Gathering Water (14 page)

“So it
was
after me?” The thought of the Big-Bad Clade being after
me
was terrifying.

“We don’t know that for sure, and that’s why I wasn’t going to say anything until I found out. You could have been the first person he saw, or they could have been spying on the family and your being alone was just too much temptation to pass up. I don’t think you were being targeted, personally.” His words made me feel a fraction better. Just a fraction. Because even if I wasn’t the specific target, there were still people out there spying and/or trying to harm my family.

It’s amazing how easily that slips from my tongue now: My Family.

“So now that we’ve established that Della is probably a mutt, and that the Clades are possibly watching our every move, what do we do now?” Leave it to Cash to sum it up so well.

“I’ll get more information this afternoon, but until then I’d like for you two to stick together and be on high alert. Stay sound-side, too, preferably here or at your house, Della, since there are more protections in place.”

“I’ve already called the other families in the area, so everyone is prepared in case something happens,” my aunt added, though I didn’t really know what other families she would have contacted.

“Nice to see that phone tree in action. Did you call Uncle Luke?” Cash asked before I could even think of him.

“It’s no business of his, Cash,” came a voice from behind me, causing me to jump clean out of my chair and push out my Shield to protect the table before I even thought about it.

“Is this the one?” came that same voice from the shadows by the hallway that led into the kitchen. No joke, he was in the shadows, so it’s no wonder I started Gathering and amping up my Shields. My Uncle and Aunt both stood up as well, Connor putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Della, it’s all right. That’s your grandfather. Dad, why don’t you come over here and introduce yourself to Gabby’s little girl?” He sat back down as his father finally moved into the light.

Instantly I could see the family resemblance. He had the grey eyes of all the Neale men, and was tall and slender like his son and grandson. His eyes didn’t have the kindness of Luke’s and Connor’s though, and were missing the mischievous glint of Cash’s. Instead, his eyes were guarded. He only took a few steps before stopping.

“This is a strange welcome. I’m not going to hurt you, so you can drop the Shield.”

But I didn’t want to drop the Shield; I didn’t want this man anywhere near me. Intellectually I knew that I would have to face him one day. Face the man who let me rot in an uncaring system when I could have had a home. In fact, I was angrier with him than ever. Now I knew exactly the type of home I could have had, growing up with Cash and having Connor and Ellis for guardians. It would have been a happy life, one that I was denied by the grumpy looking man standing in front of me with pursed lips and a posture so stiff I was just sure there was a large stick hanging out his back end. Reluctantly, I brought my Shield back down around me like a second skin, comforted by the protection it offered.

I sat back down at the table, stomping Cash’s bare foot when I realized he was silently laughing at me. I was being rude, but didn’t care in the least.

“Dad, I don’t think this is the best time.”

“It’s a perfect time, Connor. You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on this girl…” He couldn’t even say my name.

“Excuse me? My name is Della. D-E-L-L-A. I understand if that’s too much to remember. After all, I’m the grandchild you conveniently forgot about for over a decade. Don’t you even want to know if I’m all right? I was
attacked
last night.”

“I have eyes in my head still. I can see that you’re perfectly fine. Now, if you’re through with the theatrics, we have more important things to discuss, like how my son could have let a Clade onto the island for the first time in three generations.” The cold-hearted bastard.

“Discuss away. I’ve got things to do.” I got up from the table and couldn’t get to the front door fast enough.

Cash bounced up next to me, hopping on one foot to put his last shoe on. “We’re supposed to stick together, remember? Where we going?”

“My place. I’m behind schedule because of all the lessons. Need to finish painting the trim and put another coat of wax on the floor before moving the furniture back in. I want to be done by this weekend.” I really just needed some busy work to distract myself.

“Your mom’s memorial is this weekend, too. You didn’t forget, did you?” Cash asked.

“No, I didn’t. Doesn’t change the fact that I want to be finished with the place by then.”

“Cool. Look, Della, Granddad really isn’t so bad once you get to know him. I mean, sure he’s a little bit of a jerk sometimes. Look what he’s done to Luke. But, he’s also really protective of the family. So…”

“Cash, it’s sweet and everything for you to stick up for him, but I couldn’t care less if I never saw the man again. Some things just can’t be forgiven, and his ignoring me for most of my life is one of those things.”

“I guess I see where you’re coming from. It was pretty bad growing up, wasn’t it?” The tone of his voice made me slow my speed walking pace. I looked over at him to see if he’d overheard my brief conversation with Dove the night before, but he wouldn’t make eye contact with me. I guess I had my answer.

“Yes. It was,” I said, directing my gaze forward again.

“Look, I can’t say I know what it was like, or anything. But you know I’m here for you, if you ever want to talk or whatever,” he offered awkwardly.

“Thanks.” This was turning out to be the most uncomfortable conversation we’d ever had, and I’m including the time I took a lantern to him and nearly ruined his chances at future procreation. Thank goodness we had just reached my house.

“No problem. I’m going to call Luke, let him know what’s been going on. Don’t want him to be caught with his pants down in case something happens. I’ll be in to help in a minute, ‘kay?”

“Okay. Ask him if we still have a lesson planned for today.” I was supposed to be working with Connor this morning and Luke this evening, but had a feeling my morning lesson had been canceled due to extenuating circumstances. I went inside and was already halfway through putting up the blue tape for painting when Cash finally came back in from his phone call.

“Luke’s on his way over to help out.”

“That’s not necessary,” I told him.

“You can tell him that when he gets here. He’s worried about you, wants to make sure you’re okay.”

“Fine, whatever,” I said in response.

“You’re in a great mood today. Almost dying really agrees with you.” I couldn’t
NOT
smile at the heavy sarcasm in his voice.

“Are you going to help, or just stand there like a doofus?” I asked as I walked over to the corner where all the painting supplies were and struggled to open the can of Polar-Bear White paint I had set aside for all the trim work.

“I’m rubber, you’re glue…”

“Gosh, you are so mature Cash.”

“Says the person who uses the term ‘doofus’.”

“My bad, I meant butt-muncher.” I threw a dry paintbrush at him.

“Oh no, my poor feelings. I think I’ll go have a good cry.” But we both dissolved into easy laughter, our childish banter being exactly what I needed to get out of my own head.

“Are you having some difficulty opening that, Della?” Cash nodded his head at the paint can I was still trying to pry open.

“No, I can do it.”

“I know you can. But it will probably be a lot easier if you remembered a little thing called ‘Tempering’. It’s this really cool ability that you have that can make you
stronger
.” Oops. I’d forgotten.

“Shut up,” I sweetly told him, while following his not-so-subtle reminder by Tempering a little earth. My enhanced strength did make the job a lot easier, and I decided to keep the Temper up and paint with it. It kept my arm from feeling the burn, and I was able to move much faster. Thinking back on it, this was probably why Cash was able to help out so much, so quickly. Cheater.

“I see your abilities are finally becoming second nature,” Luke said after using his quiet ninja steps to walk in on Cash and me without detection. Or maybe just me since I was the only one who jumped at his voice.

“I wish. Cash had to remind me.”

“Hey, Uncle Luke,” Cash waved with his paintbrush, dropping paint onto the old sheets we’d used to protect the floor with.

“Well, you’ll get it. Cash filled me in on what happened last night. How are you?” He came to stand next to me. Even on a stepladder I was still only at eye-level with him.

“I’m fine now, thanks to Dove.”

“That kid has an exceptional talent. Lucky that he and Cash were so close.”

“I’ll be closer from now on. But Uncle Luke, she was totally badass! I mean, we weren’t close enough to get a really good look at what was going, but man, I’ve never seen that much power being used in a battle before. And the colors!”

“I didn’t realize you were Tempering last night. What did it look like?” I don’t know if it was a morbid curiousity, or a regular one, but I was definitely interested in knowing what my altercation looked like.

“Like, at first you could see the Clade’s energy, all blues and dark greens with the corrupted tarnished silver all over it, and it was just banging down on your Shield. Looked like a big copper sphere, you must have been using all four elements in it. And then the Clade’s colors started getting sharper and the sphere smaller until I could barely tell where it was. But BANG!” he emphasized by punching his hand, “a dash of green, blue, then yellow really fast but it didn’t stop the Clade. I could see his swirly mass, we were getting closer, and your Shield was all the way gone. I was freaking out pretty bad ‘cause I thought that meant you were dead, and then all of a sudden KAPOW! you like hammered him with all this power, it was whiter than silver, but not just white, like platinum, and then shwewwwww off he flew into the distance. And then we were there, and you looked really friggin' terrible. I mean really terrible.” His face lost the animated edge it had while he was describing the fight and blanched at the memory of my bloodied self. “So, that’s what it looked like.” And he casually went back to painting while Luke and I just stared at him.

“He does have a certain way with words, doesn’t he?” Luke said quietly to me, and it was true. It was certainly a “way” with words.

Luke had on his ‘painting clothes’ as he called them, and with his help, and the help of a little Earth, we were able to finish the last of the painting before afternoon hit, two coats and all.

January 10
th
, 1969

Dear Journal,

I’ve finally eked out the time to write down how the Testing went. The journey to the Elfennol outpost was, as always, grueling. The Neales have the benefit of Tempering for strength and endurance, and I envy them for it. Of course, I’m sure that Mark is saying the same thing about our ability to Bend the water to speed our own progress. I had so much trouble that morning convincing Anise that she needn’t bring anything with her, but she insisted on taking along one of the new dresses she received for Christmas this year. Of course, the bag was lost on the journey there, but I suppose that’s what happens when you don’t listen to the advice of your elders. Both children, though they aren’t really children any longer but young adults, were clearly impressed by the Elfennol they got to meet. I’ve never seen T stand straighter, and Anise would not be quiet about the jewels they always wrap themselves in. Of course, they have practical reasons for wearing them whereas Anise does not.

The testing itself went fine. Both performed most of their tasks, though I could tell that T was most upset at being unable to complete a few. Anise made me proud as she answered their barrage of questions with grace and honesty. They made her blush, a few times, and I could tell by the way she pressed her lips together that they made her angry several times as well, but I heard no outburst. Well, I saw no outburst, since one of the final tasks for them both was to create a Shield that let in no sound to surround the council and themselves. If they
had failed, they would have had to answer all questions in front of every person at the outpost. I’m glad she was saved from that embarrassment. I know firsthand what that is like.

“Della, I know that you were wanting to wax up the floors today, too. We’ll get to that, but I want to talk to you, to both of you, about your offensive and defensive abilities.”

“Haven’t you already been doing that? Cash and I have been battling during our lessons together.”

“Well, you’ve been slinging power at each other, and working on blocking it. That type of exercise is really just working on your Shielding, and thank goodness we started on that first. I don’t want to think about what could have happened last night if you hadn’t had that practice. No, you can be a lot more effective with your abilities while using less power. Now, I’d rather Connor were here, since his Deare blood gives him the advantage in Bending. I’m not much good at it.”

I’d learned that the Neale family was best at Tempering, and the Deares at Bending. Or it used to be that way, before Anise and Toby mixed the blood.

“I’ve only been waiting for this my whole life! When do we start?” Cash seemed really excited to learn more combative moves.

“Slow down, tiger. You’ll be doing a lot of listening before you get to try anything out. Some of this I only know about, can’t really show you. But Connor has his hands full right now and I guess anything I can tell you might help.” Luke led us outside to sit on my new patio furniture, probably because they were the only seats that I currently had at the house.

“Okay, this bit I know that Cash already knows: when you Bend an element, you can do more than just use a huge force of it, or use Air to blow things at people. You can create things out of the element, and use those things in your attack. Almost like weapons made out of the element. They are especially great at getting through the personal Shields of the Clades and Elfennol. Not that you’ll be fighting any Elfennol,” he told us. The way it stood, I could create a stream of water, or a fire ball, or make the ground stick up to trip someone. Bending Wind seemed most effective to me, since I could make another object attack.

“Did my dad tell you about the Shielding she can do on other things? Not just herself?”

“Yes, he did. I’ve tried practicing it myself a few times since. It’s tricky, but could be damn useful in a fight.”

“Luke, do you know how to do it? Make the Element objects?” I asked him, eager to know something that could help protect me further.

“I’m assuming it’s just focusing the energy, not the physical embodiment of the element, mind you, just its energy, into a shape that you want. Anise would make things that looked like darts, or large needles. I suppose you can use the physical element as well, but I think the energy itself is more effective. Not much good at it, myself, but you two shouldn’t have a problem.”

“I think the Clade must have been doing something like that last night. But he was using his energy to stab AND push at me. Like, doing both, I guess. Luke, he was so powerful! How are we supposed to fight more than one of those guys?” It just seemed so unfair!

“Well, you certainly aren’t supposed to be fighting alone. And, you have only learned to defend yourself so far, not fight back. You got lucky last night,” Luke responded.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” I was well aware of how lucky I was. My ribs were still a touch achy, and that was after a night’s worth of Dove’s magic healing me up.

“I wanted to go over that first since I can’t show it to you. Now, about Shielding: there’s more than one way you can use it. Right now both of you have been using the Elemental energy, instead of its physical aspect, to Shield. You naturally do the opposite of what you do while Bending. Now, usually I’d say keep it to the Energy-only-shield, but sometimes making them physical can be real handy. If you use Earth,” he created an Earth Shield around his hand as a quick example, “and build it up, it’ll block everything that you’ve Shielded from view. Which can be good in a battle, especially since you’ll be trying to Shield as many people as possible to hide your numbers.”

“Battle? Like an honest-to-goodness battle?” All I could think of was the battles in Lord of the Rings. That
so
did
not
look fun.

“Yeah, Dad said there hasn’t been one in a while, but we’re supposed to train for it just in case and our main job is to Shield as large an area as possible to protect the Elfennol who are fighting. Oh, and strategy. Or something.” He shrugged a shoulder, unfazed by the thought of a battle.

“That’s right, Cash, though you might want to pay better attention to the ‘or something’ next time Connor is telling you about it.” Luke ruffled Cash’s hair, making my cousin look like a little boy with the gesture. “The fun stuff comes from Shielding with the other elements. Fire, Air, and Water are all very mobile. Physically Shield with them, and it doesn’t only protect you, but it can double up as an offensive ability if your enemies come close. If it’s strong enough, you could just Shield with a swirling mass of wind and water, basically become a hurricane, and walk into a mass of enemies and do some serious damage.” He couldn’t keep the smile out of his voice at the thought. “I don’t suggest you do that, exactly, but it’s nice to know you can. Be careful though, because that type of shield affects everything it comes in contact with. You might end up hurting your allies along with you enemies. Now, we just discovered that you can Shield objects that are away from you. Imagine if you Shielded your enemy with Fire. You could burn them up. Shield them the right way with Air, and you could suffocate the-”

“Llewellyn mentioned being able to do that, suck away the air from someone, but Connor hasn’t told us how yet.”

“He’s told me. It’s easy,” Cash added in. ‘You just Gather from their lungs, then Bend all the air around them away. Just clear it all out. I haven’t done both steps together, but Dad has let me do them each separately a few times.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” I forgot sometimes that Cash had been having lessons far longer than me. I wondered what else he knew that I didn’t. Probably a lot.

“Well, I haven’t had a chance to test that yet, not had to fight anyone in a while,” Luke gave a little smirk, “but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Wish I’d thought of it during the war.” I’d only known he’d fought in Vietnam because Cash told me, but this was the first time that I heard Luke say anything about it and he sounded… excited. Cash
did
mention that the family rumor-mill said that Luke thrived on danger when he was younger.

“Well, it’s sounds really… effective,” I added, a little taken aback by Luke’s sudden bloodthirsty tone.

“I can’t wait to try it out.” Cash looked eager for a fight. I’d had my fill, but had a feeling that the universe didn’t agree.

“Ok, now for this last bit let’s go downstairs. I’m gonna teach you how to fight.” Luke’s words got me excited for all of two seconds before Cash’s phone rang on our way down the stairs.

“It’s Dad,” he told us as he answered. About thirty seconds of conversation later, he was off the phone and telling me we had to head back to the house ASAP.

“Uncle Luke, Dad said he’s heard back from the Elfennol. Says we need to get home, like now. Mind giving us a ride back?”

“You two can just take my truck back. I can get a ride back home no problem. Della, I’ll finish cleaning up those paintbrushes for you, and lock up. Just bring my truck to me tomorrow, both of you, so we can go over Earth Tempering a little more, and I’ll show you the best ways to use it.” Then he shooed us off.

Cash took the stairs two at a time and drove the quarter mile back to his house so quickly I was getting worried. His dad must have sounded really urgent on the phone for Cash to be in such a hurry, because he jogged to the door and into the house once we pulled into the driveway. I was right behind him when he walked into the kitchen, where Conner and Ellis were standing by the sink waiting for us.

“Dad, what’s happening? Is everything okay? What’d they say?”

“Well, they didn’t have too much to say about the Clade getting through. They set up a time for the testing, though.”

“Is that all? We knew that was happening soon.” Cash seemed unfazed by the news.

Connor shook his head. “No, not for you. Or, not just for you. They want Della. Insisted upon seeing and testing her. You two will be going tomorrow at dawn.”