The Secret Six

by Evie Del Mar

  “How’s it going?” someone asked behind me. I didn’t need to see to recognize the deep, alluring voice. I turned around and saw Cole stop a few feet behind me, take his shoes off, and join me on the shoreline.

  “I’m never going to get this.” I sighed and waited to see if he had any encouraging words, but instead, he chuckled. Thinking he was laughing at me, I abruptly spun to face him, finding him to be only inches away from me.

  I became a bit annoyed. “Are you laughing at me? What’s so funny?”

  He didn’t say a word, but pointed his eyes downward.

  I followed his gaze and nearly jumped back. The water around my feet had grown outward, creating a ring, which kept my feet dry. I moved from side to side, thinking this was some sort of a fluke, but no matter which way I moved, the ring followed the direction of my feet. My eyes grew huge.

  “Oh, my gosh! I did this?” I could hardly believe it. I looked back up and met Cole’s eyes. He was giving me the sexiest smile I had ever seen on any male. Without even thinking, I threw my arms around his neck, enveloping him in a huge hug.

  “I did it!” I shrieked.

  He was stunned at first at my sudden embrace, but then enclosed his arms around my waist. I couldn’t help but feel a sudden overwhelming feeling of comfort. My heart rate increased as warmth spread on my hips, where his hands were. I sighed involuntarily.

  As quickly as the feeling came, realization hit. I was in the arms of Cole, and my arms were wrapped around his neck. I slowly unwound my arms and brought them behind my back, my face giving away my embarrassment.

  “I am so sorry,” I said softly.

  Cole simply chuckled. “I should be the one apologizing.”

  “Why?”

  “I apparently broke your concentration,” he said. He shifted his eyes back to the ground. I followed his gaze and saw that the ring that I previously made around my feet had disappeared, leaving my feet submerged under the water.

  “Aw, dang it. I don’t even know how I managed to form a ring earlier to be able try it again.”

  “Well, how did you manage to make the water fountain in my dad’s office explode?”

  “You heard about that?” I asked guiltily, looking away. I couldn’t let him see how ashamed I truly felt about my little “tantrum” in Tony’s office. He took a finger and placed it under my chin, forcing my head to turn toward him. He looked deeply into my eyes, all former joking gone.

  “Never feel embarrassed for something you can’t control, especially when it comes to your powers. We’ve all been where you are, so there’s never any judgment here.”

  I couldn’t seem to find my voice or form a coherent thought, only focusing on the closeness of our faces and the fact that his fingers hadn’t moved from my chin. I could almost feel the electricity between our bodies, a vibrant current flowing between us. All I could do was nod my head.

  “Ok, so tell me what happened right before the water erupted,” he said as he dropped his hand from my chin, leaving a chill behind.

  I cleared my throat to try and regain my voice. “Tony had just finished telling me the story of how The Secret Six came to be and how my mother was a part of the previous group. He continued saying that my mother was captured and that was how she met my father, who was a member of The Brotherhood.”

  Cole’s eyes grew wide. “Woah, I didn’t know that part.”

  “Yeah, me neither,” I sarcastically laughed. “So, then he mentioned something about it being my destiny to master my powers, help find the key, and to continue my mother’s legacy. It just all got to be too much, so I just snapped and yelled. That’s when the fountain exploded.”

  Cole put his finger to his chin, nodding his head in deep thought. “What happened right before I came up to you, when you formed your water ring?”

  I turned my head out toward the horizon. “I was trying to make a wave grow in size and got frustrated when nothing happened.”

  “And so when you got frustrated, you stomped your foot, which formed the water ring,” he smiled. “Your powers are tied to your emotions, so you’ll have to channel your emotions to control your powers.”

  “Well, that helps a ton. How the heck am I supposed to do that?”

  “Don’t worry about it, it’ll come. The same thing happened to me.”

  I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s true,” he laughed. “When I was five, I wanted a cookie, but my dad said no because it was almost time for dinner. Apparently, I didn’t like that answer. I started crying and yelled at my dad with so much force that it blasted him across the room and right into the wall.”

  I scoffed at him, crossing my arms. “You were only five, that’s understandable.”

  “True, but my powers were still tied to my emotions, so I had to learn how to separate the two.” He cupped my chin once more, gaining my full attention “We’ve all been there and will help you. I will help you.”

  At his touch, my heart accelerated. “Thank you for being so patient. I appreciate it,” I whispered. My knees felt like they were about to give out any second.

  He gave me his sexy grin in response. “Of course.”

  We both continued standing there, neither one daring to move, when we heard a scream, causing us to jump.

  “Ugh, Blake!” We both turned around to see Blair shoving her brother, who was bent over laughing at her.

  “Come on, let’s go see what all the commotion is about.” Cole turned to lead the way.

  I laughed awkwardly and followed him, wishing I knew what this connection between us was, and if he felt the same electricity as I did when we were close. Was it normal to have such strong and intense feelings for someone after only twenty-four hours of meeting them?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  As Cole and I approached the twins, Blair was walking around with her arms outstretched, feeling her way around rather than seeing.

  “Blake, give me my sight back!” she screamed.

  “Is she ok?” I asked Cole, concerned.

  “Yeah, she’s fine,” he laughed. “Blake is just having a little bit of fun with her. He’s probably getting her back for almost blinding him yesterday.”

  I suddenly remembered what Tony had said about Blake being able to control shadows. I turned my attention to him, expecting to see either a flick of his hand, or wrist, or even a wave of his arms. Instead, he simply stood there looking at Blair, laughing. I was definitely curious about how he was able to manipulate his powers without moving any part of his body.

  “I want to get a closer look at how he uses his powers,” I said eagerly. “Maybe he can use them on me.”

  Cole abruptly stopped walking and grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop. I turned to him. “Blake’s powers are a little different than the rest of ours,” he warned. “His can come across a bit scary.”

  “You’re joking.” I raised one eyebrow. “I mean, look at him. There’s no way he can be scary.”

  Cole continued his serious stare, and let out a deep sigh. “Just remember that you’ll be ok, and I’ll be right next to you.”

  The way he said that made the hair on my arm stand. Could Blake really be that terrifying? I was starting to second-guess myself and thought that maybe someone else should be the guinea pig, but I had to figure out my abilities. Getting familiar with everyone else’s seemed like the best way to start.

  “Thank you, Cole, but I have to do this. Knowing how everyone else has mastered their powers might help me understand mine better.” He gave me a warm smile and held his arm out, letting me go first.

  When we got closer to Blair, she finally had her arms down, seeming to be able to see again. “Are you ok?” I asked her.

  She rolled her eyes, glowering at her brother. “Yes. Blake had his fun getting back at me from my little joke yesterday.”

  Blake was laughing with so much force, he was hunched over with his hands on his knees. “Hey, you had it coming, sis,” he said as he wiped away tears from his
eyes.

  “Do you mind showing me your powers?” I asked Blake.

  He stopped laughing almost immediately. He put an arm behind his head and rubbed the back of his neck, uncomfortably. “Uh, yeah, sure. Just promise not to get freaked out,” he smiled hesitantly. He looked behind me. I turned and followed his gaze, seeing Cole standing anxiously. He gave Blake a slight nod of his head.

  Blake positioned himself in front of me, his face serious and tense. He had his legs apart and his hands by his side, staring me dead in the eyes. The eye contact was spellbinding, I felt like I couldn’t move my body. Something happened with his eyes, like they were getting bigger. No, the darkness in his irises was growing, overtaking his entire eyes. As they grew, black clouds formed around my peripheral and made their way to the middle, until my vision was gone. I was in complete darkness.

  I started to panic a little. I turned my head back and forth, as if that would bring my sight back. “Um, I can’t see a thing,” I said warily. Now I understood why Cole was so hesitant about Blake showing me his ability and why Blair had her arms out in front of her. It was one thing to hear about it and another thing to witness it first hand.

  Warm hands rested on my shoulders, startling me. “Remember what I said,” Cole gently whispered in my ear. “I’m right here next to you.” I began to relax at his soothing words. “All right, Blake. Melody gets the picture,” he said a little louder.

  The blackness began to disappear, starting from the inside and flowing backward. When the dark clouds were gone, I blinked a few times to try and clear the blurriness. Blake was still standing where he was before, but gone was the serious stare as he relaxed.

  “I’m sorry if I scared you,” he said. “It’s different when you’re doing it jokingly with your sister, compared to someone who’s never witnessed it before.”

  I now understood why the twins had such dark eyes. “That was incredible!” I laughed breathlessly. “That must really come in handy when fighting against someone.”

  Blake stood up a little straighter and raised a brow. “There’s more, but we’ll need to get closer to the academy first.” Cole and I followed him as he led the way toward the backdoor. Right before we stepped onto the walkway, he turned around to stop us, telling me to keep my eyes on him.

  I watched as he stepped into the shadow casted by the academy’s awning, the darkness swallowing him up. He turned around and crossed his arms over each other, creating an “X” across his chest. Before I could blink, shadows enveloped him and he disappeared from view.

  I stood there with my mouth open, amazed. “Blake?” I called out to the last place I saw him.

  “Psst, Melody,” he answered eerily. I jumped at the sound of his voice, not sure where it came from. A foot came out of the shadows and stepped onto the grass, followed by a leg, and then the rest of Blake.

  “Remind me to never upset you,” I joked. “So, how did you know you could do that?”

  “It’s actually quite funny, except when you ask Blair about the event,” he laughed. “We were about six years old, playing hide-and-seek outside and it was my turn to hide. I ran and hid behind a tree, but what I didn’t notice was that the sun was beginning to set and that I was actually hiding in the tree’s shadow. Blair came to the exact spot where I was hiding, literally looked me in the eyes, but couldn’t see me. It wasn’t until she gave up that I came out of the shadow, nearly scaring her to death.”

  “Aw, poor Blair,” I chuckled. “What about the thing you do with your eyes?”

  He looked down, almost embarrassed. “There was this kid at our school that would bully us. He would tease Blair and me about our light hair and dark eyes, calling us ‘weirdos’ or ‘losers’. I tried to ignore it, but Blair had a harder time.” His expression grew serious. “There was one day she came home crying, wishing it would just stop. I hated seeing her cry, so I knew I had to do something. The next day, I approached the boy that was teasing us, and told him to stop. Of course, he just laughed at me and that made me even madder. I didn’t realize what was happening until the boy started crying out saying that he couldn’t see. Blair grabbed me by the arm and we ran out of the school and went straight home.”

  I was so engrossed with Blake’s story, I hadn’t realized Blair approached us until she walked up to her brother, giving him a hug. The sweet gesture made me wish I had a sibling who would do something like that for me.

  “We may bicker a lot, but we’ve got each other’s backs,” Blair said lovingly.

  “So, if you don’t mind me asking, Blair, how did you learn that you could manipulate light?” I asked curiously.

  “We already knew about Blake’s abilities, so we weren’t too surprised when we figured out mine. Blake and I were playing outside one evening, trying to catch fireflies. I jumped up and caught one in my hands and ran over to show Blake. When I opened my palms, I noticed that when the firefly flew away, a tiny little ball of light stayed in its place. Blake tried to pick it up but his fingers would just go through the tiny ball. He couldn’t touch it like I could.” She laughed as she glanced at her brother.

  “I quickly learned I wasn’t able to create light when I accidentally dropped the little ball and watched as it died out. I wasn’t able to re-create it. I’m only able to manipulate light by ‘borrowing’ it from another source. Once I capture the essence, I can do whatever I please with it.”

  “Hey, what’s everyone doing?” someone shouted from behind me. We all turned around to see Drake and Lily approaching.

  “Everyone’s been telling me how they found out about their powers. I still can’t believe I never knew about mine growing up,” I sighed, although now I knew why Mom never let me go to the aquarium or the beach.

  “I’ll go next!” Drake suggested. I was about to tell him to start his story, when everyone started chuckling. “Ha, ha, ha. Yes, we know my story is funny,” Drake sneered.

  I looked at everyone laughing, and I couldn’t help but join in. “What, did you almost start a fire on a date?” I challenged.

  Drake put a finger to his chin, thinking out loud, “No, but that would’ve been hot,” he winked.

  I rolled my eyes. “Of course it would.”

  “No, what happened was I was lying in my bed one evening, listening to music with my earphones in. I was snapping to the rhythm of a song when I started smelling smoke. I took my earphones out, thinking I would hear our alarms going off, or my parents yelling ‘fire’, or something, but didn’t hear anything. I figured my mom might’ve just burned dinner,” he shrugged.

  “I put my earphones back in and continued listening to music, snapping away. The next thing I noticed was smoke coming out of the fingertips I was using to snap. I tried wiping away the smoke with my other hand, but didn’t realize the movement caused a little friction. Instead of smoke, flames erupted from each fingertip. Completely freaked out, I jumped off of my bed, but in the process I touched my pants. They caught fire and instantly incinerated. So, now I was wearing only boxers and my legs were covered with soot. In a panic, I threw open my door to head to the bathroom faucet, hoping to put out the fingertip flames. What I didn’t know was that my parents had company over, and one of the ladies also had to use the bathroom. I almost ran straight into her, half naked and covered with ash. I quickly made my hands into fists and hid them behind my back so she wouldn’t see the fire. She gave me a one eyebrow raised look, shook her head, and went into the bathroom.”

  As soon as he finished, everyone began laughing, harder this time. I found myself covering my mouth, trying to contain the laugh threatening to burst out. I looked at Drake apologetically, not wanting him to think I was making fun of him. “Go ahead, laugh it off.”

  I turned toward Lily, still chuckling. “Is yours as humorous as Drake’s?”

  “No, and it’s not as exciting as the twins', but it's still one of my favorite memories,” she said smiling. “I always knew I loved plants and everything to do with nature, even before I knew wha
t I could do. I was about seven years old, working in the garden with my mother, when I noticed a rose on one of the bushes had wilted away. I was so heartbroken by the sight that I cupped the dying flower into my palms, praying it would perk back up. As if on command, the flower came back to life, once again becoming a beautiful red rose.”

  “That’s so sweet!” I exclaimed. “How did you find out that you could actually move branches and trees at will?”

  “Oh, that was easy! I was dancing in my backyard when I noticed the branches following my arm movements. I started playing with the branches like I was conducting an orchestra,” she giggled, remembering the memory. She waved her hands everywhere, acting out her dance and directing her imaginary orchestra, making us all laugh once more.

  Being surrounded by these people, laughing and actually having a good time, made me think back to high school and all the times I felt excluded. I always knew deep down that I was different than my fellow classmates, and no one could relate to me. I had no friends and was sometimes made fun of. I never felt a sense of belonging, until now. I looked at the faces of the people who had welcomed me with open arms, no questions asked.

  Once all the laughter died down, I made my way back to the shoreline, sat myself down in the sand, and stared at the vast sea. I thought about all the times I came home to my parents in tears, crying about how no one sat next to me at lunch because I was so different. I told my mom that something must be wrong with me, and of course, she knew exactly what I was talking about. A part of me was crushed that all of the hurt could’ve been avoided if she had just told me the truth. I could’ve met people, with elemental powers just like me, years before.

  I heard the sound of the sand scuffling behind me as someone was coming closer. Cole stopped next to me and sat down.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” he asked.