Fight With Fire

10

I'm walking back to my room when I see a familiar head of dirty blond hair sitting at the bottom of the stairs. I was feeling ready to just get into bed and rest a little but I guess it'll have to wait.

Finn looks up when I approach. I offer him my hand and he takes it getting up to walk beside me. He gets right to the point. "I have been trying to talk to you since we were at the circle."

I am immediately uncomfortable. I still have no idea what happened that night. My legs started out hurting and I had been able to climb just fine. I had tried to help Finn with his Aerdell but my iae had grown and Finn had seen it. Then my legs had become completely normal but I couldn't climb the building and Adrian had to save me. Then Adrian was acting weird after he'd held my injured hands. I don't understand anything that happened that day.

"What about?" I ask trying to act completely normal.

"I had always thought- we had always thought that my Aerdell didn't work on you. But I was able to take your pain away. And I was able to give you some of my energy."

I start to shake my head. "The giving thing is different because I could just have resistance so you can't take anything from me."

He shakes his head as well. "I saw your iae grow. I know what I saw. I don't know how my Aerdell works but it affects you."

"You don't know that for sure. There could be something else going on here." I'm trying to convince myself more than him.

"Oaris' iaes don't grow. Most of them are small but some, like yours, are big. They can shrink but they can't grow." He sounds very definitive and I know there is no point in arguing.

I let out an irritated breath and he immediately turns worried. "No, hey, come back." He grabs my hand pulling me toward him. I look around and notice that the stairwell in completely empty except for us. "I'm not trying to be frustrating, I'm just trying to figure this out." He looks into my eyes. "I'm just worried. What if I have an effect on you? What if I've been taking something from you every time I touch you?"

He squeezes my hand that is in his to emphasize his point. His expression changes as his deep eyes pierce mine. He seems to be looking right through me. He lifts his other hand up to my left cheek softly rubbing his thumb over my iae. My instinct is to move back but I am frozen to the spot. His gaze moves down to my lips. "Everything Amy said was true. I am worried about losing you." His gaze flickers back to my eyes staring into them. "But I'm even more worried that I am taking some of you like I do for everyone else. I'm afraid that I'm taking the part of you that I love."

I am startled speechless. He just said love. He loves me? I was already freaked out when I thought he like me but love? "I-"

I am about to protest or voice my concern but he pulls me towards him closing the gap between us. He pulls my face to his leaning over me to push over lips together. His lips start moving against mine and he tastes like salted caramel. I stand there frozen until I come to my senses and push him away from me. He stumbles away from me looking a bit startled but mostly upset at the rejection.

I start mumbling, for once not the confident girl that everyone fears. "I can't- I- I just-" I shake my head trying to gather my thoughts. I meet his eyes. He doesn't hide anything from me. Even in the face of rejection he just stands there letting me break his heart. His green eyes are full of sadness and even a little bit of hope. I swallow and look to the floor unable to stare into those eyes so full of emotion. "I'm sorry but I don't know yet." Before he can say anything else I sprint up the stairs. Up, up, up to the 60th floor never slowing down. I am running toward my room when I run into a thin girl with light brown hair.

"Oh Ella, I am so sorry." I look up to Gwen from where I fell. She looks at me worriedly. "Are you okay?"

I realize that she is not talking about me falling over but the tears that have been flowing from my eyes. I quickly wipe my cheeks embarrassed for the first time in my life. I have never cried be in front of anyone before or showed any kind of weakness. Now I was crying in front of the girl I was trying to intimidate. "I'm fine."

She offers me a hand up but when I reach for it she pulls away. "What happened to your hand?"

"Oh. I forgot about those." I realize how stupid I must look right now and mentally slap myself on the forehead.

"Here, I have some cream for cuts from the nurse. My room is right here." I am about to refuse but Gwen turns and walks into her room expecting me to follow her. I already embarrassed myself so I can't really do much worse. Also my hands do hurt a lot. They started to sting from the salty tears that I tried to wipe away.

I walk into the room but don't see Gwen anywhere. I stand in the doorway awkwardly and then enter the room. I decide to walk to the window which seems like the safest place. It feels weird to be in Gwen's room. Or even in a room that isn't mine.

I look out the window looking down over the forest. I see the small clearing where the circle is. You would only know it's the circle if you had been there. When I look over the landscape I realize that I recognize it. More than just a few landmarks, but I remember it because it was my view in one of the scariest moments in my life. This was where I had climbed the building when I had almost fallen. Adrian said that had been on the 60th floor and I assumed that that had meant he lived on that floor but now I realize that is not true. Adrian had been standing here in Gwen's window right before he had saved me.

I walk out of the room so I don't have to face Gwen. I run to my room hoping not to run into anyone. I feel more tears burn my eyes. I don't know why that hurt so much knowing that Adrian was with Gwen that night. I don't know why my eyes swell with tears at the thought. I don't know why my throat closes up making it hard to breath. And I don't know why I had been able to hold myself together for 18 years and now I've cried over two boys in less than an hour.

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Just in case you guys wanted to know the approximate ages of the characters:

Ella, Finn, the twins and more of the elites are 18-19

Charlie is 14-15

Amy is 9-10

I will tell you the ages of other characters as they are added

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