“Hey, Andrea... Yes, we’re ready.”
Theo had barely put his phone back in the pocket of his jeans, when, suddenly, Andrea and Rufus appeared next to the picnic table.
“Argh!” exclaimed Neera, her pulse shooting up with the adrenaline. She got up and stood still, her eyes settling nervously on each of the men’s faces. “What the...”
Theo got up as well, and casually introduced them, “Neera, you remember Rufus, yeah?”
Rufus nodded and grinned, “Hey Nyr. Long time, no see!”
Neera, still petrified, managed to wave a stiff hand in Rufus’ direction.
“Rufus is a teleporter. He can move easily in a given world, and between worlds too.”
“Pretty cool, ah?” Rufus winked at her, a cocky grin on his lips.
Theo rolled his eyes.
“Neera, I believe you would like me to assess your abilities?” Andrea prompted her.
That shook Neera back into speech. “Y-yes, Andrea... Theo believes that I might have... potential?” She looked at him enquiringly.
Theo nodded in encouragement, then turned to Andrea. “Please, Andrea, when you’re ready.”
Andrea stepped away from the picnic table, gesturing for Neera to follow them. They took her in the middle of the parking lot, and positioned her in a spot. “Don’t move,” they said curtly.
Neera stood there, watching Andrea taking a few steps away. They closed their eyes, holding their hand in front of them palm-up, as if waiting for something to fall into it. Suddenly, purple sparks erupted from Andrea’s palm, and, much like with Theo the other night, a ball formed a few inches above, growing bigger by the second. Unlike Theo’s yellow fireball, Andrea’s etherball was a deep purple, but looked translucent at the same time.
Neera averted her gaze instinctively, and then wondered why. She turned her head to look at the etherball again, but found herself staring at the nearby trees. “What...” she started, but Andrea interrupted her.
“You cannot stare directly at the ether, its physical composition compels the human eye to look elsewhere. Close your eyes now.”
Puzzled and a little intrigued by this ether substance, she followed Andrea’s order and shut her eyes closed. The only sound was the chirping of birds.
As moments went by, Neera started to feel nervous. Had they already hurled the ball in her direction? Was she feeling nothing because she did not have magical potential? She found herself a bit disappointed at the thought, and, right after, stunned at the her disappointment.
Just as she was starting to believe nothing was going to happen, something punched her hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Surprised at the intensity of the punch, but not feeling any pain, she thrust her eyes open.
She was not standing on the ground anymore... was she floating in mid-air? She looked around her and verified she was still in the parking lot, but floating a few feet above the ground. There must have been a problem with her eyes, because everything – the fir trees, the fence, the three men, even the city far out – looked really blurry. She rubbed her eyes, but without success. Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. There were red, wavy strings floating from behind her head... She grabbed a bunch of them and felt a pull at the back of her head. Was that her hair?? She started to say, “What...?” but the sound of her voice came distorted. Then she saw them. Air bubbles coming out of her breathing nose and mouth. There can be no air bubbles in the air... Understanding dawning on her, she looked at her white T-shirt – it was floating strangely as well, sunrays dancing as if...
Panic seized her as she realised she was underwater.
She started kicking and waving her hands. “Help!” she shouted towards the others. Abruptly, the water bubble she was engulfed in burst, and with a splash she landed hard on her ass, on the ground of the parking lot. She was drenched, head to toe, and her hair clung to her face. Hyperventilating for the shock, she barely registered the strong pair of arms that lifted her and placed her down on top of the wooden table.
Theo was calling her name, “Nyr! Nyr, can you hear me? Nyr!...”
She focused her eyes on Theo’s face, who was moving wet strains of hair away from her face. Feebly, she nodded, and relief flooded his face. Then he grinned wide at her.
“Looks like someone has an affinity with water.”
Neera slowly pulled herself up and sat at the edge on the table, her feet resting on the bench. Theo sat down as well, on the bench, by her feet. Wringing her long damp hair on the grass, she nodded at Andrea, who, like Rufus, was standing in front of them, as though asking them to confirm what Theo had just asserted.
“You do; quite a strong one, at that. The response to the ether was intense... I have never witnessed such strength emanating from an untrained wielder,” Andrea said, their eyebrow cocked up. “By the way, I wanted to apologise for attacking you last night... I wasn’t expecting to see you; I wasn’t sure it could really be you.”
They then turned to Theo and excused themselves, “I’ll leave her with you then.” Andrea grabbed Rufus, who was still grinning amused, by the arm; in a flash, they were gone.
Comments (0)
See all