by Dexx Peay
“Fine, read some more. What happens next in the fantasy world?” He picked the book up and handed it back to me. I took the book and opened to the page where I left off and stared. I felt myself about to go crazy from the inside out.
I put the book down.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t read it anymore.” I closed the book.
“I think I'm just going to call it a night, Dylan.”
“Do you mind if I borrow this book and just skim through it some more?”
“I mind.”
He showed me to the door.
The following weekend was spent with Imani. She told me more of the powers and a brief history lesson of the journals. She wasn’t too familiar about them but knew that each of the eleven families started keeping the books. So somewhere in this world there are eleven sets, and Marcus has one of them. Her powers manifested at the age of seven and by the age of eight she could fly. Her mother abandoned her and her father once she realized what they were. They have been on the run ever since, defending themselves against anybody who would attack them.
I couldn’t believe how many people out there were like us. It did make me wonder a little bit about which one of my parents has been hiding a secret. I made the decision that I wasn’t going to ask them about any of this. I'm sure they kept it this way in order to protect the family and I wasn’t going to be the one to make them a target.
I met with Hudson and Hachi after hanging with Imani. They both possess the power of water, which is one I haven’t seen yet. So far I’ve only met people like me who could generate ice, Marcus and Imani who could shoot fire from their hands, and that strange guy with the lightning.
Hudson and Hachi were sophomores from Jersey. They shared something interesting to me about their powers which made me want to grab a blood sample and take it to the lab.
They’ve been practicing their powers with their parents ever since they can remember; however, their powers only work when they are in close proximity. Their theory is that our powers are engraved in our DNA and that their DNA, particularly the strand that activates our powers, is only activated when they are close by otherwise that strand shuts off.
I brought up the journals and asked if they had theirs. They said they heard stories of them and the knowledge they contain but that they haven’t seen theirs.
Once we all returned to school from break, Hachi approached me with an idea: that me, Marcus, and Imani link together with her and her brother to train together for protection. Marcus was the first one to agree, since he’s the one always getting attacked by random strangers. After careful consideration and some time to sleep on it, I agreed.
When I talked to Imani about it, she went into freak out mode.
Maybe I do know how to pick ‘em…
“Dylan, I don’t think this is a good idea. My powers have brought me nothing good. They’re a curse,” she said as I followed her inside her room.
“Seriously, Imani, don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little? It’s not like you’re alone. This is for our protection.”
She slammed her books on the desk. “Did you listen to anything I said?”
I flinched. “Yes but —”
“Good. Then you know my answer is no.”
“Imani, our powers aren’t gonna go away and neither are the bad guys. We can’t keep running from people.”
“Speak for yourself. You’re the reason why Hachi and Hudson know about me now. I haven’t used my powers or even had to speak of them until I met you. Sounds like I found the answer to my problem. I think we should see less of each other. Things need to die down before they amp up.”
“Seriously?”
She walked to the door and opened it. “Seriously. I’ll see you around campus.”
I was disappointed but maybe it was for the best. I could use less of psycho women in my life anyway.
Soon after the four of us formed an alliance. Marcus and I were both ready to take our powers to the next level.
Chapter 18
Never
I was pretty banged up, but Dylan was giving Hachi a run for her money. She couldn’t have been going full-force. Hudson rushed me while I was down catching my breath; I sprung into the air once I caught a glimpse. He had two water trails flying behind him lashing at me as we both flew into the clear sky. Hachi came to my rescue and attacked her brother from behind, buying me time to go in for the attack. He was strong, but so was she.
I knew Dylan felt left out at this point of the battle since he couldn’t fly. The teams were now unevenly matched. It was Hachi and me versus Hudson in an all-out air battle. She gripped her brother from behind choking his throat. Her slim arms barely fit around his husky chest. I was in front preparing a giant fireball. The fire between my hands grew stronger and stronger. I unleashed it at Hudson.
It seemed like it didn’t even faze Hachi that I was throwing balls of fire at her brother or that a tear shed with each blow. His eyes transitioned from dark blue to dark brown with every impact. Once I landed my last attack, we both decided the battle was over and we won. She let go of her bruised brother; his body descended, landing on his feet then fell to his knees.
“Nice fighting there.” Hachi flew over and gave me a high-five.
“It was sort of an unfair fight,” I said.
“Do you honestly think they’re going to be fair out there when they want you dead?” she snapped.
“I guess not.”
We landed to talk about the scenario.
“Hudson,” Hachi called out as she landed. “Hudson? Where’d you go? Where are they?”
“Dylan. Hudson. Let’s go, you guys. I want some sleep.” I added in. It was late and I was tired of being in the middle of nowhere with nothing in sight but trees and a pond. We scanned the field.
We found nothing.
“OK, I'm getting scared. Where’s my brother?” she said.
“They couldn’t have gotten too far that fast. Maybe they’re just trying to scare us. How far can you be away from your brother before your powers deactivate?”
“Once we go past about a mile they stop working,” she panicked.
“OK, no problem, try and use them,” I suggested.
She attempted to maneuver some water into her palm but nothing happened. “O-K… so now is the time to panic.”
I lifted myself up into the air to perform an air search and she joined me.
“Thought your powers don’t work unless your brother is around?”
“My water manipulation won’t work but our ability to fly for some reason was never affected.”
“Ehh… whatever. How about I do an air search and you do a ground?”
“Fine.”
I took off into the sky and counted to sixty. Once I got to a minute I sprinted back down head first only to be greeted by Dylan, standing below me shooting a beam of ice shards right into my face. I crashed, tumbling into the dirt. I got up. Dylan and Hudson had Hachi surrounded.
The blistering sting in my face told me Dylan was getting stronger.
They circled her, teasing about how we fell for their plan. She did a one-sweep motion with her arms that looked like Tai Chi, then two twirling circles of water navigated to each arm.
Dylan inhaled.
Deep.
He let it out.
Seconds later I heard glass shatter as ice hit the ground.
They both didn’t hold back as they threw attack after attack at her, most of which she gracefully eluded.
I tried to get up and help but when I did, Hudson created some kind of chains with the water holding me down in place. Hachi was exhausted and wasn’t going to be able to fight off Dylan’s attacks much longer. Then rain begun to pour.
The rain was a heavy-steady flow to the point it disabled my vision. The rain quickly distracted Dylan. He didn’t have the chance to see that Hachi redirected the raindrops towards him.
It was over.
We won.
“You two are really getting good at this thing, I see.” Hudson helped Dylan to his feet.
“Yeah, now all we need is to get Dylan into the air and we’ll be even better,” Hachi added.
“I don’t know why I can’t fly,” Dylan said, throwing a typical Katie tantrum.
“Hey, it takes time. Our older brother didn’t fly for two months after he started using his powers,” Hachi said.
“Marcus, did it in like a month, and he wasn’t even trying,” Dylan cried.
“Can’t help it. I am a natural.” I gloated. I tossed a fireball into the air. It exploded into a cloud of smoke when it landed in my palm.
“Good job tonight, guys. Time for rest and class in the morning,” Hudson said.
Once we got to neutral ground, Dylan and I headed back to the dorms together, while Hachi and Hudson headed in the opposite direction.
“You know, we really ought to stop doing stuff like this on school nights,” I said. “I don’t know how much more I can handle all this, Dylan.”
“What you mean?”
“My body. I have been beaten and mangled on more than one occasion. I’ve crashed numerous of times trying to learn how to fly and now training. My body hurts in places I didn’t even know existed. I have a permanent scar on my arm from my first fight, frostbite from my second, my third left blisters and scratches everywhere. And should I count your girlfriend as another? Add all this in with school and studying and tutoring. I’m getting a little stressed, Dylan.”
He looked to the side of my face, examining with his fingers.
“Well, your scars are healing pretty nicely. You just need to take it easy and stop trying to do too much. If you ever want to quit, I will too. I support whatever decision you make.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. If we were normal, there’s no way our bodies would be able to withstand all the abuse we’ve been putting on it.”
We walked into my room. Charlie was nowhere to be found.
“What does Charlie think when you come into the room with scorched clothes?”
“And that’s another thing”—my voice broke as I turned around—“I’m running out of sweat pants and socks.”
Days later I met up with the gang for a game night organized by Gunner. It had been a while since we gathered. Delilah started talking to me again. I think it was once she got her mid-term grades back that she realized she couldn’t live without me.
Go figure.
With the weather shift, we had to limit our outdoor activities. It didn’t faze Dylan and I.
Stacey and Charlie seemed to have hit it off which gave me more alone time in the room. Chris studied so much I think all he saw was numbers and words through the lenses of his glasses.
Maybe it’s best we kept it that way.
Dylan was still upset that Imani left him high and dry. It sucks that she feels she has to keep to herself as a means of protection. I assured him he would bounce back but next time had to pre-screen his potential girlfriends to make sure they have no prior grudges against me.
Once the night started picking up, Delilah was back to giving me the attention like before. The night was perfect, and looking around for a moment…
Life was perfect.
When I woke that following morning, I found Charlie in his bed shivering, wrapped up like a pig in a blanket. I hovered my hand above his body for a moment before heading out the door to meet with Dylan.
“Ahh, I'm starving,” he said, rushing into the café as I trailed behind.
“You’re always hungry, what's new?” I replied.
“A growing man has to eat plenty.”
“You ready for these finals creeping around the corner?”
He grabbed a bagel, a miniature pack of cream cheese, some cereal and milk off the line. “Yeah, I think so. I mean, classes really aren’t that difficult this semester.”
I got some bacon and toast with a muffin. “I'm sure you will come out with a nice GPA.”
“Not better than yours, I can promise you that.”
“Actually…” I said, taking a bite. “There’s a scholarship that I'm trying to get. If I can pull at least a 3.75 or higher, I may be eligible for a full ride next year.”
“That’s what's up, Marc-man. I have no doubt you’ll get it.”
“Thanks, bro.”
We chowed down for a bit then he broke the silence.
“Have you read any more from the journals?”
“No, not really. They’ve been in my closet the whole time.”
“Oh OK,” he said.
We gathered our scraps and dumped them. “Did you really see the stuff in English,” I asked, glancing slyly over at Dylan.
He never walked with his hands in his pockets. They were always busy swinging or helping him talk or just free hanging to the side. I took my hands out of my pocket just to see how it felt.
It was weird.
I put them back.
“I promise, I wouldn’t make this kind of stuff up,” he said.
“OK, understood.” There was something else I was itching to ask him, but I didn’t try to predict his reaction. “So are you going to ask them?” I just came out and said it.
“Ask who what?” He halted, his face turning red like he already knew what I was thinking.
“If all this is true, and if what Imani and the twins have been saying is true, your parents have been keeping a huge secret from you,” I said.
“Ughh…” he sighed and kicked against the sidewalk. “I have put some thought into it. I'm sure one of my parents has powers, I mean, that’s the only way to explain how I got mine, right?”
“Yeah.” I paused. “Right.”
The next day at school I ran into Imani on the quad between classes.
Literally.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Oh, hi, Marcus. I didn’t see you there,” she said, still walking. She looked me in the eye, and then put her head down.
“Well, if you walk with your head up, you might have noticed me,” I said.
“Look, Marcus I don’t have time. It’s getting cold out here and I have to get to class.”
“Oh let’s be real, Imani, you and I both know this puny forty-degree weather doesn’t intimidate us.”
“Seriously, Marcus, what do you want?”
“Just because you don’t want to use your powers and broke it off with Dylan doesn’t mean you can’t at least still talk to him.”
“What’s it to you? Why do you care what I do?”
“Psst… let me share a secret, I don’t care about you after you attacked me. I care about my friend and unfortunately he misses you.”
“I just want to be left alone. If you guys can’t handle that, I will see to it that you do.”
I was embarrassed walking in last to tutoring.
“Hey there, babe.” Delilah handed me a steamy hot chocolate.
I kissed her on the cheek, being sure to warm her up. During the session, I went over chain rule for the ones needing help in Calculus and the cell reproduction process for the Bio guys. The guys from my sessions were really taking a liking to me. I got an offer to go to a party, but I had to decline. All the parties I had been to in the past have not always gone well for me. I figured I’d just keep to smaller groups of people where I belonged.
“OK, guys, we will have one more session next week and that will be it before finals.”
Delilah approached me after everyone left. “So, plans for the night?”
“I don’t know, I guess I was just going to go to the room and just chill out,” I said, heart racing as I gathered my things.
She slid her fingers down my arm and whispered in my ear. “So you are coming to my room to keep me company?”
“Er-uh… I guess… I — could.” I had a real way with the ladies. Nev
er knew what to say at times like these. We left the student center and walked back to her room, hand-in-hand. The only conversation that took place was the one in my head: What if she tries to take it there? What do I do? When we got there, Stacey was nowhere in sight. I'm sure she was somewhere with Charlie.
Delilah threw her bag on the floor and kicked off her shoes. I stood at the door, trying to figure out where this was going, until she walked back to me, gripped the sides of my shirt and pushed me until I was pinned against the door.
She forced her tongue in my mouth.
Her kisses weren’t the slow gentle ones I was used to with Monica.
“Delilah,” I whispered between my lips and hers, trying to slow it down. She tugged on my shirt pulling me towards the bed. I tried to push her off, but the aggressor in her kept the grip strong. I pushed as she pulled. Our hands began a game of tug of war. I tripped on a snow boot and landed on top of her — on the bed.
“Delilah, I don’t think this is a good idea,” I whispered, trying to get her attention, but her eyes were closed, tongue concentrated on my neck.
“It’s a great idea.” She sounded like a sex-fiend.
She ignored me and continued her quest down my neck. I was afraid I’d have another Monica situation, so I tried to ignore the moment and focused my thoughts on advanced calculus equations, while naming as many spider species in my head as quickly as possible.
Just didn’t seem to work.
No matter how hard I tried to divert my attention, my body still quivered as she ran her tongue from my neck to earlobe.
My body agreed but my mind said no.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” Slipped out my mouth.
She stopped, looked at me and smiled. “Oh really?” And then jumped back to kissing my neck.
“No, not like that. I didn’t mean… ughh,” I sighed.
She sat up and so did I.
“I've never done this before is what I meant.” How humiliating. I was in college and never had sex before.
“You mean, never?”
“Never.”
She kissed me on the lips, softly this time. “I think that makes you even sexier.”
As turned on as I was, I couldn’t help but think that if I were to try it out, she’d get hurt and I didn’t want to risk it.