Discovering Aether

by Emily James Taylor

  He turns his head back and forth as if he was looking behind me to see if someone else is with me. My head turns too, following his gaze and I look down the stairs behind me, towards the street. His eyes return to mine and it feels like his brown eyes are trying to stare deep into my soul.

  “If you’re new to this city, why have you not registered to Horus? Nobody has notified us we were to set up lodgings for someone. If you’re with Osiris, I suggest you leave and not be stupid enough to come back.” He continues staring at me with a confident smile, as if everything he just said made any kind of sense. Why is he talking about Egyptian Gods?

  Fuck. I put up my hands up in defeat. He raises his eyebrows and cocks his head to the side, like he expected me to do something else. The guy obviously has issues, even if he is drop dead sexy.

  “Okay, look I didn’t realize this was a worship center, I didn’t even know people still prayed to the old Egyptian Gods. Well, I mean at first, I thought it was a church but well, I guess I was wrong. I’m going off on a tangent, sorry. It’s cool with me. Look, like I said, I’m new in town, if you let me look around I won’t touch anything you don’t want me to. I just was looking for something to brighten my day and I saw this building. I understand if you want me to leave. I mean, yeah, I’ll just go,” I finish and look into his beautiful brown eyes one more time. My shoulders slump and I turn around to leave. With a quick intake of breath, I make my way down the stairs and start towards the street. Oh well, I guess.

  “Hey, wait,” he calls out to me. My feet stop their momentum and I look over my shoulder to find him two steps above me. His fingers brush against me. As soon as they come into contact with my skin, the hairs on my arm shoot straight up, an electric shock vibrates up my arm and down my spine. My body tingles with awareness and I suck in an involuntary breath. I give myself a small shake to fight off this feeling. The air must be really dry today. That’s the only explanation that I can come up with because I can’t believe I’m actually having such a strong reaction to a mere touch from this guy. I’m never this nuts when I’m hanging out with the opposite sex.

  Glancing up at his face, I try to get a read on him. He looks slightly taken aback, his face contorted with looks like confusion and surprise. Did he feel the same thing I did? The shock from a single touch?

  Trying to lighten the awkwardness, I blurt out, “Haha, sorry I shocked you. The air must be really dry out today or something.” An awkward bubble of laughter escapes me when I finish speaking.

  He snatches his hand from my arm quickly, like I burned him or something. Running his fingers through his hair, he flips it and gives me a nonchalant shrug. Well, he got over that rather quickly.

  “It’s okay, there’s nothing to apologize for.” He pauses, looking like he’s trying to maintain composure with his arms crossed and a tight lipped smile, but it looks forced, like maybe he’s trying too hard.

  He puts his hands in his pockets and begins to walk back up the stairs towards the door, still looking at me from over his shoulder. Okay, this guy is a little too serious.

  “I was trying to tell you that it’s fine if you want to look around. You said you were new in town right?”

  “Yes, I was actually apartment hunting today and it’s been really crappy. I honestly don’t know exactly what made me stop here, but it seemed like something I needed to do.” I peer up at him with an easy going smile. Well, I tried to give him one, but I don’t think I pulled it off if his raised eyebrow is any indication. Or maybe, telling him I had to stop here sounds dumb and insane.

  “I honestly just needed something to put my mind off of everything.” He slowly puts his hand on my shoulder, like he’s fighting with himself, not sure if he should or not. This time, the shock tingles from my shoulder down my arm as soon as his skin met mine. I try to find the nerve to ask him if he feels the vibrations I do, he speaks before I get the chance.

  “You know, my parents own this building. We let out- of- town people stay here all the time, there’s plenty of room if you want to stay till you find somewhere else.” He pulls his arm back abruptly yet again. Do I look as confused as I feel?

  “You would let me stay here, a stranger? You don’t even know me.” What is he trying to pull? And why don’t I get a bad vibe from this guy? Is it just that he’s so handsome to look at? I need to pull myself together. This guy is coming off genuine but I still should keep my wits about me.

  “Yes, we would.” He furrows his brows and makes a serious face again. His unyielding eyes are trained straight ahead with his lips set in a thin, hard line, and oh how nice he looks doing that. My cheeks become heated and flushed, so I turn my head away from him. “My parents always say, ‘Be good to others and they will be good back to you.’ We have seven floors and only two floors have occupants right now.” Wow, it has more floors than I thought. “Friends and family stay here from time to time. We don’t rent out to them or anyone, so don’t feel like I’m doing you too big of a favor. You’re a single girl in the city. You should be safe somewhere where your family won’t worry.” His voice gets deeper as he talks, like he’s putting more of a emphasis on my situation, but the sincerity in his voice makes his concern seem genuine.

  It’s on the tip of my tongue to say, yeah, no one’s worrying about me, but I stop myself. I don’t want this guy to think that nobody would come looking for me if something was to actually happen. Even though I’m still getting a good vibe from this guy, I’m still not going to be stupid and give him that information.

  “Umm, maybe. I still have a hotel room I’m staying at.” I look over at him, assessing his body language to see if I’m better off leaving now and forgetting about this entire strange encounter.

  Deep down, my gut is telling me that I don't have to worry about this guy - that he's sincere about his offer. If my entire ordeal with Brenda and living with her these past few years has taught me anything, it's that I should start listening to my gut when it's trying to tell me something. If I had, maybe the last few years wouldn't have been so miserable. I should have said something to my dad the day he told me he was going to marry her. We could have ended up somewhere else, just the two of us and maybe he would still be alive, still be here.

  He thrusts his left hand out to me, I almost grab it but alas I hesitated too long. He then raises it towards the building instead. “Here, why don’t you come in and look around? My roommate is home and my friends are up on the seventh floor as well. You can meet them, maybe see if you would like it here. If you decide you don’t want to stay, at least you’ll get to have a look at this building like you wanted.”

  He waits at the door, letting me decide what I want to do. I look back over the building and that weird sign. If it’s private, why have a sign?

  “So the sign, is it historic? Is that why it’s on your building?” I ask, peering into his gorgeous brown eyes, trying to gauge his reaction.

  “Something like that.” He finally smiles but his words leave me with nothing new to go on. He flips his hair over with his fingers. Is that how he fidgets? He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, like whatever happens isn’t going to phase him. “So this is where you decide if you want to stick around or not, what is it going to be Adaline?”

  I still wasn’t getting a bad vibe from the guy. If I do this, I’ll be able to take my time looking for a place that works for me. Plus, I could always go up and look around and leave if it’s not going to work. Please don’t let this be a stupid idea - trusting this guy.

  “I’d really like to see inside, if you don’t mind,” I decide, that inexplicable tug still pulling on me. “If it seems okay, I’ll stay.” I wave a hand out in front of me, waiting for him to take the lead. He swaggers up the stairs and opens the door to walk in. I start heading up after him thinking about our entire exchange.

  “Oh hey, I just realized I don’t know your name.”

  “My name’s Nolan,” I tell her leading her inside and head towards the staircase that’s right to
the left of the door. I start walking up the metal stairs to my apartment two by two.

  Unable to resist, I find myself looking over my shoulder at her every couple seconds. She’s beautiful. Long, curly brown hair and curvy in all the right places. Her eyes are probably the best part about her appearance. Blue eyes, with specks of dazzling green. The type of eyes the capture your attention. My cock stirs just at the sight of her.

  My Nucleus, I found her. I was starting to wonder if that was ever going to happen. Most Alchemists go to boarding school together. Our parents send us there around the ages of eleven and twelve. We are taught our history and how to control our powers. By doing so, though, most meet their Nucleus early and he or she helps to bring the quad together.

  We find out pretty fast in school if we give off enough power to be a Nucleus. My father was quite disappointed when I found out I wasn’t. The test was us pushing our powers forward and showing how well we can manipulate our element. I had to grow plants in one trial and cause the ground to shake in another. They said I was surprisingly strong in my elemental skills even though I showed no ability to help other elementals powers merge with mine, a sign of a true Nucleus. In my plant growing trial, I grew some exquisite looking gardenias, the white on the flowers was the color of pearls with no sign of sun damage, the stems and branches were strong and healthy, not showing a hint of under or overwatering. My confidence was high, I thought for sure back then that I would ace everything that they threw my way. I clasped the hand of the water elementalist, Brent, they assigned me with, and then we unleashed my doom.

  I was supposed to focus on spreading the root system and sprouting more plants while he was needing to focus on giving them the right amount of water to help them along. But after we grasped hands, a flood of water came out of his right palm and my focus instead went to protecting my plants. I was able to shrink a few to the ground but the few I missed looked like a tornado hit them. All the flowers were detached, branches were broken, and the gardenias that got the full brunt of the blast were pulled from the earth, their root system was destroyed. My self-importance took a big hit that day.

  It really didn’t matter what family I came from, I either had power or I didn’t. But the big blow came later when no Nucleus showed for me in all my years there. When that happens, the Alchemist community shuts you out, including your family. It was strange not having to try so hard to please my father, it was almost freeing in a way to not have his controlling influence surrounding me anymore. But the fact that I never got my tight-knit group, my own family, still weighed on me heavily.

  A family. I’ve been waiting to create my family, just like Kevin has. He and I are the only ones in our grade that didn’t meet their Nucleus, we all assumed either one or both of our nuclei had died or they had grown up affiliated with Osiris. Oh Kevin. I can’t believe I haven’t thought how he’ll take this. He’ll try to leave us alone, but maybe I can convince him not to. She seems to have no idea who she is. It will be good to have someone not interested in her around, to help her come to grips with everything. It’ll be a lot to take in, her world’s going to change, dramatically. How did her parents not tell her what she is and allow her to just leave? I’ve never heard of that happening. My mind’s having a hard time even grasping it. They had to have known she would find out who she was eventually.

  “My floor’s right at the top of these stairs, instead of there being a ton of apartments on each floor, my parents made it an open floor plan with a huge kitchen and living area, and a ton of rooms.” She chuckles and it is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. I turn and find her smiling at me brightly, her face is gorgeous. I can’t hold back my smile that’s forming just from looking at her. I was trying to act serious out front when I didn’t know who she was. But now I can show her how charming and funny I can be, typically Kevin is the more serious one. Well, He used to be the more serious one. These past few years have made me so unhappy, I’m not the same fun guy I use to be. Maybe now I can feel like me again.

  “Golly, how much money do your parents have, to do all this and then just let people stay here for free?” she asks with awe in her voice. Her sparkling eyes fill with wonder as she takes in everything. I snicker out loud at her.

  “Let’s just say, my family has had money for a long time.” I can’t believe how easy this girl is able to get me to grin. Did she actually say ‘golly’? I smile again at her use of words. I’ve never heard someone so young say that. Her using outdated slang is actually rather charming.

  “Oh, so this money has been passed down through generations and generations.” Her exaggeration of the word ‘oh’ makes it sound like more of a statement than a question. I could let it go but I still feel like I need to correct it.

  “Well, my parents were able to earn a lot of money at an early age.” I’m trying to gauge my words just right so that I’m not really lying to her, but I’m not telling her anything that doesn’t sound ‘normal’ either. Yes, my parents earned all their money early in life but that was when they first started their quad and were working on their powers... about a hundred years ago.

  “So, what, did they have you later in life?” Since we reached the top of the stairs, I’m able to wait at the door and look back at her.

  “Yes, they did.” I answer honestly, looking into her eyes. I can’t get over how gorgeous they are. From here, the sound of her power buzzing though her is clear enough to hear, it’s coursing through her. She seems to have a lot, but I can’t feel it or taste the power in my mouth. I can’t even see it come off her either. If she is what I think she is, what I know she is, I don’t want anyone to find out about her. My partner, My Heart's Center and my Nucleus. I have to protect her, from everyone, especially my father. He has this need to surround himself with power, and I don’t want her to end up on his radar.

  “Well, you going to let me in?” She gives me a questioning look and it makes her look absolutely adorable. Even with one eyebrow raised and a smirk that causes one of her cheeks to be more pronounced, nothing can take away from her beauty. Honestly, who wouldn’t enjoy such a animated face?

  “Oh right. Sorry my head’s all over the place today.” I flip my long, straight brown hair over with my fingers. Giving my fingers something to do sometimes helps to calm my nerves. I shake my head when I’m done and fumble in my front pocket for the keys, and take a calming breath when I feel the cool metal against my fingers.

  I open the door and let her inside. “Hey Kevin, you still here? I have someone here for you to meet.” There’s a soft bang and Kevin comes walking out of his room in sweatpants and no shirt on. I really don’t like him showing off his body to her. We train together often and it’s noticeable, his toned arms, and well defined abs on full display. Strange, this feeling. I’ve never felt the slightest twinge of jealousy with Kevin being around a woman I’m interested in before.

  “I yell that I want you to meet someone and you don’t put any clothes on?” I grind out. A part of me really hates the idea that she might be checking him out. If she doesn't know who she is then she probably didn't grow up in a polyamorous family like we did. She may only be looking for one guy to be with, and I’m the one who has the connection with her.

  “Well, normally the company you bring over is not the type I care to dress up for but it seems for once, you actually have someone worth meeting.” He puts his hand out to shake for Adaline. “Hi, I’m Kevin, what’s your name and why are you here with this doofus?” She giggles and starts to shake Kevin’s hand but pulls it back suddenly.

  “Sorry, the air today, I seem to keep shocking people, I got Nolan earlier.”

  The word ‘shock’ hits me hard. I can’t believe it. Going by what just happened and the goofy grin on his face, it looks like I didn’t need to worry about him leaving us after all. He gets to remain my partner and friend. But will she only choose one of us or will she be open for more?

  Then I hear another soft bang from a door shutting. Oh shit! I f
orgot all about the girl I brought up last night. I can’t even remember her name.

  “Hey, handsome. I have to go to work, call me.” She kisses my check and walks out. I freeze in that moment. Exactly the way a deer does when it gets hits with the bright headlights of a car coming right at it while it stands in the middle of the road.

  “Seriously?! You brought our Nucleus up here when you had a girl in the apartment!” Kevin’s screeching pulls me out of my rigid state. So I guess he figured out that we both have the same Nucleus. Kevin pulled Adaline to him as if he needs to put distance between me and her.

  “Nucleus?” she asks as she pulls away from Kevin. She starts to tremble a little. “What the hell is a Nucleus and why does it matter that he had a girl up here?” Her face looks muddled with confusion as she grits out the questions. He turns back to me.

  “She doesn't know what she is to us? How is that possible?” His voice is laced with confusion and pain, probably from the feeling of emptiness he now has with Adaline not in his embrace anymore. He scowls at me as he places his hands on his hips. Does he really think its my fault she has no idea what’s going on?

  Frustrated, I throw my hand up in the air. “It seems, Kevin, that Adaline doesn’t know anything about what we are. I was trying to just bring her up here and get her used to us before I brought any of that up.”

  While Kevin and I squabble, Adaline slowly backs up to the door. Moving quickly, but gently enough to not scare her any further, I try to block her path. “Look, we’re not crazy, and we’re not going to hurt you. We’re Alchemists... and, um, so are you,” I inform her gently. I try to keep my distance from her so I don’t frighten her but still be in a position to stop her from making a run for it. “I don’t know how you don’t know this, we normally find Alchemists that end up in the system. It’s rare when that happens and even rarer to have someone come of age and not be recognized as what they are.” True, all this time I was blaming her parents for her ignorance but maybe she was adopted and they honestly had no idea. I scratch my head as different scenarios pop in my head.