Elemental

Chapter 5

       "I can't do it."
       "You can!"
       "I can't! Don't you think I'm trying?" My hands are clenched into fists and I can feel my face turning red with frustration.
       "Maybe you're trying the wrong way. Try again," Ethan says frustratedly. Even he's mad that I can't get it and Ethan never gets mad! Ugh! The class is almost over and then we'll have to go inside. I don't want to fail! I just want to be the average student that no one notices, but I can't do that unless I can keep up with the rest of my classmates. And I've been trying for an hour.
        "Come on, it's easy. All you have to do it take a little bit of water and turn it into a cloud." He says this as if I should be able to do this right away, but I'm just not getting it! Still, I try again. Feeling the water in the river flowing in front of me, trying to vaporize it into puff like the clouds overhead.
      The overcast sky threatens rain. If I want to do this I have to do it now. There is a third way out of this school. Expulsion. And that might be considered worse than death.
       The anger and fear and resentment at my past failures builds up until I can no longer concentrate on the task at hand. Finally I can hold it in no longer. My frustration explodes out of me in a burst of power that nearly knocks me over. All the feelings I've felt since I fell off that cliff and got thrown into a school I never wanted to go to, channeled into one burst. The clouds in the sky descend in a torrent of freezing water that soaks everyone on the riverbank. I am left, perfectly dry, staring at a soaking wet Ethan, mouth wide open staring at me with something like wonder and maybe a  bit of fear. Before my eyes roll back in my head and my legs give out from utter exhaustion I get a glimpse of the clear blue sky, sun shining brightly.

I wake up in a warm bed. My eyelids feel glued shut and I am perfectly content to keep them that way. I feel like absolute crap. Every muscle is sore and aching. And despite the blankets I can feel myself shivering. I can tell I have a fever. Too miserable to move, I think about everything that's happened in the past two weeks.
    The masked face from my nightmare flashes across my eyelids. I go back to the day of my test. Falling, then starting to rise, but something happened. like the air was being pulled away. So with nothing to manipulate, I fell. But air doesn't just leave an area on it's own. Only another mage could do that. But why would anyone want to sabotage me? I'm not that annoying am I?
      I'll think about it later, my thoughts drift to what had happened before I passed out on the riverbank. I had been so mad and I... I think I pulled the clouds out of the sky. 
      No, there's no way that I did that. I'm hopeless at manipulation! Forget manipulating clouds, miles away in the sky! It must have been a mistake. Maybe I had spoiled milk in my cereal and had a hallucination! It just seemed so real. There must be a more logical explanation. But I can't seem to find one.
       I'm starting to get a headache thinking about all of this. I'm tired. And achy and miserable and I just want to go home! Is that too much to ask? Why do they keep us here, locked up like prisoners, and act as if we came here by choice? I'm so mad I feel like punching something, when the door starts opening. I had pried my eyes open during my little silent rant. My hands were also in fists, which I relaxed as the door opened revealing Ethan. His hair and clothes were dry. He'd probably changed them. I immediately tried to get up only to fall back ungracefully onto the bed. My cheeks turned red and I smiled sheepishly. I was still in my clothes from the class and they were covered in dust. I probably looked ridiculous, but Ethan just smiled warmly and sat next to me on the edge of the bed.
      "Still a little tired I see," he said grinning. "Are you okay?" His face turned serious when he asked the question and the smile slipped off my face.
      "I don't know," I said in a small voice. And I really didn't. I debated about whether I should confide in him about my dream and the masked man. I knew I could trust him, but I had a sneaking suspicion that I couldn't trust the room. There could be bugs or cameras. I just didn't know.
     "Look, I'll tell you later." He looked confused. I guess I didn't specify what I had to tell him later.
      "Don't worry about it," I told him, waving a dismissive hand. "Let's talk about something else."