Saphora: vol.1 Retention (The Athena Universe) (31 page)

Saphora’s eyes shot open in her despair, her heart racing and her breath short. Her vision fluttered about the room, and
she realized that she was projecting her emotion into the atmosphere. Debris was whipping around the room. Hydra had covered herself and Maverick behind a shield of ice. She was watching calmly, while Maverick looked on in concern. His body language showed that he was very reluctant to stay behind the ice. But that wasn’t what caused Saphora to calm down. It was the beginnings of the lifting of the marble counter behind her that startled her enough to calm the raging winds. She scrambled to her feet, reaching around and gripping onto the counter, trying to keep it secured onto the ground. The winds reduced at a somewhat rapid pace, before coming to a stop, and giving Hydra the sign that it was okay to rid them of the wall of ice.

Saphora’s eyes fluttered as they closed tightly and opened repeatedly. Her breathing strained as she was overwhelmed with flashes. Even though the session had stopped, she was still getting fragments of memories.
Images of her and her father. Of her and Dizabethere. Of her being scolded for using her power – being taught to control them. Of whispering conversations between her mother and father. Of the starting of the war.

Saphora sucked in a shar
p breath, her frame shaking as she gripped the counter, now trying to keep herself standing. Her eyes stayed shut as she fought to regain her breath. She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes.

“Make it stop!” Saphora cried out in desperation, her fingertips pressing into the counter top and actually beginning to crack into it. The winds that had died down began to pick up again, as the fractions of memory continued to flood Saphora’s vision.

Visions of her mother holding her flooded in. Of her teaching her how to walk. Hydra raised her hands with a groan at the winds that were picking back up, while Maverick tried moving forward towards Saphora. He struggled against the winds, dodging small planks of wood that came drifting up.

“Please!” Saphora pleaded, the tears starting to spill over.
She wanted her memory back, but not like this. There were too many things. Images of her crying. Of her mother crying. Having to part with her. Tebias. Hades. Names to faces she suddenly knew, but not why. Not why they were there. Her body began to tremble from the stress of the images. Maverick finally reached her, gripping onto the counter for support. He looked back to Hydra, who was starting to express some concern for the situation.

“Hydra! Stop it!” Maverick shouted, looking back and forth from her to the pained Saphora. Hydra exhaled, shaking her head
as she slowly began to move closer to them.

“I can’t. I need the books! This was not supposed to happen. Her subconscious is trying to merge with her conscious,” Hydra explained.
Maverick groaned, moving closer to Saphora. As he placed his hand on her arm, Hydra screamed out a moment too late,

“Don’t!”

The moment Maverick’s hand made contact with Saphora’s skin, he was thrust into the world of her unstable subconscious. Within the instant, Saphora was gone. But her sobs could still be heard in the hallway he was now in. To his left, there was a wooden door. A white wooden door. As he moved to open the door, the scene changed, startling him. He was in the mists of a courtyard. A burning courtyard. Pieces of pillars, fragments of fences, and sections of sculptures were scattered about the area. The ground had been disturbed in several areas, and there were copious amounts of people running in all directions. Some fighting with weapons, some fighting with their bodies, and some just fighting any way they knew how. But again, Maverick heard the whimpering of Saphora. He spun around, more concerned with where it was coming from than the war that was waging around him. And then the scene changed again, and Saphora was sitting right before him. A mere child. She was pressed up against the wall of what looked like a closet, with her knees up against her chest, and her face buried in her arms. Her mint hair was set aflame – blue flames, dancing around her head, but not seeming to bother her. Slowly, he fell to his knees, inching closer to the frightened Saphora.

“Saphora …?” Maverick called softly to her. Saphora’s head slowly rose, revealing her glowing, tearing eyes. They peered out at
Maverick, drops of flames spilling from Saphora’s hair onto the carpeted floor and spreading across towards Maverick. But he kept his pace towards her steady, determined to get to her.

“It’s okay. You’re okay,” he cooed, inching closer with each word. She continued to stare, her chest heaving in her silent sobs. “You’re okay. Don’t cry,” he continued, finally close enough to get a hold of her.
As his hands found her arms, the scenery around them morphed into that of the abandoned house. Saphora’s features remained the same as she stared into Maverick’s eyes. All but her age. Her hair was still a swaying flame, and her eyes were a glowing chaos. But slowly, they began to fade. And her flames began to die, as she found a peace to calm her. Her eyes fluttered, letting the last of her tears stain her cheeks as Maverick looked around the kitchen, somewhat grateful to be back in what was a little closer to reality. Hydra watched in astonishment as Saphora was brought back to the present. She was silent in her amazement as her eyes drifted to Maverick.

He had become a new priority.

Maverick smiled.

“
There you go,” he cheered, shaking her arms ever so slightly. Looking around, her eyes found Hydra, and she wobbled a step forward – Maverick ready to hold her up.

“I remember,” she croaked. Hydra’s eyes snapped to Saphora. Saphora nodded. “Enough. I remember enough.” Hydra was hesitant.

“Arol?”

“What?”

“Do you remember Arol?” Saphora took a moment to recall, but grimaced when she couldn’t. She shook her head, and Hydra sighed.

“Arol’s role in your conscious is crucial for returning home.”

“But there was so much else that I saw – that I know.”

“What do you know?”

“That there was a war … That … that I have powers. That –“ That caught Hydra’s attention. Her head tilted forward in response.

“
Powers
. You remember what you’re able to do?”

“Well, I … I remembered fire. Blue fire. I have a feeling that I can use it – like, like Tebias,”

“What else do you remember?”

“Why do I have to remember every little thing? People don’t remember their entire childhood anyway! What do you want me to do, remember being born?
”, Saphora stressed, pushing off of Maverick to stand up straight. “I remember the war – my power. Or what I know of it. I’m sure there were things I could do that I didn’t know as a child. But I was a
child
. You can’t hold that against me.” Saphora raised her arm and pointed her index finger towards the hole in the kitchen’s wall. “Look, it’s clear that Tebias and whoever is leading him isn’t going to stop. I almost died today – again. My mom sent you to help me, right? How do you know his leader won’t send someone to help
him
? What then? You can’t be everywhere I am.” Hydra paused at that possibility. She had been foolish not to consider that. Saphora was right. They couldn’t afford to wait any longer to start her training. It could very well mean the death of her – of them all.

“So are you going to train me, or not?” Saphora groaned. Hydra pressed her lips together in a hard line, exhaling her answer.

Saphora and Hydra had begun the physical training after Saphora had taken an hour or so to rest after the ordeal with her subconscious. Hydra explained to her that that could happen multiple times until she has remembered all there is to remember. The training was difficult and sketchy at first, but with every attempt her control grew stronger. It only took about three hours for Saphora to wield a palm of blue fire on command, without much strain at all. It wasn’t a very large amount, but it was still on her command. And that was progress.

They had decided to work on the fire first, seeing as though it proved to be very useful when faced with Tebias and his own. It was also the most destructive, second only to
the extreme winds that Saphora was not yet able to produce on her own, or control. Having brought up Dr. Lupin as a concern during the training, Hydra had decided that it was in Saphora’s best interest to get rid of the files that he had collected. As many as she was able to. Maverick had agreed to be involved in the plan, doing whatever he could to be of some assistance. And together, they devised a way, using Saphora’s newly discovered power, to do it. She knew that with what was going on with the police, and Lupin’s shifty attitude, precautions had to be taken.

And she didn’t have the time to put them off.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Saphora said to Maverick, who was on the other end of her phone. Maverick scoffed, shaking his head as he put one arm through his leather jacket, holding the phone to his ear by pressing it between his cheek and shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure this is going to go down as the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” he reassured. Saphora shook her head, unable to help gri
nning at the light hearted attitude to what was probably a crime.

“Right after going to jail, right?”

“Oh I highly doubt we’re going to get caught. I mean, what are they going to say to the court? That you spawned fire? Right,” he scoffed, sliding his other arm through his jacket, now able to hold the phone properly. “Besides, if I do go to jail, I’ve got you to bail me out. Or the water dragon here.”

“Drakon,” they heard Hydra correct from the background.

“Potato,” Maverick spat.

“How are you going to get to the office?” Saphora asked, closing the
house door behind her. Fran had already left for the day, and she was just heading out to start walking to Lupin’s office. Flying was still not acceptable to her. And it probably wouldn’t be, until she met and befriended whatever was thought to make the noise that caused her to fall.

“I’m going to borrow Jared’s car.
It’s going to be a gray Honda. I’ll probably be parked around the corner. You can call me when you walk out, and I’ll tell you where I am.” Saphora nodded.

“Where is Hydra going to be?”

“She’ll be in the car.” Saphora sighed.

“Okay.
”

“Are you alright? You don’t sound like you want to do this anymore,” Maverick pointed out, pausing in his steps towards the front door of his apartment, where Hydra was waiting in her sunglasses and baseball cap.

“No, I do. I would love nothing more than to make Lupin’s life even just a
little
harder. I just know Fran won’t approve.”

“Wait, you’re not going to tell her, are you?”

“No, but I know Lupin will accuse me.”

“And Fran wouldn’t believe the story you tell her?”

“I don’t like to lie to her …”

“Well, for the sake of getting away with this, you might have to.”

“Yeah … I know. I’m just not looking forward to it.”

“I know. It’s never easy to lie to someone you care about. But hey, maybe when everything’s going a little more smoothly, you can come clean about everything.” Saphora huffed, nodding.

“Yeah, on my way home,” she scoffed. Maverick paused, but made a note not to do so for long.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he coaxed
. “I’m going to … get Hydra ready to go out. Can’t have her looking strange, right?” he said, knowing that she would be in a car with tinted windows.

“Okay, good luck.”

“Same to you. And remember. Just relax.” Saphora nodded.

“Right, relax,” Saphora sighed, moving the phone from her ear and ending the call.
Maverick frowned once the call ended, and slowly lowered the phone into the front pocket of his jeans as he exhaled a breath. Hydra studied him and his body language and he lethargically zipped up his jacket and made his way over to her and the front door. But before she could question him about his behavior, he spoke up.

“Hey … When Saphora goes home
… she’s not coming back, is she?” he solemnly asked, averting his eyes from hers. She paused, blinking behind the shades. She felt for the boy. She saw the way he looked at her. As Dolphus looked at Vida. Longing to be with someone he thought would forever be out of his reach.

“You don’t want her to go, do you?”

“I do. I want her to meet her family, save her world, and be happy,” he argued with raised eyebrows. Hydra shook her head.

“Then why are you not?” Maverick paused.

“Because I want to be there when she does it.” Hydra’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“Do you not plan on being?” Maverick looked over at her, now being the one in confusion.

“I said I want to be,” he repeated. Hydra opened the front door, making Maverick take a step back.

“Then be there. There’s enough roo
m on the ship for you too, Maverick.”

Chapter 11