by Jillian Neal
“Ok, Mom; yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she sighed and shook her head. “No, Mother,” she spat.
Everyone was aware that Candy had asked Adeline if Logan had any money, but no one commented. She handed Logan’s phone back to him, though he insisted that she keep it most of the time, and certainly anytime when she wasn’t with him. He shook his head.
“Rainer has his. We probably won’t be back until after you’re asleep. Just call him, if you need me.”
“All right; well, it’s nap time, my little monsters,” Mrs. Haydenshire said sweetly as she hoisted Henry from Emily’s arms and put him on her right hip. Keaton was almost asleep on the other. “You two be careful, and don’t be out too late, please.” Rainer and Logan both nodded their agreement.
Emily got up off of the stool, at the island that she’d seated herself on while she’d been holding Henry.
“We are taking the Mustang, right?” Logan queried. Rainer scoffed as he nodded.
“Of course.”
“Sweet.” Logan pulled Adeline outside with him. They all made their way back to the barn.
Adeline gave one longing look back at the large farmhouse kitchen, with its varying soothing colors of creams and blues. Shelves that contained Mrs. Haydenshire’s cookbooks and sewing books, along with mixing bowls, and the twins’ latest finger paintings were on display. Glass canisters filled with many varied candies, homemade cookies, and snacks for anyone who might be peckish between meals, were situated neatly around the large room. Adeline and Rainer’s report cards were on the refrigerator, amongst school schedules and crayon drawings. They’d both received straight As the first semester of the year. The homemade potholders, crafted by Will and Garrett when they were in elementary school, were on the counter under a large pot of chili. Mrs. Haydenshire’s rocking chair, where all of her children had been rocked to sleep at one time or another, was near the stone fireplace, with a quilt slung over its back.
Rainer knew just how Adeline felt. It was what a home was supposed to look like. It was peaceful, calming, welcoming, and he knew that both Emily and Logan adored their parents and their home; they would never fully appreciate just what it meant to those that didn’t have a soft place to land when the world outside took its toll.
“So, will you come kiss me good night?” Emily teased as she walked Rainer to his car. He grinned at her sweetly.
“That’s my favorite part of my entire day.” Emily beamed as he brushed his finger across her cheekbone and watched her eyelashes lower delicately. She nodded and leaned up on her tiptoes to brush a kiss across his jaw.
“Please be careful.” She still looked irritated that he was leaving.
“I thought it was ok because I’m the head of Ioses,” he winked at her.
“Yeah, well,” she rolled her eyes as he chuckled. Rainer grabbed her hand as she started to walk away. He pulled her back for a long, drawn-out kiss. Logan cleared his throat several times until he finally grabbed Emily’s shoulders and physically pulled her away from Rainer.
“Thanks for that, but I’m feeling a little queasy now,” he chafed. She stuck her tongue out at her big brother, a motion that made Rainer laugh heartily as he slid into the driver’s seat. Logan hopped over the door and into the passenger side Dukes-of-Hazzard-style. They waved to the girls as Rainer backed up and headed down the long gravel driveway.
The Talk
“You mind if I put the top up?” Logan asked. Rainer’s brow furrowed as he shook his head.
“Sure, go ahead.” He wondered what Logan wanted to talk about. Rainer pulled into a gas station before getting on the interstate. Logan raised the top and Rainer began pumping the gas.
They loaded up on Dr. Pepper, Cheetos, peanuts, and various candies, none of which Mrs. Haydenshire would really want them to eat. Rainer grabbed a bag of cinnamon discs with the cinnamon syrup in the middle; they were Emily’s favorite. He usually kept them in his car for her. Logan rolled his eyes.
“She’s got you so wrapped it has to hurt, man.” Rainer smirked and waggled his eyebrows.
“She’s worth it.”
Logan pretended to gag.
They got back in the car after Rainer paid for the gas, and headed off.
“Ok, so spill it,” Rainer urged as he threw several peanuts in his mouth and flew down the interstate.
“That obvious?” Logan looked dejected.
Rainer shrugged and shook his head.
“We’ve been friends since I was two days old-- so I’m going to go with ‘maybe not to anyone else, but yeah, to me’.”
Logan shrugged his begrudged agreement and popped open one of the Dr. Peppers.
It was the cola of choice for most Gifted people. The secret ingredient was an added neutron to the carbon atoms. This meant that the drink possessed potential energy, which could occasionally be felt by the Non-Gifted, as well; but not often. Logan drew a long sip of his Dr. Pepper and seemed to consider something.
“Ok, I need to talk to you about this, but I need you to pretend that you’re dating someone besides my sister.”
Rainer furrowed his brow, but then shook his head.
“I don’t know how, but that seems like it could get me in to big trouble, so how about I won’t say her name, and you can pretend whatever you want.” He was now extremely curious to hear what Logan had to say.
Logan drew a deep breath and willed calm from the air around him.
“Ok...have you and Em ever... you know?” he hedged and stared out the window. He refused to look in Rainer’s direction. Rainer debated between telling Logan that it was none of his business and actually answering, because he was desperate to talk with his best friend about this. Rainer weighed his options.
“No,” he stated firmly, and turned on the blinker and changed lanes just to have something to do.
“Really?” Logan turned immediately to study Rainer.
“I just said ‘no’.”
Relief etched Logan’s face.
“Ok, I mean, I believe you. I just thought...you know...when she stayed with you in London.”
Rainer sighed; that’s what everyone thought. For the most part, he and Emily had just let everyone go on believing that they were sleeping together. Most of their friends had been participating in the act for some time.
“We didn’t...I mean Cal had just been killed...she’d just gotten out of the hospital.” He grimaced as he remembered her laying there, with him unable to do anything except watch Gifted Medios work over her. He shuddered and then continued.
“And don’t forget, I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life by leaving, so we talked all night; nothing more.” He felt relieved to have cleared the air on that subject, at least with Logan.
Logan nodded, but seemed to be rethinking his decision to talk.
“Is that all you wanted to know?” Rainer knew perfectly well that it wasn’t.
“Man, you don’t know what it’s like, growing up with seven older brothers, and the stories...most of which probably aren’t true!” Logan wolfed down a Reese’s cup in one bite.
“Uh, am I to take it that you and Adeline are thinking of taking things further?” Rainer didn’t point out that he knew only too well. He had also grown up with all of Logan’s brothers.
“She wants to, and I mean I want to, too. I just...” he drew another deep breath. “I made a deal with her,” Logan’s face colored rapidly.
“You made a deal with her?” Rainer was thoroughly confused.
Logan nodded sheepishly and sank lower in the seat.
“She’s been wanting to for a while but, I mean, with the way her mom is and the way she grew up and everything, I wanted her to be sure, and then there’s the whole other thing. So I told her if she’d move in with us, either with us like at Mom and Dad’s, or if we all want to get a place together or whatever,” he hemmed. “I told her if she’d move out of her mom’s apartment then we would.”
Rainer understood Logan’s discomfort and the
‘whole other thing’ only too well. Being Gifted meant that everything, including having sex, was somehow more than it was for those not Gifted with energy abilities. To be able to understand the energy in the universe around you, to tap into and summon that energy affected each and every part of their lives. Casting the energies in their bodies or using the energy of the Earth was a life-force that Non-Gifted scientists had no idea even existed. It also meant that to be with another Gifted person was to join their energy to yours. It was felt by those with Gifted abilities, just like gravity or magnetism was felt by the Non-Gifted. It was another level of sharing intimately, one that had most of the Gifted population waiting much longer to have sex than most Non-Gifted teenagers. It added an additional level of complication, and it required a deeper commitment to maintain.
It was beautiful and wonderful, so Rainer had been told in the numerous Amative Energies classes he’d been required to take at The Academy, but you needed to know the person you were sharing energy with fairly well, or it could be quite disturbing.
This, of course, didn’t matter if a Gifted person chose to be with a Non-Gifted individual. Garrett, one of Logan’s older brothers, often bragged about his escapades.
‘That’s just fun, no energy, no crap; just get in, have a little fun, and get out.’ Garrett’s stories were certainly some of the ones that Logan was referring to in his worry over his naivety.
“Will kind of tried to tell me about it, I guess,” Logan stuttered. His face was now the color of Rainer’s car.
“What did he say?” Rainer was suddenly much more interested in the conversation. Will was Logan’s oldest brother, and the only Haydenshire thus far to get married, although Patrick and his girlfriend Lucy were quite serious and he’d been ring-shopping recently.
“I don’t know. I guess he figures with us graduating and all, and you and me talking about moving in with the girls, that he’d offer me some advice.”
“Ok, well, what was the advice?” He wished Logan would get on with it. At this point, he’d take as much advice as he could get between now and Friday night. Logan’s jaw clenched tightly as Rainer exited from one interstate to another.
“He said...” Logan grimaced slightly, before forcing himself to go on. “He said to be careful not to hurt her.” Logan sounded like he’d been punched in the gut.
“Hurt her, like breaking up with her after doing that, or hurt her, like injure her?” Rainer now felt slightly nauseated.
“Hurt her like--painful ouch, you’re hurting me, hurting her?” Logan shuddered slightly.
Rainer opened another Dr. Pepper and drew a long sip. He hoped the carbonation would calm his nerves and his stomach.
“Well, I mean, I told him that I knew that, and that I had the basic mechanics down, and he laughed at me.” Logan was clearly offended by Will’s lack of finesse.
“We’re not barbaric assholes,” Rainer suddenly felt the need to defend himself and his best friend.
“Exactly,” Logan huffed as he joined in the non-existent fight they were taking sides against. Silence filled the car for a few minutes. Rainer switched on the radio, in an effort to drown the quiet.
“Ad’s thinking about telling her mom that she’s moving out after graduation,” Logan added in a quiet and terrified whisper as he stared at the mountaintops fading with the setting sun, “if her mother even shows at graduation, which I’m sure she won’t.” Rainer offered him a sorrowful glance.
“Yeah, but I mean, we’ll all be there, and your folks, and she’s coming to the party, right?” Logan nodded, opened another bag of chips, and threw a few in his mouth before answering.
“Yeah, of course she’s coming; her mom just makes me crazy. I just wish I could find her dad for her. I mean he has to be out there somewhere, right? What if he doesn’t even know what an amazing daughter he has?” Rainer knew that Logan Haydenshire had dug deep to commit to a conversation of that magnitude, so he nodded.
“Well, maybe, when we start at Iodex we’ll be able to find him. I mean, if anybody can find him, it’s Iodex, right?”
“I’m hoping,” Logan admitted.
Over the next half hour they discussed graduation and Rainer’s speech. Rainer broached the subject of taking Emily to the beach house, which instantly had Logan shaking his head, holding up his hands, and declaring that he didn’t want to think about that. Rainer rolled his eyes as he exited off of the interstate, and headed down the darkened streets of downtown Norfolk.
“You gonna keep coming here, even after Friday?” Logan quizzed as they turned into the derelict apartment complex that made Rainer’s skin crawl every time he turned past the entrance sign. At one time, Rainer supposed it had read, Goddard Downs, as that was also the name of the street he was currently driving along, but someone had removed most of the black stick on letters from the cheaply-made sign, so that it now read: ‘Go Down.’
“Maybe,” Rainer sighed. “I mean, he’s my uncle. I feel like I owe it to my dad to check up on him, even if I do despise him.” He pulled into a parking place and flung open his door, in an effort to get the visit over with quickly.
Once Logan was out of the car, Rainer glanced around the abandoned parking garage. Logan checked the area, as well, and then nodded. Rainer let his eyes close as he formed a cup with his right hand, and scooped it upward. He concentrated until his hand held a green, glowing orb of shielding energy. He opened his fingers out wide, and directed his palm towards his car.
He was an Ioses Predilect; his protective shield was the energy he could access and use with the most ease. It was already exceptionally strong, though he knew that once he began training with Iodex it would increase dramatically.
A smile spread across his face as he thought of training with Officer Daniel Vindico, Chief of Elite Iodex. He was supposed to be one of the most Gifted officers ever to hold the title of Chief, and he ran an extremely tight ship.
Rainer was thrilled when Vindico had approached him and Logan. They had been bragging about their recruitment for Iodex right out of the Academy, for the past several months. Rainer was certain that their fathers were at least part of the reason they’d been asked, but it didn't matter why they'd been given the opportunity; they were going to prove themselves.
Once the energy had been transferred to the Mustang, Rainer shook free of its force. He turned to follow Logan to the shabby, brown, hole-in-the-wall that his uncle called home.
Uncle Stan
“Do you ever think about some Non-Gifted prick actually trying to steal your car when we come here? I mean, that would scare the shit out of them, once they touched it,” Logan looked very intrigued.
Rainer laughed, “Well that is what I’m trying to prevent, but I’d prefer everyone just stay the hell away from my car.”
Logan raised his fist to knock on the door. The number 139 was hanging precariously from ancient screws, making a valiant effort to adhere the numbers to the door. It was a battle they were clearly losing. When Logan banged on the door, the 3 tumbled to the ground with a metallic tink.
Logan cursed under his breath and retrieved the number. With a quick glance around, he made the same move Rainer had just made with his hand. He was more discreet than Rainer had been with the car. The magnetic cast for the number wouldn’t require anywhere near the energy the cast on the car had needed. As he placed his cupped hand over the 3, he summoned and reapplied it to the door. The 3 glowed with a faint yellow after Logan re-magnetized it. The magnetic energy faded as a gruff-looking guy with greased black hair, bulging muscles, and a hate-filled scowl flung the door open. Rainer and Logan stepped back automatically, and shared a concerned glance.
“Move,” the guy spat in a distinctly Spanish accent. He stomped out onto the stoop and shoved past Rainer.
They took a half step into the filthy apartment as they stared after the man. Rainer glared in disgust. His uncle had food in his mustache and beard, and was wearing a wife-beater undershirt and boxers that didn’t quite cover
everything. They strained to stretch over his distended stomach.
“Come to check on me?” Stan sneered.
“Who was that?” Rainer demanded as he pointed to the man who was moving across the parking lot quickly. A slight shudder came over Stan as he narrowed his eyes. His reaction had Rainer all the more curious.
“You know, I don’t need you any more than I needed that brother of mine. I mean, just look at what all of his good-for-nothing meddling with the Realm cost him,” Stan huffed. Rainer rolled his eyes.
“Nice to see you, too, Uncle Stan; and yes we will come in. Thanks so much for inviting us.” Rainer and Logan forced their way further into the apartment.
Rainer’s Uncle Stan was unlike his father in every possible way. He’d dropped out of the Academy after only two years, and had taken to performing magic shows at Non-Gifted children’s birthday parties, for a price.
The apartment wasn’t in as bad of shape as Rainer had found it before. That meant Stan had a woman he was interested in. He always attempted to look marginally human if there was a woman involved.
“Hey, you,” Stan huffed as he moved to the kitchen, to remove a boxed meal from the microwave. It was a skill he could have performed all on his own, if he’d stayed in the Academy. Rainer huffed incredulously as he turned to his uncle.
“How old are you now?” Stan demanded. After sharing a glance with Logan, Rainer shrugged.
“Twenty.” Stan narrowed his beady eyes.
“But they just said...” he gestured his thumb back towards the parking lot of the apartment. He changed course quickly.
“Seems like you was twenty last year?” With a distinct smirk, Rainer shook his head.
“Nope, last year I was nineteen.” Logan turned his chuckle into a discreet cough. Stan took in Logan for a moment. He seemed to have just realized he was there.