Ellie's Flames BOOK 2

2: Catching a Nightmare

"I love you, Lissy."

My mind hazed over by grogginess, I roll over in bed and catch sight of my father sitting a ways away from me in a chair that I don't remember being there, cradling a tiny baby wrapped in blue cloth. It stares back up at him with wide, electric-blue eyes the same color as his. 

He swings baby me---before I got my mom's powers---back and forth. "I love you, Lissy. No matter what anyone in this horrid world says to you."

"Dada." Baby me blubbers. 

Dad smiles and swoops me in the air, laughing with me as he conjures a smoky tendril that grabs me gently and carries me to a crib made of ice and plumped with blue snow-y like pillows. He leans over and kisses me on my forehead as Baby me starts to fall asleep. 

I was a really cute baby.

Then a new woman comes in, and I actually jump when I realize it's my mom, looking years younger. Her blonde hair hangs wavy and free, and her face shows no sign of wrinkles around her bright blue eyes except for the smiles infused into them. 

And she's wearing JEANS.

Yikes. 

She comes up next to my dad and her mouth moves like she's saying something, but all I hear is a buzzing noise. And then her jaw falls slack and she turns to me at the same time my dad does, each of their eyes turning a deep, dark, bottomless black. 

"Having fun, daughter of Ice?" My dad snarls in a voice that most certainly isn't his. The golden, happy atmosphere of my dream---my memory, whichever it is currently--- starts to dissolve to a pitch-black room where baby me doesn't exist, and my parents are turning paler by the second. 

"Daughter of Ice." My mom says, in a voice that SERIOUSLY is not a female voice, and therefore is now a dream. 

"This is a dream." I say calmly. "Nothing can happen to me in a dream. I could wake up right now if I wanted to."

"Ah, but can you?" Mom asks. "Can you escape a Nightmare?"

"Nightmares and dreams are no different, except that one is scary." I say. "It's no problem once you wake up."

"Ahhh, the ignorance of teenagers." Dad says. "Just like your father. He was so arrogant once he beat me, him and his little group of friends. But I'm back, and more powerful than ever. And this time, I'm not alone."

A vision creeps into my mind. I can't recognize any of them, only shadows of outlines of three people---a guy and two girls. Well, man and two women. 

"We're coming for you, Daughter of Ice and Snow." The voice in the center---the guy---hisses. "And no amount of winter will stop me this time."

He launches himself at me, wrapping my dream "self" in tangible black tongues of fear and every dark thought I'd ever had, every doubt of myself, every angry outburst, every fear of my flame---

I scream when it reaches my heart, collapsing all my light and hope. The fire inside me roars in delight at being set free, even before I command it to do so, and bursts forth from me, tearing and eating at everything I am, devouring me and the nightmare, the world around me, and I can't pull it back, can't control it, can't even begin to try.

I snap awake to see my nightmare is reality, sapphire flames burning bright and high all around my room. Smoke fills the air, and I can hear Brit scream. 

"BRIT!" I shout, getting out of bed and coughing instantly. "BRIT! WAIT! DON'T MOVE! I CAN STOP THIS!"

"Ellie?" She calls back. "I'm by the door---I'm going for help!"

I cough some more and I hear her leave. My heart slowly goes back to normal as I realize the flames aren't hurting me. Slowly, I stand where I am and reach out to them, forcing them to stop. 

Stop.

No.

STOP.

NO.

STOP!

NO!

The flames don't obey. I try pulling them back, and nothing happens. But then I see there creeping for my pile of presents from my friends---towards the magnolia flower that is blooming in full right now. For some reason, that snaps me out of it.

Stop.

The fire reluctantly obeys, halting where it stands. But it won't come back to me.

I'll use my other powers.

Great. I'm threatening fire now. Totally sane. 

But it doesn't work, anyway. The fire hisses, as if it can sense the fear I hold for my dad's destructive powers, the ones I never wanted and still can't control. 

My nightmare comes back to me, full-force. I can feel the fire eating at me, burning all that I am--

And that's when I see it.

A silent black stallion, standing in the corner of the room. Wide, yellow eyes blink back at me, as if daring me to cry out and make the flames worse. 

"Stop it." I say aloud. "STOP IT!" I clutch at my head, forcing the darkness out in one fluid motion, expelling all the ice I have in me like my mom did when she accidentally hit Aunt Anna in her heart. 

But it puts the fire out. 

And Brit and Carlos are standing in the doorway, their eyes wide. 

"Ellie?" Carlos asks shakily. "What was that?"

"I---I couldn't---" I choke back my words and breathe in deeply. "I think I have a problem."

Brit's eyes bug out. "Ya think??"

But even her teasing tone, however frightened she may be, doesn't help. Because I remember every single detail of my nightmare, of the horror of not being able to hold back who I am... what I am.

Because however much fun I have, however much people teased me as a kid, however much I use my mother's powers to try and hide my dad's...

I'm the daughter of Death.

___________________________________

This chapter is just a tiny bit a filler, but it also gives a sneak at who I'm building to be the villain here. Anyone who guesses it---I'll be surprised. REALLY surprised. I'm fairly sure I'm sneaky!

Maaaaybe.

Am I sneaky?

Hm.

Idk.

You tell me! How's my latest spin on Ellie's (very dramatic) life going? You like it? Comment and comment and comment-y comment, and I'll see you guys next chapter!

(Oh BTW, if anyone reading this has also read my book "Starlight, Starbright", I just put out the second book. It's called "I'm Gonna Grant Your Wish Tonight."