The Stone

Chapter Five

    “You missed lunch. I was gonna sit with you.” Ben said when Celeste met up with him at his car. His face was red and his eyes were set. “Yeah, I uh...I-I’ve gotta, I’ve got something to show you.” Celeste said. She had to share her discovery with someone. It had to be Ben. She held it in for three periods; her words were bursting at the seams. However, Ben looked upset, and she could not help but feel as though it was her fault. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Celeste said. Ben let out a small laugh. “You didn’t upset me. I-Samantha and I had an argument. She’s mad at me cause I cancelled our plans to help you. My best friend who’s going through things.” Ben said as he got into his car. Celeste, sensing a rant brewing got in as well and interjected before he could continue.
    “I think I’m a special now.” To her surprise, Ben laughed, and rolled her eyes. “Uh, yeah. No shit.” He said as he pulled out of the student parking lot. “Don’t you pay attention in history? The WillowStone is powerful. Giver of all powers? Ring a bell?” Ben joked, but his eyes were still serious. “...What did you...Find out you could do?” He asked.
    Celeste cleared her throat and looked around, trying to find a way to explain this without Ben getting mad that she self-harmed again. “I-I had an attack. A-and I was...biting myself. And when I looked at my arm, they disappeared.” Celeste said. Ben nodded. “I thought my eyes were just playing tricks on me, you know? S-so then I, I uh, scratched myself and they all disappeared! Like, no trace whatsoever! I saw them disappear in front of my eyes!” They approached a red light and Ben turned to face her. “So you cut?”
    “No! I-I mean yes but, it was for research.” Celeste defended. “Before it wasn’t. You were biting yourself.” Ben said. The light changed to green and he started driving again. “That’s not the point B.” Celeste said. “I know but...Okay, my bad, continue.”
    “Well, I took my bandage off. And I could s-see my blood, and my bones a-and my veins. It was honestly, gross. And cool. Then, I summoned light.” Celeste continued. Ben quickly turned to face Celeste and almost hit a stop sign. The car skidded forward and the pair regained their breath. “Y-you summoned light?” Ben asked. Celeste nodded.
    Summoners were rare. There were many types of summoners. Summoners that could summon things like light were even rarer. Moreover, the rarity that came with being a special, (which as rare as a human having green eyes) it made it ultra-rare.
    Ben parked into his parent’s driveway and cursed when he saw three other cars already there. “I thought they weren’t visiting until tomorrow.” He said as he unbuckled his seat belt. Celeste undid hers too and got out. Ben had six older sisters. The trips: Brittany, Nikki, and Roxanne. All five years older than him. Then there were the older twins: Rebecca and Alice. They were one year older than Ben. And Bella, she was older than by two minutes. All of his siblings went to an expensive private school (except for the trips), Ben wanted to go to school with Celeste when they were seven and has been ever since.
    “Hopefully they won’t notice us.” Ben said as they entered his house. The living room was seemingly empty and they dropped their guard and made their way to Ben’s room, which was their furnished basement. Being the only boy in an all-female household has its benefits. They had almost reached the basement door when Nikki called for them from the top of their marble stairs.
    “Hey Benny, Hey Cel.” She said as she slid down the banister. Nikki had brown close shaven hair, a face full of freckles on her apricot face and a roundish chubby face. “H-hey, Nik.” Celeste stuttered, blushing. She’s had a crush on Nikki since she was seven and Nikki twelve. “Oh my lord it’s been so long!” Nikki said embracing Celeste in a warm, bone-crushing hug. Celeste began to glow a shade of pink and Ben’s eyes grew wide. “U-uh, well we sh- have to go. Science project.” Ben interjected, opening the door and pulling Celeste through it. They did not have science together. “Whatever. You staying for dinner Cel?” Nikki asked. “Of course!” Celeste said poking her head out and smiling. Ben hastily pushed Celeste through the door and slammed it.  “That was weird...But then again it’s them so...” Nikki shrugged before shuffling towards the kitchen.
    “You were glowing.” Ben said as Celeste sat crossed legged on his bed. “What do you mean?” Celeste asked, she was still smiling stupidly and trying to keep the flowery scent that always seemed to loom over Nikki in her mind. Ben snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Hello? Earth to Celeste?” When he got her attention, he walked over to his laptop, which was charging on his desk and brought it towards her. “Okay, so, we’ve gotta see what powers you have now.” He said. “Might have now.” Celeste corrected. Ben rolled his eyes and began searching it up.
    It was a grueling process. Ben searched: Stone powers, WillowStone powers, what kind of powers do you get with the WillowStone. However, he could not find any good sites. Only sites that led to lures and myths, but Ben wanted true, hard facts. “What hell?” Frustrated, Ben slammed his laptop shut. “It’s all myths and legends.”
    “Maybe it’s all myths and legends because everyone thought that the powers of the stone were myths and legends.” Celeste offered. Ben gave her a dirty look before getting up and taking out a notebook and grabbing a pencil from his desk. “Okay, so far you can heal, summon, and glow.” He wrote this down. “Wait, glow?” Celeste asked making a face. Ben gave her an aspirated look. “Yes Cel. Yes. You were glowing. When Nikki was hugging you. You were pink.” He said. Celeste smiled. “So, I’m like, a human mood ring?” She said. “...Probably? Look, that doesn’t matter, what matters is the healing and summoning powers you gave, those are things you can control.” Ben said.
    “So, we need to figure out all that you can summon. Summoners are very, it is a variety. It says here that the types of summoners are material, such as clothing, metal, plastic etcetera. There is also natural summoners, who can summon things like, flowers, dirt, water, air, fire-“
    “The four kingdoms.” Celeste interrupted nodding; Ben gave her a sideways look before looking back on the website. “Summoners that can summon living things such as mammals, reptiles, insects, bacteria...Some summoners and warp things, like having the ability to make hair grow or—“
    “No way, I can make my hair grow!” Celeste exclaimed before standing up and shouting. “Grow!” Nothing happened. Ben gave her a bored look before turning back to the website to read more about the different summoners. Celeste put her hands together on either side of her Mohawk. “C’mon C, you can do this.” She mumbled before running her hands up and whispering, “Grow.” It came out as a hollow whisper that honestly scared Celeste. Her hands kept going up, higher and higher until she had to stop because she could not go any farther.
    Ben turned around to see what she was doing and to judge Celeste, instead, his jaw dropped when he saw extra feet of hair on Celeste’s hair flop over her face and past her shoulders. He looked back at his laptop, then at her again. “Holy heaven!” Celeste exclaimed as she looked in the mirror that was inside Ben’s closet. “Whoa...” She played with her now shoulder length hair. She tried to run her fingers through it, but seeing, as it was still insanely kinky, her fingers got stuck. “How’d you do that?” Ben asked, regaining his voice. Celeste just shrugged and looked at Ben. “I dunno, I just said grow...It was just like when I summoned light in the bathroom. I just...did.” Ben nodded before turning back to his laptop. “How do I tell Asher?” Celeste asked, more to herself than Ben.
    Celeste decided not to stay during dinner. She “borrowed” Ben’s hat and walked home. She lived six blocks away. Ben did not bother offering her a ride home; he knew she needed a walk. Walks alone are great every once in a while. Helps a person think. Clear their mind, and that’s exactly what Celeste needed at this very moment.
     As she rounded the corner that lead to her block, Celeste noticed two dark figures off in the corner of her eye. Seeing dark suspicious characters at night wasn’t unusual in Quinteria. Celeste just made sure to keep her head high and her eyes forward. Staring at strangers was a guaranteed way to get stabbed. Or shot. Maybe both. Celeste could not help but feel uneasy as the two strangers began walking behind her, matching their footsteps with hers. She sped up. They did too. Celeste decided to cross the street. So did the strangers.
    Then she ran. Normally, Celeste would’ve kept her cool, but not today. She ran as fast as she could, perhaps even faster than that, running up the steps to her house and busted inside. Asher and Eros were sitting on the floor playing cards and eating applesauce. They both looked up at her; Asher stood up quickly and cupped her face in his hands. “Celeste! What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He asked quickly. Celeste pulled away and looked behind her, breathing heavily. She saw no one. She closed the door and turned to face her uncle. “I have to tell you something.” She said. Asher saw the seriousness in her face and gave Eros a look. “No, h-he can stay, I don’t care.” Celeste said. Asher and Eros sat on the couch.
    Celeste sucked in a deep breath before taking Bens hat off. “You...put in weave? Cel, I don’t care what you do with your hair. It’s your hair, besides, you’re 17-“Asher began but Celeste interrupted him. “No, I’m not wearing weave. This is my real hair.” She said. Asher and Eros looked at each other briefly. “No, I’m serious. T-the stone-“
    “I know.” Asher said. “Wait, you know?” Celeste asked. “Yeah, well, I didn’t know about the, your hair, but I did know that, you may be...different. T-the doctor showed us your blood tests and it showed that you have special blood.” Asher explained. Celeste glanced down at her hand. “I- look, if you wanna drop out of school, I understand. This is a lot.”
    “I don’t wanna drop out of school.” Celeste said back. “I just, there’s plenty of specials who go to school.”
    “I know, but you’re a, special, kind of special. Others, their born with their powers. You weren’t.”  Asher said. “I still wanna go to school.” Celeste said, crossing her arms. Asher nodded. “Alright. Okay, fine. That’s fine...” Celeste nodded before turning and going up the stairs to her room.
    She fell fast asleep that night.