Elemental Control

 

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Chapter 1

 

Groaning, Concepta wakes up to her alarm clock blaring. She fumbles for it for a bit before finally hitting the snooze button and sitting up. Reluctantly, the dirty blonde pulls herself out from under her cozy red comforter, climbs down her bunk beds ladder, and heads over to her closet to get ready. She reaches into her decent sized closet and pulls out a plain black t-shirt and a pair of capris. Standing in front of her closet, she starts getting dressed. Her parrot, Blaze, squawks in his cage that was set up next to her and she chuckled. “Don’t worry Blaze, I’ll feed you before I head downstairs.” She promises him. As she goes to pull on her shirt, she looks at herself in the small mirror on the closet door, which is reflecting the vanity mirror behind her. Her eyes flicker over the long scar down her back and she bites her lip. She never knew exactly how she received the scar, only what her adoptive parents had told her. They said that when she was still a baby, her birth parents had gotten in a car wreck with her in the back. Her parents died, but she managed to escape with a scar going from her right shoulder, down her back, and then ending at her left hip. Sighing, she quickly finished getting dressed.

Once she was done getting ready and after she had fed her parrot, Concepta headed downstairs to her new family’s kitchen. She greeted her mom with a smile as she sat down.

“Morning mom, what’s for breakfast?” she asked as she made sure all her stuff was ready in her bag. Mrs. Parnell walked over with a plate and smiled.

“Morning Connie. Bacon and pancakes this morning. Ready for your last day of school?” she asked her daughter. Concepta nods as she pulls the plate closer and begins eating. “Good. Did you pack for your trip with Aunt Felicia and Uncle Adrian?” she questions, going back to work on breakfast for her and her husband.

“Yeah, I did.” Concepta responded between bites. “So did Tena, Alois, and Michael.” She finished. Mrs. Parnell pours pancake batter onto a skillet and it sizzles for a moment and she looks over her shoulder at Concepta.

“Concepta, I have a question for you. Are you sure you want to go to the Nordic countries? You hate the cold, and well, all those countries are very cold.” Her mom says worriedly. Concepta paused her eating for a second and turned in the chair to look at her.

“Of course I want to go. It’s a trip with Felicia, Adrian, and my best friends. Why would I ever turn that down? Plus, it’s a chance to get closer to Felicia and Adrian. I’ve only met them a few times and they seem really cool and I want to get to know them better. I can deal with the cold for this. I’ll be fine, I promise.” She says. Mrs. Parnell nods and smiles.

“Alright, as long as you’ll be alright dear. I just want what’s best for you.” She tells her daughter. Concepta gets up and hugs her.

“Mom, you and Dad have done…more than enough for me. You’re the only family I’ve ever known and I wouldn’t want it any other way.” She whispered, her head on her mom’s shoulder. Mrs. Parnell hugged her back.

“We love you so much honey. We’d do anything for you.” She said and ruffled her daughter’s hair. “Now, hurry up and go or you’ll be late. Again!” she exclaimed and Concepta hurried over, grabbed her bag, and slipped on a pair of brown sandals. She kissed her mom’s cheek before running out the front door.

“Bye mom, love you!” she yelled as she ran down the driveway to the sidewalk. Mrs. Parnell waved out the window before going back to cooking breakfast.

Halfway to school, Concepta slowed down to a walk. She looked around as she did, realizing how hot the morning was. Sure, it was summer, but mornings had never been that hot before. The sun wasn’t even completely up yet. Shaking her head, Concepta continued going, watching the objects on the ground. There was a pile of leaves ahead of her and once she got to them, she stopped and stared, as if some unknown force had made her. Concepta wanted to keep going but she just kept staring until suddenly they began to smoke and catch fire. Concepta jumped back, startled, and then quickly stomped them out. There’s got to be an explanation for that. Probably just a cigarette…yeah, a cigarette. She thought, her heart pounding and her throat suddenly dry. She reached back and pulled her plastic water bottle from her backpack and went to take off the cap but the plastic began melting in her hand and the water ran through her fingers. Concepta dropped the bottle and looked down at her hands to see flames that seemed to be tattooed to her skin.

What’s going on with me? This is impossible, people can catch things on fire with their minds or melt plastic with their hands. And I’ve never gotten a tattoo in my life. Let alone two on each palm. She thought frantically, her eyes wide in panic. She looked down again to see the flames gone and now the day had cooled down greatly. Concepta ran a hand through her dirty blonde hair and her honey brown eyes glanced around, making sure no one had seen her before quickly grabbing her melted water bottle and kicking the leaves into a gutter. She shoved the plastic into her back pack and zipped it up. Quickly she checked the time on her watch and read that it was seven thirty. Her eyes widen again when she saw that she only had ten minutes to get to school. Concepta forgot everything that had just happened and took off running down the sidewalk towards school, knowing though, that she would have to figure everything out later.

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Chapter 2

Michael slid into his seat just as the bell rang. Madame Bonne, the French teacher, entered the classroom.

            “Good morning class!” She greeted in French, followed by a chorus of hellos from the students. Madame Bonne began to talk to the class about next year since everyone would be seniors and the senior class would be taking a trip to France. Michael jotted down some notes about the trip so he could give it to his dad when he got home before he left on his trip with his friends for the summer. Madame Bonne passed out the permission slips and some papers that would explain what they would be doing there and what cities they would visit. Once she had finished passing out the papers, she handed out crossword puzzles. Michael looked it over and saw that he had to write down the English word of a French word then find that word in the puzzle. Grabbing his pencil, he set to work.

            About twenty minutes into class, his phone buzzed. Thankfully, Madame Bonne was okay with phones in her class as long as everyone was still working and not just messing around and in return the class complied. Michael pulled out his phone from his pocket and set it on the desk, then glanced who the message was from. It was from his friend Concepta Parnell and from the fact that she was texting him from her algebra class, he could tell this was important. Last time she did this, it was when she found her dad had lost his arm during the service. Michael shook his blonde hair from his vision and opened the text. His gunmetal blue eyes scanned the message.

            “Hey, Michael. You, Tena, Alois, and I need to talk big time before we go on the trip tomorrow. – Connie” He read silently to himself. Almost immediately he grew nervous and he became extremely thirsty. Quickly, he grabbed his metal water bottle and raised his hand as thoughts raced through his mind.

            What if she can’t go on the trip? What if something happened to her dad? Oh man, I hope she’s o-

            Michael was pulled from his thoughts when his teacher called on him.

            “Yes Chacone?” Madame Bonne asked, her accented voice filling the quiet classroom.

            “Madame Bonne, may I fill up my bottle again? It’s empty….” He asked sheepishly. Madame Bonne nods but squints at him.

            “Yes, you may and while you’re at it, wash off your face, there’s blue paint or something all over it. I don’t know how I missed it when I came in.” she remarked. Michael nods and headed out of the classroom with his water bottle. He walked down the hall, thinking to himself, and twisting the cap off of his water bottle as he approached the water fountain.

            Michael set his cap on the fountains back and used his right hand to hold the button down and his left to hold his bottle up to catch the water. Once it was filled he released the button and grabbed the cap, twisting it on tightly. However, he noticed the water was still flowing even though he had let go of the button. Michael pressed it again but the water flowed even faster and higher. The blonde stepped back, confused and frustrated.

            “Ugh, just stop already!” he groaned and balled his hands into fists. Suddenly, as if by magic the water stopped flowing immediately. Michael looked at the fountain, his mouth hanging open slightly as he became even more confused. He shook his head, his blonde bangs falling into his eyes, figuring it was just the machine acting up, and he headed to the restroom, remembering that Madame Bonne had mentioned something about blue paint on his face.

            Michael checked the boy’s restroom as soon as he entered to make sure it was empty before going over to the large mirror on the wall. He leaned against a sink once he saw his face. Across his cheeks and forehead were ocean blue swirls that seemed to be moving across his skin, almost like magic tattoos. With slight distress, he quickly grabbed a paper towel, got it wet, and scrubbed his face to try to remove the mysterious swirls. He looked up into the mirror again and saw the swirls had not been removed, they hadn’t even faded at all. Michael threw the paper towel away and thought for a moment before getting an idea. He thought that maybe, just maybe, telling them to stop might work. Like with what had happened back at the water fountain. The blonde took a deep breath and shut his eyes.

            “Go away!” he commanded, keeping his eyes shut. After a few seconds he opened his eyes slowly to see the glimpse of the ocean blue swirls fading from his skin. Grinning in triumph yet shaking his head in confusion, he grabbed his water bottle and head back to class.

            Madame Bonne looked over at him when he entered the room, obviously expecting some kind of explanation for why he was gone for so long.

            “Sorry Madame Bonne. The blue…paint wouldn’t come off easily and the boys bathroom was out of soap so I had to go down to the science hallway’s bathroom to get some.” He said, hoping she would accept his apology even though most of it was a lie. Madame Bonne nodded slowly.

            “Very well, Chacone. I’ll let this one slide since it’s the last day of school. But if I find out you were with Parnell, Garrett, or Stanley, I’ll make you go on the trip and give you loads of French homework to do while we’re there having fun. Now please, sit down sir.” She told him and went back to her own work. Michael nodded and walked back to his seat, his face burning at the small lashing he received from his teacher. Once he sat down, he grabbed his phone and texted the others.

            “You guys, something weird happened to me today, I’ll tell you about it when we meet up to find out Concepta’s problem. – Mikey” Once the message had sent, he slipped his phone back into his backpack and went back to work, waiting for the bell.

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