by C. C. Lynch
I smiled thinking about the talented child and how incredible his gift was to witness. Vlaine wrapped his hand around my wrist gently. I stopped walking and looked at him wondering what he was doing.
“I wanted to know what you were thinking,” he answered my thought.
“You can tell without touching me.” I lifted my shoulders confused. I was the one that needed skin contact, not him.
“I couldn’t right then. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that the way the boy communicated was beautiful.” That was bizarre, what had I done differently to block his way into my thoughts? “Are you going to the tank?”
He laughed and shook his head, “I’m lucky if I become a professor. My reputation is not deemed worthy at the tank.”
I stopped walking and turned to Vlaine. Now that I had his full attention I was going to ask him the thing weighing heaviest on my mind. “Vlaine,” my voice was hardly a whisper, “why does Professor Horicon want to kill me? Is it because I’m a replicator?”
I hated that Vlaine and Draxe knew about my vision but nothing had been done about it and it was never really mentioned. Their father had undoubtedly been informed, yet Professor Horicon was still teaching at Glaston. I deserved to know more than I was being told and furthermore I deserved to feel safe.
Vlaine’s face was solemn and he took both my hands in his. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. My dad and I have been keeping track of his thoughts and plans.”
He pulled me into a tight hug and my body went rigid before melting into his embrace. It felt so nice being wrapped in his arms.
“If he touches you, I swear I will make his mind a prison,” he spoke into my hair.
I shivered. Vlaine could actually do that with his mental manipulation gift and he could make it the most harrowing experience imaginable. I should have been frightened by him, but his protectiveness was empowering.
“I trust you,” I squeezed him appreciatively. “Thank you for keeping me safe, Vlaine.”
He rubbed my back soothingly and the more he embraced me the more I wanted to stay in his arms. I pulled away quickly trying to shake the pleasant tingly feeling that was coursing through my body.
We walked the rest of the trails in silence. Just before we got to the clearing of the campus he bumped his shoulder into mine. “I’ve got a surprise for you. I’m going to take care of something then I will be at your dorm in twenty minutes to get you. Wear something that says ‘I’m a college student now.’ See you in twenty, Abbs.” He winked and jogged off.
When I got back to my dorm to change Erik was standing outside the door. He looked so trustworthy leaning against the door with his male model hair and pout.
“Yes?” I asked hesitantly.
“I’m sorry for manipulating you.” He was pouting and his eyes were soft and genuine. “I’m so used to using it that it is just habit now.” He followed me into my dorm as he spoke. “I know that’s not an excuse, but I wanted to let you know I really am sorry for pushing you away like that.”
I squinted at him, annoyed. “So what is that whole face touching thing?”
“It has a calming effect on people. It is how I get things to go my way. It can either be friendly or have a trace of pheromones.”
I felt disgusted. Clearing my throat, “you use it to ‘get your way.’ That’s pretty sickening.”
“The pheromones are a last resort. I didn’t use those on you.” He stood in front of me, blocking my way to the closet.
I put my hands on my hips and contemplated shoving him out of the way. “Look, you were the first actual friend I made here. I don’t really want to lose my first Glaston friend. Let’s make a deal, you don’t do that touchy manipulation crap and I will give you a second chance. You cannot possibly say no to being friends with a healer.” I arched my brow, stuck my foot out, and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Yes,” he clapped his hands together, “let’s watch a movie tonight. Anything you want. I’ll bring the popcorn.”
“Sounds good,” I nodded and pushed by him and grabbed a mature looking outfit. Erik was standing there still. “I need to get changed,” I nodded towards the door waiting for him to leave.
“Go ahead,” he leaned against my bed.
“Erik,” I gritted to which he put his hands up and apologized and left the dorm.
Being friends with Erik again was a huge relief. He had told me the truth when I asked and promised not to manipulate me again. I did not fully trust him, but I wanted a friend so badly I would put my common sense aside.
I was ready and Vlaine knocked on my door after twenty minutes as promised. He led me down to the stone dust path that led to a sleek black motorcycle in the driveway. Handing me a helmet he nodded for me to put it on.
“You would have a motorcycle,” I shook my head nonchalantly, trying to hide the excited butterflies flittering about my stomach. Riding on the back of a motorcycle with a hot guy was about to get checked off my bucket list.
“Hold on to my waist tightly and use your telepathy if you need to talk.”
I scooted close to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, probably too tightly. I had never been on a motorcycle before and the exhilaration hardly outweighed the apprehension. After driving southeast for forty-five minutes he led me towards a booth at the far end of a diner off the highway.
Someone was already in the booth he was heading for, curls were bouncing around with each movement. I knew those curls. My heart jumped and I squealed and ran to the booth. Steph looked up at me with a sly grin and I toppled her over with a tight hug.
Steph hugged me back laughing, “I was wondering when I was going to hear from you. I figured by now you had made all sorts of college friends and forgot about me.”
“Ugh,” I sat down across from her, “nearly everyone at Glaston is horrid and the classes are ridiculously time consuming. So what have I missed from back at home? Have you gotten any of my letters?”
“Same old, same old,” she pulled out a compact mirror and checked her reflection. “Our Nicholas went on a date with Molly. I haven’t gotten any letters yet, but according to what I heard from your mom you basically got dropped off in the middle of a forest and your carrier pigeons may have gotten lost.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” I rolled my eyes. “What about you? Do you have any new boyfriends to speak of?”
Vlaine slid into the booth next to me and nodded a polite hello. She leaned closer to the table and sucked her cheeks into an impish smile. “No, no boyfriend still.” She was doing the gorgeous Steph smile that could make anyone swoon and directing it at Vlaine. She pulled a few curls forward and looked at me, “what about you?”
“Nope, there is really no time for relationships at Glaston.” I gave her a begging look hoping that she would figure out that I wanted her to stop trying to pull Vlaine in with her megawatt smile.
Please, not Vlaine, stop giving him that look. Don’t complicate my life more than it already is, I thought to her. She would never hear my thoughts, but I hoped that perhaps she would simply catch on from knowing me for so long. I wanted to keep the bizarre friendship that I had with Vlaine without any girl drama getting in the way. All I could see from any relationship between the two was her contacting me to find out what he was doing, where he was, and to put me in the middle of whatever fights they had.
I was intentionally thinking loudly, but it was meant for Steph, but I hadn’t considered Vlaine would catch on. I’ve got you, Vlaine’s voice was crisp in my mind.
“Unless,” he put his arm around me, “he happens to be your professor’s assistant.” He winked at me and kissed my temple quickly but gently.
I stifled a laugh and nudged him, “you being my professor was supposed to be a secret.” Oh my God Vlaine, nice kiss on the temple, that was like an aunt kissing her niece she hasn’t seen in a month. Steph’s eyes were darting between Vlaine and me.
Vlaine grinned, “I have to run an e
rrand. I’ll give you girls some time to catch up. See you soon Abbs.” He kissed my nose and I cachinnated.
He had certainly halted Steph’s advances, but was so awkwardly funny with his attempt at faking a relationship. I watched him walk out of the diner and back to his motorcycle before returning my gaze to Steph.
“You two are cute together,” she gave me a lopsided grin.
“I needed to see you,” I pouted, “I have no girls around to hang out with. My roommate is so taciturn. I’m just having a hard time adjusting I suppose.”
“Maybe she is jealous of you. Don’t think I didn’t catch on to you changing the subject.” She squinted judgingly at me.
After dodging the subject again she decided to catch me up on the latest gossip at my old high school. I filled her in on the people at Glaston without actually giving her any details. An hour and a half later Vlaine came back in to hurry the conversation up on account of the impending storm.
I hugged Steph tightly wishing I could take her back to Glaston with me. She gave Vlaine another longing glance before blowing me a kiss and getting into her car. I shook my head and smiled. Being resisted by Vlaine was one of the very few times I had witnessed her not getting what she wanted. It would be a short-lived disappointment, I was sure by the time she got home there would be a new interest that would swoon for her.
17
“Would you say we are good friends?” Erik looked at me thoughtfully.
I thought about the past several weeks that had gone by. Erik and I would spend most of our nights watching television or studying together. I held him at a distance because of the trust I had lost knowing he had been trying to manipulate me and our friendship for some unknown reason. My lack of trust made me relieved on the random nights that Liz would join us. Though she was nearly silent the entire time, she gave me a bit of comfort.
“Yes,” I peeked above my notebook at him. He was not a telepath and would not know what I was thinking, “you and Vlaine are my best friends here.”
“I want to talk to you about something.” He turned on the couch to face me completely.
I turned to him and put my notebook down noting the seriousness in his voice. “What is it?”
He sighed, inched closer to me, and whispered, “I am going to try and transfer back to Valdor.” Rubbing his palms on his face he added, “Glaston is a little too uptight for me.”
“Oh,” my breathing hitched, “really?” Erik was part of my daily routine and he was my closest friend. In a strange way it felt like he was breaking up with me. I wanted him close to me, not at another school.
“What are you doing this weekend for Thanksgiving break?” He quickly broke the silence.
I could feel he was about to offer an alternative to the stressful and awkward dinner I had planned with my mother so I lied in hope of something better coming along. “I am not sure yet, why?”
His hand went towards my face and I slapped it away quickly. “Sorry, force of habit,” he looked down and away. “Come to Valdor with me. You would love it there and, hey, you might even want to transfer too. The headmaster is so easygoing, he is basically a tree hugging hippie that loves everyone. There is no silence between people and everyone is friends with one another. Sure there are cliques, but it’s a small old school so it is bound to happen.”
He sold the idea well and it could not hurt just to go for the weekend and see a sister school of Glaston. “Okay, I’ll go for a road trip with you.”
“Good,” he puffed his chest triumphantly, “you are going to love it.”
Though my weak psychic barrier was up, the moment I walked into the gymnasium Vlaine knew that I would be at Valdor that weekend.
“When are you getting back?” he growled while pacing back and forth.
I felt tiny under his gaze of scrutiny. “We’re leaving Wednesday night and returning early Sunday morning.”
“You’re going to be in a car with him for eight hours, sixteen hours altogether.” He was still pacing. “What about seeing your family for Thanksgiving? What about the animals?”
“Why are you acting so paranoid? Erik is your friend. The animals are going to have to go on without me just like all other animals had to for the past however long.”
Vlaine and I had been working on my psychic wall during the week and on weekends he would take me to animal hospitals as a “veterinary student” where I would work on healing the animals. Oftentimes he would alter the perceptions of the people there so it did not look like I was performing miracles. With each visit I would walk away with stronger healing abilities and the accomplishment of saving the lives of animals.
“It’s not Erik,” he stopped pacing and walked close to me, “it’s Valdor. I just do not want you going to Valdor. I have been there many times and the looks are just as deceiving as a pheromone pumping emotion manipulator.”
“Wow, no, it sounds like you and Erik are best friends. I heard no hints of repugnance there.” I crossed my arms, “I appreciate that you are worried I will fall in love with Valdor and put in for a school transfer and Glaston could lose its healer and replicator, but if you are so goddamn worried why don’t you ask Erik if you can go so you can make sure Valdor doesn’t suck me in with its charms.” I pursed my lips. “Actually, please don’t ask Erik. I don’t really want you to go.”
He looked at me like I had slapped him. I was excited about getting away and seeing another school full of students with gifts and abilities like Glaston.
His face quickly turned to a stony expression. “Let us get to working on your replication.”
I shrugged and sat down. It was the first time we were focusing on my replication skill, something I did not think I could actually do. It was going to be a long four or five hours. I lay back on the gym floor and folded my hands under my head.
“I want you to think for a moment before answering these questions.” He pulled a gym mat over to us and sat on it. “What do you think of Liz’s ability to turn invisible? What about Rayna’s ability to adapt to extreme temperatures? What about my ability to create an energy wave?”
I smiled. I did not need to think about it, but I allowed the ideas of the student’s abilities to swirl in my head. “They’re beautiful, they are all beautiful. I think it is incredible and there are so many ways they can be used for making the world better.”
“Which one do you find the most ‘beautiful’?”
That was a difficult one to answer. I thought of how incredible it was that Liz could be invisible, the amazing places I would travel to if I had Rayna’s tolerance to temperatures, and the possibilities of a powerful wave that could emanate from my very hands. I thought back to the remarkable way the child communicated through the guitar; how he turned foreign words into music notes he understood and then would answer back with more plucks of the strings.
“What was that?” Vlaine sat up excitedly. “I couldn’t read you.”
“I was thinking about that guitar boy again.” I looked over at Vlaine and smiled.
“Keep thinking about him. Replay that night in your mind.” He rested his hand on my shoulder and I allowed myself to reminisce. “Nothing! I could see and hear nothing.” He paced and then excitedly took out his phone, “hold on a sec.”
He rambled something into the phone and a few minutes later Draxe walked into the room holding a beautiful Martin acoustic guitar. I sat up and tried to figure out what was happening. Draxe handed me the instrument and sat down on the mat next to Vlaine.
“Hold the guitar, close your eyes, think about the boy, and listen to my words when I begin to talk.”
I took the guitar hesitantly and arched my brow. I thought his idea was pointless, but he had gone from being angry to exuberant in a matter of minutes. The last thing I wanted to do was put him back in a foul mood.
I sat up, balanced the instrument on my lap, and closed my eyes. Sucking in a deep breath, I blanked my mind. Blowing the air out of my lungs, I thought about the young boy. I sear
ched every detail of my memory and studied everything about him. I was deep in the memory when I heard Vlaine ask me once again what I thought about the boy’s gift. I smiled and began to answer, “Incredible.” Instead of hearing words leave my mouth I felt my fingers move and heard the guitar.
My eyes shot open and I looked at Vlaine. I put the guitar down and I asked Vlaine to repeat his questions. His words were German, I could not understand them. One more try. I picked up the guitar and closed my eyes, mind wandering to the boy. This time Vlaine asked what I thought about the fact that I could heal animals. I answered it was my favorite gift, once again I felt my fingers on the guitar.
“Yes!” Vlaine jumped up excitedly, “you did it!”
I looked up to see Draxe recording the entire event and Vlaine was doing a touchdown dance. I was confused. The only thing that seemed different to me was when I felt my fingers on the guitar when I tried to answer.
Draxe offered the recording to me and I watched. The first time Vlaine spoke clear German my fingers plucked away translating the words. My answer was silent, just notes played on the guitar. The second question was spoken in Russian. My fingers plucked when I heard the question and when I answered. I had truly replicated the gift of the boy I was thinking about. My jaw dropped in disbelief of the video I was watching. I had barely recognized what I had done, but seeing the video of it happening was breathtaking.
“I did that?” I gasped.
A look of pride was spread across Draxe’s face and he nodded to my question.
I still had no idea how I managed to do that. “I want to try again, with something else this time.”
Vlaine finally stopped jumping around and looked over at me thoughtfully. Draxe tucked his phone into his pocket, “Abrielle, you did that just by thinking about someone else’s gift?”
“I was remembering how amazed I was by the boy’s ability. I thought it was incredible and I focused mostly on that.”
“You focus on your amazement of someone else’s gift and you can emulate it?” Draxe was searching his mind for something.