The Island Princess

Chapter 26. Act 1: Set the stage

{Location: A small room in Chen's palace}(Skylor's POV)

THUD! SLAM! SNAP!

Father closes the door behind us. Steam comes out of his ears and his face is turns to its angry red mode. He leans his new staff up against the wall, "You think you can rebel against me?"

Spuriously, I still have a few embers of my anger left. I get up to my feet, "Yes. I hate you and how you treat people. And-"

"You can't." His shoulder twitches up.

I sidestep, barely avoiding an elbow to the face, "You took her." I jump back from another lunge attack. My hands are low but I'm not looking to attack with my actions. Just with my words. "The first person who cared about me."

"But I didn't kill Violet," He tries kicking me only to slam his bare toes into the wall, "Clouse did."

"I'm not talking about her d-dieing." I dig my elbow into his thigh, pushing him off, "You locked her in a cage for years. For what? To prove that you can do whatever you want? Congratulations. You mentally scared and beat up an 8-year-old kid. You are very impressive. So scary."

He sneers while grabbing his staff, "Violet was a traitor!" He slams the end into the floor. It freezes over, freezing me shoes onto it. "I don't tolerate traitors."

He approaches me.

I push his hands away as he reaches past me, "No. She was doing her job as a mother. Then you went and locked her up like she was an animal. What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me other than the fact that my daughter IS A STUPID IDIOT WHO CAN'T TAKE ORDERS TO SAVE HER LIFE!"

"So what are you gonna do about it?" I lower my hands. I know, an arrogant move but my recent failure is eating me up so much I can't care about what may happen to me, "Kill me?"

Click.

It's back.

That small silver gun.

Father pulls back on the hammer, "I could." He tosses it aside. His staff now glows green as poison fills the room. "So what if you unlocked your true potential? Your powers don't work unless you touch another elemental master." His sneer flickers as I try not to breath in the poison, "You're still a useless woman who can't even protect her loved ones at the peak of her power." His face relaxes a little, snickering as the poison disappears, "And I can still control you. Face it, there's no one coming to this island to protect you. There's nowhere you can run. And there's no way you can grow stronger than me." His hand comes across my face, hard, "So make it easier on everyone and give in." He stands upright, opening the door behind him, "I might even think you're worthwhile."

I slide down the wall.

I've always known that he thought that but hearing...

Hearing that he thinks I'm worthless hurts.

{Location: Silverthorn high school's theater}(Skylor's POV)[When Skylor was in her senior year of high school]

"I don't wanna go," I never thought the day would come where I fit into the winey teenager stereotype. But here I am, Clover trying to pull me into a theater as I dig my heels into the ground. I pull back, just wanting to be alone in the car. "I'm almost 18. I can make my own decisions.

"Well," Clover manages to win the tug of war with my arm, "You're not 18 and you need to do something else other than your high school class and college classes."

"No," I pull my hand out by pushing his, only he grabs me with his other hand, "Dual enrollment is busy enough." I keep switching and pulling my hands only for Clover to keep trapping them in a continuous cycle, "And I'm not looking for friends in my life right now. I got all I need."