All this bad blood here, won't you let it dry?
It's been cold for years, won't you let it lie?
And I don't wanna hear about the bad blood anymore
I don't wanna hear you talk about it anymore
Bad Blood ~ Bastille
Tyler
In silence Connor and I walked through the woodland that outlined the school. A cool autumn breeze ran over my goosebump skin. We trudged along a pathway that was lit with fragmented light. The green-leaved canopy above sheltered us from the occasional light showers of rain.
I kicked the dusty woodland trail absent mindedly. Connor did similarly, smiling over at me as he did. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came to mind. He didn’t seem to know what to say either. We looked away from one another, and retreated back to the comfortable silence. I was grateful we’d left Marcus a while back, otherwise we’d be creating small talk, which neither of us wanted. Instead I was left alone with my thoughts, and Connor took photos of the scenery around us.
It was lunch time but neither of us had wanted to eat much. A banana was suffice. Too many thoughts had been gnawing away at me for me to feel hungry.
Two days had passed since the bizarre powergy lesson. I hadn't seen Troye since - not that I cared. It wasn't like I missed his annoying presence, or the constant chatter that I lacked in other classes. He was a horrid distraction that I could live without. I needed to concentrate on school work, on my friendships, on my family. But somehow he occupied my mind more than anything else.
The event had replayed in my mind constantly. Whatever we had done, it was not normal. I’d never done or seen anything remotely similar. It was rare, according to Mr Lester. His words couldn’t be trusted though, seeing as he thought I was passionate about Troye Sivan Mellet.
Because I definitely wasn’t.
We were both pretty powerful. I knew I was a star student in powergy, but I hadn’t expected Troye to be the same. At first I thought Mr Lester was bluffing about us being the two top students. I'd always presumed the other was a cocky boy named Jack who was the other top student. Troye proved me wrong when he deflected both my attacking spells - the ones that had never been deflected by another student before.
It had to be more than just our abilities. Strong Fires and Waters always fought one another, but the spells never seemed to combine.
Maybe it was something to do with ancestry? I’d been taught that your family could have big effects on your strength. Perhaps both our heritages made our powers stronger? I knew that most of my bloodline were just Fires. They were powerful ones - too powerful, in some cases. Maybe we came from families that were once at odds with one another? But, if it was to do with our heritage, who was Troye descended from?
“Tyler?” Connor asked lowly. I turned to him with a smile, thankful for the distraction. His face was bitter. “There’s something-”
I saw a flash a light speeding out from behind a tree. “Look out!” I shouted, pushing Connor out of the treeline as a bolt of lightning raced towards us. I ran after him.
For someone who never took part in sports, in times of need, I could run.
I grateful it wasn’t autumn, otherwise I may have tripped on leaves.The lightning passed us, instead hitting a tree. The tree stump was blackened by the impact. Thunder boomed a moment after.
I glanced at Connor, who was bracing himself, holding on to his knees. "Are you hurt?" He simply shook his head, panting hard.
“Who's there?” I yelled, eyes darting all over the place. Apart form the squawking of retreating birds, nothing could be heard.
A body began to take shape from the side of a tree - the tree the lightning had appeared from. It was a boy, taller than most. I watched as the green hue of his skin faded out. His pupils contracted, colour flooding back into them. His scruffy hair change from a bark brown to mousy blonde. I knew who it was in a heartbeat.
“Joe?” Connor and I asked in unison. He stepped forward, uneven on his feet. He blinked slowly as if the events were slowly catching up with him.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I snapped. He was completely alone, in the woods, hiding something behind his back. That was not a good sign.
“I was just practicing my camoflauge. I figured no one would be in the woods, so no one would know.” I believed him, and my temper dampened slightly. Earths weren’t meant to practice camouflage under the new legislations, incase they tried to escape the law. It was denying them possibly the greatest gift they possessed. I was sympathetic to him wanting to practice.
Without warning he rushed towards us, examining us for any signs of an injury. He kept his hands behind his back, struggling to keep something in his hands still. Tentatively he asked “You didn’t get struck did you?”
Connor chuckled. “No, we just missed it, thank god.”
“Did you cause it?” I asked seriously.
He bit his lip, and checked behind him. Deciding the close was clear, Joe brought forward what he’d been secreting behind his back. It was a glass jar - not extraordinary in any way. A few seconds later it lit up. Bolts of lightning rattled within the jar, flashing from side to side. It darkened again, but sporadically the lightning came back.
“How on earth did you get that?” Connor asked, moving closer to examine it.
“Caspar gave it to me, to protect myself in case anything bad was to happen when he wasn’t around. I didn’t mean to release it - especially not on you two. I’m so sorry... I thought if I released it, the worst happen would be a bird gets struck down. I just got a bit scared, here, alone in the forest. ”
“What dangers are there in these woods?” Connor laughed.
A branch snapped a few feet away. We all spun round to see what had caused it, but nothing was there.
Trust Connor to tempt fate.
Another branch snapped. It was closer that time. Me - being as macho as I was - made a run for it.
I didn’t wait to see what the others were doing. I rushed passed lines of trees, that bent forwards to snatch my clothes. I ran past blurry figures that were pointing at me in confusion. I ran all the way to the riverbank, stopping just in time to prevent myself toppling over the edge.
The murky water was filled with debris and who knows what else. An odour dissimilar from any pleasantries enriched my nose. It may have appeared stagnant at a glance, but the currents running through were visible from beneath the algae. I’d heard enough about the drowning of Louise to know the water could kill you if you were unlucky enough to fall in.
I could hear the footsteps of others rushing towards me. I was about to turn, but then I felt someone’s fingers callous fingers against my arm.
“What the-”
Within a heartbeat I was being shoved into the river.
A second later and I was falling.
In a blink of an eye I was submerged in water.
I struggled against the water as it engulfed me. Every sound in the world faded out. Currents pulled on my clothes, making me sink into its unknown depths. The light above me seemed dimmer. Every move I made seemed futile. The more I struggled the more disorientated I became. I pushed my arms and legs out, but I couldn’t find anything solid. I couldn’t reach the surface. I could feel the lack of breath left in me. My body screamed for oxygen, but I knew opening my mouth was the worst way to react. The water was threatening to extinguish the little spark of life that remained in me.
I felt my eyelids grow heavy. I could feel the water wrapping tightly around me. I drifted deeper and deeper into the abyss of nothing. I knew I’d be dead by the time I reached the river bed. I closed my eyes, willing death to take me. I’d rather die without agony, if I had to die at all.
It was at that point I heard the first noise in a long while - the sound of someone wading towards me. The currents changed. The water grew less dense. I opened my eyes slightly to see a figure heading my way.
Strong arms wrapped around me. The warmth was the most comforting thing I’ve ever felt. I felt sparks fly from where they held me. I was pushed against their chest, relishing in the solid hold. Slowly I was being lifted upwards. The light above me grew brighter and brighter. Sounds began to come back to me.
All of a sudden I broke the surface. I gasped for breath, my arms instinctively latching around the person hold me’s neck. A gwaff noise was made by them but I didn’t care. Air had never felt so good in my lungs. I took quick breaths, trying to fill my lungs. How had I never been so grateful for breathing before?
I turned to look up at my rescuer. My mouth fell open. It was Troye.
I spluttered, my eyes wide in disbelief. He didn’t react. He was staring at the water. He said words too soft for my water logged ears to make out, and the water began to part. Who was he, Moses?
“Did you swallow any of the water?” He said gently into my ear. It confused me for a moment what he had said, his accent seemingly heavier. I tried to ignore how hot his breath was against my frozen body. I shook my head, burying my head into his shoulder. He didn’t try to shrug me off, like I expected. If anything, he brought me closer.
A bubble of energy burst between us. Smoke appeared out of nowhere. Troye was so surprised he almost dropped me. We watched as purple smoke rose from between our bodies.
Someone far away called out to us, but I couldn't make out what. My breath was ragged - too uneven to be normal. I studied the bank, squinting to see who was there. Eventually I saw the shapes of Connor, who was right at the edge, and Marcus, standing with his arms crossed.
“Yeah, I can. I actually paid attention in first aid class,” Troye said. I frowned, wondering what he was talking about, before realising he had been replying to whatever Connor and Marcus had called out.
“What’s happening?” I croaked.
His heavenly blue eyes locked with mine. He stopped walking for a moment, just staring down at me. “When we get to the river bank I’m going to need to perform CPR, okay?”
“Okay,” my voice wavered. He looked away and kept walking. We both ignored the faint trail of smoke we left behind.
Marcus was at the river bank's edge, with his arms open. Like a baby I was passed from one set of arms to another. Marcus held me with a vice grip, fire sparking from his fingers. I felt my body begin to warm up, but it was an uncomfortable heat - nothing like what I’d felt with Troye. I scolded myself at the thought, before Marcus laid me down on the bank.
A while later Troye came over. I stared at him, thinking he was like a model on an advert who'd just been in the water. He was drenched but somehow managed to make it look hot, whereas I looked like a wet dog.
I shook those thoughts out of my head. How had they got there in the first place?
He went down on his knees, and brushed my hair to the side. Afterwards he held my chin and tilted it to the side.
“What are you doing?” Connor asked cautiously.
“Allowing any water to drain from his mouth and nose,” Troye replied, as if it was obvious. I thought it was, but then again, I had been paying attention during the first aid lessons at school.
My head was turned back to the centre. My eyes met with the his. He put the heel of his hand on the breastbone at the centre of my chest. Then he placed his other hand on top of his first hand, and interlocked his fingers. They shook slightly but I tried not to notice. I wanted to believe he knew exactly what he was doing, with no chance of harming me.
He towered over me, his shoulders leveled with his hands. I felt a heavy weight being pushed down on my chest. It was off, then back on. Off-on-off-on. More air entered my lungs with each compression. I could hear Connor singing Stayin’ Alive to get a rhythm. I made a note to myself to never allow Connor to enter any singing competition under any circumstances.
God-knows-how-many-compressions later, Troye removed his hands, and looked down at me.
“Can you breath better now?” He asked. I took a breath in. It was a lot easier than before. I nodded, staring into his eyes.
“Do I need to call an ambulance?” Connor asked.
“No.” I said sternly. If paramedics were to come, they would ask for my name. Then they would find me.
Troye tilted his head and creased his brow, but said nothing to me. He looked over at Connor and said “He should be alright.”
“Do you need to do mouth-to-mouth?” Connor asked, raising an eyebrow. The cheeky little shit.
“I don’t think that’s necessary.” My ears picked up the harsh tone Marcus was using. Troye heard it too. He backed away from me instantly, standing up so fast I thought he’d get a head rush.
“What’s your problem? I just saved your friend from drowning.”
“He wouldn’t need saving if you hadn’t pushed him in in the first place.”
“What?” I gasped, standing up straight away. I got up too quickly, and I doubled over. I became disoriented again, until Troye caught me, holding on to my elbows. He let ago as soon as Marcus put his own arms around me. I got him off me when I was alright, staring at the pair in perplexity.
Troye was shaking his head, and opened his mouth to speak. Marcus cut him off before he could. “You expect me to believe you just turned up out of nowhere, at the perfect time? Fate doesn’t work that way, Troye. I don’t know what you’re up to, whether you’re trying to get into Tyler’s pants or if you want revenge, but you’ve gone too far. You’ve messed up enough today, now get lost.”
I watched Troye’s hands ball up into fists. He looked over at me, hurt washing over his face momentarily. He wanted me to say something. He wanted me to say that he hadn’t pushed me in, that he was in the right place at the right time. But I couldn’t form those words. I wasn’t sure I believed them myself.
“You should go.” I said, crossing my arms like Marcus, because I didn’t know what else to do.
His face hardened up, his eyes narrowing into slits. In an instant he was walking away. Without realising, I found myself stumbling forward as I tried to reach him. Marcus hauled me back fiercely. Connor bit his lip, his eyes flicking between us and Troye.
Not long after, Joe came jogging towards us, frowning. “Why was Troye practically running away? What happened?”
“He pushed Tyler into the goddamn river, that’s what.”
Joe stopped moving, his brow creasing even more. “No he didn’t. He couldn’t have. He was with Caspar . I went to find Caspar, to help get you out. Troye immediately ran for the river, saying he wanted to save you.”
For a moment my heart stopped beating. He wanted to save me?
I tried to ignore the guilt filling me. I tried to believe that telling Troye to leave was appropriate, that I was well within my rights to believe he had pushed me in originally.
Deep down I knew it wasn’t okay. I knew him better now. He wouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have doubted him.
Marcus’ face showed no remorse. “If he didn’t push Tyler in, who did?”
Joe touched his lips in thought. “Well, when I got here, there was only Connor by the river…”
Simultaneously we turned to Connor. His eyes were alight with worry. He was quick to rush out his words. “The Harries were running into the treeline when I arrived. Tyler had already gone over when I got here. I swear I-”
“Connor, no one thinks you did it.”
Next to emerge from the treeline was Caspar. He seemed disheveled, his eyes glazed in confusion. “Where’s Troye? I thought he said he was going to heroically-”
“He’s only gone and done a runner.” Joe said dramatically.
“Where to?”
I tried not to care. I tried to act as if he’s location didn't faze me. I wanted to think he was alright by himself, that his opinion of me didn’t matter. I couldn’t even fool myself by that point.
“I’ll go have a look for him.” I said, not caring if I’d cut someone off. All four boys turned to me this time.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Marcus asked, already stepping towards me.
I backed away quickly. “No, no, definitely not. You’ll just piss him off.”
“What did you do?” Caspar spat out at Marcus, heading towards him already, light shining through his veins. I saw Marcus’ eyes grow larger, but I didn’t stay to watch. Troye was more important right now.
I headed up the bank quickly, soon cursing myself for not thinking it all through. Endless rows of trees were in front of me. The gaps between them were few and far between. Troye could’ve been sitting under any one, and I wouldn’t know. “Troye?” I called out. Birds fluttered above me, but that was all. I had to presume he wasn’t there.
I walked further along, calling his name out from time to time. My voice became quieter and quieter, the gaps between each call growing. Doubt plagued my mind. Maybe he’d already headed back to school? There wasn’t much point in him staying by the river. He might've run off back to the school, to be with his other friends and talk about how badly I messed up.
I rounded another corner, my hope fading with the light. It was then that I spotted him, sitting under a tree overlooking the river. Sighing in relief, I moved towards him. He seemed oblivious to my presence. As I got closer I noticed he was scribbling down words into a small leatherbound book. I wanted to pry, but I knew if he was to catch me, he’d get mad.
Instead I decided to sit down. He glanced over at me as I settled besides him. He glimpsed down at his book, closed it, and put it into his pocket. I thought he would look at me, but instead he focused on the river.
I figured there was only one way to begin what I had to say.
“I’m sorry.”
Troye frowned, but said nothing.
“I should’ve said something. I didn’t think it was you until Marcus said... the seed of doubt is very powerful thing. Connor reckons it was the Harries anyway. I should’ve known you wouldn’t have done that, especially since you rescued me and all. Thanks for that, by the way. I shouldn't have told you to leave. So, yeah…”
Troye was silent a at first, but I saw his lips turn up in a smile. Eventually he looked over at me. “I never expected you to apologise for being wrong.”
“Ah but I didn’t actually say I was wrong.”
“There’s a thing called reading between the lines,” his words gave way to a bubbly laugh. “You’re forgiven anyway. You didn’t do anything wrong. Your friend Marcus is a bit of a dick.”
I laughed along with him. "Today he is. It’s a Fire thing. We’re all dicks.”
“You’re not too bad,” he said quietly, as if to himself.
I quirked my eyebrow. “Oh really?”
His cheeks reddened and he shoved my arm playfully.“Shut up.”
We sat in silence for a moment, watching the water. The water seemed so calm, but now I had first hand knowledge on the evils beneath. I couldn’t concentrate on watching the scenery. I had more pressing matters my mind.“So, that smoke thing… Pretty weird huh?”
He nodded. “Was it something you ate or…”
“I think we both know it’s more than that.”
Troye scrutinised me. “What then?”
“Is it our heritage?”
He scrunched up his face. “I hadn’t thought about that… I mean, my family’s not exactly crossbred. I know my Nan was a member of the Purity Water Gangsters in the 60s... Thinking about it, all of the family I know of are with other Waters. But they’re not powerful as such...”
“Mine families just Fires.”
“What’s your family like?” He asked.
I tensed up. He meant it harmlessly, curious about me. That was not a question I felt comfortable answering. “That’s none of your business.”
Troye gave a short laugh. “What’s the big deal? Are they mass-murders or something? Did they used to trap Waters and eat them?”
“Well at least they could do something, unlike your stupid ancestors, who were part of the failed Water movement. The rest probably think that that's a noteworthy claim to fame."
Troye frowned. “You know nothing about my family.”
“There’s nothing to know. All Waters are idiots.” I inwardly winced at my words, knowing I’d gone too far. Why had I said all that, when I didn’t believe it myself?
I began to take back my words when he stood up abruptly. “Can you actually stop? I thought you came to apologise, not talk about how my whole damn bloodline is supposedly inferior to yours.”
“It is.” I said, before I could stop myself.
He shook his head, muttering “You’re pathetic.” He leant down, to pick up his bag. He looked at me with hard icy eyes. “Why can’t you just have a normal conversation about your family history? Why have you got to be so defensive? What are you so afraid of?”
If only he knew.
A/N
This may shock you, but…
Prepare yourselves…
I am not a first aid expert, and I’ve never drowned.
I know, I know, it’s a real shocker. I’d like to have some privacy during this difficult time.
Seriously though, I’m sorry if I got parts wrong. I was going with what I remembered from fainting whilst surfing when I was 10, and the first aid class I had about 3 years ago. Google’s helpful too. I'd totally recommend it to any of you Bing users still out there.
Also: hell-yeah for the weekly updates (I’m surprised I’ve managed to stick with that so far)
I’m not gonna lie, when I first started writing this, I figured I’d write three chapters and that be it, but look - it’s chapter four!
(Can I just say a MASSIVE thank you to the lovely people who said to update the story - your comments were very motivational ^-^ )
(And to everyone thank you for reading)
Kay, ily, pout and peace out mes petits pois
Emma x
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