Grey

whole lot of nothing

ATHENA

"Focus more on how you feel. Draw your power from within. Don't worry about what is going on around you." Deaton says in a calm and steady voice. I sigh in frustration. My sister rolls her eyes.

"This isn't working. A couple days ago she was able to completely heal someone. I was able to make a cup appear out of thin air, why is this so hard?" We had been meeting with Deaton everyday after school for two weeks now, but hadn't been able to do anything else.

"Isaac was already healing when Thea did her magic, I had already administered medicine to him as well. That is why it was so easy for her, also it is going to be one of her strongest powers, just as manifestation will be one of yours. Magic isn't something that is going to be easy to learn, or master. It will take time and patience. Perhaps we should focus on something else for now. Something a little more simple." He says soothingly.

"Simple sounds wonderful." I say with a deep breath.

"What is it?" Thea asks.

"Meditation." he says smiling.

"That's it? You want us to just sit cross legged on the floor and go to our happy place?" Thea asks annoyed.

"I believe this will help the two of you to find the next target of the beast." He says

"How?" I ask confused. We hadn't had any more dreams or weird feelings since we found Isaac that night.

"The two of you have an incredible power. Once you are able to tap into it, and learn how to manipulate and control it, you will be unstoppable, but until then meditation will help you draw closer to it. If you concentrate and relax, perhaps it will help you to connect with the part of you that helped you save Isaac. Go ahead and sit across from each other at the table." We do as we are told and take our seats. "Now hold hands. You two will always be stronger as a unit. No matter what. Anything you do, any magic you are able to do, will always be stronger if you do it together." I take my sisters hands. What he is saying is true in every aspect of my life. Without my sister I would have never made it through the death of my parents. She is and always has been my rock. She gives me a small smile. "Okay now close your eyes and clear your minds of everything except the creature you saw that night. Picture exactly what it looked like. Memorize it. Focus on every detail." I close my eyes and see it clearly. Just as terrifying as it was the first time I saw it. It's claws are long and bloodied. It's shoulders hunched over as it stands crouched, ready to attack. Bottomless pits are where its eyes should be. "Now remember what its presence felt like, ignore your own fear, what feeling radiated off the beast?" I try to remember but can't find my way past the fear that I felt on the roof.

"Its dark." Thea whispers. "Like void of all emotion, except hunger, and malice." As soon as she speaks I can feel it myself. The creature resonates a hostility unlike anything I have ever experience. Suddenly the picture in my mind shifts, I'm no longer seeing the creature on the roof, now it is something totally different. Its dark and damp, but we are inside. The full moon shines through a large window, it is eerily quiet. I can feel my sister holding my hands but I cant see her. I am alone. A piercing scream fills the air. I quickly turn facing the direction it came from. There is nothing there. I hear it again, this time coming from a different direction. I can feel the anxiety building in my chest. Someone is about to die. The scream sounds again and again, but I can't find the source. Once more the scream fills the night air. I run towards it. Outside the window I can finally see where I am. I am on the sixth floor of a building I have never seen before. Something catches my eye on the ground. A girl races into the ground floor. I cant see her face, just her long dark hair flowing behind her. The beast is right on her tail. It slashes its claws out nearly catching her before she is inside. My eyes flash open. I'm back in the vet office with my sister staring back at me. I know she saw the same thing I did. She takes a deep breath, worry is clearly seen in her expression.