Pulling his arm back, he rolled his fist over his head, and opening his fingers he discharged the spark at me...then stopped. The spark danced on the palm of his hand.
“Make it a flame,” he said.
Relief filled my lungs and though the annoyance still lingered, I wanted to show off what André taught me. I stepped closer and gently blew from a few feet away.
Nathanael cupped his hand over the spark. “No Saydi, use your wind.”
Was he nuts? “I haven’t done that yet!”
The smile on his face encouraged me. “You can do it. Concentrate. Gauge the difference between the air you hold in your hand and your breath. Make the calculation.”
My comet tail rippled on the end of my hands, while I attempted to decipher the amount required without lighting the whole back yard and Nathanael on fire. Chewing on my lower lip, I looked to him.
He nodded once confidently.
With a small tap of my finger, a pinhead size drop of the Pue rolled over to his hand and grazed his palm, igniting the spark into a small flame. I jumped up and squealed, then quickly got control of myself.
He laughed. “Well done! Now make it bigger.”
It was exciting. It thrilled me being able to do it. Repeating my actions with a baseball-sized Pue, the flame grew to the size of a basketball hovering over his hand. “Good, now make it smaller.”
Shaking my head hard. “I don’t know how to yet. We’ve only done making it bigger.”
“What makes fire smaller?” he asked.
Shrugging. “I don’t know, less wood, less air.”
“Think, Saydi.”
“I don’t know!”
He glanced over to the pool.
“That would put it out.” I shook my head at his silliness.
He rolled his eyes. “Think. How many forest fires start because someone didn’t use enough water.”
“Ohh!” I smiled big. He shook his head at my daftness.
It was back to figuring out size versus amounts, looking from the pool to the fire, and back again. Then with the estimate firmly in my head, a half cup of water was commanded to leave the pool and when I turned...Nathanael shook his head. I slammed my hands to my side and the water splashed to the ground.
“Well, how much then?”
Not one word came from him. He waited.
Nathanael was being so patient with me while he held the world on his shoulders. And there I was, acting like a big baby, throwing my mini-temper tantrums.
I tried again, but only used a quarter cup, and when I turned around he was smiling. With a flip of my finger, the water rolled through the air and landed on the fire. It smoked and sputtered until it shriveled to the size of a baseball.
I grinned.
“Good,” he said proudly. “Now stop me from spreading it, but also stop what is here from burning my clothes.”
“Huh?”
“When we are in battle, we’ll be faced with fire that will spread quickly, but also with many of our allies unaware the fire is on them because they are concentrating on another battle. That means you have to stop it from spreading and protect the ones that may be unaware they’re stepping into it.”
“I don’t like this, Nathanael. I’ll burn you,” I worried.
“No, you won’t.” He laughed.
In the hope he would forget what he wanted me to do, I asked, “Why do you have your emotions guarded so I can’t feel you?”
“You should too. I’ve blocked yours from me as well.”
Wrinkling my nose at the disconnected feeling it gave me, I persisted. “Why, though?”
A smile went clear across his face—he knew what I was doing. “You have to learn to do this with your own donum and master it. Then and only then will we be able to bring our emotions into it. Besides, it’s much too dangerous.”
It was confusing. “Again, I ask why?”
“Because, our emotions will result in one or both of us losing concentration and that’s not something we can afford, not to mention it would be a death waiting to happen. So until those too are mastered, we need to be guarded from one another.”
I continued with my hundred questions, thinking it was working. “How do we master those?”
There was a suspicious amount of patience on his part. “We learn to feel each other’s battle moves by the way our hearts are beating, the quickness or slowness of our breath. Through that, we’ll be able to read what the other is going to do next. Basically, we need to strip away the actual feelings, forcing us to focus on the physical results of those feelings.” He grinned.
“Oh. I think...”
The flame erupted... It was an ambush that panicked me, then with a long deep breath it all slowed completely down. The whole yard came into view in the back of my mind. Nathanael was my focus. At my command, the Pue dove into the pool, folding droplets of water into its flow, then it pressed forward, maneuvering between Nathanael and the fire. Each time the flame reached for him, it sizzled, causing it to retreat—a solid shield of water was his protection. At the same time, small wisps of air from the water-carrying wind penetrated the fireball’s middle, rotating in a circle. The fire fed on it and the flame continuously turned inward on itself, unable to spread.
It was so exciting, it came out in a gush. “It’s the Pue! Nathanael, the Pue does all three! It feeds the fire, it shields the fire and it stops it from spreading! The water diminishes it! Nathanael, I did it!”
Clenching his fist, he doused the fire and ran his fingers through his hair. He spoke like he was somewhere else. “Yes. You’ve done very well.”
Moving toward him, I questioned, “Nathanael?”
His eyes cleared and he smiled a really big smile. “Do you know what you just did?” Taking two huge strides he took hold of my hands and kissed me hard.
When he released I had to take a deep breath. “Whoa! No...what did I just...do?”
Scooping me up, he twirled me in the air. “You did that all with your mind. Your eyes were on me the whole time and your arms didn’t move. Your wind wasn’t attached to anything...Saydi, you can do it with your mind!”
The excitement burst through the seams for both of us; it meant if I could focus that well, the Pyre wouldn’t know when I was going to do something. He placed me back on the ground and I covered my mouth while tears ran down my face. “We have a secret weapon.”
Kissing my lips gently, he agreed, “Yes we do.”
He turned around and with a wave of his hand, the water jumped into the fire pit, putting it out. “Now we have two things to tell your parents,” he declared, taking my hand.
“Two things?”
“I have an invitation to extend to you and your family. Come on.”
“An invitation?”
“Mm-hm,” he mumbled, holding the door open for me.
Everyone was gathered in the living room when Nathanael cleared his throat. “First of all, Saydi did wonderfully! We learned she can command the wind and water with just her mind.” He beamed at me.
“We saw. That’s amazing, honey! Lots to work on now.” Dad was proud.
“That’s wonderful, honey,” Mom said.
Nathanael put his guard down on his emotions. It was like opening the door to a tornado. His heart was rushing with pride, making me want to cry the good kind of tears.
Then it tensed inside him. “Secondly, I have an invitation to extend to you all.” He glanced at Mora and said harshly, “Even to you.”
That little exchange indicated, at least to me, that he was leaning more toward his father’s side of the story...it made my heart hurt.
He quickly took a peek at my chest, then my eyes. Slowly he began again, focusing on the rest of them. “Father would like you to join us in our Christmas celebration. It’s along the same lines as a ball, very fancy, minus the dancing.”
We gasped and almost choked.
“Nathanael, that’s not a good idea,” Pearle stated.
“I knew you would say that. I can assure you it’s not a trap. The whole town will be there and father feels the same as you. He doesn’t want it out there any more than you do, because in his warped way...” He darted his eyes around the room. “If it becomes common knowledge, it would mean less Spirit Lights for him.”
He smiled a tight one. “See, he’s staying consistent. It’s all about him.”
Dad got to his feet. “Tell your father we thank him for the invitation. We’ll consider it and get back to him.”
Everyone gasped again.
Mom freaked. “John!”
“It’s all right, Adina, it isn’t a trap, I was already privy to this information and it is exactly as Nathanael has said...a party.”
Nathanael looked as baffled as me. “How did you know it was coming?” he asked.
There was a crooked smile on Dad’s face. “That, son, is for the elders to know.”
“So basically, mind my own business.” Nathanael got it.
Dad pointed at him. “Bingo!”
Angie, Becky, Norma and I spent a good part of the next couple of days figuring out what we were going to wear to the Braxtons’ Christmas party. They all found something. I didn’t. Dad and the rest decided it would be best to attend, to show good faith, even though that wouldn’t get them too far with that bunch. Regardless, I was going, it was too important to Nathanael—he didn’t push it, but I could tell.
The Christmas spirit was in the air and everyone was bouncing about the party, including me and my girls. It was our day to make our Christmas lists, something we always did together at lunch time on the second to last day of school before Christmas break.
We all met at our normal table with pens and paper in hand, but somehow the situation deviated from the original plan in a completely different direction, because Angie and Becky seemed to be off in their own little worlds, not really into what we were supposed to be doing.
“Do you guys know what we want for Christmas?” I asked.
No response. Norma was staring at them, too.
“Hello!” My outburst didn’t even phase them.
Then Angie casually looked at me. “Saydi, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
She leaned in closer and whispered, “Has Nathanael said anything about how Job is feeling about me?”
It was a puzzling question she posed. “No, why?”
She glanced down at the table, sad. “We’re not very good.”
“What do you mean ‘not very good’?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been trying not to think about it, hoping the Christmas party will turn things around, but it’s getting harder. He calls, but doesn’t really come around because he’s always busy. I think he’s blowing me off.”
I smiled. “He’s telling you he’s doing things with his family. Right?”
“Yeah!”
Though I wanted her to think he was trying to dump her so she’d get away from him, it’d be a lie. I reached out and touched her arm. “Angie, they are doing things with the family. Nathanael is too. It’s Christmas, you know how busy everyone is.”
Her face lit right up. “Are you sure?”
Nodding, I assured her, “Mm-hm."
Becky bounced in her seat. “That means Joshua is too?”
Again I nodded.
She clapped like a little kid. “Yay! Then I don’t have to talk to you.”
Playfully I pouted. “Oh, okay.”
She flapped her hands in the air. “No, no, I mean, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about too, how Joshua was acting the same way.”
If they only knew what family things the Braxton boys were doing, they’d freak.
Then out of nowhere, Job plunked himself down beside Angie. “Hey, sweets.”
Her face lit up. “Hi!” she said a little too squeaky like. He smooched her hard.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Joshua said, sneaking up behind Becky, tickling her.
“Joshua!” she squealed as he planted one on her too.
I looked at Norma. She was lost somewhere else and he was coming up fast from the rear. Todd sat down beside her and it was great that he didn’t acknowledge me and went right to Norma.
If you weren’t a student, you were not allowed on school property. After the other two unlocked from each other, I asked, “Job, how is that you and Joshua haven’t been busted yet?”
Joshua laughed. “We were, twice, but they let it go. It was cool.”
They always managed to get out of it. For me, it wasn’t rocket science how. “That’s cool! I don’t know how you guys get away with it so often.”
“I think most of them think we do go to this school,” Job said seriously, popping a piece of fruit in his mouth.
Then everyone’s eyes moved up behind me and all smiled. I twisted around to see what they were looking at.
“Hi all,” Nathanael said. “Sorry I’m late.” Putting one leg over the bench and the other on the outside so his chest was facing my side, he smiled at me.
He was so very strikingly gorgeous, all dressed up in his suit and tie. I was sure my jaw hit the floor. He chuckled, surely knowing how he affected me, simply because he had me so flustered I forgot to hide my feelings. Putting a tray food down in front of us, he moved in to gently kiss me. “Mmm. How are you today?”