by Regan Claire
“But Dad…” Cash started, before a look from his father kept him from completing his sentence. I knew something wasn’t being said. Perhaps two somethings.
“What aren’t you telling me? I know you’re hiding something.” I would have waited to ask Cash about whatever it was, but I was sick of my uncle withholding things from me. If Cash hadn’t spilled the beans about the Clades earlier, I don’t know that I would have recognized the threat until it was too late.
“I’m not…”
“Don’t give me that! You are absolutely keeping things from me. I’m not a child! Connor, please just tell me what’s on your mind.” If it had been a few months previous, or even a few weeks, I never would have asked outright. I would have forgotten it, convinced that finding out my answers would cause more trouble than it was worth. But I was changing. Della 2.0 cared about things enough to ask about them.
“Dad, if you don’t tell her what you’re thinking right now, I will. At least what I think you’re thinking.”
“Okay, okay. Della, do you know anything about your father?” Connor asked, defeated.
“No, not really. Well, there was this letter in the safety-deposit box, and a picture in the bag with my armlet, but I don’t know that it was from my father. What does he have to do with anything, anyway?” I still wore the armlet constantly; I even had a tan line from it.
“Well, what you were telling us, about running out of elements and still being able to Gather. You shouldn’t be able to do that from those things. It probably means that your father has his own abilities, and that it’s possible that there are more things you are capable of that we don’t know about.”
“Oh. Wouldn’t you guys have an idea of who he was? Aunt Ellis, you said that you two were best friends. Wouldn’t she have told you about him?” I thought best friends always gushed about the guys they were with.
“No, honey. But your granddaddy was really hard on her, so she would have kept a secret like that close to her chest. For a little while I did think she had a beau, but before I had a chance to ask her about it, it seemed that it had already run its course. I didn’t know who it was or anything; she just seemed like a woman in love. Cash was about two already, so I didn’t make the time I should have for her. Then one day she was just gone. No note, just some missing suitcases.” All these years later and Aunt Ellis still sounded surprised by my mom’s disappearance.
“There’s something else, too, Della. Last night, while you were Tempering, did you leave your Shield down?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
“I don’t want you to worry too much since it was probably a coincidence, but the Clade shouldn’t have been able to sense you with your Shield up.”
“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 conversa
tion 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.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
January 10th, 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 Anis
e 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.”