Cemetery Confessions
“I didn’t want to upset you” Brogan was trying to calm her down since he knew how she felt about the institute. “we’ve got another hour before we open and Sally should be here in 15 minutes to help me finish setting up. Go take a walk and clear your head.”
Sera’s knew he was right. She needed to think and calm down before the Tooth and Nail got crazy. And it was friday night, so crazy was definitely on the menu. Plus, she was glad that Marcus was supposed to come by but not sure how Bro would respond to him. She shook her head yes, picked up her leather jacket from behind the counter, and walked out the door. Brogan shoved his thumbs into his pant pockets and hoped he had gotten through to her.
It was late August afternoon when she stepped outside, so luckily she didn’t really need to go back upstairs and find her old umbrella. She missed the new one Ted now had, but thought it was a small price to pay for less dickheads in her life. The city was busy around her with it’s early afternoon jitters. The coffee houses were full of execs getting their afternoon fix and the crunchy hippies were still trying to sell their organic bead necklaces on the street corners. Pike Street market always expanded during the summer months and contracted back to it’s covered hallways when the rain started again in ernest. It never really stopped raining, but nobody really bothered looking for cover in a light drizzle. It’s just God spitting on you for luck, her mother used to say.
Sera realized she’d wanderd toward the waterfront and would easily pass by her mother’s favorite church. Dad had paid alot of money to have her buried here so she would always be close to them, but Sera rarely visited. Cemeteries were difficult places for people who had a tendancy to run into Zombie nests. But she decided to risk it today and turned left through the small uneven metal fence. She needed some help and her mother’s comforting presence.
Somebody was already standing in the small green lawn overlooking the 405 freeway and beyond into the Puget Sound. The wind muffled most of the sound of fast moving cars but obscured the woman’s wizened face. Sera didn’t really need to see her though. Her Grandmother Rose was standing over her mother’s grave and Sera knew the shit had seriously hit the fan somewhere. She just hoped that it wasn’t her shit and it wasn’t her fan.
“Sera, your brother said you went walking and I thought I might find you here” Gran’s blue eyes had gotten lighter over the years but they still held a shrewd humor and intelligence. She’d kick your ass the moment you stepped wrong and then feed you cookies to send you out with a smile. “He said you’ve been talking about the Zombies again”
“Yes” Sera knew better than to lie or fudge the truth with Gran. She could always tell “Did he tell you that I slept with a stranger too?”
Gran lifted her brows “I want to help you Honey, but I’m going to need your attention not your angst.”
“Sorry Gran. I’ve had a rough day.”
“So I hear. I want to hear about it, but first I need to explain something to you. Something about your mother.” She and Sera walked over to the one stone bench that face the Sound and sat down.
“Honey, you didn’t set the fire the killed her. It wasn’t you. But you did start a fire without a match that day. You started it with your mind. I know your mother spoke to you about the “Monsters” because you had the sight, but we never knew if you could touch the Elements until then. I told her to explain it to you when you were 12, but she wanted to spare you the pain of living a shadow life. I’m sorry I didn’t speak sooner.”
Sera’s mind raced backward. She had been playing with words her mother had taught her in the backyard of the family cabin. Using the magic to light the campfire and make the flames rise higher and higher. Her mother caught her and scolded her. Sera had been so angry that she threw the most powerful words she knew into the fire and ran away for hours. When she came back, the cabin was a scorched ruin with firetrucks everywhere. Her Dad and brother had faces red from crying and covered in black soot. They had though Sera had died in the fire too, and couldn’t believe it when she walked out of the forest without a scratch on her.
“I don’t understand” Sera was crying for the third time today and had finally given up trying to stop it. Her mother was dead and it wasn’t her fault. Her father was dead and it wasn’t her fault. She grabbed onto the only question that made sense “Who Gran? You said it wasn’t me. Who was it then?”
“An old enemy of ours, your mother and mine. But anger isn’t going to bring your mother back. So I never told you. I though if I shielded you, I could keep you hidden. But the other Elementals have found you and it’s too late to stop it. They want you the way they wanted your mother. I came to tell you to run. Maybe if you come with me now, I can teach you how to hide your power until you learn to control it.”
“Gran, you’re not making sense. What are other Elementals? And you still haven’t told me Who did it.” Sera was starting to get frustrated and Gran felt the stone bench become unusually warm beneath her. “And why do they want me?”
“Because your Mother and hence you are a direct descendant of a legendary Elemental. Each generation passes its power into the next element. Earth to Metal. Metal to Water. Water to Wood. and Wood to Fire. You’re mother was a Wood elemental and you are Fire.”
“So that makes you Water?” Sera was starting to understand and remember her mother’s deeper talks of magic words and hidden monsters.
“No. I’m not an elemental at all. You’re grandfather was. I’m an Alchemist. I can use the elements, but I can’t generate them the way you can.” With those words Sera felt a barrier loosen and fall within her. She looked at Gran and saw the faint outlines of five muted colors, all swirling along the edge of her vision. She looked at her own hands and saw an orange-red flame dripping from her fingertips. She dragged the mind made barrier back up and the colors disappeared.
The sun was setting over the Sound, and Sera saw the saw orange-red flame echoed as it’s last rays flashed along the horizon. She watched it slide slowly down the darkening sky and wished she could make it all stop, just for a moment. She remembered the comfort of tea and crumpets near sunlit glass. “I won’t run Gran. Not from Mom’s killer. I’m not sure there’s anywhere to run to”
“then we’d better get you back” Gran stood up “before Brogan gets even more frustrated with me. Apparently he’s afraid my black sheep status is going to rub off on you”
“Brogan doesn’t see things like I do, does he?” Sera dusted off her jeans and matched Gran’s steps back along the path. “He thinks I’m going crazy and I’m starting to wonder if he’s right”
“That’s an empty well you don’t need to jump in to” Gran said “This is the only world you get, so you’d better figure out how to live in it. Bread isn’t going to make itself.”
Sera didn’t care about bread. She didn’t care about the sun. She didn’t care if she was late. She knew there was something more important than all of that. Sera closed her fists and dropped the barrier slightly, letting the heat flick and sputter inside of her. Her mother was dead. The killer was still alive and Sera never was a patient woman. It was time for Sera to come out of the closet and the monsters to run and hide.