Private Finished Sink or Swim

Jae swore under his breath. His phone was loaded with alerts of missed texts and calls from James. The teen merman was supposed to meet James by the lake fifteen minutes ago! Jae hastily shoved his collected books of magic into his bag and booked it out of the school library He shot a text back to James, saying he was on his way but he was going to be at least another ten minutes.

It was hell, running across campus laden with thick, leather-bound books. The tomes may be his key to advancing his magic, however. There was lots of texts on elemental magic, but very little on what his aunt called ocean magic. It was a start, and knowing something was better than nothing at all.

Jae reached the lake, panting, and saw the column of smoke before James. "What the hell?" The teen dropped his bag and raced forward with renewed energy. "James!? What happened?!" A wall of fire burned between them and the woods. Jae paled at the sight of it, but yanked off his winter jacket and began to beat the flames.

Jae yelled back, "The library!" And then resisted the urge to face palm with James admitted to starting without him. Wasn't the point of training together was to prevent this sort of thing? It was hard to stay mad, however, when one faced the prospect of being burned. Jae attacked the wall of flames the best he could, but each second spent close to the fire and heat made him weaker and weaker.

Water? Yes, he had a giant water bottle in his bag. Jae threw the remains of his scorched jacket onto the fire and dashed back to his bag. The teen's fingers fumbled with the zipper before ripping it open and pulling out his giant 60oz water bottle. He stood and was immediately hit by the feeling of salt and ice-coldness. Distantly, Jae knew he was feeling extreme dehydration, but he pushed through and ran back to the fire. Jae discarded the bottle's cap and dumped the water on the fire.

Smoke erupted from the flames in giant bursts. Jae coughed but kept pouring. Hopefully he was doing enough for James to get control.

More smoke billowed up and Jae had the fleeting thought that someone has to have seen the smoke and called for help. Please, anyone at all, call the fire department because two teenagers were not up to this task. Jae dropped his bottle and backed off, coughing violently into his arm. Where the hell was he supposed to get more water?

"I'll get right on-" Jae's sarcasm was broken up by another fit of coughs and the teen deemed it unimportant enough to finish. It was hard to think anyways, feeling the press of all near-by water and the ocean. Waves crashed in his eardrums and the smell of salt overwhelmed all else. Sure, he'll just magically pull all that water to himself with the magical powers he had no idea how to activate or use!

Then, from within, he felt his primal magic stir. It burned into his lungs and begged to summon a storm. Bring torrents of rain and lightning. Sing an ugly song and force help to him. It surged in his throat and he let it out. Jae couldn't hear the song, not over the roar of water. It was not his siren song, but something else, warped by the desire to bring water to himself. The teen couldn't see it, but a wave shot off the lake edge and washed over the boys and fire alike.

By the time Jae came to, tired, his head spinning, he was soaked, the ground around them for ten feet was soaked. And smoke trailed lazily into the sky. "Uh. . .?"

Jae blinked, and looked to James. He was just as soaked as Jae and apparently just as confused as to what happened. "I, um, I don't know." The last thing Jae could recall was the taste of salt and his magic flaring up. Then his siren's song forced itself out. Then? Jae shook his head, unable to recall anything after opening his mouth to sing. "D-did I do this?" He looked around, hoping that maybe a teacher or someone with water powers had noticed the smoke and ran over. But it was just the two of them.

Jae stood, and noted he no longer felt the effects of dehydration. Nor did he feel the water of the lake or ocean. Just how badly was he dehydrated? The teen went to examine the remains of the fire and his own ruined jacket. There was no salvaging it. It was Jae's favorite jacket. "Should we, um, tell any body about the fire?"

Jae shook his head, unable to put his song and the sudden appearance of water together. While singing he wanted water to appear, any water to soak himself in. That couldn't have been enough, could it? "I. . ." How does he explain it? "As far as I know I couldn't do it, but I thought I could?" And apparently. . . that power was within him.

When James smugly asked what fire Jae actually burst out laughing. This was great! Jae had the ability to manipulate water! He still wasn't sure how he did it, or even if he could do it again. But today proved it was possibly and that was more amazing than he could imagine.