Argent Eye

12

For a while, I just sat in David's office, a little shaken. He'd poured me a warm cup of tea, but I didn't want it. David, who'd been standing up the entire time, sat down in front of me, and looked into my eyes.

"Millie, what were you doing out there?" He asked.

To be quite frank, I wasn't even sure. "I... I just... I don't know. Some part of me wanted to be."

"How did you feel? When you ran out the building like that?"

"You saw me?" I was surprised.

He nodded. "I just looked outside my window after Peter went, and you ran so fast, for a moment I thought you'd vanished like Ronan does."

I sighed, wrapping my hands round the warm mug. "I felt good." I said honestly. "Really good. I'd never felt so strong. So powerful."

"And those men- who were they?"

"Bad people." I said, shaking my head at the memory. "I knew it the moment they started speaking to me. I wanted to punish them. I wanted them to suffer." I sniffed, as more tears fell down my cheeks. "What does that say about me?"

"Millie- " David began.

"No, David." I stressed. "I wanted to see them dead, and I wanted to be the one to do it."

"What is your element?" He asked, a little suddenly.

I thought about the fire. The dream. "Ice." I said.

"And you're absolutely sure about that?"

I frowned. "I think so."

He sighed.

"Why?" I asked.

"Your eye was black." He said.

"Come again?" I asked.

"Your eye." David repeated. "It was black."

"But... how? Why?"

David frowned a little, thinking.

Immediately, my mind flicked back to the strangely real dream I had with all the elements. Darkness. It had been there, alongside the light. I remembered the white light pouring from my hands in the field.

"Darkness." I muttered to myself, realising.

"What was that?" David asked.

"I, um... nothing." I said. "Just... some strange stuff has been happening." I realised I should probably tell someone.

"Like what?" David asked, now concerned.

I sighed again. "The other night, I came home and I felt really hot. Like, super hot. When I looked in the mirror, my eye was red, and my hands were glowing red under the skin."

David just stared for a moment, not sure how to react. "Does Ronan know?"

I shook my head. "Not yet."

David looked at me. "What happened earlier today?" He asked. "When you blacked out?"

I thought back to the white room. "I, um... I don't really remember." I lied, for some reason not being able to bring myself to tell David.

David sat back and rubbed his chin, obviously not believing me.

"You're not gonna tell Ronan what happened?" I asked, changing the topic of conversation. "About my eye colour changing?"

"Millie, I- " David began.

"Please, David. Please don't tell him." I pleaded.

David sighed. "He will find out eventually."

"I know." I said. "But let me be the one to tell him."

David sat for a moment in though. "Okay." He said.

"Thank you." I said, relieved.

"But, you must keep an eye on things. If anything else strange starts to happen, you must tell Ronan."

I nodded, understanding. "I know." I paused. "I'm going home to my parents' tonight, so probably won't see you for a couple of days."

"Okay. Just be careful."

"I will." I pursed my lips together, smiled, and with that, I left.

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That evening, I packed a few of my things and waited for my parents to come. They insisted that they come and pick me up in the car, despite me saying it would be okay to catch a train. I decided it would be best to leave the knife here, in case mum were to go through my bag or something. Besides, why would I need it at home? I hadn't touched it in ages.

I got a text from my mum that she was downstairs, so grabbed my bags, locked my door and headed down. I had to say, I was excited to see everyone at home. It had been a while, and I guess I just missed everyone.

I grinned when I saw my mum and dad standing outside, and ran to throw my arms around both of them.

"How are you, sweetie?" Mum asked, smiling.

"I'm good." I said, as we began to walk back to the car. "How is everything?"

"Everything is fine." She said. I knew she was just as excited to have me home as I was to be home, as was dad.

"You been up to much?" Dad asked.

"Not really." I chuckled. I mean, not really was a bit of an understatement. "Just catching up on all the work, you know?"

We grabbed some food at a service station on the way back home, before finally arriving. I had to admit, I felt exhausted all of a sudden and couldn't wait to get in my own bed again. The first thing I did when I got home was have a long bath, relapsing all the events that happened over the past few days. Everything was crazy. David never actually said what his suspicions were about the fire within me. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe my body was just confused about what element it was supposed to have, so it was just a phase.

When I stepped out the bath, I took a long hard look in the mirror. The girl staring back wasn't the girl who left to go to university last year. I'd changed and grown in so many different ways. I also noticed the difference in my muscle tone- I wasn't one for exercising, but clearly this Argent Eye stuff had had a physical effect on my body as well as a mental one. Everything seemed far more defined than it used to be, including my stomach, arms and legs. I mean, I didn't look like a body builder or professional athlete, but there were definitely some discreet lines and curves that showed off the muscle beneath. My hair seemed more full, too, with a greater shine to it and less frizz. Where the knife had penetrated my back, I now just had a fine pink line which was bound to be permanent. My head was also healing, but not as fast seeing as I'd managed to hit it again since that night. I was surprised my parents hadn't said anything about these changes, but then I guess they put it down to not seeing me for a while. The last time they saw me was when I was discharged from hospital, and I looked terrible then.

When I dried myself and changed into my pyjamas, I went back downstairs and had a cup of tea with my parents. They smiled when I came down the stairs.

"I can't believe how much better you look." Mum said, as I flopped onto the sofa.

I just smiled, well aware of the changes that seemed to have taken place.

"Yes." Dad chuckled. "Wasn't long ago when you looked a wreck."

I laughed. "Thanks, dad. Glad to know you're here to tell me when I look like shit."

Both my parents chuckled.

"I have to head out tomorrow." Mum said. "Work has called. So you'll be home alone. You okay with that?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's cool. I'll probably just chill here." I knew mum was duty bound when it came to work, and dad always worked at the weekends anyway. I knew I would be quite happy to just be here alone. In fact, I decided then that I would go for a walk. Walking in the countryside was definitely something I missed in the city.

I finished drinking my tea, and headed up to bed.

__________