POWERS OF NATURE Book 1 - Into the Storm

Chapter 23

"Hey, mom. How you?" Stephanie sat on the staircase with the house phone tucked between her ear and shoulder as she leant against the wall in the warm afternoon sun. She'd spent the Saturday morning cleaning the house, testing her talent and checking her phone so frequently it bordered on obsession. So at, the most exciting part of her morning had been testing her talent. The more she relaxed and felt it, the easier it was to use, and the more she realised that her talent almost seemed to have a mind of its own. Often she'd feel an urging to do more than she had, to freeze the entire tree instead of the branch she'd practiced on.

"I'm alright Honey. How are you? How is school? How was the test?" Sue hated being away from Stephanie for so long, and felt guilty for it but it had been the biggest contract she'd landed in a while and couldn't afford to say no.

"I'm okay, mom. School is fun, actually. With graduation next week, we're all just busy wrapping our school work up and working on the whole graduation ceremony thing." Atleast, Stephanie assumed that's what they were doing. Truth be told, which she'd never tell her mom, was she hardly noticed anything at school. Her mind was too focused on her talent and Michael, and Matt and Aiden - who had yet to contact her.

"How exciting, Stephanie. I can't believe, oh hold on." Stephanie could hear her mom speaking to someone in the background, as her cell beeped next to her, signalling a message. Quickly she opened the message.

'We are back.' Stephanie frowned as she read the message. If they both were back, why hadn't Matt contacted her? Why was Aiden telling her?

"Stephanie? You still there?"

"Hey? What? Sorry mom, just got distracted." Stephanie said quickly, still eyeing the message.

"It's okay, honey. I actually need to go meet the client now. Sorry we couldn't talk properly but I'll be home tomorrow." Sue said with an apologetic sigh.

"It's okay, mom. I've got some things I need to do too. I'll see you tomorrow, I love you." Stephanie replied, before hanging up the phone after her mom's 'I love you too'. She sat on the steps for a few minutes, a niggly feeling inside telling her something wasn't right. Her talent seemed to agree, she could feel it warming its way through her body.

Frowning, Stephanie stood up and went to change out of her home sweats. Throwing her jeans, black vest and sneakers on, she moved to the mirror to plait her hair. Flicking the braid over her shoulder, she looked at her reflection, noting her darkening eyes. Another side affect of her talent usage, besides a charming voice in her head and random feelings she couldn't explain, was her darkening eyes. Stephanie huffed and moved closer to the mirror so she was looking herself directly in the eyes.

"Listen up, talent," Stephanie swallowed a bubble of laughter. She was talking to herself in the mirror. Thank goodness she was alone. "I'm in control. You got that?" At her words, she felt a very uncomfortable warmth shoot through her, almost as if a shout of disagreement had been made. "I'm serious. I don't know if you do have a mind of your own or its just my imagination, but I am in control. We won't be tearing any buildings down, and you will do as I say."
A flash of red, so quick she'd have missed it if she wasn't looking into them, flashed through her eyes and Stephanie stepped back from the mirror, her heart pounding. All she'd read and been told was that the talent was a part of her, part of her DNA, and not a separate thing at all. But the anger she felt inside of her said otherwise. Stephanie knew she wasn't angry at anything, and she'd certainly never had red flash in her eyes before. Not that she made a habit out of staring into her own eyes, but she was pretty sure someone would have said something if it had happened before.

Feeling even more silly, she looked at herself in the mirror again, but still kept her distance. "Look, if I don't have the control, I could end up dead. And I don't want that, okay? So, behave." Blinking, Stephanie realised how ridiculous she looked pointing a finger at herself, and talking to her talent as if it was another person.