Tongue Tied

It's been a few days since I found out that my power master is my father and he has been training me, despite not having a real training ground.

I do feel like I now hold a sense of control over my energy and ability. 

"Stella, focus," My father says as he shoots one of his bursts of energy at me. I barely avoid it as I quickly block it with my energy and push it back to him. "Stella, what are you so distracted by?" He asks, seeming to stop our training briefly.

"I'm not sure," I tell him. "I guess I just don't understand why it's so important that I have to train, especially without a training ground," I say, gesturing around us, which is the basement of Apollo's mansion, which had many many weapons.

"No one told you how important it is?" He asks, seeming to be distracted or surprised. 

"No?" I ask, curious.

"Okay," He says, beginning to walk away. "Training is over, I have something important to do right now," He says, walking up the stairs before he is out of my eyesight. What is he hiding?

My eyes widen in shock as I hear a phone begin to ring, seeming to bring me out of my thoughts. I quickly made my way to the phone to find no one near it. I carefully lifted the phone to my ear before the man's voice behind it began to speak.

"I see you have questions," He says. His voice was dark and sounded gravelish. His voice sent a shiver down my spine, but no matter how his voice made me feel, I stayed on the line. "I can answer them for you if you're willing to do me one thing," He pauses, I hear a short snort in the background before light muttering, and then it becomes silent in the background.

"Who is this?" I ask, my eyes dimming and I suddenly feel a small bit of anger, but quickly shake it off.

"Someone who can help you figure out everything you have questions about," He mentions, making my mind feel more intrigued.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"You're the Phoenix, but no matter how much you practice, you will never be strong enough to defeat us because you don't know everything, yet, I can teach you everything," He says, a growl escapes his throat.

"Leave me alone," I tell him before I go to hang up the phone. Before I hung up the line, I heard the man's voice say "You're going to regret this, Phoenix" My name came out in disgust from his mouth. I shook off the feeling before I made my way outside to practice more.

I practiced moving items and aiming, I even practiced concentrating my power on my ability to move quickly. But, the only thought going through my head was the man's words over the phone. What am I missing from this whole Phoenix thing?

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" I hear Apollo say. As I heard his voice, I immediately aimed at him. Once I realized it was him, I quickly dispersed the fire in my hands.

"I was practicing," I tell him.

"You shouldn't be practicing outside," He says, giving me a possessive and concerning look.

"I'll be fine," I tell him. "Is there something you're not telling me?" I ask, curiously.

"What are you talking about?" He asks, faking confusion.

"Tell me," I tell him, my angry voice showing.

"You just need to focus on training," He says, about to walk away. That's when I heard my voice rise.

"What are you hiding from me?" I ask him again, closing my fists. I felt my power rising but was able to easily control it from the training that I was able to do.

"Nothing, just keep training," He says, walking away again. Before I knew it, I had shot a burst of fire right past him, landing right in front of his foot. "What the fuck, Stella!" He screams at me while he turns back to me. "You almost just killed me," He says, I can feel his anger radiating.

"I have learned to aim. But if you lie to me one more time, I won't be so caring about where I'm aiming," I glare at him, making his eyes widen in fear, but he quickly covers it and hides it with his anger.

"Alpha, what's goi-" One of his pack members begins, making his way out to us. When he noticed my hand holding a flame, he looked towards Apollo, waiting for a signal to attack me. 

"Fine, you wanna know what's going on?" Apollo says, taking slow steps toward me. "I don't know when, but the rogues will be attempting to attack us soon, I'm not sure how many will be there, so we're trying to become stronger. You and Kevin are two very powerful individuals that will give us a great advantage," He explains. "If we lose this upcoming war then our pack will no longer exist, and since our pack is one of the strongest packs alive, it'll be the start of extinction for the Werewolf community," He says, making my eyes flutter. I take a deep breath before I put out the flame in my hand.

"Really?" I ask. "And you didn't think to tell me this sooner?" I ask.

"I didn't think you could handle it. I didn't want to scare you away," He explains.

"You didn't think I could handle it?" I ask. "Did you forget I was a Phoenix?" I ask.

"No, I mean..." He pauses, trying to figure out how to explain what is on his mind. "I didn't think you would be able to emotionally handle it, I wasn't worried about it physically," He says, making me understand.

"Okay," I say, nodding my head.

"It doesn't help that one of our wolves from our pack betrayed us and joined the rogues," He says, seeming to be exasperated.

"I understand," I say, suddenly, a vision flashed through my head, I felt my body fall back as my eyes went blank, but the vision in my head showed a sand-colored wolf, they were running towards me before, suddenly, the wolf turned into a man. He had blonde shaggy hair and brown eyes, but his eyes held evil in them. He was so close to me until I heard someone call a name: Carter. 

As soon as I heard the name, I came back to reality, realizing what had happened.

"What's wrong?" Apollo asks, noticing my eyes becoming normal. "Did you have a vision?" He asks, probably remembering when I had a vision last. "What was it?" He asks.

"Carter?" I ask myself, racking my brain for the name. Do I know that name? I don't know. "Carter?" I ask, still not realizing people were around me. "Wolf. Carter?" I ask again. As soon as I realized people were around me, I looked towards one person I found familiar and trustworthy. "Ezra," I tell him, giving him a small look. "Carter," I tell him, making his eyes widen. I had only met him once at that one party. He was the one who wrapped his arm drunkenly around Ezra's shoulder. 

"Shit," Ezra says, giving Apollo a look. Soon, I saw Apollo's eyes turn dark in anger before he stormed off and up the stairs, probably to his office.