It had been a month since we got to the campgrounds and I think Aunt Dawn has gotten us to do every chore imaginable. We had cleaned the entire house from top to bottom and brushed every horse in the stables. Every night I went to bed exhausted. I loved working here though. It was a pleasant kind of exhausted. I had done all I could that day and I had made a difference.

I wondered what would happen if we ran out of chores. What would I do all day? After working for so long each day I don't think I could go back to relaxing. I thought about just lying down and doing nothing for days at a time. It sounded boring. What would I think about? What would occupy my mind? I had no idea.

One day, we really did run out of chores. It was the second day of the second month that we had been there. I had just finished vacuuming the house. I sat down at the dining room table and Aunt Dawn grabbed me lemonade. I thanked her and gulped it down. It was hot and I was very thirsty. She looked at me and said,

"Your Uncle Bob is recovering very well. I think we just might be able to have you do some more magic training soon," she suggested.

"Magic training? Who would teach me?" I inquired.

"That just depends. If your Uncle Bob wants to, he might be able to, or we could have someone come and teach you on specific days," she theorized. I cringed at the thought of someone I had never met teaching me a strange and sometimes dangerous new magic.

"I'd like it if Uncle Bob taught me," I decided. I didn't know that Uncle Bob's base magic was Fire. I supposed I had never asked.

I wondered what happened if two people with different base

magic's married. What type of magic would their children have? I knew that if a girl with magic married a human boy then their children would have their mother's base magic. But if a man with base magic married a human girl then their children had no magic. I thought about this. I stored the question in my mind for when I next saw mom. Since she is the Master, she would probably know.

I wonder why Aunt Dawn or a doctor hasn't fixed Uncle Bob's leg yet. If it was just broken, why hadn't they fixed it, the way they had with mine? I would ask Aunt Dawn or my mom the next time I saw them.

"What's up Amber?" John asked.

"I was just thinking about uncle Bob. If his leg was just broken, why haven't the doctors used magic to fix it?" I asked.

"Maybe it was a magic induced wound. I read an article about that once. If the wound is magic induced, you can't heal it with magic. That's what makes them so deadly," John replied.

I sighed. It was wonderful having him here. He was so smart and balanced Kyle and me out perfectly. I wonder if he liked me. I had wondered this many times since we got here. I just never knew the answer.

"Want to go for a swim?" he asked. The campground had a lake that you could swim in. John always seemed happiest when he was in the water. I wondered briefly if that was his base magic. But then I discarded the thought, because I really like swimming and fishing to, and I'm fire.

"John, do you have any base magic's that you would prefer?" I asked him.

"Air would be nice. I could ride the air and stroke your flame," he mused. I turn bright red, realizing I was one of the reasons he wanted to be air. Maybe. I decided to take my mind off that.

"If anything, you calm me down!" I joke.

"Wait, if I calm you down, what are you like when I'm not there?" he asks.

"You're always there!" I retort.

"Not always! But I do like water, and that is the opposite of fire. Maybe I should take the element test. I could finally join you in your magic exercise ," he decided.

"Let's go tell mom and Kyle!" I run off.

"Wait for me!" he yells, and takes off after me.

"How can I? If you catch up to me, you'll beat me!" I yell back.

He just smiles and keeps running. I decide to eavesdrop on his room as he takes the test. Then I will know how he does. I decide to cheer him on from the sidelines.

When we get to the house, I dash into my room and open my poster. I hear Kyle and John chatting, and then my mom comes in. Kyle leaves and I hear the rock, the candle and the pitcher appearing.

I hear the thud as mom sets the rock on the table. I can't bear it. I open the poster just a little and see what is going on inside. Kyle is frowning in frustration as he tries to flip the rock. Mom takes it away.

Next she sets the candle flame in front of him. He tries to make it grow, as I did, but he couldn't. I frown. At least he will get one of the elements he wanted. Air or water are the last choices.

She sets the pitcher of water in front of him. I see his eyes narrowing. He concentrates, and I hear the bubble at the bottom pop. Then the water starts making shapes. I see my face. Then I see a heart. I turn red from my spying position. I wonder why he had never been able to control water before. We had been in the lake often enough... I turn back to John and my mom.

He smiles sheepishly. He turns to my mom like he is about to ask her something. He turns away.

"What do you want to ask me John?" my mom asks softly.

"I was just wondering if you know how to ask out a girl," John asks quietly.

"Amber?" was all she said.

He blushed, "Yeah," was all he said.

"Opposites attract. You'll know how when the time comes," she told him.

"Alright. I'll tell you how it goes." Then he backed out of the room.

I quickly jump onto the beanbag in the corner of the room and pretend to read. John walks in slowly.

"Hey Amber," he says. "I found out that I'm water."

"Cool! I knew you always calmed me down," I reply gamely. He looked relieved.

"I thought you would think it was horrible. You know, with water quenching fire and all." He confessed.

"No, silly. I'm a forest fire that can't be quenched."

"I hope you don't burn my house down!" he joked.

"Like I would!" I retort. He smiled.

"I know you wouldn't, as we live in the same place!" he replied.

"Oh, you don't know, maybe I would." I shoot back.

"Maybe you would," he said, mock serious. I hit him playfully on the shoulder. He was just about to hit me back when Kyle walked in.

"Guys, you'll never believe what Lava is doing!" Kyle shouted. Lava was his pet phoenix.

"Let me guess, she's dying?" I ask sarcastically.

"Well, yeah, but that's not the point. The point is that she looks really cool!" he said, frustrated.

"By all means, we'll come with you!" John said, giving me a look.

We followed Kyle to their room, where Lava was in her fire proof cage, hung on the ceiling next to Kyle's bed. She was a sort of dark burgundy color, not her usual fire-engine red. She looked really haggard and wasted. The sparkle in her eyes was gone, and her feathers were falling out one by one.

Her head was nearly bald by now, and her wings were fluttering helplessly. When her feathers had all fallen out, we could see her black, charcoal colored skin. Her claws, no longer the sharp ivory talons I remember, disintegrated. She collapsed into a pile of ashes. In the ashes, a small blood-red egg was slowly growing bigger. The color was only slightly brighter than the burgundy she had been before. 

As they watched, it slowly developed black veins. It was about the size of a turkey egg, when it suddenly rocked back and forth, shuddering and breaking. A small black beak poked out, and the phoenix was reborn. It let out a feeble cry, and laid down to rest. Kyle looked completely enraptured with the birth of his new pet.

"She's beautiful," John said softly.

I hadn't even noticed I was holding on to his arm until then. I blushed and let go. Noticing my discomfort, John gave me a small smile. How am I supposed to let him know how I feel if he won't even talk to me about it? I quietly slip away, hoping my new plan will work.

I walk into my room and grab a purple pen. I also grab a blue notebook. I write in this "diary" quickly. I make it seem like I have only just gotten it. This should work.

Diary,

Today's entry is top secret. I want to tell you about John. He's water, but I'm fire. The thing is, I really like him. The problem? He's so nice to everyone, I can't tell if he likes me or not!It makes me so frustrated!  I like how kind he is, but sometimes it just makes it hard. We were watching Kyle's phoenix hatch today, and for some reason, I was holding on to his arm! I feel like I am really awkward around him. I really need help!

That should do the trick! I put the "Diary" on my beanbag. I make it look like I was in a hurry, with the spine cracked and the pages splayed. I run outside to play with Jewel.

"Jewel, come here pretty girl!" I call to her.

She is all riled up to play with me. She comes tearing around a corner, her legs like a blur, and her tail puffed up to twice its normal size. Beneath the sheen of magic, I see the real tail.

It is scaly and golden, with a dark sandy tip. The sides are littered with spikes, still soft and developing. I stroke her spikes, and they flatten against the smooth scaly skin of her tail. Her wings are developing, the stubbly bones elongating and the membranes forming. They are an off white, almost cream color that blends in nicely with her white belly. Usually, they are folded along her sides. But in full run, they are extended and flapping in an attempt to get her running faster.

Her color is getting darker around the head and feet, she has stockings of cream and yellow, while the paws themselves becoming more gold. Her back is still a light yellow, but the swatches of orange and sandy brown have come together to become a brown stripe. Her eyes are intelligent, and are deep yellow amber.

I am teaching her how to get off the ground. I make her sit a few feet away from me, then tell her to come. She comes running as fast as she can. I hold the treat up in the air, and she jumps to get it. Her still stubbly wings are working overtime to try to boost her higher.

She only succeeds in getting a few inches higher than normal. But for now, that's enough.