by Indie Gantz
“Pitch,” she answers, somewhat breathlessly. “Ave is coachin’ Tirigan in footie in exchange for Tirigan helpin’ Ave build one of those mind defense things.” She raises her eyebrows at me in accusation. “So you two can’t go readin’ minds whenever you want.”
“That right?” Oleander replies. “A little tit for tat, aye?” He smirks. “Clever lad.”
“What?” I ask. “Who’s clever?”
“No one. Nothing,” Oleander replies innocently, his eyes twinkling as he sticks his hands in his pockets. “Up for some ball instead of a walk, Charlie?”
“Fine with me,” I reply, then look at Bo, who’s shifting her gaze between me and Oleander. “How about you?”
She lights up at the invitation, then regains her cool exterior and moves her head in a noncommittal way. “I guess. I mean, there’s nothing going on around here anyway.”
“Right,” I reply, pretending not to notice just how desperately she wants to join.
“Excellent,” Oleander says to us both, turning away and leading the way down to the field. “Last one there’s a Bulbophyllum Phalaenopsis!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Winged or Chained
Isee Tirigan and Avias on the field before I hear them. Avias stands close to my brother, but not close enough to touch. They have a ball between them, and Avias is gesturing toward it, then down at his shoes. He points to the instep of his right foot, then the outside of it, right below where his pinky toe would be. He does this while balancing easily on his left foot. Tirigan watches him with rapt attention.
Oleander cups his hands and yells down to them. “Oi! Oi!”
His voice carries down the hill easily, and both boys look in our direction. I can’t really read their expressions from this distance, but I think I see Avias give us a thin smile. Tirigan is unreadable, giving us only a cursory glance before his eyes go back to the ball on the ground. He begins kicking it softly, moving down the field. The ball never goes very far. Tirigan stays in control of it until he reaches the goal where he plants his left foot and kicks the ball hard with his right. The ball sails high and over the net.
“Nice run!” Avias yells as he jogs to catch up. “Your foot got a little heavy at the end there, that’s all.”
Bo tumbles down the hill with elaborate gymnastic moves, and Oleander runs at full speed, dashing past her. When he catches up with Avias, Oleander doesn’t even attempt to slow down. He runs into Avias at full speed, tackling him to the ground. Avias is just managing to escape Oleander’s hold when I reach them. He curses at Oleander, his face pink with embarrassment.
“Just thought you should know,” Oleander is saying, his eyes mischievous and his voice low.
“I presume I’m meant to say thank you,” Avias replies thickly. He straightens out his shirt and runs a hand through his hair, picking out blades of grass. “But if I may, your method of praise could use some alteration.”
“Noted,” Oleander responds with a wide smile as he turns to look at Tirigan, who’s returned to practice after having paused briefly to watch Oleander and Avias’ scuffle. “How goes it then, Tirigan? Ave here a good teacher?”
Tirigan takes another shot at the goal, this one cutting too far to the right and slamming into the goal post. It bounces off, and Bo runs off to catch it. Tirigan watches her for a moment then turns and walks over to us. “Yes. It’s going well, I think.”
Getting any good?
Tirigan turns to me and shrugs. I haven’t been practicing very long, Charlie. I don’t expect to master the game any time soon.
I roll my eyes and nudge Oleander with my elbow. “He says he could wipe the floor with you.”
Tirigan gapes and immediately looks to Oleander to deny my accusation. Oleander just laughs.
“Don’t worry, Tirigan, I know you to be quite intelligent and that would be a bloody stupid thing to say.” Oleander gives me a pointed look, and a snort of a laugh comes tumbling out of my mouth. I slap my hand over the sound, but not fast enough to hide it.
“Oi, quite the laugh you got there, Lee.” Bo comes up from behind me, juggling the ball on her knees effortlessly. I’m about to comment on the nickname, but Bo distracts me. She pushes herself backward, kicking her foot out at the precise moment the ball reaches its apex, slamming it hard with the front of her shoe. The ball goes flying behind her.
“Show off,” Oleander snickers, but he puts his hand out to help Bo back up.
Tirigan runs off in the direction Bo kicked the ball, and Avias continues watching him. He looks lost in thought as he watches my brother dribble the ball towards the goal once more. After Tirigan makes his shot and throws his arms up in victory at its success, Avias runs off to congratulate him.
“Right then,” Bo says somewhat begrudgingly. “You lot want to get another ball? I don’t know if we’re getting that one back.” She gestures towards Tirigan and Avias, the former having delved back into teaching mode.
“Oh, I don’t know, Bo,” Oleander replies, rubbing his hands together. “Maybe we can entertain ourselves another way. Charlie here mentioned wanting to do a different kind of practice.” He looks at me with eyebrows raised, his expression playfully hopeful.
“Oh yeah?” Bo says next to him. “Care to get a bit more castin’ under your belt then? Would be a good idea, I’d wager.”
I look between them for a moment before I smile and shrug in defeat. The truth is, I’m desperate to really put my studies to work and see what I can do.
“Wonderful!” Oleander exclaims, clapping his large hands together. The sound startles me.
Bo laughs. “’S all right Charlie. From what I hear, you’ve got some heft to you. You’ll turn out beautifully, I’m sure”
“Such a charmer,” I mutter, backing up a few paces to watch Oleander. His eyes are closed, and he’s concentrating on whatever cast he’s about to perform.
After a moment of silence, I feel the earth begin trembling beneath me. A boulder begins pushing its way to the surface of the ground, just beside us. I don’t have time to marvel at it though, before Bo has her lighter in one hand and the other hand on the boulder. The tan colored rock lets off wafts of smoke and turns black. It begins to sag, practically melting back into the earth. Steam and smoke rise from the now glowing red rock as it sinks, and Bo releases her hand with a giggle.
“Well?” she asks me expectantly, leaving me to stare down at the half-melted rock. Magma seeps out around it, and all of us take a step back from its path. I can read the rock’s heat signature just as easily as I can read the words in a book. My new senses will take some getting used to.
Without thinking, I pull some water out of the grass and flick it towards the rock. The droplets sizzle and evaporate immediately.
“That’s it?” Bo says with a kind smile. “Come on, Lee, put your back into it!”
I glance at Oleander, who’s looking at me like he expects me to do some sort of alien-specific trick, which is an intimidating thought. The last time I tried to impress someone, I ended up painfully charred and a breath away from dying. It’d be better to play it safe this time.
I look back to the half-melted rock, and I concentrate my energy on the bottom of the boulder where it still hasn’t cleared the surface. Pushing with all the strength my mind can get a handle on, I invoke Aéras to lift the boulder off the ground.
I assumed I would struggle with the task, but the boulder flies high with very little effort. It jolts up into the sky so quickly I don’t have time to think before my closed fist lifts into the air, directing the boulder to stop gaining height. The ground where the boulder just escaped is mostly flat, but slightly jagged where the boulder split from the earth.
Oleander and Bo look up at the boulder in the sky with small, but pleased smiles. I may not want to risk my life again, but I can certainly do better than this.
With my hand still high in the air, I expand my fingers quickly out of my closed fist, mimicking my intention. The boulder spontaneou
sly expands into hundreds of smaller pieces. Oleander and Bo jump at the explosive sound, and a rush of pride runs through me. It doesn’t last more than a second, though, before I realize that pieces of hot boulder are about to fall down on us unless I stop them. I thicken the air, freezing the debris in place.
“Bo, mind flicking that for me?” I ask, gesturing to her lighter. As she complies, I raise my other hand into the air, this time concentrating on each individual piece of rock. Using the fire from Bo’s lighter as a source of energy, I push a surge of amplified heat towards the hovering pieces of boulder. In an instant, the air is clear of everything but tiny puffs of smoke.
From behind me, I hear two sets of footsteps and Avias’ voice in my ear. “Good show, Charlie.” He says it casually, but I can tell he is at least slightly impressed.
“Thanks,” I say breathlessly. I turn to find Tirigan still staring at the sky. There are still some remnants of smoke in the air. Tirigan flicks his neck to the left quickly, and the smoke dissipates.
Don’t pollute the Earth, Charlie.
“I didn’t pollute—” I sigh and roll my eyes. “You’re just jealous.”
“Ah, a little good natured sibling rivalry, yeah?” Oleander says with a smirk. “Wish I could say I’ve seen that before, but, alas, our lives have been so boring until we met you two.”
Bo laughs, and Avias raises his eyebrows in appreciation.
“He’s lying, of course,” Avias tells us. “Bo and I have destroyed our home more than once, much to our mother’s discontent.”
“I believe it,” I reply, looking between Avias and his sister. “I bet you two would be way more entertaining than Tirigan and me.”
Tirigan huffs incredulously behind me, and then the next thing I know, I’m floating off the ground and flipping backwards into the air.
“Tirigan!” I shout, grasping at nothing, trying uselessly to right myself. “Let me down!”
Everyone just howls with laughter, ignoring my complaints and requests for help.
In theory, I could pull myself out of this, just like I did with Kor, but I cross my arms in defeat, simply to entertain my friends further. I’m spinning for at least a full minute before Tirigan places me back on the ground carefully, a smug look on his face.
“Proud of yourself?” I ask, wobbling.
Avias laughs at the look Tirigan continues to give me, and the sound of his laughter sends a jolt of something warm and electric down my spine. It’s odd, this feeling, since I have no idea why I feel it or what really causes it. Then I realize the feeling isn’t mine. I look to Tirigan to get a clue as to why I’m suddenly feeling light as a feather again, despite both feet being placed firmly on the ground, but he’s looking at Avias and wearing the most endearing expression I think I’ve ever seen.
I take this opportunity to make my move, knowing Tirigan’s too distracted to see it coming. I bend down, placing both my hands on the ground, and close my eyes in concentration.
Now that I know it’s possible, it doesn’t take but a second for the ground to shake slightly beneath Avias and Tirigan’s feet, just as the first branch of tree breaks the surface. The branches crawl out of the earth quickly after that, picking up my brother and Avias, ensnaring them in its limbs. Avias cries out as he’s lifted three šēpusi into the air alongside my brother. The branches twist as they bloom perfectly pink blossoms.
My mother kept a photograph of a tree just like this above my parent’s bed. She called it a cherry blossom and said that they were very common before the asteroid strike, but nearly extinct now. She photographed the only one she’d ever seen. Now I get to pull one from somewhere on Earth and see it for myself, with the added bonus of trapping my brother and our friend inside of it.
Charlie! Tirigan yells out to me in my mind, but I hear no panic in his voice, just mild irritation. If Tirigan could live in a tree, I think he would.
“Wow, she’s... she’s lovely,” Oleander says beside me, looking up at the tree. “I’ve never seen a real one.”
“Me neither,” I reply, laughing as Avias flicks his wrist to push the branches aside so he can climb down, but I make the tree wrap one of its limbs around his waist. Avias grumbles loudly as he’s captured again.
“Bloody brilliant, Charlie!” Bo laughs, looking up gleefully at her struggling brother.
It strikes me as peculiar, seeing this singular cherry blossom in the middle of a football field. It looks entirely out of place. Without thinking it through, I focus my energy on remedying the situation. Moments later, the earth shakes again and what seems like hundreds of branches poke out of the grass around us, each one attached to a brand new, fully grown cherry blossom tree. Oleander gasps beside me as he spins around slowly, awed. An entire grove of cherry blossoms has grown around us.
“My word...” Avias breathes in shock. He looks down at me with surprise in his eyes. I smile hesitantly up at him, hoping he’ll have a reaction similar to Oleander’s. It takes him a little longer, but he too settles any caution he feels pretty quickly. He smirks back at me then looks at Tirigan. “Quite a lot of power you two seem to have.”
Tirigan shrugs like he isn’t entirely sure what brought Avias to that conclusion.
After a few more moments of struggling, I release the casts I’ve placed on the tree limbs, and Avias and Tirigan each gracefully jump out of the first tree, joining the rest of us in the center of the grove.
Tirigan wears a wide smile as he points up then swirls his finger around, generating a gust of wind to rustle the branches and send cherry blossom petals cascading down around us. They dance and swirl in the wind, falling, then rising back up into the air with ease.
Bo twirls under them, laughing softly and lighting some on fire, making them look like tiny lightning bugs. I reach out and grab a few, holding them in my palm for a moment before making them rise in a small funnel. The petals are delicate and easily torn, but the spin is soft in my hand, and the petals remain intact.
“It’s amazing,” I say, mostly to myself.
“That it is,” I hear Avias agree, but I don’t remove my eyes from my own little bit of magic in my hand.
Oleander stoops down beside me, grabbing my attention as he starts to bring something out of the earth, too. At first, I’m not sure what he’s doing. When the roots he brings up break free of the surface, they twist and curl into each other until they form a small circle. He pulls it free from the ground then lifts it up as blossoms fly towards it like magnets. The pink petals weave their way through the roots until the crown is thoroughly covered in them. He stands up and smiles at his work.
“Nice,” I congratulate. “I think I know someone who would love that.” I jut my chin forward towards Bo, who’s currently setting an entire tree ablaze and doing a kind of victory dance beneath it.
Oleander follows my gaze, his grin growing wider, before he jogs over to Bo and places the flower crown on her head. She lights up at the gift and jumps up into Oleander’s arms, who then proceeds to spin her around as fast as physically possible.
My laughter seems to have no end, which is an incredibly jarring feeling. The stress of our situation continues to threaten to crush me, and moments like this both relieve and compound that pressure. It’s comforting not to have to hide who we are, but it’s also stupid to think this can last for much longer. It’s a battle for dominance in the war of my emotions.
A flicker of something like confusion comes from Tirigan, pulling me out of my own distressing thoughts. I turn around to find him staring at Avias in bewilderment.
Avias’ lips pull into a cautious smile, while his hand hovers in the air in Tirigan’s direction.
It takes me a moment to realize that Tirigan’s feet are no longer on the ground. He’s hovering above it and by their position, it looks like Avias is the one to blame. I’m about to intervene, knowing that my brother would probably consider manipulating his body outside of sparring too intimate, but Tirigan’s expression stops me.
A
half-exasperated, half-entertained grin appears at his mouth, and Avias smirks in return.
“A taste of your own medicine, perhaps?” Avias says playfully. Tirigan tilts his head in slight confusion at the saying, which only makes Avias chuckle.
Tirigan closes his eyes as Avias gently lifts him further into the air. His ascent is slow, almost at a snail’s pace. Avias keeps his eyes on my brother as he raises him up, flipping him gingerly to his back so Tirigan is laying flat. Tirigan’s arm’s fly out for a moment, but then come together across his chest and rest there.
Are you all right? I ask. Trusting someone else like this… It’s a big step for Tirigan.
I’m fine... I’m... His arms go slack and fall effortlessly beside him. It looks like he’s persuading his body to melt into the atmosphere. Free.
His finished thought sends warmth through my body, and this time I know the feeling is rooted within myself. With everything that’s happened, I knew I’d be able to push through. I knew I’d make it. Tirigan though, I had no idea what to expect from him. I didn’t know what he would be capable of getting through. He’s exceeded my expectations. And now... and now this. He not only listened to me when I suggested he let people get closer to him, but he’s actually letting it happen.
I turn my gaze to Avias, who’s staring up at Tirigan in complete awe, his jaw slack and his eyes holding an infinite amount of wonder. He waits another few moments before he begins to bring Tirigan back down, so gently I wonder if Tirigan even realizes when his feet hit the ground. I step back, perfectly aware of the moment I’m encroaching on as Tirigan locks eyes with Avias.
An audible gasp comes from Avias just as I turn away from them, so I whip back around to see what’s happening.
Tirigan’s brow is furrowed with consternation, but there’s hope in his eyes.
“You...” Avias says quietly, shock twisting his voice. I almost rush to my brother’s side, but then Avias’ mouth splits into a blinding smile
