It felt like time had slowed down. The boom hurtled towards the back of Wafi's head while he smiled up at me. His hair glowed from the sun at his back, his hazel eyes like molten gold as they crinkled at the edges with happiness.
Then it sped up.
The worst part was I saw realisation pass through Wafi's eyes before the boom audibly slammed against his head, and then came for mine.
Wafi's eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the side. I barely ducked the boom. My hand immediately snapped out to grab him. With my foot in the strap, I was stretched just far enough to reach him. But he was slipping away.
My fingers closed around air as his body tilted away from me, over the edge, and with one bumpy wave, he was gone.
I screamed again, and before I knew it, I'd jumped into the icy water after him. Cold, salty water gushed in my mouth and sucked up any moisture from my eyes as I came up gasping. The boat was sailing away, leaving Wafi behind. I managed to throw an arm around Wafi's chest, his face kept raised to the sky, away from the water as I threw out a hand towards the boat with all the concentration I could muster to stop it in its track.
It wasn’t stopping. No, it couldn’t leave us behind. A cry of effort escaped me, my head immediately started to throb as the boat jolted once, twice and stopped. It was odd to look at it. The waves rolled, undulated under it as it stood still, not adhering to the force of the ocean. I could feel the intense amount of resistance from the water. I was trying to control the goddamn sea. However, I was half Water, so I’ll be damned if I let the boat get away from me in a domain I can control. I tightened my grip around Wafi, my vision started to blur at the edges from the pressure I could feel in my head. I paddled towards the boat, small bursts pushed me forward whenever I could spare it.
My right hand slammed against the boat, pain jolted through my unhealed hand. I ignored it as I go of the water around the boat. The boat started to move swiftly away with no control, no direction, nothing guiding it.
I didn't care if someone was watching. I didn't care if someone would see what I was about to do. All I cared about was Wafi. Wafi breathing. Wafi in the boat.
I'd already reached the limit for the Water element with trying to control a speck of the ocean but with a yell of effort, and an upheaval in my head-splitting migraine, I managed to force the water to listen to me once more. The sea around me shifted. It rose with incredible resistance that would have made me scream had I had any breath left. Wafi's upper body slumped into the boat, and I pushed his legs till he was full in. My vision flickered, black spots threatened to overcome me as I felt some warmth trickled down my nose.
Managing to put in some more effort, I forced myself onto the boat, breathless with the mental strain and physical exertions. Water gathered in the small area splashed against the side of Wafi's face. Water stained with red.
"No, no, no." I whispered to myself a I my body up and moved towards him. Leaning over Wafi, I placed his head in my lap, gently shifting it to the side. Surely enough, there was a huge gash that trickled blood into the boat. His light hair matted dark with it.
I started to feel panic rise in me. My head swung around. We were about twenty minutes from the shore. I need to make it back in literally half the time if I intended to stop him bleeding out. Focus. FOCUS!
I shook my head to force the dizziness and spots away as I gathered the rope once more in my hand. With one hand on the rudder, I pushed hard and the boat swung around, the boom making its way towards me again. I ducked it, taking my place opposite it as the nose of boat finally faced the beach again. With the wind at my back, I made much faster progress than I'd thought. But I didn't have time to tie up the boat.
I glanced at Wafi, sprawled ungainly by my feet. Any other time, this would be comical, if not for the dark red water splashing around his ears. His white shirt was now pink, khakis a shade darker than when he'd stepped in.
"Sorry, Wafi." I whispered, as I turned the nose towards the part of the beach closest to the villa.
I leaned away, prepar3d for the jolt as I felt the bottom of the boat scrape against sand. I'm trying to save his life, he better not kill me for this. The water got clearer, sand showing it as deceptively shallow. Knee-deep... Ankle-deep... and... "Ugh!"
I was jerked forward as the boat finally slammed into, questionably, dry land. My hand slammed against the deck, to stop me from rolling over.
Regaining my balance, I threw the rope aside, untangled my foot and reached for Wafi.
His dead weight was more obvious on land than in water. I struggled to raise his torso, and pull him out of the boat till his lower half fell into the sand. I grimaced. He's going to feel that when he wakes up.
If he wakes up... I couldn't move him fast enough. I couldn't pull him up to the villa fast enough. I needed help.
I gently laid out Wafi on the sand before I sprinted the few metres I'd managed to drag him away from the boat. Wafi had been smart enough to insist on us placing our phones in a plastic bag, alongside boat documents.
I pulled out my phone, a pang passed through my heart as I remembered he'd gifted it to me for Christmas. One number was all I needed. It rang... and rang... an-
"Hello?" Rhaeya's sleepy voice mumbled. "Fiera?"
I practically burst out laughing, I was so relieved. "Rhaeya! Rhaeya, please come down to the beach! I need your help!"
"What?" She sounded a bit more awake now. "You sound panicked. What happened?"
"I don't sound panicked, I AM PANICKING!" I screamed into the receiver. "Wafi is knocked out and I need your help getting him inside!"
I heard her inhale sharply and then a rush of activity. "I swear to god, Fiera, if this is somehow a joke or a class prank, I will kill you!"
"I'M SERIOUS!" I yelled. My stomach roiled in worry, but I was more worried about Wafi at the moment. "Kill me later! Just come down right now!" I hung up to run back up to Wafi and fell to my knees to pick him up again.
It was still the height of the siesta hour. I couldn't have classmates coming out and catch me dragging along a bloody, unconscious Wafi with his boat beached and filled with bloody salt water.
Impressively enough, Rhaeya ran out of the villa less than a minute after I'd called her. Her eyes widened with the panic I felt as she spotted my arm around Wafi. "WHAT THE HELL?!" She screeched, sprinting towards me, her black hair flying behind her. She immediately went to his other side, and placed an arm under his shoulders. No questions, no hesitation.
We both grunted as his weight evened out. It became a much faster trudge up to the villa.
"Where do we go?" I asked once we ran through the door.
Rhaeya started to pull him to the left. "Private elevator up to the penthouses. The doctor's number should be there."
Of course there was a private elevator.
What I'd assumed was a wall hanging was actually the doors of the elevator. Huh, I guess I never noticed the metallic gleam. The door buzzed shut and Rhaeya used Wafi's hand slumped over her shoulder to activate the lift via the fingerprint recognition. I leaned heavily against the side of the lift as it started moving upwards.
"He's bleeding from his head. You're bleeding from your nose and your ears. You're both wet!" Rhaeya still sounded panicked. She leaned back a bit to make eye contact with me. "What happened?!"
"Can we get to his suite and call the doctor first?!" I hissed back to stall her.
She glared back at me, but didn't waste time on it once the doors pinged open.
Oh, it was a penthouse alright. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, we passed by the living room too fast for me to appreciate anything except the view. And by god, what a view. It was just the ocean but such a shocking blue.
Rhaeya took the lead and kicked open the door to what I assumed was his bedroom and I assumed right. It almost felt like an invasion of privacy as we crossed the plush red carpet to the clean sheets and dumped him on it. I placed my hands on my knees, as I caught my breath and Rhaeya ran to a small book kept on his bedside. She pulled out her phone and began to dial.
Her conversation was curt.
"Hello, is this the doctor?... I'm calling from the villa. The Prince Regent has and an accident..." She scowled. "Yes, that Prince." She gave me an exasperated look, throwing her hands up in disbelief. "Yes, he's been in an accident... he's bleeding from his head and knocked out!... " She frowned and walked over to lean over him. She placed two fingers on his neck. "Pulse is a bit slow... Alright, five minutes or I'll..." Rhaeya trailed off, looking at her phone in surprised rage as she pulled it away from her head. "He hung up on me!"
"Nobody has any patience nowadays." I added, giving an understanding nod as she stared at me.
Her disbelief turned to anger and before I knew it, she had her hand at my collar. Her strength forced me onto my feet and backwards, away from Wafi, till I slammed against the door. Anger vibrated in her entire being as she glared at me. "What did you do to him?! What happened!?!"
"I... didn't do... anything..." I could feel her elbow on my windpipe. "I... can't... breathe..."
She let me struggle for air for a few more seconds before she let off. I gasped heavily, sputtered for air as I sagged against the door. Fear curled in my belly as I stared up at her.
"Speak. Now." She growled, her arms crossed across her chest.
"I... Wafi... invited me to sail with him." I swallowed softly.
"Why were you even outside?"
"I was talking to my friends. There's no signal inside this place." I exhaled harshly to head towards Wafi.
Rhaeya stepped in front of me. "You're not going anywhere near him unless you tell me everything that happened."
I glanced at Wafi, then her. "Atleast place a towel under his head. He's staining the sheets. And probably cover him too. His clothes are wet. We can't have him feeling cold."
Rhaeya narrowed her eyes at me in a warning. I stayed where I was as she moved away. Helpless, and quiet, as she walked into the bathroom to get the towel. Rhaeya threw me another glare to make sure I stayed where I was as she pushed him up onto the bed. The towel was rolled tight and placed under his head, right where the gash was to apply pressure. It started to stain nearly immediately.
His breaths sounded stable, but hus skin had started to look a little pale. My eyes narrowed with worry.
"Speak, Fiera."
I stifled a sigh of frustration, not looking up at her as I began. My body had also started to force it’s growing pains on me now that I wasn’t panicked anymore.
The doctor arrived right as I finished, ending at when I beached the boat. He dismissed us both, immediately headed to Wafi's bedside. In front of Rhaeya, I lied to the doctor, telling him that I'd found Wafi in his boat, unconscious when I went down for a walk. Rhaeya watched me with suspicion.
As we left the room to get into the lift again. She turned to me. "Why did you lie?"
"Because people tend to assume something much more when I tell them he invited me for sailing." The bitter tone in my voice was directed towards her. "Help me tie the boat by the yacht again. I'll tell you the rest while we do it."
Rhaeya's eyes widened by a fraction when we reached the boat and she saw all the bloody water sloshing around. We pushed it off the beach. I would've used Water to give it a little nudge, but I still had a splitting headache. Even thinking about doing it gave me nausea.
We sat in tense silence as I sailed the boat back to the pier. She kept her eyes on me all the while I lowered the mainsail and tied up the boat. I gestured for her to climb up the rope ladder first.
She shook her head, a seriousness in my eyes that made my gut curl.
"Stop stalling, Fiera. Tell me everything. Now."
I stared at Rhaeya blankly, unsure how to start.
Impatience flashed through her face. "Fiera, when I say everything, I mean everything. If I even think you're holding back, there will be more blood in this water."
I didn't doubt her threat. My eyes flickered to the water and back to her face, still not speaking.
"Fiera!" She growled at my continued silence. Her hand slammed against the boat and startled me. "Speak! I want to know everything! Whatever you're hiding about you and Wafi! How long has this been going on?!"
If the truth was about to come out, might as well begin with testing out Wafi's timeline. "Since... Since after the Trials."
"Figured. The two of you didn't even bother to hide it." She threw her hands up. "The fact that he knew so much about you was the giveaway. Also, he never stops looking at you, he's always with you." She looked at my expression of disgust. "Don't look at me like that. I'm right. I should be the one disgusted, he's six years older than you!"
"You are... misreading this." Was my slow reply. "Wafi and I aren't... together."
"Please." Rhaeya scoffed. "I wasn't born yesterday. I can see the signs, and so can everyone else." She leaned back, crossing her arms across her chest. "So, let me guess. You and the Prince decided to sneak away on his boat for some alone time, alone time went awry and he got hit in the head by the… thingy?" I nodded encouragingly. "Good. It stopped you two from doing anything. Are you even eighteen?"
I think I threw up in my mouth. The idea of it was so gross that I couldn't even laugh at how wrong she was. "Can you just let me explain instead of running away with your ideas, Sherlock?" The smugness on her face vanished at the disgust and annoyance that dripped from my voice. I took her embarrassed silence as a cue for me to continue. "It's all wrong, okay? You've got it all wrong! Wafi and I aren't dating. The entire idea of that is so disgusting, I want to die."
"I-I" Rhaeya stammered, confusion passing through her eyes. "I'm sor-"
"Let me finish, Rhaeya." I snapped as I cut her off. Irritation crossed Rhaeya's face but it all faded away as I spoke again. "He's my goddamn brother. I'm his sister. I'm the long-lost Firestone." Rhaeya's jaw fell open as I said that, the colour faded out of her tan. "Yeah, news flash. I'm not dating anybody."
"But... But..." Rhaeya swallowed softly. "That would mean... you're a Royal."
"No shit, Sherlock. Now you hit the nail on the head. Gee, I wonder what gave it away? Is it the fact that Wafi's my brother?!"
I turned my head away to get my anger under control. Suddenly the boat shook under me, my hands slammed against the white surface to brace myself as I turned to see Rhaeya bow awkwardly in the small space. "Your Highness, I never knew. I apologise for m-"
I immediately grabbed Rhaeya by the shoulders, forcing her back to a sitting position. "Are you stupid?!" I hissed in her face, glancing around for eyes. "Don't bow to me!"
"But you're a Royal!" She hissed back.
"I'm your student! And I'm not officially a Royal yet! I haven't been declared yet."
"Right..." Understanding passed through her. "Your eighteenth birthday. That's a year away."
I grimaced. "About that... I turn eighteen next month."
"You're... You're seventeen?" I nodded. She exhaled harshly, turning away as she ran a hand through her hair. I could see it all the emotions run through her eyes. The disbelief, the surprise, the confusion, the worry. She finally looked back up at me, more than questions in her eyes. "You're... You're not sixteen. Like the others."
A statement. Not a question. I shook my head. "No, I'm sorry. I'm not talented. I'm just old, and somehow, a Royal."
Rhaeya leaned forward, her head in her hands. It wasn't long again before she jolted upright, curiosity on her face. "Wait, the Prince Regent is adopted, right?"
"As far as I know."
"His-I mean, your parents are... dead?"
"As far as I've been told."
"So, the rumours about your parents being from opposing Royal families of that time, Fire and Water, are true?"
I nodded once more. "I think you've got it down."
"But... But both of you are Fire." I gave her an uncertain look. "Well, the Prince Regent can't be Water because he's... Fire... And the Fire Prince Regent. How'd both of you turn out Fire?"
"That's something we both should know some basic biology for, but no. I'm not Fire."
"But the tests declared you Fire."
I paused. "Let me rephrase that, I'm not completely Fire."
There was a very long, uncomfortable pause this time as Rhaeya stared at me, trying to connect the dots. Can't really blame her for taking some time to figure it out. It was a convoluted web of lies.
"You're... Water?"
"And you win the jackpot." I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair. This was taking longer than I thought. "Can we j-"
"But..." She cut me off, still working on it. Her eyes staring away into the distance. "Fire and Water can't exist in one body together. They both have opposite frequencies."
"Tell me-"
"Your body should be torn apart by the sheer improbability of this." Rhaeya started shaking her head. "You can't be Water and Fire. You would be dead."
I sighed. Words didn't leave me anymore as I had a feeling she would interrupt me for the third time. Instead, I decided to show her.
My migraine had lessened by now. I'd rubbed away the blood from my nose and ears before the doctor arrived so he wouldn't ask me to stay for a checkup too. Handling a smaller amount of water was much easier, lesser strain on the mind.
I heard Rhaeya gasp as with barely any exertion, I stilled the motion of the bloody bit of water in the boat. Her breathing stilled as it rose into the air, forming into a rough, undulating ball of water about the size of a small grapefruit before moving outside the edges of the boat and promptly dumping itself. The boat was now clean and dry. As if there had never been any water inside the boat.
I looked up at Rhaeya again. Her tan had gone down another couple of notches. I was starting to feel sad for her. All this knowledge had been dumped on me bit by bit. The part about my parents, the possibility of me being Water as well, Wafi being my brother, my age. Everything had been forced on me bit by bit. And it hadn't been easy for me to bear either. I'd had more than a few breakdowns along the way, a lot of questions, a lot of confusion and questioning myself morally a lot of time because I didn't know what was right or what was wrong anymore.
I still didn't. I was lying to Rhaeya despite my promise to tell her the entire truth. I was going to be lying to some of the most powerful people in the dimension in about a month or so about when it all began. I was going to be lying to the entire Elementalist dimension about how I'd figured out who I was. More specifically, when.
"How did you..." Rhaeya finally spoke after a tensed silence. "How did you bear all this? It's... It's so messed up that I can't even... my head feels like it's going to fall apart."
I sighed. "Well, I haven't exactly taken the stress of hiding all this well. Trust me when I say I've had my fair share of breakdowns. I've been lying to my friends for a long time about this too." I chuckled to myself. "In fact, I didn't think that the first person I'd be telling this to would be you but... here we are."
Rhaeya slumped where she was sitting. The worst posture I'd ever seen from her. Her eyes stared at nothing. "This is ridiculous. You're... You're the Prince Regent's long-lost sister. You're actually seventeen, when everyone thinks you're sixteen. And... And..." She huffed in wonder "I can't believe I didn't see it before but you two really do look quite alike." She looked up at me, eyes wide in wonder. "The eyes, the face... it's almost like you're twins."
I started to felt my face go warm. "Thanks, I guess." I mumbled.
Rhaeya laughed softly. "I'm guessing he's the people person between the two of you."
I shrugged vaguely. "I like people. I've just been sticking more to myself here because of a lot of reasons. The main thing was because of how my year started, the entire Elizabeth thing. After that, it just became a habit of keeping to myself so I stuck to it." And then Wafi told me to keep a low profile.
"When did the Prince tell you this?" Rhaeya frowned. "I mean, it's pretty heavy stuff to drop on someone. It probably wasn't during one of your dinners, right?"
Wafi and I had talked about this. "Christmas." I replied. "He showed up on Christmas to tell me this."
"Ugh," Rhaeya grimaced "like 'Merry Christmas, I'm your brother'?"
I laughed, surprised at the twist that took. "More or less."
"He needs to work on his delivery." Rhaeya smiled at me as she started to stand. "I don't want to see how he's going to propose marriage to someone."
Rhaeya had a lot of questions for me. And I answered all of them, sticking to the timeline Wafi had created. She seemed to be eager to know how I'd been coping with it. What I'd been telling my friends, what Mich thought of it. She was more than stunned to find out that Mich was my godfather.
I found it easier and easier to tell her stuff as we got into it. Maybe it was because I finally got to spill, or she was an eager listener. Either way, it felt like a relief to finally tell it to someone.
When I woke up the next day, the first thought through my mind was Wafi. But it was too early to visit. I waited till breakfast, and impatiently ran upstairs, only to be turned away by the doctor.
"He's resting." The doctor frowned at me from the sliver of the door he'd deigned to open. "Besides, I can't let you see him. You're not related to him."
Of all the types of treatment I'd gotten with Wafi so far— all the weird stares at the restaurant, all the mistreatment, the judgement, the gossip, the constant comparison of our statuses— this one hurt the most. I turned away from the door without another word, steeled my resolve and made a note to tag along with Rhaeya the next time.
It didn't work. Even Rhaeya's threats of certain types of treatment to certain types of body parts didn't get us through. I turned away dejectedly. I'd even tried to use returning his phone as an excuse to get in and see him, but the phone was snatched from my hand and the door slammed in my face yet again.
I gave up by the evening. The doctor seemed to have made it his personal duty to not let anyone he didn't deem fit, through.
I decided to go for swimming to get my mind off of Wafi. Halfway across the beach for the twentieth time, I stopped to float in the water as a chopper passed by overhead. It flew low, headed towards the villa. Realisation passed through me as my mind flickered to the helipad I'd seen by the parking lot. Curiosity fueled my swimming as I headed towards the beach.
All activity on land had paused as the chopper descended. I stumbled out of the water, running up to my clothes and tying my wrap-around at my waist right as the chopper landed and the Regent stepped out. My hopes lit up as I spotted his white hair, and limping gait. His signature cane clacking on the concrete of the helipad was music to my ears. His appearance my key to seeing Wafi.
But he stopped, and turned to wait for the other person to exit the chopper. My tongue dried up in my mouth. My feet refused to work anymore. My mind went into overdrive as my breath stilled itself in surprise.
Christopher.