Chapter 22

"Now focus." Elizabeth's voice rang out. She and Lucas stood in the field as a light breeze went by them while the heat from the sun hit them.

"It's been close to a month, so you should have a handle on some of your magic. Now, I need you to harness it throughout your body and show me how far you have it," Elizabeth told her son as she crossed her arms, watching intensely.

"Yes, ma'am," Lucas said as he stood a few feet from Elizabeth. He took a deep breath as he tried to focus on his breathing. He began to feel a warm sensation throughout his body as a small light blue aura began to radiate from his body. It then started to flicker like a dying light bulb as he tried to concentrate more.

"Remember you need to be in control of your emotions while you do this," Elizabeth reminded him as she began to circle him. She could see him struggling to keep everything in his mind. Yet, she was impressed that he could hold it for this long and his aura became more stable. After she walked a full circle around him, she came to a stop as she held out both hands.

"Now, I want you to hit me," Elizabeth told him without hesitating.

"Are....you....sure?" Lucas struggled to get the words out while trying to focus. Sweat began to cover his face and brow as he struggled to keep one eye open. Through that one eye, he saw the seriousness in his mother's face at her own instruction.

"She was dead serious." Lucas thought. He swallowed hard as his breathing became labored. "Just need to concentrate my energy. Just need to focus and relax." He told himself.

Elizabeth watched as her son was now keeping his aura constant and focus. This brought a slight smile to her face as she was very proud of him. "I'm ready when you are."

"Right." He said, taking a deep breath. Although his body felt tingly, he could still move. So his feet grip the ground tightly, and then he was off. The first thing he realized was how much faster he was moving from that single kick-off. He could even feel the flow of his energy moving with his body as he charged towards his mother. A part of him felt as if he would run right through her if he didn't stay focused. His right hand clenched, and his muscles tighten as he got closer to her.

"Haaaa," Lucas let out as he tried to hit his mom's hand. As his fist connected to her hand, his hand went through it. Shock went through his eyes as his whole body went through hers and was about to eat dirt.

Lucas hit the ground with a thump as he began to duck and roll. He immediately got up and looked back to see his mom's body began to fade away completely. His mouth dropped as he tried to wrap his head around what just happened.

"Not bad. Not bad at all. But you need to focus more." Elizabeth told him as she stood over and behind him with her hands still out. "You also need to work on fully stabilizing your energy."

"How the hell did you do that?!" Lucas blurted out as his aura faded away. His body began to ache as he felt all his muscles tighten up at an excruciating level. Most of the pain was mainly in his arms and legs. It felt as if he was on the third day of Martha's training all over again. Yet, he pushed himself to get back to his feet.

"Language. Where the hell do you get this language from anyway." Elizabeth scowled at him.

"But how did you do that? I didn't even see you move!" He said, ignoring her comment, he did not want to point out the problem with her argument. "I hit you!"

"No, you hit an after image. The goal is for you to hit my hands. I didn't say I wasn't going to stay still." Elizabeth said while rolling her eyes.

"You can do that?" Lucas dumbfoundedly said as he placed both hands on the back of his head. While his body hurt, his mind was going in a million and one direction.

"Sweetheart, I can do a lot of things." Elizabeth smugly said. "Once you get to certain past things and have a full understanding of your own powers, abilities, and skills, the possibilities are endless."

"Whoa." Lucas let out as he could feel his adrenaline start to kick in, and his excitement started to grow. "Can you show me how you did that?"

"When you hit me, then I will. For now, let's try it again." Elizabeth said, giving him a soft smile.

"Right," Lucas said, taking in a deep breath as he got his aura back around him. He took another deep breath as he focused again. He was glad that doing those exercises was helping out. He would have never been able to do any of this if he didn't train his body. A small smile came across his face as he charged at his mother again.

Each time he tried to hit her, she would just move out of his way. She was impressed that he was still trying so hard. However, she did wish he was a little stronger; she barely broke a sweat dodging his attacks. Yet, the passion behind his eyes and how hard he was trying nearly melted her heart as she watched and felt his energy.

After about 6 more times, Lucas began to cough and found himself struggling for air as he slowed down and came to a complete stop. He was covered head to toe in sweat as he tried to get closer to her and weakly threw a barely formed fist. His vision became blurry as he tried to take one more step, yet his body wouldn't budge.

"It seems you have reached your limit. I'm impressed and very proud. You're training is coming very well." Elizabeth praised her son as she could see it in him. She could feel her heart slightly beat faster as she was just about to feel a warm-up.

"Uh-huh," Lucas said, coughing as he tried not to throw up.

"Would you like to call it for today and try again tomorrow or later on tonight?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Uh-huh."

"Are you alright?"

"Nooo." He weakly said as he coughed.

"Do you want me to leave you and bring you some water?" Elizabeth asked.

"Uh-huh," Lucas said, falling to his knees and laying on his stomach.

"Alrighty. I'll check on you later." Elizabeth said, hoping she didn't hurt her son too badly. She then turned around and left Lucas on the ground.

As she went through the front door, Elizabeth found Amay sitting on the living rooms floor with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap. A blood-red aura left her body as she was deep in meditation. Her hair even began to float as she focused. She didn't even know Elizabeth had entered the house.

Elizabeth silently watched her former partner deep in her own meditation. Her eyes slowly looked over to an apple that was resting on the table. She silently picked it up and gave it a quick look over before looking back at Amay. A smile crept across her face as she thought of a bad idea.

Without saying a word, Elizabeth threw the apple at Amay. She allowed some of her energy to flow through it, which caused it to pick up some speed. Amay felt her right ear twitch and let out a sigh. She held out her hand, and blood quickly came from her hand and took the form of a long sword. The sword had sliced the apple and caused one slice to roll right to Amay's leg. This caused Amay to smile as she looked up towards Elizabeth.

"Always up to your old tricks, huh, Lizzy?" Amay said as her aura faded and her blood retracted back into her arm. She then licked the apple juice on her hand before she stood up, grabbed both sliced apples, and brought them to her taller friend.

"Just wanted to make sure you were actually meditating. I remember a certain someone faking it half the time." Elizabeth said, rubbing her knuckles into Amay's head teasing her.

"And I noticed a certain someone still not able to cook," Amay said, swatting Elizabeth's hand away playfully. She then passed Elizabeth one half of the apple as she took a bit out of the other one.

"Touché," Elizabeth said as she took a bite of the other half of the apple.

"So, how is his training going?" Amay asked as she noticed he hasn't come into the house yet.

"He's doing pretty well. He's still has a lot to learn before he's fully ready." Elizabeth said as she took another bite of her apple.

"That's good to hear. I would hate for him to be dead weight for when we get into a sticky situation." Amay said, taking another bite of her apple as her mind went to the night they walked back together.

"He did ask some questions about you?" Elizabeth said, looking down towards Amay.

"Oh?" She said interested in finding out what she told him.

"He mainly asked about your scar and age. I told him if he wanted to know more about you, he should just ask you." Elizabeth said, looking out the window to see if she could spot her son.

This brought a small giggle to Amay's mouth. "He's really interesting," Amay said as she took another bite of her apple.

"That he is," Elizabeth admitted with her. Both of them took a bite of their apple as they stood there in silence for a moment.

"Are any of your problems showing back up?" Elizabeth asked as she finished her last bite of the apple.

Amay paused for a moment as she didn't know what to say to Elizabeth exactly.

"No...I've been fine." She said, trying not to say any more on it.

"Are you sure?" You can always talk to me about it. You know that, right?" Elizabeth asked, turning her attention to her friend.

"Why? Afraid, I'm gonna have another moment?" Amay said back in a cold tone.

"That's.....That's not why, Amay. I just..." Elizabeth said, trying to explain herself.

"Just what, Lizzy! Afraid I'm gonna lose control? And that your gonna have to put me back in that basement, or better yet. You gonna have to kill me?" Amay exploded at Elizabeth as tears started to form in her eyes.

Elizabeth couldn't say a thing as Amay's words cut through her. She could see the pain in her friend's eyes as she still looked into them and the break in her voice.

"Amay...I..."

"I'm not a monster. You can't just put me away. I'm scared as well." Amay broke as tears fell from her eyes. She had so much to say, but she couldn't bring herself to say them. All Amay could do was just turned around and started to walk away to her room.

"Amay, wait," Elizabeth said, reaching her hand out to grab Amay's.

As she grabbed Amay's hand, Amay quickly turned around and snatched her hand away. She then roared at Elizabeth as if she was unleashing all her pint anger and rage at her.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Elizabeth immediately pulled her hand away as Amay's words broke her heart. She just stared at her short friend as tears began to form in her eyes. She didn't realize how badly she felt Amay's, but her words told her enough. She just took a step back and turned her head away as she couldn't look her former friend in her eyes without seeing her mistake.

Amay's eyes went wide as she realized what left her mouth. She didn't mean to but knew the damage was already done. As her tears continued to fall, she turned away and ran up the stairs to her room. When she closed the door, she began to pull at her own hair and kick her own self for what she said. She then noticed the bear that Lucas had won for her and decided to throw it away. When she grabbed the bear and was about to throw it, she paused for a moment as her hand began to shake. She then brought the bear close to her and held on to it tightly. Her body began to slide to the floor as she began to cry into it.

Elizabeth felt her hand began to shake as she tried to open the refrigerator. She was able to muster up the strength to open the fridge. Her eyes landed on the bottle of wine she hadn't touched in a few weeks. With tears in her eyes, she grabbed the bottle of wine and began to drink from it. She then sat on the floor with the bottle still in hand as tears continued to fall from her eyes. Downing half of the bottle, Elizabeth tried to drown out her own pain from her mistake while still being hunted by her once long friend's hurtful words and her own overwhelming guilt.