Fire & Ice

ch. 14

DANIEL 

Five days later, I dreamt of Amber and Jake for the fifth night in a row. My dreams were never nightmares, but I always woke up thinking they were real...until I remembered the reason why we were still locked in the safe house in the first place.

I eased the comforter off of my body, careful not to disturb a sleeping Adrian next to me. It was hard to believe that the thirteen of us had eased into living with each other so quickly, but there hadn't been many issues. But I could tell that most of us, especially Jamie, were getting antsy. We still hadn't heard from anyone yet about returning to the city.

Besides Jamie and I's secret training sessions early in the morning, we all had begun battling throughout the day. Nat got the idea the day after we got our training gear that we should continue training with our new weapons as much as possible. So she and Adrian came up with a schedule for everyone to follow. Us older, more experienced kids would train for a few hours in the morning, and then the younger kids would be led by one of us in the afternoon. After lunch, we'd all come together for a couple more hours. Marco usually joined in with the younger kids while María kept an eye on Emily.

Since most of us were so used to training in pairs, we were still working out temporary partners for everyone in the morning group. With two girls and three boys, we were only able to have two pairs each day while one person sat out the pair battles until someone was available.

Jas and Ethan had trained together for the past few days. The matchup was so uneven that it was often painful to watch them attempt a sparring battle, but since Ethan refused to battle with Nat, Jas was his only option. Adrian, Nat, and I had been switching out with each other. 

Natalie seemed fine after that first drama-filled day of the breakup, but I still kept my distance from her. We hadn't talked alone since that night on the balcony, and I didn't want to give Ethan any ideas. I'd rather avoid a potential beating for as long as possible. 

It was 2 AM, and I was restless after my dream. I got up out of bed, snuck out of our room, and headed to the new weapons cabinet that Adrian fashioned near the front door. I grabbed one of the guns and headed outside to explore. 

As soon as I stepped outside, I took a deep breath, allowing myself to think of the day Amber and I became sparring partners. It was one of the best days of my life, and I could clearly remember Amber sprinting and jumping into my arms...luck was truly in our favor that day.

It was a powerful memory, and as I'd learned from practicing with Jamie, channeling the emotions from memories helped fuel my powers. I felt a rush as ice-cold energy coursed through my veins.

I pumped two streams of frosty energy from my fists, beginning to hover just above the ground. I was seconds away from blasting up into the sky when Jamie appeared, shocking me back to the ground. 

"Where are you going?" she hissed, slamming the front door behind her.

"Jamie, what the hell? Don't wake up the rest of the house," I snapped back. 

"What, did you think it was a good idea to use your powers right where anyone could see?" she said back. "I thought we were keeping things a secret." 

"We are. I was assuming that everyone else, including you, was asleep." 

She blasted herself off the porch, landing beside me. "Are you going exploring again?" 

"I guess. I couldn't sleep. You either?" 

She shook her head, and as she got close I noticed that her eyes were puffy, and she had eye bags. Actually, they'd been like that almost all week.