Discovery

Ava's POV

I see him slip and start to fall. My heart breaks and I scream in fear as I see him falling. This is my fault, this was my idea, I shouldn’t have suggested it. Every fibre of my being is reaching out to him, I feel helpless but I reach with my arm to try to grab him.
As I reach out I watch in disbelief as a vine shoots out from my hand and down towards him. The vine wraps around him and then around the wooden post of the bridge, halting his fall. I stare at my hand, what the hell was that?
“Ava, are you ok?” I hear ash shout up.
“Yes, are you?” I ask looking down at him all tangled in vine.
“Yes, but I’m a bit stuck, would you be able to pull me up?” He asks.
I pull on the vine, but even with my extra strength it is too heavy. “You are too heavy” I reply
“Well muscle does weigh more than fat” He says, I can’t believe he is joking while suspended precariously in mid air.
I pull more desperately at the vine but no avail. I look at my hand and wonder how I made the vine. Something niggles in my memory and moments that I thought were just dreams or nightmares flash before me. I gesture with my hand to the vine and imagine it rolling up. It slowly starts to move and I try to maintain my concentration despite the shock and fear I feel. Out of my peripheral vision I see Ashton climbing up back onto the beam and I sigh in relief.
“Ok so what the hell was that?” He says panic clear in his voice.
“I’m not sure, I just really wanted to save you and it happened” I say.
“Have you ever done that before?”
“I’m not sure, I have these strange dreams that I never thought were real, but now I think maybe they were memories. I didn’t know I could do it” I explain.
“What are the memories?” He asks
“I remember a flower growing out of my hand, I dream about it a lot and showing it proudly to my mother” I leave out the more distressing memory.
“Can you do that?”
“I don’t know how, I don’t know how I did that now” I say, starting to panic.
“Ok, lets just get to the other side and then we can figure it out” He starts inching forward again along the beam. “Thank you though, for saving me”
“You are welcome” I smile despite my confusion, glad that he is safe.
We get to the other side and Ash holds out his hand to me to help me off the beam. I take it and he pulls me in close to him and kisses me deeply. His warm body pressed too close to mine and the taste of his delicious plum lips sends shivers down my spine. He releases me and I jump back.
“What was that, you know its not allowed!” I accuse him.
“Firstly we are no longer in Loria, so the law means nothing here and second I’m pretty sure you are not a werewolf” he says a smug grin on his face.
“What do you mean? Of course I am, my father was” I say shocked
“And your mother, what was she?” He asks
“I, I don’t remember, all the memories I have of her, she just looks human, I assumed she was a werewolf, but she could have ben anything I guess” I’m starting to question everything, racking my memory for answers, but I was so young that most of it is just a blur.
“I think she might have been fae, what you did was magic, a type I have never seen before” He says gently
“I can’t do magic, I have never learnt, and I can’t be a crossbreed, its forbidden” I say in denial
“Most magic is instinctive, we study to hone it and control it, but children can use magic without learning anything. Think about it, you touch the trees to see the way, you found those plants for the potion, trees and plants seem to conveniently pop up around you” Ash says.
I am too shocked to speak, he is right, but it can’t be. I had always just thought I was a freak and this was some malfunction.
“Try make that flower from your dream. Imagine it in your hand, all the little details, think it into reality.” He instructs
I look at my hand, I think about the little white petals, the green stem and how it would feel in my hand. Nothing happens.
“You have to really want it, like your existence depends on it” He tries to encourage me.
I try again and I think about how nice it would be to give him the flower, how I need to know i’m not crazy and how being fae might mean I could kiss him again. I see a small white flower appear in my hand and I smile.
“That is amazing, you are not just magic, you are creating life, I have never heard of that before. Most fae can only manipulate elements and we have to work with what is there. Even my fire comes from the sun” He looks at me in awe.
“So I’m still a freak and worse yet, probably a crossbreed. I’m doomed, I can’t go home” Ok now i’m freaking out, this is bad.
“No, you are not a freak, you are exceptional.” He takes my hand gently and I start to calm down. “You have a whole new type of magic, this should be studied and celebrated. I’m sure you will not be banished. How will they know anyway?”
“But you are a guard, do you not need to report me to the king?” I ask confused
He frowns, his eyes darken “I do not need to tell him anything, I will keep you safe from him, I promise”
“Are you not loyal to the king?” I ask confused
“I do not agree with him on a lot of things, besides, you saved my life, I will not betray you” His voice is so sincere that I believe him.
“Thank you” is all I can say. I take a deep breath trying to process everything and calm myself.
“Maybe we should camp early, its more dangerous here to travel at night and you should take some time to process everything” He suggests.
As much as I want to find Ezra, I can’t argue I'm distracted and I actually feel pretty tired too. I just nod and let him set up the camp while my brain races with questions. In all honesty, I don’t even remember my parents names, just vague images of them and most of the images are of being chased and hunted. I don’t even know why we were being chased, why my parents were probably killed. Ok so great, I don’t know who I am or where I came from. I guess its better than being a useless werewolf in a pack that treats me like dirt, and my power is pretty useful. A power that is unheard of, will provoke questions and might lead to other people realise i’m a crossbred. Ok, well thinking about this is not helping, I need a distraction.