Once in a Mouse Hole

Chapter 15

"You all did very well today. You can practice if you want, although there isn't really much to practice yet. Just remember to imagine before you make." She looked at one kid who had made a daisy, but it was completely white even in the center. I didn't think it was bad, but compared to some of the other flowers it was nothing. 

I was about to walk to my next class, but Ms. Wessex stopped me. "Cora, are you aware that your flower is still growing?"

"What?" I looked at my flower. "Oh, no. Not again..." 

"What do you mean, not again?" By now some of the remaining students turned our way, and Ms. Wessex told them to hurry to their next class. 

"Well, when I was getting scored I couldn't freeze water because I had recently used my fire. I think that my water is... Well, doing something." I looked at the pot and started to get worried. 

Although I was worried, Ms. Wessex  seemed anything but. "It looks like some of the elements change how others act. That could be a problem." I looked down at the pot, but it was far from the flower I had made before. "The water is helping the plants grow, while the fire and ice are causing the other one to fail. How interesting." 

"Do you know how to stop it?" 

"Well yes, of course I do. I just want to know if you do." She turned to me with a large grin. I heard a crack and looked down at my plant. It wasn't a flower anymore. It had turned into a large fruit and it looked like the roots were about to burst from the small pot. Crack. I take that back, they had already burst from the pot.

"Are you sure," I asked with uncertainty. 

"I'm positive," Ms. Wessex said.

I took one more look at the still growing plant before I closed my eyes and focused as hard as I could on making the plant stop. I didn't really know what I was supposed to do, so I just tried to imagine it not growing. When I opened my eyes, I was largely disappointed to find that nothing had happened.

"Well, I suppose I'll help you just this once. It is harder to stop it once its started than to just block the water in the first place." Ms. Wessex looked down at the plant and it immediately stopped growing.

"Wow, uh, thanks," I said. She simply winked at me and then started to greet the other students who were coming.

I hurried to the area for the water tribe and was glad to find that I was not late. Like before, it was not actually the Water Master that was there. Instead it was a young man with dirty blond hair and a light tan. A group of older girls were chatting, clearly about the man. 

Once he had seen me come, he started to talk. "Hello, I'm Jack," he said. He may not know it, but the girls started chatting louder, almost too loud, when one of the girls elbowed her neighbors and shut them up. "I am going to be your teacher for this week." I thought I saw a tear appear in one of the girl's eyes, but I wasn't sure. 

"So, what are we going to be doing?" said a clearly annoyed boy in the back. He was the only boy there, and was probably the only one there that I would have anything in common. I walked a little closer to him, I didn't want to get confused with the group of annoying girls.

"You can't control the water without a little fun, so lets have some fun!" The girls started giggling quite a bit. "We are going to have a beach day, and you are all required to have fun in the water!" He clearly didn't know what he was doing, but he sure did know how to make the girls even more excited. 

I heard a loud sigh from next to me and turned to the boy next to me. "I bet they don't know that Jack has his own fan club," he said.

"Huh?" I said. 

"You know, the 'Jack Fan Club' over there. I don't think he's supposed to let us play either. I'm surprised that the water master let him come," he said. "Oh, I'm Lucas."

"I'm Cora," I told him.

"I know that." 

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, clearly very confused.

"There was only two new kids this year. How could I not know your name." 

"Huh, okay. I guess that makes sense." 

"Okay, there are swim suits over there and you can change inside," said Jack. 

"I guess we really are just going to have fun today," I said to Lucas, before I realized that he was gone. I wonder where he was...

* * *

"Whoa!" I yelled at nobody in particular. Jack was using his magic to make the small lake have waves. I was using some sort of board that the water would push me on, making me ride the waves. I wasn't surfing, I knew that because I was laying on my stomach. Whatever I was doing, it was fun. 

I thought that the fun would last forever when I heard an angry voice yell so that everyone everywhere could here what he was saying, "WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME, JACK! I thought we made it clear that you shouldn't be telling kids to play for a lessen, let alone be teaching!" It was clear that Jack had done the same thing before. 

"I'm sorry, but I thought that I was allowed to teach now, I graduated and Mr. Blue was teaching me to be like him!" Jack said.

"You know very well that his name is not 'Mr. Blue' and that you should not be teaching a group of teen-age girls that they should play in water for a lesson on magic!" I got out of the water and took a look at the man that was yelling. It was a small man that looked to be the actual teacher of the class. He grabbed Jacks shoulder and dragged him into the academy, and with a loud slam the door closed. 

Now that Jack was gone, the waves in the lake stopped and the Jack Fan Club let out a loud sigh. "So you left to get him?" I asked Lucas. 

"Yeah. And I'm glad I did." I took one look at the sad heap of girls pouting on the shore and agreed with Lucas.

"Yeah. I'm glad too." I took one more look at Lucas and walked away to change out of the bright pink swim suit. Yeah, they were all pink. And I hated that.