Chapter 5 Arya

I headed next door to the gym, wondering why Celeste wanted to meet me there. After two hours of Defense class and an hour of light manipulation training, I was completely spent. I understood the need to prepare for my prophesied fight against Hadrian, but I didn't think I could take any more physical exertion today, even with the fire's energy filling me.

If anything, the warmth radiating from my core was relaxing me to a state of drowsiness, and all I wanted to do was collapse on my bed.

The gym was filled with older students and graduates, all training harder than usual. I even recognized some teachers in the mix, which, for some reason, was disconcerting. It looked like they were preparing for war.

Celeste stood by the door to the Simulation Room, wearing a cute aerobics bra and leggings, her long red hair up in a tidy ponytail.

My gut tightened with dread. Oh, no , not another sim run . But I obediently proceeded, gulping as I approached the fiery mermaid teacher.

"Good afternoon, Arya," Celeste greeted in an all-business tone .

Usually, the Mer leader spoke to me with a chipper voice, all smiles, so this new attitude was a striking contrast, and it stung a bit. Was Celeste insulted that I'd chosen to stay at the avian wing permanently?

"G–good afternoon," I replied.

"How did your first harpy training session go?"

I wasn't sure how to answer. Should I hide my excitement over the hour I spent playing with light?

"It was...very enlightening," I answered, deciding to go with vague humor.

Celeste ignored the pun and nodded.

"Good. Well, while I understand the desire to train you in your newly discovered talent, the prophecy stated that a siren would defeat Hadrian, so I believe that is the area we should focus on."

I must have made an exasperated expression because Celeste added, "Don't worry, we won't start today."

She giggled, which again confused me as to the new state of our relationship. "I don't want to overwork you. We'll start tomorrow on the siren training. After speaking with Caesar, we've decided that you'll switch off on training sessions each day: one day with him, one day with me, and one day with Maya."

I nodded slowly, puzzled. If Celeste hadn't called me here to train, then why was I here?

As if she could read minds—who knew, maybe she could—she answered my unspoken question.

"As for this evening, I understand you feel underwhelmed by your mermaid abilities. When the vampires attacked your friends, I heard that you didn't put up much of a fight, and that's my fault. I failed to teach you how to use your powers offensively. So, I called you here to show you how a mermaid can use their powers to fend off vampires, specifically. I will run through a sim, and I just want you to watch."

My brows jumped, and my eyes widened. She was giving me the chance to watch her fight!

Celeste turned on the screen on the wall so I could see into the sim room, then walked in and closed the door behind her. Through the smart wall, I could see her tighten her ponytail as the white of the room was replaced by an urban scene.

She stood on what looked like a rooftop, with a full moon illuminating the night sky and city lights sprinkling the horizon. It reminded me of when I watched Tobias do his sim against the dragons.

No sooner had the scene filled in when a pale-faced vampire woman shot out of the darkness and darted for Celeste. Celeste dodged with hardly any effort at all, merely stepping aside with the grace of a sprite.

Before the vampire could turn around and lunge for another attack, Celeste had pulled a vial of water out of the pocket of her sweatpants, pulled the cork off, and willed the liquid out in an elegant string.

She spun on her heel to face her attacker, who had just turned around and was preparing to dive at her again. The string of water slithered through the air with lightning speed and wrapped itself around the vampire's head.

The vampire stopped short, eyes bulging and mouth gaping as she tried in vain to breathe through the water. Her fingers clawed, digging through it in an attempt to swipe it away, but the water would not be removed.

The struggle went on for several minutes, with Celeste standing in place, staring at the vampire with unbreakable focus. Celeste hadn't broken a sweat, and already, this vampire was half-dead. Well, I guess they're already dead , I thought distantly as I watched with keen interest.

Finally, the vampire stopped her struggles and collapsed to the floor. The water continued to swirl around and around in a perfect ball for several seconds longer, then uncoiled and slithered back into the vial in Celeste's hand like an ethereal snake.

I was seriously impressed. Without any physical exertion, Celeste had taken out a vampire! All with meager water manipulation, too.

She looked toward the display wall, and I could almost believe that the mermaid teacher could actually see me through the simulation, her cool gaze effortlessly finding mine.

"The thing about vampires is they're like cockroaches," she said. "You think they're dead, and then they get back up. You see, vampires can drown over and over without actually dying."

As she spoke, the seemingly dead vampire stirred and began to rise.

"Celeste, look out!" I shouted, forgetting that she couldn't hear me in the sim.

But Celeste was prepared for it. The vampire shot off the ground, claws bared and ready to strike. Celeste narrowed her eyes on the vampire, and suddenly, the vampire froze in mid-air, floating in place.

I stared in confusion. Had the sim malfunctioned somehow? Was this some kind of glitch?

"What many mers forget is that we can manipulate all liquid, not just water," Celeste said smoothly, not breaking her focused gaze on the immobile vampire .

I looked closer, almost pressed up against the wall at this point. Upon closer inspection, I could see that the vampire's eyes were darting from side to side and were filled with fear.

Suddenly I understood, and the realization was earth-shattering. Celeste was manipulating the blood inside the vampire's body, essentially making it impossible for the vampire to move at all!

My jaw dropped, anticipation storming in my guts.

"The only way to truly kill a vampire is to sever the heart-brain connection," Celeste said.

Happening so abruptly that I jumped and squealed with surprise, the vampire's chest exploded right where the heart was, blood erupting from the blasted cavity like lava from a volcano. Then the now-hollow body fell to the rooftop with a thud, and Celeste walked to the door as the sim pixelated away and returned to the empty white room.

She emerged from the room and turned off the display.

"Celeste, that was incredible! I had no idea our power could be so..." I trailed off, unable to find a word to describe the awe I felt.

She smiled and patted my shoulder. "Well, now you know what you're capable of, and that's only from the mer part of you. Not all mer can do that, mind you. It takes years of training and hard work. But I believe you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it."

We shared a long look, and I realized what had changed in the nature of our relationship. Celeste was regarding me not as a student but as a peer—an equal.

"I'll see you tomorrow after Defense class?" she asked, even though it wasn't a request.

"Yes," I said .

She nodded and gestured for me to go ahead of her and leave the gym. As we walked together, I still felt uneasy about something, and I felt I had to clear it up before any more time passed.

"Celeste?" I asked, hanging in the doorway.

"Yes?"

"Are you upset that I'm not staying in the mer wing anymore?" The words came out shaky and unconfident because I was afraid of the answer.

Celeste blinked with understanding, then gave me a warm, motherly smile. "No. I know the bullying you've endured by the mers. And though I've tried my best to put a stop to it, I can't be everywhere all the time. You've found good friends in the avian wing, and you are technically an avian now. I understand why you feel you must stay with them, and I harbor no hurt feelings other than those from my own failure as an instructor and mentor."

I cocked my head. "You didn't fail. Like you said, you can't always control everything. Mean girls will go out of their way to be mean. That's not your fault."

She looked down, the sad frown looking out of place on her pretty and usually confident face. "It's not just that. I failed in training you. I delegated the task to Letti because I didn't truly believe you were the girl from my vision. I decided to keep looking when I should have been doing my best to prepare you. Because of my failure, we almost lost you to Hadrian."

I could almost feel the guilt emanating from her like an infectious fog.

"That wasn't your fault, either," I insisted. "It was my fault for being out after dark. We should've been back hours before curfew. We were foolish. As for Letti, I'm glad you pushed us together. We…bonded." I smiled as I thought of my frenemy .

Celeste attempted a smile, which I could tell was forced. "Yes. Well, you should get to dinner. You'll need to take extra good care of your health now."

I nodded, hearing the period in our conversation loud and clear. "See you tomorrow."

"Yes, tomorrow."

I watched her walk away, wishing there wasn't this strange tension between us. She felt that she had failed me, but I had failed her multiple times, and I was afraid I would fail her again—fail everyone. They all expected me to become some great savior of our kind. How could anyone live up to that? But what choice did I have?