Half the Power

Attacked Again

None of us saw it coming, so it had the element of surprise on its side. It seemed to come out of nowhere. It must been tracking us, waiting for us to be weakened, emotionally or physically. While I was laying, weak and unable to defend myself, of course it would attack. How could I be so stupid?

As it lunged toward me, I managed to roll to the side. It stumbled, but I knew that it would quickly regain its balance. I didn't have much time. 

Ava and Ryan summoned their weapons, a dagger and spear. I saw their fighting skills, similar to mine and the monsters. (I didn't want to think of it as 'Mary'.) Ava detracted the creature, while Ryan blasted it off balance with a wave of water. When it stumbled back, Ava attacked. She thrust her spear forward, and the monster dissolved.  I sat there uselessly, only able to watch.

Ava turned to me, and for a second, her expression frightened me. She had a mad gleam in her eyes, like she was thinking, More! I hated having to kill the creatures, but it was to protect myself.  Ava, in that instant, seemed like she enjoyed it, like she was doing it for sport. 

Then any trace of that was gone, replaced by her usual warm smile. I thought that I may have imagined it. But, when she looked at me, I couldn't pretend that she hadn't looked insane. She shot me a look, and I got the message. We'll talk later. 

Ryan was pushing his dagger into a tree, and it shrunk back into his leather cord necklace. Ava did the same, her spear morphing into a silver chain necklace. She draped it over her head, then pulled her hair above the locket. She was back to her usual, beautiful self.

I struggled to my feet before either of them could stop me. They gave me looks of concern and sympathy, but I put on a determined look. "I'm fine," I insisted. They were obviously unconvinced. "Let's get going." I tried to take a step, but I doubled over with pain, my vision swimming. If they were unconvinced before, they were now completely convinced that I was, in fact, very not fine. They rushed to me.

"Yeah, we're staying here for a while," Ryan decided. "Besides, we all need rest." Ava nodded in agreement, but I couldn't argue. I knew it was pointless.

I relaxed on the inflatable mat that we had used to sleep on last night. "Alright, but no more than..." My sentence faded as I dipped into sleep.

***

I had dreamless sleep, and I woke reluctantly. The sun was now right above me. Noon. We had stayed too long.

I tested my ribs, sitting up slowly. They seemed fine, but I couldn't rely on that. How could they have healed so quickly?

I looked around for Ava and Ryan. Ryan was sitting about twenty feet away, relaxing against a tree. His eyelids were drooping.

I spotted Ava a little farther away, her hand on the ground. Every few seconds, she would put her hand into the pouch of gems.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I demanded. I was getting sick of asking that today. They both jumped, and there was no fatigue left in Ryan's eyes. Ava turned to me.

Ava spoke first. "You needed rest. Your ribs should be feeling a little better now?"

I nodded distractedly. "But that doesn't matter. We need to go! Now!"

They obeyed, but they didn't seem happy about it. After Ryan made sure it was safe, I limped over to stream. I washed the little dried blood on it, and saw that the actual cut wasn't too bad. It was just a thin scar now. 

My ankle was also wrapped, and I wasn't anxious to look at it. I figured that if it was worse than my wrist if it was bandaged.

By the time I was done with the stream, everything was packed up-- thanks to Ava and Ryan. Ryan was hesitant to pick up his bag. "You're positive you can walk?"

"Yes," I answered again. Honestly, I felt like the bottom of my ribs were on fire, but I wasn't about to jeopardize the mission so I could rest.

 We walked for ten more minutes until Ava spoke up. "Ryan... what exactly did Orion tell you earlier?"

He paled again, then moistened his lips . "Um... he said to find a palace. It's not easy to see, though. We have to use our powers to sense it. All of our powers. At the same time. I can feel for a river that flows to one side of it. Ava, you should be able to feel some buried jewels around it. Amelia should be able to feel the difference in the wind, even if we can't actually see the building."

Ava halted, then stomped her foot in frustration. That wasn't like her. "Ryan! Why didn't you tell us that before? We might've walked right past it!"

Ryan looked shocked. "I-I didn't want Amelia to try using her powers considering... her current state." I felt that he was about to say considering she just almost died. "Besides, she doesn't need anything else to worry about."

I noticed that they were talking like I wasn't here. "Hey! I'm right here, you know. I can speak for myself. I can test the wind, don't worry..."

Ava looked like she wanted to protest, but she held back. "On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

I became part of the wind, but there was nothing bigger than a tree or boulder blocking its flow. I felt for the count of five, but still nothing.

I looked up at Ryan and Ava. They both looked a little disappointed that we didn't find anything. I took the lack of blockage as a good sign. "Well, at least we don't have to persuade anyone yet. I dunno about you guys, but I'm awful at that stuff."

Ryan sighed. "Yeah, me too. Ava?" We both turned to her hopefully.

She seemed unsure. "I... I can try, but I can't make any promises."

We all tried to stay positive. Maybe we would meet someone else who was amazing at persuasion. Maybe we could learn how to convince someone. Maybe... we ran out of ideas soon.

It crossed my mind that I still didn't know who our enemy was. I faced Ryan with a questioning look. "Did Orion say who we'll be facing?"

"Hm. Now that I think about it, I don't think he did. Weird." That unnerved us all.

We tried to steer clear of our opponent after that. Every ten minutes, we would all send out signals to feel for water, jewels, or a change in wind. We didn't find anything until the fourth time.