The fire inside

Chapter 24

We quickly finished our lunch then sat back and watched the rest of the movie. Although I had seen it many times before I still jumped a little bit at the scary parts. Trent kept his arm around me and rubbed my shoulder each time I jumped. by the time the movie ended I was practically in Trent's lap. He looked down at me with a mischievous smirk and pulled me all the way into his lap. He kissed my cheek and held me close.

"You jumped a lot less than you did the last time we watched this," Trent said laughing.

"The last time I watched this we were kids," I grumbled.

"I know. You were practically crying back then." He chuckled and squeezed me a little.

"I was not!" I protested squirming to get out of his lap.

He just laughed and rested his head on my chest. I blushed slightly then rested my head on top of his. I smiled and heard him sigh as he held me closer. I was enjoying being in his arms and just relaxing with him when I heard footsteps headed in our direction. I quickly jumped off his lap and started cleaning up our dished from lunch just as my mom entered the room.

I faced her and smiled. "Hi, mom."

"Hi, Ellie, Trent." She smiled at him over my shoulder then looked at me. "Ellie, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Yeah, sure." I felt a concerned look crossed my face but I quickly shook it off and turned to Trent. "I'll be right back." He just smiled at me in response. I left the room with my mom and started cleaning the dishes. "So what's going on, mom?"

"It's your grandmother." she said with a sigh.

"Is it about what she said before I came in the kitchen earlier?"

"So you were listening to us?" She didn't seem angry at all. She actually seemed relieved.

"Kind of." I looked at the dished to avoid eye contact with her.

"So you heard about what she wants to do if your powers don't stay in check?" I felt her looking at me.

I looked over at her and nodded. "Yeah, but why would she want to do that, though?"

"She doesn't want your powers to get out of control because she doesn't want to risk anyone getting hurt or someone finding out about our family."

"I'm not going to hurt anyone," I said getting a little upset. "I would never do that. And I'm not going to let anyone find out about my powers. I'm not careless, mom."

"I know that but your grandmother doesn't think that you can control your powers after what happened earlier."

"I can control them. I just need a little more practice, is all." I looked down at my hands then steeled myself and looked up at my mother with confidence in my eyes. "You guys aren't taking my powers away. I won't let you."

"Sweety I don't want to take away your powers. I want you to learn how to control them. Your powers are very special and I'm sure your grandmother is just scared of how powerful you've become in such a short amount of time." She smiled at me proudly and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm going to go train," I said hugging her back then headed for the back door. "I'll be back in later." I walked outside and inhaled the fresh air.

I went over to the candle I had left out on the picnic table earlier and stared at it, willing it to light itself. I sat there staring at the wick of the candle for the longest time, and just as I was about to give up, a small flame flickered to life. I smiled to myself as the flame danced before me. It made me think a woman doing a belly dance. just as the thought occurred in my head, the flame transformed into a tiny woman belly dancing on top of the candle. Each step she took made tiny indentations in the wax of the candle. I held my hand out and she danced on to it. I felt the warmth of each step and move she made. I concentrated hard for a moment then threw her into the air and watched as she became the same height I was. She danced just above the ground, so she didn't light anything on fire, and moved around me gracefully. I laughed and danced with her, both of us twirling around each other.