Fire {Elements of Power 1}

Chapter Twenty Three: Roxy

The sound of scuffling commenced followed shortly after by a huge crash. Seconds later I heard the sound of footsteps running towards my room, followed by a frantic knocking. I sighed heavily and put the magazine I had been reading to one side. "What?" I called out casually.

"Princess, your mother requests your presence downstairs immediately."

"Isn't that nice."

"Your Highness! It's the Drynan children. They're going to draw a crowd soon. Your mother needs them out!" I got up and wandered over to the door, ready to save the day.

A small crowd had gathered in the hallway by the time I reached it. They were watching as two small boys rolled around on the floor, punching and kicking every inch of each other that they can reach as well as whatever else their limbs collided with. Another boy and girl were standing in front of a nearby cabinet, appearing to watch their siblings while their hands worked furiously behind them, taking items off of the shelves and shoving them into rucksacks. A second girl was sitting on the floor a little way off, clutching her thumb and bawling loudly.

I sighed and pushed my way through the crowd, so that I was standing in the middle of the chaos.

"Enough!" As I spoke, I let flames flare across my fingers, forming a ball of fire in my hands.

Silence descended momentarily on the mini rabble as they gazed at the flames.

"Awesome!" Emile exclaimed and all five of them rushed to crowd around my hands. "That's much cooler than my matchstick!"

"Hotter too," I said. "Want to test it?"

He nodded eagerly, eyes wide, and extended a podgy finger towards the flames. He didn't quite touch them, but got close enough for the intense heat to burn him.

"Oww!" he cried, his hands moving backwards.

A girl with her hair in long, dark bunches sniggered. "Looks like you're not going to be a Protector either, Emile."

"Shut up, Melaina!" He shoved her hard, which started them all off again.

"All of you shut it!" I said, clapping my hands together so that the flames disappeared.

"No!" Lucienne, the smallest of the monsters exclaimed. "Bring it back!"

They crowded closer, a couple of them pulled on my arms.

"Make it come back!"

"If you go through to the garden, Roxanne will give you a full demonstration." All heads turned to the top of the staircase, on which my mother was standing, her eyes narrowed.

They began to move towards the garden at once, Lucienne tugging on my arm to make sure that I followed. I couldn't be certain whether their eagerness to leave was fuelled by their desire to see more fire or to get away from my mother. I wouldn't have blamed them at all if it was the latter - most people went to great lengths to avoid her on a regular basis, myself and my father included.

I entertained them for some time in the garden, keeping some form of control by sending balls of flames up into the air or setting fire to bushes. But the rain would not hold off indefinitely and with the end of the good weather any sense of order I had managed to impose also vanished.

I considered going back inside to let my mother deal with them, but doing so would show that I was struggling and it wasn't worth giving her the satisfaction.

Instead, I left Emile, Levi and Blaise to fight amongst themselves while I constantly fended off Lucienne as she tried to style my hair. Melaina, meanwhile had climbed the nearest tree and - judging by her constant wails - had managed to get herself stuck up there.