Current

by Rian Harper

  “Nate, you’re dangerous.” Everett’s voice deepened with seriousness.

  I looked away, not wanting to admit it to myself.

  “The way you looked back at Jasmine’s house. The way you looked this morning. Nate, it scared me. You acted as though you didn’t even recognize us. Like you were embracing the beast. You’re not in control of your ability yet. We don’t even know what you’re fully capable of. And frankly, you could end up being more powerful than any of us.”

  I let that last part sink in. I could be more powerful than any of them. For some reason, that gave me a glimmer of joy.

  “Why did you bring me out here, Everett?”

  “Because I need to know exactly what happened when you touched Keenan yesterday.” He stepped closer to me, looming over.

  I flipped the hood of the hoodie over my head, as my ears had become colder. “I don’t know exactly.” I said, frustrated.

  “Then tell me anything you can remember.” Everett encouraged.

  “I remember getting angry when I saw him.”

  “But that was before you touched him. Do you remember what happened when you touched him?”

  “I grabbed him around his throat and lifted him off the ground.”

  “You lifted him off the ground?” Everett sounded impressed.

  “Yeah. One second I was myself and the next I felt completely different. Powerful. More so than when I touch you guys. And angry. So angry.”

  I turned away from Everett and took a cleansing breath of cold mountain air. The events from Jasmine’s house replayed in my mind, but in flashes. It was so clear when it happened, but it was like I had short-term memory loss. Trying to piece everything together was confusing me. Frustrating me. I let out a sigh and kicked the leaves under my feet.

  Everett appeared beside me and we both just stared off at the mountains in front of us. I could see the mist hugging the valleys and slopes in between the peaks, making The Smoky Mountains live up to their name. The vista was beautiful and serene.

  “I think you’re going to be our secret weapon.” Everett broke the silence between us. “But first we need to see what you’re truly capable of.”

  I glanced over at him and noticed a smirk appear on his face. He met my eyes. “You ready to have a little fun?”

  Chapter 19

  Training

  Everett and I moved deeper into the woods so as not to attract unwanted attention. He assured me that no one lived within five miles of the cabin and that we should be safe to produce all the electricity we wanted without prying eyes. After about a ten minute walk, we came to a small clearing that had a brook running through it. The stones in the crystal-clear water were dark and smooth. I reached down and picked one up, rubbing it with my fingers. Everett took his sweater off, which was a touch too small to reveal he was wearing a white t-shirt that was also too small. The bottom of the shirt barely covered his stomach, and his arms looked as though they were going to rip through the fabric any second.

  “All right. Come at me.” Everett crouched in a defensive position and motioned for me to come towards him.

  “What are you doing?” I wasn’t quite sure what he had in mind, but whatever he was doing seemed ridiculous.

  “I want you to attack me. Come on.” He motioned for me to come toward him again.

  “Have you seen you, Everett? What could I possibly do to you?” I was not about to be laid out on the ground by him again.

  Everett straightened up and walked toward me, closing in the thirty-foot gap between us. I took a step back when I felt like he had gotten too close, which made him stop in his tracks.

  He let out a sigh. “We have to figure out what you can do with that ability. Now attack.” He waived me forward again.

  “Yeah. No.” I was not attacking him. “Let’s start out a little less military-like and just see what I can do when I grab your arm.” I stepped closer to him and wrapped my hand around his wrist.

  Everett threw his head back and rolled his eyes. “We have already done this.”

  I shushed him and closed my eyes. “Just don’t move.”

  I felt Everett’s power building inside me. Within moments I could actually hear the hum of electricity emanating from both of us. I concentrated on the feeling I had as the current pulsed down my spine and spread across my skin. With every minute I could feel the power growing. I opened my eyes and looked up at Everett, who was now glowing. His eyes were no longer electric blue, but almost white.

  “Hit me with a bolt of lightning.” I instructed

  Everett held his free hand up and started concentrating a bunch of tiny arcs into one big one. He turned his palm toward me and I lifted my free hand up as well. He was hesitating.

  “Do it.” I insisted.

  He swallowed hard and sent the collection of energy from his hand into mine. Interestingly I didn’t feel anything when it connected. A large arc formed between us, twirling in the air. I closed my hand, which somehow cut off the connection and made the arc disappear. That gave me an idea.

  I released my grip on Everett and we both quickly powered down, returning to our normal selves. I took my hoodie off and threw it on the ground on top of Everett’s sweater he’d taken off earlier. Resuming my hold on Everett’s forearm, we were both back to glowing with current in no time. I could feel the energy coursing through me and wondered if I could concentrate it into one specific body part. I looked down at my hand connected to Everett and focused on making the arcs rolling up that arm all move to my free arm.

  I watched as what I was imagining came to fruition. Slowly, I moved all of the energy flowing through me into my left arm, eventually concentrating all of it within the palm of my hand. Everett was still glowing, but aside from my left hand, I looked normal again. I wanted to see how much energy I had collected by discharging it into something. Not wanting to catch the forest on fire, I raised my hand up to the sky.

  It was difficult to keep the energy concentrated in my hand. I strained and grunted under the pressure. Finally, I let it loose, expelling it into the midday sky. A deafening boom echoed through the mountain ranges. I reached up and instinctively placed my hands over my ears, as I grit my teeth in pain. Before I registered what happened, I was staring up at the sky from the flat of my back.

  After a few seconds, I sat up and looked around. Everett was lying on the ground a few feet away. I crawled over to him and noticed blood trickling from his ear. I shook him and called out his name. The ringing in my ears was still so pronounced, I could barely hear myself speaking. I leaned down closer and yelled his name again. This time he opened his eyes and sat up. I let out a sigh of relief as I looked down at my hands and noticed some blood on them as well. I reached up to my left ear with my index finger and touched a warm wet trickle of blood coming out of my own ear.

  I put my hand behind Everett’s neck and we were supercharged again within seconds. Everett let out a scream, which at first was muffled, but started to grow louder and louder. After I could hear him normally, I released him and laid down on my back.

  Everett shook his head quickly, as if trying to clear his ears from having water in them, then pressed the heel of his hands into his temples.

  “Damn it, that hurt.” Everett moved his jaw side to side, trying to pop his ears. “You ruptured our eardrums you know.” He looked at me, still trying to find his equilibrium.

  “Yeah, I know. I also healed them.”

  Everett shifted and laid down beside me. “Nate, no offense. But don’t touch me again for a long time.” He teased.

  I chuckled as I covered my face with my hands before I realized I still had blood on them. We both continued to lie there, catching our breath from what just occurred.

  “I’ve never seen a bolt of lightning look like that. It was huge.” Everett admitted.

  I heard footsteps approaching quickly from behind us. All of a sudden, Emma’s face came into view as she stood over me, her eyes filled with worry.

 
“We heard an explosion and came to check on you two. Is that blood?” Her eyebrows creased.

  “Yeah.” I sat up as Emma walked around to stand in front of me. “I created a bolt of lightning so big that when I released it, it threw us to the ground and ruptured our eardrums.”

  I looked over at Jasmine who was now standing in between me and Everett. She raised one of her eyebrows in disbelief.

  “No. It’s true.” I affirmed.

  “Oh, I believe you.” She replied. “I’m just wondering why you would do something so stupid.”

  I smiled at her. “Nice to have you back.” She smiled in return and stretched out her arm toward me to help me off the ground. Emma lent her arm as well. I latched on to each of their hands and pulled myself up. I didn’t immediately liberate them, however.

  “You can let go now, Nate.” Jasmine struggled to get her hand back, but I tightened my grip.

  “Just hang on a second.” I closed my eyes and concentrated on the power coursing through me since I was touching both Jasmine and Emma at the same time. It was different from when I had Keenan and Jasmine both in my grasp. I remembered the first time I had two abilities flowing through me, it was like they were competing with each other and I couldn’t tell them apart. This time, it was easier. I could discernably feel where each power was originating and how they intertwined with each other, but stayed separate.

  Finally, I let go. “Girls, can you do me a favor?” They looked at each other with hesitation.

  “Could both of you put your hands on my back? I need my arms free to see if I can do what I’m thinking. Everett…” I looked down to where he was still sitting on the ground. “Get behind me.”

  After helping Everett to his feet as well, Emma and Jasmine slowly came to stand on each side of me and put their hands on my back just under my shirt above the waist of my pants.

  I jumped when they made contact. “Cold.” I shifted a little, until I got used to their chilly touch.

  As I drew on each of their powers and weaved them together in my body I extended my arms in front of me with my hands facing each other. First, I connected arcs of electricity between my fingers, then combined the energies together to form a ball of static electricity. It was actually tangible. Like I was holding a light-weight basketball. I concentrated and pushed the ball away from me into the trees a few hundred yards out. When the ball of electrostatic energy connected with a tree trunk, it broke apart, and traveled through a dozen more trees until it finally dissipated.

  “Cool.” Everett said quietly. I looked back at him and smiled as he continued to stare toward the trees where I had propelled the ball of energy.

  “I want to try something else. Everett step back a few feet. Girls, don’t let go.”

  I turned around until the three of us were now facing Everett. I lifted my arms above me and brought my hands together. Mixing the two energies flowing through me, I focused on creating a different shape. This time it was a dome. As I separated my hands and slowly brought them down until my arms were extended on either side of my body, a layer of static electricity started forming. After Emma, Jasmine, and I were surrounded by the shape of energy I had just created, I asked Everett to pick up a stone from the brook and throw it directly at me.

  The first rock he chose was miniscule, so I told him to choose a larger one. He grabbed one nearly the size of a grapefruit. I swallowed hard and braced myself for impact. If my theory was correct, I would come out unscathed. If I was wrong, at least I would be able to heal myself quickly from the damage.

  “You sure about this?” Everett tossed the rock up in the air a couple of times.

  “No.” I really wasn’t sure about it at all. “Just do it and get it over with.”

  I couldn’t close my eyes because I wanted to see how the rock reacted with the energy enveloping us. I held my breath. Everett drew back and hurled the rock directly at my chest. It all happened within a split second. When the rock made contact with the layer of energy in front of us, it stopped moving forward and fell to the ground. The rock was unable to penetrate the dome I had just made.

  “Holy crap.” I heard Jasmine behind my left ear saying out loud what the rest of us were thinking.

  I reached behind me and took both the girls’ hands off my back. The dome disappeared immediately upon losing contact with them.

  Everett walked up to me, smiling. “A force field, Nate. You just made a force field.”

  I smiled back at Everett, taking in the awesomeness of what I had just done.

  “And I have to say, I’m a little jealous.” He pushed me on one of my shoulders.

  “You know what this means?” Emma finally spoke. “We are going to have a huge advantage over those shifters the next time we meet them. They don’t know what you’re capable of.”

  “The fact that you can mix our powers like that and create new things is a game changer.” Jasmine agreed.

  “Well, I think that’s enough for today. I need to go get this blood of my face.” Everett leaned over and picked up his sweater and my hoodie. I took the hoodie from him and slipped it back over my head. “How about some lunch?”

  We all agreed that sounded like a good idea and started walking back toward the cabin. Everett and Jasmine led the way, as Emma and I kept our distance behind them. We walked slowly, holding hands the whole way. As we were passing by the singed tree Everett had shown me earlier, I remembered what he said to me; that I could be more powerful than all of them.

  A smile crept onto my face as I had just demonstrated that to be true. I could do remarkable things that none of them ever dreamed of. I chuckled to myself as we stepped onto the porch of the cabin and thought: Those shifters are as good as dead.

  Chapter 20

  Local News

  I woke up in a cold sweat. My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. My breathing was labored, like I had been running for miles. I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I knew that I was awake, but the images from my dream had not quite disappeared. I could see the remnants of Cade and Declan circling me in the cabin. After a few seconds the phantoms faded completely. I swallowed hard and wiped the sweat off my forehead with the bottom of my shirt. Everett stirred on the couch next to me but didn’t wake up. I was glad I hadn’t been loud enough to rouse anyone in the house.

  After I caught my breath, I quietly made my way to the bathroom so that I could splash some water on my face. My eyes had trouble adjusting to the bright vanity lights that ran the entire length of the mirror. After I dried the water off my face with a hand towel, I cut off the light, then returned to the blanket laying on the floor that I was using as a make-shift mattress. I stared at the ceiling until my vision regulated and I could start to make out different shapes in the darkness. I tried closing my eyes and sleeping, to no avail. I was going to spend the rest of the night sleepless.

  As soon as I saw the faintest sliver of daylight, I quickly changed into the outfit I had been wearing the day before and slipped through the front door undetected. I wanted to walk by myself to clear my head and gather my thoughts. I had been surrounded by people for a few days now and, while I was incredibly fond of them, it wasn’t something that I was used to. I figured going back to the clearing where Everett and I were the day before would be a safe bet, as I knew where it was and how to return to the cabin.

  The frigid mountain air swirled in my lungs. I jogged until I got to the tree line hoping that it would warm me up slightly. The woods were still fairly dark. I had to move slowly as I weaved my way between the trees. There were a few steeper areas in the trail, where I had to really dig my feet into the ground and extend my arms out to make it up without losing my balance. I caught a glimpse of a medium-sized owl sitting on a branch about half way up a large pine tree. He swiveled his head and looked at me, unmoving, as I stopped and stared back. I continued moving further into the trees, until I reached the clearing with the brook running through it.

  I was never one to walk about in
nature. Camping was not something I grew up doing, nor did escaping to the wilderness ever appeal to me. I, however, felt tranquil as I closed my eyes and listened to the water moving over the rocks. The sky was getting brighter, turning from a light gray color to white. I could now see the sun’s rays filtering through the trees as it rose higher and higher over the mountain peaks. I spent a few more minutes soaking in the solitude and calmness of everything around me before I started back toward the cabin.

  When I came through the front door, I was surprised to see Everett up and in the kitchen making coffee. He turned when I came through the door.

  “Morning.” His greeting was half-hearted, which I attributed to him having just roused.

  I returned the greeting as a shiver ran down my spine. “It’s cold in here. I’m going to build another fire.”

  I walked back outside to see if I could locate a stack of firewood. If not, I was going to have to go foraging in the forest for some. As I walked around the right side of the cabin, I spotted Jasmine at the far end of the house. She was on the phone talking to someone, but all I heard after she realized I was coming up behind her was, “I’ll see you soon.” Jasmine ended the call and glanced back at me as I walked up to her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I was just looking for some firewood.”

  “You didn’t interrupt. That was Clark. He was wondering when I would be coming home.” She brushed a strand of her blonde hair out of her face and tucked it back behind an ear.

  “Does he know about the descendants?” A question I was pretty sure I knew the answer to.

  She just shook her head indicating that he did not.

  “How did you explain the state we left your house in?” Something I thought about when we left, but hadn’t occurred to me again until now.