Savoirs

Jason

I plunged into the ice cold water and heard the others hit the water after me. For a moment or two I stayed submerged and then I swam for the surface. I broke the surface and shortly after me the others did too. I looked around and confused looked back up at the cliff.

"Did Jaclyn not jump?" I asked and the hunter's, Adam, eyes widened. He looked up and then searched the water. I saw something dark in the clear water and we dove back under the water. I saw him swimming towards something in the water and swam after him. He was much faster and I had to go back up for air. I swam towards the surface and the others swam for land. I followed them and stood on the sandy shore watching for the hunter and Jaclyn, knowing I wouldn't be much help. After too long I shook my head and swore.

"They've been under too long." I muttered and Lia appeared next to me.

"Why did you find everyone? You obviously were sent to find most of us and those two are some of them, so why?" She asked and I shook my head.

"I was just doing a job and now I'm not going to be able to show my face within twenty miles of the village I was living in." I swore and kicked savagely at the ground. I hated losing people, it was too hard, too much. I heard her gasp and she tugged on my sleeve. I turned angrily to her. "What!?!" I snapped. She simply pointed at the water and I looked at what she was pointing at. The hunter was swimming towards the shore with Jaclyn. I had to stop myself from yelling in joy and jumping up and down. Instead I got in the water and took her from him when he got to me. I helped her to land she sat heavily on a log and hugged herself. I saw her shiver, draped my jacket over her shoulders.

"We need to get  out of here." Adam says and I looked at him.

"We need shelter and fast." I say and he looks at me with curiosity.

"Sorry, but they won't give up that easily. We need to get as far away from here as we can." He says and I shake my head.

"She's freezing." I said and he nodded.

"So is everyone else we are just going to have to get over it. Look I have a cottage near here, I can show you where it is and then you can build a fire but no sooner." He replied quickly. I could see him pleading with me silently so I nodded.

"Alright. Lets hurry." I said and he jumped to his feet. I helped Jaclyn up and we set off for the cottage. About two hours later we arrived at a small hut in the woods and we sat in a circle outside. Adam and I gathered firewood and made a pile. When we had a nice sized pile he looked around for something to strike. I simply held up my hand and a small flame caught and soon a nice fire was going. The sun was setting and cast long shadows in the woods from the fire, hiding things from us. Gradually I felt every pair of eyes rest on me and I sighed.

"I assume you want to know why I was sent to find all of you." I stated and looked up. Joseph and Lia nodded. Jaclyn was staring into the fire absently and Adam was watching her. "Its because we each have a power, it may not seem like much but its a very rare talent in some villages, others its as common as a rat. But we still have to find one more person and after we do that I don't know what will happen. Now I know the powers that I was told and the names that those powers belong too and we all obviously know Lia can teleport and turn invisible and you saw me create the fire so there's two powers out of the way. Three more." I looked thoughtfully at Joseph and he shrugged.

"I can manipulate water but that's it. Think I can create it too." He said. I nodded and looked at the hunter, Adam.

"I can move the Earth and other things, trees and such. Anything that has to do with the Earth." He explained. Now everyone was looking at Jaclyn who shook her head and stared at the fire, like the answer would be there. She was shaken by earlier that much had been clear but she was also shy and reserved and didn't talk much more above a whisper.

"You all are crazy." She muttered and I almost didn't hear her.

"No, we are perfectly normal, Jaclyn. You have a power, right? What is it?" I asked and she looked up at me for the first time since leaving her inn. She holds up her wrist and I see nothing on it just bare skin.

"I don't have one. I'm normal. I'm sorry but you have the wrong girl if you're looking for someone that could be useful in a fight. I couldn't defend myself even if I tried, I've always been too easily scared to do much more than run and keep my head down and hide in plain sight." She said and I sighed. I knew she had a power, I could feel it in my gut but no one had magic without a mark.

"Yes, you do. Each one of us has a power and as do you. You just don't know it yet." I say and she shakes her head.

"No, I don't." She insists. I look at the others and sigh.

"I've heard that some people's power only surfaces when they are in need of it." Joseph offered and she shook her head.

"Trust me, I've been in times of need before and all those times I've been on my own." She says and Lia frowns.

"Maybe you just need to try." She said and Jaclyn sighed.

"Just try." I said and she nodded. She held her hands out in front of her and stared at them. For several moments she did that and I moved over and knelt in front of her, cupping my hands under hers and focusing my energy on her hands. I felt someone else do the same and slowly we were all in a small circle, focusing intently on our hands. 

 For several moments nothing happened and then Jaclyn flinched and gasped in surprise. She jerked her hands back and we saw a symbol begin to appear on her wrist. It drew itself out before our eyes and when it was done it was more complicated and intricate than any of ours were. It wasn't like most marks, which had a simple design not meant to catch the eye but this one was different. It looked like a tattoo, much like all of ours, and had a complex design that drew attention. She held out her hand palm up and there was a spark of white light before it flickered out and there was nothing. Jaclyn's eyes grew wide and I felt fear rise into my throat. I had known what I was finding but I hadn't known I was finding this.

"Light." Adam breathed and we nodded.

"We don't speak to anyone else about this." I said hurriedly after no one said anything for what felt like forever. Everyone nodded quickly and Jaclyn stared at me in horror. She knew her life had just been put in deadly danger, danger I had promised it wouldn't be in. The power of light was more powerful than any of the others and was feared by many people. Only those who had powerful powers themselves didn't fear the power of light as much but it was still feared. 

It had been nonexistent since hundreds of years ago when a man with the power of light had helped a king fight a huge war that he won. It was said that when the king had controlled most of the land in the country he killed the man with the power of light in fear that he would turn on him and kill him to take the throne for himself. Since then the power of light had been dangerous to have and no one had been known to possess the power. Now it was back. Jaclyn clutched her hands to her chest and sobbed. It was a sudden noise that jolted me out of my thoughts and made me realize she knew the stories about the king and the man and there was no doubt that she knew in this country it was a death sentence. I moved to sit beside her and put an arm around her shoulders, in an attempt to comfort her.

"It's going to be alright." I whispered and she shook her head.

"No, no, no its not. Don't lie to me we all know what happens if the knights or the king found out that I had this.......this.......curse." She spat and Joseph shook his head.

"It is a gift. It means that there is a need for your power now and we won't let anything happen to you. We are family now." He said and she shook her head but didn't say anything. I sighed and the fire flickered. I had hoped this wasn't going to be a dangerous task but when we had been forced to jump off the cliff I had begun to doubt it wouldn't be as simple a task as I first thought it was and now I knew it was going to be near impossible if anyone outside of this group learned of Jaclyn's power. It was a death wish now, to continue on with them, but I knew that I couldn't just leave them now, not when we found out what power she had. Even the man hadn't known the power she was supposed to have, only that she was a very powerful and important person. Besides, Joseph was right, we were family now and, for reasons I couldn't being to guess, I wasn't going to leave this one without a fight.