Strange Magic

Flameforce

Jenna was out in the open. The sun was scorching outside. The fire had died down on its own. She sat on the grass a good distance away from the building. She stared down at her hands. No traces of burnt skin. How did that happen? She tried to bring back the fire but it didn't come out. She wanted to return to normal life. She smiled painfully as she recalled Trevor saying she would be begging to get back to normal life.

What am I?

One moment, her life was perfectly normal and the next thing she knew, she had become some kind of monster.

You are a clone of your sister.

The words repeated in her head. Could it be possibly true? But how could that be possible? She didn't have an answer. She wanted to get away from everything.

"The truth isn't always easy."

Jenna didn't turn around. She recognized the voice.

"What are you doing here?" Jenna muttered. She didn't want to see anyone.

"Same goes to you," Leah said, sitting down beside her on the grass. "What are you doing out here?"

"Because I crashed the gym," Jenna answered flatly.

Leah chuckled.

"The whole circle kind of know about it already," Leah said, grinning, exposing a white fang. Jenna couldn't help but feel attracted to her irresistible aura. "Old Nana is at her wits end. She's raving like a real lunatic now."

Jenna didn't smile. She was too upset to cheer up. She saw Leah shifting uncomfortably under the sun's glare.

"I'm a monster," Jenna said, mostly to herself.

"Not all monsters are bad," Leah said.

Jenna's eyes widened in surprise.

"You knew?" She asked.

"I wasn't sure until I saw it," Leah answered sheepishly.

"You were stalking on me!?" Jenna exclaimed.

Leah looked at her. Her red eyes looked almost black under the sunlight.

"I wouldn't say stalking," she answered. "Nana sent me to find you and I've been there long enough to see you when you let out the Flameforce."

"The what?"

"The Flameforce," she shrugged. "Destroys everything in its path. Good thing you aren't stable enough yet or Ivy would be done for."

"Can you do that as well?" Jenna asked.

"No," she replied. "I'm only a vampire."

Only a vampire? Does that mean I'm not?

"What do you mean only a vampire?" Jenna stared wide eyed at Leah.

"That's a mage's ability," she replied, pulling out the grass blade after blade. "Elemental mages. Air, fire, water and earth. The thing you did was a fire element."

Jenna gawked in surprise. It wasn't easy to take it in.

"You mean I'm a mage?"

Leah turned and looked at her.

"Didn't Old Nana tell you?" She asked.

Jenna looked away remembering how she ran out before Nana could explain.

"She was about to tell maybe...but...," Jenna stammered. "I guess I didn't stick around to hear it out."

"That's your problem, Hunter," Leah said with indifference. "You are too head strong to see what lies ahead of you. You always put your passions first."

Jenna frowned. Leah was right. But she had always been that way and it was hard to change.

"But this is absurd," Jenna retaliated. "How would one react when a stranger suddenly tells you you're a clone of your sister?"

Leah let out a deep breath.

"Of course it would take time to sink in," she replied. "But after all the differences you had with Rose and after your special ability to sense the aura of supernatural beings, I'm surprised you find it so hard to believe."

Jenna locked her stare straight ahead in defiance. She hated Leah's statement.

"Why are you here anyway?" She asked. "What's so important that is worth burning yourself in the sun?"

"You," she answered.

Jenna blinked.

"How?" She asked.

Leah avoided her question.

"Do you remember anything on the night of the fire?" She asked Jenna.

"Yeah, I dreamt that red eyes burnt up a shack and when I woke up, the apartment was on fire," she replied sarcastically.

Leah ignored the sarcasm in Jenna's voice.

"Apart from that?"

"I told you," she snapped. "I saw you carry me out."

"Did you actually see?"

Jenna paused before she answered. She did see red eyes but she didn't see the face.

"But it's got to be either you or Trevor. No one else has red eyes."

"So that means you didn't see who it was," Leah insisted.

"What does it matter?" Jenna snapped.

"Oh it does matter," Leah said. "Because neither me nor Trevor were anywhere near the apartment that night and whoever it was that saved you knows your value and we have to make sure it isn't someone outside the circle."

When Jenna got back to the building, she felt eyes on her everywhere she went. They must have heard how she beat Ivy with the Flameforce. She grinned despite herself. She enjoyed the attention. Might as well make the best use of it.

Her grin suddenly faded as she spotted Nana glaring at her in the hall. Somebody has finally decided to leave the comfort of her upside down room.

"Jenny Hunter," she snapped. "In my office. Right now."

Its Jenna. J E N N A. Ends with an A.

She turned and strode to the direction of her office. Jenna followed suit.

"Explain yourself," Nana said, crossing her arms in front of her.

"It wasn't my fault," Jenna defended. "Ivy provoked me. I didn't even know I had that in me."

"Which is why I tried to explain to you," she snapped, her voice getting louder with every word. "Elements aren't used inside the building. We have the open space for that."

"How was I supposed to know that?" She snapped back.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking young girl," she said through gritted teeth. "I hate to be interrupted. Do you know what could have happened to Ivy?"

"She could have been killed? I thought she's immortal," Jenna said defiantly.

Nana's gray eyes changed color to a bright violet to Jenna's surprise.

"Listen Hunter," she said in a low voice. "I brought you here to train you, to keep you safe. To make you understand who you are. You are not just one of them. You are a little bit of everything. All in one. Dangerous and endangered. So shut that smart mouth and listen to what I have to say."