Elementary

Chapter Sixteen

Meliza comes back much sooner than I thought she would. With her is the guy with the accent. She is holding a brown, leather bag that has outlines of different shapes pushing on the leather. As she walks over, I don't know what gets into my head, but I walk over to her before she makes it. Anything to get away from that glaring contest back there. I turn around, and walk by her side. What is wrong with me?

"What got into you?" She whispers away from the man with the accent.

"It doesn't matter." Just because I would rather be with her than in the middle of an upcoming fight, it doesn't mean that I want to be with her instead. 

"Oh." She looks over to Hunter and Ig, glaring at each other. "Aw, that is so cute!" She nudges me. In return, I stare at her, trying to convey as much death as possible in my eyes. As usual, she rolls her eyes. 

"Guys, we're ready. Let's go, chop chop!" She claps her hands. Hunter snaps out of it, and I realize that Ig was joking when he was glaring. How does something like this happen? Two people just randomly start staring at each other? I probably would have looked away. Awkwardly.

Meliza starts walking out the gate, and everyone follows, including Ig. Ig. What kind of a name is Ig? Meliza straps the bag over her shoulders, so it somewhat resembles a backpack. Soon, we're back in the forest, and the trees drape over us while the sun leaks through the leaves, creating spots of both light and shadow on the ground. 

"Are you trying to be a sloth?" Meliza yells at me from up ahead.

"No, Meliza. Not really." I say, trying hard to force as much sarcasm out as possible. 

"Well you're going really slow!" She yells back. I speed up a bit until I'm side by side with Abdalla. Ahead of us is Ig walking with Hunter, who is attempting to seem like he genuinely wants to get to know him. It's not working. Every time I see Ig start to move his mouth, Hunter will cut in and ask another question quickly. 

"Well, this is annoying." I say quietly. Abdalla looks at me, and laughs.

"Pretty awkward?" He adds.

"Yeah." After I say this, Hunter steps back and starts walking with me. So now he does.

"Hey, do you want to work on your Potentia?" He asks really fast.

"Um... Sure?" I say.

"Okay. Give it a go."

Abdalla walks forward to Meliza. Trying my best to ignore whatever is going on with Hunter, I hold my hands out, close my eyes, and try to think of a small fire. I open my eyes, and there's a tiny little spark coming out of my hands. Then, it fades as it rises. 

"Try again." He says, starting to sweat.

 I hold my hands out, and think of a fire in a fireplace instead of a small one, and out pops a moderately sized fire, propped on my hands.

"Good - job." Hunter says, rubbing his head. And then he drops to the ground. 

The first one to run over is Ig. Then Meliza, and then Abdalla. Ig is on the ground, checking around Hunter- probably for a wound, or something like that. 

"London, what happened?" Meliza yells.

"He- He was helping me with my fire, and then he just fell over." 

"That's it?" She yells even louder.

"You don't have to yell, it's not my fault!" I yell back. Isn't that ironic?

Suddenly, Hunter's eyes pop open. He stands up, and runs behind a tree. I think I hear the sound of gagging. He slowly comes back around, staring at the ground.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I don't know. I felt kind of sick, and then I just blacked out." He says.

"Let's go. If he's fine, then we just have to go. We don't have time to stall. I'll help him walk if that's needed." Meliza says.

Did Meliza just offer to help someone? 

Hunter walks forward a little bit disoriented, but he makes it, and puts his arm around Meliza, and we keep walking. Ig comes back next to me. 

"Hi." He says.

"Hi." I answer. "Um... What does the name 'Ig' mean?"

"Oh, it's short for Ignis." He says. "Ignis, as in fire."

"I know. So, did you always really like fire?" 

"I don't know."

"You don't?" I ask.

"I don't remember anything before I turned twelve a couple years ago."

"Why not?" I ask.

"I have no idea. Like I said, I don't remember anything. I just remember finding myself in a village, no idea where I was, and able to play with fire. Then, they came, and-"

"Who's they?" I ask.

"No one." He quickly answers. "Anyway, life has just been pretty boring ever since. I mean, I can finally find some adventure." He smiles.

"Yeah. I would have died of boredom from school if I hadn't come here." I joke. He stares at me, confused. I look away.

"How did you find out that you were fire?" He asks.

"There was a test at Elementary. I just answered some questions." I say. "It's kind of funny, because I really thought that I was going to be water."

"You what?" He says seriously.

"I don't know, I guess I just didn't expect to be water." I say.

Soon, we walk out to a clearing again. It has slightly dry, yellow grass, and in front of us is a tall, massive wall  that continues for what seems like forever diagonally. It is made of cinder blocks, and every few, there are rugged blocks that stick out from the rest. 

Meliza lightly puts Hunter down on the grass, and starts climbing up.

"Hold on! Stop!" Ig yells.

But she steps on a rugged block, and from the one next to it, a black, metal tube appears from inside of it, and an arrow sticks out, about to shoot.