Chapter 2

"Well let's burn the book like the letter said. I'll get the matches," Samantha said.

"No," Cody said as he grabbed Samantha by the shoulders. Samantha shrugged Cody off her and turned around. Amber stooped down and grabbed the book. She quickly opened it back up to the page showing the wave of water.

"'Ar'kan es a shu'ka fiera rashinka ar'tuk namimba' There I read out of the book and nothing happened to me," Amber said in such a stern voice that everyone looked at her. Cody took the book from Amber and turned to Samantha.

"See no need to burn the book," Cody said. He then pulled out the pages that he had read from. " 'Ar'tuk es a shu'ka fiera firkanaka ar'tuk namimba.' Ha, I read from it too." Cody reinserts the torn pages into the book. Turning to Samantha, Cody holds out the book in a polite offering to her. "Go ahead read your page."

Turning to the page with the boulder, Samantha looks over the page with the writing. "Wow its got training instructions on how to control the power, and ... how to kill with it." Samantha starts reading the line that says it grants the power, " Ar'tuk es a shu'ka fiera shanikua ar'tuk namimba.' " Looking around, Samantha shrugs, closes the book, drops it into Sam's lap, and walks into the house.

"What got into her?" Cody asked genuinely interested.

"No clue. I'll go see what is wrong with her," Amber said as she crossed the threshold into the house.

"Go ahead, keep the book," Cody said as Sam tried to give the book back. "I never liked to read like you do." Surprised Sam hugged the old book to his chest.

As it was getting dark fast Cody said bye and set off for his house down the street. Sam got up and went into his own house. Sam went up the stair to his room and plopped down on his bed. Looking at the clock he was surprised to see that it was only four in the afternoon. Exhausted Sam pulled the old book into his lap. He flipped through the book until he landed on the page of wind.

"Ar'kan es a shu'ka fiera anika ar'tuk namimba," Sam read off out loud. When nothing happened he shut the book and fell asleep. His dreams were full of mighty winds. His most vivid dream was of him in math class. He was angry at some unknown force when an invisible force swept away from him like ripples in a pond. Paper and pages from books flew towards the walls. Fortunaletly for the girls none of them were wearing skirts or dresses.

Sam woke up in a fevered sweat. Looking around he saw the window was open. He jumped off his bed and went to shut his window. After he shut the window he decided to go downstairs and get a drink.

Cody woke up in the blistering cold. Looking over at his wall he notices a faint light. He gets up and walks to his fire place. Inside a small fire was burning, but wasn't emitting enough heat to warm the room. Worried he gets up and quickly smothers it out. When he does he feels a piece of him go with it.

Samantha gets out of bed more than half asleep. She mindlessly wanders to the bathroom. When she sits down on the toilet she thinks to herself, wow this toilet is colder and harder than I remember. Not really caring she gets back up, flushes the toilet, and washes her hands. On her way out she glances at the toilet and notices that it is stone not porcelain. Not really caring Samantha slips back into bed and quickly falls asleep.

Amber woke up with a start. In her dream she was sitting in a waterfall not drowning but breathing. Now that she was awake she could see that items were floating around her room. She opened her mouth but all that came out was bubbles. Her arms went to her mouth to keep air in. As one of her arms brushed by her neck she felt thin slits. Curious she took her hands away from her mouth and felt her neck. I have gills! she thought. Surprised Amber fainted.

When Sam woke the next morning he felt tired. Deciding to get some more rest, Sam walked out to the porch. There on the porch he laid in his hammock without a care in the world. Not even the night's activities.

Samantha woke up soon after Sam. Vaguely remembering last night she rushes to the bathroom. She looks daggers at the toilet. Porcelain. She blames last night on her imagination. She went downstairs to the kitchen after her morning ritual. In the middle of making eggs the phone rings.

"I got it," Samantha calls picking up the kitchen phone. "Hello."

"Ok. I'll be over after breakfast," Samantha replies into the phone.

"Ok. Bye Amber."

After eating her scrambled eggs, Samantha runs up to her room and gets dressed. Stepping outside onto her porch she sees her brother sleeping in his hammock. "Wake up Sam!" Samantha cries as she shakes him awake.

"Uuhhhhh..." Sam says as he becomes aware of his surroundings. "What is it sis?"

"Amber wants us at her house."

"Alright, let me get dressed first though. I don't think I should be going around in these ridiculous pjs," he says. Samantha nods and Sam rushes upstairs to change.

They leave the house and start walking up the street. Amber lived about five six houses down. As they passed Cody's house Cody burst through the door. He yells to them, "Wait up!"Sam and Samantha stop and look back at him. To Sam it looks like Cody had seen a ghost. "My fireplace would not extinguish last night. Every time I get back to sleep it explodes in a fiery mess," Cody explains as he catches up to them.

"I was up all last night trying to keep my damned window closed. The wind wanted in and it wouldn't settle for later or did it care that I was asleep," Sam explains after Cody comments on his raggedy look.