I stand still with my eyes closed, doing my best to channel my energy.
The air around me seems to pulse with expectation, prickling my skin as if sensing the transformation about to occur.
I take a deep, centering breath, and my world narrows down to the sensation of heat racing to my palms.
It’s an almost electric surge that spreads warmth throughout my body, making my heart thud in sync with its rhythm.
As I look up, I feel a tingling at the back of my eyes, and suddenly, my vision seems to shift and sharpen.
The realization hits—the change in my eyes signals a transformation, turning them a luminous shade of gold.
The color feels powerful, almost otherworldly, as if staring through the lenses of something ancient and fierce.
Annalise is standing in front of me, her arms crossed over her chest.
She is wearing a white button-up shirt with the sleeves pulled up to her elbows and black pants with daggers in her pockets.
I tried to explain to her that wearing white to train wasn’t the best bet, but she only smiled at me.
I open my palms and send a gust of flames in her direction.
The flames scatter since I’m still unable to control them, and when I open my eyes, Anna is nowhere to be found.
“I’m not going to let you burn me a second time”, I hear a voice whisper in my ear, and before I manage to pivot, I feel a hard kick on my back, and I fall to the ground.
“How did you-?” I ask in shock as I look up at Annalise, who casually smiles at me before vanishing before my eyes.
“The heck!”
“Woohoo! Great job, sis!” Drake cheers from the bench at the side of the training ground.
I get to my feet quickly, and I feel a change in the air and promptly duck, just in time to miss the dagger that whizzes over my head.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I scream as a gust of wind places the dagger back in Anna’s palm.
“I’m trying to make sure you don’t get killed”, she tells me as she summons another gust of wind, which throws me across the training ground and into a roll.
“Come on, Princess, you can do better than that!” Drake calls out to me, and I give him the best glare I can manage, feeling the gold in my eyes intensify.
He laughs, “Calm down and focus on your opponent, Princess.”
I look over to where Anna previously stood, and she’s nowhere to be found.
My heart beats heavily in my chest.
“You get distracted easily”, I shriek as I jump to the side away from Anna, who has her arms crossed in disappointment as she stares at me.
“How the flip do you do that?” I ask with my hands still over my chest from the shock of the fright.
“The wind obeys me”, she says as she casually turns her finger in the air, and wind fierce enough to uproot a tree blows in our direction to prove her point.
I watch as her body disintegrates into a gust of air that moves towards me with great silence and efficiency.
I blink, and Anna is directly in front of me.
“That’s super cool!” I gush and she smiles, “I know”.
“Now, I need you to be able to do the same. Make the flames obey you and use them to rain hell”, her words are quiet and sound like a warning I can’t quite understand.
“Why do I need to rain hell?” I question.
“To kill your enemies”, she says matter-of-factly.
“I don’t have enemies. I don’t need to burn anyone”.
Anna taps her chin in thought.
“You’re right. My brothers would just drink them dry”.
She’s actually serious!
“Drakos and Dukarion wouldn’t mind”.
“What? Who? Huh?” I stare at her like she’s grown a second head, and she stares back at me with the same expression.
“What?”
“First of all,” I begin.
“You just said that your brothers would drink my enemies dry like you were talking about the weather, and second, who are Drakos and Dukarion?”
She blinks at me in confusion, “My brothers?”
“You have other brothers?”
She looks at me like I’m an idiot, and I wonder if I’m missing something.
“Drake, Drakos. Duke, Dukarion”, she explains dryly.
“What?”
“Your name’s Drakos?” Drake nods while giving a double thumbs up, like I’m not just discovering his name.
“How didn’t I know this?” I ask in exasperation.
Anna shrugs, “You never asked.” I’m about to say something, but she waves her hands dismissively.
“Back to training, Cassandra”.
I manage to summon a ball of fire in my hands with surprising ease before hurling it at Anna.
“You were serious”, I hear someone gasp.
Preston looks at me in astonishment and shock.
He’s standing behind Jason, his hands locked with Caroline’s.
Caroline’s mouth is dangling open, and Preston pulls up her jaw to close it for her.
“Told you”, Jason says with a proud smile that seems to be directed towards me.
I smile back, surprised at the gesture.
Caroline rushes up to me and hugs me tightly, and I stiffen in her arms, hardly used to such physical contact from people who weren’t my brothers.
I breathe out a sigh when her skin doesn’t burn mine like I’m used to.
“You’re so cool”, she gushes.
I breathe out a shuddering breath, my head banging from the use of the power.
I like to disconnect myself from the flames and pretend it isn’t coming from me, that I’m not the freak producing it, but that’s hard to do when the surge of power comes with a piercing headache.
“You’re even more of a freak than I thought”, Preston’s words cut through my thoughts, and my head lowers.
“Hey! That’s rude”, Drake- Drakos?
Whatever- frowns as he gets up from the bench.
“That was the point-” Preston’s words catch in his throat with the look Jason gives him.
Jason’s eyes flash before returning to their typical blue shade, and Preston gulps.
There’s a bit of silence before Drake’s voice cuts through it.
“Alright, let’s move on to hand-to-hand combat”.
“You know I don’t do that”, Anna gives her brother a look.
“I can handle it”, Jason steps up, and I shake my head.
“Heck no, he’ll kill me!” I protest.
“You know I wouldn’t”.
“It’s not like you haven’t done it before”, I see hurt flash in his eyes and guilt weighs on me.
We take our stances, and I begin to swing at him, though I am incredibly slow from exhaustion and my swings hold no power.
Jason evades me by taking small steps back, his hands on his pockets as he looks at me with furrowed brows.
“I don’t get… why I need to… do this!” I say between heavy breaths as I make attempts to swing.
“So you can beat your enemies”.
“What enemies?” Jason grabs my hands and pushes me back gently, and I stumble.
It’s embarrassing and pathetic.
“Are you oka-” my foot collides with Jason’s chest, and he gasps before stumbling back.
“That was harder than I expected”.
I snarl.
This time, I feel my eyes glow silver.
I rush at him with quick, consecutive punches, letting adrenaline take the reins.
Jason manages to dodge all my attacks.
“Fuck you’re fast”.
I snarl before leaping onto him, the momentum knocking him to the floor.
I lean forward and snarl in his face.
He stiffens, every bone in his body tightening.
He looks from my fangs to my eyes.
“Please get off me”, his voice comes in a whisper.
I reply with another snarl, and I feel his heartbeat quicken underneath me.
“Get. Off. Me”, he pauses between every word, but it sounds more like a plea than a threat.
I frown before obeying.
He smiles at me, “You win”.
“You let me win”, I counter as I stare at him with raised brows.
He blinks at me but says nothing.
I feel another sensation of pain in my head and wince.
“Are you okay?” Jason asks in concern as the back of his hand meets my forehead.
“Shit, you’re burning up”.
“I held fire, what do you expect?” I answer dryly.
Jason gets up and offers his hand.
I take it, but stumble forward nonetheless.
He catches me with his hands on my shoulders, and I let my body fall into his.
“I need sleep”, I mutter as darkness claims me.