HOUSE OF FIRE

Chapter 11

     Arousing Sunday morning, I glance around my surroundings strangely before letting loose a sigh when I remember where I am. Rolling to my side, I contemplate on what to do today.

      I have no one to hang out with since the twins are in England. And I know absolutely no one else here. Well, except Devon. But he doesn’t count.

     Releasing a whine, I sit up and stare at the time on my alarm. It reads 7:30 am, and now I'm wondering why the hell I woke up so early. The house isn’t soundproof so I overhear as Eva moves around downstairs, deciding to hop into the shower I have a quick wash before dressing up in cut-off shorts, my black fingerless gloves, and a loose pink top. Heading downstairs my stomach grumbles in hunger, and I wonder what would be good to eat.

      As soon as my feet touch the last stair, I see Eva sitting on a couch in the living room, her nose buried in an old-looking book, and I stroll closer in curiosity. “What is it you’re reading?” 

     She must not have observed my approaching presence because my voice seemed to startle the crap out of her and she lets out a small scream in surprise, her bare hand raised to send a bolt of lightning from the centre of her palm towards my head. I have no idea if all the quick reflexes I’d attained during my karate and jujitsu classes when I was young were what pushed me to duck or it was just pure luck on my part, but I’m thankful either way.

     Neither she nor I moved for a couple of minutes, our eyes wide in shock as our brains slowly registered what just happened. The strong smell of burnt wood hits me hard and I slowly turn my head to see there’s a large, melted hole in the wall. 

      Being the first between the two of us to recover, she bolts off the couch and grabs my shoulders with an apologetic expression. “Are you okay?” 
   
    Pulling away cautiously, my eyes stay trained on the hole for a couple of minutes before I respond. “Yeah… sure… ye-yeah sure.” 

     “I’m so sorry I did that to you, I didn’t mean to I swear. I usually have my gloves on but I forgot to wear them this morning and I was just so startled that it slipped out.”

      “Right,” I nod, swallowing nervously. “Remind me to never scare you ever again.” I heave out a humourless chuckle.

       She leads me towards the couch and I look down to stare at the tattoo on her hands. It mesmerizes me the second I saw it, it’s electric blue and a lot larger than every other elemental out there. I included. 2 large lightning bolts are carved on the sides of her hands, starting from her wrists all the down to her elbows, and both ends of the bolts are connected to the other through a white line.

      On her wrist, the pointy top of the bolts is connected by another white line to form 3 circular rings around her wrist that has a white line flowing up to connect to a circular, white ball in the middle of her palm where I’m sure her powers came out from. Hers is more intricate than the one’s I’ve seen and rather than an ordinary tattoo, they look more like a beautiful blue scarification tattoo. 
  
    “Am really so sorry, I still have a bit of a problem controlling my powers.” 

     Really, it wasn’t obvious.
  
     “It's fine.” I swallow dryly and pick up the book that had fallen to the floor.

     Tilting my head curiously, I study it. It’s bound with a thick kind of leather strap and though the pages are worn out and they smell a little stale, the ink is still very visible. I turn the book over in my hands and read the Latin words on the peeling hardcover. “The Genetics of Elemental’s.” 
   
     The book is snatched from my hand before I could even ask what it is about and I glance up in surprise to see how pale she’s gotten. “You read Lat-Latin?” 
  
     “Uhh, yeah, my mother made it her mission to get me to learn and speak at least, 6 different languages before she died. Latin was one of them.” 
  
      “Oh,” she blinks, surprised for a moment, before biting down on her lip in hesitation. “you aren’t going to tell anyone am reading this right, if anyone finds out I stole a copy before it was destroyed-”