by Raven Steele
“And I feel cold,” I added quickly, “the good kind, and it’s such a relief. I can’t tell you how good it feels.”
Mr. Stenberg’s gaze lowered to the floor, his face an expression of wonder. “But you’re so young. How could it be?”
He muttered to himself, his eyes drifting with his thoughts.
“How could what be?” I asked.
He focused on us. “It’s called power absorption, and it’s extremely rare.”
Hudson leaned forward. “What does that mean? Power absorption?”
“It means your earth elements are literally the exact opposite of each other, down to every atom, electron, and proton. When this happens, they act like powerful magnets drawing each other together. And when they meet, they …,” he struggled to find the right words, “bleed into each other until they are one.”
He looked at me. “You absorb his cold, and you,” he turned to Hudson, “take on her heat.”
“How rare is this?” I asked.
“Extremely. I’ve only known two other couples with this condition in my whole lifetime.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Condition? You make it sound like it’s a bad thing.”
“It can be.”
“How so?” Hudson asked. He slowly withdrew his foot from me, taking his cold with him.
Mr. Stenberg leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. His voice lowered as he looked at me, his expression serious. “One couple used their combined powers to stop your mother, Rose.”
“Becca’s parents?” Both me and Hudson said at the same time.
He nodded.
“And the other couple?” My pulse raced and heat licked my organs.
He paused. “They both went crazy and ended up killing each other.”
I leaned back, expelling the air in my lungs. I couldn’t look at Hudson. With all the bad things that had happened in my life, I wouldn’t be surprised if I went crazy. Good things just didn’t happen to me.
“What was the difference between the two couples?” Hudson asked, his voice steel.
Mr. Stenberg eyed him sympathetically. “Becca’s parents were in love. They found a way to control the power together, instead of letting the power control them. In the other example, the couple always found themselves competing against each other in order to gain more power. From what we understand of power absorption, there needs to be a give and take, an equal balance between them. If there isn’t, or if one person can’t find a way to become one with their ability, then the pressure makes their mind snap.”
I thought about his words, trying to process what this meant for Hudson and I. “I’m still trying to understand. Do we have to be together all the time? Like a couple? Because I barely know him.” I still couldn’t look at Hudson.
Mr. Stenberg laughed. “Not at all. You could find a way to make it work by starting out as friends and learning to control it. You don’t have to give into your abilities so easily. They don’t control you. Remember that. You control them.”
“Easier said than done,” I mumbled, already wishing Hudson would touch me again.
“What do you suggest we do?” Hudson asked.
“What do you want to do about it?” He let the question sink in before continuing. “One of you could move far away, or you could try to make it work here. Start by getting to know each other. Make sure you’re compatible at least as friends. If you can’t make that work, then we’d probably ask one of you to leave. It’s too risky otherwise.”
My gaze lowered to the floor. I already knew who they’d make leave. The new girl who’d already burned a student and nearly exploded a classroom.
Hudson’s foot returned to mine. Frost chilled my heat. Every time he touched me, it felt like I was coming back to life.
“And if we can make it work?” Hudson asked. “What would that do to our powers?”
“Make you extremely powerful. In fact, it was only the combined abilities of Becca’s parents that was able to finally put Aurora to sleep. Had that not worked, the Enforcers would’ve killed Aurora.”
My stomach clenched tight at the thought of my mother dying. “Do you think it’s possible she was innocent?” The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them.
Mr. Stenberg searched my eyes. “What a funny thing to say.”
If Hudson’s foot hadn’t been touching mine, I probably would’ve burned up right then and there from embarrassment.
“This is going to be challenging,” Mr. Stenberg said, noticeably changing the subject away from my mom. “And you’ll probably need guidance to keep things under control between you two.”
“I’m starting training tomorrow with Ms. Swanson,” I offered.
He lifted his hand and rubbed the scruff on his face, his expression confused. “I’m surprised she’s working with a student one on one, but it could help. I will also be around for any extra training you think you might need. As for both of you,” his gaze darted between us, “tread carefully for now. And I’ll look at my schedule to get you both in for couples training.” He quickly cleared his throat. “I mean friendship training.”
Something about how he said it made it feel like he believed we were going to be a couple one day. Like that was the only way, or we’d both go crazy and do something dangerous.
And that pissed me off.
I didn’t want my future to already be decided. And I sure as hell didn’t want my future “forever man” be someone my fire simply matched with. I wanted to choose with my heart and mind, not my ability.
This time it was me who pulled away from Hudson, despite the heat flooding my veins again. “I should go. Thank you so much for the information. We’ll work at it, I promise.”
I stood. Both of them looked surprised I was leaving so early, especially Hudson. He probably wanted to talk about it more in depth, maybe even alone with me. But right now, I needed to figure out what I wanted, and I couldn’t do that near him without feeling like I wanted to tear his clothes off and press my body against his. This whole thing was just too weird and messing with my mind.
Just as I turned my back, Mr. Stenberg said, “One more question.”
I looked back to him.
“What made you say that about your mother?”
His question took me off guard. I wasn’t about to tell him what Linda had shared with me. It felt like betraying her. Instead, I said, “My father sometimes wondered if she was tricked into killing all of those people, that’s all. I’m sure he’s mistaken, though.”
The lines on Mr. Stenberg’s face tightened as if he didn’t quite accept my answer, but he didn’t try to stop me when I walked away. Neither did Hudson.
I darted from the room and headed straight for the front lawn where students rarely went. I needed some fresh air. I was just beginning to like this place, really like it, but then I find out the boy I sort of had a crush on could possibly make me go mad until I murdered him. On top of that, my terrorist mother, who might just be innocent, is in some kind of eternal sleep right beneath my feet.
My life couldn’t be more messed up.
Chapter 13
“Are you ready?” Linda asked me. She stood in front of me, her eyes, expression, and body language all full of encouragement.
“I think so.”
She stepped to the side, revealing the hard plastic dummy behind her. It had been replaced since I’d last destroyed it.
“Just remember what we talked about. You control it, not the other way around.”
I shifted my weight on the mats beneath my feet. The foam inside them adjusted to the imbalance. I felt a little more focused today than I had last time I attempted this. Maybe it was because we were alone in the room, or maybe it was because it wasn’t even six a.m. I considered myself a morning person. I always got the most done before the sun came up.
Obeying Linda, I concentrated on my inner flames. They were quieter in the morning; the crackling embers of a dying fire. I think they were a night … monster. I didn’t know what else to
call them, not with the way they made me do things I didn’t necessarily want to do. Hudson came to mind. And damnit, that thought made my fire open its eyes and stretch a little. Sweat beaded on my brow.
I puffed air out of my puckered lips, my gaze focused on the dummy. Transfer my energy to it. Not much. Focus.
I imagined fire lighting up the top of the dummy’s carved plastic face. Empty gray eyes stared back at me with a slit for a mouth, the sides slightly turned up. It’s like the bastard was taunting me, egging me on as if to say I couldn’t do it.
Sweat pooled in my armpits, so hot I’d have had blisters if my skin had not also been burning.
A single flame, like the kind you’d see placed in a window to welcome lost souls, appeared on top of the dummy’s head. I sucked in a breath.
“Keep going,” Linda encouraged. “Slowly.”
I kept a steady gaze on that flame. It was strange how I could feel it even all the way across the room. It felt like staring at my own hand. A tugging sensation urged me to draw it back inside, but I shoved it aside and added more fire to the tiny flame until the dummy dude wore a crown of fire.
The power was hard to hang on to, as the other part of my flames didn’t like that I was separating it. Not one bit. It had roared awake inside me, boiling with rage. It pressed outward, trying to escape the prison of my own flesh.
I ground my teeth. “I can’t hold it.”
“Yes you can. Make it obey you.”
Hearing Linda’s words, telling my fire to obey me, made the inferno grow even more. A line of red hot flames appeared between me and the dummy, a wave of heat rising into the air like a hungry appendage seeking its next victim to consume.
“Control it!” Linda shouted and stepped back.
A swirling orange-and-red limb of fire broke apart and roared towards her, despite my inner commands.
It slammed into an invisible wall that Linda must’ve conjured and licked up its sides, trying to go over the barrier to get at her. Linda shoved her hands forward. The invisible wall crashed on top of the fire with such a ferocious wind, the flames skittered away to avoid the windstorm.
The blaze raced back to me, seeking refuge, but the flames sizzled out before they reached me.
I bent over, gasping for breath. Smoke polluted the air, and angry black marks scarred the mats. “I’m so sorry.”
Linda coughed several times and hurried to open the door. Whatever she did before with air, she did it again, but this time it was a gentle breeze that whipped around the room, lifting my hair and sucking the smell of smoke into the open door and vents above us.
When it was all clear and she finished another coughing fit, she said, “That is a powerful gift you have there. I might even say it’s stronger than your mother’s.”
Excitement sparked inside me, followed by intense fear.
“Don’t worry.” She patted me on the shoulder. “You showed promise today. We just have to keep working at it.”
“That looked more like a firestorm, not promise.”
She laughed. “It’s always like that in the beginning for those of us with powerful abilities.”
I straightened and smoothed my hair back down. “I take it you can manipulate air?”
She smiled mischievously. “Among other things. Let’s call it a day. We’ll try again next Monday if you’re still up for it.”
“I’ll be here.” I almost said more, part of me wanting to tell her about Hudson, but I remained silent. I had a feeling she’d probably think adding someone else’s power to mine might hinder my progress. Maybe it would.
“I’ll clean up here,” she said. “You go ahead and return to the dorms.”
“Are you sure?” I stared at the scorched floor. I wondered what the first period students would think when they saw them.
“We have spare mats in the back,” she said with a wink. “Easy to replace.”
I relaxed a little. “Thanks again for helping me. It means a lot.”
“Have you thought any more about your mother?”
My throat tightened, making it difficult to swallow. I for sure wasn’t going to tell her about the plan to break into the archive room in the basement, but maybe she could give me more info.
“I have, and I’d like to know more.”
She smiled kindly, but sadness filled her eyes. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s just that,” she hesitated and lowered her eyes to the floor, “I received some bad news today.”
“About?”
“Your mother.” She looked up at me. “I’m afraid we’re out of time. I got a phone call from the ISA.”
“What did they want?”
“Our ten years is up, and we weren’t able to wake Aurora. In just a few weeks, they’re coming to take her away. Forever.”
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Hudson said as he lowered into a chair next to me, leaving plenty of distance between us.
I was glad. It had been a week since we’d spoken with Mr. Stenberg, but I hadn’t had much time to explore my feelings towards Hudson. Not since learning the Enforcers were coming for my mother. All I knew is I didn’t want to be with Hudson just because my fire wanted it. Even as friends. I wanted to choose him.
Closing the book in front of me, I met his gaze. The library was empty except for the librarian who sat quietly behind her desk on the other side of the room. I should be in third period right now, but Linda had said I could come here to brush up on how the solar flare decades ago had changed some humans. But that wasn’t all I had discovered. Apparently, there had been another, much smaller, solar flare over a thousand years ago that had also messed with human DNA. I’d never learned any of this since my very human father had mostly raised me. I wanted to read more about it, but I couldn’t delay this conversation with Hudson any longer.
“I admit it. I have been avoiding you.” No point lying. It had been pretty obvious, especially when I’d see him coming straight for me, and I’d turn the other way. “Mr. Stenberg freaked me out. I don’t want to go crazy and kill you, and I sure don’t want you murdering me.”
“How come you’re so sure we’d kill each other?”
I sighed and rubbed at the back of my neck where tension had built up, especially since my second training session with Linda. It hadn’t gone much better than the first.
My skin felt feverish, and the temperature had started climbing ever since Hudson had sat next to me. I heard Linda’s voice in my head. Control it.
“I’m not, but I also don’t want to be forced into being with you just because our abilities are crazy for each other.”
He thought about this for a long moment, his gaze focused on the history book in front of me. “I don’t want that either. For me, at least, it can be difficult to discern what I’m feeling versus what my power is feeling. Does that make sense?”
“More than you know. Have you figured it out?”
“This time away from you, time I didn’t want by the way, has been good for me. It’s helped me dissect some of these emotions. But it’s also been torture.”
“Torture?”
His voice lowered. “For the first time in my life, when I touch you, I’m warm. I can’t tell you what that means to me, and I don’t want to lose it. But at the same time, I want what you want. To be with someone, friends or not, who wants to be with me and not my power.”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
“But,” he added quickly, “I think we owe it to ourselves to see if we can make this work. I mean, so far, I think you’re a pretty cool person. I like how you stood up to Maisy, something very few people have done. I like how you scrape your top teeth over your bottom lip when you’re concentrating.”
My pulse thrummed. He noticed that?
He leaned towards me, and even though we weren’t touching, I could feel a cool cloud around him stretching towards me, wanting to feel my heat. My own flames ignited, sucking the air from
my lungs.
“Let me get to know you, Rose.”
I nodded slightly, realizing he was right. We should at least try. “But on one condition.”
“Name it.”
“Let’s avoid touching. For now.” Even as the words left my mouth, I feared it impossible.
“Deal.” He held out his hand. “Let’s shake on it.”
A grin split my face. “Nice try.”
He laughed, a deep and throaty sound that was almost as nice as him touching me. He tapped the table. “I’ll let you get back to your book, but let’s eat lunch together. I have a million questions for you.”
I watched him go, hope brimming in my chest. I wanted it to work between us, even if it was just friends.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I removed it and glanced down at the screen. A one line text from Bennie to our group chat:
I got it.
Chapter 14
I gripped my phone tightly, reading those three words over and over. I got it. Tonight might be the night. We’d sneak into the archives and research all we could about my mother. Dread and excitement fought for space in my gut.
Ever since my conversation with Linda, she had been telling me stories about my mother and their time together. They’d shared many adventures, some of them reminding of my own time with my mother. She had always been so full of life.
Linda had also given me several of my mother’s letters that painted a very different picture of her compared to how the media had portrayed her. But it was the last letter my mother had ever written that had struck me the hardest, because it was the first time since Linda had told me of her theory, I actually believed my mom could be innocent.
I pulled out the letter from my backpack’s front pocket and read the words again, even though I mostly had them memorized.
* * *
Dear Linda,
* * *
If you’re reading this, I’m probably dead. All I can say is I’m so sorry. I had no other choice. You know me well enough to know this is true. I only wish things could’ve been different. Maybe if I had listened to you or Roger.