The Uprisen

Chapter 14

For the next few hours, Devin and Max plan their job and get everything ready.  It wouldn't be until about three o'clock in the morning that they would leave to go to the Toher Mansion.

—-

For the past week or so, Willow's been staying up at unreasonable hours.  She's been getting little sleep, and most of that was because of the book that she found in Dr. Toher's office.  Every night she's been skimming over the pages, learning more and more about the element of Water.  Sometimes she'd even try out miniature tricks from the book, but most of them wouldn't last long; her Water abilities aren't strong enough yet.

Under the small desk lamp on Dr. Toher's desk, Willow sits hunched over the book listening to music.  She's taking notes on a small notepad that also has a list of names and elements of everyone in The Group.  She's been working for hours now, and it isn't until Waverly walks in does she realize the time.

"Willow?  Why are you still up?  It's like two-thirty in the morning."

When she looks at her sister, her eyes burn.  Looking away from the bluish pages of the book hurts her eyes.  "I didn't realize how late it is.  Why are you up?"

"Couldn't sleep."  Waverly sighs and plops herself onto the red leather couch by the window.  She glances under the blinds for a quick surveillance check, then watches her sister work.  "You're still working at that?"

"Yeah.  There's a lot here, it's really interesting.  Plus, the more I learn about it the more I can help train Water elementals."  Willow glances at her sister and notices that her mind is clearly somewhere else.  She hadn't seen a lot of her sister today, but something has clearly happened.  "Hey, you okay?"

Waverly shrugs.  "I guess.  I mean, not really.  Actually, I feel like crap, thanks for asking."

Willow nods and closes the book, putting her pencil between the pages she left off on.  She pushes the book aside for the night and rubs her neck.  "What happened?"

With a sigh, Waverly explains the conversation between her and Cameron on the beach earlier.  Every now and then she'd pause and fiddle with her ring, then she'd continue.  "I don't know what to do, I mean I know he's right but that doesn't make it easy."

"No, I get that.  I think it's a little clear you both don't want to separate but maybe he was just giving you something to think about."

"But I can't lose him, I need him now more than ever and I feel like he's trying to distance himself to make this easier on the both of us."

Willow thinks about how close her sister and Cameron are.  She'd never even imagined the two of them breaking up, but something as heavy as a war is a good way to make people prioritize.

"You know that he'll always be there for you, but I think he's trying to prepare himself more than you.  I think he's afraid that if he loses you he won't know how to handle it."

As much sense as Willow's making, Waverly doesn't feel at ease.  There's not a lot that Willow could do to help anyway, so at least listening is enough.

Willow stands and sits by her sister.  "Look, nothing about the next few months are going to be easy, and even if you and Cameron do split, you will always have me.  Understand?  No one, nothing will change that.  War can be lonely and half the time its soldiers feel like no one else can understand because no one else has lived through that tragedy.  But we are going through this together, and if anyone can understand you best, it's me."

Waverly looks at her sister with watery eyes.  She hates feeling so hopeless, but she knows that her sister is the best person to go to for help.  And she's right: she has always been there for her.