Nymphix

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The grass was damp with dew and soaked her feet as Katerina ran across the garden, rounded a corner, and stopped when a silhouette stood only metres away from her. She could have recognised that bulky figure anywhere – Otis. Even in the darkness, she could see the frustration and anger radiating off him as he cursed under his breath – a reoccurring thing with him. He abruptly fired balls of magic into the air, but they didn't go far before they sizzled out like a damp firework. The brief light given off by his bright blue magic managed to illuminate his face long enough for Katerina to see his sagging eyes and the darkness underneath them, but his mouth was set in a straight determined line. Conflicted between going forth to help him and crawling back into her warm covers, she unconsciously stepped forward.

“Who's there?” Otis yelled out, but at the same time the magic that had been gathering at his fingertips blasted towards Katerina at a dizzying speed. Flicking her wrist impatiently – as if swatting an irritating bug – she caught the magic and almost absorbed it, settling for a small flame at the palm of her hand to show her face.

“How did you-” His sentence was cut of when he recognised Katerina.

“You.” He snarled.

“Can I go anywhere without you following me?” Katerina automatically began to lower her eyes to the ground, but stopped herself at the last second and continued to stare into his dark eyes. 

“Maybe if you weren't out here blasting away I would be able to get some sleep. I'm surprised you haven't woken up the whole school...or burnt it down.” It was a little harsh, Katerina admitted, but she wasn't in the best of moods after her rude awakening – which wasn't even the fault of Otis, but she wasn't going to mention that.

“Maybe if you kept your nose out of other people's business and went back to sleep in your tree, we wouldn't keep running into each other, freak” Katerina didn't even dignify that with a response, and completely ignored the continual use of the word “Freak.”

“Whatever.” Katerina suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion, having not slept well the past few days, and turned around to catch the last hours of sleep before another day began. “You have no chance of getting your magic further than that with your weak mind.”

She had only walked a few steps when Otis called after her in a soft, unsure voice.

“Wait.” Katerina halted, but didn't turn around, the witch-fire still blazing in front of her.

“I'm...I'm sorry. About what I said. I'm just frustrated.” She could hear the plea in his voice. He wanted her to show him how to use his magic.

“It's so natural with you even though-” He held himself back from saying something he would regret. She rolled her eyes but couldn't help but turn around and walk towards him again.

“First of all, you're drawing your magic from the wrong place.” She waved the ball of witchfire in her palm to hover a few metres before them, enough so they could both still see each other.

“They say to summon your magic with emotion, but anger is never the best choice” Taking a deep breath, Katerina punched with her hand and a lightning bolt of magic shot from her knuckles. However before it could reach the ground it sparkled like a firework for a second before snuffing out.

“With anger you get a powerful source; like a jump start but after that you magic will fade fast.” She looked up at Otis, surprised to find him watching and listening intently.

“It’s uncontrollable, hard to summon because you have to dig and make yourself angry, and with anger you focus only on one thing. Your target.

While that’s good for attacking, you’re already lost the battle if you can’t defend yourself, or control your magic.” Katerina struggled to find words to express what she wanted to convey – magic was never something she thought about. Otis was right, it came naturally to her.