The Phoenix Prophecy: Nova

I shed my clothes like a snake peeling away from its skin and leave them at the water’s edge. My body slices through the water. Down below the surface. Deep, deep down into the darkest part of the lake. The heart. The place where the water’s power is strongest.

For so many years, I was kept underground. Sealed in concrete. Away from the very thing that sustains me. A water mage who didn’t touch a drop of water for fifteen years. Even the fluid I drank was pumped into me through a tube. So it didn’t grace my lips.

The Human Extinction League.

H.E.L.

They did it deliberately; they wanted an empath. They didn’t care about my other talents. They believed that if they deprived me of access to my elemental affinity, they would be able to enhance my secondary gift.

They were right.

With no other outlet, my power channeled itself into reading feelings. I sensed emotions through walls. Across state boundaries. Eventually, across continents. And I learned how to manipulate them.

At the bottom of the lake, I forget all those things. I forget what they made me do. I forget the pain.

Usually, when I surface, it hits me. I stand naked in the moonlight, and I allow the pain to batter my skin. I deserve it.

Tonight, however, something is different. I wait for the usual crushing sensations, sounds, and memories to flood my brain. But they don’t. I gather my clothes and check my phone. There’s a message from Kole.Têxt belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.

When you finish your swim, don’t dry off. I want you wet and waiting for me.

My lips twitch into a knowing smile; it’s been too long since he emerged from the trees, his eyes drinking me in, hungry and desperate.

I push my fingers through my wet, blond hair and type a quick reply: Yes, Sir. 

It’s too cold to wait on land, so I go back to the water and swim to the falls. I stand beneath them and let them pummel my shoulders. The memories still don’t come. For now, the sting of the water can serve as my punishment. When Kole arrives, he can dish out the rest.

I look up at the moon. A cloud crosses in front of it. Then, suddenly, it’s raining. I didn’t feel it coming. Didn’t sense it.

Something is off.

I head for the shore, grab my clothes, and dive under the shelter of the trees. Not because I don’t like the rain, but because that phone cost me seven hundred bucks and I can’t afford to lose another to water damage.

Something is coming.

I look up at the dark canopy. Water is dripping through the gaps in the leaves. It’s as if the rain is speaking to me.

I’m still staring when another message comes through from Kole. I smile as I open it up, expecting him to say he’s on the way. But as I read his words, my smile fades.

Come to the Cross. S.O.S.