Argent Eye II

4

The next day, I was woken by a lot of noise downstairs. It took me a while to gather my bearings, having been sleeping in my bed at home for the last few months, however when I realised where I was, I could hear Andy's voice downstairs. He was talking to a woman- I presumed his mum- and could tell there were a lot of bags being moved in.

I'd almost forgotten what happened last night until I looked in the mirror and noticed that my eye was glowing. The silver one, anyway. This hadn't happened in a long time- the last time I woke up with it was the night I went back to the student halls after the whole Haydn incident. At the time, I thought it was a reminder that it was over. I wasn't entirely sure why it was glowing now, but luckily it wasn't too difficult to get it to return back to normal.

I got dressed and made my way downstairs for breakfast, bumping into Andy as I did so.

"Hey, Andy." I smiled.

"Hey, Millie!" He exclaimed. "Long time no see. How's it going?"

"Good thanks." I said. "And you?"

"Not too bad. My mum's just gone back home, so I guess I'll be spending the rest of the day unpacking."

"Fun." I smiled, putting the kettle on and some bread in the toaster as Andy returned upstairs.

"Morning, Mills." Jake said, coming into the kitchen. "How was your training last night?" He hushed his voice a little.

I smiled. "Not too bad, thanks." I said, not really wanting to burden Jake with my issues. Besides, it could be nothing. Maybe I was just tired yesterday, or my body was just adjusting to being away from home again.

"Learn anything new?" He asked, turning the hob on under his frying pan before he went to retrieve some eggs.

"Nah, not this time." I said, being honest that time. My toast popped up, and so I proceeded to spread butter and jam on it, before taking a bite. "I did wake up with a glowing eye, though."

Jake looked at me. "Come again?"

"Sometimes this eye-" I pointed to my grey eye, "- likes to decide to start glowing randomly."

"I mean, I guess there are worse things to wake up to, right?" He chuckled.

I shrugged. "I suppose so."

"Me and Tom are headed into London to go get some art supplies if you fancy joining us?"

"Yeah, that'd be good." I said, having no plans for today. "Let me know when you're going."

"Will do."

__________

I walked with Jake and Tom as they led me to their usual art supplies shop- I'd never been, and couldn't say where we actually were, but I wasn't so keen on the idea of walking through here alone at night. Even if I did have elemental powers.

We walked into a building, but this wasn't the shop- the shop was down a flight of stairs, which were painted over with all kinds of graffiti. Then, it opened into a warehouse-basement kind of setup. First, we passed the big pieces of wood and various tools, but then Jake and Tom led me through to the arty bit, with canvases and sketchbooks and all the art materials you could ask for.

"Alright, Jamie." Jake said, and Tom nodded towards the guy behind the counter, who then nodded back. Clearly Jake and Tom came here a lot, and knew the guy. I just smiled, a little awkward, before immersing myself in the sketch pad isle. One thing I'd learned from my artsy hobby was that one could never own too many sketchbooks.

I could hear Jake and Tom muttering over the other side of the room, when Jamie, the guy at the counter, said something.

"Sorry?" I asked, and looked up. My breath caught in my throat, and for a second I couldn't breathe.

It's not him. It's not him. He's dead, remember? D. E. A. D.

The man behind the counter bore Haydn's face, but it wasn't him. Couldn't be him. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, and then when I opened them, Jamie's face was back with a concerned look. "Are you okay? Can I help you?" He asked.

I suddenly felt very hot and flustered. "I, uh, I'm okay." I said, but found that my feet were taking my body outside before I had a chance to say anything else.

I welcomed the slight coolness in the air, although there wasn't much- the weather was still quite humid. Without actually manifesting the ice physically, I summoned it and channelled it through my body to try and cool me down. It felt nice, like I'd jumped into a pool of water without actually getting wet, and so I sighed. My breath left a cloud of cold as I did so, the opposite of what happens in the winter when you breathe.

Jake and Tom came out then, carrying bags full of art stuff. "There she is." Tom said- I guess they were looking for me.

"Are you okay?" Jake asked, concerned. "Jamie down there said you didn't look so good."

I nodded. "Yeah, I needed some air. I'm okay now, though." I assured them. Tom bought it, although I could tell Jake would be asking me about it later.

I hoped he wouldn't.

__________

The rest of the day flew by, and because I didn't leave the house, I had no more encounters with the imaginary Haydn. Maybe I would just stay at home all the time- then there was no chance of me running into him. Not that it was him. I had to keep telling myself this.

Perhaps after tomorrow, things would start settling back to how they were- I started university again, meaning I'd be able to see my friends more and keep myself busy. Maybe I was just feeling homesick, and putting Haydn back in Greenwich was my brain's way of telling me to go back home again.

Or maybe Ronan was right, and this whole time Haydn had been wedged in my thoughts, blocking me from accessing the metal he'd given me. I mean, that was the other thing I didn't understand- Haydn had given me fire, air and water as well as metal, so why were those elements not making such a fuss? Why did my brain have to make things so difficult? It was times like this when you realised how truly powerful the mind can be, and how dangerous.

Andy cooked us all a moving in meal- chicken stir fry. Of course, nobody declined it as we all realised we hadn't gone food shopping and nobody really had any proper food in the house except Andy, who was organised like that. Our social evening took my mind off Haydn for a while, and tired me enough to take an early night.

I just hoped that Haydn wasn't here to stay.

__________