He laughed. "I'll help you stretch once we get to the gym."
"How am I supposed to run or lift anything when I feel like this?"
"It'll get better as the day goes on. Besides, how are we supposed to toughen you up if we let you slack off?"
"It seems more like you're trying to break me."
It took a while to make it to the gym with every muscle in my body protesting but Felix didn't seem impatient. My wandering eyes were worse today and they seemed to follow Felix’s every move. He didn’t seem to notice though and I was grateful for that. I was still kicking myself about my feelings towards Felix. They were definitely growing, instead of disappearing like I hoped they would.
Once we were in the gym, he turned to me and said, "I'm going to help you stretch your muscles. It's going to hurt a lot at first but it will feel better soon."
He had me put my arm over my shoulder and down my back while he held me still and gently pulled my arm down to stretch the muscle. He was right, it did hurt, but after a few moments it started to feel really good. I wasn't sure if that was because of the stretch or because of Felix's touch. His hands were warm as they moved all over my body to help stretch out my muscles, leaving a tingling sensation wherever his hands touched. He was the perfect balance of gentleness and roughness.
The heat of his body near mine almost made me dizzy. The smell of his cologne was making me light-headed. I didn't want him to stop but once my upper body was all stretched he pulled away. Disappointment washed over me until he told me to lie on the mat on the floor so he could help me stretch my legs.
Which was awkward, to say the least. Most of the time he was on the side of me but there were a few times when he was practically between my legs. I was sure my face was beet red the entire time and I could swear I caught glimpses of a longing look in his eyes. I wasn’t the only one enjoying this.
Once that was done he stood up quickly and offered his hand out to help me up. I accepted and when he pulled me up, I was face to face with his smoldering look. I had no idea what was running through his mind but he confirmed my suspicions. He was affected by our closeness just as much as I was. His eyes were wide and it felt like they were staring inside of me.
He reached up, almost running his hand along my cheek, but he snapped out of his daze and yanked his hand and himself away. "How do you feel?"
My sigh of disappointment wasn't very subtle. "Still sore but a little better."
"Good. Let's go out for a jog," he said, trying to sound calm but there was a hysterical note to his voice.
My body was protesting but I did my best to ignore the pain. If I wanted to be accepted in this world I needed to learn how to fight. If I ever wanted any chance of revenge for my mom's death I needed to be tough. I took a deep breath and headed outside for my jog. To my surprise, Felix jogged next to me. His excuse was he wanted to make sure I didn't fall over on the track but I think he needed to run off any feelings about me he stirred up from helping me stretch.
Chapter 9
My time was much slower than yesterday due to my sore muscles but I didn't feel quite out of breath by the end of it. We did almost the same routine as yesterday. Jog for a while, lift weights for a while, yoga stretches to cool down, then repeat. After we finished our lunch, I expected us to continue the routine but Felix said I had another sort of training to start.
"You need to start learning how to block out the darkness. It will get a lot more difficult to learn, the longer we wait. I'm not good at teaching that kind of thing so Rema has agreed to help you out. There aren't any major council events coming up so she has some free time after lunch where you can train. Unless something changes we'll plan on physical training in the morning and mental training in the afternoon. Once you build up enough endurance and strength then we'll move on to defensive moves and fighting."
"How long do you think that will take?"
"Don't be so eager. You just started yesterday. Once your body adjusts to the schedule you will start to make a lot more progress but it will still take time."
He was right. I was eager. I wanted to learn everything and be good at it in a few weeks and start going after Zhulik and find that demon. I didn't want to be stuck around here being other peoples' burden. I felt bad that Felix had to waste his time with me.
And that's exactly what I told him.
"You're not wasting my time. Your determination proves that you'll be a great fighter one of these days. And you really shouldn't be so eager. Killing is not a fun thing to do. It will stay with you forever and make your nightmares worse."
"How many Zhulik have you killed?" I asked. The haunted look in his eyes made me rethink my desire to do this.
"Seven. Which is a lot for someone my age. Most Lovac only kill about seven in their whole lives. They're hard to kill and even harder to track down. Whatever you do, don't let them get to you first."
That was all he would tell my about his experiences with Zhulik. He told me maybe he would tell me more when I was ready but for now that was all I needed to know. He led me back up to the place I had originally met the council members and Rema was sitting on one of the couches waiting for us.
"I'd appreciate if you could stay and help with the training, Felix," she said. I shot him a pleading look. Rema was nice but I didn't know her very well and I desperately wanted Felix to stay to keep me company.
He didn't even have to look at me to agree to stay. "Of course. I want Avery to learn this as fast as possible."
Rema nodded and turned to me. "Has Felix told you what my power is?"
"No. Well, maybe. Are you the one who can locate Lovac anywhere in the world?"
"No," she laughed lightly. "That's the old bat, Darcy. If she wasn't so useful she'd probably be retired but she doesn't mind too much."
"Then what's your power?" I asked.
"I have the ability to control darkness. I can make it manifest itself in other people as a torture device or I can help take it away from someone who is suffering. Of course, the more I take away from others the more it affects me. I would have deteriorated a lot faster than a normal Lovac if I hadn't found my Dimidium so young."
"I hear you're lucky to have found your Dimidium," I said, remembering what Riley said about them being so rare.
"Don't sound so hopeless. The other Lovac have been telling you we've been cursed haven't they?" She gave a pointed look in Felix’s direction but he shook his head.
"Riley might have said something," I muttered, hoping I wouldn’t get her in trouble. All Rema did was sigh.
"We haven't been cursed. I have faith that our Lovac will find their Dimidiums again. You should too."
"How does it work?" I suddenly asked.
"What? My power?" Rema's eyebrows drew together in confusion.
"No. The Dimidium thing. How do you know if someone is your Dimidium and how exactly do they calm the darkness in us?"
She smiled and stared past me as if remembering something from the past. "When you first see your Dimidium it will feel like you've been blinded by goodness. All of those dark feelings you have will be completely washed away for a moment. You may not know the person and you may not even like them at first but eventually you will grow to love them. Rick and I couldn't stand each other when we first met but the more I spent with him the more I grew to love him. Now I can't stand being away from him. As for how they calm our darkness, no one is really sure. My theory is that a Dimidium is literally a soul mate. When you first meet, your souls connect and from then on the Dimidium will slowly pull out just enough darkness to keep us sane. It doesn't seem to affect them at all though."
"So, it's like magic?"
"In a sense, yes. Maybe it truly is. Some people believe it was a gift from Fairies many years ago. If that was the case, then it really would be magic."
"So Fairies really do exist?" I had to ask every chance I got. It was still too hard to believe that mythical creatures were real.
"Absolutely."
I shook my head. "It's just so hard to believe. Elves and Werewolves are real too?"
"They sure are."
"Oh so you’ll believe Rema but not me?" Felix said. I know he was joking but he looked almost offended.
"I just want more people to confirm it. I think the more I hear it the easier it gets to accept. It proves that you're not just some escapee from an insane asylum and that I'm not going crazy either."
"You thought I was a crazy person?"
"Well―" I started, but Rema cut me off.
"Now, now, no need to argue. I can understand you're reasoning," she told me. "No one alive today has ever met a Lovac that was raised as a human. It's happened of course, but it's rare. This is a new experience for all of us."
"Are there any records of how well the other human-raised Lovac did during training?"
"I'm not sure if they did train. I think most of them just lived at headquarters until the darkness took them. They definitely didn't have the determination you have."
"Great. So I'm basically a guinea pig."
"Don't think of it as a bad thing," Felix told me.
"Exactly. We're all learning here. And speaking of that. I think we should actually start the training session soon. I wish I could sit here and answer all of your questions but we have a bit of a time crunch. I have council meetings after dinner every day."
"Okay, what do I need to do?"
"Felix told me that you can sense when someone is using their magic on you?"
I had completely forgotten about that but I recalled the strange tingling in my head when Felix used his power on me. "Yes. I think. He tried to influence me I felt a tingle in my head."
"Then you'll probably be able to tell when I'm using my power. Keep that in mind when we start. I'm going to push some darkness on you and you need to concentrate as best as you can to block it out. Some people say that they can feel the darkness moving around in their head. Try to latch on to it and put up a mental barrier to block it out."
"That sounds a lot easier than it's probably going to be," I said, dreading the thought of having so much darkness in my mind.
"It is." Felix shifted uncomfortably. "Darkness does different things to different people. It's always morphing into something else and it can be a huge pain to latch on to. It's possible to block it out but it's mentally exhausting and takes a lot of concentration. That's why it normally appears during sleep. We're more vulnerable then."
Rema nodded in agreement. "Are you ready to give it a try?"
I nodded but I wasn’t sure if I really would be ready.
Rema and I both took deep breaths and concentration washed over our faces. I closed my eyes, thinking it would help. I felt a slight tingle in the back of my mind and I braced myself. However, no amount of bracing would prepare me for what happened. I started to feel like I was burning. My eyes shot open and I saw flames covering every inch of my skin. I could feel the heat and the smell of burning flesh and hair filled my nostrils. I completely forgot where I had been or who I had been with. My mind was consumed with fear and concern for my burning body. I screamed and very faintly heard a male voice tell me to concentrate.
How the hell was concentrating supposed to help put the flames out? I couldn't think about anything other than how badly it hurt. Then I felt the tingling sensation in my head. What did that tingling sensation mean again?
Concentrate, I heard that male voice say again. I knew that voice. Felix! He was using his power to help me concentrate. To help me concentrate on blocking out the darkness. My mind finally remembered what I was supposed to be doing. I closed my eyes and tried to block out the pain first. It was hard but I managed. Then I searched my mind. I could feel the darkness wrapping around my brain. It felt like there was a slimly snake curled up in my head.
I fought to unwrap it to push it out. I kept imagining myself grabbing it and flinging it across the room. I had no idea if this is what I was supposed to be doing but it seemed to work. I could feel the fire burning me lessen and then disappear altogether. I could still feel the darkness in my mind however so I threw up a visual brick wall around my brain and gave one last shove at the darkness.
Then it was gone. My eyes shot open the second I felt it disappear and inspected my entire body. My skin looked the same as it had before we started this process and there was no scorch marks on any of my clothes. I looked wide-eyed at Felix and Rema who were looking back at me with nearly the same expression.
"What happened?" I asked. I was worried that I’d done something wrong.
"You screamed. A lot," Felix said.
"You were amazing. No student has ever been able to push me out as fast as you did," Rema said.
"Well, Felix helped a little," I admitted.
He laughed. "That's why Rema wanted me to stay. I usually help first timers by influencing them to focus on what they need to do."
"Even with Felix's help it was still impressive. I have a feeling your mother's strong mind was passed down to you. You were able to regain control so quickly."
"Do you think that's because of her ability to sense our powers?" Felix asked Rema.
"Absolutely," she said. "I think it helps you to sense the darkness inside of you better, too."
"Do you think that's my special ability then? To be able to sense other powers?" I asked. I really wanted to know more about my power but I was nervous to ask in case there wasn't anything else to it. I didn't want it to be so boring.
"I think it is part of your power but I think there's more to it. I'm very curious to see it blossom to its full potential, which I can tell, you will have a lot of. Do you mind if I ask what the darkness made you see?"
I shuddered. "I was burning. It was so vivid and so real. I could feel the flames all over my body. I could even smell burning flesh. When I opened my eyes you two were completely gone. All I could see were the flames."
"That would explain the foggy look in your eyes," Felix said.
"I've seen it happen a few times before," Rema said. "Darkness takes over so fully that it consumes every sense in the mind. It's rare for that to happen on the first try though. Especially with someone so young. You really are a special case."
I blushed. Rema and Felix were both staring at me with awe and I felt awkward under their gaze. I didn't know what to say to that either. All of this excitement really made me curious to know what the full potential of my power was.
"Is there anything we can do to help figure out what my power really is?"
"Have you always been so impatient?" Felix laughed.
I glared at him. "Yes."
"The only thing we can do is wait. There was a Lovac many years ago who could predict what other Lovac powers were but he's been gone for a while," Rema said.
I sighed. Even though Rema and Felix were both hopeful that my power had more to it, I was worried there wouldn't be. Then another thought hit me.
"Do you think I can sense when anyone uses a power around me or is it only when it's being used on me?"
"I don't know," Rema said. "Felix, do you want to use your power on me and see what happens?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, what do you want me to influence you to do?"
"Something simple," Rema said. "Like stand up or scratch my nose. Anything that will give off enough power to see if she can feel it."
"Right. Okay." He stared at Rema with an intense look and sure enough I felt a little tingle. Only I wasn't feeling it in just my head. I could faintly feel it in my entire body. Rema suddenly jumped out of her seat and started laughing.
"You've gotten very good at that. I even tried to fight it to give Avery enough time to try to sense something. So, did you?"
I nodded. "It was very strange. When someone uses their power on me I can feel a strange tingle in my head but when you were using it on Rema I could feel that tingle very faintly in my whole body. The tingle is stronger when I can just feel it in my head, though."
"I think you need to really pay a
ttention anytime you feel that sensation. If you don't know where it's coming from make sure you observe your surroundings and see if you can follow the sensation to the source. I wish there was some way we could find out if this works with other creatures powers but that's too dangerous right now. I'll get Carson to do some research on powers to see if we can find anything similar in our records. For now, I think we're done for the day. We'll meet again tomorrow."
Even though we hadn't done much training today I was relieved that it was over. It had been exciting but I didn't want to be on fire again anytime soon. Felix and I stood up to leave but Rema had one more thing to say.
"Felix, I think you should take Avery on tours around the building. I think the more opportunities you have to try to sense powers the better. Maybe you could even talk to some Lovac and Nesmyr you know and get them to use their powers more. I'll send a word out to some people, too. I want a full report of anything that happens."
"Of course," Felix said, bowing his head a little bit and then he escorted me out of the room.
"Are you really going to walk me around this whole building? It looked huge from the outside. I feel like we'll get lost."
He gave a half smile and shook his head. "I practically grew up here. I know where everything is at. There are only six stories and each of them is large enough that they'll take an hour or so to tour. We can tour after dinner every day if you're not too tired."
It was a good thing I didn't have anything better to do. My whole day just got booked with activities. Physical training in the morning, mental training in the afternoon and now touring the facility in the evening.
"Are you sure you don't mind spending your whole day with me?"
"Well, I could be out hunting down some Zhulik or doing other small tasks for Nesmyr but I actually enjoy spending time with you."
I giggled nervously again and quickly changed the subject. "Are we just going to stand in this hallway all night or are you going to take me on a tour? Unless we're not starting that yet."
"How about we go get some dinner and then go on a tour if you're not too sore?"
Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) Page 6
