Images of blazing fire and raging water swarmed my mind as I paced around the kitchen, trying so hard not to freak out. I was vaguely aware of the smell of freshly made pancakes invading my nostrils, the slow movement of the blue and gold balloons scattered around in the kitchen, and the eyes of both my parents on me. I was biting on my nails, a habit I developed recently to cope with stress and anxiety, as I walked back and forth trying to find a reasonable explanation of what I have witnessed back in my bedroom, but nothing I could think of made sense. Trust me, water manifesting from someone’s hand is not a thing you see every day and no matter how much I wanted to convince myself that it was just my wild imagination playing tricks on me, the result of endless nights delving into fantasy books, my mind knew better. What I saw was one hundred percent real and the fact that the said person with those freaky super powers was right in front of me didn’t really help with my nerves. I abruptly stopped my pacing, crossing my arms over my chest and staring blankly at my parents who gave me a concerned look. They still haven’t uttered a single word since we left my bedroom and I was no longer handling the silence well so I finally let out

“How?”

My parents glanced at each other, a small smile forming on both of their faces, then glanced back at me “Honey take a seat first and we will explain everything to you” My mother calmly said and I obliged.

“Dad are you contaminated or something? Because that’s the only thing I could think of that makes the tiniest bit of sense”

He chuckled lightly, earning a glare from me before clearing his throat “No we are not, we were born with these powers, they are a part of us”

“So, what? You guys are… witches?” even as I uttered the words I could hear how ridiculous that sounded, my parents couldn’t be witches! Magic is a work of fiction, a plot to sell books and movies and merchandise… magic does not exist, does it?

“We are not witches honey” my mother said with her usual soft voice and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in. Of course they are not witches. I must be dumb to even consider it.

“We are called mystics” She finished.

“Excuse me?” My jaw dropped. What did she just say?

“Mystics, sweetheart!” My dad explained, “The name witches was given to our kind by humans who couldn’t fathom our powers. It’s kind of derogatory to be honest, we don’t have green faces covered with moles and we certainly do not fly on broomsticks.”

I must be out of my mind. No, that’s not it, this must be a dream, or a nightmare. A sequel to one of my usual night terrors only this one is far more ridiculous and absolutely unbelievable. I need to wake up. I pinched myself as hard as I could in hopes of waking up but to no end, all I gained from that was a weird look from my parents and a bruise on my arm. This can’t be real.

“Is this some kind of joke?” I asked as they both stared at me, “This is a birthday prank isn’t it? You guys are getting really good at this” I laughed. “It’s really creative I’ll give you that. But you have to tell me how you set my bed on fire and made that water appear out of thin air.” I paced around the kitchen once again. “So where are the cameras? A prank like this, elaborate you guys must be recording it right? I bet I looked ridiculous!”

“Lilith honey, this is not a prank” My dad said as he put his hands on my shoulders, stopping my endless circles around the table.

“It has to be, because magic doesn’t exist. Right?” the desperation in my voice was obvious, my mind couldn’t wrap itself around this situation so it scrambled to come up with a somewhat logical explanation, and I needed someone to tell me that it was all fake.

“Of course it is. Magic is real and it’s beautiful” My mother let out as she held her hand up to me, exposing a tiny flame she held in her palm. It was small, but it lit up like a raging fire, illuminating my mother’s face with an orange glow. A second later she held out her other hand, and a breeze of fresh air brushed through her soft red hair. That breeze soon turned into a tiny tornado in her palm, and with the same sweet smile, my mother clasped her hands together and when she let go, a fiery tornado danced on her hands.

“My main element is fire” she spoke up, “that is the element I control the best. I can create fires, produce heat and sometimes even control lava. My secondary element is air, it’s not as powerful as my main, but it holds its own power too. And together, she looked at the fiery storm in her hand, they make this”

“My main element is fire as well” my father said, his hands still on my shoulders, “and guessing from the size of that fire upstairs and the fact that that was the first element that manifested itself, it’s yours as well.” He let go of me, stepping back and holding his hands in front of him. Like my mother, he opened his right palm and a tiny flame appeared, but unlike her, water came out of his second palm, and when he clasped his hands together, a black gas emitted from where the fire and water used to be. “Steam manipulation” He explained. “Not as cool as fiery storms, but it comes in handy”

“So what you’re saying is” I started after I took a deep breath, “that you guys are both mystics with the ability to control fire water and air, and that I am also a mystic and my main element is fire?” I glanced between the both of them as they smiled and nodded eagerly, pride and excitement radiating off of them like a halo, and I felt my heart almost bursting out of my chest.

“But that can’t be!” I said, louder than I intended. “I can’t be a mystic like you guys, I am not even your biological daughter so this power is not hereditary! Not to mention that I am eighteen years old, don’t you think I would have known I had magical powers a little sooner? And let’s say for argument’s sake that I forgot that I had these powers due to my memory loss, why would they emerge now? Two years after I was rescued? This doesn’t make any sense” An overwhelming sense of fear took over me as my body suddenly started shaking. I could barely breathe or think or talk and my body was trapped between alternating hot and cold flashes. I felt dizzy and weak and I couldn’t stand on my own anymore so I leaned against the kitchen counter, trying my best not to fall to the ground. I hated being so weak and even though these anxiety attacks were uncommon and far apart, I resented the occasional loss of control over my own body and mind.

My mother was the first to notice my struggle and she ran over to me, closing her hands to bring an end to the fire storm that still raged in her palm, and sat me down on the nearest chair.

“Lilith you have to calm down sweetie” She said as she my hair. “Take deep breaths and relax your body” She cupped my face in her hands and started taking deep breaths with me, walking me out of the darkness that engulfed my mind and into safety. This is the way it always was with my small family, my father was the one to make me laugh, li