Alan took in a deep breath and decided to see how blunt with his “friend” he could actually be. “So I suppose you are looking for trade for your kindness? Something we can arrange I’m sure. At a later time, please. I’m kind of tired from journeying. It can take a lot out of me depending on what I’m doing.”
“What are you talking about?” Tuliy frowned.
“You want to use my powers, yes?”
“The only one I know of is your teleportation, and yes, that is a power that would be handy for me. It’s not one I have, but I wasn’t expecting to get anything out of you moving here. Nothing beyond your company. I have had the opportunity to take teleportation off of a number of individuals. It’s a complex and dangerous gift. One I don’t feel ready to harness.”
Alan looked down at the ground. “I shouldn’t have assumed. My apologies.”
“We’ve already established you’re skeptical and jaded,” Tuliy said with a small smile. It was hard to tell if he was actually insulted, or forgiving. Alan had to learn to trust. If he said it was okay, then it had to be.
“That’s not an excuse.”
“This time I’ll let it slide.”
With a sigh, Alan finished his water and spun the now empty bottle in his hands. “How many powers have you gained?”
“Three,” Tuliy said softly. “It’s not something I enjoy doing. I always get permission first, outside of the one I took without knowing. That was when I was first discovering what I could do, you see. Thankfully no one gets hurt in the process so it’s not a big deal. My boosting ability is one I enjoy using more than anything else. It’s good to be helpful.”
The number surprised Alan. Anyone else with a power so full of potential would have taken more than only three. Alan certainly would have.
Tuliy stood up and went into the kitchen to rummage in the cupboards. “How was your trip to Earth? Do you ever go to visit, or is it always business?”
“Usually there is a mixture of both. This trip was business. I had met with one of the five potential victims of the attack at the party. He confirmed being injected by The Doctor. His girlfriend has been as well. Both are frightened by their abilities, but she won’t confide in him or trust him. A complicated relationship snare. The other tribes are trying to convince her to get her boyfriend to join their team. I believe she has already sworn allegiance. He wanted time to think about the proposal,” Alan said.
“Did he say what his ability was? Would it be considered useful?”
“It reminded me of tar in a way. He could control a thick black liquid, and he said it was flammable. I saw it. It seemed to move and breathe as if it were an actual living thing.” Alan reflected on the way the small blob of black goo wiggled in Dale’s hand.
Tuliy’s head bobbed from side to side as if he were weighting the usefulness of the power. “It would be interesting to see in action.”
“Yes, I’m sure. As planned, my team will be observing the meeting between the girlfriend and the one called Sprout.” He didn’t add that Alona might be there too.
“Yes, I’ve been told to be there as well actually.”
Alan’s eyebrow shot up. “Oh? I wasn’t informed of this.”
“It was a new development. I’m supposed to supervise and see how well your team functions.”
“Just you?”
“Just me.” Tuliy nodded.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Alan leaned his head back on the couch. If it were just Sir Tuliy, then there wouldn’t be quite so much pressure. He couldn’t help but feel as if he were being tested by Sir Oriol. Everything needed to go smoothly. He had to prove that he could lead a team. If he didn’t, he might lose the one he did have.
Chapter Eleven
The previous night was a blur. Dale was still pinching himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, and each time he winced with pain because it was all too real. The images he’d been shown about Altura continued to play in his mind; a world so similar to his own. He’d seen video of beautiful landscapes and people walking down a suburban street on a calm, quiet night. A scene he’d witnessed many times on Earth. He would have thought it some kind of sick joke if he hadn’t noticed a number of differences. The first was that the signs were all written in a language he’d never seen before, and second the animals were unlike anything he’d ever seen as well. They were similar, but the dogs the people walked had fur in bright vibrant colors, for starters. Plus, he had his powers. If he hadn’t gotten those, he’d be a lot harder to sell on the idea of aliens being on Earth.
They say they want to help. Maybe they can help me control and harness this better? And Tori... He caught sight of her down the hall. She was talking with one of her friends at her locker, sort of. The friend was trying to talk and she was blowing the girl off. It was becoming a more common occurrence. Tori froze everyone out, including him. His heart broke more every time.
Taking in a deep breath, he walked to her locker and tried his best to keep cool. He didn’t want to show her just how much she was destroying him. He loved her, and would do anything in his power to make them last for forever.
“Morning beautiful.” He leaned in to kiss her cheek. Tori turned away before he could even touch her. Refusing to react, he forced a smile. “And how are you today?”
“Fine,” she mumbled and didn’t look at him. Her attention stayed on her textbook.
“Me too.” He glanced over her shoulder at what she was reading—chemistry—a class he was fairly decent at. “Studying hard?”
“Mmmhmm.”
I can’t take this anymore. He sighed. “Tori, are you trying to give me a hint here? Do you not want to date?”
That got her attention. She snapped her gaze up at him and her eyes grew wide and filled with tears. “What? Are you breaking up with me?”
“No, I’m just wondering if maybe that’s what you’re trying to do. So I thought I’d ask.”
“I told you, I just have a lot going on,” she whispered. “Why do you keep bringing this up?”
“Because it’s been a month of a lot going on, and I’m having a hard time understanding because you’re not telling me anything. Like I said before, I want to be there for you and help you. You need to let me. And I’m just wondering if this is kind of one of those things where I should take a hint,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while actually.”
“I don’t want to break up,” she said in a low voice.
“Then something needs to change.”
“Can we talk about this later, like, not at school? You know how I feel about having our personal problems out in public,” she whispered.
He nodded. He did know. They had more than their fair share of fights. Most they were able to keep away from outside ears. Dale was popular; he had a lot of people who wanted to know his business. Many of them were female who were trying to persuade him to look their way. What they didn’t understand, what Tori didn’t understand, was that he only had eyes for her.
Dale reached out to grab her hand, and once again she rejected his advance. “I’m trying not to let it boil over. We can talk, soon, for real?”
“For real. T-t-tonight? Do you have time to come over for a while?”
“Your girlfriend may proposition you to come with her to meet someone, or just to go with her somewhere. Do not do it.” That’s what the man had said, the alien said. Was that what she was doing? Trying to lure him to come join this other team of alien warriors?
“I need to check with my parents first. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. They might need help with some of the prep, and I might have an early curfew,” he said quietly. And I need some time to think. Everything is happening so quickly.
Tori let out a heavy sigh. “I thought we were a priority. So we can only talk about things on your time?”
“What?” That comment felt like a slap to the face. He couldn’t help but be appalled by her accusation. She wasn’t talking like Tori, but like someone else was feeding her the words to say
to him. He wasn’t sure what to even think.
When he gazed into her eyes, he only saw a hard, cold expression staring back at him. Her brow was furrowed, and her mouth tight with a frown, and if he didn’t know better he would have assumed she was glaring at him.
“You heard me,” she snapped. She slammed her textbook shut, stuffed it in her bag, and then stood.
“I didn’t say no. I just said I had to ask,” he mumbled.
Everything was falling apart on him in front of his eyes. Normally she wasn’t ever so temperamental with him. Is this more of her insecurity coming out? He closed his eyes for a second, taking in a deep breath to help calm him down before he snapped at her. Was she trying to torture him? Guilt him into doing things her way?
Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to go with her and see what these other people have to say. There are two sides to every story, right? But he also remembered what the alien had said. The other tribes wouldn’t be as kind to him, they wouldn’t give him a choice. Or was that a scare tactic? How did he know who was being honest and who was good? What if the alien he had visited the night before had lied? What if Tori was on the right side? The changes in her behavior suggested otherwise, but those could have been attributed to stress.
She didn’t say anything to him and simply walked away. No “I love you and I’ll see you at lunch” like usual, or even “We’ll talk later.” Not one word, or so much as a glance. How can she throw everything away so easily? He couldn’t believe it. Three years and she was willing to let it all go and never take the time to even work on their problem. What happened to his Tori? Why couldn’t he get through to her?
“I’ll go,” he whispered. But something else the strange alien man said repeated itself in his mind. The alien said don’t do it unless she’s worth it. And that’s the part I’m not so sure on. Should he take that as a sign? He was determined to be with her forever, to get married some day after they graduated from college, and to always be with his best friend. Even though she hadn’t been acting much like a friend lately, he could only hope that when things calmed down she’d return back to normal. But he didn’t like how she was shutting him out. He needed her too.
For a month he’d been wanting to talk with her about everything that had happened at the party, but held back because she seemed far too stressed to deal with his problems on top of her own. His powers scared him. They were dangerous, hard to control, and potent. Every day he wondered if it would be the day where he’d get out of control and kill someone. There was no one else for him to confide in, and she wouldn’t even give him the time of day. What if she’s going through the same thing I am? Who better than me to talk to?
When she started to shut him out and not trust him, he did the same to her. Trust was a two-way street, especially if she was going to break it so easily for an alien tribe. That part was the hardest to swallow. Aliens. In his hometown. Too crazy and so much to absorb. Maybe she thought you’d think her crazy if she told? But he would have believed her. He was pretty sure. It’d have been easier to hear from Tori than from a stranger. A stranger he wouldn’t have met if he hadn’t felt so desperate. Most of the time he felt confident and sure of his life. Tori was the only thing that made him insecure and uncertain. She made him feel a lot of things he’d never felt before.
Has she ever trusted me? She always gets so mad if I so much as say hi to another girl. Like doing that is cheating on her or something. It’s not fair. She talks to other guys, and often. What’s the difference? He shook his head and went to his class, head down, and shoulders slouched.
“You okay Dale?” one of his friends asked, a girl of course, and he had to stop himself from cringing because if Tori saw him talking to her, it could make things worse. He was able to manage a slight nod and a small smile, enough to get the girl to back off and not hound him over the issue.
Once in his classroom, he pulled out his notebook and flipped it open to the next clean page. Time to focus on history. But he couldn’t. Thankfully it was only a movie, and while he was supposed to take notes on anything considered important, if need be he could rent it or find it later online. A movie was the least of his concerns. Not with a much more important question looming over his head.
If she’s never trusted me, can I ever trust her completely? And if we can’t trust each other, then how can we have a relationship? What all has she lied to me about?
Chapter Twelve
“Stuffing,” Orlando said for about the tenth time that day, once again answering the ever-popular question—what’s your favorite food for the holidays? It felt like an overused and cliché food for him to say. Almost everyone preferred stuffing or mashed potatoes over anything else. But why bother lying to try and maintain his bad boy image? There was no point in denying it. Stuffing was one of his favorite comfort foods. Mostly because it made him think of his mom. She had always made excellent stuffing, but that was long ago.
The last time she’d cooked it was probably ten years ago, but he still remembered how it tasted. Moist, and he could taste all of the individual herbs mixed in. Every time he ate it, he thought of her and had a good thought instead of a bitter one. If only he could remember more things from when he was younger, had more good memories to hold onto. Then maybe he wouldn’t hate his parents so much.
“Mmm,” Tait said in agreement.
Ignore her. Again. He’d been doing that a lot. They had two classes together before lunch, and one after. He was being civil with her, responding when she spoke, but he wasn’t going out of his way to engage her either. Not because he was mad at her. But he didn’t know what to say. He’d decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. If she said she got into a fight with her parents, then he believed it. Even if they were laid-back like Angela claimed, everyone had a breaking point. It certainly explained the harsh reaction. But he was still on edge. The holidays had that effect on him.
“Mom makes some pretty awesome stuffing,” she added.
Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it. But he did anyway. “I’ll just have to take your word on it since I won’t get to find out.”
“So that’s why you’re quiet,” she mumbled.
He was about to say something perfect and sarcastic in response, but held his tongue when he noticed the teacher giving them a scolding look. They weren’t supposed to be talking over the other students. Instead he shook his head. Ten minutes later they were able to continue the conversation anyway, so it all worked out. The class was given a diagram to color and told to do whatever they wanted as long as it was quiet and they remained in their seats.
“I thought you said you understood,” Tait pressed as soon as they were given permission to start talking again.
“I do,” he said and pulled out his colored pencils so he could get to work. Orlando didn’t put much creative effort into the project, simply coloring in-between the lines.
“So then why are you—”
“It’s got nothing to do with you.” He glanced at her and they made eye contact.
“You’re ignoring me like it’s got something to do with me.”
“The only thing I feel is disappointed, but I’m used to it,” he said honestly. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want her to think it was some kind of passive-aggressive attack. “I’m just trying to get through the day, so I can get through the next few days, and then when I come back on Monday I’ll be my usual happy-go-lucky Mary Sunshine. Promise.”
Tait snorted softly. “You? Mary Sunshine?” But she leaned over to him and gave a soft nudge before risking a soft kiss to his cheek. Then she lowered her voice. “I didn’t mean to disappoint you. Maybe I can sneak out tonight? We had talked about Saturday, but since that doesn’t work for you maybe tonight does?”
“Depends on when and where you want me to be,” he said with a sly smile. “I can’t be out late tonight. Need my beauty sleep and all that jazz, but I wouldn’t mind a we’re-free-from-school celebration.”
He didn
’t know how much he wanted to hang out necessarily, but it might be good for him instead of sitting at home and thinking. Orlando would have plenty of time to do that over Thanksgiving as well as the weekend. Getting over his disappointment would be easier if they could have a moment where they could be “schmoopy” instead of thinking about how he’d been abandoned once more by someone he loved.
Love? He shook his head. Not sure where that came from. Seemed a little extreme, but he did care for her a lot, so maybe he was at a degree of love? Hard to say. There weren’t many people he loved in his life.
She started to color as well. “The mall sound good to you? Maybe at around eight or so? That’ll give us a good hour together.”
Which they could use if he was going to convince her that he meant it when he said he wasn’t mad at her. “Yeah, sounds good to me.”
That would give him plenty of time to have a decent date, and downtime to get himself ready for his mission. He’d need it to calm down enough so he didn’t try to hurt Sprout on the spot. Orlando had taught her a lesson before, and he was more than happy to repeat doing it as often as it took for her to get it through her thick skull. Taking advantage of the teenagers in the area was not acceptable.
“Good, because I do want to try and make it up to you, bailing on you I mean. It’s not fair, and I know you’ve had more than your share of that happening to you. Not a good standard to be setting, huh?” she said.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it Tait, please.”
“I don’t like being a disappointment.”
“And I don’t like talking about this stuff. I said it was fine, and that’s kind of all that matters right?”
She shrugged. “I still disappointed you. So it matters to me.”
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