"Take it away!" Amanda repeated while letting out the power in her hands.
"You are not thinking straight, Amanda," said Trisha. "you know very well it doesn't work like that!"
"Aahhhhh! Why?! Why?!" Amanda screamed loudly. Her voice echoed through the cave as she turned to face the huge pool of water. Living creatures screeched in response to her cry, made louder by the formation of the rocks.
All Amanda could do was to question the spirits for her curse. Being a master of fire was supposed to be a gift, but with how things are going, she considered it... a curse, the greatest inconvenience in her life.
Brody was resting himself but heard Amanda's cry. He felt her sadness and had seen her question this many times. However, with his body weakened due to its recent use, he could only sigh as he lay on the ground.
Trisha, on the other hand, let Amanda cry all her frustrations. She watched the master of fire roar and question the spirits of the crystal. It took minutes before Amanda silenced herself, merely taking deep breaths.
Only then did Trisha speak again, "Amanda, I know you are frustrated - "
"No, Trish. You can't possibly know how I feel - especially after seeing another friend got hurt. Now the only business his family has was burned to the ground because of me," Amanda pointed out while she remained to turn her back at Trisha.
"I am fully aware, my crystal cannot be absorbed by another, but - I know it can remain afloat in this cave until the next fire element will be born." Amanda was hushed for seconds before she added, "Trisha, I can't do this anymore. I really can't."
"Amanda? Don't say that. Are you going to abandon us?" Trisha asked. She got up from Brody's side to walk over to Amanda and said, "We still need you, Amanda. Please don't say such a thing."
Sitting closer to Amanda, Trisha said, "Amanda, we are here for you."
Amanda did not say another word. She remained silent and staring into the waters until Abasi's returned.
Abasi first brought Brody back to his home before returning to the cave to speak to Amanda. Unfortunately, what he said next further irked Amanda. He said, "Amanda, you no longer belong to Trinity Bay. You can stay with us - "
"And burn your house? Scare your normal being family members?!" Amanda pointed out.
Abasi was living in a compound with this family in Egypt; his parents and siblings. If she were to burn Abasi's home, she could easily burn the entire compound, considering the houses were right next to each other.
More importantly, Abasi's family knew not about their powers. None of their families knew. Trisha's family, Taara, and Brody's family, they all think we were normal beings with freelance work.
"Or did you want me to stay here in this cave hidden like a freak that I am?!" Said Amanda. She turned to both Abasi and Trisha with angry eyes and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't - I just can't do this anymore. Trinity Bay was my saving place. Now, I can't even live there anymore!"
"I can't touch my friends! Instead, I hurt them. I can't spend time with them! I can't - I can't have a family!" Amanda pointed to Trisha and said, "You on the other hand, behind our missions and fighting the unknown, you both can live normal lives - but I - "
"Amanda, the blue crystal master will be found soon," said Abasi. "It's my every plea to the crystals every day."
"When? When Abasi? When?" Amanda asked. "I am all by myself again, just waiting for another monster to come to this earth - that's my real purpose here, to fight terrors!"
Trisha and Abasi spent almost an hour trying to talk Amanda out of her resolution, but in her every response, they saw her deepest desire coming out. It was evident that Amanda craved to be saved from her loneliness.
"Amanda, please," said Abasi. "Can you really watch us fight evils without you? We need you - "
"Brody can fight monsters and you can borrow Fiena's powers every fifteen minutes," Amanda pointed out bluntly.
It was because Trisha and Abasi kept repeating their plea that Amanda realized they would never accept her decision and they would never understand her inner battle.
She sighed and said, "For now, I'd like to be on my own - and no. I won't go with you to Egypt with you. I want to have my own life and not merely watch the lives of others. I want to go back to Trinity Bay - "
"But Amanda!" Trisha protested.
"I will be careful. I will not let them see me... In the eyes of everyone in Trinity Bay, I am already dead," Amanda sarcastically said. "Abasi, please send me to my second landing site in Trinity Bay."
"Amanda," Abasi tried to speak with her again. "At least let me find you a new home. How about in Europe? The Faroe Islands, you've always liked it there."
The suggestion made Amanda think, however, she thought, 'No, I - I have to find Chris.'
Despite her own internal battle, she thought of Christopher and the way to his world. At least, he was the one person she could touch and share affection with.
"No. I want to go back to Trinity Bay for now," said Amanda. "I won't let myself be seen."
All three of them were muted at Amanda's stubbornness. For minutes, Abasi and Trisha remained to stare at each other, lost on how to comfort the master of the fire. Despite such godly force inside, her human emotions and inner yearnings overpowered.
"Okay, Amanda. Take all the time that you need to be on your own. We will try not to call on you, but - but please don't give up. The master of the blue crystal is bound to be found. It is your destiny."
Abasi and Trisha gave her the space she requested and sent her to Trinity Bay. They could only hope that Amanda would come back to them soon.
After reaching her home, the first thing Amanda did was pack up some of her clothes and money, putting them in a bag. She no longer had a home in Trinity Bay. Trisha and Abasi made Andrew think that she died together with the fire. She could no longer live freely in her shack.
While the other masters offered to welcome her in their homes, Amanda always feared what she could do to their homes. Moreover, she was secretly envious of seeing them have relationships and still connect with their typical families whereas she had none and can't make any until the blue crystal master is found.
Among all the masters, she was the only one left to endure from the overwhelming strength of her power.
At night, she walked past the town with a sad expression on her face. It was already nine in the evening, but she watched as Thomas Kent stood before his hard work. The entire restaurant was seriously burned.
Even if Trisha promised to send gold to the family when Brody would wake up, it could still not relieve her from the misery of having to cause pain to another. The Kents would have to start all over again, and it was all her fault.
While a big part of her wanted to go directly to Christopher's world, she first needed to find a place to keep her belongings. The only other safe place that she knew of was an abandoned one, Christopher's home.
She walked the long road with a cap over her head, despite wearing a hooded jacket. It rained as she made her way to the house, but she did not care.
The minute she arrived at Christopher's home, she lay on the living room floor. In the middle of the gloom space, she contemplated everything that had happened.
Amanda could not recall how long she pondered about her life, but she ultimately fell asleep out of emotional stress and exhaustion. She woke up in the wee hours, hearing the sound of doors opening, footsteps against the floor, and a familiar voice calling her name.
"Amanda, wake up. What are you doing here?"