Gifts of the Living Phoenix

Chapter 10

The Shocking Heartache

Faith had felt a little bad about leaving Dante after their dinner together.  He had really been so sweet about helping her with her research and she felt like she should repay him in some way.  Little feelings of guilt crept into her heart and she was dismayed to understand why she felt the way she did about the twins and Dante.  It was clear that they didn’t like one another.  What that reason was, Faith didn’t know.  She meant to ask Everett about it the next time they were alone, but they were seldom alone.  Most times they were with the whole group, or Edric was there too. 

            It’s not that she couldn’t ask these same questions in front of Edric, but quiet as he was, she knew Edric was much more emotional than Everett.  Everett was loud, but he was much more reserved about his emotions and feelings.  That’s what had surprised her so much about the kiss in the infirmary.  Faith brought her fingers to her lips, remember his lips on hers.  She wondered if she would find occasion to kiss Everett again.  Wait, kiss Everett?  Since when did she want to kiss Everett??  Oh no, it was happening… they were all getting hormonal…. Oh boy.

            The gang had found some interesting reading material regarding the Living Phoenix that they wanted to try out.  The manual had actually been brought to Melody by name.  She swore she had no idea who sent it, but everyone felt she was holding back information and knew more than she was telling. 

            “Ok Faith, it says that all you have to do is get outside and feel your warmth to actually display it,” said Melody instructively.

            “Um…yeah… not that I don’t have confidence in Faith here, but how about we do this near the lake? Just in case we need water?”  suggested Edric.

            “Yeah, I agree with Edric,” said Everett, we certainly don’t want to set something on fire, or destroy anything in the process.”

            “I’m probably not going to be able to do anything in the beginning guys, but sure, let’s take precautions,” Faith said optimistically.

Faith could be just as optimistic as the rest of them.  

Up at the lake, her friends all sat down on the blanket they brought with them while Faith stepped closer to the edge of the lake.

            “Feel the heat inside,” shouted Melody.

            “Yeah, sure, but shut up for a minute, I don’t even know what I’m doing!”  Faith countered.

Dante had been keeping a close eye on Faith these days.  He had seen the group go up to the lake and decided they all looked like a bunch of kids on a mission.  He wanted to be there in case something should happen to Faith.

            “Wait, is this the first gift?”  inquired Faith.

            “Dunno, it doesn’t really say, but I’m assuming it is since it’s listed first?” said Melody.

            “Wait, does that matter?” Melody continued.

            “Nah, probably not,” Faith responded.

            “oh MY GOD, ladies!  Please!  Stop talking! Faith, just concentrate,”  said Everett.

Dante chuckled as he watched the scene before him.

Faith glared at Everett before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.  She counted backwards from 10, feeling a calm come over her. 

            “Think of heat, fire, warmth” whispered Melody, not too quietly.

Faith opened one eye to look at Melody as if telling her to shut up.

Faith felt warmth billowing up inside her, then she felt a warm wind surround her before it quickly swooshed out of her and on to her hands.  It wasn’t fire coming out of her fingertips as she had joked with Jacob, it was actually coming through her palms.  She held her open palms up and looked down to see a small flickering of fire resting in her hands.  She heard her friends gasp in unison as she brought fire, out of nothing.  It was slightly warm, and didn’t hurt at all to hold.

            “Oh my god, that was brilliant!!” gushed Edric.

            “Holy cow…. so this means …you really are the Living Phoenix?” gasped Everett.

Only Melody seemed to not be surprised and looked at Faith with quiet admiration. She knew that her job had just gotten infinitely harder.  She would have to find out where the Living Phoenix’s guardians were.  She had been told there were guardians.  Oh boy, and here she thought she had been sent to just be a simple bodyguard.

            Suddenly everyone seemed to have confirmed knowledge of Faith being the Living Phoenix.  The council for the three different realms were bustling with discussions about how they would best be utilizing the Living Phoenix.  Talking as if she was not a living 16 year old being and instead just a weapon or tool.  Colton, Faith’s father had opposed any immediate pleas for Faith to be removed from Unity School and brought back home.  All of the sudden Undines and elves felt that the other factions could not be trusted and that shapeshifters would try and kidnap Faith for their own cause. 

What ‘other’ cause did the shapeshifters suddenly have he wondered.  Colton tried to calm everyone down as best as he could.  He felt that they were just jumping to conclusions when no one really knew the magnitude of Faith’s powers, or what she might be capable of. 

            Colton had therefore, not anticipated any danger and never thought someone would come after him to get at Faith.  He stared in disbelief at the dagger that was protruding out of his chest.  Unable to fathom that he was going to be losing his senses, he fell to the floor slowly, crashing into an endless black pool of death.  It was the first assassination of its kind in hundreds of years.

 (FUNERAL AFTER THE ASSASSINATION)

   The sun shone brightly through the light gray clouds but the day was as cold as any mid-winter morning.  Faith looked back to see the crowd of people disperse away from one another and move toward their transports.  She sighed one last time, glancing to look back at where the body of her father, the tribal leader of the Undines would forever be marked.  Good bye Father, she thought, I’ll miss you. 

Faith walked off the grass towards the pebble path that was lined with different modes of transportation.    She searched through the sporadic groups of people for her mother’s face to find that her mother had been watching her.  These days she seemed to always be looking at her and not so much at Hope. 

Her mother looked tired today.  Or was she lost in thought?  She actually looked better than she had the past few days when she first got the shocking news of his death.  Her father had been an elf yet he was the tribal leader of the Undines due to his marriage to her mother. She wasn’t sure who was going to be the new tribal leader, or how that would work.  If she had been in a union, there could have been  justification for her spouse to become the tribal leader, but she wasn’t even engaged yet.   She knew that her father had once hinted about her ties to the Black Twins but he never really clarified her need to choose between Everett or Edric.  That discussion seemed like so long ago.

How quickly time flies she thought.  She was just getting ready to finish her first year of Unity School when her father’s death was discovered.  She wanted to go back to school in the next few days but knew that she couldn’t suddenly leave after the funeral.  She would stay a few more days so that she could help her mother settle a few things before she left.  That would be the right thing to do, the daughterly thing to do.  Faith hadn’t seen Hope as she knew her sister had been too distraught to even come to the funeral.  Somehow Hope admitted to her that she had foreseen this.  That she knew it was going to happen in about a year.  And that year had passed too quickly.  Knowing the eventuality of an event didn’t help you when it actually happened.  Knowing about the coming end didn’t lessen the pain. 

Hope knew that her father was going to die, but actually losing him made the pit of her stomach ache leaving her feeling sick.  No more talks with her father.  He was no longer with her.  And he wouldn’t be waiting for her on the tattered green couch, waiting for her to have their daily talks.  It seemed like too long ago already since they shared a conversation on that tattered couch.  That horrible couch her father refused to get rid of.  It was his couch.   Funny the things you think of when someone is gone.  Things that are so inconsequential and never really mattered at all…

Faith flinched momentarily as she thought about her father.  The memory of his sudden departure still fresh in her mind.  She would have to remind herself that there hadn’t been tortured or in pain and that he was in a better place.  Yes, she thought, that’s what I have to remember.

“Faith, ready to go?”  her mother asked, “It’s time to leave. Hope will be waiting for us at home.”

“Yes, I’m good.  We can leave,” Faith sighed. 

She sat herself next to her mother in the carriage.  Closing her eyes, she hoped her mother wouldn’t try to make conversation with her on the way to the house.  She was trying to brace herself against the mountains of condolences she would receive, the number of embraces she would have to endure, all for the sake of making her feel better over the passing of her father. 

“It will be over soon enough,” her mother said quietly grabbing her hand, “then we’ll be alone again.”

Her mother was right.  They would be alone in the world, just the three of them.  Faith looked over at her mother and wondered how she would cope.  Now that she no longer had to take care of her father and one daughter, it was only the two of them at home.  In a couple of years, she would be alone when Hope went to school.   She frowned as she thought about her mother.  She would be going off to school in a couple of days, but what would her mother do when the reality of her loss came at her?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” my mother asks.

“No reason, you look tired is all,” Faith lied.

“I am tired,” my mother agreed, “but we are almost done with all of this.”

It’s almost a bizarre tradition, the sharing of food post-funeral service.  A morbid thing really if you think about it.  Getting together with people you know well and not so well, sharing food with them as you reminisce about the person who just died. 

Why did we still do this?  My mother and I did not really eat anything that afternoon. The smells wafting together did not seem to complement each other and actually made me feel just a little bit worse.  We wanted to get through the meal and clean up after the guests.  I think Mother was truly exhausted at the end of the day.

“How is your mother holding up?” my aunt asked.  Aunt Karlina was mother’s cousin.  But I still called her “Emo,” the Undine equivalent of aunt and sister to my mother on her side of the family. 

“She seems to be ok,” Faith mused, “I think she’s ok.”

“I think she needs a vacation,” my Emo declared, a little too loudly for the rest of the people in the room who had been conversing with their heads lowered as if in secret.

“I dunno Emo, I don’t think that’s really on the top of her list right now.”

“Yes, you’re right,” my Emo said sighing, “But I don’t want her getting all depressed and hiding out in the house like she’s the one who died.”

Faith was too tired to be shocked at what her aunt had said.  She was notorious for being more outspoken than she needed to be.  She was almost like her mother, but with all attributes kicked up just a notch.  While she normally loved her aunt, today, Faith just wanted to go back to bed and hide under the covers.

“Ok kid, get out of here. I think people will understand if you get out of here,” my Emo said.  “No one expects you to stay here the whole time.  Scoot!”