Twisted Bonds

Chapter 31: New Skills

Emma's POV

Elena didn't trust Isobel, so she kicked her out. I may not trust Isobel, but the idea of a safe house was a good one. If we could get Elena a house under her name, she would be a lot safer. After Isobel left, we left for school.

During my first class, I got a text from Enzo saying that he just got to town. I sent him a text back saying that I'd meet him in the clearing after school. He sent a thumbs up back before I closed my phone and focused on schoolwork.

After my classes, I got a ride home from Elena before immediately making the fifteen minute walk to the start of the trails. I easily navigated my way to the clearing. Entering the clearing, I saw my old friend standing by the small stream. He must've heard me coming, because he turned around at my approach. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. When I reached him, I gave him a tight hug. It was at this moment that I realized how much I missed him. He was the only constant in my crazy life. He returned the hug, holding me just as tight.

When we separated, I quickly started to tell him the details of what had been going on. When I had told him about saving Damon from the burning building the night the Gilbert device was used, he stopped me. "Wait, Damon? His last name wouldn't happen to be Salvatore, would it?" Enzo asked.

"In fact it is. Why? Were you two friends at one point?' I questioned back.

"You could say that..." he responded. I noticed a look of rage in his eyes. Something definitely happened between them.

"You don't like him very much, do you?" I said it as more of a statement.

"Nope." was all he replied.

"Would you mind not killing him? Despite what Elena says, she really cares for him." I asked nervously.

"Fine, but that doesn't mean I have to cooperate with him." Enzo reluctantly complied.

"Of course." I said. I continued with the explanation of what had been going on. When I finished and had answered his questions, I decided to show him a few tricks I had picked up with my powers since I had last seen him to lighten the mood.

"Have you tried to turn rock into magma?" Enzo asked.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"I want to see if you could use your fire ability on the rock to turn it into lava." Enzo explained.

Now, that's an interesting idea. I lifted a chunk of rock from the ground with my power. I tried to focus my fire ability onto said chunk of rock. After a couple of minutes, I was about to give up. But then, I realized part of the chunk started to light up. I watched the rock begin to break, lava seeping through the cracks. I kept my concentration, not wanting to drop the liquifying rock.

Soon, the solid chunk of rock turned into a glob of hot magma. I could feel the intense heat it gave off. I decided to stop heating it up with my fire ability. The lava began to darken before it turned into a charred lump of stone. I dropped it and threw some water over it to make sure it wouldn't set the grass aflame.

I looked back at Enzo. He smiled broadly at me. "I didn't know I could do that." I mumbled out.

"Well, now that you know you can, why don't we try something else. Let's do the same thing to water and create steam and fog." Enzo suggested. I smiled and took a few steps closer to the stream.

Mission complete. There was a sheet of steam and fog covering the surface of the stream. "Try using your air ability to help control the fog. Create a fog patch somewhere in the clearing."

Turns out, doing so was easier said than done. I had trouble controlling the fog. Creating it was easy, but moving it around was a different story. Using my water ability to control the smallest particles of water was proving difficult. I had never had to do anything like this before.

After a solid ten minutes, I finally managed to create a small patch of fog between Enzo and I. I released my hold on the fog and it moved around before dispersing. "Hopefully, that will become easier with practice..." I said.

"Try doing the opposite." Enzo suddenly suggested.

"What?" I asked.

"You can also extinguish flames, right? Can you take the heat out of something? Like turning water into ice?" Enzo explained.

I thought about it. Whenever I extinguished a flame, I always had to see the flames. Always, except for...when I had to save Damon from the burning building. I had to imagine the flames being extinguished instead of actually seeing them.

I lifted a small ball of water out of the stream and closed my eyes. I imagined the ball of water as a flame that needed to be extinguished. I imagined the flame getting extinguished. How it would look, how it would feel. The heat energy being pulled from the flame. I opened my eyes and saw a solid ball of ice floating above my hand. I smiled triumphantly at Enzo.

We spent the rest of the afternoon messing around with my powers. After thoroughly exhausting myself, I used the last bit of my energy to get back to the house. The minute I walked into the house, I collapsed onto the couch.

The next day came by and I was approached by the bubbly blond known as Caroline. "Hey Emma! I just wanted to know what you are wearing for the decade dance."

"Actually, I'm not planning on going." I admitted.

"What? Why not? It's gonna be so much fun!" Caroline tried to convince to go to the dance.

"Because dances really aren't my thing. Besides, I have no date to go with. You, Bonnie, and Elena all have a date to the dance, so I don't have a group I could go with. And going alone won't be any fun for me. I'll just end up sitting on the gym bleachers the entire time waiting for someone to ask me to dance." I explained.

"What? That won't happen! I'll even let you borrow Matt for a couple dances if you'd like. You can't spend your entire high school career sitting at home. So, I'll take you dress shopping after school. See you later." Caroline said while she walked away, not even giving me a chance to respond.

Well fuck. Guess I have no choice.