Fractured

Chapter 31

Tess pushed the curtain she stopped in front of aside to revel Izzy laying in an inflatable kiddie pool of water. I became panicked and rushed to Izzy's side. Izzy's entire body was tense with pain.

"Izzy?" I asked worried.

She opened her eyes slowly.

"Jess?" she replied.

"Yea, Izzy. It's me. How bad is the pain?" I asked.

"Pretty intense, but you could probably already guess that."

"Is it because of the brand?"

"Yea. That's what the medics are saying."

"What exactly are they saying about it?"

"They're saying the heat from the branding iron was so hot that when it touched my skin, the heat reacted to my ability to bend water. Like the ice storm inside me has completely melted, but the storm is tethered to my soul and when the heat melted it my soul became damaged. Because my soul was damaged like it was, my body is having this intense reaction to the brand."

I started frantically thinking about what we were able to do to help. Then it hit me, Jem, and Tess.

"Jem, Tess. Come here and hold hands." I said.

They didn't argue. They came over obediently and took each other's hands. They almost immediately knew what to do. Their eyes clouded over, and they reached their free hands into the tank of water. Small orbs of water formed around their hands as they took their hands out of the water. Will and I lifted Izzy so she could sit, and so the twins could get to her neck. The water around the twins' hands glowed as it neared the brand on Izzy's neck. Once the water touched the brand it encircled her neck. They stood there holding the water to her neck for a minute, and then let the water run down her back into the tank. Izzy relaxed her muscles after the twins stepped back from the tank. I let go of Izzy and she remained sitting. She stood up in the tank and stepped out onto the mat in front of it. She brought her hands up to her shoulders, palms down, and guided her hands down in front of her body. The water rolled down her clothes with her hands and formed a bubble of water at her feet. She bended the water back into the pool. Her clothes and body were dry, but she left her hair wet. I looked for a towel so Izzy could dry her brunette hair. While Izzy was drying her hair, I looked around the little room that we were in. There wasn't really anything in there except the pool of water and a stack of towels in one corner. When I looked back to my siblings, they were staring back at me. Izzy's hazel eyes along with Jem's and Will's, and Tess' blue eyes bore into my hazel eyes looking for answers. I had none though. I had no idea what Amelia was planning, all I knew was that I was going to get my family out and safe.

"Iz, come here. Let me see your brand." I said.

She came over almost immediately moving her hair out of the way to let me look at her neck. It looked a lot better after the twins healed it. I still spread some of the cream I found in the other room on her neck for good measures. I was glad that had I shoved the tube into my pocket. We all made our way back to the other room. The others all sat on the bed I woke up in, while I went to find some gauze and medical tape to cover Izzy's neck. I found some in the drawer next to the bed they were sitting on. I covered Izzy's neck with the gauze, as I sat down on the bed with the others. We sat there and talked for almost two hours. We all fell silent after another hour of talking. Then Jem broke the silence.

"Hey, Jess. Did you notice that you have a metal cap over your left shoulder?" Jem asked.

"What?" I replied looking down at my shoulder.

Jem was right, there was a metal cap on my left shoulder. I didn't remember it being there, but then again, I wasn't really paying attention.

"I guess it's there to prevent me from using my firearm." I finally said.

"Yea but you have a metal band on your wrist that stops you from bending. Why would you need a metal cap on your shoulder?" Izzy asked.

"My firearm isn't really a part of my bending, it's more like an ability of its own." I explained.

Our conversation was cut short when dad barged into the room.

"Dad?" Will said.

Dad didn't seem to hear him, he just marched straight for us. He grabbed Tess' and Jem's wrists, and almost dragged them out of the room. Will, Izzy, and I raced down the hall after them. I could see Tess and Jem trying to reach each other to see what the future holds or to break free of dad's grip, but dad had them just far enough apart that they couldn't reach each other. I saw Jem's eyes cloud over from the distance that was between us. Once his eyes unclouded, they widened in panic. I started to run faster as soon as I saw fear on Jem's face. Dad turned a corner and went into a room dragging Tess and Jem in after him. The door slammed shut right as I got to it. The plaque next to the door said one word 'Memory'.