Chapter 34 - Powerful

Arik stared at the puddle of water on the grass. She was powerful. Normally, it would’ve frozen the whip, but it had barely turned it to water. He worked his jaw a few times. “Never do that again,” he said in a strained voice.

The girl didn’t seem to notice anything wrong. “Fine. Sorry.”

He stood there and looked at her. Looked at the second most powerful person he had ever seen in his life. The most powerful being his father, but he wasn’t in his life anymore, so that didn’t really count.

“Okay,” he said after a while. “We’re going to do the same with water.”

“Um, how much heat do I have to put into it?”

Arik shrugged. “As much as you want. As long as it melts the ice but doesn’t turn into a flame.” He held his hand over the puddle and the water snaked its way up into the air. He held it so that it hovered between his two hands and drew it into a series of different shape, whipping them across the trees. The trees split into half and crashed down onto the ground. “Try that.” He dropped the water and flicked his wrist so that the trees reattached and repaired itself.

After some hesitation, she mirrored his actions and did the exact same thing.

Arik nodded and flicked his wrist once more so that the trees would repair themselves.

But she wasn’t done yet. She drew the water out so that they looked like long streamers and wound it around both of them, swirling.

Suddenly, Arik realised that the water was coiled and hovered around him and him alone. He looked up as realisation dawned on him. “Don’t—”

Smirking, the girl constricted her hand into a fist, and the water splashed all over him.

He gritted his teeth. “—do it.” He closed his eyes and willed himself to keep calm. “Never do that again either.”

“I really like that the vein’s that bulging on your forehead,” she said cheerfully.

“Do something like that again and I’ll strangle you with it.” He opened his eyes again and clicked his fingers so that the water from his clothes and body evaporated. “You know how to produce fire and water, but do you know how to extract it from somewhere or something else like I just did?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Arik summoned up a puddle of water and let it drop next to his feet. “Pick that up.”

She picked it up and threw it at him. Luckily, he saw that one coming and ducked. That was the last straw. He straightened up, clicked his fingers, and a gust of wind circled her and blew her off. When the wind died down, the girl was hanging by her hair from a tree.

He grinned. “Are you going to be good?”

“Yes,” she replied sulkily.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Swear on your life?”

“Get me off this tree, retard.”

***

“Mother.” Arik bowed.

“Arik.”

“I want to…I want an appointment with the chief.”

His mother’s eyes bored into him. “Is there a reason for this…appointment?”

Arik gritted his teeth. No, I just want to invite him out for a cup of tea. “Yes. It’s about the girl.”

She looked at him speculatively for a while before picking up the phone. “Sir, Arik Channing is here to see you. He says it’s about the girl. Yes. Of course, sir.” She put down the phone. “You may go in to Room Number One.”

“Thank you, Mother.”

She nodded graciously at him before he walked past her desk and into the room.

“Channing?” The boss entered the room from a secret door.

“Sir,” Arik said, standing up. “It’s a pleasure to be able to talk to you…in person.”

“Yes, well, the girl’s important.” He sat down opposite to Arik and motioned for him to sit down. “What seems to be the problem?”

“The thing is, Sir…she’s very powerful. She’s more powerful than anybody I’ve ever seen. Other than my father.”

The boss scowled at the mention of Arik’s father. “We all know the sorceress is powerful. So what seems to be the problem?”

“She’s almost as powerful as I am. Maybe even more powerful than any of us. I’m not sure whether I can teach her all the skills properly.”

“Channing, I chose you because I thought you were one of the best trainers in this company.” He narrowed his eyes. “Do you doubt me? Do you doubt my decisions?”

“No, Sir,” Arik hastened to explain. “It’s not that. Of course not. Never. Ever. No.”

The boss leant back in his chair. “So is there still a problem?”

Arik faltered. “No, Sir,” he stuttered.

The boss raised an eyebrow slightly, picking up on Arik’s hesitation. “You can leave now.”

“Thank you for your time, Sir.” Arik stood up and bowed to him before leaving.

***

“Hey,” she said as he climbed into bed next to her and kissed her. “Where were you? You disappeared after lunch.”

“I had to go see the boss.”

“Really? Why?”

He shrugged. “There was something we needed to talk about.”

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