Chapter Three: Willow

It had been a week since I'd been here, I was starting to become very depressed. I missed my home, my mom, and my brother. I figured I'd be feeling better about being stuck here, turns out I was dead wrong. I was still star struck, everything I learned about myself felt so surreal. The only thing that led me to believe I wasn't going insane was that these people sat and told me explicitly that they understood how I felt and, of course, they had similar strengths when it came to the elements.

I had taken to staying in my room or going out to the church's grounds, mostly to sit in front of the large fountain just inside the entrance. Something about the water was very calming, I happened to be heading there at this particular moment. After speaking with Chase and Dahlia about how I'd been feeling the fountain seemed to be the perfect place to unwind and regain my composure. Especially after Alex's visit earlier that morning.

The fountains ornate nature was a perfect distraction in itself, in addition to the soothing sound of the water. The detail in the many figures was astounding, despite the obvious toll the elements had taken on it. The centerpiece was a demon, its mouth wide open baring four large fangs. This was where the water shot from, cascading down the demon's chest, wings and outstretched arms. The base where his hooves were planted had small cherubs that held anguish in their faces. They all had their small arms reaching towards the demon, almost in a pleading manner. Apart from one, who sat alone holding a small rose, smiling slightly with its little eyes closed. There were worn inscriptions along the outer rim that could have been Italian or even Latin, but they were illegible. It was magnificent, apart from the design concept of angels groveling at the feet of a demon. It was my favorite place to sit when I chose to sit outdoors.

I rarely sat on either of the two marble benches that were placed on either side of the fountain. The smooth grey marble was often too cool on my skin, so I normally chose to sit at the base of the large weeping willow tree that was no more than ten steps away from the path. The tree was clearly very old, judging by its massive size and magnificent foliage. I always wondered just how old it really was.

Before I wandered over to my usual spot between two of the trees roots, I began to approach the fountain. I felt the stones beneath my feet crumble slightly, upon looking down I noticed that the walkway had been broken in this spot. It didn't appear dangerous to walk on, just that something heavy had been dropped there recently and it cracked the surface. I returned my gaze to the fountain and took another step forward. Perhaps if I didn't look away from where I was stepping my foot wouldn't have hooked on a piece of uneven stone. I gasped as I began to fall, shutting my eyes tight before the hard ground would break my fall. Except I never met the ground.

"Watch it!" Derrick's booming voice was in my ear, startling me all over again. He was suddenly in front of me, his hands firmly grasping my arms. He pulled me up as I scrambled to plant my feet back on the ground and back away from him. He'd scared me half to death suddenly popping up directly in front of me. I hadn't even seen a trace of him on my way there, I couldn't help but stare at him in shock.

"I...tha-"

"Watch where you're going will you? Do you have any balance at all? The hell is wrong with you?" He was turned around and walking away while I scrambled for something to say back. I was confused, annoyed, and relieved all at once. His freshly groomed face wasn't helping my case either, I hadn't been able to collect myself when I spoke with him face to face because anyone in their right mind would admit he was painfully good looking. I huffed and turned back around, my words were caught in my throat and I wasn't going to bother sifting for the right thing to say. I came out here to clear my mind, not to argue with Derrick over my poor footing. Before I was completely turned around I heard him call out to me.

"If you've got any sort of control over gravity I shouldn't have to make up for your lack of grace!" His tone irked me more than his comment did. When I turned around to say something back he was already gone. I contemplated going after him, but I decided to do what I'd planned. Sit beneath the willow tree and unwind. I had to have some sort of normal routine, after all.

I realized that I had lost track of the time when the sun prepared its canvas of purple and orange. Hours had passed while I sat absorbed in my own thoughts. It was time well spent, however. I felt a little bit better, but I wasn't out of the woods yet. I needed a full explanation before I would feel complacent with everything I now held inside of me. The air grew chilly the further the sun descended, I decided I'd go inside the church before I went home. I noticed that Derrick left the church shortly after he'd gone in after my incident earlier, so I figured I'd go have some more time to myself out of the cold before I had to go back to go to sleep. Being alone was the most alleviating thing I had at the time, something about the churches vast empty sanctuary seemed comforting. I stood up and brushed off the loose blades of grass that clung to my leggings and headed towards the church.

Upon entering the church vestibule, I heard two familiar voices. I froze, I didn't dare take another step and alert them of my presence. I assumed the voices were coming from the sanctuary.

"What's gotten into you? You can't pretend you have an interest in getting along with her and then snap like that. It ain't right and you know it." Chase spoke just loud enough for me to hear. Derrick must have briefed him on what happened earlier, which was an embarrassing thought to say the least. "Yes, tell everyone how clumsy I am. Awesome." I was glad Chase was sticking up for me though.

Derrick's laugh was loud, it's cadence unsettling.

"It was a joke, Chase. If I was the monster you're implying I am, I'd have let her collapse and crack her head wide open." I wasn't sure how much more I wanted to hear, Derrick's tone made me very uncomfortable. "I don't care how any of you feel about what I say, I thought you knew this by now." His voice was frigid and sharp. I could only imagine the expression on his face, I couldn't listen anymore. I turned right around and left before I heard another word from either of them.

The fact that they were both in the church meant that I'd have a better chance of getting alone time at the house. If not alone, I could at least talk to Dahlia. She was making a respectable effort to make me feel like I had a friend here, the idea of spending time in the house with her crossed my mind and a meager grin managed to sneak out.

Before I could get even get halfway around the building, a strong gust of wind swept beside me before Chase was walking beside me. I was surprised, but I wasn't startled. I realized my lack of response and snickered. Perhaps adjusting was going better than I had thought.

"You ain't the most subtle little eavesdropping bird, are you now?" I glanced over at him, keeping silent at first. That hadn't been my intention and I wasn't about to start defending myself over something I hadn't done intentionally. "Oh, I'm only messing around. I heard you leave straight away. He did too, though." I stopped walking and looked over to him, not bothering to mask the shock on my face. "Don't worry now, He doesn't think you were spying on him or anything. He was just embarrassed is all. Don't tell him I told you that though." He winked after his last comment.

"Are you sure?" The panic in my voice doubled what I wore on my face, no doubt. Chase simply smiled when he heard it.

"Don't worry about him so much. He'd have chased you down if he was upset, don't you think?" I knew he was right. It made sense, with how headstrong and blunt Derrick seemed. I nodded and continued walking, as did he. "Just give him some time, he's bit of a…what's the word I'm looking for…introvert! He's a bit of an introvert." I wasn't sure why he was trying so hard to spell out Derrick's behavior to me after hassling him for how he spoke to me earlier on, but I listened to him nonetheless.

"I suppose only time will tell, right?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am."

When we approached the door, he stopped and leaned against the doorway, propping himself up on one arm. "I'd best leave you be, I should go back and finish talking to him." I stayed silent, nodding in response. He kept looking into my eyes as if he was waiting for a response. I didn't really know what else I could say. "Hey, I know this is all pretty hard. It's all real strange. Hell it's insane to try to wrap your head around the fact that you can do some pretty cool stuff you've only seen in movies. It's mind blowin' to say the least. Just give yourself time to get used to everything. Everything's gonna be alright." I sighed, looking at the ground.

"I know; I just miss my mom. She's probably worried sick about me." I knew my mom had to be going out of her mind trying to figure out where I'd gone. I felt a pang of sadness in my heart after saying it out loud. I could hear Chase sigh; he probably didn't know what to say straight away.

"How about after I'm done talking to Derrick, you and Dahlia come further out onto the church grounds with me? So you can see the fun part of winding up here?" I looked up at him, not sure what to make of what he just suggested.

"Fun?" I know I sounded skeptical and I'm positive my furrowed brow didn't hide my mistrust.

"Now, I know I didn't stutter." He winked. "Trust me, it'll help take your mind off all the sad stuff. Won't bring you home to mom, but it'll brighten your day. I can promise you that." I began to think it wasn't such a bad idea. It was probably harmless, whatever he was suggesting. Although, if it had anything to do with using these abilities I'd gained I'd probably end up sitting out and watching.

"Well, if you insist. You haven't been wrong about anything since I've gotten here." He smiled, pushing himself up off the wall.

"Well alright then. I'll come get you two after I'm done. I'll see you later." He tipped his hat to me before turning around and walking away. I couldn't help but giggle at him. He reminded me of the kind southern gentlemen depicted in TV shows and movies, I found myself wondering what the people that raised him were like. I made my way down into the tunnels as I thought about how he could be so kind and polite and get along with someone as cold as Derrick.

When I entered the house, I didn't see Dahlia. I decided I'd sit on my own. A few days ago while we were searching through the storage rooms in the church, we found some rolls of paper and lots of charcoal. It wasn't the kind you'd buy from the store and clearly came from a fire pit of some sort, but I readily snatched it up to use. I pulled the large roll of paper out of the storage closet in the living room and tore off a decent size piece, just big enough to draw a decent sized landscape. I sat down on the living room floor and began my new project. The more the charcoal swept across the page, the calmer my mind was. The more I lost myself in my dusty masterpiece, the more joy I felt.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed before Dahlia sauntered out of her room. Stopping to stare at what I was creating on the living room floor. I saw her mouth the word 'wow' in my peripheral before speaking.

"You didn't mention that you were that good at drawing." I simply smiled at her reaction. It was nice when people looked at my art and appreciated it. I was always finding mistakes in them but others rarely noticed them. It was sobering to have someone else like something you could point out all the flaws in.

"I'm alright at it, I guess. What are you up to?" I placed the charcoal down on the corner of the page and dusted my hands off, giving her my full attention.

"Oh, I was just off to find Chase. I haven't seen him for a little while. Have you?" I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, he's talking to Derrick." Dahlia laughed. She understood my reaction.

"Oh, boy. About?" I shook my head before I began to explain everything to transpired in the past few hours. I told her about the incident in front of the fountain and how Derrick spoke to me. I told her about walking into the church and overhearing Chase speaking with him about what I heard, leaving off with the fact that Chase was going to come collect us after the fact to try to lighten my mental burden. "Oh, wow. I can't wait. It'll be fun. I promise." She clapped her hands in excitement.

"What exactly is 'it'?" I asked.

"Oh, Chase and Derrick love to make a big spectacle of what they can do with their abilities. It's beautiful. Makes me wish I could do more than grow flowers." It was exactly what I thought, which meant I wasn't going to risk creating an earthquake or anything of the sort. I wasn't aware I wore a nervous expression, Dahlia picked up on it right away. "Don't worry, it'll be fun. If you don't want feel comfortable using your own you won't have to." I got up and looked down at the mess I'd apparently made on the floor. Dahlia giggled when the dust dropped all around me as I stood up. "Don't worry, I'll go grab the broom for you." I smiled nervously, embarrassed that I'd gotten so engrossed in my imagination that I made a huge mess of the charcoal.

When Dahlia and I were done cleaning up my mess, I to relieve my decided to take a shower to rid my skin of the harsh feeling of the charcoal dust. Once alone in the bathroom, I promptly took off the dusty clothes and stepped directly into the shower. I sometimes let the ice cold water run on the back of my neck and down my head while I waited for it to warm up, just to help clear my thoughts. This was one of those times. I considered working on honing whatever this strange skill I'd obtained was, and I needed to be focused for it. I rested my hand on the shower wall as I bowed my head and turned the shower on. My eyes snapped open when the icy water collided with my skin. "Don't botch this up" I combated the self-doubt I was feeling, knowing I couldn't overthink this. I had to do something to earn Derrick's respect. If he wasn't going to respect me for being myself, he would respect me for what I could do that he couldn't.

Once I got out of the shower and dressed, I found Dahlia changed into a different outfit and waiting for me on the couch, sitting next to Chase. She had changed into an adorable white sundress with lace around the neckline. She wore matching Mary Jane heels, had her makeup done and wore he hair in a loose wavy bun. She'd put a considerable amount of effort into her appearance, I wondered if it'd been for the gentleman occupying the space next to her.

"Took you long enough." Derrick appeared around the corner of the kitchen, wearing his usual expression of disdain. I frowned, figuring if I didn't acknowledge him he'd cut it out. I wouldn't have been able to handle speaking to him anyway, my knees felt weak when I looked at him no matter how rude he was.

"I'm sorry, how long did I keep you guys waiting?" I focused on Chase and Dahlia, expressing my concern.

"Oh, no. Don't worry about it. Derrick and Chase just got here." Dahlia said before she winked at me. She picked up on what I was doing and responded accordingly. I knew she and I were going to be really good friends. "Let's go, I can't wait to show you how fast I can grow a bed of roses." Derrick rolled his eyes and was the first one to leave. Chase laughed under his breath before he and Dahlia stood up and followed.

The path we took was beyond the entrance to the tunnels that led to our home. We had to hike through a heavily wooded area before stumbling upon a large, gorgeous grassy area. The trees surrounded the area in almost a perfect circle, it was incredible how large it was. Someone had to have deliberately grown the trees in this fashion. It made me want to learn more about when this church was built and what it could have possibly been used for. There were some tree stumps littered along the edge of where the open yard began, some of them were overgrown with vines and other various plant life. The column shape of tree trunks was visible beneath the grass beside some of the stumps, one of which Derrick was lounging on.

"This is beautiful." Breathtaking was the word I searched for, but words escaped me as I took in the scene before me.

"Thank you, I try." Dahlia said in a joking manner as she curtsied. Chase smiled as he looked down at her.

"Yes you certainly do, sweetheart." Dahlia sauntered over to a nearby tree stump and settled on it, careful not to damage her white dress. She motioned for me to follow and patted the empty portion of the stump next to her. I accepted her invitation willingly, as I had no idea what the other two were about to do.

"Alright, Carissa. Pay attention now, you might just learn a little something." Chase didn't hesitate to snap his fingers and begin. In an instant there were strong gusts of wind surrounding the field, picking up speed with each second that passed. I gripped the tree stump Dahlia and I were perched on, she did the same. Chase held his arms out wide, slowly closing them in together. As he did this, the tunnel of wind condensed. Dahlia no longer had a need to hold on for dear life at this point. Derrick sat unfazed the entire time, smiling when Chase was finished decreasing the size of his cyclone. He never shifted his position, only stared intently at the storm. Water began rising from the ground, captured by the whirlwind instantaneously. In due time the water and the twister were one, creating a tunnel of water that rose above the trees. It was a wonderful sight to see.

"Now!" Chase bellowed over the roaring sound of the wind and water, looking over to Derrick. Derrick snapped his fingers in an elaborate manner as soon as Chase spoke, the water froze over there and then. Chase dropped his arms back to his sides and took a deep breath. "Phew! Would you look at that! It's bigger than the last one!" He clapped his hands above his head, proud of what he just had a hand in creating. I stared in awe, I'd never seen a structure made of ice that was so tall. Well, not in person anyway.

"That's…amazing." I managed to sputter. It was truly amazing, I stood up right away and walked up to it. I reached out a hand, only allowing one finger to have contact with it. The moment my skin touched it, it shattered to a million pieces. I screamed and shielded my face with my arms. Derrick laughed so hard you'd think you would be able to see his sides split. Anger whirled within my chest, I knew right away I had to keep it contained so I didn't cause any damage to the earth around me. What a pain it was going to be controlling this from now on if I had to put up with his childish behavior. Chase rushed over to Dahlia and sat beside her, seemingly avoiding what would happen next.

When he saw the expression on my face, he quieted. As I opened my mouth to speak, the ice shards that littered the ground around me lifted slowly. They began to come together, they were forming something else, except I couldn't tell what. I stood watching, my mouth falling open. They appeared to be creating a figure of some kind. The form of a human was soon visible; it was apparent that it was a female soon after. When he was finished, it was clear that it was a mirror image of myself, fashioned into the same position I was standing in. All except for the facial expression, there was a great big smile on my face. I stared, dumbfounded. Dahlia gasped, and whispered something into Chase's ear, to which he nodded and smiled.

I looked over to Derrick, my mouth still hanging open. He smiled in my direction, his cold stare seemed to soften. He'd never seen me smile like that before, for I hadn't been nearly that happy around any of those people. I didn't know how to react, or what to say. I smiled, while the words "You're amazing." Didn't quite make it out of my throat but my lips still formed them. He looked down at the ground for a moment before standing up and simply walking away, disappearing behind the trees. I didn't move, I just watched. I couldn't understand his behavior for the life of me, it didn't make sense that he would construct a life size ice sculpture in my likeness and get up and walk away when he saw I was amazed by it. I glanced back over at his creation, it had already started to melt.

I wanted to follow him, but I decided to let it go. I shuffled over to Chase and Dahlia, trying not to appear as disappointed as I really was.

"Aww, don't worry about him Carissa. He's a little strange when it comes to people. He's never gone out of his way to do anything like that before." Dahlia was so sweet, when it came to times like these, but it didn't help much.

"I keep hearing this but I'm not so sure." I said. She frowned, no doubt understanding where I was coming from. "I guess I'll just have to talk to him first if this is ever going to get any better."

After the eventful evening in the clearing, I wound up alone in the library. I sifted through the many books in hopes I'd find something worth looking at. Maybe even something that everyone else overlooked that held some sort of clue as to why we all wound up here. When I was finished combing the west wall, I started on the north wall. As I frisked the first shelf, I began thinking that maybe the whole ice sculpture episode was an apology for how he spoke to me earlier in the day. Chase had lectured him about it, and it was only after that did he show up out there with the rest of them. I was torn from my thoughts when I heard a mocking voice come from behind me.

"If you need help finding anything, let me know." It was Dahlia. She laughed at her own joke as she walked in the room to greet me. "Sorry, couldn't help it. I was sent to retrieve you for dinner. Chase and Derrick cooked." I furrowed my brow at the mention of Derrick. "Well, it was mostly Derrick. I promise he didn't do anything funky to the food though." She laughed again. I sighed and hung my head. I hoped it wasn't going to be as awkward as earlier. What a day I'd had so far.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming." I said reluctantly. I was starving, however. I had a stack of books I'd set aside, I neatly placed them next to the book shelf before following Dahlia out of the library. When we exited the church, the sun was back out. We both looked at each-other in shock, which told me she was seeing this too and that I wasn't going mad. Just as quick as we'd come outside and seen it, it was as if we'd blinked and the night sky was back again along with the sound of glass popping. The church grounds were pitch black, the street lights shattered and snuffed out. We reached for each-others hands instantly, both of us trembling in fear.

"Watch out for the locusts, Carissa" A male voice whispered in my ear. I screamed and covered my ears.

"What? What is it?!" Dahlia shrieked.

"I don't know! I heard a voice, it was right here! You didn't hear it?" I was shaking, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Dahlia! Carissa!" Derricks voice was distant, but loud enough to be able to hear the panic in his voice. I thought perhaps I had screamed loud enough for them to hear me, but that wasn't the case. I heard stone crumbling, and then a splash of water. The only thing that could have been was the fountain. I began to worry that I'd caused damage underground to the house, and that's what caused them to come searching.

"Over here! Hurry! I heard a voice!" I screamed. I tried as hard as I could to steady myself. They were coming, everything was going to be just fine. Dahlia grabbed hold of my hand again, I didn't protest. I could hear the sound of water rushing on top of the stone and Derrick was before me in an instant, a few water droplets gently crashing against my body. Chase wasn't far behind him.

"What happened? Why are the streetlights out?" Derrick demanded, I could tell he wasn't as upset as he sounded. The panic in his voice was still there.

"Please we have to get inside I don't want to be out here another second. Please." I said, trying to choke back my fear. Dahlia couldn't even get a word out, she just started crying. Without another word the walked behind us back to the house as quickly as possible. Derrick eventually walked beside me, resting a hand on my lower back.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to any of you, don't worry." He whispered. I took a deep breath in and out. I knew he meant what said. For the first time since I'd arrived, I trusted him.