“Sean!” Xander yelled over the crowd crossing the street.
Sean stopped, turned at the sound of his name, and waved as he caught Xander’s eye. Xander ran up breathlessly and had to lean over to catch his breath before he could speak.
“What’s going on, Xander?”
Xander raised his pointer finger, asking for a moment. He had run nearly the entire way from the parking lot after noticing Sean’s car already there when he arrived.
“Today, after school. What do you have going on?” Xander said when he had caught his breath.
Sean shrugged. “Not a whole lot. Why?”
Xander smiled at his friend. He placed a hand on Sean’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’ve got something you’re going to need to see. Meet me after class.”
He rushed off so that he wouldn’t be late to class, leaving Sean standing perplexed on the sidewalk.
By the time Xander made it inside the lecture hall, most of the rest of the students were already seated. Jessica was sitting near the front with some of her sorority sisters. Xander waved when he caught her eye, but he chose to take his normal seat in the back of the room.
As he slid into the aisle, he noticed that a woman was already sitting in his seat. He didn’t recognize her, which was odd in such a small class. Her blonde hair fell over her face, leaving only a faint view of her button nose beneath the loose strands of hair. As she looked over her textbook, she reached up and pushed her hair back behind her ear. With her hair brushed aside, she noticed Xander watching her from a few seats away. She looked up from her book, her pale blue eyes sparkling in the dim lecture hall lighting. She flashed a full smile at his gawking expression.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he started to slide back out of the row.
“Don’t be silly,” she said, her voice an angelic whisper. “There’s plenty of space in the row. Pull up a seat.”
Xander felt suddenly self-aware as he took a seat beside her. He couldn’t tell one specific feature about her that struck him as insanely beautiful but he found her completely irresistible.
“Hi,” she said, flashing her entrancing smile again. She extended her hand. “I’m Sammy.”
“Xander,” he said as he took her hand. “Your hand is really warm.”
Sammy’s mouth froze in midsentence but, to her credit, she didn’t withdraw her hand.
Xander blushed furiously. “That was perhaps the single most awkward thing I could have said. I might as well have followed it up with ‘it puts the lotion in the basket’—”
“—or it gets the hose,” Sammy finished with a laugh. “Yes, that would have made it much more awkward.”
Xander laughed with her before realizing he still had her hand. He let it go and dropped his hands to his lap.
“Do I know you?” Xander said, trying to casually change the subject. “I haven’t seen you in here before but you seem so familiar.”
“I just transferred here. I was lucky enough to be let in after the semester started.”
“That’s got to be rough,” he said, trying to shake the feeling that they’d met somewhere before. “Don’t you have a lot of catching up to do?”
Sammy nodded. “I do, which is probably why we should listen to the professor.”
Xander turned toward the front of the room and saw the professor halfway through his first slide. He reached into his bag and pulled out his books hurriedly. As he did, he saw Jessica staring at him disapprovingly from the front of the room. Xander shrugged sheepishly as he set his books on the table in front of him.
By the time the professor was on the third slide, Sammy leaned over to him. “Is this class always this boring?”
Xander hid his smile. “I wouldn’t know. I’m usually asleep or doodling by this point in the class.”
“Oh, lucky me, I chose the brainy type. So, show me these doodles of yours.”
Keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the professor, Xander flipped back a couple pages in his notebook until he revealed a sketch he had done of Jessica’s profile.
“You’re not half bad,” Sammy whispered appreciatively. “I mean, you’re not half good either.”
“Way to endear yourself, new kid,” he joked.
As he flipped back to today’s page and began taking notes on the lecture, Sammy reached over and doodled on the corners of his paper. Her drawings were atrocious, but he let her draw for a few seconds before playfully swatting at her hand. They laughed before receiving a stern look from the professor. They both cleared their throats before another small chuckle escaped.
By the time class was over, Xander couldn’t recall a single important thing the professor had taught that day. He and Sammy stuffed their books into their bags and stood. As he turned toward the end of the row, she pushed him playfully from behind and he nearly stumbled into Jessica, who waited impatiently at the end of it.
“Hi, Jessica,” Xander said, oblivious to the obvious danger promised in her stern look. “I’d like you to meet Sammy.”
Sammy waved but tried to avoid direct eye contact.
“Hi,” Jessica said sweetly before taking Xander’s arm. “Have you thought anymore about taking me to the formal?”
Xander felt himself being pulled away and turned apologetically to Sammy. Sammy jutted out her bottom lip and waved as he disappeared out the door.
When they were outside, Jessica leaned against his shoulder. “Who is she?”
“Sammy? She’s a new student, just transferred here.”
“She transferred to White Halls College? Who does that?”
Xander shrugged. He hadn’t given it much thought while they were talking—or flirting, as Xander allowed himself to realize—but it did seem a little odd.
“So what did you guys talk about?” Jessica asked. Xander could feel himself slipping into an inescapable bottomless pit in the conversation.
“Nothing important, really,” he answered honestly.
“You guys sure talked about nothing for a long time.”
Xander swallowed hard. As much as Jessica truly was a sweet girl at heart, she was also president of the campus’ largest sorority. Every now and then, the sorority sister in her emerged and she became someone Xander didn’t like. As much as she frustrated him when she was acting jealous and possessive, he wasn’t in the mood to be confrontational.
He looked away from Jessica and was relieved when he saw a familiar face pushing his way through the crowd. Without answering Jessica, he raised his hand to get Sean’s attention.
“Sorry, Jess. I promised Sean that we’d get together after class.”
Jessica sighed. “You know the formal is in eight days, right? You’re not the only person interested in taking me to the dance but you’re the one I want to go with. Still, you need to make up your mind sooner rather than later if you want to go with me.”
“I will,” he said, dismissing Jessica as he turned toward Sean. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
Jessica placed her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. When she realized she was going to be ignored, she threw her hands up in the air and walked away from the two boys.
“Thank you for the save,” Xander said.
“What was that about? She looked like she was going to bite your head off. Did you finally realize Jessica’s a black widow?”
“Very funny.”
“Bye Xander,” Sammy said as she walked past the pair. She brushed her hair out of her face and winked at him. “See you in class next week?”
“Of course,” Xander replied, his heart pounding in his chest at the sight of her.
She smiled and turned away, her fingers lacing into the straps of her backpack.
They watched her walk away in silence, neither Sean nor Xander wanting to ruin the beautiful moment.
“Um,” Sean began. “Who is that? What is her current relationship status? Why does she seem to like you?”
“Her name is Sammy,” Xander laughed. “She’s a new student. We met in class.”
“I want one.”
Xander placed his hand on Sean’s shoulder. “Down boy.”
“Oh no. You already have your skank Jessica. You don’t get two beautiful women.”
“I don’t have Sammy. She’s just being friendly.”
Sean whistled softly. “I wish more women were friendly with me like that.”
They watched until Sammy turned the corner and walked up High Street. When she was gone, Sean turned sharply on Xander.
“Okay. What was so important that you needed to show me?”
Xander looked around at the gathering throng of students. “Not here. Is that field behind your old house still empty?”
Sean shrugged. “Pretty sure. It’s a little overgrown now and probably still has a bunch of old trash in it though.”
“That’s perfect. Let’s go there and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Sean hadn’t exaggerated about the status of the field. Unkempt by the owners, the crab grass had grown nearly to Xander’s waist. As he walked through the field, his tennis shoes kept striking rusted cans and empty bottles, which clinked as they rolled deeper into the concealing grasses.
Xander stood in the center of the field. From the periphery, standing well away near the tree line that lined the edge of the field, Sean watched Xander stretch his arms out wide. Xander closed his eyes and tilted his head backward.
“Are you ready for this?” Xander called.
“Whatever this is, sure, I’m ready.”
Xander heard the musical whisper of the wind as it called to him. Like a snake through the safari, the wind slithered between the tall grasses, causing them to sway and dance in rhythm. The wind kicked up around him, pulling at his clothes and hair. As the wind increased, it buffeted him from side to side, nearly causing him to lose his balance.
The sensation was like magic to Xander. The energy of the wind caressed his skin like an old lover. It enveloped him where he stood and seemed to pour through his open mouth, filling him with its energy. When he was satisfied with the demonstration, he exhaled, forcing the soothing winds from his lungs.
As quickly as the wind began, it died away, leaving Xander standing alone again in the middle of the field. He lowered his arms and turned excitedly toward Sean.
“Did you see it?”
“See what?”
Xander gestured behind him, and then turned in a tight circle. “The wind.”
“The wind,” Sean replied flatly.
“Did you see the wind blowing through the field? That was me.”
“You made a breeze? That’s what you’re telling me? That’s what was so important? Xander, I love you like a brother, but I break wind all the time without having to drag you out to a field to see me do it.”
Xander frowned at his friend’s disbelief. “Fine. I was going for a small demonstration but if you want big, we’ll do big.”
Xander returned to the center of the field and held his arms outstretched again. He closed his eyes but quickly opened one to peer at his friend. Sean leaned against the trunk of one of the trees, his arms crossed defensively in front of him.
“You’re going to want to back up for this one.”
Sean turned around and looked behind him. “I’m already at the trees. I can’t go much further back.”
“Get… I don’t know. Get behind a tree.”
“You want me to hide behind a tree while you break wind again?”
“Will you just do it?” Xander said, exasperated.
Tossing his hands in the air, Sean walked around to the backside of the tree he had been leaning against. “Is this good enough?”
“Thank you.”
Xander assumed his position in the field once again, lifting his arms straight out from his side.
“Come on, wind… spirit,” he whispered quietly enough that Sean wouldn’t hear him. “Let’s give him something memorable.”
Instead of slithering through the grass like it did last time, the wind pounced on Xander like a lion. It roared into the field and crashed into Xander. He staggered as the wind took up a dance around him.
He quickly opened his eyes as a wall of wind formed around him, swirling like the birth of a tornado. The grass around him stood strangely still but the wind filled the rest of the field. Every exhaled breath came out of Xander’s mouth in a puff of smoke as the temperature plummeted around him.
As the wind swirled faster and faster, he saw cans and bottles emerging from the grass. Like puppets being controlled by a skillful marionette, the debris danced in the wind. It got caught up in the swirling madness and became part of the ever-expanding swirl of air.
Xander’s ears popped as the air pressure increased. He tried to call out for Sean, or even laugh at the excitement of the moment, but the maddening wind stole away his words as soon as they left his mouth. Instead, he tilted his head back and laughed silently into the swirling maelstrom.
The increased air pressure drew the heavier objects out of the tall weeds. A rusted hubcap emerged, followed by a dilapidated car radiator. They joined the rest of the debris in its swirl, spinning in increasingly fast circles as the whipping wind reached near gale-force strength.
The hubcap flew dangerously close to him as it spun past. It was gone from his peripheral vision as quickly as it had appeared. When it reappeared, it was quite a bit further away, nearly to the distant trees. Like a projectile shot out of a cannon, the hubcap slammed into one of the trees, embedding itself deeply into the coarse wood.
Startled, Xander broke his concentration. For a moment, the cans and bottles slowed their spin before hanging in the air. They collapsed onto the ground as the last of the magic dissipated from the air.
“Sean?” Xander called out, suddenly worried for his friend. If the hubcap had enough force to bury itself into the thick wood, he was worried about what any of the other smaller items would have done to his friend.
“Sean!”
“That was so freaking cool,” Sean yelled, emerging from behind one of the trees. “That was so freaking cool!”
Xander sighed happily at the sight of his heavyset friend. “See, I told you hiding behind the tree was a good idea.”
“That was so freaking cool!” Sean yelled again as he bounded through the thick grasses. He crashed into Xander, enveloping him in a bear hug. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know.” He saw his friend’s disbelieving look and he raised his hands defensively. “I honestly don’t know. I’d never done anything like this before yesterday.”
“Oh my God,” Sean said, covering his mouth in surprise. “The guy and the bus. That was you. You saved that guy’s life.”
“Maybe,” he said. “Maybe I did. I don’t really know.”
“You’ve got to show me how you do it.”
“I don’t know how I do it. I don’t think I could teach you even if I wanted to.”
“It was so cool,” Sean blurted. “What was it you did with the bus? F-5 strength winds that blew him out of the way? Increased air pressure that made the bus slow down sooner?”
“I don’t know. I think I was thinking about a car’s air bag. I think I made, like, a bubble of air between him and the bus.”
“A bubble,” Sean repeated dejectedly. “You have super powers and you’re busy making a bubble? Couldn’t you just fly in and save him or call down lightning on the bus or something?”
“You read too many comic books,” Xander said as he started walking through the field.
Sean didn’t follow and stared at his retreating friend. “Don’t take this away from me. I’m best friends with a real-life superhero. The least you can do is let me live vicariously through you.”
Xander stopped walking and sighed. “I’m not a superhero. Come on and catch up.”
Sean jogged alongside him again.
Xander smiled despite himself. “It was pretty cool though, wasn’t it? It was an air bubble. I made an air bubble between the guy and the bus. He bounced of
f it like a balloon.”
“Okay. I’ll admit that your super bubble power isn’t entirely lame.”
Xander brushed his dark hair out of his eyes and frowned. “Don’t you think it’s weird, though? I don’t even know where these powers came from or why they suddenly appeared yesterday.”
“Who cares? You’re the only guy I know that would complain about becoming a superhero.”
“I’m not a superhero.”
“Whatever you say. So what do you think? Cape or no cape? And what color tights were you thinking about for your costume? I was thinking the Superman underwear on the outside of your outfit.”
Xander punched him in the arm.
“You could always ask your parents if they know where you got your powers,” Sean offered, rubbing the spot where he was punched. “Most of the time in the comic books, it’s inherited.”
“Yeah, that’ll go over well. ‘So Dad, I noticed I got your eyes. And Mom, I got your hair. Which one of you gave me the ability to control the wind?’ I think I’ll pass on that conversation. Anyway, I think they’re planning on kicking me out of their house.”
“Harsh. What did you do?”
“Me? Why is it something that I did?”
“Because you’re a junior in college and you still live with your parents. You’re pretty much a screw up by default.”
“And my grandpa.”
Sean smiled. “Yeah, you live with your parents and your grandpa. You know if you ever get kicked out, you’re more than welcome to come crash at my apartment.”
Xander smiled. “I may just have to take you up on that sooner than you think.”
“Forget about that for now.” Sean stopped walking and looked at his friend mischievously. “Want to see what else you can do with that power of yours?”
“Hell yeah, I do.”
By the time Xander returned home later that night, he was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. He opened the front door quietly but could hear the ensuing argument from the kitchen as soon as he entered the house.
“Quit being a coward, Jack!” his grandfather yelled in a much louder voice than Xander would have believed. “What are you going to do? Keep him hidden away in the house until he dies of old age?”
“If that’s what it takes,” his dad retorted. “What’s the alternative? I let him grow up like we did? Moving every couple years because you pissed off someone new?”
“It’s his right to choose.”
“His right to choose? He can’t even decide on a major after two and a half years of college. How do you expect him to make life-altering decisions like this?”
Xander crept through the foyer until he was near the doorway leading into the kitchen. He could see the two men standing at the far end of the breakfast nook, their arms flailing as they spoke and fingers being pointed angrily at one another.
“You may not have the chance to tell him the truth for much longer,” his grandfather accused. “If I know about him, you can guarantee they do too.”
“They’re still trapped,” his dad said quietly. The fire seemed to have left his side of the argument.
“Not all of them and you know it. They’re only trapped as long as we exist but there are fewer of us than ever before. They’re slipping out of their prison. It’s only a matter of time before they come for us all, Xander included.”
Xander’s heart raced as he spied on the two men. From his vantage point, he could see his father’s expression. Jack Sirocco always prided himself on being a stalwart breadwinner for his family. Few things, if anything, unnerved his father. From what he could see, however, his father was genuinely scared.
Anger welled inside Xander. Whatever they were discussing, he should be involved. If there was danger—and he wasn’t foolish enough to believe that the danger and his newfound power were mutually exclusive—then he should be allowed to make the decisions about his life.
Xander stepped into the kitchen, making sure his shoes struck the tiled floor loudly enough to get everyone’s attention. Both men turned toward Xander and immediately turned a deep scarlet from surprise and embarrassment.
“Would someone like to tell me what exactly is going on?” he demanded.
The two men looked at one another but neither spoke.
“Let me help you start,” Xander growled in frustration. “You’re sitting in this house making decisions about my future without having the common decency of explaining to me what exactly is going on. What were you guys talking about? Who are ‘they’?”
Xander’s father stepped forward and rubbed his hands together nervously. “It’s not that simple, son.”
“Yes, it is,” he replied, taking a step back as his father approached. He didn’t want fatherly affection. He wanted answers.
“You’re not old enough for this,” his grandfather added cryptically. “You shouldn’t even be going through this yet.”
Xander turned in disbelief. “You too, Grandpa? I figured if anyone would have been on my side, it would have been you. Wasn’t it you just this morning who wanted to talk about something important?”
His father turned sharply on his grandfather, who merely shrugged unapologetically. For a moment, Xander looked back and forth between the two men before realizing that neither of them was going to speak.
“You can’t even bring yourself to tell me the truth, can you? Fine, then let me save you the trouble from having to worry about this later. I’m sick of this—you guys talking around me like I’m a child. I’m moving out. Then you can have as many mysterious conversations about my future as you want.”
He looked sternly at his grandfather. “How’s that for being old enough?”
“That’s not what I meant,” his grandfather began, but Xander was already walking out of the kitchen.
“Stop him,” he heard his grandfather whisper harshly.
“Maybe this is for the best,” his father replied dejectedly.
Xander stormed upstairs and slammed the door to his room. He leaned back heavily against it and bit back the wave of emotion that rolled over him. The tears that threatened to fall were more from sheer frustration than from sadness. At twenty years of age, he had hoped that he would no longer be treated like a child but it was clear that his family would never see him as a man.
He stuffed some clothes into a bag. He looked around his room and considered taking more, either his art supplies or some of the other items from his room. Eventually, he decided against it. The room, frozen as it was from his high school years, was as much a reminder of the way his family viewed him. If he were making a break, it would be from everything.
When he walked downstairs, his grandfather was standing by the door.
“Don’t do this, Xander. It’s dangerous out there, especially right now.”
“You mean it’s dangerous for a child like me,” Xander retorted angrily. “That’s what you said in the kitchen, right?”
“I’m obviously not going to be able to talk you out of leaving but take a piece of advice, won’t you?”
Xander stood stoically but didn’t interrupt.
“Don’t trust anyone, Xander.” His grandfather leaned close and Xander could smell the sweat on the old man’s skin. “The only person you can trust right now is yourself. If it feels wrong, if it feels dangerous, run. Just run. You get into trouble—you come here and find me. Understand?”
“No, I don’t,” Xander said quietly.
His grandfather leaned back and placed his hand on the door. “You will.”
He opened the door, allowing Xander to leave the house.
Wind Warrior Page 3