Sorceress' Scheme
Part Ten
"So tell us, Jen, how did you get to be able to do what you did?" Micky asked, interested. He sat down next to Davy, and everyone else joined them, sitting in a circle around Jenny.
"It's nothing amazing, really," Jenny said, suddenly a little shy of all the attention.
"That's okay," Mike said. "We're bored."
"Well I guess it all started right after lunch..."
"I thought you weren't going to mention the food," Davy reminded her.
"Sorry. Anyway, it was right after ... that... and I was walking home from school."
"School?" Peter interrupted. "You were in school?"
"Yeah, this was back when I was I guess about...oh, sixteen," Jenny replied. She continued with the story. "I lived a little bit east of here, by the way. Over in eastern Nevada.
"Anyway, when I was walking home from school I passed this Indian reservation. There used to be one near my house, and I would spend some time there occasionally. There was an old Indian who lived there who had for some reason taken a liking to me.
"He was very old and the day that I'm talking about he was starting to die. The other people in the tribe were very worried about him, but he wasn't scared. He was really old and I guess that meant that he figured he would die eventually.
"So I went into see him. He was really weak. He couldn't even sit up, he was so tired. So he just laid there and I talked to him. He told me that he'd had many children, many sons, and many daughters, but he didn't think that any of them was worthy for the gift he wanted to give.
"He also was not quite pleased with his grandchildren. So he gave the gift to me. It was a small rainbow colored stone in a leather pouch. He didn't have time before he died to tell me what it was, what it did or where it came from."
Jenny reached into her back pocket and dug out the leather pouch. She showed it to everyone, and then opened it. Inside was a roundish type stone that seemed to be every color of the rainbow. She held it out so that everyone could see it.
"I always keep it with me so I can remember the old man," Jenny explained. "He died soon after I got this stone. About a week later, I think. A few years later was when I obtained my powers.
"I think I was visiting the beach at the time. I had just come to California and I'd never seen the ocean before, so it was really cool to me. I was just sort of staring out at the water and then I felt that I could almost understand it. "
"Understand it?" Micky interrupted suddenly. "How can you understand water?"
Jenny shrugged. "I don't know," she replied defensively. "I only know that's what happened. I could almost understand the water. Later I found the same thing happening with fire, air, and the earth, too."
"So your powers come from the elements?" Peter asked. "Interesting."
Jenny nodded. "Yep. I meant to tell y'all earlier, but there just wasn't time or anything," she added. "So you found out this way."
The rock chamber fell silent again as no one had anything to say.
Dodge left, dodge right, fire, fire. Dodge right, dodge left. Fire. Fire. A hit! A minor hit, but a hit nonetheless.
'You'll never defeat me,' Mari repeated for what seemed like the millionth time.
'Perhaps,'he replied. 'But I am not giving up.'
The desert scene they had been battling in faded away. 'Enough,' Mari declared. 'I tire of this battle.'
Thomas was tired as well, but not willing to admit it. 'Giving in then?' he asked.
Mari shook her head. The darkness faded away. 'You are a strong boy, she admitted. 'It is not as easy to defeat you as I had thought.'
Thomas smiled slightly. 'You underestimated me,' he replied.
Mari did not answer. 'This will be a long battle,' she stated. 'We have already been fighting for several days.' She sighed. 'Choose your battle field, little boy.'
'I was under the impression that I was no longer a child,' Thomas replied.
Mari didn't respond to that. Thomas changed the scene to something a bit more familiar to him. The surrounding area around them turned more suburban. Slowly it came into focus as his home street.
'Ready to fight?' he asked, now in control of the surrounding area.
There had been silence for the last hour when suddenly, Davy sat up, gasping aloud.
"Davy?" Micky asked, turning towards him.
"Something wrong?" Mike asked.
"What is it?" Peter demanded.
"I don't know," Davy replied, looking at the others. "But somehow I think that something has changed."
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