The Paragon Element (Book 1)

by Jeff Hale

  “I’m a frickin teenager, what do you expect?”

  “A little self-control.”

  “Yeah, this coming from the wolf that was stating that he wanted to watch earlier today.”

  “Pffft, you humans and your arrogance disgust me, why would I seriously want to watch that? What made you even think that I was remotely serious?”

  “Cause you said… you said… ah, the hell with it.”

  “Ah, is that what you tell them? No wonder you can’t get any!”

  “What the…? Just… vanish, you overgrown Chihuahua!”

  “Chihuahua?! Fine, have it your way. But don’t say I didn’t try to help you. I’m serious, if you can’t talk to a female decently, you’ll never get what you want.” He chuckled, but I ignored it, trying to get back to business.

  “I’ll call you again when I need you.”

  “Right,” he said sarcastically. “I’ll be around when I feel like it. How’s that?” With that, Talon vanished back into the Aether. Great. I was going into a possibly life threatening situation with a belligerent familiar that was more concerned over my sex life than I was.

  This was going to be a really long case.

  FOUR

  When I was at work, but not actively investigating a case, I was usually at the MAGE office working on follow-up reports from past cases, looking over other agents’ case files to study their tactics and what the various supernatural creatures were capable of, and filing ID reports on which government identifications I had used, when, and what for. Made it easier for MAGE to keep their stories straight with the other government agencies.

  It had been a slow week, both at work and at school, primarily because at school I kept my head down and did my own thing, not making any waves. I knew that my luck on that would have to run out eventually. When it came to work, I knew the paperwork needed to be done, but I chafed at the inaction. I liked being out in the field. I felt like I was actually doing something, tangibly helping people by putting the twisted, evil things that hid in the shadows either in custody or in the ground.

  I was working on one of my case files at the MAGE headquarters on Sunday when my phone rang. I flipped it open. “Yes?” I asked.

  “Am I speaking to Aerick Kerensky?” a low, gravelly male voice asked on the other end. The voice sounded vaguely familiar.

  “Who wants to know?” I hated people who called my phone asking questions. If they didn’t know who they were calling, they shouldn’t bother.

  “This is Officer Ian Franks. I took your report the other night on the homicide?” the voice said, and I immediately recognized it as the shorter officer, the one without the bad attitude.

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “You’re a hard man to find, Mr. Kerensky.”

  “Just Aerick is fine. Mr. Kerensky is… was my dad. Anyway, what can I do for you?”

  “Just wanted to let you know that you’re no longer a suspect. In fact the case has gone to the Feds. Have no idea why.” He sounded a bit perplexed and a little suspicious.

  “So should I expect a call from them at some point?” I tried not to sound bored. I knew exactly what had happened. MAGE had swept the whole thing under the rug.

  “No, I absolved you of the whole thing before the case went to them. The forensics people didn’t find any evidence linking you to his death,” he said, his voice sounding relieved at that little bit.

  “Ah, okay. Well, thanks, Officer, I appreciate it,” I said, feigning gratitude. Of course, I had already known the case would come nowhere near me.

  “Anytime, son, you take it easy out there, okay?”

  “I will, and thanks again.” I hung the phone up and finished my paperwork.

  Things continued to be quiet at work over the next week. School was another matter entirely. Monday came and I handed in the extra writing assignment to Ms. Hanson, which she took and threw into a stack of papers like it didn’t matter what I wrote. I glared at her briefly before taking my seat.

  Later that day things got a bit more hectic. I was heading out to the Wall after getting my soda at lunch time when I saw four individuals blocking the door that led from the inner courtyard to the parking lot. Remember those kids I said caused trouble for me and my friends? Yeah, you guessed it. Terrance—or Terry—, Nick, Lance, and Karl. Terry was their leader, and the pretty-boy quarterback for the football team and all that entailed. They all matched in blue jeans, white t-shirts and their lettermen’s jackets. Look, it’s the Bobbsey Quadruplets.

  “So you decided to come back from retard school there, Kerensky?” Terry asked as I approached them. His light brown hair was cut short, and he was lean and slender; all the charm and good looks a guy could ask for and receive. Karl stood next to him, almost identical only blonde, and was the wide receiver for the team; I suspected in more ways than one.

  I just ignored them and tried to go around them to get to the door. They blocked my way. I sighed and tried to go another way around, feeling the frustration starting to grow. They blocked that too. I knew where this was headed, and it was nowhere pleasant. I heard giggling and looked to my left. At one of the courtyard tables sat Kelly and her cheer squad. Yay. Go team. Right.

  “Guess he got taught how to be more retarded,” Nick quipped. He was the opposite of Terry: squat, almost overly large, with dirty blonde hair and a face that made mobsters after a bar fight look attractive.

  For some reason I forgot everything I was. All of a sudden I was just that helpless little freshman that got pushed around by everyone who had a bully complex. Back then I didn’t do fights. I tried my best to avoid them, mainly because I didn’t like getting hit. Or kicked. But who does? I only fought if someone tried to pick on or hurt Serena, at least when anyone did that sort of thing when I was around.

  “Yeah, looks like he didn’t grow a pair either. Still got a pussy between your legs there, Aerick?” Lance asked, pushing me. He was short, stocky, and heavily muscled with a buzz haircut. He played one of those blocker guys. Yeah, I know there’s a technical term for it, but I had better things to worry about.

  Suddenly I remembered my training. I took the push without budging an inch, and glared at Lance. “Let me through before I get Officer Larson over here to deal with this,” I said calmly, though I was feeling anything but. I wanted to end these four little pricks here and now in a flash of hellish inferno.

  “Ooooh, scary. Gonna go tattle on us, wittle Aewick?” Terry mocked.

  I turned a glare his way, and he actually backed down a little. I felt a quick jab of pride, and power, at that. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Could also tell him about the steroids you have in your locker, Lance, or the pot you have in your car, Terry.” I knew they both used said drugs, but it was a bluff on my part. I had no idea if they actually had any with them today.

  “Okay, okay.” Terry held his hands up in mock surrender. “Come on, guys, we have better things to do,” he said, making his way over to where Kelly and the cheerleaders sat.

  Kelly and Terry were an item and had been since middle school. I looked over my shoulder as I opened the door, just in case they decided to attack me from behind. I wouldn’t put it past them. Kelly was staring at me, an expression of sadness on her face. When she realized that I was looking in her direction, she quickly turned her attention to her friends. Huh. Maybe she was trying to change? I made my way out towards the Wall, and heard a familiar deep, rich voice behind me.

  “Nicely done, Rick!”

  I turned to face him. Malcolm Kendrick, dressed in a black vest that was pulled together and held in place by several metal buckles. He also wore a pair of black jeans, and a lightweight black duster. He waved at me as the doors closed behind him. Malcolm was a friend of mine, despite being part of the football team. He didn’t buy into Terry’s bullshit, and he had fairly trounced each of the four of them on a couple of occasions. We had become friends because almost every class we had together used an alphabetical seating chart and he sat in front
of me. I always figured that it was a requirement of every teacher to have one of those stupid charts.

  I stopped so he could catch up with me. The sun glinted off his bald head but I knew he preferred the look and shaved it. He was a bit more slender than me, but about the same height and we kept stride as we walked across the parking lot together. Once we got to the Wall I hooked up with Jessie, and the three of us got our food from the snack truck and took up our normal spot. Malcolm was one of the very few special individuals that was popular but yet was tolerated at the Wall. Anyone else would have been jumped on the spot had they invaded our space.

  “Hey, man. Don’t let those assholes get to you. They’re nothing but a pack of ass-sniffing douches,” Malcolm said as we sat down, rolling deep brown eyes the same color as his skin.

  Jessie just snorted at his comment. “Terry and his ball lickers giving you problems again, Rick?” she asked, concern clouding her face.

  “Yeah, but nothing I couldn’t handle,” I replied.

  “No kidding. You called them out, bro!” Malcolm said, slapping me on the back. He then told Jessie what had happened, which had her laughing after he was done.

  “Wow, you’ve become quite the little blackmailer. How’d you know what to call them on?” she asked, still giggling almost uncontrollably.

  “I remembered seeing Lance take some steroids in the locker room once, and we all know that Terry buys and sells weed to the younger kids from his car like he’s some big-shot dealer.” I shrugged.

  “Still. Nicely done. I would have just punched his pretty little face in.” Malcolm gave me a knowing look.

  “Yeah. About time you started standing up to them, Rick.” Jessie leaned in and put her arm around me.

  I just nodded, thinking about what I could have really done to them. I didn’t want to open that can of worms. Once I started using my superior training on them in order to just do it was the moment I became no better than them. If one of them took the first swing, though, all bets were off.

  The next day went by without incident from the douche squad, until Wednesday. I was in P.E. and not participating, again. I noticed Coach Alans actually walking towards me instead of directing one of the basketball games, which was his normal activity during the class.

  Coach Alans was in his mid-forties, with thinning brown hair and sharp grey eyes. He was average height, with just enough muscle on him to keep up with a bunch of teenagers. When he got closer he gave me an appraising glance, then sighed and said, “So, Kerensky, too good for my class, huh? Why is it that you never participate? You realize this grade is just as important as all your others? Considering that you do so well in your other classes, I assume you want to graduate. You’re in good shape. It wouldn’t be much for you to just play a few games for an hour, would it?” He was concerned over my grade, as any good teacher would be.

  “Actually, Coach,” I said, “I find these little games pointless. In the end what does it accomplish? Nothing. Except to waste our time. I know you’re doing what you feel is best, but truth to tell, I try in my other classes about as much as I try in this one. Just so happens that here, it shows more.” I smiled slightly, amused.

  He just stared at me a moment, probably trying to decide whether or not to lecture me about respect, then just shook his head. “Alright, well, don’t say I didn’t try to help.” He walked back towards the coach’s office that adjoined the gym.

  I leaned back and closed my eyes behind my sunglasses. No doubt some sophomoric moron would try to take my apparent lack of wakefulness, and the absence of an authority figure, to try something completely stupid, so I made sure to extend my senses using Aetheric energy, something all sorcerers learned to do early in our training. A few minutes later, my prediction came to pass.

  At that moment I felt something hurtling in my direction with significant speed. A basketball. Without even opening my eyes I caught the ball one handed. Then I slowly opened my eyes and glanced around. Lance was looking directly at me, his smug expression slowly turning to one of shock.

  Stupid motherfucker.

  I was finally sick of it all. Rage rose inside of me, and with it, a familiar sensation; the fires of my wrath burning to get out. I held them in check, and instead redirected all the frustration and anger into something else.

  Fuck it. And fuck him.

  I hurled the ball with as much force as I could muster at his face.

  There was a sickening crunch as the ball connected with Lance’s nose. There was a loud thud that resounded throughout the gym as he fell to the floor, screaming. Well, guess he wouldn’t be all-state this year. More than likely he was going to need facial surgery.

  Oops.

  I really hadn’t meant to hurt him that badly, but it was his decision to instigate the whole thing. Everyone was staring between Lance and me. I shrugged, got up and left the gym. I knew that by the time lunch time hit, the story would be half way around the school. Despite the large number of students that attended this high school, gossip still had a disturbing way of traveling at faster than light speeds.

  Later, as I had made my way to the cafeteria at lunch time to pick up a soda, I had people either staring in awe or fear, or glaring angrily at me. This was the first time I had really made any waves since I had returned. I kept a low profile in school on purpose. It was one part training and one part natural habit trying to avoid the people who used to give me hell every day after school.

  Now that I had outright attacked one of them, it was a safe bet that they would be out to make sure that I was paid in kind. It was possible Terry and his buddies would take it out on my friends, but more than likely they would come after me. I had always been the weakest; before all the recent turmoil in my life, I hadn’t really liked hurting people, though I had the size to do serious harm.

  But things had changed—I had changed—even if they didn’t know that yet. I knew I could defend myself if needed, despite not being able to use my powers. I could use my physical martial training if I was attacked. After all, it would have been pointless to have an agent get beat down on the street by some random mugger just because he was disallowed from using his training. I just didn’t like the idea. They were just normal humans. They didn’t know any better, and it really wasn’t a fair fight. Not that they would fight fair, but that wasn’t the point.

  As I moved through the halls and the courtyard, I noticed people got out of my way, some even stumbling over themselves to do so. Kelly managed to land herself solidly on her ass as she scrambled to move away from me. She just sat there, her blue eyes wide with fear. I just chuckled at her and smirked.

  Stupid cheerleader. Can’t believe I actually wanted to go out with her.

  Okay, I could believe it, she was hot, and at one time I thought she was someone special, that she was different than the apes she hung out with, that she would eventually see that she and I were meant to be. Yeah right. Besides, that was years ago.

  Once I got out to the Wall, I lit up a cigarette and looked around for Malcolm and Jessie. They were over by the snack truck so I headed that way as I closed my Zippo. Just as the lid snapped shut someone began yelling.

  “Five-O! Five-O!” The alarm came from several voices.

  Several kids scrambled to hide on the other side of the power station, or to get into cars. Most likely a good majority had marijuana on them. I looked towards the school. The campus policeman was rolling towards me on his ten-speed bicycle. Officer Larson was usually a reasonable enough man, but today he looked dead serious, whatever his business was. He rode up and stopped right in front of me.

  “Mister Kerensky, did you attack someone in your class today?” he asked, looking at me over his sunglasses.

  “Umm… hmmm, let me think about that for a minute…. Yep, sure did.” I was being snide, but I couldn’t help it. Knowing my position with police officers, it was hard to not be condescending towards them now even though I knew they were just doing their jobs.

  “I’m go
ing to have to take you back to the office, Aerick. We need to get this resolved.” He took me by the arm, which earned him a withering glare. He was starting to get too big for his badge.

  “I’m not going to do anything of the sort. Lance attacked me first. We’re both eighteen, so if he wants to nail me for assault, he can damned well try. If there are charges that are going to be pressed against me, then come talk to me, if not then let it drop.” I gestured around the power station, which wasn’t on school property. “Aren’t you a little out of your jurisdiction anyway?”

  Officer Larson just gave me a searching look, then sighed in resignation. “Only until you go back to class, unless you’re planning on skipping the rest of the day. Fine, have it your way, but only because it’s less paper work for me anyway if I don’t bring you up, and knowing Lance and his friends, he probably deserved it. I’ll be back if they do decide to press charges though, and I’m sure you’re going to be suspended for three days or until you talk to your Dean.” He started to ride back towards the school.

  Jessie was still standing behind me, and I felt her arm over my shoulder again as she moved in next to me. For a moment I almost forgot about the basketball incident, distracted by her undone white button up shirt over a tank top and her super short denim cut offs and knee high leather boots. I would seriously reconsider her offer if I didn’t have such a dislike of casual sex.

  “Geez, Rick, was that really you that pummeled Lance with a basketball? I heard about it, but I didn’t believe it.” Jessie seemed impressed and a bit fearful at the same time.

  Her reaction didn’t surprise me. No one actually thought I was capable of that kind of violence. I had been a bit of a pacifist before, but now I was asserting myself, namely because my training allowed me to do no less. It had been a purely reactionary response.

  “Yeah, it was me. He had it coming though. I didn’t appreciate having a basketball hurled at my head,” I stated as I pointed a finger at the side of my head.