Wild-born

by Adrian Howell

  “Yes, Adrian. You could.”

  Finally, I understood. Cindy was right: I definitely needed to learn how to separate my psionic power from my body.

  “So, how do I learn to balance it?”

  “All in good time,” said Cindy, passing me the plastic bowl and a large wooden spoon. “For now, mix.”

  Alia came down by herself as we were about to set the table. She looked a bit groggy, and didn’t make as much fuss about me as she did earlier. However, she still kept her distance, preferring to cling to Cindy’s leg or nervously study me from behind a chair.

  Once the table was set, complete with plastic forks and knives, Cindy sat on one side with Alia next to her, and I sat across from Cindy. Dinner was a bit of a comical affair, with Alia speaking telepathically to Cindy, who, of course, replied out loud.

  “Adrian,” said Cindy.

  “Yes?” I asked, looking up from my plate.

  “No, not you,” said Cindy. “I’m teaching Alia your name again.” She turned to Alia, saying, “It’s Adrian. Try saying it out loud, honey.”

  Alia refused to try until Cindy had asked five more times. I could tell that Cindy was quite used to Alia’s refusal to speak aloud.

  “Adrian, honey,” Cindy repeated to her patiently. “Just try.”

  “A-en,” Alia finally uttered hoarsely.

  “Adrian?” Cindy said again.

  “Me?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you. Would it be okay if she called you Addy? I think Adrian might be a bit hard for her.”

  “Practice makes perfect?” I asked hopefully.

  “Adrian! Addy is your nickname, isn’t it?”

  “It’s not my nickname, Cindy,” I said. “It’s my baby name.”

  Cindy grinned. “I still like Addy better.”

  Alia glanced at me once and then turned to Cindy, who laughed loudly. “She says she likes Addy better too.”

  I groaned, but Cindy looked pleadingly at me.

  “Okay, okay,” I sighed. “She can call me whatever she wants.”

  “Great!” Cindy smiled broadly and chirped, “Addy and Ali! That sounds like quite a pair, don’t you think?”

  “Cindy?” I said, slightly narrowing my eyes.

  “Yes, Addy?”

  “You call me Adrian, please.”

  “As you wish, Addy.”

  I made a face, and Cindy giggled. For the first time, I saw a slight hint of a smile on Alia’s lips too.

  After dinner, the three of us sat together in the living room where Cindy read a fairytale to Alia. Although Alia still preferred to sit as close to Cindy as possible without occupying the same space, at least she no longer jumped whenever I moved. Cindy seemed relieved that the ice had broken a bit before her day shift started, but I still felt very uncomfortable about the prospect of being left in the house with Alia.

  Cindy put Alia to bed at around nine. Then, asking me to remain silent while she worked her power, Cindy sat down cross-legged on the living-room floor, closing her eyes in quiet concentration. I couldn’t feel anything different, but nearly half an hour later, Cindy opened her eyes and stood up.

  “That’ll hold for a while,” said Cindy. “Still, I’d prefer it if you didn’t go out… just yet. You are still officially missing, and if you’re found by the police, you’ll be taken away from my protection.”

  I asked hesitantly, “Cindy, um, how long does ‘just yet’ last?”

  Cindy looked at me for a moment, and then threw her hands into the air, saying, “Alright! I lied. You can’t go out at all, Adrian. Ever. As long as you’re staying with me, you’re trapped in this house, just like Alia. If people see you, they’ll ask questions. If they ask questions, you’ll be found.”

  It took a moment before I felt the full weight of her words. At the same time, I was, and wasn’t, a prisoner here. I could leave Cindy’s protection whenever I wanted to, but then I would risk being caught or killed. That Cindy’s hiding bubble covered the whole neighborhood made no difference at all. I would be safe only as long as I stayed inside her house. I felt like I was back in the hospital after my accident. I had to force myself hard to consider that my situation was still better than it had been yesterday.

  “So Alia has been here… how long?” I asked, not entirely sure I wanted to know.

  Cindy’s eyes met mine for an instant, and then she looked away. She took a deep breath and answered, “Three years.”

  “Three years?!”

  “There was no other way, Adrian! You’ve seen what she’s like. I’ve been taking care of her here ever since I brought her back from the…” Cindy’s voice trailed off.

  “Back from where?” I asked.

  Cindy looked at me, her eyes starting to swim with tears.

  “Back from where, Cindy?”

  “From the forest,” she whispered, her voice quivering slightly. “From the forest, Adrian.”

  “Tell me about her, Cindy. Please. Tell me her story.”

  “Well, I guess you ought to know,” said Cindy, wiping her eyes. “You see, most people don’t turn psionic until they are adults, or at least very close to adults. Sometimes, they don’t gain their true power until they’re really old. Babies and very small children can have a touch of ESP, but that’s not real power. You, Adrian, are a rarity. I called you ‘little destroyer’ in the car because it’s almost unheard of for someone your age to be able to do what you can do. But Alia…”

  “She had her power from birth?” I guessed.

  “That’s right,” said Cindy. “She was probably a full telepath from the day she was born. She didn’t know that people communicate using their mouths. Her parents thought she was a mute – until she started talking directly into their minds. Her parents…” Cindy paused, sighing deeply once before saying, “They were religious fanatics. You know the kind… the devil this, the devil that.”

  I didn’t exactly, but nodded anyway.

  Cindy continued, “They thought Alia was possessed. They must have tried to exorcise her many times. And they beat her, and cut her. They poured boiling water down her throat. They tortured her, Adrian. They tried to torture the devil out of her. When she was four years old, they finally decided that they couldn’t save her soul, so they took her into the mountains, tied her to a tree and left her to die.”

  Cindy stopped talking for a moment and closed her eyes. I stared at her, horrified and speechless, and Cindy resumed her story.

  “Alia had somehow broken free of the rope tying her to the tree,” explained Cindy, her eyes still shut. “Days later, I found her wandering through the forest, half-dead, naked, with a piece of rope tied around her ankle. Her whole body was covered in mud and leeches.”

  Cindy slowly opened her eyes and wiped them with her fingers. “I brought Alia home and nursed her back to health, but her physical injuries were nothing compared to how hurt she was on the inside. For the first year, Alia didn’t say a single word to me, even telepathically. She doesn’t trust people, Adrian. She doesn’t trust the world, and you can hardly blame her.”

  I looked down at my hands, not knowing what to say.

  “So now you understand, Adrian,” I heard Cindy say softly, “why I said that your story wasn’t the worst I’ve ever heard.”

  “Yes,” I answered dully. Thinking of what Alia must have gone through made me feel as drained as if I had been lying on a metal bed. Under the circumstances, I decided, if anyone deserved to live happily ever after, it was Alia.

  “You’ll take care of her?” Cindy asked hopefully. “You’ll watch out for her?”

  I nodded silently, and Cindy said, “Alia is a healer.”

  I looked up. Cindy smiled a little and explained, “Telepathy isn’t such a big deal in terms of psionics, unless you’re a pair of devil-obsessed psychopaths, but healing is. Healers are rare, Adrian. Even rarer than controllers. Alia can close wounds and mend bones.”

  I glanced at my Band-Aided left thumb.

  Cindy nodded and sai
d, “I’m sorry I didn’t ask her to take care of that during dinner, but I didn’t want to pressure her.”

  “It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  Cindy looked grimly at me and said, “What do you think your pal Ralph would do if he learned that there was a healer here? What would any Angel or Guardian do? Despite her age, Alia’s power as a healer is already as refined as any adult’s, and I’m guessing she may become very, very powerful someday. What would happen, do you think, if the existence of a powerful healer became known among the psionic factions?”

  It was a rhetorical question so I just blinked back at her, and Cindy said, “Please don’t get me wrong, Adrian. I wanted to help you too. I do want to help you. But I was also hoping you could help me too, with Alia. You’re right, Adrian. Three years is a long time. She’s getting older, and I know it’s wrong to keep her shut away in my house. But I’m afraid for her.”

  “You don’t have anyone here to help you with her?” I asked. “Family? Or friends?”

  Cindy shook her head. “Not at the moment. At least, no one I can really trust.”

  “No husband or anything?”

  “Oh, well, I was married for a while, but…” Cindy’s voice trailed off.

  I felt awkward asking these personal questions, but I pressed her, saying, “Cindy, I told you my story. You told me Alia’s. What about yours?”

  “I’ll tell you my story, Adrian. I promise I will. But can it at least wait till tomorrow? I’m still pretty tired, and you’ll be here in the morning, won’t you?”

  “My parents are dead, Cindy,” I replied quietly. “Where am I going to go? If only I could be sure that my sister is okay, I’d stay and help you all you need.”

  “Thank you, Adrian. I’ll show you to your room, okay?”

  Cindy led me up the stairs. There were four rooms along a narrow corridor. Cindy briefly opened the door to her own bedroom just to show me where it was, and then opened another door that led into a dusty storage room with some old furniture and many cardboard boxes. After I had taken a quick peek in to satisfy my curiosity, Cindy closed that door and led me farther down the corridor toward the last two.

  “This one here is Alia’s room, which we won’t open because she’ll wake up. And here is yours,” said Cindy, opening the last door. “Sorry it’s so Spartan. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare it, and besides, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d find you before someone else did.”

  “I was wondering about that,” I said as I stepped into the tiny room, which was furnished with a small bed, an old oak cabinet, and a black antique writing desk with a cushion-less wooden chair. There was just one small square window over the bed. The room wasn’t much, but to someone who spent the last three weeks outdoors, it was a five-star hotel. I decided that Spartans had it easy.

  “Wondering about what?” asked Cindy.

  “Oh,” I said, sitting down on the bed and looking up at Cindy, “I was wondering why no one else had found me sooner. I was always afraid that the Angels might send someone else to kill me, or that Ralph was still chasing after me.”

  Cindy smiled. “Even after you hit him with a chair?”

  We laughed, and Cindy said, “He’s never going to hear the end of that. Clobbered by a little… well, clobbered by a soon-to-be-thirteen-year-old. Still, I’m sure that sooner or later, you would have been found by someone. Wild-borns never stay wild very long. And it’s not just psionics that try to find us, either.”

  “You mean the church people?” I asked. “The God-slayers?”

  Cindy nodded grimly. “On their holy crusade to kill all gods but the one god. But as for the Angels and Guardians, I’m sure they were already closing in on you. Both factions would want you on their side, and no one likes a lone wolf, Adrian.”

  “A lone wolf,” I repeated, raising my eyebrows, “like you?”

  “Like I said, I’m good at hiding,” said Cindy.

  “I’m not good at hiding.”

  “Locating a child, even with powers like yours… Well, very few finders are up to the task. Besides, it’s hard to sense anyone in the city with all that metal. That’s why the Guardians’ gathering that Ralph was taking you to was being held in the city. They almost always are.”

  I looked at her, urging her with my eyes to say more.

  Cindy laughed, saying, “I can see there’s no end to your curiosity, Adrian. It was a mistake to mention the Guardians again. We’ll be up all night if I talk about them.”

  “Oh please, Cindy,” I begged. “At least tell me what a gathering is.”

  “Okay, that won’t be too hard,” she said, sitting down next to me on the bed. “You know that the Angels and the Guardians are fighting, right?”

  “Ralph said it was a war.”

  “Ralph is old and senile. He’s exaggerating. It’s more like a feud. Do you know what that is?”

  Obviously Cindy still thought I was ten years old.

  I answered mechanically, “A feud is a series of small clashes between two families that lasts through many generations.”

  “Exactly,” said Cindy, nodding. “It’s not an all-out war. If it was, it’d be all over the news, I guarantee it. But both sides know that, and neither wants to be discovered by common people. We may have power, Adrian, but not in numbers.”

  “And the gathering?” I asked.

  “Well, even in a large psionic faction like the Guardians, the members don’t all live in one place, but rather in small clusters all over the country,” explained Cindy. “A gathering can be called for any of a number of reasons. It could simply be for entertainment or exchanging news. Occasionally, they might pool their forces for an offensive against another faction. Gatherings are often held underground, where it’s even harder for enemy finders to locate.”

  “And how many gather?”

  “Oh, a fair few, usually. The Guardians are slowly dying out, but still, there’d be, ah… possibly fifty or sixty.”

  “That’s it?” I asked. I had been imagining a stadium-size location jam-packed with all kinds of people with wild abilities.

  “Well, they don’t all gather at once,” said Cindy. “Besides, it could have been just for the leaders, in which case, only a handful. I don’t know. I’m not a Guardian anymore.”

  I stared at her. “Cindy!”

  “Oops!” laughed Cindy, putting her hand to her mouth. “Did I just say that?”

  “Yeah, I heard it,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Loud and clear.”

  “Look, Adrian, that is a really complicated story, and long too. Do you really need to hear it right this instant? I promise I’m not with them.”

  “Okay, Cindy,” I said. “It can wait.”

  Cindy smiled warmly and got to her feet. “If you want to stay up, it’s okay, but it’s bedtime for me.”

  “Cindy?” I said as she reached the door.

  Cindy turned around. “Yes, Adrian?”

  I smiled. “I’m glad you found me.”

  “I’m glad I found you too, Adrian. Goodnight.”

  Cindy closed the door behind her. I sat on the bed for a while, thinking of all the things I had learned that day. About power, and the people who have it. Only twenty-four hours ago, I was alone on a building roof with nowhere to turn to, in constant danger of being found by Ralph or someone like him. I realized that I had been extremely lucky to be found by Cindy. I touched the pendant around my neck, feeling the smooth, polished stone between my fingers. For a brief moment, it felt like Cat was sitting right there beside me, and I was home.

  After turning out the light, I stood up on the bed and looked out from the small window. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the moon before I went to sleep, but I guess it was on the other side of the house.

  Chapter 7: Life in Hiding

  I wasn’t woken until half past eight the next morning when, of all things, I heard Alia’s small voice in my head calling, “Addy? Addy, Cindy says wake up.”

  I quickly got out of b
ed and rushed downstairs. In the dining room, Alia was just finishing her bacon and eggs. She jumped a bit when I ran in, and I apologized for scaring her. As I wolfed down my breakfast, Cindy asked me about my clothing size.

  “I’ll do some shopping for you on my way home. Please don’t hate what I get. I’m late! I’m late!” she panted, grabbing her handbag as she headed for the front door, Alia and me following in her wake. Apparently, Cindy didn’t drive to work.

  At the door, she gave Alia a quick hug and said, “That’s right, Ali. Addy is going to watch over you while I’m away. You can play with him. I’ll be back for dinner. You be a good girl, okay?”

  Alia nodded smilingly, and Cindy turned to me. “Adrian?”

  “Yeah, yeah, good boy, play with Alia, stay in the house, no problem,” I mumbled.

  Cindy patted my shoulder once, smiled once more at Alia and me, and exited the house.

  As soon as the door closed, Alia sprinted back down the hall, through the living room and up the stairs. It seemed that Alia was still very afraid of me, and I didn’t know what to do. Through the little window on the front door, I could see Cindy getting on her bicycle, which had been standing just outside. I wondered if I should call Cindy back, but while I was debating this course of action, she rode off and out of sight.

  Cindy wanted me to be nice to Alia, but it seemed that the only way to be Alia’s friend was to stay far away. I walked back into the living room and sat on the couch, feeling slightly dejected. I wondered if Alia would get hungry enough around lunchtime to brave my presence. Perhaps the best thing for me to do was to go hide in the garage so that the poor little girl could have the run of her house again.

  Then I heard a voice in my head say, “Addy, let’s play.”

  Surprised, I turned my head toward the stairs, and suddenly I found myself face to face with Alia, who was standing so close to me that our noses were almost touching! I hadn’t heard her come down the stairs at all, so naturally I gasped and jumped up. Alia also jumped back a step, and then looked at me, letting out one quiet giggle before darting back up the stairs.

  “Come on, I’ll show you my room,” said her telepathic voice.