The Amulet Trials

by Willa Alders

  “I’m sorry mom, I didn’t hurt you did I?” I asked looking around then at her.

  “No no son, but what you experienced is you just kind of had stuff built up inside you. Well it came out all at once, now that has happened now you will be able to evoke it whenever for future use. However the rage shouldn’t be as bad. When it starts overpowering yourself, center yourself around something good. I mean you can still be mad, but the ability to concentrate on some good in it, allows just enough power to pass through you to do what you want when moving things. So try it again. Put your mind at something bad, but center on the love you have for Aralynn. See if that helps.” She smiled at me.

  I looked at her and then allowed myself to get mad at Carter slamming me around, and Kilyn hurting me. My emotions were building up. I felt the blood boil a tad then I thought about Aralynn, her eyes, her smile. Everything just like that I was centered; I thought of the tree and uprooted it, then another. Then I stopped and I still saw light.

  “You did it son, you allowed your love to overtake the bad, and you were still able to uproot the tree, without blacking out. She is your center. You have it son. Now next I want you to work on snapping. When you want certain things all you have to do is think of the object snap and it appears. Then snap again it disappears.” She smiled.

  I thought of a pop, and then I snapped. I got five pops sent to me. In fact one drilled me in the face. My mom let a laugh out. I looked like ok. So then I snapped my fingers and they disappeared. I thought of my coat in my car, snapped my fingers and my coat appeared. I snapped again it disappeared. I snapped once more and it reappeared.

  “Very good my son. You didn’t know that you could do that did you Archer?” She smiled.

  “No, I didn’t. Thank you.” I smiled at her.

  “You’re fast son. But I believe that is enough for today I’m worn out and you must be too. I have to meet with the Kintana. I shall return soon. Here, use this in case you need it.” She said handing me a bottle of the potion I drank earlier. “Please be cautious, and tell her soon.” She heeded a warning and a concern.

  “I know mom I will. ``I love you.” I said hugging her.

  “I love you too, until next time son.” She whispered in my ear and just like that she was gone.

  Chapter 11 ARALYNN

  I slept sound that night, I didn’t dream, not about the couple or anything. I figured my brain was exhausted from training, and trying to figure out who the couple was. Then to the fact that Archer and I had been one together. I was too worn out to dream, but that part was a good worn out. I slept the whole night in his arms-so good that when the alarm went off it caused me to jump which woke him up. I didn’t mean to wake him but I did. I looked up his eyes were wide. He looked alert as could be considering.

  Even lying there, with all the scars and bruises he had from his sister he was still very good looking. He looked like a prince or an angel or something laying there with his arms wrapped around me. He looked so peaceful and desirable. I smiled at him because I knew he was mine and no one else’s; and that made me very happy. The feeling what I felt now was perfect, whole, and complete. I no longer wanted anything anymore. I got up and got a shower. When I came out he was dressed already. We headed out into the living room. Caleb and Carmina were already up and in the kitchen. They smiled as we walked outside to his Chevelle.

  “I enjoyed last night. Thank you.” I said smiling at him.

  “I enjoyed it as well. As I do all the time. Thank you.” He replied back touching my arm.

  “You’re welcome. We will have to do it again soon maybe some place quieter next time.” I said laughing as we saw Avery come outside.

  Avery walked out of the house with the same redhead that he had been doing things with a few weeks earlier when I had interrupted them. Things were getting serious with them I thought which was rare for Avery. He was what I considered to be a playboy, always having dozens of girls any day of the week he wanted. He could even have a different girl every hour truth be told. That was him; he refused to settle completely down with one girl, he liked to be free of commitment. He wanted to do whatever he wanted so I knew this would be just another fling for him. There was no way he was serious about her. He hadn’t been serious with anyone in such a long time. I watched him walk to her car. He kissed her a little too much just to say goodbye there was more behind it. I watched her drive off as Avery started heading back towards us. Avery looked over at me shaking his head he mind-spoke to me: Like what you see?

  Archer broke my thought as he was shaking his head laughing a bit as Avery walked inside the house.“Your brother really doesn’t like me.”

  “That’s just Avery. Like I said we’ll find a quieter place next time, like the condo or somewhere.” I smiled again at him.

  “Yeah we will.” Archer said pulling me in closer to him. He wrapped me in a hug as he kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you later beautiful.” He finished by kissing my lips then getting into his car.

  “Later deal.” I said as he nodded. I waved at him as my heart skipped a beat as he drove off.

  Once he was gone I walked back inside. Caleb and Carmina were still standing in the kitchen. Caleb was looking at whatever she was cooking shaking his head. I just nodded thinking the exact same thing he was as I grabbed a juice out of fridge. There was no way I was eating that mess in the pan.

  “You’re meeting Orion today, then afterwards Avery will meet up with you, to train on fighting. “ Caleb said to me.

  “Ok.” I smiled and left the kitchen.

  Avery was sitting on the couch, when I walked by he shook his head. So I thought of something and a bucket of water appeared out of nowhere and spilled all over his head. I heard him jump up so I took off running. I knew I would regret doing that later on. I ran as fast as I could then I jumped. Then something happened it was like I swooped to where I was supposed to meet Orion except this time I was just twirling like normal. That was extremely strange. I figured I would mention that to him when he arrived.

  So I walked over to the log where I saw the couple in the reel. I closed my eyes and I thought about the couple. I ran my hand over the log slowly and carefully. Nothing happened. So I tried it again still nothing. I gave up on that but then I remembered in the premonition last time there was a rock that I had noticed. I looked around for it; it was slightly chipped and big. I found it shortly without any issue. I bent down and closed my eyes with my hand resting on it. I didn’t concentrate and my eyes went zooming it felt like. I watched carefully and there was the girl and the guy. They were standing together. I didn’t really see her, but I saw her hands go up and she stepped backwards and fell over the rock. Then it was gone. I shook my head that was weird as well.

  I tried to put my hand back on it with my eyes closed, it worked again. This time I zeroed in on her shoes. They were black and pink Nike gym shoes, ones like I had on right now. Before I could see anything else I felt someone tap my shoulder. I jumped and when I did it scared me so I turned around, it was Orion. He went from standing up to lying flat on his back. I looked at him and blinked in disbelief that I did that. He stood up dusting the dirt off his jeans. He looked the same except today he was in jeans and no shirt. His massive stature was no use for what just happened.

  “Well good morning Miss Aralynn, I am truly sorry for startling you.” He said walking over to me.

  “Good morning Orion, I am ok. Are you alright?” I asked him.

  “Yes, Miss Aralynn I am fine. I have had it done a few times but not very often. It is just as startling to me as it is to you each time.” He smiled.

  “What was it that I did?” I asked him with a puzzled look.

  “Well you have the power to move things with your mind so to speak yes?” He asked as I nodded. “Well if you are extremely startled sometimes a jolt will come from you jolting or moving whoever or whatever startled you away from you. Most of the times it knocks the person or whatever over just like you did. It’s a protection qua
lity of a very special ability- that is the ability of defense. You are indeed coming into your abilities quicker and faster than I have seen but no worries.” He smiled.

  “Oh, I am still sorry.” I mumbled.

  “It’s in the job description like I said no worries. I saw you were practicing.” He smiled pointing to the rock.

  “Yeah I was.” I smiled back.

  “That is good, Aralynn. The more you practice the better you will be able to get a handle on your abilities even the new ones. Did you see anything when you touched the rock?” Orion asked curiously.

  “Yeah, I saw the girl throw her hands up and then she fell back over the rock. She had on shoes like I own.” I said looking at him as he put his hand on his chin.

  “Hmm, there is nothing else? Well then I say that you try to get a premonition off your shoes as soon as you can to see if the girl is you or someone else! We can try that in a bit unless you want to do that now.” He said gesturing toward where my house was.

  “In a bit is fine. What’s on the agenda for today?” I asked him again.

  “You have an ability to freeze things, and throw fireballs I understand you can do that too?” He asked and I nodded.

  “From what I have seen and heard you are good at both, however your freeze does not last very long. We need to figure out how to time that, so we know how long it will last. That way it will benefit you in the future. So that is what today is all about is that alright?” He asked again.

  “That’s fine.” I said as Orion smiled.

  “Good. Now I’ll start throwing things and you freeze them okay?” He stated. I nodded once more at him.

  He took his hands and flicked them sending a ball of water to me. I froze it. He did another one. I blinked and froze that one again. They were both frozen for about two minutes, and then they collapsed exploding all over the ground. He smiled at me as he threw a few more things with his hands a ball, a stick, and a rock. I froze them all midair for about five minutes then they all fell to the ground. He did it a few more times watching me, and the way I did it. Each time the objects would stay frozen longer before they dropped to the ground.

  “So anything not living can stay frozen as long as you want it, but what about the living? How long does that last?” Orion asked me.

  “About five minutes.” I shrugged.

  “Ok, when you freeze the living, whatever it may be: human, animal, immortal or whatever make sure you concentrate fully on freezing it. The better you concentrate on it the longer they stay frozen. If you are angry or upset it may interfere with the length it stays frozen. Typically it will make the freeze shorter, however with someone with as many abilities as you have, it would probably enhance the length of time. That I am not sure, we will have to get Avery to assist you with that. I am sure he can make you angry.” Orion said.

  “Yeah he can typically. But do you want me to freeze the living just yet?” I asked. Orion just simply nodded yes to my question.

  Then without warning he threw his hands up and pointed. A deer was walking in the middle of the field beside us. I looked and he nodded. I put my hand up and the deer froze grazing on the grass. I concentrated on it. The deer stayed frozen for thirty minutes before it unfroze.

  “Good young Aralynn. I say you pretty much can use your freezing abilities pretty well. I say let’s do it a couple more times though if that is ok?” Orion asked.

  “Ok.” I said.

  This time he looked at me and smiled and pointed. Each thing he pointed I froze and it would stay frozen for some time until I unfroze them or he did. We practiced freezing things for about another hour. Then he smiled and turned around as if someone was coming. Then I saw why he did. Caleb, Carmina and Avery came up the path.

  “Good afternoon everyone, how are you all today?” Orion asked kissing Carmina’s hand, and shaking Caleb’s.

  “We are doing good, thank you Orion how is training going today?” Caleb asked him.

  “It’s going quite well actually. Aralynn is coming into her own really well. Even with the new abilities she seems to be developing each day. Her abilities are those that are typically hard to learn how to control. Typically it takes centuries for most to master these certain abilities. She however is doing better than most, even with each new one that she receives. She is able to harness them and get them under control extremely quick. This is a very hard thing for anyone to do even those who had several years’ experience with new abilities. Very rarely will you ever see such a young talented individual have the abilities that she possesses, and even rarer is the fact that she is one who handles them with grace. She picks everything up with such easiness, and certainty. I do not think she needs that much time in training. She is already one of the strongest and powerful ones I have ever seen. Trust me when I say that, because I have been around a long time and trained a lot of us.” Orion smiled at Carmina and Caleb.

  “Yes we know that our Aralynn is very special. We do indeed know she is a very talented person. That’s why we love her so much.” Carmina replied back in a motherly tone.

  “I see why the Kintana chose you all to be her family and get her into her own. It is no wonder the closeness of you were chosen, and it is no wonder that they have such great things in store for her.” Orion finished off saying.

  I had been rather quiet for most of their conversation. But now since they were talking more about me and my future, rather than just my training I decided that enough talk about me as if I wasn’t there. I needed to be in on it too so I walked up to them.

  “What do you mean the things the Kintana have in store for me?” I asked them all.

  “You will see in due time young Aralynn, however I am afraid I cannot tell you right now.” Orion smiled at me.

  I rolled my eyes a bit. Great I thought another person, another thing that cannot tell me something. How many people were keeping things from me that I needed to know about? Why couldn’t they just tell me what was going on, I thought to myself.

  “Anyways back to the topic on hand. As we were training today I was able to see that Aralynn is pretty good at her freezing ability. She has no problem with freezing inanimate objects so we started working on freezing living creatures. Aralynn did magnificent with this. So well in fact that I wanted her to try to freeze living person except we couldn’t because there was no one to ask. So since you are all here I was wondering if I had any takers to assist us?” Orion smiled.

  “Yes of course my boys will be glad too.” Carmina smiled and Caleb nodded in agreement.

  Avery who had been rather quiet mumbled under his breath and turned to walk away. He didn’t get too far because something stopped him dead in his tracks, and made him turn around and walk back toward us. Then I realized that Carmina was doing her mind thing where she could paralyze one’s mind and body to make them do anything she wanted. Once Avery got close he stopped, and she released him.

  “DAMMIT CAR, I’m not helping her. Not right now, not after the stunts she pulled earlier.” Avery growled.

  “Yes you will, and I don’t care what she did. We all need to be the best at our abilities. You will help your sister period.” She yelled louder and birds flew out of the tree.

  “Fine.” Avery snorted.

  “Good Aralynn, go to the other end of the field, Avery you at the opposite end of Aralynn. I want you to charge at her. Aralynn, I want you to freeze him mid sprint. When he is close to you, got it?” Orion smiled.

  I nodded, and Orion pointed to Avery. Avery took off charging at me. About fifteen feet from me I let my hands up and released them from the fists Avery froze mid run. It was quite funny looking. Orion clapped, and I let Avery stay frozen. He stood there for about fifteen minutes. Then when he unfroze he was still running. He skidded to a halt when he almost dove off the cliff. Then he came running back.

  “Good, now this time I want you to do the same time, this time only unfreeze his head.” Orion smiled as we took our places again.

  Avery came ch
arging at me, and again when he was only halfway to me I released my hands. He froze again mid sprint. Orion nodded, and I took my hand and twisted it opened pointing it at Avery’s head. Avery’s head became unfrozen. He stood there looking around like crazy looking up and down at this body in disbelief.

  “Good, good. Thank you Avery now Caleb I want you to shimmer to be invisible. Aralynn, you stop him from doing so. I don’t want him to become invisible. Do you have it?” Orion said and again I nodded.

  He pointed at Caleb, and Caleb started to shimmer. Again I held up my hands and released them, Caleb froze mid shimmer. Half his body was here and half wasn’t. Orion let me keep them like that. After about ten minutes Caleb unfroze, and Avery unfroze after a total of twenty minutes. When they did Caleb rejoined Carmina and Avery stretched some still grunting and cursing under his breath.

  “Good Aralynn, tonight try to see if you can’t figure out the gym shoe premonition. I will inform everyone in the Kintana about that. I want you to work on that tonight please. Caleb and Carmina her premonition ability is coming along better; in fact, she saw a pair of shoes the girl was wearing when I scared her today by accident. Please keep an eye on her, and if she needs anything you know how to get a hold of me. Aralynn I will train with you in two days. Then you should be doing well, and won’t need much more training. Again Carmina, and Caleb it’s always nice seeing you, and you too Avery.” Orion said shaking Caleb’s hand and nodding at Avery.

  “Yes it was, and we will take care of her. See you soon as well Orion.” Carmina said to him.

  I waved, as he dove off the cliff. I enjoyed training with Orion; he was very knowledgeable and calm. Nothing really excited him; he was teaching me valuable things that I would need to help defeat the bears, and whoever was behind creating them. I hoped I was able to be strong enough to defeat them and figure out who the couple was all at the same time before it was too late. But for now I decided to figure out what my family had in store for me.