Chapter Fourteen
“Really?” I answered emphatically, “That’s amazing!”
“Well,” Terrence replied coyly, his big brown eyes turning downwards to his desk, “It’s not that amazing.” He smiled modesty as he ran his long fingers along his computer monitor, pretending to sweep it clean. He was just nervous, as most men were around me when I was obviously in flirt mode.
A loud clattering noise rung through the huge space, which made me jump.
“Sorry!” I heard Sigwald call out from somewhere within the massive underground warehouse.
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t know why I kept being spooked by the loud noises that were often created by either Sigwald or my brother doing something stupid, but I was. It was just too weird to be living underground permanently. I longed for accommodation which had windows, just so that the soft rays of natural light could filter in. Sigwald said that after my ‘accident’ in the restaurant, we had to be even more careful about training. He didn’t let us go outside in the day time, so we trained above ground during the night. I would call clouds to gather around the base, so that we would be hidden from view, and then Niyol would practise his lightning powers. I would join in and make it rain, and together we could create a pretty powerful thunder storm. It had only been two months since we moved here permanently, but we were already forging ahead. It was so much easier to control and use our powers when we were all side by side. We probably should have been trained together sooner, and now that we were becoming much more powerful, I was really starting to enjoy being one of the Ventus. I hardly ever thought about the exciting and rewarding life of an Oceanographer.
Terrence looked back into my eyes and the corners of his mouth rose up, carefully. He had probably been warned against fraternising with the freaks, but I needed to do something to make me feel like a human being. Sigwald had been making us work incredibly hard. We were up early and finished late, and hardly had any time to do much else. In some ways it was good, since Sefarina, Niyol and I were so tired that we couldn’t argue with one another. But in other ways, it was really tough. I was finding it harder and harder to concentrate, and I was beginning to feel more like a lab rat. The scientists insisted that we work very closely with them for their studies, and I hated it. There are only so many times that your blood can be taken and your heart rate measured and your brain scanned before it became incredibly tedious and demeaning. The only positive about the whole thing was being able to see Terrence, a lab geek more concerned with fondling my urine samples than fondling anything else. But he was by far and away the most attractive man in the entire building, and it gave me great pleasure to flirt with him and watch him squirm. Maybe he didn’t fancy me; maybe he was told not to, but even if nothing was going to happen, I still enjoyed practising my seduction skills on him. It made me feel like I was still a woman and not a freak of nature.
“What are you doing this afternoon?” Terrence asked blankly, continuing to play it cool.
I shrugged. “I think we’re doing martial arts with Malik and then going back into the wind tunnel. Valeska,” I said venomously, “will be supervising us…”
Terrence warmed, his eyes sparking to life amorously.
“Valeska…” He rolled the name across his tongue as it waggled out of his mouth like a drooling dog’s.
“Yes,” I said sternly,” Valeska.”
Terrence, realising that he was salivating at the thought of the Czech chick’s charms, thrust his tongue back into his throat and clamped his lips shut, sitting up straight. He crossed his arm across his chest, trying to regain his scientific authority. I raised my eyebrow, and clicked my tongue. I wanted desperately to change the subject. I didn’t want to get annoyed, and ruin my chances with him. I looked across his desk, and saw mostly files, lab reports and handwritten notes scrawled onto lined paper. Then I noticed a brightly coloured flyer, and leaned over to pick it out. It was an advertisement for an annual boat show in Southampton. There were details about what would be there, and images of large and impressive boats that would be on show.
“So you like boats?” I asked him, pretending to care.
“Uh-huh”, he answered.
“Do you have one?”
“No way! On the salary I earn, I couldn’t afford one!”
“Do you know how to sail?” I knew my questions were bland and banal, but I was trying hard to keep him interested in me.
“No,” he shook his head, “I just like their engines. They’re fascinating.”
I had two options here: end the conversation, or feign interest in boat engines. Since Terrence was the only good looking man for miles around who I had the tiniest possibility of dating, I went with the latter option.
“I don’t know much about engines,” I replied, honestly.
“No, most people don’t. Especially women. I was really surprised when I found this on Valeska’s desk…”
Her again. No matter what I tried to do to stop talking about Valeska, she seemed to manage to pop back into the conversation. I really hated her.
“Sorry,” he whispered. His face went bright red with embarrassment, seeing that I was annoyed at him for mentioning her again.
“It’s alright,” I answered, “she’s a very attractive woman. I’m not surprised that you fancy her.”
“I don’t fancy her!” He lied, poorly.
“Every man in this building fancies her! My brother can’t stop going on about her!”
Terence sat silently, ashamed.
“It wouldn’t be professional,” he began, “to lust after a colleague. Especially one who wouldn’t give me a second look.”
I rocked my arms back, uneasily. I didn’t like where the conversation was headed. I didn’t want to be Terence’s counsellor, or his friend. I wanted to feel his thick lips against mine.
“I don’t like her,” I exclaimed in a matter of fact tone, trying not to sound jealous. Or bitchy.
His eyes widened. “Why not? Everybody likes her!”
“She’s fake.”
“She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met!”
“Exactly!” I shouted, “And that is why I don’t like her. Whenever there is a person about who nobody has a bad word to say, I get suspicious. They’re trying too hard to be liked, and that worries me.”
Terence laughed, patronisingly.
“I’m not surprised to hear you say that,” he joked. I wasn’t laughing. In fact, I was quietly seething.
“And what does that mean,” I snapped?
“Women are all the same: it’s so funny.”
“You know that you should never say things like that to a woman?” I informed him between clenched teeth.
“You’re a nice girl,” he added, placing his hand onto mine, “but you need to grow up. Jealousy is never an attractive quality in anyone.”
The ball of energy within me exploded, and I felt the power of the wind surge through every muscle and bone in my body. I wanted to call the clouds to me. I wanted to push the chair out from underneath him. I wanted to gather every single water molecule in the entire building and pummel it into his face. But I didn’t. We had been doing an awful lot of work on controlling our powers, trying our hardest to keep a level head. Just before my body started to quake with the surging force emanating from within, I pulled it back, pushing it deep down into the imagined box that Sigwald had told us to focus on. My arms and legs relaxed, and my shoulders fell back. My muscles uncoiled as the wind gushed backwards through the readying channels inside of me. My head stopped being fuzzy, and the fury dampened. I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and then opened them slowly as I exhaled.
“Whatever,” I replied, suddenly feeling absolutely no attraction to Terence anymore. Although he was nice on the outside, he was rotten on the inside. I had spent many hours trying not to be a horrible person anymore. I wanted badly to be better, on the inside, like Sefarina. I didn’t want to let the chips on my shoulder weigh me down anymore. I didn’t want my an
ger to eat me alive, and destroy me. And that was why I didn’t want to be dealing with someone who wasn’t worthy of my affections. Someone who wasn’t a true gentleman. Someone who didn’t treat me kindly, and would drag me down to their level.
“I need to go,” I told him, as I turned and walked away from his immature grin.
“Bye!” He called out to me, as he spun around on his swivel chair and went back to working at his computer.
As I walked down the clanging metallic walkway, I quietly scolded myself. I was still shallow, caring more for looks than anything else. I didn’t want a trophy on my arm, I wanted a real man. And although I didn’t yet know what that was, I knew that both my grandfather and my own father were pretty close to it. They had been lovingly devoted to both their wives and children. Maybe I wanted a man like that. A man who doesn’t betray you. A man whom you can trust. A man who loves you for who you are, and brings out the best in you, while helping you get rid of the worst.
A body banged against me, and I awakened from my philosophical trance. It was Sefarina, who smiled at me joyfully.
“Are you ready to spar?” She beamed.
“Of course!” I replied as I took her arm in mine, “but this time I’m definitely going to beat you!”