Power Trilogy Book One: An Ancient Power

by Ethan Ransom Becker

  Chapter Eight

  Kyle walked home in a mix of emotions. He was confused by what Emma talked about all of this happening for a reason. Kyle had never truly believed in “fate”, but what were the chances of this happening randomly? He still felt guilty about his last encounter with Jules and Justin. He checked his phone and saw that neither Jules nor Justin had yet to respond to his messages. Also, he had no idea what to feel about Tony’s revelation about Emma. The kid was new, so he most likely didn’t know Kyle’s feelings toward Emma (not that Emma knew about them, either).

  Yet despite all of this, Kyle noticed that his power was increasing. He had just drawn a significant amount of power while just listening to Tony talk about Emma. What truly scared him about it was the fact that he didn’t even notice he was doing it. If Tony hadn’t said anything, who knows how much energy he would have evoked before noticing; it might not have been enough to control. Luckily though, he was able to release it all quietly, but people were bound to notice the two streaks of blackened asphalt.

  There were many things that Kyle still had no idea about this power, but two things were certain at this point. One was that it grew stronger every day, with every little growth of the vessels. The other was that the power was dangerous.

  When he turned the corner and was back on Twin Oaks, Kyle felt his cell phone begin to vibrate from inside his jean pocket. He pulled it out and checked the caller ID. He was immediately hoping it was either Jules or Justin, but sighed when he saw that it was Sarah who was calling. He hit the answer button and said, “Hello?”

  “Kyle,” he heard Sarah’s voice say, “Where are you?”

  “I’m just down the road. I’ll be home in a minute. What do you want?” he asked blankly.

  “Oh. Testy today,” she said in an undertone. “Mom’s going to order pizza tonight; said she didn’t feel like cooking. She texted me to ask you what you wanted, which is weird, because why wouldn’t she just ask you. I mean, you have a phone, and you know how to use it, hence our conversation. Why does she always have to…”

  “Pepperoni,” Kyle finally said before she could give him a headache. “Tell her I want pepperoni.”

  “Oh,” she said. Kyle still figured that she had no idea when she was about to go on ranting.

  “Sarah,” Kyle continued. “We need to talk about your ranting. It’s……it’s……ge-…getting…”

  It was happening again. A big one. Kyle could feel it. His arms shook violently, and his legs had failed him. He somehow kept his phone up to his ear long enough to hear Sarah ask his name twice before his fingers just failed to keep a grip on it. His knees hit the sidewalk after the phone did. His breathing was shallow and raspy. His hands were clenched so hard they hurt, and the same for his arms. He managed to stay propped up on his knees, but the pain was so much his senses hardly worked. He had very little perception on what was going on around him. All he felt was the pain. The deep, throbbing pain; the pain of power growing. It hurt so much he couldn’t even make a sound, not even a whimper. The vessels were glowing so bright even his dark blue sweatshirt couldn’t hide them.

  Yet, there was something else this time. He felt a feeling of dread, that something was just beyond the horizon, waiting for him. He had no idea what it was, yet somehow had the feeling that he had been expecting it for a while now.

  Someone had run up to him, but he couldn’t tell who it was. They were talking, too. Kyle could tell it was a girl’s voice, but whose? They were rubbing his back gently and speaking his name in his ear. It hurt too much to turn his head to see who it was. He couldn’t show it, but Kyle started to panic in his head. Was this the one who he was waiting for?

  The pain was starting to fade. His entire body relaxed and just slumped forward. He would have hit the ground if someone hadn’t been propping him up with their arms.

  “Kyle?” the voice said quietly. “Kyle, are you okay?”

  It took a few seconds for Kyle to recognize the voice as Sarah’s. He started to relax. His breathing and heart slowed significantly.

  He coughed, saying, “Yeah, I think I’m good.”

  He attempted to stand up by himself, which didn’t work, and he was back on his knees. The second time Sarah held on to his arm, and was able to get up. Sarah scooped up his phone and helped him get home.

  Once they got back inside, Kyle immediately went over to the couch and just collapsed. Sarah took one of the chairs next to it. Kyle closed his eyes, but he could tell Sarah was just watching him. He would have fallen asleep if Sarah didn’t say something.

  “You are not okay,” she said.

  Without opening his eyes, he said, “I told you. I’m fine.”

  “Then why do you look terrible, beyond the usual?” she asked.

  Kyle felt his temper start to rise, but didn’t have the energy to be angry at her jab. He repositioned himself to where he was sitting up properly on the couch.

  Sarah continued. “Since the day you touched that alien, you’ve only gotten worse and worse.”

  “I’m fine,” Kyle repeated.

  “You don’t look fine,” Sarah said.

  “You don’t understand,” Kyle said.

  “Neither do you, probably,” Sarah pointed out.

  “Yeah, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Kyle said. “I am getting better. Every day I get more control over this energy. I feel it.”

  “Then what were you mumbling out there?”

  Kyle looked up at her in confusion. “Mumbling?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “You were mumbling something about ‘it’s coming’, and how you need more power. What was all of that about?”

  Kyle wasn’t even aware that he was mumbling. He did remember feeling fear earlier for no specific reason. Something had to be coming; it was the only explanation for that fear and his supposed mumbling to himself. But what? He couldn’t remember. It was like trying to remember a dream after waking up. Whenever he thought he was close to what it was, it slipped away.

  When he didn’t answer, Sarah handed him his phone and went upstairs. He just twisted the phone around in his hands before he noticed the vessels on his hands. They were bigger; now most of his palms were covered by them. He pushed his sleeves up to see that the vessels were wider now. More of his arms were blue now than they were their original tone.

  All of this was both terrible and amazing. Amazing because it meant he was more powerful every day. Terrible because he knew that before this was over, he probably wasn’t even going to look human. All he wished was that there was a way to just let it all go, to get it all out of his body.

  His temper was rising, and so was the energy stored up in the vessels. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He shoved his phone into his pocket and went out to the back yard.

  It was raining lightly, but was still cold. Kyle just paced the perimeter of the yard, his shoes making squishy noises as he walked through the wet ground. He just walked. He couldn’t think; his brain refused to work for him. He couldn’t think about anything. All he wanted was for it all to be over, for it to have all been a dream, for the energy currently coursing through him to just leave. He prayed for it to leave; he willed for it to leave. It was all he ever wanted all summer. But every morning, he woke up and the vessels were still there. This wasn’t a dream; this was real. They had ruined his friendships and his life.

  He was so angry, he punched the fence. When he did, he felt energy shoot through his arm and split the piece of fence he had just punched into three pieces.

  He felt his phone vibrate once, signaling that he received a text message. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID. The text came from Justin.

  They were answering. Kyle got excited. The first sign of forgiveness he had gotten. It at least meant that they had read his messages. No matter what the message said, this was a step in the right direction. He almost thought they hated him now, but this changed everything. It was a step toward going back to how things used to be.r />
  In his excitement, he almost didn’t read the message. He opened it and read Jules wants to talk to you. Can we come over? Kyle quickly looked over his shoulder to Julianne’s window. Her blinds were closed, but Kyle had a feeling she was just there watching him.

  Kyle opened a new message on his phone and typed out Yeah, come on over. I’m in the back yard.

  That probably would give Kyle just a couple of minutes to get ready. He leaned against the gate to the yard, waiting for them to show up.

  Sure enough, Kyle heard the promising sounds of a door being closed and squishy footsteps coming his way. When he guessed that they were close enough, he opened the gate. Jules and Justin were whispering among themselves until they saw Kyle waiting for them. All three of them just stood where they were for several minutes in silence.

  Kyle stared at his shoes until he said, “hey.”

  Justin spoke first. “Hey, Kyle,” he said. “How are you doing?”

  Kyle lied, saying, “I’m doing better. I’m glad you guys finally wanted to talk to me.”

  “It was mostly Jules,” Justin said, nudging his sister playfully. “You know I couldn’t hold a grudge to save my life.”

  Kyle snickered at that response, since it was so true. Justin was trying to make the moment as light as possible, which Kyle really appreciated. Afterwards, though, it was really quiet until Kyle said, “Well, I guess come on in,” and beckoned them into the backyard.

  Jules and Justin entered the back yard and immediately turned back to Kyle, who closed the gate to the fence behind him. Jules was watching him expectantly. Kyle knew what she was wanting, and didn’t wait another second to give it to her.

  “I am so sorry about what I said to you a few days ago,” he said. “You were trying to help me feel better, and I lost my temper and took it out on you, and you don’t deserve that.”

  Jules looked around everywhere except at Kyle, and said, “That’s a good start.”

  Kyle thought about his next response. When nothing good came to mind, he said, “What do you mean by that? What do you want?”

  She locked on to him with deadly eyes. “All you’re sorry about is what happened a few days ago?” she said. “What about the rest of the summer? Granted, you spent two weeks in a coma that wasn’t your fault, but you haven’t been out all summer. You haven’t been with anyone but us and Emma.”

  Kyle was taken aback by that last part. “Wait, how did you know I was out with Emma?”

  “Dude, she texted us after you left her at her house,” Justin explained.

  “Okay,” Kyle said, “then what do you mean about ‘the rest of summer?’”

  “You gave up on life,” Jules said. “I couldn’t believe it at first, but it was obvious when you left us at the mall in a storm that you had. You’ve left your house twice now since summer began, and now all we have is a few weeks until school starts again. You gave up on life,” she said, tears forming around her eyes, “and you gave up on your friends.”

  Kyle couldn’t remember the last time he saw Jules crying for real. Seeing her tears opened Kyle’s eyes to what he had really done to her. He figuratively snapped their friendship apart when he left her at the mall.

  “Julianne,” he began, much more sincerely, “I am so sorry. I’m so sorry I don’t even think I could begin to explain how sorry I am. Can you ever forgive me?”

  Julianne stared into his face. After a few seconds, she walked over and hugged him tightly. Kyle dropped his hands onto her shoulders. She didn’t say anything, so Kyle asked, “Is this forgiveness?”

  “Yes,” she said from in his arms. “Don’t you ever do that again. You aren’t alone; me, Justin, Emma, and everyone you know cares about you. Never forget that.”

  “I promise,” Kyle said.

  “Good,” she said, patting his back and finally letting go. “So,” she said, “are you going to Emma’s party?”

  Kyle shrugged and said, “I got nothing better to do. I finished all of my homework weeks ago.”

  “Really?” Justin asked.

  “Yeah,” Kyle said. “What do you think I’ve been doing inside all summer?”

  “Dude, you’ve been holding out on me. Help me out, man,” Justin said.

  “Sure,” Kyle agreed. “Let me just go get my stuff and I’ll meet you at your room.”

  “Awesome,” Justin said, pumping his fist. “I owe you for this, man. C’mon, let’s go, Jules.”

  They left the back yard as Kyle went back into his house. He couldn’t help but smile. He had his friends back, he had a party coming up, and life wasn’t looking so dreary from here on out. He had a plan now, and he had friends to back him up.