Wild-born

by Adrian Howell

  “You’re lying, Cindy!” I said angrily as I stood up. She gave me a pained look, and I knew I was right.

  Stretching my right arm out, I telekinetically snatched my jacket off of the coat rack standing by the door.

  “Please, Adrian,” said Cindy as she watched me donning my jacket. “I’m sorry I lied. But that doesn’t mean no one else is out there. They could be hidden. And this psionic isn’t just a telekinetic. He’s also a graviton. Telekinesis is his second power, not nearly as strong as yours, but as a graviton he’s dangerous.”

  “You just lied to me! How do I know this isn’t a lie, too?” I demanded, but even as I did, I saw in her eyes that she was telling the truth.

  I had never met a graviton before. Cindy had told me they could weight things down. Since the graviton was also a telekinetic, he’d sense me as soon as I left Cindy’s hiding bubble over the hill, and I’d lose any element of surprise. I hesitated for just one moment, but all the frustration and anger I had been feeling since Ralph told me about my sister and the Angels could not be suppressed.

  I opened the front door with much more force than was needed, and strode out. Cindy came running after me.

  “I don’t need your help to find him,” I said defiantly as I walked down the driveway toward the dirt road, not looking back at her. “I can’t tell the direction, but I’ll know if I’m getting closer.”

  “Adrian, why?!” Cindy asked frantically. “Why go after him? There’s no guarantee that he’s an Angel at all!”

  “But he could be. And you said he’s not a controller.”

  “That doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous!”

  “I’ll be careful.”

  “Adrian, please!”

  “What?!” I shouted, rounding on her. “Stay at home? Be a good boy? Maybe you haven’t noticed, Cindy, but I am not Alia!”

  “Well, you’re certainly acting like a seven-year-old!” Cindy shouted back with equal ferocity. “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but you’re the only person your sister has left! How do you think she’d feel if you threw your life away?!”

  “Don’t talk like you know her!”

  “If you get killed, who’s going to save her?!”

  I turned my back to her and started walking again.

  “Please, Adrian,” Cindy pleaded tearfully. “This is a mistake, and mistakes have consequences. Please don’t do this.”

  “I’m not asking for your help, Cindy. I’ll handle this one myself.”

  “He’ll be able to sense you as soon as you leave this hill. Please, just wait, and let me give you some hiding protection.”

  I stopped. Cindy came up close behind me, and for a moment, I thought she was going to grab me and pull me back toward the house. Instead, she placed her right hand lightly on my chest, and then her left hand on my back. For five minutes or so, we stood together as Cindy worked her power into me. Physically, I didn’t feel at all different, but deep down, I was really sorry for making her do this.

  Cindy took her hands off of me and said quietly, “The bubble will move with you. You’ll be able to get pretty close before he senses you, up to ten yards or less, but only if you can reach him in the next eight hours. It’s the best I can do. Please be careful. Even I won’t be able to sense you until the protection wears off. Remember, he may not be an Angel.”

  I turned around and hugged her, trying to keep my voice steady as I said, “I’m sorry if I don’t come back.”

  Cindy held me tightly. “If you’re alive, I’ll find you again.”

  Pulling myself away, I turned around and started walking to the road, but Cindy said, “Hold on, Adrian. Wait there for a minute.”

  “I’m not going to say goodbye to Alia, Cindy,” I called to her as she walked back toward the house.

  “It’s not that.”

  Cindy returned with a small wad of bills and told me to take Mark’s bicycle. Like his pickup truck, it was old and rusted, but nevertheless a sturdy mountain bike that would get me down the dirt road and into town quickly.

  “I’ll explain to him,” she said, and hugged me again.

  Thanking Cindy awkwardly for the money, I adjusted the bicycle seat and rode away. I felt as guilty as I could possibly feel, but I didn’t look back.

  I made my way down the winding forest road, pondering what I was about to do. When I had first felt the psionic’s presence, my mounting frustration and annoyance with Cindy had hardened my resolve, but now that I was actually on my way, I was already having second thoughts. Capturing an unknown psionic… I knew that was much easier said than done. And I wasn’t in disguise either, which meant I’d be chancing it with the police as well. I regretted my angry words to Cindy, and even thought about going back and telling her that I changed my mind. But then I decided that as long as I was here, I owed it to myself as much as to Cat to see this through.

  A short ride from the foot of the hill, the university town looked sleepy and nearly deserted at this time of day. I saw some small schoolchildren walking down the street, laughing and chattering together as they made their way home. For a few minutes, I watched them enviously, realizing that I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be a child.

  After Ralph, I really wasn’t looking forward to another battle with a psionic. This time, however, I was the hunter. Concealed by the hiding protection that Cindy had given me, surprise was on my side. Even so, I still needed a strategy.

  I found a hardware store and bought a pair of leather gloves, a length of thin but sturdy rope, and some copper wire like the one I used to wear back at home. I also bought a cheap radio from which, after I left the store, I removed the extendable antenna. I threw the radio away, pocketing the antenna, which would serve as my drain sword. My plan was to try to blast the graviton from a distance before he could sense me, fly at him, drain him and tie him up. Then I could question him. If he was an Angel (and I sincerely hoped he was), he just might have what I wanted. If he wasn’t an Angel, I would have made another enemy, but then, what was one more enemy in a world full of Angels and Guardians, Slayers and Wolves?

  As properly armed as I could hope to be, I pedaled toward the downtown area, assuming that this psionic was merely passing through and would probably be staying at a hotel. Once I got within the general area where I could sense his power fairly close, I realized that getting an exact fix on his location was something only a true finder could do. Or, at least, I wasn’t ready for it. I cycled one block at a time, stopping to calm myself enough to feel the telekinetic’s song and gauge my distance to it. I often doubled back, thinking I had made a mistake, only to change my mind again. It was painstaking work, and soon it started to get dark. But I knew I was getting closer.

  I was standing near a busy intersection, once again calming myself to locate the telekinetic when…

  “Adrian?” Mark’s sudden voice behind me nearly stopped my heart. I spun around, my concentration broken.

  “Mark! What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to steady my breathing. I could no longer sense the psionic anywhere, though I knew he must be very close now.

  Mark laughed and said, “No, Adrian, what are you doing here?” Then his tone became much more serious as he asked, “Does Cindy know you’re in town?”

  “Yes,” I said uneasily, “she does.”

  “Won’t you be found off the hill?”

  “Cindy gave me some protection for the road.”

  “I see,” said Mark, carefully studying my expression. “So she really does know you’re out here on my bike?”

  “Yeah… Mark, I’m sorry I took it without asking.”

  “No, no, it’s quite alright,” said Mark. “But what are you doing here, Adrian?”

  Suddenly I felt the telekinetic’s presence again. It was much closer.

  And getting closer.

  I nervously looked around at the street. There were cars, and people on bicycles, and people walking along the sidewalk. Mark was saying something to me, but I was no longer lis
tening. How could I tell which out of all these people the psionic one was, even if he passed right next to me? And that seemed all the more likely as I felt him getting even closer. He must be coming along this road, but from which direction? Cindy had said that ten yards was the limit of my cloak. I started to panic.

  “Did you hear what I just said?” asked Mark. “Adrian, are you alright?”

  “I’m sorry, Mark. I have to go!”

  I jumped back onto Mark’s mountain bike, hoping to pedal to the intersection and escape into another street, but suddenly I felt something crash into my side. I was knocked off the bike and onto the sidewalk.

  I looked up and saw a young woman, probably in her early twenties, hastily getting off of her single-speed bicycle. She was wearing a navy blue tracksuit and a very surprised expression. Still dazed, I couldn’t stand up. And I had lost track of the psionic again.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking!” squealed the woman as she extended her arm down to me.

  I took her hand, and suddenly I felt heavier, as if all of my muscles and internal organs had turned to stone. I couldn’t even lift my own weight. I stared up at the woman. Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes were severe, focused on me.

  She was the graviton!

  My body became light again, and the woman pulled me to my feet. She patted the dust off my clothes, apologizing again and again, but then I discovered that she had another psionic power as I heard her voice inside my head say harshly, “Ask me for trouble, kid, and I’ll give you more than you can handle.”

  Aloud, the woman was saying, “I’m really, really sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

  “I’m okay,” I managed to say, though we both knew I was far from okay.

  “Your cell phone, ma’am,” said Mark, handing her back the phone she had dropped when she crashed into me. Mark was completely oblivious to what was going on.

  “Thank you so much,” said the woman, getting back on her bicycle. “Well, I must be going.”

  “Be safe, ma’am!” Mark called after her as she pedaled away, and I was left standing on the sidewalk feeling like the world’s greatest fool.

  Mark didn’t ask me again why I had come to town, but seemed to take it for granted that I was going back home with him. I didn’t argue. Dejectedly pulling the bike along, I walked with Mark several blocks to his rusty red pickup, which was parked behind his church. We loaded the bike onto the pickup’s cargo bed.

  “Do you want to take a quick look inside before we head home?” asked Mark, gesturing toward the church, which was an old but well-built two-story redbrick building not entirely unlike Mark’s house on the hill, though somewhat larger.

  I was in no hurry to return to Cindy having failed my mission so pathetically, so I gratefully accepted Mark’s offer. My uncle had taken me to Mass with him on a number of occasions, but my parents were both agnostics, so it had been a long time since I had been in a church.

  We circled back around to the front of the building and entered through the main doors. Inside, I noticed the trace fragrance of recently burned incense, and looked up toward the altar. There was another priest speaking quietly with a nun who, upon seeing us, broke away from him and walked purposefully up to Mark.

  Mark greeted her politely and started to introduce me, but the nun cut him off and said, “Father Parnell, excuse me, but there was a call for you a moment ago from a Mrs. Anderson. She asked that you call her back as soon as possible. It sounded quite urgent.”

  “Yes, of course, thank you,” said Mark. “Excuse us, Sister.”

  Mark quickly led me past the pulpit, through an oak door and into a small office. There was no one else here, and Mark strode up to a wall-mounted telephone set next to an antique lamp.

  “Mrs. Anderson is Cindy, Adrian,” explained Mark. “I’ll tell her you’re with me.”

  I shook my head no, but Mark was already dialing and not looking at me.

  Oh well, I thought miserably, at least she’ll know I’m safe.

  Mark said into the telephone, “Hello, Cindy? It’s Mark. Guess who I just met! What? Slow down, Cindy. What are you saying?”

  I noticed the tension in Mark’s voice and craned my neck to hear Cindy’s side of the conversation, but I couldn’t make it out. Cindy’s voice on the phone sounded frantic.

  “No, Cindy, I ran into Adrian,” said Mark. “What do you mean? How can she not be there? I know you can’t sense her in your own bubble, but that means she’s still somewhere in it… Just calm down… Cindy! Cindy, listen to me! Get in your car and start driving toward town. Don’t speed on the road or you might run into her in the dark. I’ll meet you at the bottom of the hill, okay?”

  Mark hung up and turned to me. “Come on, Adrian. Alia is looking for her big brother.”

  We ran back to the pickup truck, and Mark nearly floored it as we tore out of the parking lot, around the church and onto the main street, heading back toward the hill.

  I sat next to Mark experiencing the same gut-wrenching feeling I had when I first learned that Cat hadn’t been found. Alia had probably woken from her nap shortly after I left. Cindy wouldn’t have told Alia the full truth, but must have told her that I went to town. When did Alia leave the house? How long would it take for her to walk down the hill? Where would she go from there? If Alia had left Mark’s house at about the same time that I arrived in the town… It would have been five hours already.

  I heard the loud thumping of a helicopter overhead. Looking up through the pickup truck’s windshield, I saw the black silhouette of a monstrous military transport in the night sky. I wished I was up there with them, looking for Alia from the air. If only I could fly without being seen! It was already very dark, but I didn’t want to risk any more midair run-ins with helicopters.

  We were at the foot of the hill in less than ten minutes, but it felt more like ten hours. I saw the road leading up into the dark forest that covered the bottom of the hill, and wondered if Alia was walking beneath those trees right now, or if she had already come through, or if…

  I felt Mark grip my shoulder. “Adrian, snap out of it!”

  Mark stopped the truck and got out. I got out too, and watched as Mark reached into the cargo bed and unloaded his mountain bike, setting it down in front of me.

  “Listen, Adrian, there are only two roads that lead to town from here, and we just came down one of them. This other one,” said Mark, pointing to a gravel road that ran alongside the forest, “may still be in Cindy’s protective area. You cycle down that road and see if you can’t find Alia. I’m going to start driving up the hill and meet Cindy halfway. Once I meet up with Cindy, we’ll come after you.”

  Mark got back into his pickup and drove up into the forest, and I got on his bike and started pedaling as fast as I could over the gravel. The road was empty, with just a barren field on one side and the forest on the other. There were no streetlamps, and by now it was so dark I could hardly see where I was going, but I didn’t slow down.

  Coming around a gentle curve in the road, I saw a tiny, shadowy shape off in the distance. At first I thought it was a trick of the light, but as I got closer, there was no mistaking her.

  Alia heard me coming and turned around. “Addy!”

  I jumped off the bike as Alia flew into my arms. Alia started crying, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck. I held her until she calmed down a little. Then I forced her off me, shook her shoulders and said furiously, “What were you thinking?! You can’t just come down the hill like that! Cindy’s worried sick about you!”

  Alia started sobbing again. “Addy, please don’t go away!”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Alia.”

  “But you and Cindy were fighting.”

  I stared at her in surprise. Alia had been awake. How many of our other arguments had she overheard? Seeing her tear-stained face, I finally realized how much fear and pain I must have been causing her, and what it must have taken for her to walk all this way alone.

&
nbsp; “Alia, I’m really sorry,” I said. “I promise I won’t have any more fights with Cindy. And I’m not going to leave you and Cindy like this again.”

  “Never?” asked Alia, wiping her eyes.

  “I promised I’d take care of you, didn’t I? Come on, Ali, let’s go home.”

  I couldn’t ride Mark’s bike with her, so we’d have to come back for it later. Leaving it leaning against a tree, I took Alia’s hand and started to walk with her back the way we came.

  All of the fear and tension I had felt during the day had drained away, leaving me utterly spent, and yet strangely at peace with myself. It had been exceptionally stupid of me to suddenly leave the house like I did, and I promised myself that I would apologize to Cindy for putting us all at risk. Everything I had done today was wrong. Cindy was right: I really had acted like a little kid.

  But I’d make it up to her. In just a few minutes, we would be reunited, and we would all go back to Mark’s house together. In fact, I could already see the shadowy silhouette of Cindy’s car coming toward us, and I turned to Alia.

  “Look, Ali!” I said happily. “It’s Cindy!”

  “No, Addy.”

  I looked at the car shape again. It was an off-road vehicle, but not Cindy’s SUV or Mark’s pickup. And its headlights were off.

  “Addy…”

  Alia inhaled sharply, gripping my hand tighter, and suddenly I was blinded by a spotlight from above. I stumbled, pulling Alia down with me, and when I scrambled to my feet, there were more lights coming from other directions. I could hear the engine of the car in front of us, and the soft thumping of a helicopter above. There was shouting too, but I wasn’t listening to it.

  I could barely see in the glare of the lights, but somehow I pulled Alia into the forest with me. It was too dark under the trees to see anything, and I stumbled again.

  “Stop!” commanded a deep male voice amplified on a megaphone. “Lie on the ground facedown with your hands behind your back! If you try to escape, you will be shot!”

  There were men crowding around near the edge of the forest, and they had flashlights, but I was sure we hadn’t been seen yet.