by A. B. Bloom
Boring. Blasted one thought. I held in a smile.
Darkness.
Winning.
Bronte.
Ash.
Doomed.
The problem was that I had no idea which thought went with which person. I didn’t know anyone well enough to tell the tone of their thoughts. Nick and Celeste were silent, their attention focused on Kale. Nick had his chin resting on his fingers as he watched Kale elaborate with his hands.
I tried to see if the colour of the energy and souls surrounding the Stars made movements with the thoughts. It made sense that as Kale’s hands were turning in the air with his words, that the energy should move as well. Focusing on the words, I attempted to expand my vision to take in everyone's energy at the same time. All I succeeded in doing was looking wild eyed. As someone was kind enough to think.
What is she doing?
There was sardonic humour lacing the thought that I recognised and my focus zoned in on Connor.
This is beyond dull. Too much talk and not enough action is going to get us all dead. I wasn't disposed to disagree with him. It was definitely him. His slouched body language and deep sigh mirrored the tone of his thoughts exactly.
I nearly whooped with excitement when I realised I'd managed to read someone’s mind. In my excitement, the purple sponge I had centre stage in my consciousness disappeared, and I bumped back into the room with a rude awakening.
I caught Connor’s eye dart in my direction as I gave a small start. I wished I could find the sponge again to see what he was thinking but it was gone.
“So, are we all agreed then?” Kale looked about the room expectantly and there were general nods. Nick was ramrod straight, his expression set.
I grimaced, realising I had no idea what people were agreeing to.
Kale turned. “Nick?”
There was a hefty pause that I could almost taste in the air, like waiting for the first snowflake to fall on an overcast winter’s day. “Sure.” Came the eventual reply.
“Sure, what?” I turned for Nick and found his lips set in that line, his violet energy clinging close to his tall body.
Kale ignored me, which seemed to be his typical response now. “We need to be ready to leave by sundown.”
I glanced out the patio doors. Was he being ironic? There was no sun to go down.
Then Kale's words sunk in. Leave. Sweat broke out against my skin in an instant. Where were we going?
“Yes.” Nick was formal and I almost expected him to salute. I sniggered a little but then saw no one else was in a laughing mood.
Nick strode for the door, not a backward glance in my direction. The chain in my stomach pulled after him. I took a step but Kale held me back, his fingers on my elbow. His eyes searched my face. “I see you’ve been practising using your energy?” he asked.
“Pardon?”
His lips lifted just a fraction at the corner. “I assumed that was you rifling through all the thoughts in the room while I was talking.”
I flushed before straightening my back and jutting out my chin.
“Did you learn anything interesting?” He leaned in conspiratorially.
“Nope.” I was tempted to tell him that Connor found his little speech dull, but then I had nothing to gain from that. I turned again, ready to go find what plans had made Nick's face turn to ash, but Kale called me back. “You’re to stay safe here,” he said.
“Here?” I really should have listened. “What is everyone else doing?” My stomach clenched and rolled. Were they going to make me stay here, and Nick leave?
Black spots swum across my vision at the mere thought of him leaving again.
They wouldn't. They knew it would make me sick.
A frown flickered across his otherwise smooth and youthful face. “Their jobs.”
“And I’m supposed to be here like a sitting duck?”
Kale laughed. “Oh, you will be protected.” He tilted his head to the side and I guessed he was reading the thoughts in the house or listening to conversations I didn’t have the skill to hear. “I’m sure you are going to hear all about it any minute.”
“Okay...”
“Bron,” he called me back again.
“Yep?”
“Just do what you’re told.”
This should have been a red flag because if there was one thing I hated, it was being told what to do.
The sound of raised voices filtered down the stairs. I paused on the landing, straining to listen to what was under heated discussion.
I knew Nick was behind the door, not because I recognised his voice, but rather because the chain yanked and pulled at me. It wanted me to walk through the door and into his arms.
“I can’t believe you are both just going!” That was Connor. His sardonic attitude literally ran like water under the wood of the closed door.
“We’re just doing what we are told.” Celeste replied.
“By someone we haven’t seen in over a decade?” Connor had a point, not that I would ever tell him that. There was a thud and curse.
“I will do anything to make sure Bronte is safe.” Nick’s words were a snarl.
A long pause filled the atmosphere and I wondered what they were doing. “I know.” Connor said at last and I could all too clearly visualise his expression as he said, “Hell, you nearly died for her.” There was a brief pause before he continued. “You do realise, that if you die, it doesn’t help her in the slightest.”
“I know. That’s why I’ve got to make sure she isn’t compromised.”
“Compromised? What do you sound like? Judging by how sick she was the other day when you left, I'd say you might be the one to compromise her.”
I knew the only way I would find out what they were talking about was if I went into the room and asked. Without knocking—hell it was my room, why would I knock?—I marched in. “What’s going on?”
Connor groaned. “You should have been listening.”
“Yeah, well, I was busy.” I didn’t want to tell them I was busy trying to access my Star skills because I knew it would amuse Connor no end.
“Sure you were.”
My eyes flicked away from Connor and onto Nick. His face was pale, the tendons in his neck prominent and strained. “What’s going on?”
Nick hesitated. It was something I wasn't used to seeing him do and it made my heart beat faster. “Celeste and I have to go," he said.
I didn’t think I’d heard correctly and at first I chuckled. When no one else laughed, my smile dropped to the floor. “Go where?”
“Looking for Ash.” Nick’s eyes skidded to the carpet and a warning bell gave a high-pitched jingle in the back of my mind.
“I think I would rather look for Aaron, or Ash, as you call him, myself. I’ve got rather a lot to say to him.”
Nick’s hands balled into tight fists. “He’s never coming near you again.”
A bubble of anger simmered under the surface. “Well he was with me for sixteen years and you guys never even noticed. Funny how no one has talked about that yet.” Since I’d had my memories returned to me I’d struggled to make everything fit into the right places. There was still a lot that had been left unexplained and it looked like I wasn’t going to be getting explanations any time soon.
Nick turned to Connor and Celeste who were watching us intently. “Could we have a moment?” he asked curtly.
Connor stormed for the door but Celeste stood rooted to the spot.
“That means you too, Celeste.” Nick woke her from her reverie.
“But this looks so much fun.” She pouted.
“Out.” Nick pointed at the door and after Celeste had scurried through, he locked it with a bright, vibrant, pulse of violet from the palm of his hand.
I would have been easily distracted by his violet light show if it didn’t just feel like I’d had the solid ground under my feet turned to marshmallow. “What do you mean you have to leave? Why do you have to look for him? Why can’t Connor
go?” Panic washed through me when I thought of him being gone. The chain unfurled into an angry flay like Satan’s whip. It burned my stomach and my sight pitched a notch darker. "You can't go. It makes me ill." I felt pathetic pointing it out. Who can't let their boyfriend leave because it makes them sick? But then we weren't normal, were we? I wasn't normal! Hell, was he even my boyfriend?
Sighing, he took a step towards me, his hand reaching for my shoulder and running down my arm. Bending at the knees, he looked me directly in the eyes. “Believe me, Bron.” His words were low and turned my insides into a warm mush. “I don’t want to go.”
I was stinging like I’d stumbled and fallen into a hornet’s nest. Could I be sure he didn’t want to go? Maybe this was too complicated for him.
“That’s not it at all,” he said.
“Ugh. Stop reading my thoughts!” Anger spiked through me and as it coursed along my veins something happened I wasn’t expecting. A door slammed deep within the recesses of my mind. It echoed like the bang of an age old oak door, slamming shut against the pounding wind on a dark night.
My eyes widened and Nick’s face dropped in shock. “What did you just do?” His fingers reached for my face.
I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything.”
He leaned in towards me, his eyes closed, concentration etched across his brow. When his eyes opened, the violets echoed at a hint of hurt that I didn’t understand. “You’ve blocked me.”
“What?” I flushed even though I hadn’t done anything wrong, not intentionally anyway. “I didn’t mean to.” My hands grasped for his jersey, tugging him closer. “Please don’t go, Nick. I’ve got so much to learn. I want to know everything about us, about you.” Droplets of saltwater threatened to spill. “I don’t think I can do that without you.”
Nick’s hands smoothed from my shoulders until his fingers linked with mine. “I’m not complete when I’m not with you. I never am.” His lips set in that line and I knew I wouldn't like where his words were heading. “But I have a job to do. I had a job to do when I walked into your school a few weeks ago and I still have one now.”
“Let me come with you.” My heart sunk to the depth of my stomach where the chain gave an angry rattle.
“No. You are safer here.”
“But—” I went to argue more but he cut me off with his mouth. I gave myself into his kiss. His arms reeled me in, pulling me along his body. My knees bent a little, moving me closer and closer until my weight was safely secured in the circle of his firm hold.
“Bron.” His words bit with a rough edge. “I need you to understand something.” I blinked up into his eyes, my breath stolen from the intensity of his kiss.
“Yes?”
“I will do anything to protect you. Anything I’m asked, and if it’s a line I must cross then I will cross it. Never doubt that I will do whatever it takes to protect you.” His eyes searched my face as if he was expecting to never see it again. “Do you understand?”
I didn’t. I was struggling to remember to breathe let alone unravel his riddles, but I still said, “Yes.”
His lips came down onto mine again, firm and hard. His hands ran down my spine, his thumbs creating a delicious friction as they anchored at the core of my lower spine. Too soon he pulled away. “I’ll be back soon. Stay here so I know where I can always find you.”
I grimaced. “I can't believe I am agreeing to this." I wasn't though. Not really. A tide of sick rode up my throat but I tried to smile; I didn't want him to know the affect him leaving was having on me. "I can’t guarantee I won’t kill Connor.”
He chuckled, his nose skimming my cheek. “That, my angel, I don’t have a problem with.”
A sharp rap on the door made us spring apart and he rolled his eyes. “For a girl, Celeste should surely take longer to pack.” His lips skimmed mine again, a delicious brush of electricity.
“Don’t you have to pack?” I asked. He grinned, the violets flashing through dark lashes. Placing the palm of my hand against his mouth, he applied the softest pressure to my skin. “I have everything I need.”
A blast of rose light pulsed through the wooden barrier of my door and Celeste smirked as the door flung open under the influence of her immense energy. “Ready?”
Nick gave me one long hard look, his face torn with a frown that chiselled his forehead with a deep line. He breathed in and out, his chest rising and falling as he battled whatever thoughts were tormenting him. Finally, his eyes landed on my face and he gave a smile. “Yes.”
“Bye,” I whispered.
His lips curved into a most beautiful smile and he leant in, his lips close to my ear. “I’ll come back to see you.”
My heart raced. “When?”
“When I can.”
Straightening, he turned to Connor who was slouching in the hallway behind an iridescent Celeste. “Watch her with your life.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “Sure thing.” I noticed he failed to make eye contact with Nick.
Nick’s lips skimmed across my mouth one last time. “Bye.” In a blink of violet and rose, blending together with the vibrancy of a rainbow fresh after the rain, the two of them were gone.
I eyed Connor. His lips turned down. “Just us then, I guess.”
He looked at me long and hard. “Guess so.”
My sleep is deep and dark, but not restful and calm. In the depths of slumber I’m pulled in too many directions, a heavy weight keeps dragging me down. It’s pulling me with a velocity I can’t fight, down, down and down. All I know is that I don’t want to fall. I don’t want to hit the ground but I can see it rushing toward me and I know impact will be soon. Above me is a light I need to find, it fades with every passing moment. I reach for it, strain for it, but ultimately can’t catch it.
A loud bang dragged me from the deep torturous dream. My legs scrambled against my mattress as I struggled to sit, wrapping the duvet around me tight. Sweat crept along my chilled skin as I listened for further noise.
Another bang caused me to jump, my heart thudding in my chest, my fingers clutching at the blanket. Connor didn’t come rushing in to protect me. I was hardly surprised. So, I swung my feet out of the bed, my toes sinking into the deep pile carpet as I padded on wobbly legs to the door. Cracking the jam a fraction, I peered down the hallway. My heart raced, pounded, a clawing tightness contracting my throat.
A dark shadow spread against the hallway wall, stretching and lengthening as it loomed closer. My hand slipped against the grain of the wooden door. I had nothing. No weapon. No real energy or power I knew how to control. I was a sitting duck in what seemed to be an unprotected house.
The shadow slowed, the closer it got to my bedroom door, the slower it became. There was no sound of footsteps. No breath in the air.
My eyes landed on my hairdryer perched on the edge of my chest of drawers. With a shake of my head I defrosted my body from its frozen hold. I leant forward and pulled the black appliance towards me, careful to make sure the plug didn't bang against the dresser. It weighed heavy in my hands, at least I was armed with something, even if it was a small electrical appliance. The shadow paused outside my room and the door crept open. Winding the power cable like a lasso, I spun the hairdryer in the air, allowing myself a relieved breath as it made a crunching contact.
“Holy crap! What are you doing?”
My hand delved for the light switch and I flicked it down, flooding my room with artificial vibrancy. Connor clutched his face.
I breathed out a shocked lungful of air. “Hitting you with a hair dryer?”
“That I see. Why aren’t you running?”
“What?’ I took a step towards him and lifted his hand away from his face. A vivid streak of red highlighted his cheekbone. I winced and shrugged in what I hoped was an apologetic manner.
“Why are you spinning a hair dryer above your head and not running away as fast as you can?”
I still didn’t understand what he was asking. With a deep sigh that w
as far louder than it strictly needed to be, he turned me to face him. “Bron. If you think you are at risk, you run. Run as fast as you can and we will find you. Someone will always find you.”
I pulled away from his touch. “Why are you banging around in the middle of night, anyway?”
With a quick glance, he peered into my darkened room. “It’s not the middle of the night. It’s morning. I wanted to see if you fancied going to school?”
I rubbed my head. Was he for real? School?
Connor folded his arms across his chest and looked at me thoughtfully. I wondered what he was thinking until I remembered that I could find out for myself if I tried hard enough. He lifted an eyebrow and settled back against the doorframe, crossing his ankles.
Breathing out through my nose I remembered the sponge. I focused on the particles of water that would seep and absorb until the surface of the sponge would darken with their weight.
That was painful to watch. He thought.
Shut up. I narrowed my eyes which made him grin and lean against the door of my room.
Just so you know. When you do that in public, it’s best not to close your eyes and sway like you are attending a seance.
I turned on my heel and walked back into my room. I didn’t cut the sponge down quick enough. Want me to come in and keep you company?
I wheeled around and glared at him. “See the door.”
“Yep.” He smirked.
“Don’t cross it.”
He cocked an imaginary hat me. “As you say, Ma’am.”
I ignored him and clambered back into bed. Was it morning? It couldn’t be? I’d only just fallen asleep surely?
I grabbed my phone to check the time. It was seven thirty but that was beside the point. Flickering on the home screen was a message from an unsaved number. Sleep well. Nx
My head ached but not as bad as the last time I'd woken and he'd been gone. Maybe knowing he wasn't going to be there had made it easier somehow?
It was weird to think it was only a few short weeks ago that I thought I was going insane. When Nick turned up and played mind games with me it had been the tip of a large iceberg. My poor health; continual migraines and general falling down had left me in a low place. It seemed a long time ago now. Lauren had seen me through it all. And now she didn’t know who I was, nor the time we’d spent together.