Chapter 15:
I stop and listen. The man behind me just put his foot down. Aldric steps backwards and Allison shifts her weight. Then they freeze, again. I smile, "Ha!" Just for fun I walk behind the man and tie his shoe strings to Chris's. Then I stop, and think about them not moving and they move again. The man that was behind me jumps into the air taking Chris with him. Chris lands under the big man. I burst out laughing. The big man gets off of Chris. Chris mocks my laughing, in a girly voice. "You did it?" Aldric asks. I nod, and he shakes his head when I chuckle again.
"Okay, that was funny. But, that also means it's on." Chris says. "I'm gonna get you, and I'm gonna get you good."
"Alright everyone, back to work." Aldric demands, mostly to Chris.
I look at him, "What's going on between you two?"
He shakes his head, "Nothing really. Just a little bit of dominance issues."
I shake my head, "Boys. So, what now?"
"I'm not sure; I need to find out what other powers you have. Just the one won't help us win. Have you noticed any limits to this power?"
"No." I say, but I'm not really looking for any. "What should I look for?"
"I have no clue. Maybe next time leave us frozen for as long as possible; let's see if there is a limit. If you get to an hour, I'd quit. Normally, magic is pulling energy from different elements, but you seem to only possess specific things so far."
I smile, "Well, we know by now, I didn't get the 'normal memo', and I might leave you that way. I bet there's a distances limit too. I doubt I can freeze the whole world."
"Maybe, but let's just stick with the time right now. I don't know what could happen to you." I nod. "Okay, let's do it again!" Aldric tells everyone.
Chris looks at me, puts his index and middle finger up to eyes his then points them at me. "I'm watching you."
I smile and pull my phone out to see what time it was, it says 2:15. The man that is supposed to attack me, which I now know is Peter, gets ready. I stand with my back to him. "Are you ready?" Aldric asks me.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I reply.
He gives Peter thumbs up. I take a deep breath, and listen once again. Only Peter moves this time, his left foot hits exactly two feet from me. I picture them all moving; every move anyone could possibly make. I open my eyes. They are, of course, frozen. I stand there; I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now.
I know Aldric told me not to, but I have to see if there is a distance limit. I run toward the woods. There is a small path where it looks like an animal had run through. Trying to stay in that path I start walking towards the town. After walking for what seems like forever, I pull out my phone. The numbers on the clock still say 2:15. So, if I'm right there is a huge distances I can do. I continue to walk until finally I come to the clearing where Aldric's car is still parked. A hear sticks crack to my right in the thick brush, so I pull my phone back out, 2:17. So, this is how far I can go. My phone starts ringing. It is a number I don't know, but I still push the talk button, "Hello?"
"Where are you?"
"Aldric?" I ask.
"Yes, it's me. Where are you? And, why did you leave?" He asks urgently.
"Calm down. I was looking to see how far I could go before it broke. I'm in the clearing."
"How do you know it wasn't time? What time does your phone say?" He asks.
"It said two fifteen, when everything was frozen. Now it's two seventeen."
"So, you probably can keep us frozen for two minutes. So, distance won't even matter. I'm almost there. Don't move." He demands. He jumps down in front of me. I hang up. "Why did you do that? I told you to just stay there."
"I know what you said, but we don't have another week to check all the ends and outs of this power. So, I improvised. I did two in one. Now we know that only two minutes, and I'm not fast enough to kill Skylark in two minutes."
"I know. You're right, but please we can't afford to lose you."
"We can't, or you can't?" I ask.
He takes a deep breath, "Both. Let's go, we still have about four hours of day light."
"Oh, speaking of day light. Aren't vampires supposed to like explode when they walk in it?" I ask.
He shakes his head, "No, that really is a myth." He puts his arm around my waist, and up we go. We make it back to the camp in no time. He sits me down easily; it is getting easier to not throw up when we do that. Chris notices that when we get back. "Hey, she didn't throw up on you! Come on, give him a little." He pushes.
Aldric looks at us confused. "I threw up on his shoulder on the way back to my house the other night." I explain.
Aldric cracks up, "Really? Wow, you forgot to tell me that, Chris."
I elbow him in the ribs, but he keeps laughing as we walk back to the tent. "So, how do you think you would react if you thought someone you cared about was in trouble?" Aldric asks, sobering.
I shrug, "I don't know."
Allison burst through the opening of the tent, "Okay, what about me? I'm supposed to be practicing something too. She's not the only one who is supposed to have powers."
Aldric looks around, "Do you see anyone else with powers around here? All you need to be practicing right now is your hand-to-hand combat. You can't do anything else right now. When you get powers you can work with them."
She growls like an angry child, "Fine, but when she inevitably fails you, don't come crying to me." She storms out of the tent.
"What was that about?" I ask.
"Jealousy."
I grunt, "Childish. Anyway, I don't know I've never truly thought about it. I didn't do anything when my mom and dad died, or when Jett died, or even when Chelsea died. So, I can't honestly say."
"Yeah, but they were already gone when you saw them. You didn't see that their life was actually in danger, and you could help them." He explains.
"I saw my parents killed, but no, I'm not doing this exercise." I say.
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"This is the part where you put some else I care about in danger, and I do some weird thing to save them. So, not going to happen." I tell him.
"It's the only way to find out." Aldric says.
I shake my head, "Nope."
"Fine. We'll put you in combat then."
"Huh?" I ask in disbelief.
"You need to be in a situation where you use your emotions to help control you. That way maybe your anger or you fear will make you do something to help yourself out." He explains.
"Fine, but how?" I ask.
"We will engage an attack on Skylark's mansion tomorrow."
"There will be a lot of causalities though."
"No, our men will be advised not to touch anyone not in an army uniform. We will get all the civilians out, and just take the army." He assures.
"What about Skylark? Won't he be there?"
He shakes his head, "He will go somewhere safe the moment he gets word we're coming. Most of his troops are in other lands right now. He's planning an attack on Della soon. They are undercover and checking everything out. So, we will only need about fifty of us."
"Will that be enough?"
"One of my people can kill twenty of his before they have time pee their pants."
I nod, "Okay, so what am I supposed to do?"
"Go, and when you feel threatened, or you feel any emotion, do whatever comes to you. But, do not just stand there." He says.
"I won't."
"How's your neck?" He asks.
"It's fine. It will heal up soon enough."
"Okay, you need to sleep. I'll take you home."
I nod and we walk out to the woods, but before we can leave Shae catches us. "Hey, have you seen your brother? He never came back last night. I thought he was staying with you, but then he didn't come with you." She asks.
"Uh, no. He got mad and stormed out last night. I haven't seen him since. Where else could he have gone?"
"I don't know. Aldric?" Shae looks at him.
He shak
es his head, and then looks up like he just got something. "He went to Skylark. He was mad, and I bet just to get back at you, he betrayed us."
I roll my eyes, "Let him then. He is going to make whoever he's around miserable. At least, let it be Skylark."
Aldric holds onto me, and we leave Shae standing there confused.
The Rising Fire (The Witch in the Woman Book One) Page 18