I pulled out the Captain Victorius pin from my pocket. A gift from Jaz. I stroked it, remembering when he gave it to me. After my first encounter with a siren in the lake. Her song, her music, had entranced the team, and if it weren’t for me, they’d have walked into the lake and drowned. I’d sent out a neutralizing tone to batter hers, and the team had come to. Jaz was so glad I’d saved them and bought the gift for me.
I missed him so much. He’d sit next to me in class. Carry my books when I had a meltdown. Pat my back and calm me down when I had a rough day. Now all I had were the frequencies to still my mind.
Someone set a tray down at my table, pulled a chair out, and sat opposite me, making me jump.
Astra. She smiled at me and said something.
I tore off my headphones. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” she said, cutting into her potato, slicing it into even chunks.
“You can’t sit here,” I told her, leaning forward, yanking away her tray, and pushing it aside. This was my table.
“Why not?” she asked, her face scrunched.
“Because no one sits here.”
“Because you don’t want them to or they don’t want to?”
I considered her question. “It…it throws me off.”
She twisted her head, studying me with her smoky eyes, bright behind her purple glasses. “Do you want me to go?”
A part of me wanted her to. I wanted to study people, learn from them; their movements and behavior so I could mimic it. But then there was another part, a deeper part, one that just wanted to be normal and to belong. The only way to get beyond the confusion she’d thrown me into today was to get to know her, learn to trust her, and ease my mind.
“No,” I admitted, choosing the latter.
“Good.” She readjusted her tray and took another bite.
I didn’t know what to say to her. What did normal people say to each other? I only really understood music. That was all that made any sense to me. That and comics.
“Thanks for calming down everyone in the training room.” Astra slid her tray closer, slowly, carefully, watching me, gauging my reaction. I let her. She had to eat. Me, not so much. I got my sustenance from musical frequencies. They energized me. Empowered me.
She cut the meat on her plate, the whole section into little pieces. Then she repeated this with the rest of her vegetables. From this, I understood she like order like me. Everything had to be arranged on her plate before she could eat it.
I didn’t look at her. “I had to. Knoxe is disturbing everyone’s peace.”
“You’re not like the others, are you?” She prepared her fork, piling it with a bite of meat, and one piece of vegetable.
“No I’m not.” My mouth felt dry. It always did when I felt uncomfortable. I took a quick sip of my coke.
“You’re on the spectrum, aren’t you?” Her question caught me off guard, and I rubbed my tuning fork even harder, feeling the energy swell, ready to release as a burst of music.
I glanced at her. Light caught the red streaks in her hair, reminding me more of the Sable Assassin, in her outfit. Earlier, I’d said she didn’t look as good as the comic character. But to me she looked far better. Smoky grey eyes. A thin nose. Glasses that suited her face. Subtle cheekbones. One of the prettiest girls I’d ever met.
“Yes.” I took another sip.
“Asperger’s or Autism?”
“Autism.”
Her eyes lit up, a stormy sky charged with lightning. “And music is your gift?”
“Yes.” I looked up at her this time.
My whole life I’d wanted to be understood. After my mother put me up for adoption, a couple adopted me and gave me love, patience and the time I’d needed to understand my condition. First my parents, then Jaz and now Astra.
“I have mild Asperger’s,” she said, shrugging, eating a piece of meat, coated in peas and gravy. “I know how it feels to be lonely.”
My chest warmed with a strange glow. Like embers in a fire being given more wood when they’d all but gone out. I didn’t know what it meant, but damn it felt good.
“That’s where my power comes from,” she said. “I ‘feel’ math like it’s something physical, and I turn equations into physical effects. I can reduce a gantii back into their chemical composition.”
Most of the Guardians could block attacks, use magic in telekinetic ways, but none had anything near as special as that.
“An amazing gift,” I said. “I can enhance any tone. Lately, I’ve been practicing using them to levitate coins.”
“Wow.” Astra rested her chin in her hand. “Would you show me some time?”
I nodded.
“You know,” she said, using a forefinger for emphasis. “There’s an old saying that when nature makes someone different, it makes up for it by giving them a gift.”
Nature. Music was everywhere in it. From the slap of leaves against each other in the wind. The chirp of crickets at dusk. The slosh of water against the sand at low tide.
Hadrian, my assistant at the Guild, shared between my team and I, always said I was gifted. Well beyond any of the others at the Guild of Guardians. I was much more powerful than Tor. But Astra’s gift intrigued me. Her ability to disintegrate matter into its chemical structure. Making magic-laced stakes turn to water and gas. Impressive. Special.
I glanced at Astra from the corners of my eyes. “I’m not that mild a case of Autism.”
She ventured an encouraging smile at me. “Then nature must have given you more, right?”
“Yes.” My Hadrian said I could do phenomenal things. But to me, they made sense, like a pattern of musical notes that fit together like the rounds of petals on a flower.
“I play piano, too,” I told her. “They said I could have been a virtuoso.”
“If only I could have been the Einstein of Chemistry.” She laughed, but I didn’t understand her joke.
I mimicked her.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said, her voice changing from light to deeper and firm. “You can be you around me. Okay?”
I nodded, liking even more that she understood me, knew when I was trying to be normal, knew when I wasn’t myself.
“The other things I can do scare people,” I told her. “I went to the Guild of Shadows like you, but I wasn’t there long. I had trouble learning the magic and spells. My gifts are more useful here. The music, it helps me direct and concentrate my powers. I like it here better than out there.”
“I know what you mean,” Astra said, rolling her eyes. “I feel like I belong. Well, in the Shadows at least. I don’t think the rest of the team like me that much. I know I can’t take Jaz’s place, but I hope Knoxe can start seeing me as useful. One of the team.”
“We all miss Jaz.”
“I’m sorry about your friend.” She reached for my hand. “Losing him really has to hurt you…”
I let out a little gasp and jerked away. Before someone touched me, I liked to be warned, and by someone I knew and trusted. Astra, despite being pretty and kind, didn’t meet those criteria yet.
Respecting my sensitivity, she pulled back. “Sorry. I forgot some autistic people don’t like to be touched.”
I interrupted her, because her words as much as her presence made me suddenly nervous. “Jaz was nice. Everyone liked him. He was always respectful to me. Looked out for me. Made Tor leave me alone.”
“Does Tor tease you often?”
“Sometimes. He’s just a big kid that wants to have fun. But he uses humor to compensate.”
I took another sip of my coke. After Jaz died, I didn’t understand what was happening to the team. Why it crumbled and no longer functioned. So, I’d read the rest of the team all with my gift which helped explain their perspective. Knoxe used anger to cover his grief. Tor used humor to deflect and distract from his pain. Raze missed his mate, and at night, he’d go outside to talk to the stars where he believed Jaz wandered.
�
��I miss Jaz,” I explained. “He got on with everyone, even Raze, and he doesn’t like anybody. Hadrian told me he was a sounding board for Knoxe as he fumbled his way through leading the group.”
At this Astra nodded as if she understood.
“Hadrian explained that Jaz kept Tor in check,” I added. “Stopped him from doing too many stupid things. And he was doing well until Jaz died.”
Astra’s eyes fell to her food. She gulped and took a sip of her water.
“As for Raze, no one knows him that well,” I said. “But Jaz did. He made Raze smile when all he did was glare. They could communicate through just a look, a silent understanding of one another. I wish I had that.”
“Me, too,” Astra murmured.
“I don’t get on that well with people,” I admitted. “I’d rather be alone most of the time. But I do what Knoxe says, and I help out. I don’t really fit here, but I don’t really fit anyplace else.”
Astra pushed away her food and curled her arms on the table. “You seem to belong as much as I do.”
“We’ll find our place one day,” I told her.
I was grateful to have had just these few moments with someone who understood me, who didn’t feel awkward speaking to me, even if she expressed friendship with a touch.
My cell phone beeped with a reminder, and I pulled it out of my pocket and read it. Ethereal trails tracking.
I stood up and announced, “I have to go.”
“Oh.” Astra smiled, even though it was a strange one, her eyes dulling, and the sides of her lips turning down.
“I don’t want to go,” I told her. “But I have trace the ethereal trails back to and see if I can trace the vampire’s movements. Knoxe wants to know by tonight and be ready to go in the morning.”
“Sure,” she said, the cloud in her eyes vanishing. “I won’t keep you, then. Go on ahead; I’ll see you later.”
I returned to my room and closed the door behind me. Music posters and prints of abstract paintings decorated the space. A keyboard rested to one side of my computer. My academy textbooks were neatly shelved on a rack above my desk. Papers and worksheets stacked in a tray. Everything neat and sterile. I couldn’t handle mess.
I sat on the bed, removing my tone bars from my pocket, striking my tuning fork, and releasing a soothing tone into the air again and again. The waves passed over and through me, penetrating my mind and nervous system.
I did this every morning, before sleeping, or during a mission. Tuning myself in mind and body to control the reflexive autistic response that made my mind scrambled and muddled, to reduce the sensitivity of my extra sensory nerves, and reduce my aversion to being touched. The effect was temporary, but it was necessary to suppress and the responses as much as I could to remain useful to the team and the Guardians. But after the mission was over, I’d suffer and this small action would cost me.
7
Knoxe
I scanned the latest releases of news articles, social media posts, and TV reports for word of the Varlax The trail had been quiet for days.
At the Guild of Guardians, we monitored the media, radio, and online news to stay alert about the presence of gantii and potential locations.
A beep went off on a computer to my left, and I wheeled my chair sideways to read.
St Mary’s Catholic Primary School is shut down for the afternoon—a Facebook status from the school.
“What do we have here?” I pressed a few keys, searching for a reason,
clicking through more status updates, all with plenty of comments and shares.
My kid’s classes were cancelled due to large bug attack, one read.
St Mary’s staff denying there’s a bug attack, read the next.
“My son was attacked at school and the principle is denying it!” I read a third aloud.
Over a thousand comments, shares, and posts about the incident. Damn, we had a problem. Word had spread fast. An urgency pumped through my veins. From the accounts it sounded like a Mothman.
The hairy-winged gantii came from the same world as the vamps. Reports suggested it had let them through to Earth. If this fucker was to blame for Jaz’s death, I’d make it pay.
We had to catch it before it created a panic. And I had to apprehend it to question it and find out where the Varlax were…if it even knew. But a lead was a lead.
I lifted my wristwatch and pressed the side button. “Assemble team,” I said. “We have a situation. Meet me at the Chevy. Don’t worry about collecting weapons. I’ve got a stash in the trunk.”
The message would be sent to all members of my team, including Nomical.
Before I left, I grabbed my wristbands and belt then navigated the endless halls of the Guild of Guardians to arrive at my parked car where I tossed my belongings in the trunk.
A few minutes later, the rest of the team arrived, one by one, and I noted Astra’s punctuality. I liked that. Pascal was a close second, but he was always on time, followed by Raze, and Tor, last as usual.
With everything in the trunk, we piled in, me and Raze claiming the front seats, leaving the rest to squish in the backseat. That was cool with me.
I started the car and the engine thrummed to life. Over the speakers, Bruce Pettingway, a leadership guru, droned about four management styles.
“Dude.” Tor smirked in the rearview mirror. “Are you listening to self-help?”
“Shut the hell up.” I changed the station, putting on the local pop channel, and I cringed at the bubble gum music playing. If we had to listen to this for the whole trip, it was going to be a really long ride.
Dammit. Tor was not going to let me live down the Make Me a Manager cds I’d been listening to. He’d make wise cracks in the gym, while we trained, and even in classes. I hadn’t wanted anyone to know about my new guilty pleasure.
Venellan had loaned me the cd set to take my mind of Jaz’s death. It was nobody else’s business what I did in my spare time.
My car kicked up pebbles as I tore out of the lot, rocking Tor, Pascal, and Nomical in the back seat.
Yeah, I was in an even worse mood now thanks to Tor. Nomical had pissed me off earlier in the training room, dressing down my authority in front of my team. But Tor had pushed me over the edge.
Jaz. I needed my best mate. Just the sound of his voice, the things he’d say… I barely had my head on straight, now he was gone. How the hell was I supposed to carry on without him? To lead a team without his wise counsel?
To be honest, I was in a foul mood since Venellan had announced we were getting a new team member. We didn’t need anyone else. Least of all a distraction with a lean figure, a nice rack, purple streaked hair, and a big mouth. I didn’t want to like her. Didn’t have to. This was the Guild of Guardians, not the Guild of Friends. But, Venellan asked it of me, I’d lead her. But damned sure she’d know she’d never be a part of the team, never replace Jaz, and never speak to me like that again, in front of the group or not.
My plan was to keep her on a last name basis. Strictly professional. She was a substitute. That was all. Soon she’d be gone. As such, she didn’t deserve the friendliness calling her by her first name implied.
On my team, she had to earn respect. I doubted someone like her, brash, sassy, and with her little librarian act would ever earn my respect. On the other hand, maybe she’d have a neat new power we could rely on. Although, it’d never replace Jaz’s ability to control veil energy. Losing his powers and skills was enough of a blow for us, but I also lost my best mate and brother. Every morning since, I wanted to crumple in a pile.
As we approached the front gates, Raze grabbed the remote control and activated it, rolling back the tall iron gateway of the Guild. My new right-hand man. Since Jaz died, Raze had really stepped up to the plate.
I tapped the steering wheel of my black “Black Bandit” Chevy Impala as I waited to drive on and the gold crest of the Guild, a lion with the wings of a dragon, caught the afternoon sunlight. It represented Archangel Michael, our
patron, casting Lucifer out of heaven, the lion symbolizing his heart and the wings the strength of a dragon.
With the gate only half open, I pulled the Impala out onto the lonely paved road, jamming my foot on the gas. The car kicked forward with a rush of power. Nomical, Pascal and Tor slammed against the leather seats. Nomical even made an oomph sound. We sped through the country scenery, headed for town.
I stomped on the gas again, injecting more fuel into the cylinders, and the Impala purred. I liked my cars big and loud. Tor called it small cock syndrome. Fuckwit.
Raze and I were the only members of the team without magical powers, besides enhanced reflexes, durability, and fast healing. The Guild was a mix of mages and warriors. I’ll admit my lack of magical talent left me feeling a little insecure, like I had to do something to make up for it. Sometimes, I wished I was more like Raze. Unaffected by shit. Calm and collected. He never said much of anything…besides when it was important.
Fuck. That was probably why I’d been drawn to self-help. To fill the void of missing Jaz. Anything to take my mind off losing my friend. The guilt of letting him down. I gripped the steering wheel tighter.
Venellan had shoved me into this role a year ago. I didn’t have the first clue about leading. I’d bluffed my way through it. And all it got me was my best friend killed by Styx.
Now, my team thought I was a joke. They worried I’d lead them to their deaths, too. They didn’t respect me, especially Tor, who tried to upstage me at any attempt, as evidenced by the way he kept butting in earlier, trying to show off with Nomical and show her around, like he ran the team.
After Jaz’s death, I’d needed something to channel my rage. Something to bring my broken squad together. To motivate my men… and get the best out of my team. No shame in that. But people never associated guys like me with needing outside assistance. That’s why I’d kept it on the down-low. But now the whole fucking group knew my little secret.
Paranormal Academy Page 48