Erin The Fire Goddess: The Beginning (11 page)

“You okay?” He looked at me, trying to study my face.

“Yeah fine!” I forced a smile. I didn't want to tell him that I was just picturing him with that Samantha girl.

We walked the short way down a corridor, plastered with all sorts of posters on fitness, and then he knocked on the final door, next to the staff room.

“Come in.” I heard the polite voice of a woman call, from the other side.

Slowly Sean opened the door, as I hid behind him.

“Hi mum.” He said as he walked through the door, almost dragging me in behind him.

“Hi son
.” I heard her reply. I still hadn't plucked up the courage to look round.

“I want you to meet someone
!” He turned to move me to his side.

The woman sitting behind a table, full of a pile of paperwork looked past Sean and right at me.

“You must be Erin.” She smiled warmly as she got up from her seat and walked round to give me a hug. “"I've heard so much about you!” I nervously looked from her to Sean then back again.

“Hi
.” I smiled sheepishly, my throat beginning to dry up, “All good I hope.” I laughed nervously.

“Very much so
." She laughed, "I was beginning to think he'd made you up.” She stepped away then to sit on the edge of her desk. I would say she was in her late thirty's and at least 5'10" or that could have been her heels. She had short brown hair and red glasses, which emphasised her beautiful face. I could definately see where Sean got his good looks from.

Sean moved back to my side and put his arm around my waist, pulling me protectively towards him.

“So what brings you two here?” She was still smiling as she took her glasses off and placed them on top of her head.

“I thought Erin may like to try some of Wendy
's cooking. Is she still working?” I had no idea who Wendy was.

“Yes, she doesn
't finish til 8pm.”

“Okay, we are going to go eat
.” Sean started leading me out the door.

“Don
't be a stranger Erin, pop in anytime. The door is always open!” She called after us.

“What
's your mum's name?"

“Sorry
.” He laughed, as he put his hand to his head, “Ruth and my dad is called Brian. You will get to meet him after we've eaten." I nodded and smiled at him.

“She
's nice,” and I meant it, his mum was really warm and friendly, and looked genuinely happy to see me. I also like the fact that he had apparently been talking about me and for a long time as well.

“And she seemed to like you too
." He pulled me close to kiss the top of my head, as we reached a set of double doors that read 'Wendy's Cafe' above.

“Who
's Wendy?"

“She
's my adoptive Gran.” He smiled fondly as he mentioned her. “"And she is the best cook I've ever met."”

“Sean
!” I heard a stout, robust lady call as we stepped through the double doors of the blue and green cafe. I'd never actually known there was a cafe in the gym. I would have to tell my parents. “What do I owe the pleasure?” She asked as she released him from her embrace, and turned to look at me “Oooooh, this must be Erin?" She looked back to Sean, with a look saying she was hoped she was right.

“It sure is
!” He said as he took my hand.

“Well
, aint you the cutest wee thing!” She said as she quickly embraced me in a tight squeeze.
Well I've never been called that before
. I laughed to myself.

“I thought I would let Erin try some of your wonderful cooking
.” He smiled lovingly at her.

“Well
, you are in luck.” She turned to walk away. "I’ll just pulled some lasagne out of the oven. Be back in a mo." Then she disappeared through another set of double doors, which I assumed was the kitchen.

“You okay?” He asked me again, as he led me to a table in the middle.

“Yeah, I'm fine.” I nodded as I looked around. There were only two other people in here. They looked like they had just been for a workout and were happily digging into a salad.

“Sure
?" he squeezed my hands gently, making me bring my eyes back to the table.

“Yes
." I smiled as I looked into his eyes. I wasn't used to all this friendly attention. I was starting to feel slightly intimidated.

“I love you, you know
.” He picked up my hands and leant down to kiss them. It was only the second time he'd said that, and I was still unsure if I fully believed it. I couldn't get my head around it.

“I love you too
." My heart catching in my throat, my face was turning red. This was going to take some getting used to. It may be easy for me to love him as deeply as I did, but saying it was hard, mainly because I was sure that I would end up with a broken heart.

“Here you go!” Wendy was back with 2 plates of steaming lasagne and salad. “Tuck in.” She smiled at me warmly. She stood there watching me and I realised she wasn't going to leave the table until I had actually tried it.

Nervously I picked up a fork and gently stabbed it into the lasagne, it came away so easily, apart from the stringy cheese that didn
't seem to want to separate from my fork or plate. Using my fingers I gently separated it, blushing as I realised her eyes were still on me.

Carefully placing my hand under the fork, I slipped it into my mouth. I wasn
't sure what I was expecting but this certainly wasn't it.

“Wow
.” I said with a mouth full of lasagne. Sean laughed as he gave me a triumphant smile. It was like it was melting in my mouth. I don't think I'd ever tasted lasagne this good.

“What are you up to this evening?” Wendy was still standing there. I was kind of oblivious now as I ate her delicious food.

“We are going to the DVD shop after this. Erin's family have a DVD night every Friday.” I stopped eating to look at him. I had actually forgotten it was Friday.

“That
's nice.” she told him. “Well, I'll leave you to it.” She started to turn away, but looked back at me. “Nice meeting you, Erin! Don't be a stranger, okay?” I nodded, knowing full well that I would probably want to move in here with food like this.

“You too
.” I smiled as I took another forkful. “I can't believe it's Friday already.” I looked back at Sean, who was already half way through his food.

“I hadn
't forgotten. I was going to come with you all, but your dad texted me to say you hadn't eaten, so I thought I could bring you here first and meet the rest of my family and meet your family at the DVD shop later.”

I groaned at the fact my dad had told on me, but I was slightly happy, as I wouldn
't be sitting here right now eating this heavenly food.

“She really is a great c
ook.” I said as I pushed my empty plate away.

“I told you
." Sean laughed. He'd already finished, and had sat patiently waiting for me to finish. I probably could have eaten quicker but I was afraid that if I rushed, the food would probably end up all over my clothes.

“Are we heading to the DVD shop now?
"

“Just got to take you to meet my dad
.” he smiled nervously. A fresh wave of nerves swept over me again, almost making me feel sick, and I did not want to bring up the food I'd just eaten, I didn't think Wendy would feel like such a good cook if I did that.

“You okay?” He reached over to hold my hand. I smiled weakly and nodded
. “Come on let's get this over with.” He stood up, still holding my hand, pulling me to my feet. “See ya later Wendy!” Sean called as he waved.

“Bye
.” She waved as I waved back, as I cuddled into Sean's side.

I half walked and was half pulled out of the cafe and along the corridor. When we reached the reception Samantha was talking on the phone and when she spotted Sean she seemed to smile and flutter her eyelashes as she gave him a small wave.
Hello I'm here too ya know
.

Sean was oblivious as he peered through the circular windows, and then knocked on the glass. He took a step back, pulling me with him, as a smallish, muscular man with thinning hair appeared.

He seemed to be distracted as he kept looking back through the doors.

“Everything okay?” He hadn
't even looked at me yet.

“Everything's fine, I just wanted to quickly introduce you to Erin.” He turned then and almost gasped as he looked at me, but not in repulsion. More from amazement as it seemed to pull him from whatever was distracting him.

“Erin
." He barely got out. His eyes kept looking to my birthmark, making me feel self conscious.

“Dad
!” Sean firmly and sharply said his name.

“What?” He looked to Sean then back to me, obviously seeing me looking uncomfortable
. “Oh, sorry” He quickly apologised, looking back to Sean then to me again, as he held out his hand. "I am really sorry, it's just..."” His voice trailed off as he looked back to Sean, questioning him with his eyes, then back to me. “"You look like my Gran."” He blushed then as the realisation dawned on me. "I didn't think I looked like the woman in the picture, but I could understand, with me sharing the same type of birthmark on the same side of my face. It must be hard for him seeing me.

“Dad
.” Sean spoke again.

“Yeah
, I know, I’m sorry, I just didn't fully realise.” He nodded without taking his eyes off me. “It was really nice to meet you.” He reached his hand to stroke my arm. “I would love to see you again when I'm not as busy.” He smiled apologetically.

Before anything else was said he nodded and disappeared through the same doors he
'd come from.

“Wow
,” I gulped, when he'd gone.

“
I'm so sorry.” Sean apologised as he led me through the main doors. “I did tell him. I think." he said mainly to himself.

“Don
't worry about it.” I didn't want him to beat himself up over it. His dad hadn't been repulsed by me, even if that's what I had thought at the beginning.

“Don't say that.” He stopped in front of his car. “That was so bloody rude.” He was angry now as he leaned on the bonnet of his car. I stepped in front of him and watched him rub his temples, in an attempt to calm himself down. “Right now I want to go and drag him out here.” He stood up and pointed towards the gym.

“Sean?” He stopped to look at me. For a second, I thought he was going to shout at me, then his face calmed as he reached out to stroke my left cheek.

“Sorry.” He pulled me into his arms. “I never want you to get hurt or feel pain.” I looked up to his agonised face.

“Sean?” It was my turn to stroke his face
. “It's okay.” I put my finger to his lips as he tried to speak. “Don't! Your dad meant no harm. Don't give him a hard time, cos he is probably feeling guilty.” I released my finger and stroked his cheek. He sighed then and leaned down to lightly kiss me.

“Come on, we best go meet up with your family before I get grief
.” He finally smiled as he released me and made his way to the driver's seat.

By the time we walked into the DVD shop my dad was already in the queue, ready to take the DVD's home.

“Sorry
.” Sean told him.

“It
's fine, you'll just have to make do with our selection.” My dad laughed.

“I
'm sure they'll be fine.”

“
Are you still going for pizza?” I asked. I wasn't really hungry but it kind of was our family tradition.

“We are, but haven
't you just eaten?" He looked critically at Sean.

“Yeah we have
. I was just going to say that if you are then me and Sean will just head back to the house, if that's okay?”

“Oh yeah
, sure, that's fine.” My dad reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out his keys. “Here.” He said as he unfastened the front door key from his car keys. “We shouldn't be too long.”

Taking the key from his hand I waved at my family, by now my mum and sister had come to join my dad, laden down with goodies. I had no idea why they bought them when they were getting a pizza, plus we had a fully stocked junk food cupboard.

“You didn't want a pizza did you?” I asked, feeling guilty, as I climbed into the passenger seat of Sean's car.

“No, no, I’m good
.” He squeezed my leg in reassurance, and then reversed out of the car park.

“Hey, I just realised
something!”

“What
's that?” He asked with his eyes still on the road.

“You never got a text message
.” He briefly looked at me with a puzzled expression. “What I mean is..."
Hmmmm how do I word this?
“Every Friday night I've seen you, you get a message and leave.”

“Ahhhh
...” He laughed as he realised what I was getting at. I was still confused as something else dawned on me.

“Hang on a minute
." I raised a finger as he pulled up outside my house and went to climb out. “Did you ever get a DVD?”

“No
.” He laughed again, even more so when he saw how confused I was. “I'll explain inside." He was already out of the car before I could stop him.

Quickly I followed, pulling out the front door key. The sooner we got inside the sooner I would understand, I hoped.

“Tell me.” I said as soon as I had hung up the key and shut the door behind me.

“Okay
.” He walked to the sofa, pulling me behind him. “Sit.” I quickly obeyed, sitting cross legged on the sofa next to him. “I knew you and your family rented movies every week, and it was my only way to be near you without Jessica finding out.” He paused for a moment as I waited for the punch line. “The messages were from Kelly or the twins. They all went bowling every Friday night with Justin and Jessica.” I was still confused. “They have to go past there and my car sticks out like a sore thumb.” He laughed, and I had to admit it was a bit bright, and you could spot it a mile off.

“You were stalking me?” I asked, both shocked and flattered, making him laugh more.

“Kind of...” He reached up to my face. "As soon as I saw you on the field, I knew I had to find out more about you.”

“How? Why?” I didn't know what else to say. I actually felt like crying. Not from being upset, but by the fact he went to such efforts.

“It was quite easy when I found out who your parents were
.” He smiled with a shrug, and before he could continue Kasey-Ray thundered in, removing everything off the table.

“You okay Krazy-
Rabies?” Using the nickname we often called her, whilst wondering what the rush was.

“Dad got a huge pizza. 16 inches I think
.” She stood up to examine the table. “I hope it’s big enough." She laughed to herself, completely making me forget my conversation with Sean as my dad struggled to get the pizza box through the door.

“Got a bigger one in case you two change your mind and decide you
're hungry.” He laughed as he balanced the box like he was auditioning for an act in a circus. All he would need to do was trip, send the pizza flying and he would get the part of a clown.

Eventually we all sat down to watch a movie. By the time the second one was over, Sean got up from next to me and stretched with a yawn.

“I'm going to head home.” He looked at the others before me, and then reached out to take my hand, as he led me to the front door.

Stepping outside, he pulled me into his arms and leaned down to kiss me.

“Tomorrow, I’m taking you somewhere.” He released my lips and stroked my face.

“Where?
"” I breathlessly asked.

“You
'll see.” He winked and kissed me again. “I'll pick you up at ten.” He kissed me again, then pulled out his keys as he headed towards his car. “I'll text you later." He waved as he climbed in the car.

I wished he never had to leave. The night would seem so long without him.

I stood there waving until I couldn't see his car any more. Eventually I turned to rejoin my family.

***

At 9:45am, I received a text from Sean to say he was on his way. After a quick check in the mirror, I quickly ran down the stairs.

“Bye.” I shouted to anyone who was listening as I ran out the front door, slamming it shut behind me.

I didn
't have to wait long, as I saw his car pull into my street.

“Hi
.” I happily sang as I climbed into the passenger seat.

“
Hey you.” He leaned over to kiss me. “How you feeling?” He turned back to the road as he pulled away.

“Great
.” I smiled, and I meant it. Every time I saw him I felt blissfully happy. “So where are we going?” I looked around, hoping for a clue.

“You
'll have to wait till we get there.” He winked.

We hadn
't been driving for long when we turned into a small car park, surrounded by lots of trees.

Before we
'd even parked the car just stopped. Sean tried to start it again, but nothing happened. He hit his steering wheel with mild frustration.

“Where the heck are you?” He said more to himself as he looked through the window, towards the trees. I had no idea who he was talking about and before I could ask the car started to move forward, making me scream.

“It's okay.” Sean tried to reassure me. “Look!” He pointed out of the windscreen as the car stopped, and there I saw Kelly, Paul and James laughing as I slowly started to understand, but not completely. “Not frigging funny!” Sean shouted as he jumped out of the car.

I stayed there, glued to my seat. I was feeling pretty shaken up, still unsure what had happened exactly. I could hear Sean still shouting, but I had tuned out what was being said. I was still trying to get my head around what had just happened. I hadn
't even noticed my door opening as Sean knelt down.

“Erin?” He soothed as he tried to remove my hands
from where they firmly gripped the seat. “Erin?” I slowly looked towards him as I realised he was there talking to me. I smiled at him as he managed to release my hands and reach over to undo my seat belt.

Quietly he helped me out of the car, shutting the door behind me.

“Erin, I'm so sorry.” Kelly stepped in front of me and reached out to give me a hug. “I forget you're not used to us all and our powers.”

“You did that?” I pointed towards the car

“And Paul.” She nodded with a nervous laugh.

“Cool trick
.” I smiled, making everyone laugh.

“You okay
?” Sean whispered as Kelly went back to high five the twins.

“Yeah
.” I sighed with a smile as I turned to look at him, “"I'm fine, just a bit shocked.”

“Sorry, I should have explained in more detail what they can do
.” He walked to open the boot of the car and pulled out a bag and a blanket. “Kelly's just learnt to focus her powers on one object. Before she would stop everything electrical for miles.” He laughed at this thought as he locked the car. “She can still do that, but it causes problems with most people not knowing about us.”

We started to walk slowly, following Kelly, Paul and James.

“Who pulled the car?” I was intrigued by it all. All I could do was produce flames, but to turn off everything electrical was cool, in my opinion.

“That would be Paul
.” He started to point to the twins, like he was trying to figure out who was who. “I still can't tell them apart.” He laughed. “And James,” By this time he'd given up trying to decide who was who. “He pushes things away.” I nodded with understanding. Things were just getting more and more interesting. I'd never thought my summer holidays would ever be like this. It was like a real adventure, plus I got to spend it with the best looking person in the world.

We
'd finally stopped as Sean put the bag down and started laying the blanket on the floor. I'd already noticed there was another blanket next to this and a pile of sporting items, as Kelly picked up a football and volleyed it.

Watching where the ball had gone, I stood there, slowly turning around, taking in my surroundings. We were in a huge open field, with a large lake. I could see for miles around, even if it was mainly fields and hills. It was all so breathtaking.

“Wow, it's beautiful.” I smiled as I finally turned to look at Sean, who was now sitting on the blanket. I sat down next to him, half facing the lake whilst watching Kelly and the twins playing football.

“Nice isn’t it?
”

“It sure is
.” I turned to look at him. “What's that in the lake?” I pointed towards a large, what looked like a rock, protruding in the centre. Sean followed to where I was pointing.

“That
's the reason we are like this.” I looked back at him to check he was actually looking at what I was pointing at.

“You like talking in riddles, don’t you?” I wasn
't slightly annoyed that he wasn't giving me a straight answer.

“It
's the reason I brought you here. So I can explain.” He defended as he emphasised on the word can.

“I
'm listening.” I said when he paused.

“I'm not sure what it is exactly, no one does. But several hundred of years ago it wasn't there, and then something fell from the sky.” He waved his hand up and down as he explained. “The people of Galladale came to see what it was. Now bear in mind there weren't as many people living here back then and they didn't know what it was, some even swam out to get a closer look.” He paused again as he looked towards the lake. “If you look closely it looks like a giant lump of coal.” I squinted my eyes to look at it.

“Oh yeah
.”

“People said they could hear a humming coming from it. One person leant her face closer to try and listen, but she
got too close and it must have been hot, because she ended up burning her face.” He paused to reach up to my birthmark. “Her left cheek.” I almost flinched at this thought. “There was a man close to her and he was able to cool her cheek, but she was scarred for life.” It all sounded a bit farfetched, but I knew it must be true. “Anyway.” He continued as he lay down on his back. “Everyone started to get sick. They didn't realise at the time, that they were changing.” He pulled me down next to him. “From that day, Galladale was never the same. At first people worried about the next generation, whether their powers would be passed on. After only a few decades this had only happened once or twice, so they thought it was something that would die out, but they didn't know that whenever someone died the child born on that day would inherit their powers, even if not blood related.”

“Wowsers
!” I looked up to the sky, trying to take it all in “Does that mean everyone who lives here knows?”

“No.” Which made me roll onto my side to look at him. “Some people refused to talk about it and were relieved when it skipped so many generations, so there was no need.”

“But there will be some who have heard the stories
.”

“Yeah, but we all thought they were myths
.” He laughed “Me included.”

“So how do you know all this?”

“My Poppa had heard all the stories, as his parents were like you and I. So of course he knew it was the truth. My dad had been told the stories but as he grew up he just thought of them as bedtime stories.” He laughed as he sat up to pick up the football that had just landed at our feet and threw it back towards the shouting trio.

“I wonder why my parents didn
't tell me?” I said mainly to myself.

“Like I said, they hoped it would miss a generation
."

Then I remembered them telling me the same thing.

“You know what is funny?” Sean interrupted my thoughts. “"My mum had no ties to Galladale, so my Poppa isn't sure if it's a first that someone from outside gave birth to not one, but two of us."

“I hadn
't actually thought about that.