Magelore Book 1: Smoke and Fire

Chapter 5

Akira

I stormed out of the room, a million thoughts racing through my mind at the speed of light. When Raven and I had made those sparks, I'd felt something. Mr. Ash had told us to draw our fire energy off of whatever we felt towards our partner. I'd used my anger. No, not anger, hatred. Loathing.  Sure enough, it had worked. We'd started a tiny fire. But at the exact moment the fire started, I'd felt something else. Something... I didn't know how to describe it. But it had been exhilarating, and I hated it. I slammed open the door to the girl's bathroom and locked myself in a stall. Breathe, Akira. Just breathe.
All of a sudden, the memory exploded in my brain, as vivid as the day it had happened.
It was just an average day.  I was eight years old. I'd come home from school, and entered the house, expecting my mom and dad to be standing at the door, waiting for me. But neither of them were there.
"Mom?" I called "Dad?"
No answer.
I checked the kitchen. Maybe one of them was already making dinner?
No one.
The living room?
Nope.
I went to my parent's bedroom and was about to knock on the door when I heard a strange sound coming from inside. It sounded like crying, but it couldn't be. Adults weren't supposed to cry, right?
Slowly, I opened the door. There was my dad, sitting on the edge of the bed he and my mom shared. His chest was heaving, and his hand was covering his face. He looked like he was crying. But why?
"Dad? Are you okay?"
He gasped. "Akira!"
My dad reached over and pulled me into a hug.
"What's going on? Where's Mom?"
"Oh, Akira..."
And then he told me everything. And it was all his fault. All Enzo Almex's fault...
"Akira?"
It was Max.
"Akira, are you okay?
I opened the stall door.
"Max, what are you doing here?"
"I thought I saw you go in here and, well... you haven't come out for a while. I thought I would check on you."
"Well, I figured, but... this is the girl's bathroom, Max."
"Right." Max blushed. "Just... looking out for a friend."
"Thanks." I grinned.
"You alright?"
"Yup."
"Awesome. It's free time now, so I'm gonna go. Uh... see you around."
"See ya." I turned and headed for the dorm. Raven was already sitting in her bed when I got there.
"Hey," I said tentatively.
She whirled around. "What?!"
"Uh... I just said hey," I said quietly, bracing myself.
"Hey?! We haven't spoken to each other since you attacked my brother for absolutely no reason, and all you say is 'hey'?"
"Okay, I didn't attack him-"
"You said, and let me directly quote you, you said, 'Fuck you, Oliver'. I would call that attacking." She glared at me. I noticed that her dark blue eyes were actually kind of pretty when the light hit them like that-
Ugh. Stop that, Akira.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," I grumbled.
"That's better. Now leave me, my brother, and my friends alone, you understand?"
I remembered what my dad had said back at the beach. Akira, if you ever see that girl again, tell me right away, you understand?
"Yeah, whatever."
She sighed and turned to face the wall. I crawled into my bed and lay down.

"Get up."
"H-huh?"
"Get up! It's time for class!"
My eyes opened to see Raven standing over my bed, hands on her hips. I must have fallen asleep.
"Ok, I'm getting up," I sighed groggily. I grabbed my backpack and left the room without saying a word.