

"I still don't get that," Wyatt complained.

Carson was audibly annoyed, maybe even angry, just not at Wyatt. "The only thing he has to back up that Lina is one of us is my word. I'm not sure I blame him for not telling her every one of our secrets."

Secrets? So then, she was in the dark. On purpose, it seemed.

"Don't think he doesn't trust you, Cars. You're not giving yourself enough credit," Wyatt sounded much calmer, but Lina doubted it helped Carson's attitude.

"He trusts me to be his airbending machine, but not when feelings are involved." In the silence that followed, Lina hardly realized she was holding her breath. Her thoughts went in every direction, but she stayed stuck in curiosity. "I compared her to Charlie. He saw how much I wanted another waterbender here. And he wasn't wrong."

Feelings. Not for Lina, but ones for Charlie he never quite let go of. This should've relieved her, even slightly, but it had no such effect.

"Did you want one bad enough to...?"

"I didn't lie," he interjected. "She is a waterbender. And when Brother Hirah gets here, he'll prove it."