8 Chapter 6

It’s my third day in the academy and after the whole weird episode with Rae’s family yesterday, she drove me back to Steven’s place and I stayed locked in my room for the entire day.

Didn’t even come down for dinner because I wanted to avoid any awkwardness between me and Dana.

Waking up this morning, I was relieved when it came to my attention Dana wouldn’t be having breakfast with us, unfortunately, Steven announced he’d suddenly come into contact with a trusted psychiatrist whose a friend of the family and he went as far as to schedule me an appointment. Today. Without even asking first.

She’s the last-minute result and he didn’t want to lose her, apparently finding a trustworthy therapist in our society is that hard.

Which now leads us to this moment, Steven and I standing before an old grey door waiting for the occupant on the other side to answer after he just knocked twice. As if reading my thoughts, the door is drawn open to reveal a rather voluptuous young beauty, her raven hair is up in an elegant but messy bun, and her porcelain skin is alight with small dust of make-up.

Her forest green eyes come alive at the sight of Steven and with a squeal, she attacks the large man in a hug.

“Steven it’s so great to see you!” Brows raised in interest, I watch as his face takes on a fond but annoyed smile. I know he said she’s a family friend but I didn’t expect this level of intimacy.

“Have you finally come to confess your undying love to me!”

Well, this just took an interesting turn.

“No,” He rolls his eyes, managing to pry her hands off despite her reluctance to let go. “But I am here for the appointment I’d set up with you.”

“Oh right,” Her mouth forms into a pout. “I forgot about that.”

“Course you did.” Ruffling her hair playfully, he takes a step closer to me and releases her completely. “Amelia, I want you to meet my daughter Coral, your appointment.”

Steven rests a hand on my back gently to push me forward and she turns to me with interest. We study each other for a minute before she decides to speak up and break the silence between us. “So, you’re Steven’s love child.”

“Please, don’t refer to me like that, ever.”

“Of course, sorry if I upset you.” She smiles. Taking a step back to allow us passage into her apartment, she says. “Well, why don’t you two come in and then we can talk over tea.”

She closes the door behind us as soon as we walk in. Pushing her way between Steven and me, she disappears within the house and I look around to study the living room with a critical eye. Amelia’s apartment is just as exuberant as she is, with bright colours and antic furniture’s and trinkets scattered attractively in a hazard mess all over the place.

With a white tray, she steps out through a curtain of beads obscuring the entrance into what I presume to be the kitchen and settles down on a light green leather armchair before Steven and me. She settles the tray on a glass table between us and gently hands the both of us a steaming cup. “So Coral,” Amelia breaks the silence once again. “Did you know I’m your aunt?”

I pause for a slight second to make sure I heard her correctly and then frown when it became clear she was being serious. “Excuse me?”

Glancing at Steven, I see he has an irritated expression on his face.

He didn’t plan on elaborating on how close the “family” part is with Amelia, but I should probably get over how surprised I feel when I find out that everyone I’m meeting related to me.

“Yeah I am,” She leans forward with her hand to her mouth and whispers as if sharing a secret. “I’m your step-mother’s little sister and I’m hating it.” She groans dramatically. “But if it weren’t for your mother being out of the picture and my sister marrying your father then I wouldn’t have met-”

“Amelia!” Steven growls in outrage, his eyes turning a fiery blaze of red as he glared at her. Staring at Steven, I see he seems to be having an internal battle raging within himself and one look at his hand had me pulling my eyes away immediately.

“Oh calm down, I was just trying to confirm something., she says, her inquisitive gaze resting on me.

Did she do that on purpose!

Following her gaze, I’m not sure what Steven saw on my face but he calms down immediately and glares at my so-called aunt in irritation. “Can’t you ever be serious?”

“Now where's the fun in that.” She smiles teasingly, her green eyes alight with amusement.

Staring between the both of them I somehow can guess Amelia takes pleasure in pushing certain buttons just to irritate Steven… or is it just people in general. Turning back to me, the amusement on her face drops and it's soon replaced with seriousness.

“Steven here already told me the reason why you need therapy Coral, but I was hoping you and I can converse somewhere more private. I know you probably don’t want to do this but it would be for own good.”

“Wait a minute,” He shifts, frowning as he waves his hands to indicate around the living room. “Why can’t you do it here?”

“Because I don’t need you present while we talk, and I’m sure Coral here would appreciate the privacy.” She inclines her head towards me and I nod in agreement, I do not want to have this therapy session in his presence.

I don’t care how hurt he looks or how much that makes me feel guilty, not happening. Standing to her feet she raises a hand in my direction and smile. “Come on Coral, let’s go talk in my study.”

I ignore the hand and get to my feet, and with a shrug, she moves ahead of me. I follow through the curtain of beads as we walked past her kitchen and head down a dark hall, slipping inside what appears to be a study.

“So,” She starts, while I ponder on how she managed to look effortlessly gorgeous and professional in a baggy yellow shirt with cut-off jean shorts and flip-flops. She settles a round frame glass on her nose and a chart board on her lap. Folding her hands over her crossed legs, she lets out a soft sigh. “Where do you want to start today’s session?”

“Anywhere that doesn’t touch the main stuff.”

“You do know that in other for me to help, you have to talk about your past and the reasons for your panic attack at some point, right?”

I offer her an indifferent shrug. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t delay that topic of discussion for as long as I can.” I point out. “After all, I don’t know nor trust you enough to share personal information just yet.”

“Okay,” She surprisingly acquiesces. “I can deal with that. So, since you don't start heavy, how about we start light then.”

She removes her glasses and picks up the chart, putting them both aside she slides forward with a childlike grin. “When was your first kiss?”

~*~*~*~

Seated on the padded mat in nothing but yoga pants and a crop top, I wonder why Steven dragged me here after he drove back from Amelia’s. Staring around the room I wonder if taking yoga classes is part of students curriculum, the lights in the room are all turned off except for the multi-coloured led lights hanging in the middle of the ceiling.

It changes colours every couple seconds, and I lean back on my hands as I close my eyes to the soft, hypnotizing sound of the ocean coming from the speakers. The doors of the practice room open and Steven steps in a loose grey tank and black shorts, pulling off his shoes he walks across the room and draws closer and I rise to my feet. “Sorry if I kept you waiting.”

“Why are we here?” I ask, wanting to get straight to the point.

Smiling, he stands before me and lets out a long sigh, while settling both hands on his waist. “We’re here because starting today, I’m going to train you on your abilities.”

“Wait, what?” I stare at him in shock as he steps onto the long, purple mat I’m standing on and settles into a cross leg position. Looking up, he pats the padded mat expectantly, apparently waiting for me to follow suit. Staring at him as if he’s nuts, I start to say. “You know I can’t-”

“Don’t worry,” He cuts me off. “We won’t be using any powers. Not yet anyway.”

I don’t feel reassured, but decide to slowly settle down anyway. Keeping my eyes on him in suspicion, I waited for what he was going to do next and blink in surprise when he grabs both of my hands. I tried to draw them back immediately, uncomfortable with the sudden contact, but he tightens his hold with a soft squeeze.

“Coral, I know you're not comfortable with any of this. But I need you to trust me, this meditation class is set up specifically for fire elemental students. Their powers sometimes have a way of affecting their emotions, so at least twice in a week they must attend meditation classes to find a way to centre all their aggressiveness and release it.”

“Okay.” I nod, tilting my head when I ask. “Then, again, why are we here?”

“We’re here because we would be doing the exact opposite. We have to find a way to get you comfortable with your powers before the next two weeks passes and school officially resumes. Your panic attacks come from fear, and in other to deal with that fear you need to completely conquer it.”

“But how do we do that when I don’t even have my powers yet, I mean since getting my tattoo I haven’t conjured anything to even indicate that I’m an elemental?”

“It isn’t that you don’t have them yet, it’s that you haven’t found a way to awaken them yet. When young elemental’s first come into their powers, they are always taught how to slowly summon and awaken their powers before they can use them. With my help, you can awaken yours now.”

“And if we do, you know I can’t look at the sight of-”

“I know, which is why I have a backup plan.” I stare in puzzlement when he pulls out a blindfold from his shorts and leans away when he tries to place it over my face. “What did I ask you to do before?”

“Hmm, trust you.”

“Good, then instead of backing away.” He grasps my shoulders and draws me forward. “I need you to come forward.”

Placing the blindfold over my eyes, he once again takes hold of my hands. “Now what I want you to do is simple, I need you to close your eyes and stay focused. People easily get distracted when they meditate because their minds are restless, you don’t automatically feel calm just because you sit and meditate. I want you to let go of all your thoughts, even the one you're having now, and simply listen to the sound of my voice.”

“You know, this is starting to sound like hypnotism-”

“Coral hush up!" He snaps, his tone bordering on irritation. “When meditating there is only awareness or non-awareness, and you need to focus on one thing only. Your breathing. Pull yourself from your distracting thoughts, your mind should be centred of the in’s and out’s of your breathing, and the more you continue to do so the periods between awareness and distraction will get longer.”

I do as he instructed and try to clear my mind, focusing on the intake and release of my breathing I centre my mind on that alone and feel like a weight has been dropped off my shoulders.

Relaxing, I don’t even react even as I feel his hands slowly glide up to my wrist. He places a thumb upon my pulse and makes an approving noise beneath his throat. “This is good Coral, you're finally letting yourself be centred.”

Sliding his hands back to grasps my finger, he squeezes softly, as if reassuring me, before spreading them out. He draws both hands together and angles them so their cupped, and places his beneath my spread palms.

“Now I want you to imagine a string from your toes draw way up your spine to flow down to your hands, imagine this string is flowing with every intake and release of your breathing. Can you do that Coral?”

I nod rather than respond and imagine a white, glowing string. In my mind, it’s flowing slowly up my spine as blood flows through a drip into a syringe, all the way down to the hands placed upon his. I continue to imagine the string until suddenly, the picture becomes very clear in my head. My brain feels heavy, my nose tingling with every breath, and my heart pulsing at a steady pace. As the string flows upward, I swallow and tense up when the sudden feeling of something crawling up my skin flows with it, I immediately wanted to pull my hands away and feel my back just to make sure something silly crawling up my back.

But focus once again on the string in my mind, as it continues the trail up my spine so does the feeling until they way down to my hands. Suddenly my biceps burn but not in a painful way, and in my mind, I can see that one by one the connected knots of my tattoo is moving down my skin in a snake-like crawl.

I don’t know why Steven gasp and releases me, but I do not let his sudden reaction distract me. Like the string, they cry down to my hands and suddenly not just the skin of my biceps, but the skin of my palms start to burn.

Its almost as if Steven read my mind, because just when I was about to open and eyes and see what’s happening to my hands, he grasps them once again. “don’t stop what you're doing.” he commands, the sound of him swallowing audibly can be heard before he clears his throat. “now I want you to imagine that with every breathes you release, a small flame is building slowly in the middle of your hands.”

At the mention of fire, I immediately tense. The flashes from that night start to build up in my subconsciousness and the feeling of fear settles in the pit of my stomach. “stop,” Steven’s curt voice breaks through my thoughts. “I don’t want you to think about what fire represents in your mind, or the feeling it brings. I just want you to imagine the flame itself, remember your blindfolded and you can’t see it. And since you can’t see it, it won’t pull you into your nightmares okay.” he says softly and I slowly nod, swallowing despite the lump forming in my throat. “centre your thoughts once again on your breathing.”

I do as he instructed and focus on my breaths, trying my hardest not to let my thoughts fall on my nightmares. “now imagine that a small flame is growing in the middle of my hands. Imagine it growing from every breath, and every beat of your heart. Imagine it warming your skin as it flows through the strings flowing up your spine before slowly growing in the middle of your hands.”

I do as he instructed, a little shaken on the thought of fire growing between my hands, but remembering that I couldn’t see it. And thus, the illusion that it would harm me doesn’t exist. As I release each breath I imagine a small flame growing in my mind, it standout shaky and dies out at first but I try again. This time, it ignites and forms into a small bud. And with each breath, it slowly grows, almost as if one is blowing into a balloon, and as it grows in my mind my biceps burn along with my palms. The burn isn’t painful, but it feels just like it would when you put your hands close to the fire. The heat steams into my skin and makes it warm, and that warmth travels through every part of my body like the blood flowing in my veins, and it all flows back through the right atrium into my beating heart. And when it does something within me clicks, like a lock. My eyes fly open on its own accord as the burn on my bicep and palms grows with heat, my vision is encased in flames of red, and a wave of power flows through every part of my skin and causes a shiver to run up my spine.

In nothing less than a second the feeling immediately goes away and I let out a breath I didn’t even know I held, my body is tensed, heart racing and breathing coming out in pants. Looking down at my hands, I can’t help it when my eyes widen at the sight of the triquetra knot symbols imprinted in the centre of my palms. I raise both hands to see if they moved from my biceps but they haven’t, they are exactly where they were before, only now it seems I have four tattoos imprinted on my skin.

Raising my eyes to regard Steven in shock, I ask in bafflement. “what the hell just happened?”