Weather Control

Chapter 6

I woke with aching arms. Sword practice yesterday took more effort than I had thought and we would probably have to do it all over again today. Most of the girls were fixing their hair from the night before. My hair was such a tangled black mess that I was pretty sure it was stuck in a braid permanently.

I sat up on my bed and yanked on my boots.

Sunshine bounced over to my bed from across the room while still trying to get his shirt on.

"Hi Thorne," he said.

I laced my boots.

"What do you think we are going to do today?" he asked.

I didn't know, and I didn't tell him, Hoping he would give up.

"Do you think it will be hard?"

I groaned. He was far too happy for the morning. and he clearly couldn't take a hint.

He laughed. Probably at the scowl on my face and went to the door.

"You need to come quickly, otherwise I'll get down before you and you will never get breakfast." he said as he left.

I rolled my eyes, but followed him anyways.

I barely got done eating before the commander walked in. Before he was even in the room, he was already ordering us around.

"Follow me. Don't bother to finish your food. We have things to do and there will be an early lunch."

We got up an followed him with no protest out of kitchen room. He led us down twisting hallways. We ended up going through a small set of doors that led to outside. The Sun was bright, but barely above the horizon. Sunshine was clearly still amazing about being able to walk on clouds.

The commander made up sit on the cloud in a circle. When we sat, my wing made a bump in the shoulder of my shirt. I shifted it until it looked close to normal. My wing must've moved when I was sleeping. I hoped no one noticed.

Somebody I had never met before, a middle-aged man, came out of the doors we just went through. He came over to our circle.

"You are free to go," he told the commander.

The commander left without a word. He was probably glad to leave. I was glad to see him go.

The new man started off by introducing himself as Han. He said he was going to tell us why we were brought to the clouds. "All of you here," he said, "are here because you have the ability to control an aspect of the weather. This power was passed down from your parents. The reason you do no live in the clouds is most likely because your parents were banished to Earth and had a child, that child being you.

"So, this means we need to teach you how to control the weather for the humans on Earth. We water their crops and give them the snow in the winter to give them a break. You will learn how to hold a job in this place, and how to live." Han clapped his hands together and smiled. "Let us begin."

Han made us sit in a line, all of us facing him.

"I'll show you how it's done." He looked like he wasn't even trying all that hard. Suddenly, a single spark flicked across his hand. Then another one followed. It was amazing. i realized my mouth was hanging open and I shut it quickly.

Han smiled at our expressions.

"Now I will explain how to use your magic. Listen carefully," he said. "Your magic comes from within. Reach inside; reach into the well of your power. Draw it out. Draw it to you hand and hold it there. Don't let it escape. Once you have proven to me you can do it, you may go to the training room as in the one with all of the weapons. If you take too long, I will release you to lunch."

Lunch was hours away. I hoped it wouldn't take that long. I closed my eyes and looked for the so-called 'well' of magic. Nothing.

It wasn't long before I heard a squeal of delight. A girl farther down the line, Anne, I think, had a small orb of water resting on her hand. Shock was written on everyone's face. I would bet a lot of coins that half of them thought the magic Han talked about was a lie, and he somehow played a trick on us. He let Anne go to the training room.

Han loked at us with narrowed eyes. "Keep trying," he told us.

I was trying hard, but after five more people left, I still had made no progress. Maybe the people in charge of this whole street show made a mistake and I had no powers after all. Maybe, when the tornado came, it picked up the wrong girl. But Han wasn't going to let any of us leave until we did something.

Sunshine ended up with a pool water in his hand. He laugh with delight that he could do it. When he left, he squeezed my shoulder. I wan't sure if it was supposed to be comforting, but I did not feel comforted. I snarled at him instead.

Trevor and his friend left shortly after that, and soon it was down to just me and another boy and I was hungry.

And that was when I found what I hoped was that wonderful 'well' of magic. It didn't feel like a well. It felt almost like drawing and arrow out a of a quiver. I led the magic slowly to my hand, but it was so hard to control. It was as if the magic was bursting with energy. The magic was at my hand and-

Noise seem to erupt. My eyes were open in a flash, and looking at Han. I gasped. He was glaring back, but that wasn't the reason I was shocked. Han's shirt was burning and his hair was sticking straight up in a ridiculous way.

"Looks like we have the same type of magic," he said, eyes narrowed.

The other boy that hadn't had any luck with his magic laughed. Not at Han though. He was laughing at me.

Han quieted the boy with a look and used his hand to put out the fire on his shirt. He asked softly, "What's your name girl?"

"Thorne," I answered as I get up to leave. "Thorne Jackson."

"Well, Thorne, you may not go quite yet."

I protested, but he held up a hand. "You haven't controlled it yet. You just shot it off. You are not finished."

So I sat back down. It was already well past lunch time. I almost set Han on fire three more times before he finally made me go back in to the building.