Chapter Thirteen

When Lily comes into my room after midnight, I know she's dead serious about what she said earlier. I'm not asleep when she came but I'm still surprised she comes to my room. She sits on my bed and looks at me.

"Are you ready?" She asks.

I sit up. "I don't know how to do it."

"That's the easy part. It's apart of us and calling on our powers is second nature." She informs me. "The rest is the more difficult part. It took me a while to get my fire to grow bigger but I'm working on it."

I nod my head. "So, I just need to call it?"

"Yes. You're the master and whatever you say, it'll listen." She says. "There's only one downfall. It drains your energy if you're not mentally prepared."

"How do you know that?" I ask, frowning.

"Because the first couple of times I did it, I blacked out." She replies. "I made a pretty big fire when I did it. So, I'm starting off small and making my way up to a big fire." She makes a fire appear. "This is how big I can make it without blacking out."

Lily told me earlier, I can draw water from the air and on my birthday when the transformation happened, Hayes told me water would always be me. Taking a deep breath, I lift my hand and call out to the water. I take what Lily say in consideration and only use a portion of my powers. I don't want to pass out anytime soon.

At first I don't think anything it's happening because I can't see anything. Then, Lily frowns and wipes her cheeks a couple of times.

"Do you not feel that?" She asks, looking up.

"Feel what?"

"Water." She says. "It's like it's sprinkling in here."

After she mentioned it, I feel a few water drop on my face as well. I smile at the thought. I just made it rain in my room. Well, not rain but sprinkle.

I drop my arm and the sprinkling stops. I can feel some of my energy is gone but not enough to make me feel exhausted. Lily looks at me with a proud smile on her face.

"You did it! Imagine if you had your necklace. You can make it rain whenever you want."

"You won't complain about it being cold?" I ask, grinning.

"I don't like the snow but the rain is different. I love it. Especially after it rains and there's a rainbow."

Lily's connected to the sun and I'm connected to the moon. I think about our different abilities and what we can do if our powers were combined.

"I'm sure we can make a rainbow anytime we want."

"How?" She ask, lifting an eyebrow.

"Rainbows are a reflection of light hitting water." I explain. "The rainbow appears in a specific way the sunlight hits the raindrops."

"You think we can make one in here?" She asks.

I shrug. "I don't know. We don't have any sunlight."

She smiles. "I am the sun. I can make a ray of sunlight."

She really has been practicing her powers. Maybe I should've been too.

"Okay. Let's do it."

She holds her hand up and concentrates for a moment before a light shoots out her palms. I have to cover my eyes because of how bright it is in my otherwise dark room.

"I can't hold it for very long." She tells me and I know that's code for hurry up and make it rain.

I quickly lift my hand and do what I did earlier but make it sprinkle more. I position the water over the beam of light and wait for the rainbow to appear. We cheer, happily, when we see the small rainbow in the air.

Our cheering stops when a fire starts. When Lily made the sunlight appear she positioned her hand in an area where nothing was flammable but when she started to cheer she moved her hand and the sunlight landed on something very flammable.

My curtains.

"Oh my gosh!" Lily yells, panicking. "What do we do?"

"Put it out!" I say, jumping out my bed. "Get water!"

We head to my bathroom and I turn on the sink tap and Lily goes for the bathtub. I grab a cup, I had laying around from the time I didn't want to leave my room, and fill it up to the top. I ran back into m room to the curtains and throw the water on it. But it doesn't work instead it made it worse by making it bigger. The fire is spreading rapidly and nothing we are doing is helping.

The sound of someone barging into my room makes my head turn and I see Hayes and Reid standing in the doorway. They see the fire first before they glance at Lily and me.

"What do you two do?" Hayes asks, narrowing his eyes.

"It's doesn't matter right now." Lily says. "Can you help us put the fire out?"

Reid leaves and comes back with a fire extinguisher but just like the water it doesn't help. Reid frowns as he continues to use to fire extinguisher.

"How do you start this fire?" Reid questions.

Lily and I exchange glances.

"Uh,"

"Tell us now!" Hayes orders, trying to keep the fire from spreading any more as he removes anything else that's flammable nearby.

"I used my powers to make a sunlight." Lily tells him.

As soon as she says that, Reid drops the fire extinguisher and Hayes stops doing what he's doing. They look at each other.

"This is a magical fire. The only thing that can stop this is, its opposite." Hayes says, looking at me.

I shake my head. "I can't produce enough water to put that out."

I just learned how to make it sprinkle a little bit. There's no way I can make it pour. Especially not without my necklace. Lily's told me I only have half my powers when the necklace isn't with me.

"You have to unless you want everyone to die." He replies, harshly.

Lily's words from earlier comes to. If I'm not mentally prepared, I would pass out and looking at the size of the fire, I'm going to black out for hours.

"Catch me before I hit the floor." I tell them.

Hayes frowns confused. "Catch you?"

"Yes. Don't let me hit the ground."

I take a deep breath before I lift both my hands up and summons as much water as I can possibly get. I can see the water appearing and it's way more than I did before. I propel it forward to where the fire is and once it touches the fire, the fire begins to get smaller and smaller before it vanishes completely.

I drop my arms and the last thing I see before I fall, is the moon and I pray someone catches me before my body slumps to the ground.

I wake hours later. Looking around, I notice I'm in Lily's room but Lily isn't here. I try to sit up and it's the worse decision to make. I feel nauseous.

The door opens and Hayes walks in carrying some food and a drink.

"The feeling will fade soon." He tells me, coming over to me. "Lily said this will help." He gestures to the food and drink he brought.

I say nothing because I'm not sure I trust myself to speak without throwing up. He takes the opportunity to speak.

"What were you two thinking? You could've lost your life and there would be nothing I could do about it. Do you know how that would make Abe to feel to have lost his daughters over something stupid? Over a damn rainbow."

He isn't yelling at me but I know his upset with me. We weren't thinking last night and that's our mistake we made.

"Anybody could've found out you're the siren and Lily's the seer. Do you know how dangerous that is?" He continues with his lecture. "Reckless."

I make a move to lift myself up and the nauseous feeling has passed. "Okay, I get it. You can stop with the dad lecture. It was stupid of us and it won't happen again."

I'm reaching for the glass of orange juice when he says something I'm not expecting.

"You're right. It's not because I'm going to train you."

I stop reaching for the glass and fix my eyes on him. He looks serious as he watches me with his grey eyes.

"You're going to train me?" I repeat and he nods his head. "How?"

"You'll find out." He stands up, giving me the glass of orange juice. "Get your energy back and then come find me."

I take the cold glass and nod my head. "Okay. I can do that." He's walking to the door when I stop him. "Did you catch me?"

He has his hand on the door but he turns his head to glance back at me. He grins. "Of course I did, Boo."

He leaves after that and I drink my orange drink before eating. It takes an hour for me to get my strength back and once it does, I head to my room but it's locked.

"They're remodeling your room, Princess Millian." A maid informs me. "It should be done next week."

"But my stuff is in there. How am I going to get it out?" I ask.

"Princess Lillian grabbed everything you would need." She says.

I go back to Lily's room and I look around her room. And just like she said, my stuff is laying on the side dresser. I grab the clothes and change into them as I get ready for the day. I head downstairs to find Hayes.

Before I can find him, Abe stops me.

"Millian." He says in a tone I'm all the familiar with.

"I know, I know, Dad. I don't need another lecture. Guardian Cipriano already give me one."

He looks surprised by that. "Hayden gave you a lecture?" I nod my head. "He keeps surprising me."

"Why's that?"

"Back on Arysn, he was careless doing whatever he wanted and here, I'm not clueless I heard about his infamous reputation." He means all the flings Hayes had. "I never thought he would lecture you but then again, I can't say he wouldn't. He's grown into a fine gentleman and an even better guardian. I'm glad you have him."

If you only knew..

I smile at Abe. "I'm glad I have him too."

"It's quite funny actually." Abe says, smiling. "When you were younger, he was always getting you two in some kind of trouble and now it's he job to keep you out of trouble."

"We have a strange relationship." I admit. "I mean he's my best friend and also my guardian. It's hard to find a balance between the two."

Abe nods. "I understand but protecting you is his first priority. Friendship is secondary."

From Abe's view, he's right. The guardians didn't have time for friendship when protecting the Arysian people from danger is always a problem.

He must've seen how disappointed I am because he speaks again.

"But I know how important Hayden's friendship is to you. I can see it and I wouldn't ever want to do something to hurt you. That's another reason why I choose him to be your guardian. I wouldn't ever take your friendship away from you or Lillian."

Abe is saying, it's okay that I have a friendship with Hayes but his sole purpose comes first. I know he sees how we react when we're around him. We act like friends and he's fine with that. If had a problem with it, he would've stepped in and stopped it. He wouldn't had assigned Hayes and Reid to protect his daughters.

I wanted to tell him what I've thinking for the past couple of days but fear holds me. He tolerance my friendship with Hayes but anything more is unacceptable. He won't stand for it and I need to convince to change his mind and be accepting to Hayes and I but I need more to time before I can tell him.

I leave and continue to find Hayes. He's walking in the halls with Maya, probably showing her around the mansion. He smiles when he sees me and I return it. He immediately drops it when he realizes Maya is still with him.

"Do you want to show Maya your music room?" I ask.

Maya looks surprised. "You have a music room?"

"I used to had to one but now it's Princess Millian's." He corrects us. "I'll show you."

We go to the newly done music room and I smile, thinking how hard Hayes worked on all this. He must really love me. Maya whistles lowly as she looks around the room clearly impressed.

"This is incredible." She says. "I don't suppose you know how to play." She motions to the piano.

I smile. "I was born knowing how to play. It was the first instrument my dad taught me." I inform her as I walk over to the piano.

I don't sit down on the bench. I stand over the wooden seat as my fingers plays a string of keys making a soft sound. I hum along the notes as I glance at Hayes. It's the song he composed for me and I see the corner of his lips move into a small smile as he notices what I'm playing.

"That sounds lovely." Maya comments, smiling. "Did you make it? I never heard of it before."

I stop playing. "I wish but no I didn't. Someone very special to me, wrote it for me."

She knows who I'm referring to and her smile grows. "That's romantic." She looks over at Hayes.

They make eye contact and a secret conversation pass between them before Hayes glances away. He finally speaks after standing there not saying a word.

"I need to talk to Princess Millian in private." He tells Maya.

Whatever, passed between them, Maya looks at me with regretful and sad eyes before leaving the room. I arch an eyebrow at Hayes.

"What was all that about?" I ask.

He exhales. "You're not going to like what I'm about to say." He looks me in my eyes. "I'm dating Maya."

I stare at him, waiting for the joke to end but he doesn't say anything after that.

"Is it a joke, right? It's not funny."

He shakes his head. "I'm not joking." He says, seriously.

I frown in confusion. "Why? Maya knows about us. It's she blackmailing you?"

Yesterday, Maya told me she knew my secret and she want keep it. But I should've known she was going to use it against me. I saw the way she looked at Hayes. She flat out told me, he was hot and this plan is a way to be with Hayes. It has to be or otherwise she wouldn't had suggested it to Hayes.

"No she's not blackmailing me. When she told me she knew about us, I had to do something."

He's the one that came up the plan. It wasn't Maya.

"And that included dating Maya?" I cross my arms. "I don't understand. Why would you do that?"

"Too many people are finding out about us. The more people that finds out, the closer Abe finds out." He says. "I need to throw them off and Maya is our best option. People will see us together and our secret stays a secret."

"You don't have to date Maya." I tell him. "We'll be more careful."

I can't get used to Hayes dating another girl. Even if it is just pretending. I don't want him to. I'd do anything else but that.

"Being careful isn't enough." He say, shaking his head.

"I don't like this."

I hate this plan and I hate that he's the one to think of it.

"Neither do I but unless you have a better idea, this is it."

"I do actually." I say. "We tell Abe about us."

This is what I was going to tell Abe earlier. I didn't think it was the right time but hearing Hayes' plan changed my mind. I'd rather tell Abe ourselves before someone else did.

"Did you hear what you said? That defeats the whole purpose of keeping us a secret."

"He's going to find out one day. Why not tell him now?"

It's the truth. Sooner or later, we had to tell Abe. We couldn't keep our secret forever.

"You don't understand. We are forbidden. Abe isn't going to like that. He isn't going to agree with us."

"I'll convince him to change the law." I shrug, lazily. "I'll talk to him and make him see you are worthy of me."

"That's a long shot. Until we know for certain, Abe is completely fine with us being together, we're sticking with my plan."

I open my mouth to change his mind. To make him see he didn't have to pretend to date Maya but he beats me.

"I wouldn't be doing this, if I didn't have to. Once eyes are off us, I'll break it off with Maya. I swear it but this has to happen."

"I still don't agree with you." I tell him, sadly.

He nods. "I know."

He walks closer to me but I step away. I don't want him near me. I don't care if he's fake dating Maya, he went behind my back to do it. He didn't even tell me about his plan before he did. And Maya, why did she agree to do it?

"Leave." I say, hurt.

"Millie." He says, softly.

"Leave."

He doesn't say anything as he walks out, leaving me to myself. A part of me knows he's right and I should be happy he's looking out for us but the other half is completely upset with him.

I sit on the couch with a heavy sigh hating what he did.

Don't be mad at him. The voice tells me.

The voice I've been hearing even since I lost my family last April. It's crazy to think it's almost been year since I've lost them but it's even crazier that the voice hasn't left. No one knows about it and I don't know how they would react if I told them about hearing voices in my head. No, not voices. A voice.

I'm going crazy that has to be the reason. I should probably tell Mallory about my voice or at least Marie. I know she wouldn't judge me or tell Abe about it.

It's been a couple of weeks since I last heard from the voice. It was there during my weakest moments and when it didn't come back, I figured it disappeared but apparently I was wrong.

I stay in the quiet music room with my thoughts for company before I leave. I can't even hide in my room because I set half my room on fire and I don't want to be in Lily's room. I don't want to be around anymore. I left the music room because I kept thinking about Hayes and everything in there reminds me of him.

So, I walk out the back door and trek through the untouched snow over to the octagon gray stone gazebo. Inside, there's flowers and plants of different kinds and a few furnitures. It'd be nice to just sit out here in a warmer weather but where we're located there won't be much of it.

I take a seat on one of the colorful loveseat, pulling my feet up. I stare at the falling snow for a moment before I hear a voice behind me.

"Princess Millian, should you be out here?"

I look over at the guardian, I remember being called Bryan. He's the one who stopped me from walking around outside without any guardians. I take in his appearance. He had sandy blond hair and hazel eyes like me but they held more green than mine. He looks around my age probably the same age as Hayes. He wears warm clothes designs for this type of weather and black gloves covers his hands. He has an earpiece and I know he can in touch with Abe or Hayes in heartbeat just by pressing a button.

"How did you know I was in here?" I ask.

"I saw the footprints." He says. "It's freezing out here. Aren't you cold?"

I shake my head. "I'm fine. The cold doesn't bother me."

"I think you really should go back inside where it's warm." He suggests, politely.

I smile at him. "I will." He doesn't look pleased with that answer. "You can wait here for me if that makes you feel better."

He nods his head. "It would, Princess Millian."

I look back towards the snow and as soon as I see Hayes, I duck down.

"What is it?" Bryan say, alerted.

"Get down." I order him. "I don't want him to find me."

He does as I say. "Who are you hiding from, Princess Millian?"

"Hayes."

He frowns. "Your guardian?"

I nod. "Yes, him. If he finds me, he'll make me go back inside and I'm not ready to leave yet."

"If he sees the footprints, he'll know someone's in here." Bryan informs me. "I'll leave so you can stay longer."

"Thank you."

He nods. "Of course."

He leave the gazebo and I peek over the ledge to see Hayes and Bryan talking. Bryan shakes his head at whatever Hayes asked him and heads back to his post. Hayes continues to search for me.

I shouldn't be hiding for him but I don't want to be around him. I know he's worried about me and I should let him now I'm fine. Yet, I can't bring myself to do it.

I sink deeper to the ground and wrap by arms around my legs, trying to make myself smaller. It's the same thing, I feel when I'm heading back to my dark place.