by Hayden, Sean
She pulled next to me and both doors opened as the engine shut off. Clarisse got out first and a woman with black hair soon followed. I gulped as she got out of the car. She wore black jeans and a black T-shirt. She even had black Converse high-tops on. Wow.
“Connor, this is your new instructor, Raven.”
“Let me guess, because she wears all black?”
“No. Because she’ll claw your eyes out if you do anything stupid. So quit talking,” Clarisse answered.
The new girl didn’t even smile. “Hello,” I said and earned a nod from her.
“Raven is a Reaper like you. She’ll teach you your duties and so forth. She also will be helping you try to control your magic.”
“Okay… I thought you were helping me with that.”
“Relax. I’m not going anywhere. I’m still your babysitter for the next century or so.”
And it was at that moment that the true meaning of the word immortal sank in. I didn’t have to worry about getting married, finding a job, raising a family, retirement, 401(k)s, nursing homes, or adult diapers. I would be the way I was for centuries. Maybe even millennia, provided I didn’t get myself killed to death. “Wow.”
“What?”
“Century. Long time. Immortal moment.”
“Welcome to what you wished for,” Raven finally spoke.
Her voice sounded like someone had mixed black paint with smoke. She wasn’t raspy, or even a baritone, it just held an edge of darkness tinged with something that would be very bad for you. She sounded dangerous.
I nodded my agreement. “Just kind of hit me all at once.”
“I can imagine. You’re very lucky, human.”
“Alright. I’ll leave you two to get to it.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Work. Remember? I wasn’t kidding when I said they were gearing up for Christmas. Don’t worry, Raven won’t hurt you. Much.”
“Okay. Have fun. Thanks,” I said and tried to muster as much sarcasm into it as inhumanly possible. Clarisse shot me an evil grin, letting me know I had succeeded.
“Center of the field, now. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
I followed her out into the circle of grass that had been cut out of the surrounding trees. She held out both hands and motioned me to put mine in hers. I did as she asked and gasped at the coolness of her skin.
“What?”
“Your hands are cold.”
“I am pulling with them.”
“What does that mean?”
“I am told that you have already Reaped a soul. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Remember how you pulled the soul from the body of the mortal?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“That is what I’m doing now.”
I almost yanked my hands from her grip. “Stop!”
“Relax, young one. I cannot rip the soul from the body of a Fallen. None can. Our bodies are not vessels for souls. They are one. It is one of the sources of our powers.”
“Oh. Okay,” I said and relaxed a little.
“I am pulling so my body will absorb the magic that you throw off. That way there will be no…accidents.”
“Ahhh. Gotcha.”
“Now, push with your magic like you wished to do me harm.”
“You can do that?”
“Yes. As long as you’re touching your opponent, your magic can be quite damaging.”
“Can’t shoot it though, huh?”
“Pardon?”
“Shoot it. Like fire lightning bolts or magic missiles from your hands.”
“Some can, but only the very strongest of us. The ones you would have considered archangels before the Rift.”
“Damn. That would have been cool.”
“More likely, dangerous.”
I nodded and closed my eyes. I pulled the magic from inside me and hurled it with everything I had from the center of myself and outward through my arms. One second Raven was holding my hands and the next, she wasn’t. I opened my eyes to see her sprawled out on the ground five feet away, rubbing her hands vigorously.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I wasn’t expecting that, I will tell you.” She stood and walked back to where I stood. “Again, but this time try and control it. You want me to feel it, but you don’t want to cause damage.”
I concentrated again and let the power trickle outward. Again, her hands flew from mine. Again, she was on the ground rubbing her hands against her pants. “I did it again?”
“Yes. But I noticed something.”
“What?”
“The amount of power was still incredible, but it was a different sensation.”
“And that means what?”
“I don’t know, but we will find out. I have a theory.”
“Oh good. Theories are good.”
She nodded, not understanding my sarcasm. “Again, but I want you to try something different.”
“What?”
“I want you to… I want you to imagine sticking my hand with the smallest of needles.”
I nodded, closed my eyes and gave it another shot. She said nothing. I opened my eyes and saw her grimacing in pain, but holding on. I stopped pushing. “I guess your theory worked.”
“It did. This time keep your eyes open. Do the same again, but picture more needles.”
I did what she asked. Her face went from grimacing to contorting with pain. “Want me to stop?”
“No. Picture more needles. Longer ones.”
I did exactly as she asked. Quickly, she gave a shout and let go. At least I didn’t blast her away from me this time. “Did I do it right?”
“Yes. And we have the key to your control.”
“Needles?”
“No. Intent.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Your magic is too…raw, for lack of a better word. Instead of controlling the magic, control what you intend to do with it. For example, when you turned the boy into a vampire, instead of focusing on turning him into a vampire, you should have focused on telling his body to turn him into a vampire, slowly. Does that make sense?”
“Oddly enough, it does.”
I thought about it, and instead of screwing the idea up, it actually began to make even more sense. “Give me a second, I want to try something,” I said to her and walked over to my scooter. I raised my fist and punched the metal fender, putting a nice sized dent in it. The last time I had tried this, I left a molten hole. This time, instead of throwing my magic at it and telling it to fix itself, I ran my hand over the dent and slowly imagined tiny hammers making it whole once again. When I no longer felt the dent, I moved my hand. The paint was still messed up, but the fender was fixed, and more importantly, not melted.
“Better?”
I turned to Raven and nodded. “So far. Now I just have to fix the paint.”
Again, I held my hand over the damage. This would be a little tougher. I imagined all the paint molecules letting go and doubling in size. As I felt it squirm beneath my hand, I imagined it hardening once again.
This time, when I moved my hand, you couldn’t tell there had ever been any damage to the area. “Perfect,” I said and turned around.
“Good.” Raven nodded and called her blade into being. “Since that took less time than I expected, let’s get some weapons training in.
I looked at her sword. Like mine it was matte black with reddish runes on it, but she had only the one. I nodded and called mine into being. The more I did it, the more the blades felt comfortable, right, in my hands. “I’m warning you…”
“Don’t get cocky, I sincerely doubt you will best me.”
“That’s not what I was going to say. I was warning you that I suck and I’m nowhere near as good as Clarisse…”
“Oh. Then we will focus on weapons training as a part of your daily routine. You never know when the need to defend yourself will arise.”
“Oh goody.”
She seemed pe
rplexed by my statement. Raven didn’t get sarcasm at all. “You actually wish for combat?”
I sighed. “No. That was sarcasm.”
“Ah, forgive me. It has been long since I have ventured to your realm.”
“Don’t get out much, huh?”
“To say the least. Your world is best left to the youngest of us.”
“Like Clarisse.”
“And you. And others. We elders tend to live solitary lives. I only came forth because I was asked.”
“Because of your experience?”
“That and my power,” she replied.
“You’re…an archangel?” I didn’t have a better word.
She nodded and I watched her eyes smolder with black fire. “We do not call ourselves that.”
“What do you call yourselves then?”
“Damned,” she replied sadly and I could almost feel the pain pour off her.
“Are things so bad?”
“If you knew what we used to be, what was taken from us, then you would know exactly how much we have lost.”
I began walking toward her, readying my blades. “I’m young, and I’m not that bright, but it seems to me that all of you, the Chosen included, would be a lot happier if you stopped focusing on what you were and started worrying about what you could be.”
Raven laughed, not unkindly either. “I think you should stop thinking of yourself as not that bright. To me, you seem a little wiser than your years should allow. Ready?”
And thus began the most tiring, rigorous, dangerous workout I could have imagined. She blocked my two blades with her one every time, without effort. Before I even began to think about moving, she was already there, knocking my blade aside and tapping me with her blade. She was utterly amazing. The sword seemed to be more a part of her than a weapon. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up.
“How can you be so fast?”
“It will come in time. You’re actually at a disadvantage. You may have unbelievable raw power, but you’re limiting your body by having been human. You only think you’re moving as fast as you can. You could actually move a lot faster if you believed it.”
“I only know what I’m used to. I don’t know how to be different.”
“I know. It is why I said it will come in time. The more you practice, the quicker you will learn how very much you can do.”
She finally slapped both my blades from my hands with a well-placed attack of her own. They dissipated into nothingness before hitting the ground. “Wow,” I said simply.
She nodded. “Enough for today.”
“Thanks, Raven. You helped me a lot today.”
“I will help you more tomorrow.”
Chapter 10
I spent the rest of the week going to school, training with Raven, doing homework, and spending as much time as I could with Jess. By the time Friday rolled around, I was more than ready for the weekend. Thanksgiving was the following week, so it would be a short week at school. But for now I wanted nothing more than to relax and take Jess to a movie like I had promised.
Her dad would be dropping her off at the theater at eight. That left me two hours to train with Raven, get home, take a shower, and meet her there. I headed to the clearing right after school.
She was there, waiting in her usual spot, just like always. “Hi, Raven.”
“Greetings again, young one,” she said and drew her blade before I even got off my scooter.
“Pushy,” I said.
“You never know when trouble might show up at your door.”
“What do you mean?”
She sighed and banished her blade. “We elders are blessed with many gifts. Some more than others. While I make no claims to having the ability of divination, I do often have a sense of a change in the winds.”
“We’re getting a storm?”
“Of sorts. The winds I spoke of are more of change.” She walked closer to me and looked into my eyes. “Be careful in the times ahead. Change is coming for you. Times might get…difficult. Remember your training should you ever find the need for it.”
I nodded and didn’t like the sound of that at all. Change was never good. “I will, thank you.”
“Come, draw your weapons.”
And so we sparred for almost all of the two hours I had to spare. By the time we were finished, my arms felt like lead. I wasn’t sweaty, and I wasn’t dirty. I was just tired.
“Enough,” she said and banished her blades. “I believe it is the custom of the humans in this world to ‘take the weekend off’ is it not?”
I laughed. “Yes. It is.”
“Then I shall see you after two days’ time. Enjoy yourself. Monday starts the difficult portion of your training.”
“Advanced swordplay?” I had meant it as a joke.
“No, you are not ready yet. Maybe in a decade or so. Monday we begin training you on collecting souls.”
I shuddered at the thought. “Great.”
“More of your sarcasm, I see. Does not the thought appeal to you?”
“Not even a little bit.”
“Good,” she said and turned to leave.
I watched her walk to the edge of the woods. I had no idea where she went after she left me standing in the field every afternoon, nor did I dare to follow. Raven didn’t seem to be the type to tolerate anyone spying on her.
I did have to admit, she was pretty amazing. I thought Darius was scary, but Raven made him seem…small. I guess being an archangel made you seem that way.
I smiled. I couldn’t even imagine being that scary or having that much power. Although, being able to fling fireballs would be pretty nifty. I drew back my hand and threw an imaginary fireball at a large rock twenty feet away. I yelled, “Whoosh,” as I pushed with just a bit of power and imagined a fiery sphere hurtling toward it.
When the fireball impacted, it exploded and knocked me on my ass. The grass around it was scorched black and smoldering in the afternoon sun.
“Holy shit!” I scrambled to my feet and ran over to stomp out the flames.
I grinned after they were out. It was pretty cool, I had to admit to myself. But then the realization of what it might mean hit me. I glanced around to make sure I was alone before I bent down and let loose with a bit more magic, healing the grass and cleaning the rock that had taken the brunt of my experiment. The Fallen were already treating me a bit differently than before. I wasn’t sure I wanted to add to their curiosity toward my abilities.
* * *
“The gods of parking are my friends tonight,” I said to myself as I pulled into a parking spot right in front of the theater. It was Friday night, the mall was packed, the theater was packed, and I still got a primo spot.
I killed the tiny engine, grabbed the key, and walked up to the entrance, looking around for Jessie the whole time. It didn’t look like she had shown up yet.
A line was forming at the box office and I was getting a little anxious. I would have gotten in line and gotten tickets for us, but I had no idea what she wanted to see. Glancing at the movie posters next to the box office, I groaned inwardly. There wasn’t much I wanted to see. One shoot-em-up movie that didn’t look to shabby, but other than that it was a collection of chick flicks, dramas, and one zombie movie.
I truly hoped that Jess didn’t pick that one trying to make me more comfortable. I had never been a fan of zombies, zombie books, zombie movies, or even preparations for a zombie apocalypse. I didn’t get everyone’s growing fascination with the whole idea of people getting bitten by mindless undead creatures and then turning into ones themselves. To date, I had only ever found one book I even remotely liked. It was around Halloween and I had to do a book report on a zombie book. Jeremy had recommended some book called Zombies Don’t Cry by some guy named Rusty Fischer. I had been very surprised to find I actually loved it. But then again, his zombies weren’t mindless monsters. They were actually kind of cool, even if they ate brains.
A big black SUV pulled up to the cur
b and Jess hopped out before it even stopped moving. I heard her dad yell something at her and she briefly glanced in the door and yelled something back before slamming it shut.
Ruh roh. “Everything okay?”
“It is now,” she said and gave me a hug and a quick kiss when she got close enough.
“What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. He’s just being a pain in the ass.”
I nodded in understanding. “What do you want to see? Your choice, it is the first movie you’ve seen in…”
“Longer than I can remember. I don’t care what we watch as long as we have popcorn… How about… Um,” she said as she quickly glanced at the selections.
Please don’t say zombies. Please don’t say zombies.
“Oh! Zombies it is!”
Crap. “Sounds good,” I said with an inward groan. I grabbed her hand and we walked over to get in line. I snuck in a few more kisses while we waited. “What do you have planned for the rest of the weekend?”
“Absolutely nothing. Why?” I could hear the teasing in her voice. “Did you want to do something with lil’ ole me?”
“Nope. Just wanted to see if you had something to occupy yourself with while I picked up a new hobby.”
“You had better be joking. It could be hazardous to your health if you’re not.”
I smiled. “You caught me. What do you want to do?”
We moved up and were next in line to get tickets. The movie started in five minutes, and I honestly didn’t care if we were late, but that would mean missing the previews, which might actually be better than the movie.
“Want to go Christmas shopping?”
“Um. Sure?”
“We only have a month. I need to start, even though I’m only buying for you and my dad.”
“I’ve got you, the bratty sister, and my folks.”
“Nothing for Claire?”
It’s a trap! I could feel the tension building in the air as I formed a response in my head. “No. My friendship is gift enough,” I said dramatically.
