The Shadows stopped directly across from Alex and Mark a mile away. They looked at the duo in shock when they spotted them floating in the air with no Shadows around them to support them. Before they could ask, the Shadows holding them in the air dissipated and they started to fall.
“We have to help them!” Mark shot toward his shocked falling friends in hopes of aiding them. Jack grabbed his shoulder and dragged him back.
“Hey! What was that for?” Mark shouted.
“You can’t get them. This is the only way to see if any other powers will manifest.”
They waited to see if they would begin to fly. They didn’t pass through the canopy. But they didn’t stop either.
“Think about flying!” Alex cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled.
“What? Are you insane?” David shouted back. His voice was wobbly, wavering in and out of volume, filled to the brim in panic. They were getting closer to the treetops.
“Just do it!” Alex shouted. They shut their eyes and covered their heads. Just before they could disappear beneath the canopy, they all stopped falling and started to float.
“Think of flying upward!” shouted Mark. They flew upward.
“Whoa! What is going on?” Brooke exclaimed in amazement. Mark and Alex flew uncontrollably over to them. They wobbled and dipped and swerved, struggling to fly in a straight path. From Nicole’s point of view, they looked like babies who were learning how to walk for the first time. Apparently, flying up and down was much easier than flying straight.
“How is this possible?” asked Nicole. Before Alex could answer, his head suddenly felt light and dizzy. Alex’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he, along with Mark, began to plummet. Before they could disappear beneath the leaves, Jack flew down and caught them.
“Are you guys okay?” called Brooke from up above.
“I don’t know. I’m really dizzy, though,” Mark said.
With one hand, Mark clung onto Jack’s arm and with the other he covered his eyes as the world around him spun. Jack slowly descended to the ground, careful to not drop the teens. David and the girls followed close behind.
“Um...I think I’m starting to feel a bit dizzy too,” said David as he fell, soon after, the girls followed. Jack shot out his hand and three Shadows zoomed over and caught the three, setting them softly on the ground.
“You had this ability manifest itself only recently. You have no idea how to use it and I’m surprised you held up for so long. You did good for your first time,” Jack complimented. “Don’t worry. It will become easier with practice, and soon you will think of flying as something as normal as walking. However, one problem everyone faces is that it’s tiring and it tends to exhaust you. Don’t use it more than you need to. If you use it too much, you won’t be able to fly for a while. But a quick period of rest should fix that.”
“That’s great and all but what’s with chasing us around with those Shadows? Or that barrier thingy keeping us in? Oh, and, why did you try to kill us?” Nicole ranted, throwing her hands up in the air. Jack held up his index finger to stop her from continuing.
“Ah, yes tried, not succeeded.”
“That’s besides the point! We could be dead right now if it wasn’t for our ‘powers manifesting’ or whatever you called it.”
“Precisely. I had to create a near-death situation to force them to manifest. You aren’t dead, are you? Even if your powers didn’t save you, I coated the forest floor with a specific transparent substance that would feel as though you were jumping on a mattress if you were to fall on it.”
“Oh…” Nicole stared blankly at him, astonished, but not quite over her anger.
“Now we know you can all fly. I will be happy to teach you how to control that ability of yours. We will be able to see how fast you can go and how high you can go before you run out of oxygen. After all, I had to go through the same experience.”
“When do you start teaching us?” asked Brooke.
“Now.”
“We just got chased around the woods by Shadows and dropped hundreds of feet in the air and almost died. You want us to start now?” David complained. “Alex! How do you feel about all of this? You haven’t said a word!” David turned to Alex who was standing silently with his arms crossed over his chest.
“There’s no time better to learn than the present,” Alex replied, shrugging his shoulders.
“Great! We are all gonna die!” David shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “I give up!”
“Did you not hear what I said to Nicole? I’ll keep my Shadows in check. But don’t blame me if I slip and the Shadows send you to your death,” Jack smirked. “But that won’t come until later. Right now, I’m gonna teach you to fly properly. It really is simple. It might not even take more than a day. But then again you did learn about all of this recently and they only manifested a number of minutes ago. This might take longer than I thought. We will have to see!
“Tell yourself to fly,” Jack clapped his hands together in order to gather their attention. Doing as Jack had instructed, they began to chant in an awkward tone, “Fly! Fly! Let’s go! Fly!” But nothing happened. Jack laughed at their ignorance.
“Sorry, it seems I might have to be a bit more specific. Just think of flying. Think of what you felt earlier when you were up in the air. Think of the danger of falling, but don’t be afraid of that danger. Don’t let yourselves be bound by the chains of gravity. Think of being free.”
Alex closed his eyes and repeated Jack’s words in his head. He imagined the chains keeping him down on the earth. He willed to fly. Slowly, the chains cracked and broke. Alex opened his eyes to see his feet were no longer on the ground, but looming over the treetops. He hadn’t realized he had gone up so far. Alex looked up from his feet to see his friends hovering in the air in a circle with Jack in the middle.
“Like I said. It isn’t that hard. But now that you have the flying thing down I need to know what your air capacity is,” Jack observed.
“How are we supposed to figure that out?” David asked with an eyebrow raised.
“You fly up, of course. The whole flying thing, it’s simple really.”
“Yes, you keep saying that. So, you want us to just go up?” Brooke tilted her head back to look up at the clouds.
“When do we stop?” asked Nicole.
“When you can’t breathe anymore,” Jack replied.
“Do you want us to all go up at the same time?” Mark asked.
“Only when you think you’re ready,” Jack nodded. Alex didn’t wait for any more conversation. He had all the instruction he needed. Alex shot up toward the clouds, eager to get away.
“Hey, Alex! Wait for us!” shouted Mark as he and the others shot up after him. Alex didn’t wait for them. He flew as far as he could. The smell of the fresh and clean air. The sound of it whizzing past him. It was glorious. Alex hit the clouds and zipped through them, sending a puffy white trail in his wake.
He refused to stop, despite the glare of the sun reflecting off the clouds, burning his eyes. Long past the highest cloud, the sky turned a dark blue, indicating he was getting closer to space. Realizing his friends were no longer with him, he stopped and looked down. They were nowhere to be seen. With a moment of hesitation, Alex decided to continue and didn’t stop until the air grew thin and he was gasping for oxygen. He moved down a bit so that he could breathe easier, finally stopping where the edge of the mesosphere met with the thermosphere.
Alex floated there in the air and stared up at the stars. They were so much bigger there than down on the ground. Alex lost his mind in the wonder of it all as he stared at the white bright lights that twinkled throughout the vast blackness of space. When he finally realized he had places to be, he shot down into the clouds reluctantly, the passage of time lost to him.
TWENTY-EIGHT
When Alex re
ached the troposphere, he found Jack and the others waiting for him. Jack watched Alex with crossed arms and a smile plastered across his face.
“And here he comes! It’s not like we were waiting for him or anything,” said Nicole with a hint of sarcasm.
“How far did you go?” asked Jack, ignoring Nicole’s comment.
“Sorry I took so long. I had to stop where the mesosphere meets the thermosphere,” Alex answered apologetically, his eyes bright with excitement, “if I remember those terms correctly.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t go any higher, or the Space Crawlers would have gotten hold of you,” Jack chuckled, his smile broadening.
“What are Space Crawlers?” asked Mark.
“It is nothing but a fairytale our parents tell us as children, mostly to keep us from going up too far,” said Jack as he waved off the question.
“Can you tell us the story? I love stories!” Brooke clasped her hands together, and all heads turned to her with questioning expressions.
“What? I do.” Brooke placed her hands back at her sides.
“I would love to tell you the story.” Jack looked around at the eager faces. Excitement of the memories of past stories glinted in his eyes. “As the story goes, Space Crawlers are horrendous creatures, for they have no conscience. These creatures originated from humanity and Equelibreiangeria. Space Crawlers are formed whenever a terrible deed is done or a terrible thought is created in one’s mind. The strongest and the most powerful among this species are human souls themselves.
“They are the remnants of a human’s soul when they die a gruesome death. It is a terrible fate to have. When they are born, they are equal to that of a monster, but if they continue to evolve they may regain their bodies from their previous lives. These creatures are doomed to the loneliness of space. The Space Crawlers have a growing hatred for anything and everything that lives and breathes on Earth. They would attempt to destroy this planet itself if it wasn’t for their inability to get past the thermosphere. They certainly have the power to. Can you recall the Apollo 13 mission?”
“It’s the one that failed, right?” asked David. “We learned about it in science last year.”
“It was aborted after a rupture of the service module oxygen tank,” Brooke said matter-of-factly.
“That’s right. Do you know what caused that rupture?” asked Jack.
“I don’t remember if they told us that part,” said David as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked to Brooke for answers, who in turn shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.
“Some conspiracy theorists believe it was the Space Crawlers who had attacked the oxygen tank with the intent to kill the astronauts inside, but they were stopped before they could get to the point where the oxygen ran out completely. The stories of the Space Crawlers are told everywhere in Equelibreiangeria; in Heltiana, and…,” Jack trailed off and seethed for a moment, as if recalling a bad memory. It was brief, but long enough for most of them to pick up on it.
“And…? What?,” asked Nicole, ignoring his moment of anger.
“Apologies, I lost my train of thought,” Jack explained. “They were described as extraordinarily powerful and enormously feared creatures. As a kid, this story frightened me to the bone. But as you can see I am not a storyteller.”
“I don’t know about that. I am somewhat frightened.” Mark shrugged. His hands were shaking and clammy with sweat. When did that happen? Mark thought. Mark opened and closed his fists before wiping them against his pants.
“Well, good.” Jack looked at Mark’s hands, pleased with the effects of his story.
“Why can’t they get past the thermosphere?” Alex asked.
“No idea, again, they are just things made to keep kids from flying too far and dying in space. That happened more than enough times to make parents come up with these fictitious creatures. There are quite a few more story-like versions, much like your Little Red Riding Hood, but I’ll attempt at telling one another time. Now!” Jack clapped his hands together and everyone jumped at the sudden outburst. “Only two more lessons before we call it a day. And if we can get them both in today, we might not have to do them again. First, we will test speed. Then, we will handle actually flying with control.”
“Speed? Do we have a limit to how fast we can go?” asked Nicole.
“That’s what I want to see. Then we will have just a small race to see how fast you are compared to each other.”
“Are you planning on timing us? With what?” Mark gestured toward the air. As if to answer his question, a handful of Shadows appeared from behind Jack and burst through the air. The Shadows swirled around them and then scattered all over the sky. After a few minutes of this, they all conjoined together and formed a massive timer in the air, the numbers made out of gaps in the large blob of shadow where the sky peeked through to the other side..
“With that.” Jack nodded toward the timer without looking at it.
“Okay. That’ll work, I guess,” Mark replied, staring at the purplish black timer in the sky with a bewildered expression on his face.
“Don’t worry, this will only be some friendly competition. Brooke, why don’t you go first? Show us how fast you can go.”
Brooke sighed, “why do I have to be first? ugh.” She took off flying. Brooke stopped at a finish line Jack formed with his Shadows that he said was exactly six miles away. Jack mumbled something before shouting, “Good job! Nine minutes and seven seconds!” Brooke flew back and looked scornfully at Jack for making her go first.
“I’ll go next.” David thrust his hand in the air. Jack nodded at David and he took his place. Jack shouted ‘go!’ and he flew.
“Congratulations! Six seconds faster than Brooke!” Jack shouted. David came back with a triumphant grin. Brooke crossed her arms across her chest and glared.
“My turn. I’ll get a better score than either of you two,” declared Nicole as she took off. When she came back, Jack announced her score.
“Eight minutes and fifty-nine seconds.”
“Ha! In your faces!” Nicole put her left hand on her hip and with her right hand, jabbed her pointer finger into David’s chest. David scowled. When Nicole turned away, David nodded to Brooke and they both chuckled before bumping the backs of their fists together. Alex wondered what plan they could possibly be forming.
“During the race, we will beat you to the finish line!” Brooke exclaimed. Nicole turned and began to banter with the two with a competitive smirk.
“Mark, you’re up!” Jack ignored the bickering trio and continued. Mark took off on Jack’s command.
“Now, what do we have here? You have the same score as our competitive friend, Nicole! Eight minutes and fifty-nine seconds!” Nicole eyed Mark as he made his way back.
“I’m going to be the one to beat that time. Just watch!” Mark flew past her and hovered next to Jack.
“Highly unlikely!”
“You’ll see!” Mark replied.
“Yeah, we’ll see!” Nicole rolled her eyes at Mark’s stubbornness.
“Alex, you—” Jack was cut off when Alex zoomed past him and took off toward the finish line. Alex adored flying. He was living the impossible in an impossible world. For all he knew, he was just dreaming. If anyone else had this opportunity, they would have done the same. Well, his friends weren’t doing what he was doing, but if they were him… Alex burst into a broad smile and laughed aloud with excitement.
The ability for humans to fly was beyond all comprehension. It was against the laws of physics. He hadn’t even flown for more than a day, but he still felt a strange welcoming feeling while he soared through the air. He felt freedom that he had never felt before. He was no longer bound by his adoptive parents’ laws and expectations or even the rules of gravity. He felt home. He was finally free!
Alex caught sight of a large, dark, and smoky fini
sh line just ahead of him, floating in the air. Alex felt an adrenaline rush as he shot toward it. Not bothering to stop, Alex placed his feet on the shadowy finish line and used it to push himself off. The large banner made of Shadows dissipated beneath his feet as he took off.
When Alex came in sight with Jack and the others, he tried to slow down but his body refused to listen and he barreled on. Knowing that stopping was useless, Alex swerved around Jack and flew into a tree trunk face-first. That certainly helped him stop. Alex slid down the trunk a ways before falling through the air a few feet. When Alex finally found his way back to Jack, everyone was laughing their heads off. Even Jack was struggling to stifle his laughter.
“Seven minutes is your time!” Jack avoided Alex’s eyes for fear if they made contact he would officially lose it.
“You beat my time?” David managed to pull himself together for a few mere seconds before bursting into uncontrollable laughter once more. Watching his friends struggle to form words caused even Alex to laugh a bit.
“Okay, let’s just do the race. Mark is ready to eat my dust now,” said Nicole as she took in a fresh breath of air and calmed her laughter. Mark straightened at this and locked eyes with her.
”The only thing I’ll be tasting is that finish line.”
“You won’t be tasting anything if you don’t get ready,” said Jack, gesturing impatiently in front of him. The five of them hovered in a line and readied themselves for the next few words.
“Ready! Set! Go!”
Alex took off as fast as he could fly at Jack’s words. When he reached the newly formed finish line. he turned to see how far behind his friends were. They had barely left the starting line. Alex watched, puzzled, noticing that they were barely moving at all. They looked as though they were moving in slow motion.
The Abnormals: Book One Page 19
