Chapter nineteen
Recap:
“Hey Colin, is everything okay? You did really good back there” I greeted him.
“Oh yeah, everything’s fine. I just want to see how you were. It’d been ages since I last saw you and after hearing what you said about what you experienced when you were captured...man, I don’t even know. You’re one tough girl, Val”
“Thanks, Colin” I was surprised at his compliment. Was I tough? I didn’t feel like I was, for as long as I could remember I would break down and cry for many situations... a lot. “But I’m totally fine. I’m just glad to be back here”
Behind me the rest of the group were waiting and throwing Colin curious looks. He looked behind and smiled, waving at them. “That’s good. Hey everyone... great stuff with the demonstrations, I was totally wowed at the abilities of the new Elementals. Crazy stuff! And Bree, when you actually flew around the gym and then made a mini tornado to pick me up and spin me around, that was brilliant!”
His enthusiasm was contagious and soon all the Elementals were grinning at him while Bree laughed. “Well, you seemed pretty keen to be the test dummy for the ride, even when I warned you that I hadn’t practiced doing that safely”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I’ve fractured my butt, but it was worth the flying lesson!” He joked. “Well, I’ll let you guys go. I’m going to be late for my next class! Bye!” Colin waved one more time and was soon dashing down the hallways without another glance.
“You don’t think I actually fractured his butt, do you?”
***
[Val’s POV]
“Colin is quite an... interesting Abled” Evanesce noted while Chimera nodded beside her.
“He seems to be open to anything” Michelle added while she wrapped her scarf around her head and tucked in any stray hairs. I nodded and smiled. We all continued walking together down the hallway towards our next class and I squeezed past other students.
“He’s always been one to stand out, and his opinions just seem to shoot right out of him.” I chuckled. I could still remember the first time I noticed Colin in History class and he’d gone head to head with Mr Arbit. He was quite quirky, but he pulled it off well. “At least you all know that there’s at least one other Abled on your side here.”
As we walked down the hallways, I noticed the attitude of most of the Abled students had changed towards the Elementals. They didn’t give them a wide berth as we neared as though the Elementals were sharks and they were the fish being preyed on, instead they would offer smiles, nod at them or even murmur a quick greeting. Combat class, and having the Elementals bare their abilities to everyone, seemed to have shown them that they were all both strong and vulnerable at the same time. Almost as though the Abled students now saw them as equals instead of something they didn’t know where to place.
“I’m so exhausted already, and we’ve only finished our first class for today” Helena huffed as she walked up next to me.
“Tell me about it... I don’t feel as though I have the strength for any more classes. I just want to collapse in bed and sleep until the end of the world!”
“Which could be any day now really...” Derrek piped in as he swung his arm over my shoulders, his heat immediately wrapping around me.
“You could at least try to be a little more positive, you know” Helena raised an eyebrow at him. “If anything, that’s what everyone here needs.”
Derrek and Helena continued talking and my mind slipped as I looked outside. The rain had let up slightly but dark clouds still clustered throughout the sky. I breathed in deeply and felt the dewy atmosphere fill me, revitalising me with every breath. After the weeks of having the moisture sucked out of me, and everything surrounding me, I seemed to have developed a deep appreciation for the simplest amount of dew hanging in the air.
“Val, tell Derrek he needs to lighten up” Helena turned to face me with an amused expression colouring her face.
“Oh, I don’t know if I should...” I replied with a straight face.
“See? She has my back-“
I interrupted Derrek as a smile crept onto my face, “I mean, that’s the last thing you want to tell a Fire-abled when his arm is slung around your body. He might set me on fire!” Derrek threw me an unamused look while Helena and I burst out laughing, just enjoying the little pleasures in this dark and gloomy time.
“So, what class is this for anyway? I’ve lost track of what we have since everything has basically changed now” Derrek asked while we waited in a large empty classroom filled with at least thirty other students.
“First aid, I think?” Helena answered him, “I think it’s actually going to be quite interesting. All other Ableds have never had to do this kind of class before. Usually it’s just down to the Healers but what with Healers being quite a small group and the enormity of the impending war... I guess Mr Obsidian decided it was a good idea that everyone looks out for everyone.”
I looked around and noticed the Elementals weren’t in here with us. “Where’d the Elementals go? I thought they were walking with us?”
“They weren’t in this class because, well... their abilities don’t really have a way of doing first aid right? I mean Cameron has a better chance of breaking bones, with Bree and Sophia, well, wind manipulating and shift shaping won’t do much for helping anyone who’s injured, that goes for Michelle and Leah as well.”
“And then Evanesce and Chimera become a shadow... hard luck that’ll help anyone who’s bleeding out” Derrek jumped in.
I took in what they were saying and guessed they had a point. “So this class is mainly for Abled then, I suppose?”
“Looks like it”
“Except for me” I turned and noticed Blake was standing behind us with his hands stuffed into his pockets. “I guess it’s because my abilities is similar to Water-ableds” He shrugged.
The chatter around the room was loud. I could feel the excitement oozing from everyone as they clustered together in groups and wondered who would teach us and how it would all be done. I was extremely curious as well. I’d seen Derrek use his fire abilities to stop bleeding several times already and it made me wonder how he knew to do that. I was just about to ask him when Ms Insolita, our Abilities Tutorial teacher strode in looking flustered. Ms Insolita’s hair was frazzled more than normal and I put it down to the weather outside. She hurriedly walked over to the desk that sat front and centre, tripping over her long sequined dress a couple of times, and by the time she had composed herself and turned to face us several students were chuckling quietly.
“Hello students! Welcome, welcome to First Aid, for those who haven’t had me as their tutor my name is Ms Insolita. I am Earth-abled but well equipped to tutor many Ableds on their abilities. As you may know, it is not the norm for non-Healers to learn First Aid and this is because we’ve never had the need to since The Stinger Eradication... I take it you all still remember your History? However, even during that war it was solely up to the Healers to heal the injured. Does anyone know why this impending war may be any different?”
Ms Insolita looked round the room with a raised eyebrow that was barely seen over the top of her gigantic glasses. Everyone looked around with blank faces, until Helena cleared her throat. “It’s because this war is unlike any other war that has happened, or will ever happen. We don’t know what we could be facing and what sort of injuries could be inflicted”
Ms Insolita slowly nodded her head, and I didn’t fail to see Helena slowly rubbing the faint scar that wrapped around her arm. “That is correct,” she nodded, while looking over every student in the class. “No doubt you can understand the confusion that would come with fighting these... Deviants... I heard of the Combat class you all had before this one and to imagine that these Elementals were only the first few experiments of Malum. I have heard that there are two students here that have been injured by both Malum and a Deviant...?”
My eyes widened slightly. I didn’t want that little fact to be pointed out to everyone, and by the uncomfortable look on Helena’s face I could tell she didn’t want that either. I looked back at her and saw Blake had placed his hand over Helena’s so she would stop rubbing her scar and offered her a supportive smile. I sighed and bit my lip, Ms Insolita was looking straight at us, silently encouraging us. I took a deep breath, feeling my heart beat solidly against my chest wall as the memories threatened to take over.
“Yes... I have” I spoke out loud, though it came out a little high pitched.
“And me, too” Helena whispered.
“I can tell it has had a tremendous effect of you two,” our tutor smiled sympathetically, “More than just physically as well. Would you mind telling us of your experience?”
Taking a deep breath, and feeling Derrek wrap his arm tighter around me, I cleared my throat and decided that if the Elementals could open themselves up and be vulnerable for the sake of helping other Abled understand, then I could as well. “Last year when I was kidnapped by Malum and experimented on down in the caves below the campus he used methods of experimenting I’d never heard of before. It was painful, and it was horrible. Coupled with his Stinger abilities and I wished I’d just have been killed instead.” I raised my trembling hand and tucked my hair over my ear, showing my temple. “It’s only a small scar, the size of a cigarette burn, but no matter what the Healers do, they can’t heal it completely...”
“Val’s right.” Helena piped in, with a stronger voice than my own. “My... injury was only very recent, and done by one of Malum’s more recent experiments. A Deviant. This experiment was a cross between a man and a praying mantis, his arms were blade-like and before I could even realise what he was about to do...” Helena took a deep breath and raised her arm, “He had cut my arm completely off in one slice. I was lucky enough to still have my arm because I was losing blood so quickly, and Blake had rushed me to the Healers. Nurse Oakley was able to heal me... but like Val, the scar doesn’t go away.”
Whispers filled the room just as we finished talking and I could feel their eyes probing at the imperfections that would scar us forever. “Thank you Helena and Valerie. That was very brave of you.” Ms Insolita whispered before turning to the class again. “As you can gather from just two experiences that Malum and his Deviants are not normal and have something that we may never comprehend. This is why we need to look out for each other and learn first aid that best suits each of your abilities.”
Soon after Ms Insolita had finished, we were all arranged into groups of three – one different ability per group, except for ours where Blake had joined us. Since the majority of the time Ableds with similar abilities tended to stick together this made for a few uncomfortable groupings, but I was happy to be able to stick with my own little unit. Derrek, however, was keen to dump Blake with another group.
“It was just a suggestion,” He shrugged with a roll of his eyes.
“Okay students!” Ms Insolita called out over the hubbub. “Just out of curiosity, who knows what Earth-ableds would be able to use their ability for in case of an injury?”
“A tourniquet?” A red-headed girl called out from the corner.
“Correct” Came the tutors reply. “Anything else?” No one else was able to come up with an idea and even I had couldn’t think of another use. I’d seen Helena use vines to twist a tight tourniquet before to slow down the bleeding, but I realised that I really had no idea what else Earth-ableds could do.”
Ms Insolita lifted a corner of her mouth and shook her head. “You’re all not thinking big enough! Yes, Earth-ableds may use their abilities to summon up vines and twist tourniquets but how about splints, casts, walking sticks... goodness, even a wheelchair if you really had the time! Think outside the box, students!”
“Wow!” Helena smiled, “I never thought of all those!”
“Water-ableds! Throw your ideas out! If one of your friends had sustained an injury, and there were no Healers around, what could you do for them?”
“Umm... cleaning the wound?” An uncertain voice called out from somewhere in the sea of students.
The teacher sighed, “Yes. Yes, I suppose cleaning would be handy. But what else? If, like Helena, your friend had lost a limb what could you do?!” Ms Insolita’s enthusiasm as she spoke was driving the keenness to know and yet I couldn’t think of anything. If we hadn’t been thrown from the Stinger hideout to Abled University when her arm was cut off what could I have done? I though hard, and yet couldn’t seem to conjure up an idea. This was all too new for us to think ‘outside the box’ as she had said.
“You could freeze their limb,” Ms Insolita urged. “Healers may be able to heal but just how they are unable to heal the dead, they cannot reattach or heal dead tissue from unattached limbs! For example, you can freeze those dismembered arms or legs! But, if they had lost their limb or are bleeding out so much that they are losing too much blood, you can even freeze the area that’s bleeding out.”
“You mean... like frostbite?” Blake called out confusedly. “Won’t that mean they can’t heal it after? Or have any use of it?”
Our teacher smiled grimly. “Yes, indeed. But would you rather lose a hand... or die? Losing something, or the ability to use something, may just be well worth the price if you get to live.” She looked over the students and everyone watched her silently, perhaps coming to terms that First Aid using our abilities may not mean that we would be able to be back to normal afterwards. “Now, Fire-ableds, how can you use your ability when it comes to First Aid?”
I looked over at Derrek but he looked as though he wasn’t going to answer, so I called out instead. “They could burn the wound to seal off the bleeding and kill infection.”
“Right you are, Valerie. You seem to have known that quite easily?”
“Experience” I shrugged back, lowering my eyes and when I felt the stares on me again.
“I see... Well, Valerie is correct. This would be more painful than Water-ableds freezing you, but the end result would be better. This method had actually stemmed back a few hundred years ago. Incidentally, that was how non-Abled humans had begun to use it during the old Western era using heated metal tools or knives, too. So now that you all know of a few methods, go and practice on each other starting with Earth-ableds first. Water and Fire-ableds, no serious injuries, please!”
For the rest of the class all the groups were concentrating on how to use their abilities in case there was a first aid emergency. Derrek didn’t bother to pretend burning a wound closed because he’d done it so many times and had it perfected as far as I was concerned. He’d threatened Blake several times when Blake tried to freeze his hands from behind Helena, and this ended with Derrek tackling Blake to the ground and both of them ended up with a broken bone in their hands.
“Honestly! You two need to sort yourselves out!” Helena grumbled as she twirled her fingers and created a splint for both of them. “This is becoming ridiculous!”
“Wonderful splints, my dear!” Ms Insolita beamed as she patted the sturdy vine splints twisted around Blake and Derrek’s hands. They both winced and I swear I saw her smile broaden before adding, “You can both go to the infirmary after class.” As soon as class ended Helena and I walked Derrek and Blake to the infirmary, while a few others walked behind us. Apparently a handful of Abled students were a little too enthusiastic and some ended up with breaks or fractures and even burns.
“Hey Sparky... I never did ask how you knew to burn wounds shut so well? It never really occurred to me that Fire-ableds don’t normally do the whole ‘healing’ thing until this First Aid class.”
Derrek and I fell behind until we were walking alone, he stayed silent and only when I looked up to his eyes did I notice he seemed tense. His eyebrows furrowed and his jaw was clenched tightly. “It’s a long story, Tadpole, and not a very happy one either.”
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A/N
Should... should I hide from all the rotten vegetables you’ll be throwing at me? I’m sorry guys! I really, really am! But nursing has had me up late at night, and my daughter’s had me wake up in the early hours of the morning. There was no time! I swear! My writing skills are a bit rusty, give me a little time to loosen the old fingers back into storyteller mode!
Now that I know that time will be quite limited, I’ve decided to try out writing during my little breaks while I study. Also, you can all thank my younger brother for me getting back into writing. I’ve finally let him read my Elemental series and he loves it. He’d finished the 2nd book and won’t leave me alone to keep writing. He’s practically given me a deadline hahaha. So throw you gratitude and thanks his way haha.
I actually didn’t mean foro this chapter to be all first aid-y just because I’m studying nursing... it kind of just turned out that way because of the last chapter haha, so it turned out coincidentally lol!
Anyhoo...
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Nix <3