by Strand, Kai
“Another?”
“Yeah, remember that day at my house? You had a bad feeling there too. Granted I always felt that way, but…” Jeff flashed his crooked smile.
Pyro stared through him, distant and thoughtful. She rubbed her stomach again, but lighter this time as if remembering a past nausea.
“Is it the same feeling?” he asked.
Pyro blinked and focused on him. “Yes, it is exactly the same feeling. I’d forgotten about that.”
They stared at each other for a time before she finally shook her head. “Weird. I have no idea what it means.”
They said goodbye and Jeff turned to head to his dorm room. He was surprised to find Source waiting.
“Dude, I thought you were gone.”
“What and miss all the fun?” Source said.
A movement down the hall caught their attention. Tubs walked out of his office followed by three people; two adults and one stunning, Amazon brunette.
Tubs shot a psychic blast at them so fast they didn’t have a chance to block it—not that Jeff was any good at blocking even when he had warning. Wincing and rubbing their heads, Jeff and Source scurried off toward their rooms.
* * * *
Sitting front and center in math class the next morning was the Amazon. Jeff almost stumbled when he saw her. Even folded into a standard classroom desk, her body went on and on. Her olive skin glowed under the fluorescent lights. Miles of wavy sable locks tumbled to her waist. A short skirt revealed a never-ending expanse of legs gracefully wrapped together under the desk. They seemed indecent. Jeff wasn’t attracted to her, per se, but she intrigued him. And scared him to death.
Amber colored eyes gleamed when they met his. She looked him over from head to toe and a half smile curved her full lips. Jeff fought the urge to scurry past and with all the casual aloofness he could muster, he sauntered to his desk at the back of the room. He heaved a loud mental sigh when he was safely behind her. He might understand Pyro’s claim that something wasn’t right about the Amazon. Though he doubted that he and Pyro were referring to the same thing.
To Jeff’s dismay, the math teacher had the Amazon introduce herself to the class. She stood at the front and stared pointedly at Jeff most of the time. When she spoke he groaned. Her voice was warmed butter rum—soothing, comforting and intoxicating. Jeff made the mistake of glancing at her while she spoke about her home in northern Italy. As soon as they made eye contact, Jeff was transfixed. Though she continued to speak aloud to the class she also spoke directly to Jeff in his mind. It wasn’t in a language that Jeff understood, but he knew she was hypnotizing him.
A loud bang cut the connection between them. Jeff blinked slowly and saw the teacher had dropped a large math book onto the tile floor. “Now, now, it is a strict rule of the academy that students do not use their abilities on one another.”
The Amazon blushed. Jeff flushed. His mind was filled with lurid memories involving him and the Amazon in which she often wore nothing but a blush. He knew she had to have put those thoughts there. Now he had to figure out how to get rid of them.
For the rest of class, whenever Jeff caught a glimpse of her in his peripheral vision or heard her speak or clear her throat, his mind filled with bogus, but realistic, memories of the feel of her sateen skin on his or her appetizing scent. She glanced over her shoulder and stoked the implanted longing in him. She smiled down at her desk as though enjoying a private joke and he snapped his pencil in half.
When class let out, Jeff bolted to her side.
“You’ve got to undo this.”
“Oh, come on,” she said, “aren’t you enjoying it?”
A full blast of her voice stimulated intense images and need. Jeff stifled his misery.
“Come on, you heard the teacher, we aren’t supposed to use our abilities on fellow students.” Jeff gnashed his teeth.
“Okay, hold still.” The Amazon clasped either side of Jeff’s face. “Truth be told, I really didn’t mean to suave you like that. You seem especially susceptible.”
“Tell me about it,” Jeff grumbled.
She rubbed his temples with her thumbs and blew into his face. Jeff closed his eyes reflexively. Her breath smelled like exotic spices and fine wine. The pleasing aroma stoked Jeff’s trademark smile and when he opened his eyes again it was the Amazon that appeared transfixed.
“I’m Mystic. And you’re very good looking.”
Jeff snorted. “Not shy either, are you? They call me Polar,” he stated. “Hey, I’m not jonesin’ on you anymore.”
Mystic stood tall and took measure of Jeff’s considerable height. She was only a couple inches shorter than him. “Unfortunate for me.”
“I’d better run. I don’t have the excuse of being the new student to explain walking in late to class.”
Jeff darted down the hallway. Mystic had left him feeling unsettled. Most likely due to knowing every physical attribute she offered before knowing her name. Yet it felt like something else was off. Pyro was right, Tubs needed to keep his eye on that one.
Chapter 15
Jeff huffed in frustration when he found Mystic sitting with Source at lunch. Source drooled into his peas while Mystic lamented over her homeland.
When her eyes met Jeff’s, he blushed and she winked.
“I’m never gonna forget, am I?” Jeff asked, sitting on the far side of Source so as not to be too near Mystic.
“I hope not.” Her laugh sounded like velvet-covered diamonds in a rock tumbler; low and rumbling, smooth, soft and sparkling and bright all at once.
“You guys know each other already?” Source appeared seriously annoyed.
Jeff thought about reminding him that just yesterday he was head over heels for Sandra, but preferred to move on from that weird situation.
“Mystic is in my math class. She’s a psychic,” Jeff said.
“Oh, sorry, man.” Source patted Jeff on the back.
“You know, Polar,” Mystic said, “I could help you with that defense of yours.”
“You could?” he asked.
She shrugged and nodded.
Jeff gnawed on the inside of his cheek. Should he trust her? Every instinct he had screamed no, but he really needed help. “I don’t know. If Source hasn’t helped me, I don’t know how you can.”
“I can make you believe.” Mystic’s eyes sparked with mischief.
Jeff groaned. “Mystic, I can’t handle more of you. No offense.”
Mystic mock-pouted. “You know how many men would kill to experience what you experienced?”
“What did you experience?” Source asked.
Jeff ignored him. “Not that you aren’t an amazing creature, but I don’t know.” He shrugged then flashed his trademark grin. “Maybe I need love.”
“She’s amazing? How is she amazing?” Source leaned forward into Jeff’s line of vision.
Mystic ignored Source.
“You are the only man not to follow me around panting afterward.”
“After what?” Source cried.
Jeff glanced at Source. “It was kinda like mind sex.” He looked at Mystic. “Do you do that often?”
“Mind sex? What’s that?” Source looked from Mystic to Jeff and back. “Where does it come from?”
Mystic chortled at Jeff. “No, I don’t. But still, of the few times I’ve used it, you are definitely the least impressed.”
“Oh don’t get me wrong.” Jeff appraised Mystic. His eyes hovered on her long regal throat, so easy to kiss if the implanted memory served him right. “I’m thoroughly impressed. Just not necessarily interested.”
Mystic blushed. Jeff flushed.
“What’s going on?” Source yelled.
Jeff gave a brief description of what had happened—with Mystic butting in to point out the unintentional aspect and that she undid it as soon as possible.
Source got a dreamy expression on his face while he listened. Jeff rolled his eyes and stuffed half his piece of pizza into his mouth.
“Wiwl woo hewp me towight?” he asked Mystic.
She raised an eyebrow.
Jeff finished chewing and swallowed. “Will you help me tonight?”
“Sure.” She shrugged. “Not like my social calendar is booked up or anything.”
Source giggled like a twelve-year-old schoolgirl.
“Dude, get a hold of yourself.” Eyeing Source’s goofy grin, Jeff’s stomach roiled. Had he made as big of a fool of himself in math class?
* * * *
Jeff and Source met Mystic in the gymnasium after dinner.
“No funny business,” Jeff warned her.
“I won’t. Now that I know you are an open book, I’ll be more careful.”
Jeff scowled. “So, what exactly are you going to do?”
“Basically, I’m going to implant the knowledge of how it works and then I’m going to make you believe it.” She shrugged. “I guess.”
She reached for his head, but then froze and stared intently at him. “But, Polar, whatever I do can’t be undone.”
Jeff gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “Will you make a mistake?”
“No.”
“Will you do something you shouldn’t?”
“No.”
“Well, then okay, I guess.”
At last Mystic grabbed each side of Jeff’s head and tilted it slightly downward so that he stared directly at her.
“I’m going to tell you a story,” Mystic said.
Jeff knit his brow together, but didn’t say anything. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Source step closer to them.
“I’m from Northern Italy. I was born right in the bed I was conceived in. My mother was in labor…”
Mystic’s plush voice faded into the background. Jeff could see her mouth moving, but the words he now heard didn’t mesh with the movements her lips made. This new voice was crisper and more direct. No longer the slow slide of rum warming his insides, but instead like a shot of whiskey. Sharp, quick and burning.
“A defense doesn’t stem from one place. A defense is a tightly woven net that surrounds your psyche. The weave is so tight as to be almost solid, yet it is interwoven for extra support. There is no beginning and no end. Weave the defense now. Imagine a string of titanium knitting together, building longer and taller. Fitting into the crevices just outside your skull. Imagine it extending down and around your jaw line, over your cheekbones and nose. Let the miniscule knit go until you are completely protected from outside interference.”
“…lost my mental virginity when I was just eleven.”
Jeff blinked at the change of voice. The mix of whiskey and rum tones was enough to make him gag.
“Now I have to make you believe it,” Mystic said.
“Based on this morning, it should be a piece of cake,” Jeff said.
Mystic pursed her lips. “We’ll see.”
After the initial adjustment of his head, she hadn’t touched him during the conversation. Now she reached up and rested her palm alongside his jaw. Her fingers pressed lightly against his pulse. She stared into his eyes. Then she grabbed his waist with her free hand and yanked him toward her. The startle effect made his eyes pop wider and he felt their connection deepen.
“There we go.” The sharp burning voice spoke directly to his mind. Outwardly Mystic only smiled. “Now, you’re listening. Polar, you now have a complete defense ability. You will be able to develop it further through training, but you will be equal to, maybe even slightly ahead of, those at your training level.
“But there is another thing. You’ve got another ability that you haven’t even discovered yet that I want to keep hidden from you for a while longer. This isn’t really fair of me to do, but if you discover it too soon, it’ll ruin everything.”
Jeff’s mind grew fuzzy as she spoke. He couldn’t make sense of what she told him. His vision fogged over; it sounded like someone had slapped earmuffs over his ears. The feeling of air around him faded and disappeared as if he floated in a vacuum. He lost track of time and place. But then his extremities tingled as if defrosting. Mystic’s fuzzy features loomed in front of him.
He rubbed his eyes and blinked, trying to bring the world into focus. Crystal earrings, in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head, glinted and sparked on her ears. They shook as she tilted her head back to laugh. He could see, but he couldn’t hear. He grabbed her arms and shook her.
“I can’t hear.” His throat strained with the effort of yelling even though Jeff couldn’t hear his own voice.
Mystic’s brow knit in consternation and then her mouth moved, but Jeff couldn’t tell what she said.
“What did you do to me?” Jeff said. Other S.V.’s turned toward him.
Mystic pressed her fingers to Jeff’s lips and her mouth puckered to form a shush. He understood that and shut up. Mystic held up a finger to indicate it would be another moment. Jeff glowered at her while he waited. The fast tattoo of his tapping foot annoyed him, interrupting his concentration. Then he realized he’d heard it.
“What exactly did you do to him?” Source asked Mystic.
“It’s like restarting a computer after loading a new program. He’s coming back now,” she said.
“Everything okay here?” Oceanus scowled up at Mystic. Arms crossed, flint sparking from her turquoise eyes, Oceanus looked twice as big as her petite stature actually measured up to. Yet, Mystic still towered over her.
With a smirk, Mystic said, “Polar, call off your watchdog.”
Jeff shook his head, thinking maybe he was still in some sort of strange Mystic suave. Oceanus wouldn’t come to his defense otherwise. Maybe Mystic was able to see the intense crush he had on Oceanus when she was in his head and she was taunting him with this bizarre scene. Fine, he’d play along. Maybe he’d get some mind sex with Oceanus out of it.
“She’s not a dog, Mystic.”
Oceanus bounced up onto her tiptoes and raised her eyebrows at Mystic.
Then she nodded in Mystic’s direction and asked Jeff, “Who’s the tree trunk?”
Jeff snorted then froze. He reached out and poked Oceanus.
She jumped and squealed. “What was that?”
“I just…I thought…”
Both girls waited for his explanation. Oceanus looked annoyed; Mystic looked amused.
Jeff ran his fingers through his hair. If this really was happening and not some Mystic voodoo, then why had Oceanus come over?
“What makes you think things might be wrong?” Jeff asked.
“Well, your shouting was a slight indication,” Oceanus said.
“What shouting?” Jeff looked at Mystic accusingly.
She rolled her eyes at him. “When you were bellowing about not being able to hear.”
“Oh. I was yelling?”
The girls nodded in unison.
“Um, I’m better now,” Jeff said to Oceanus. He kicked at a non-existent mound of dirt. “Thanks.”
Oceanus laughed; a clear chiming sound that made Jeff think of fairies. “You and your manners.”
Source who had been quiet and thoughtful during the entire episode stepped up next to Mystic. “What exactly did you do in Polar’s head? I don’t understand why you were telling him a story about your childhood. What are you tapping into?”
“Whoa! Slow down, little buckaroo.” Mystic laughed. “One question at a time.”
She walked over to the stage and plopped onto it. Her long legs dangled toward the floor, and her feet banged against the plywood side.
Source had to jump up to sit next to her. He yammered the whole time, asking about her technique and the core of her abilities.
“So, you didn’t answer,” Oceanus said to Jeff, though she watched Mystic. “Who is she?”
Jeff shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. “She’s a psycho. She’s amazing. She scares the shit out of me.”
Oceanus’ lips parted as though she were going to speak, but her brow knit and she closed her mouth again.
S
taring at her lips, Jeff wondered if her breath smelled like cherries or tasted like red hots. Certainly if it came through those lips it had to be sweet or spicy.
“Hello?”
Jeff blinked. “What?”
Oceanus chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I asked where she’s from.”
“Oh. Um…Italy somewhere. But I’m not sure where.”
“What is she doing here?”
“I don’t know.”
Oceanus’ mouth hung open. “You mean you let her mess with your head and you don’t know anything about her? What were you thinking? She could have done anything in there. Were you just blinded by her mile long legs or something?”
“Well, when you put it that way. But I feel like I know her real well.” Jeff gave Oceanus a censored, short version of how they’d met.
“Polar, that doesn’t mean you know her. She could have shown you anything she wanted and made you believe whatever she wanted you to believe about her. What did she just do to you?”
“She gave me defense.” Jeff blushed.
“What? Made it stronger you mean? Why would you take a chance like that, Polar?”
“Um, no, I didn’t have defense.” Jeff couldn’t meet Oceanus’ blazing gaze. He hated having to admit such a huge weakness.
“None?”
“Uh huh.”
“But you do now?”
Jeff gnawed on his lip. “Well, supposedly, but I haven’t tried it.”
Seeing Love Bug, Jeff stalked over to her. “Hey, do your psych thing on me.”
“We aren’t supposed to,” Love Bug said.
Jeff rolled his eyes. “Give me a break. We’re practicing.”
Love Bug leered at him. The expression accented all the unfortunate features of her face. Her forehead jutted out too far, sharp-angled cheekbones and a hawk-like nose. She waggled her eyebrows and grinned. Jeff grimaced when she thrust her chest forward. What little there was of it. Yet she remained an unattractive, stick figured girl.
Jeff felt a strange nudging sensation in his head. It was as if someone or something were pushing on the outside trying to get in.
