by Laura Winter
My stomach twisted. “Dangerous?”
Mom nodded. “You two share the strongest power source known to The Complex, and we have no idea what it does. You might not even notice things that you do. If you don’t know your own strength, you could hurt someone… or yourselves.”
Clara looked at me nervously. Nate, what if these are my headache outbursts all over again? I could have done that without knowing it.
I reached my hand out to pull her closer, ignoring the reluctant groans from my parents, and laced my fingers through hers. “See, nothing happened,” I said. Well, nothing except the rush of energy I felt run up my arm.
My parents weren’t convinced as Mom stood up. “Just be careful. Now, get dressed and don’t ruin your appetites. Dinner is in a couple hours.”
“Dinner?” Clara and I asked at the same time.
Dad hurried toward the door faster than he came in. “Yes, dinner. It’s half past three in the afternoon,” he said over his shoulder.
Mom hung back, and when Dad was on the other side, she closed it behind him and spun around to face us. “I love you both dearly, but I’m serious about being careful. Not just about your powers.”
I groaned. Clara squeezed my hand and bumped my side. “Don’t worry. I think that buzz was sufficiently thwarted by your entrance.”
I let out a forced breath as Mom left. “My life is one embarrassment after another.”
I rolled my head back to groan as Clara ran into the other room and pulled out her iPod.
Healing. Oh Honey.
I snatched it out of her hands and picked a new song.
Someone Like you. The Summer Set.
She giggled as I kissed her cheek, moving my hands around her back. “What happened to being careful?” she asked.
“She said we had a few hours before dinner. You’re alive, full of energy and healed, so we can celebrate,” I replied, moving my lips down to her collarbone.
Clara slid her hands around my waist and spun me around, tossing me back on the bed with ease. She climbed on top, pressing her body into mine as she continued to slide her lips along my jaw. I slid her sweatshirt over her head and tossed it to the side, unintentionally throwing it on the lamp. Clara paused and frowned.
“What if I really did that?”
“Nope. We’re not worrying about that until later,” I said, tipping her off of me so I could swing on top.
“You’re the worst,” she said, grabbing my collar as she pulled me down to her face.
I know. And now you’re stuck with me, always forever.
54
Clara
Nate’s parents were preoccupied during dinner, their thoughts racing about our powers and the consequences of having the Blue Soul shared between us. I had to agree with most of them, but at the same time, they didn’t understand what Nate and I felt when we touched. I was used to the Cold Soul feeling that was dangerous and nagging. The Blue Soul was the opposite.
One thing they were definitely right about was our new strength. Using my powers was easier, and was barely any effort to block everyone’s thoughts at dinner. With that ease, it was entirely possible I had knocked over the lamp, not to mention the strange events that healed our cuts overnight. I finally felt good.
Nate convinced his parents to let us walk around The Complex once it was dark enough. Plus, no one could judge us because it was absolutely frigid outside. Though they almost changed their minds when the only layers we put on were our light sweatshirts, but I pulled us out the door before they could stop us.
The bitter air felt good on my face as we walked along the path. The night was still and quiet, only our footsteps making noise as we shuffled along. It hit me that I had never known what silence felt like. Both Finnley and I had always heard voices, and I was always drowning them out with music. Right now I didn’t mind that emptiness. Silence felt beautiful. Neither Nate nor I needed to talk to enjoy each other’s company, and it was even stranger that our third wheel wasn’t chirping our ears off.
Nate froze. “We forgot about Glitch,” he blurted.
I stopped him before he pulled his phone out. “He’ll still be there in the morning. Plus, what are we going to tell him?”
“Uh, that you’re still alive?”
“Not about that. I meant about your parents and this place,” I replied, pulling Nate back into a walking pace.
“Should we tell him about Jeanie and that book?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Jeanie was pretty adamant about us not telling anyone. Besides, it’s blank, and Jeanie sees the future. She probably knows what she’s doing.”
Nate shrugged. “At least he can’t read our minds ot know what we’re hiding.”
“Let’s just see what we can find first. There really aren’t any more answers than before, just more questions.”
We continued in silence again, weaving through the open spaces between buildings. It was nice to be out in the open, and the cloudless sky gave me more constellations to recreate on the ceiling. It was my favorite trick, even more than using my powers to make Nate think I was stronger than I actually was. I wonder what new things I could do with the extra power I had.
After we had circled the buildings twice, we walked back to the apartment building. Coming from this direction, Nate and I paused at the same time as we saw a path running into the trees. It had clearly been trampled often. As he turned his gaze up, I noticed his parents watching us from the window.
“You know how they said Finnley was always a troublemaker?” he asked, his eyes still turned up.
“Uh, yeah?”
“Let’s get into trouble.”
He spun and pressed me against the opposite wall, running his hand through my hair until his fingers got caught in the tangles. He pressed his face into mine and kissed me.
Your parents are watching. Not that I was complaining about him kissing me, but even I was a little uncomfortable knowing his parents were watching us.
I know. Tell me when they stop.
He moved his hands up my back as I wrapped mine around his waist, pulling his body into mine. As Nate moved his lips down my neck, Angie pushed Tom away from the window and they closed the blinds.
Did they give up yet? Nate’s thought startled me.
What? Oh, yeah. Wow, I had been really distracted.
“Come on then, sexy,” Nate laughed, grabbing my hand as he pulled me off the wall and toward the path.
“Are you quoting Doctor Who to me?” I asked, jogging to keep up with him until we were out of sight in the trees.
“Yeah, I am. Is that a turn on?” he asked, a clear smile on his face even though it was dark.
I chuckled. “Absolutely. You know what would be better?”
“What?”
I nearly ran into him as he stopped in the path, his face just inches from mine. I tapped his nose and whispered. “If you had brought a flashlight.”
He laughed. “You know, they have this brilliant invention called the cell phone, equipped with a weak, but still useful, flashlight.”
Nate clicked the light on and stretched his hand toward me. I slid my fingers through his as we continued walking.
“What do you think is down this way?” I asked, pulling myself a little closer to Nate. Even if my boyfriend was the king of shadows, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy to be out here.
He shrugged. “Complex secrets, strange worship relics, a naked cult, a magical river that gives you everlasting life…”
His list faded as we came up to a fallen tree trunk that came up to my chest. Nate turned to me, holding his hands out as he prepared to boost me over. Instead, I grabbed his hips and lifted him to sit on the trunk. Placing my hands on top, I pushed and jumped, launching myself over to the other side.
“Need help?” I asked, smiling as Nate swung his legs over to my side. He flashed me with his light.
“Only because you asked,” he replied. I grabbed his hips again and brought him
gently to the ground. He smiled but stuck his tongue out. “Showoff.”
“I think the term you’re looking for is ‘badass’,” I teased.
We walked along for several more minutes until the path started to open up. I realized the trail had weaved us around to the other side of the hill that was behind the city hall building. A small opening, designed like an old mining entrance, was directly in front of us. The trees were completely cleared from around the area, with small stone benches sitting around the entrance.
“Whoa, what is this place?” Nate asked, moving forward.
But I stayed stuck to the ground. Something didn’t feel right.
I didn’t feel right.
My knees gave out instantly and I dropped to the ground. Nate was still looking around but I couldn’t make a sound. It wasn’t a headache, but I still had that metallic taste in my mouth as my eyes blurred out of focus. Nothing hurt until a wave of nausea slammed into me and I rolled onto my side.
The last thing I heard was Nate shouting my name.
I was standing in the same spot where I had just fallen. Voices were growing behind me as I spun. A large group of people were walking through the trail. I shifted to the side as they walked closer without stopping, but they didn’t see me at all. Then I saw why.
Finnley was in the middle of the group, holding her mom’s hand. My mom. I was watching myself — my past. I focused behind Finnley, catching the glares from Richard and Aidan. Anger swirled through me as I launched forward, trying to strangle Aidan, but I just floated through him. No matter how much I swatted at them, they never noticed me.
Angie walked through me, taking up the rear of the line as everyone took their seats. No one here had any idea what truths Angie and Finnley knew. Not even my mom. They were all completely oblivious to the two men who were obsessed with killing me and taking an evil power source. Angie thought Finnley was about to absorb all of that power and die. My mom just thought I’d walk out without powers.
Finnley rubbed her hands together nervously as I focused on her left arm, free of any scars or blue blood. Her black shirt, jeans, and Converse were clean as well. In a few hours, all of that would be ruined. She had no idea what was about to happen, but I knew. I was going to watch Finnley steal the Blue Soul.
She walked into the opening alone, but I ran after her. I weaved through the rocks, ducking and sliding through some of the narrow pathways. Finally, the mouth of the tunnel widened into a small cave. Built into the rocks in front of us were about thirty different power sources, but only three of them were glowing. The Ruby, the Golden Arrow, and the Blue Soul.
Finnley sat down on the ground and closed her eyes as I walked around, brushing my hands over the objects that had all lost their light. I couldn’t feel them, but somehow I thought I could see little lights spark inside them. The closer I looked, the less I saw. Just emptiness.
‘Mom, I know this is surprising, but don’t speak. Don’t let anyone know you can hear me.’
I turned around, but Finnley hadn’t moved her mouth with the last sentence. She was thinking.
‘Finnley? How?’
I closed my eyes. This was the first time I remembered Mom’s voice. Tears ran down my cheeks.
‘I’ve always had these powers. I’ve been hiding them, and I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but I’m scared.’
‘You fought the Blue Star. You didn’t let it steal your power, just like I asked. Why are you scared?’
I watched a tear run down Finnley’s cheek. ‘Dad and Aidan are planning to use me for the Blue Star’s power. I need you to do something for me, though.’
‘They what? Oh… anything, baby girl. I’ll do anything.’
‘I’m going to steal it.’ I heard Mom gasp as Finnley continued. ‘Don’t question it, please don’t argue, and under no circumstances can you follow me. I have a plan, and when I’m safe, I’ll come back for you.’
‘Finnley…’
‘Mom, there’s someone I have to save. His name is Nate. I see him in my dreams. I don’t know how, or why I see it, but I have to find him.’
‘I knew you two were meant for each other.’
Finnley shot up off the ground, shoving her fist forward as power exploded from her arm, cracking the wall behind me. She ran forward, slamming her fist repeatedly into the stone as shards of rock scattered the ground.
Noise grew from the mouth of the cave as Finnley scrambled to pick up the Blue Soul. Her hands pushed forward as she ran toward the entrance, a shield of energy weaving just in front of her. I chased her, only a few steps behind.
When Finnley reached the opening, the energy spread and launched everyone flying backward. Benches knocked over, sending everyone out of their seats. Angie lifted her head off the ground.
“What are you doing?” she screamed as Finnley ran and created a new path through the trees.
The closest man to her path jumped up and followed. Shit, I knew that outfit. That was the man who controlled fire, the man who was dead in the clearing.
With my next step, my feet stuck into the ground, dragging me down so I couldn’t follow. My memory fogged around the edges of my eyes. I know what was going to happen, but I couldn’t stop it.
Still clear to my right, I saw my mom push off the ground and start running toward Finnley’s path.
“No!”
55
Nate
I wrapped my hand around Clara’s mouth as she shot out of bed. She thrashed and yelled under my grip as I tried to calm her down in a hushed tone.
“C, quiet, quiet. It’s just me, it’s okay. You need to be quiet, it’s two in the morning,” I whispered.
Her eyes were wide as tears ran down her face and through my fingers. She looked around in a panic, slowly putting her surroundings together. Finally she stopped fidgeting, still breathing hard as she reached up and pulled my hand away from her mouth.
“How did we get back?”
“I carried you through the shadows to avoid my parents. What the hell happened?”
Clara wiped her face with her palms, her body still shaking. “I remembered the day I ran away. When I stole the Blue Soul.” She swallowed through a sob. “I warned my mom. I told her not to follow. I spoke to her through her mind and she still didn’t listen.”
Clara shoved her face into my chest and sobbed. I wrapped my arms around her and held her up, powerless to pull her pain away. All I could do was hold her.
◆◆◆
Clara had been asleep for a while now but by six, I couldn’t stay in bed any longer. I rolled off the edge, taking a stack of clothes out of my bag and into the bathroom to shower.
The fact that the cold water didn’t bother me should have, well, bothered me. If the Cold Soul wasn’t in Clara anymore, why didn’t the cold bother us? Was it because they were still running around doing who knows what?
After two days, I wasn’t as startled to see blue eyes in my reflection, but they still looked weird. My arm didn’t bother me either, maybe because I had gotten used to seeing Clara’s scar and mine was identical to hers. I pulled my shirt over my head and heard Clara talking in the other room.
She was still laying in bed, her eyes puffy from sleep and crying. My phone was on the pillow next to her, Glitch’s voice coming through loudly.
“Yo, Nate, I can hear you breathing. C, please tell me I’m on speaker.”
“You’re on speaker,” she mumbled as I sat down on the bed.
“Dude, your girlfriend is cranky in the morning.”
“Says the guy who could sleep until four in the afternoon,” I replied, trying to keep from laughing. Clara did not look in the mood.
“Well, I’m finnled in. The Complex? Your parents? Crazy.”
“Yeah, man. It’s been interesting to say the least,” I said.
He laughed on the other end. “Break out of that prison and come home to see me before they send you off to a research lab or something.”
“Not funny,” Clar
a grumbled and rolled away from the phone, planting her face in the pillow. I picked up the phone and took if off speaker.
“Glitch, this whole place is seriously messed up. And now with the Cold Souls out…”
“Yeah, Clara warned me not to trust any versions of you two that have green eyes and black blood. Speaking of weird stuff, do you have any awesome new powers from the Blue Star?”
“Blue Soul,” I corrected. “No powers that I know of, just a stronger connection to Clara.”
