The Elementals [Watty Awards 2012 Action Winner]

Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen:

[Val’s POV]

“I’m part Stinger” I shut my eyes ready for his burst of outrage or maybe he would burn me like The Control did with my parents but I waited and waited and nothing happened. Slowly I opened my eyes and instantly caught his gaze that was set intently on me.

“So, part Stinger huh?”

Okay... I wasn’t expecting that.

“Uh... yeah” I replied slowly. Why wasn’t he freaking out? Why didn’t he look down his nose at me in disgust and walk away? Instead of doing any of what I imagined him doing he just sat there and was apparently digesting the information I gave him with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you have the abilities of a Stinger?”

“No... I only have my water abilities, I don’t have telepathy and I can’t hurt anyone unless I swing a bat at their head” Derrek just nodded and looked thoughtful. His silence was really getting to me and I ended up shouting at him in frustration. “Why are you so quiet?! I’m part Stinger! You should hate me!”

“And why is that?” he asked simply. I was about to explain why when I came up short. I had no real reason. I must have been so caught up with what society thought about Stingers that I had expected Derrek to turn around and burn me alive at my confession.

“I don’t know... I just thought that because The Control murdered every Stinger that every Abled hated them”

“I hate the mainstream way of thinking” Derrek explained winking at me. “I’ll tell you something Tadpole. I told you that my mother died giving birth to me, and that was true, but what I didn’t tell you was that she didn’t exactly have an ability”

I frowned. What did he mean ‘didn’t exactly have an ability?’

“Care to elaborate Sparky?”

“My dad didn’t like to talk about mother, when I was younger I would ask questions but would only end up getting burnt... literally. But every year on my birthday my dad would get pissed drunk. At first he’d beat me, yelling at me for killing his wife but I eventually learnt to keep away from him. Before I left him alone I’d ask him about mother and the few minutes of finding something out about her was like my birthday, Christmas, Easter and whatever other holiday put together. “

Derrek held a ghost of a smile at the thought of his deceased mom and I became choked up with emotion.

“One year, after I got my fire abilities, I asked about mother again and about her abilities. I thought she’d be Fire-abled like my dad but dad told me she was special. Mother was half Stinger and half Healer, but instead of having the abilities that came with it they cancelled each other out leaving her with no ability but extra strong telepathy”

He stopped and stared at me lifting an eyebrow as if to say ‘does that answer your question?’

“So you’re part Stinger then...?”

He shrugged. “I could say I was part Healer too but I know I’m not. I don’t have those abilities so I’m Fire-abled” I leaned back and looked him over. He was so mysterious and now here he was telling me all about his past and his life. He’d stemmed into this cocky, confident brooding man from the abused and lonely little boy who was blamed for the death of his mother.

“So are we done sharing life stories or should we braid each other’s hair too?”

And there was the mood swing.

“We’re done I guess... but we don’t actually know what happened to me. What if it happens again? What if I end up hurting random people?” I was starting to panic. All the calmness I felt while we were talking seemed to have slipped away and left me with nothing but fear and panic.