“Elena, why are you wet?” he asked. He clutched a pot of tea in his hands.
Tears streamed down my face as I tried to control my breath. “Please, there's no time to explain, just come with me.”
As I looked at him with panic in my voice my eyes begged him not to ask questions. Understanding my urgency, he called Constance over the phone and told her to meet us down at the main entrance. With me leading the way, we ran down the stairs back to the lake and met Constance near the entrance carrying a doctor's bag.
“Elena, the lake is off limits at night!” Master Longwei roared once he realized where we were heading.
“I'm sorry, sir. Becky said ...” I couldn't finish my sentence as my throat began to close with emotion.
Tears rolled down my face in torrents, and I was so scared that it might already be too late.
“Becky knows the rules, she should've known better. What happened?” he asked. I couldn't speak.
“Elena, we need to know what happened,” Constance tried.
I could tell she was just as concerned. “Lightning!” I managed to squeak out.
The instant the word escaped my lips; Master Longwei and Constance found a faster speed and left me in the dust.
When I finally made it back to the lake, I heard Master Longwei scolding someone.
“Becky, how could you be so irresponsible!” he said. The sound of her name lifted my spirits instantly.
I saw Becky. Where I had left her on the ground, with a thousand electricity volts running through her, she was now standing, facing off against Master Longwei.
“March!” Master Longwei shouted, looking pissed off.
I struggled to take my eyes off her. She looked fine, except for her hair. It was standing straight up in every direction. The smell of burnt hair lingered in the air and electricity ran up from the tip of her strands to the top of her roots, releasing a spark every once and awhile. Her face looked petrified, with big round eyes that were forever changed by the horror of tonight.
“What happened, Lucian?” I asked when I finally found my voice.
“I don't know. One minute she was down and the next she was back on her feet shaking it off as if it was nothing,” Lucian said, rambling fast. His voice broke on the last part.
“Are you okay?” I could see how shaken he was by the whole event.
He was pale and looked as if he was about to faint. “Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out what the f--” He wanted to curse but swallowed his words.
We were all ordered to return to the castle and were escorted straight to Master Longwei's office.
“Master, I have to examine Becky,” Constance said, as she led her away. Becky started to protest, but Constance hissed something in her ear that silenced her.
Lucian, Dean, Sammy, and I entered Master Longwei's office, and the look he gave the four of us was worse than the scolding.
“What happened?” he asked harshly.
“Master Longwei, she got hit by lightning and went down. I don't know how she can still be alive. There was so much voltage running through her I know for a fact that she should not be here.” Lucian spoke fast; it must be something he did whenever he was nervous.
“Lucian, how could you go to the lake at this time of night? You of all people know better. Anything could have happened—”
“It wasn't entirely his fault, we were all there too,” I said.
Master Longwei's eyebrow arched and then he turned his glare at me. That one look made me suddenly wish I’d never found Paegeia. “I don't know how things worked on the other side of the wall, young lady, but here we have rules. You risk your own life and the life of your friends when you disobey them. We also do not speak out of turn when an elder is talking.”
My lower lip started to quiver softly. My father always told me to share the blame if I was a culprit too. I wasn't being disrespectful and started to become angry that he had insinuated that.
“I will have to think about what punishment to give you four. You can be glad Becky is still alive. You may go. If I ever catch you going for a midnight swim again, I promise none of you will see the light of day until you graduate!” he roared, allowing us to make our escape.
My knees wobbled as I climbed down the stairs, and I had to catch my balance on the handrail several times.
“It's going to be fine, Elena,” Lucian said soothingly, rubbing my arms to try to restore the blood that had drained from my body.
I just nodded, trying hard not to cry.
“My father is so going to kill me,” Dean said, walking next to Sammy.
“Let's just hope that was a warning.” Lucian took a deep breath, clearly still shaken.
I noticed Sammy didn't say anything about her father. He would probably laugh at it after having to deal with Blake's shit all of the time. Her punishment would probably be a breeze. She did look anxious though as we got closer and closer to our room.
Dad would have been angry too. I silently wished he was still here to yell at me.
“Hey, are you okay?” Lucian asked, as we were about to climb the stairs to the girl’s dorms.
I shook my head, not knowing if I was okay, and he pulled me closer.
His arms felt good, but somehow it didn't lessen my anger. “Everything's going to be okay, I promise. See you tomorrow.”
I kissed him quickly on his lips and ran up the stairs.
“Goodnight, guys,” Sammy said, and I heard their faint grunts in acknowledgement.
We reached our room and fell on our beds. I felt as if I could have ripped my pillow into a gazillion pieces. My feelings were so messed up. A part of me felt so angry and the other part worried sick about Becky. I didn't know how to cope with it. How could lightning strike someone and the person still be alive?
“It's okay, Elena,” Sammy said, walking over to my bed and trying to calm me down. “Becky's fine.”
I just laid my head on Sammy's lap and sobbed. “Becky could have died tonight, and then what?”
Sammy stroked my back softly. “It's going to be fine, you’ll see.”
We both jumped as Becky opened the door. Her hair was still fanned out in every direction. I just wanted to hug her.
“Stay away!” she ordered both of us. Her eyes were huge and she held her hands in the air as if she was a mime trapped in a glass box.
“How is this possible?” I yelled, not quite sure what or whom I was furious with.
“Are you okay?” Sammy frowned at me and looked back at Becky with soft eyes.
“I'm fine, I have ascended!” she said.
“You have what?” I was still yelling. What is wrong with me?
“I have ascended.” She couldn't hold her tears back anymore. They came pouring from her eyes.
Sammy stepped closer and reached out to touch her.
She put her hands up in the air again, backing away and sobbing. “Don't touch me!”
We just stood there in silence and waited for Becky to calm down. Sammy kept cooing that it was going to be okay and it began to calm her down.
Becky took a deep breath. “Constance said that I still have so much electricity running through me that I can power up the entire academy for a whole week. She actually thought about doing that.” New tears streamed down her face and left small sparks in their wake. She didn't even flinch.
I guess she was really immune to it. The image of Constance's wiring Becky to draw the electricity from her formed in my mind. It made it hard not to laugh.
“They’re phoning my mom as we speak,” she explained.
“It's going to be okay, Becky,” Sammy said again for the millionth time.
“No, it's not,” she yelled. “Don't you guys get it? I can manipulate lightning. That’s my power, stupid freaking lightning.”
Sammy and I looked at her as if she had fried some of her brain cells too.