Change [Book 1 of The Elemental Marks]

Chapter 11

She didn't even need to chant be the water, be the water in her head anymore. The movements came naturally.

Still, she did. As Lina's feet glided along the stone ground, she continued giving herself these pointless reminders, all her focus settling on the water gravitating between her hands. She rhythmically altered the distance between her two hands, giving the water an artificial natural flow.

Lina kept her focus on the liquid as she circled the training room of the Institute. It was only broken when a calm, approving voice said, "Now, at the dummy."

Complying, Lina shifted her steps ever so slightly. Her course changed from making another circle to heading straight for her target, a completely unsuspecting person (or vampire or fay) sized mannequin.

Feeling Damian's eyes glued to her, Lina balanced her water between two hands and got ready to attack. Just two steps closer. Now one.

Stretching her arms backward, she bent the water back and then, gaining momentum, threw it forward into the dummy.

She took a step back, catching her breath. Damian came from his place along the wall to her side. She stole a glance at him, already guessing what he was thinking.

"You're almost there," he started. Lina sighed, looking back at the dummy. At least this time it had gotten wet. Just not injured. "You're control is definitely improving."

"Just not the rest of it," she mumbled. She knew exactly where it went wrong. As long as she had the water on her person, it was hers to control. The second she tried to stretch it even the slightest bit away from herself, it was gone.

Either it ended up in a puddle on the floor, it refused to leave her grip at all and got her soaked, or, as in today's result, it hit the dummy with no force at all.

None of these would lead to any damage to an enemy. After all the training, all the long days of learning control and long nights of reading the experiences of previous benders, she was only left here.

It had been a full two weeks since the morning Lina arrived at the Institute for Benders. Despite how dragged out the days seemed now that she was back in training, the time had gone by in a whirlwind.

Lina had expected she would be hatching an escape plan back to Philly by now. Instead, she was thinking about what book from Charlie's library she would start tonight.

It was hard to place exactly why she didn't have a want for home. Was it being in the Shadowhunter homeland that left her at ease? And yet, she hardly had time to explore Alicante at all.

More than likely, it was the people here. Everyone had treated her like family, gladly welcoming her into whatever they were doing. It didn't matter that she was by far the worst bender. The others encouraged her and gave tips where they could. Even Damian, who had been in this position of watching her fail for days, always managed an encouraging word and gave her something to work on.

"You're progressing really well," he would tell her. "This level of control is remarkable. Everything else will come with time."

Carson especially had been doing his best to make sure she was alright, both with bending and with being there. Two weeks of this still left her wondering why he was being so helpful. Was it because he liked her or because he liked that she was a waterbender?

As she painted a better picture of him, her gut leaned toward the former. He made efforts outside of training, talking to her all throughout meals and showing her books from the library. He often came into her room to find books off Charlie's shelves, mostly because he thought it would apply to what they were doing.