“Don’t worry, I know the drill.”
“The next ABT isn’t going to be for a while, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare. Due to the situation unfolding with Von and his potential Dox usage, we’re most likely going to be restructuring the way we conduct class for these exercises. Instead of having teams of three, you’ll now be partnered into teams of two. Nothing is finalized yet, but keep that in mind.”
“Will do.”
I leave Mr. Hoover’s office shortly after that, my head held high and full of hope. I thought I was in for something far worse than I’d expected, but he was proud of how far I’d come, and he wanted to see more from me as I continued to grow. Knowing that my fight with Von caused an investigation was a shocker, and honestly, it was a bit scary. I never had the chance to talk to Von much, but he seemed like an alright guy. I don’t know what pushed him into using, or if he truly was using at all. I remember how a few weeks ago I saw him punching a boulder repeatedly with his bare knuckles. I’d just gotten done getting outclassed by Wayne during a free period and Von was still going strong—hardening his fist and improving his technique. At the time I just saw it as him working towards his goal, just like the other students, but knowing what I know now I see it in a different light.
After dinner, I head to the gym to workout. The session was more or less what I expected. My body seemed to have recovered fully, but I definitely felt sluggish from my time off. It was nothing that I couldn’t shake off within a few session’s worth of work. I couldn’t help but wonder about Von while I worked out, and realized how deadly my last fight really was. Was he really unhinged? I may have actually spooked myself because while I was walking back to my dorm it felt like somebody was watching me.
Chapter 12
“Mr. Cross, welcome back.” I’ve been hearing the same phrase more or less the whole day today, but it can’t be helped. Today’s my first day back in class after Von put me in the infirmary. “Follow along with us, but if you have any questions, be sure to speak with me after class.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I take my seat and sit through the lecture for class. This period was dedicated to history. We’d been learning about the history of people like us, the first cases of those gifted with abilities not natural to human kind. This one in particular was a telekinetic in ancient Egypt named Siris who was alive during the early years of the pharaonic period. His sister, Kamilah, had the same abilities as well. What was interesting about those two was that when they clasped hands, other psychic abilities awakened such as telepathy, remote viewing, and the ability to mandate emotions. Kaci seemed to take a liking to them, which wasn’t farfetched at all considering that her powers seemed to be a derivative of theirs. I appreciated her enthusiasm, but her constant questions did slow down the lecture, and some of the other students used it as an opportunity to goof off before the teacher steered us back on track. It was interesting to see how our kind has been shaping history since its inception though. I’d never expected that people like us would have played such huge roles in world wars, the underground railroad, the civil rights movement, and other turning points in human history, mostly from the shadows and all for the better. It made me proud. So many people were doing amazing things for the greater good; a social responsibility to make the world around them a better place even though they were misunderstood. I wish I’d been in class for the previous lectures, but reading about everything in my own time made it all come to life. I had the ‘privilege’ of having Summer’s notes alongside me while I caught up, and surprisingly, her doodles helped me remember key facts. It was entertaining, for the most part, for everything except for math. Her doodles and everything else going on with her math notes actually made it harder to follow, so I was better off using our textbook. She didn’t even try to send me anything for chemistry, and I never asked. It’s her worst subject, and she absolutely hates it with a passion.
Handling the academics was stressful, but I knew I could do it if I put my mind to it. I made extra time every night to catch up and did everything that I could to retain what I had learned during the day. What was worse was getting back into the swing of things, physically. The day after I got out of the infirmary, I started back with my training, but on top of everything else and with my body on the rebound from my injuries, I couldn’t help but feel like I was starting to fall behind. When I returned, everyone seemed to have made such huge improvements since I’d left and that pushed me to do even more. I had already been working to close the gap between me and the other students, but my injuries had unfortunately become another stepping stone for me to overcome. For the first few classes or so, the training routine that Mr. Hoover and Ms. Cosgrove assigned me was at a slower pace than the rest of the class. They told me that rest was part of recovery, and they were right. I followed their instructions, but at the same time I understood that doing less than what everyone else did would only widen the gap, so I took matters into my own hands to regain lost ground. Knowing the mistake I made when my powers first awakened at the academy, I pushed myself to the edge of my limits, but only for short bursts of time. Enough to test myself, but not enough to leave me debilitated. It took me two weeks to get back into the swing of things after my injury, but the teachers were nice and my classmates helped whenever I needed it. The culture around the academy is known for being competitive, but they had no problem lending a helping hand whenever I needed it. I guess it’s because they’re finally realizing that I work just as hard as the rest of them, and at times, harder, Tristen included. He still gave me the death stare whenever he saw me, but it was better than being a target. I haven’t had an altercation with him or his goons since Summer and I got ambushed in the park. During my stay at the academy, I’ve become a far cry from that kid who couldn’t use his powers when the school year first started. I’ve finally grown into them, and I’m in the process of making them my own.
I’d talked to some of my classmates about it to see if they’ve heard rumors or anything from Mr. Hoover, but everyone was clueless. I’d prefer Erik or Summer. I have good chemistry with both of them, but I’d be open to fighting alongside some of my other classmates. Plus, being in a group of two rather than three means that each person has to pull more of their weight. Hopefully whoever my partner is remembers that whenever we get our new team assignments. Von being under investigation really changed everything, but I wouldn’t let that get in the way of my goals.
That is, until today, a month or so after our first fight, I heard him screaming at me from across the hall.
Chapter 13
“Aiden, you bastard! You took everything from me!” I turn just in time to see Von running through the halls, indiscriminately bulldozing any students in his way.
“Von? No way!” I immediately press and hold the button on my suit, activating my cowl just as he grabs me by the neck and forces me through one of the plaster walls of the interior. I grip his forearm with my hands and activate my powers, causing a dark flame to quickly wrap around him. Once he notices, he flings me a dozen or so feet to rid his body of my flame’s embrace.
“Everything!” Von grasps at his wounded arm. “You ruined my life!” I only touched him for a couple of seconds, but I managed to make the output intense—enough to maybe snap some sense in him. I don’t want this to go as far as he was hoping. If I didn’t have my suit on, he could have seriously hurt me, or worse. “Von...calm down,” I call out after rolling to my feet. “I don’t want to fight you; you’ve got to stop. It’s the Dox! It’s messing with your mind. Look at what you’re doing. You’re damaging the school...you’ve hurt people! You need t—”
“Shut up!” Von bellows. He charges my way and throws a punch with his left hand—the one I hadn’t injured. It comes at me fast, but I’m able to avoid it by weaving underneath. It’s his non-dominant hand, so while it’s powerful, it’s not nearly as coordinated. I channel my power as I rise to hit him with my flash touch, but he reads my movements and delivers a sidekick to my torso b
efore I can connect. A shockwave of pain erupts in my side and my ribs scream in agony. The impact of hitting the ground after traveling several dozen feet is even worse. “You think you can force me out? Is that it? Do you think you’re better than me? Huh? Answer me!” Before I can muster the will to stand, Von grabs me by the leg and lifts me upside down. I release a quick burst of energy directly at him, and it hurts him enough for him to release his hold and back away. Using my hands as springs, I vault onto my feet, ignoring the acute sting resonating from my side. Another wave of dark energy gathers in my hand, and I stand and lunge forward, pushing it against his chest moments before allowing the energy to combust.
That should do it... He doesn’t have a suit like me, so I had to hold back. I know his powers allow him to be highly durable, but I’m stronger now. I don’t want to kill him. He needs help.
“Pathetic.” When the smoke clears, Von’s body towers over me, a malevolent grin across his face despite the damage I’ve done to him with my attack. “You don’t belong here, Cross...never have and never will.”
“How?” I stand in front of him flabbergasted by his endurance. He managed to shrug off another one of my attacks. Is Dox really that strong when combined with his abilities? Has he still been using all of this time?
Von swings at me, but my body’s still shaken from his previous assault. Dodging isn’t an option. His fist races my way, and I extend my arms forward while simultaneously igniting my hands with energy. I parry his punch by using my energy to deter him, but it isn’t enough to slow him down.
“Die!” The wind gets knocked out of me from Von’s knee burying itself in my gut. I keel over and fire a quick burst of energy, but it isn’t enough. He ignores it as if his body is completely numb to pain.
“Von, sto—” My back cracks from his double fisted strike, and I’m forced on all fours. “You...don’t want...to do this,” I force out, managing not to puke in the process.
“Oh, I definitely do.” His boot connects with my ribs and sends me flying into the bricks of another building. I don’t fly through it, but the impact is enough to cause damage to the property. I slide off of the wall and land on one knee, but before I can fully recover, I see a monument of one of the academy’s figureheads go airborne and come speeding my way. If I move out of the way, I run the risk of the monument damaging the building and potentially hurting more students. I’m positive that Von threw it because he knew I wouldn’t have a choice.
With time quickly working against me, I summon my energy in both hands and use it to unleash a huge burst of flames that engulfs the monument before it can crush me. I dampen the power on my flames just in time to see Von running at me, full-speed. He catches me off guard and shoulder charges me through the building at my back, the velocity of his body keeping me pinned to him like a ragdoll. He abruptly stops, and the momentum shoots me across the hall.
The back of my head slams against one of the walls, and I fall to the ground, desperate to draw more power. I cough from the impact and I taste iron in my saliva. Blood. This isn’t just rage, he’s gone insane, and if I let him, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll kill me.
“The teachers won’t save you this time, Cross.” I release a quick pulse of my energy at his feet, but he kicks through my flare before it can reach its true destructive potential. My wrist bends at an unnatural angle, and a sharp pain runs all through the length my arm. Before I can do anything else, he grabs me by the leg, picks me up, and slams me into the ground, cracking the tiles in the hall. “It’s just you and me.”
He picks me up again, but I fire a pulse of my energy at his leg, and he falls on one knee, dropping me to the ground. I discharge another wave of my energy, and it forces him against the same wall I had crashed against moments before.
“You can sti—”
“I don’t care!” Von springs from the crater in the wall, grabs me by the face, and bashes my head against the ground. “You don’t get to tell me anything!” he screams. “All you get to do is die!” He slams me again before launching me back onto the courtyard. With my head spinning and my body bruised, I struggle to stand. I turn back to face where I was thrown from, and I see Von running toward me with his fist cocked back. My body’s too hurt to move anymore, and he’s coming in quick. He roars at the top of his lungs and shoots his fist forward...but it stops inches away from destroying my face.
Wha—
“Aiden! Get out of the way, she can’t hold it forever!” I turn to my left to see Summer gliding on a sheet of ice as she makes her way towards me. Kaci isn’t far behind her, arms outstretched and holding back Von. “Move, Aiden! If he hits you, he’ll kill you,” Summer yells at me. As loud as she is, I can barely make out what she’s saying over Von’s feral cries. She’s right I should move, but I have something else in mind. I can’t take much more, but I can’t sit back while Von wreaks havoc on the academy. He’s after me, so I have to take him down before things get worse... All the people he’s hurt, all the damage he’s done, I have to make sure his rampage comes to an end, and now’s my only chance. “Aiden!”
I push my doubts to the side, channel my remaining strength into my hand and lunge forward just as Kaci’s barrier breaks. I dodge Von’s fist so that his punch slips right past my cheek, and I deliver a blow of my own. Yelling at the top of my lungs as I discharge my energy. A series of flames lash against his chest. It stuns him, but it still isn’t enough. More...I need more! I strain harder, pulling more energy from my body until I feel something inside my forearm rupture. My energy coalesces into a tightly packed ball, and I drive it forward, pushing through the pain. At the end of my reach, the dark sphere of blazing energy shoots from my hand and launches Von into the sky, being propelled by my force, as he screams. Once he’s about a hundred feet up, my energy pulses and expands outward into an explosion of flames. Von plummets from the fallout of the explosion, but a set of vines reach into the sky, wrap around his body, and pull him down safely. It didn’t take long for the teachers to intervene, but it felt like an eternity. I collapse to one knee, retract my cowl to breathe easier, and grip my forearm, which now feels like someone branded it after carving their initials into my bones.
If the fight went on any longer, I don’t think I would have been able to defend myself. I’m tapped, and I really don’t feel right at all. I almost feel sick. Each of Von’s punches were meant to take me out.
“Aiden, are you okay?” Summer skates beside me with her ice and tries to hoist me up.
“Not sure. I think so,” I rasp, my vision blurry and nausea beginning to take hold. “He...definitely broke a couple of bones.”
“Which ones?”
“I...I don’t know. I...I don’t feel too good, Summer.”
“Can you lay down?”
“Yeah.” I nod. I slowly lower myself to the ground, lay flat on my back, and close my eyes, and when I do, it feels like my head is in a freefall.
My thoughts quickly shift from my injuries to the light weight on my forehead and chest, accompanied by a cooling sensation. “It’ll help with the swelling.”
“...Thanks.”
“Is he okay?” I open one of my eyes and see Summer kneeling on the ground beside me and Kaci adjacent to her, standing in shock.
“He’s fine,” Summer answers succinctly, almost in a daze. “He’s fine...”
“What was that? I’ve never seen you do anything like that before,” Kaci says to me, equally amazed and concerned.
“It was me, I guess.” I chuckle weakly and wince.
“Try not to move, Aiden,” Summer says softly. I can tell that she’s trying to be comforting, but she can’t hide the panicked expression in her eyes.
“I—I just know that I wanted him to stop, and I had to make him. The suit wasn’t strong enough,” I huff between pained breaths.
“He was Doxing.” Kaci frowns. “But I’m glad you’re okay. I’m sure you’re going to be all right.”
“I know it was stupid...but I
just couldn’t run away. I didn’t want to. I...I wanted to stay and fight. I wan...ted to prote—”
“Don’t speak,” Summer whispers in a soothing tone. “Save your energy. Help is on the way.” I exhale slowly, heeding Summer’s words, the pain in my body becoming more apparent.
Help?
In the foreground, I look at the students now gathered around the perimeter of the battle, watching silently, grief-stricken. Some of the students are turning away in tears while others show no emotion—Tristen’s one of those. Our eyes meet, but they break once I cough, and flecks of blood splatter onto the ground. I may have underestimated my injuries.
“Out of the way! I’m a healer!” A male student—an upperclassman—rushes to my side and Summer instantly makes room for him. He places his hands on my chest, and my breathing slowly begins to improve. There’s nothing else to focus on, so I focus on him and his pained expression as he works to better my condition. Summer looks at me from over the healer’s shoulder, but she eventually turns away. Kaci rubs her back and says something. I can’t make it out, but I see her nod. I watch her for a bit, I’m not sure how long, and then, her eyes catch something and she breaks away. It’s Mr. Hoover. She leads him by the hand and directs him over to me.
“Sorry I’m late, there were other students and—You’re going to be just fine, Aiden.” Mr. Hoover touches me on the forehead and I feel a rush of warmth fall over me. “Summer, use your ice to lower his body temperature. Kaci, lift him and help me escort him to the proper facilities where we can better assist him. We aren’t too far from the infirmary. Quickly, ladies! Time is of the essence!”
I try my best to stay conscious, but Mr. Hoover’s healing takes too much out of me, and I drift off.
Chapter 14
As soon as I open my eyes, I awaken to find Summer by my side. I don’t know what day it is, or the time, but she’s curled up in loungewear on one of the guest chairs with a blanket and a chemistry book cracked open, her worst subject. She’d been complaining how we had that test coming up, but she couldn’t find the time to study, but that she was going to carve some out of her schedule, even if that meant slacking at the gym for a week or two. When I told her it wasn’t that bad, she threatened to turn my note cards into throwing cards. I know she didn’t mean it, but it’s still funny to see her as she is now. When she’s asleep you’d think she was a totally different person. I wonder if that’s the way she feels when she sees me?
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