Crystal Powers

~9~

"Hello sweetie." she said, giving her a small smile, "I'd love to hear about your day but I need to talk to your father. Have you seen him?"

Sapphire turned her head. Wasn't he just here?

"He was just here a moment ago, but I have to show you something cool that I discovered," Sapphire said.

She knew that her dad had warned her about her mother figuring out about her powers, but she had to tell her. It wasn't fair to her mother, who has been nothing but loving and supporting her whole life.

"Oh okay, what did you find that was cool?" her mother asked, following Sapphire.

Sapphire needed to find another way to show off her powers other than the glass trick. Sapphire wanted to do something else, for a change. She and her father thought that the glass trick was pretty cool. But what else could she do instead to really wow her mother? She looked all around her house, trying to find something. And then, the lightbulb went off.

"Okay Mom, so this is your flowers, right" Sapphire was holding her flower pot that was full of violets.

"That's...very nice," she said, confused. Sapphire gave her a little smile, "It's been hot recently, you want me to water them?"

Her mother opened her mouth to speak but was cut off, "Don't worry, I got this in the bag," Sapphire said, staring at the clay pot.

She felt her hands get cold as the pot began to fill with water, making the soil dampen and turn dark. She looked up right at her mother, who was in shock. "I-I.." she stuttered. Sapphire looked into her eyes.

"Sapphire..why is your hair getting straight..?" her mother said, giving the deer-in-headlights expression, "A-And why are your eyes...purple?"

Sapphire's happy mood suddenly dropped. She had a feeling that she had made a mistake.

"Mom? Are you alright?" she asked.

Her mother's eyes begin to fill with tears. "No...this isn't right. Not at all. When we accepted you all those years ago, I didn't think that we would be bringing a freak into our home."

Sapphire felt her heart pang, "What?"

Sapphire tried to give her mother a hug when she shot water right at her face, so forceful that it made her fall to the ground.

"No child of mine has...powers. You need to get out, or else I'm going to kick you out of here." her mother sneered.

Sapphire knew that she had done something wrong. Her eyes began to water as she raced her way out the door.

~~

The sunny day had turned darker when rain clouds began to float through. The air had gotten thick and it began to cool.

Sapphire ran back to the place where she knew she could be safe - the forest where she had found when running away from that man.

Although the only reason that she found this beloved place was because of a man who wanted to kidnap her, she thought that the forest was very peaceful.

She was crouching in a tree, with her eyes glowing brightly. She tried everything, but her hair was still straight and her eyes still shining bright purple.

She wanted this to just all be a hallucination, where she was actually just the nerd whose social life was practically nonexistent and wasn't always in the light of danger.

She felt her eyes water, as she thought of all the memories she could no longer think could ever happen again, like the time that she was with her mother and father as they went on vacation. Or when they went on random day trips.

When she was in the middle of her crying session, she saw a dim red glow from far away.

She smiled a tiny smile. She knew that that had to be Phoenix, her friend that has fire powers.

She took off her glasses and held them. She was thinking so much that it was giving her a massive headache. She leaned her back against the tree, trying to relax. She saw the dim red glow again, but instead a little below the tree. Sapphire waved, certain that he would not see her. But instead, she was surprised. She heard a little knock from the other branch. She saw that it was the fire boy.

He gave her a smile and jumped down from the top branch.

"You came back," he spoke softly.

Sapphire just nodded, not very interested in explaining her situation with her mother.

"Hold on, it's a bit dark," he said, shuffling around. All of a sudden, there was a large flame, covering the whole area in light.

Sapphire turned to get a better look at him. He was exactly like the first time that they met - bright yellow eyes and flaming hair.

"You probably don't remember me that well, but I'm Phoenix," he said, giving her a friendly smile.

"You'd think I would forget?" she laughed.

"Not entirely, but I wanted to make sure." he replied, "So why are you back in this neck of the woods, purple eyes?" he asked.

Sapphire shrugged. His eyes showed that he was worried, but he didn't want to bother her.

"I know something that might make you feel a bit better since you seem depressed," he said.

Sapphire lifted her head, "Huh?" she blinked.

"We aren't the only ones that have this kind of power - where our hair and eyes change and we can control elements," Phoenix explained, his grin getting bigger.

Sapphire titled her head, "How do you know?"

Phoenix cleared his throat, "I can't get too far into it without the presence of the others, but if I am correct there have to be two more people. Whether or not we will find them soon, there has to be two more."

"I have a feeling that we'll find them soon, is that weird?" she asked.

Phoenix looked into her eyes, "I don't think so. We were able to find each other relatively quickly, so it would make sense that we find them soon."

They just sat and talked as they exchanged stories and random rants. It felt good to have this sort of break, a break away from what was going on at home.

Although it was getting later and later, Sapphire didn't care whether or not she was going back home or to school. She found someone that didn't judge her for what she was, and in fact, was similar to her in numerous ways. And now, that she knows that it isn't just them, she felt like she was a kid at Christmas.

She felt her eyes droop, and she slowly got up from the branch.

"Hey, watch where ya going!" Phoenix shouted, grabbing her hand.

Sapphire looked down. If Phoenix didn't do that, she would have easily fallen all the way down there.

"You know, you aren't the most cautious person that I know," he said, shaking his head.

Sapphire nodded. "I'm sorry, I must have been tired. But thanks for saving me," she said, a bit shook.

Phoenix gave her a stare, "When you are out here in the woods, you always have to be careful about everything and anything." he explained.

Sapphire nodded in understanding, "I wasn't really on planning on staying here, but if I do want to stay, I'll keep it in mind." she whispered.

Phoenix just kept his gaze towards the ground as he tried to piece together what he wanted to say, "You can go back to the suburbs, but once we start looking for the others, I think you ought to stay in the forest, so we can spend time working on finding them.

Sapphire gave a moment to think. "Sure, why not?" she said, as she climbed down the tree.

Phoenix looked up. "Deal."