Frantically, I crouched down beside Trent, desperate to help him as the scene faded away, returning me to my spot on the tree.
“Ava?” Trent’s voice asked with a trace of panic. “Are you okay? Are you seeing something?”
Relief washed over me as I took in Trent’s whole, undamaged face, though the anger at what I had just witnessed burned inside me with ferocity. “Who the heck is Parker?” I spat the question.
Trent’s face paled. “Parker? How do you know about Parker? What did you see?”
“I saw some thug bullying you with his two wimpy friends, that’s what.”
Trent laughed uncomfortably. “Ava, as much as I appreciate your indignation on my behalf, what those jerks did to me isn’t unusual. It’s class discrimination at its finest. People who are a higher social standing can basically do whatever they want to Zeros. Everyone I went to school with thought I was powerless, so even though I was technically a Two, I was treated like a Zero. That’s just how it’s always been. Well, until Meraki came along, at least. After I started dating her, most of them left me alone. Perks of being with the girl everyone else wanted, I guess.” Trent rolled his eyes.
Though I hated myself for it, I felt the slightest softening toward Meraki at this information. I didn’t like her, and I certainly didn’t like her with Trent, but if it made life easier for him, I’d be the first person in line to congratulate them at their wedding.
“That’s horrible. Is it really like that for Zeros everywhere?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
I thought about that for a moment, letting the anger feed my desire for being a part of the Miners. “Well, there’s only one thing to do about that then, isn’t there? Let’s get to the practice room.”
My practice group today consisted of Katherine, Teresa, Trent, Trevor, and Meraki. In other words, it was bound to suck. Katherine and Teresa were two of the most difficult challenges for me. Katherine had the very unique ability of slowing down time for everyone besides herself. Essentially, it allowed her to be faster than I was, so I didn’t have that advantage in any of our fights. And Teresa was just plain frightening. Her red hair was a serendipitous reflection of her greatest ability—producing and controlling fire. She could hurl large balls of fire at me that were immune to my telekinesis. Instead, I could outrun them or use my shield to block them.
With quite a bit of practice, we had discovered that I could indeed produce a shield. I was so grateful I’d unknowingly discovered it that day to protect the mother and son from Tenebris’ terrible whipping. It had taken nearly a week and a half of practice before I could produce a shield that was anywhere close to being as reliable as my shields had been that day. I was fairly certain defending others when there was a real need is what drew out the best results from me, but it was also the most difficult to master. At this point, I could somewhat reliably produce a shield that would protect myself, but anytime I tried to produce one to cover someone else, it would only last a second or two before snapping back to me.
I stood on one of the mats and began to stretch with the group. Trent stood next to Meraki, of course, but his behavior was odd. In fact, it had been since the day I’d walked in on them making out. He was still friendly to her, but there was a formality to it, as if they’d taken several steps back in their relationship and were still in the beginning stages that were full of tentativeness. He also maintained a careful no-contact barrier between them. I hadn’t even seen them hold hands lately. It was clear that Meraki blamed me for the change as she mostly avoided talking to me and would shoot daggers at me with her eyes any time she looked my direction.
“Alright,” Katherine said. “Jameson designated me as the training session leader today, so I’ll be making the assignments. Ava, you are to begin working on your shield with Teresa.” I groaned inwardly. Teresa was sure to be extra brutal today. Last time I’d worked with her, my shield had improved dramatically—a fact that caused her a great deal of annoyance. “Trevor and I will be working on strength training and Trent and Meraki will work on hand-to-hand combat. We’ll switch things up in half an hour.”
I didn’t miss the fact that Katherine had paired herself with Trevor. Though I’d been keeping it quiet, I happened to know Katherine and Trevor were together. Two weeks ago, when Katherine handed me her earrings before we began training, I saw a vision of the two of them kissing goodnight in front of Katherine’s bedroom door. They never gave any indication to the rest of the group that they were a couple. Not even Elsie seemed to know when I casually asked if her sister was seeing anyone. I figured it wasn’t my place to go blabbing about it when I’d found out by completely involuntary means.
“You gonna stand there all day?” Teresa’s uncharacteristically feminine voice interrupted my thoughts.
“No, sorry, let’s get going.” I walked over to the empty space at the back of the training room that was free of equipment—the power area, as we called it. Whenever any of us used our abilities, things tended to get messy. It was best to operate in a relatively open space. I stood with my back to the long mirrors, facing Teresa. Her large, muscular body was intimidating.
“Ready?” she growled.
“You get a lot of satisfaction out of throwing fire at my head, don’t you?” I asked. Teresa smirked but didn’t answer. “Yes, I’m ready,” I sighed, trying to concentrate on my shield. By far, it was the most difficult ability for me to use in Cyrus. I hadn’t ever come close to being able to produce a shield in the human realm any time I’d tried.
A ball of fire hovered over Teresa’s extended palm. She watched me, trying to decipher a weak area to attack. I don’t know why she bothered—everywhere felt incredibly vulnerable. Her palm flicked forward, sending the ball of fire toward my right thigh. I swiped my hand in front of my leg. My blue, rippling shield appeared just in time to catch the ball of fire, which disintegrated as soon as it connected with the shield.
Teresa’s face fell in disappointment which quickly turned to anger. She produced another ball of fire and hurled it toward me without hesitation. The ball flew toward my arm, but I blocked it with ease. She exhaled heavily and threw another, then another, then another. We danced around each other, spinning in a wide circle, her attacks coming more rapidly and viciously, one after the other, but I continued to successfully block her attempts. She let out a cry of exasperation and then hurled the largest, most ferocious ball yet. It spun toward me, the flames a wild mix of orange and blue. I spread both palms in front of me, exerting a tremendous amount of effort, but the flames disappeared before they ever connected with my shield.
Teresa fell to her knees, panting. I, too, doubled over and tried to steady my breathing. “What did you do that for?” I managed to squeak out. “My shield was ready. I could have handled that.”
Teresa’s eyes flashed. “I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to hurt you. Not permanently, at least.” She gave a half smile. I was stunned. This was the only time Teresa had ever shown a shred of mercy for me in training.
“Oh, thanks, I guess.” I felt uncomfortable at her sudden gesture of goodwill. “Those flames were impressive.”
Applause from the other end of the practice room drew my attention. Warren walked toward us in his usual black t-shirt and jeans, clapping slowly. “Very impressive, Ava and Teresa. You two are quite the force to be reckoned with. You’re going to be invaluable when we make our attack.” His grin was wide, his eyes playful. “What do you say we up the stakes a little?” He walked over to another training area where a dummy stood with several knives in its chest. He yanked them out, gathering them in his hand.
“Are you insane?” Trent yelled, running over to where we stood. “Put them back, you idiot. You have no way of controlling a thrown knife—not the way Teresa can make her fire disintegrate. You could seriously hurt Ava.” The fury was plain on his face.
Maybe I was feeling a bit reckless or maybe I was overconfident in my skills, but either way, I was eager to test my limits. �
�No, no,” I called out. “It’s fine. I can block them.”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Trent asked, his anger directed at me now. “Are you really dreading the talk with your dad that much?”
Childishly, I stuck my tongue out at Trent. “Bring ‘em over, Warren,” I affirmed.
“Excellent,” Warren smiled. “Don’t worry, Trent. Ava’s got this. Plus, when we do face off with Tenebris and his guards, you can bet they won’t be holding back like we all do with each other. She needs some real practice.”
Katherine and Trevor jogged over to stand by Trent, their arms crossed over their chests. Meraki remained on the mat where she had been practicing, her expression indifferent.
“You put even one scratch on her and I’ll kill you myself,” Trent breathed, glaring at Warren.
“Feeling a bit melodramatic today, are we?” Warren rolled his eyes. “You ready, Ava?” he asked, standing where Teresa had before.
I took a second to clear my head and focus. This wasn’t playtime anymore. “I’m ready,” I said through gritted teeth.
Warren threw the first knife. It spiraled through the air, the blade glistening as it caught the light. Both my hands shot out in front of me, creating a massive shield that expanded well beyond my body, keeping the sharp blade a safe distance from me. The knife struck it. I could feel it, just a tiny bit, as if the shield was an extension of my body, but it didn’t hurt; it was like the slightest pinprick.
“Very good,” Warren smiled. “Here comes another.” He hurled the next knife with more force. I barely extended my shield in time.
“Cool it a bit, will ya?” Trent asked through clenched teeth. “She’s already exhausted from fighting Teresa.”
Warren ignored him, throwing knife after knife with increasing speed. Every time, my shield shot out in front of me, protecting me flawlessly, though my mind burned with the effort. It was similar to the burn in my arms when doing push-ups only in my brain instead. I kept pushing through the exhaustion, catching each knife that came my way.
Finally, Warren ran out of knives to throw.
“Okay, that’s enough practicing for one day,” Trent said, edging closer to me.
“That was really amazing, Ava. You’re getting stronger for sure. You’re going to be the best fighter we have,” Warren said as he picked up the knives from around the room.
“Thanks,” I smiled. “I’m exhausted now. Can we be done?”
“Sure thing,” Warren said, giving me a small smile. But then, unexpectedly, he turned and flicked a knife at Trent, who stood a mere ten yards from him. Without pausing to think, I immediately extended my shield out from me, throwing it in front of Trent instead. To my surprise and relief, it worked, staying in place with little effort. The knife hit the shield with a thud and dropped to the ground in front of Trent whose eyes were wide with surprise.
My shield snapped back to me, then disappeared.
It was my turn to be furious. “You complete and total idiot, Warren!” I shrieked. “What were you thinking? He could have been seriously hurt! You didn’t know if I’d be able to protect him. You know my shield has been unpredictable in protecting other people!”
“Easy, Ava. I knew you’d be able to, just like you protected those people in the square. You only needed a little push,” Warren said, a smug smile on his face. I wanted to slap it off him.
I glared at him, my voice lowering to a dangerous hiss. “Let’s get something straight, Warren,” I sneered his name, “if you want me, Trent, or Meraki to stick around, that better be the last stupid stunt you pull. You might be an impressive fighter, but you know as well as I do that your plan will fail without our help. One more move like that and we’re done. Understood?”
Finally, the smirk left Warren’s face. He glowered at me. “Yep, understood,” he said. Then he turned and stormed out of the room.
I ran over to Trent. “Are you okay?”
He glared at me, barely able to contain his fury. “No, Ava, I’m not okay. How could you be so reckless? Why would you let a maniac like Warren chuck knives at you? Are you completely mental?”
“Who cares about that,” I said incredulously. “I’m talking about him throwing a knife at you! You were totally defenseless. It was the dumbest, most irresponsible—”
“Save, it Ava,” Trent cut me off. “You’re no better than he is. I’ll see you in a few hours to take you back to your dad’s.” Trent shook his head, then turned and stalked back to Meraki. They left the room together without another glance in my direction.
I looked at Katherine who had the same angry expression Trent had worn. “You were being pretty dumb,” she agreed. “I know you’ve got a lot of emotions going on and all, but there was no reason to go and take a risk like that, especially with someone who cares about you so much in the room.”
“Yeah, but… what? Who cares about me?” I asked, confused.
“I’ll see you later, too.” Katherine gave a small shrug and a half smile before following after Trent, Trevor at her heels. Teresa, too, left the room without a word.
I kicked a punching bag next to me. It swung back with more force than I expected, catching me in the gut. I coughed and sputtered, glad that no one was around to witness that episode.
I didn’t know what possessed me to agree to let Warren conduct his little experiment. In all fairness, everything turned out fine, but I guess I could see Trent and Katherine’s point—it was rather reckless.
Annoyed with myself, I put on some boxing gloves and went to work on the punching bag, paying it back for the shot to the gut. Soon, I was dripping in sweat and breathing heavily. I pushed myself harder, trying to waste time, trying to erase the looks of disappointment and anger Trent had given me, trying not to think about how miserable seeing Dad was sure to be. The burn in my muscles was enough to distract from the mess of thoughts that was my head.
After close to an hour, my body gave up on me. Too exhausted to head to my bedroom here in headquarters, I used my telekinesis to pull over a towel from a rack across the room. I laid down on the sweaty mat underneath the punching bag, cushioning my head with the towel, and fell asleep.
Chapter 19
Confrontation
I woke up to a sharp jab in the ribs. “Ouch!” I complained. I sat up too quickly and knocked my head on the punching bag. Man, that thing was out to get me today.
Trent gave a low laugh as I rubbed the sore spot on my head. “Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” he teased. His tone was light but his eyes were tight; I guess I wasn’t completely forgiven yet.
“Sorry about earlier,” I said, looking at the mat and massaging the sore spot on my ribs rather than meeting his eyes. “I know I was being dumb, and I’m sorry it ended up putting you in danger.”
Hesitantly, I chanced a glance at Trent’s face. He didn’t seem nearly as bothered as he had been earlier. He looked me over, evaluating my sincerity. Apparently, he chose to believe me. “It’s okay,” he exhaled, “just promise you won’t be so stupid again.”
“Well… that’s a tough promise to make…” I smiled. Trent did not. “Okay, okay. I promise. Sheesh, take a joke.”
Suddenly, the day caught up to me. “Oh my gosh, what time is it?” I said, jumping up from the mat. As I did, I saw my reflection in the large mirrors. I looked like the most recent survivor of a vulonine attack. My face was pale with dark circles under my eyes. My sweaty hair had clumped into an unattractive mat that stuck to my left cheek, and a dried string of drool hung down from one side of my mouth. Nice.
“It’s time to go. I’ve been looking for you for a while. I didn’t think you’d stay here for so long, though I should have figured you would, being all stubborn like you are.”
I pulled a face at the jab. Trent laughed.
“Come on, then. Let’s get going,” I said, reaching out to grab his hands.
“Right, of course,” Trent said. “But first, I have to know. Do you always look this beautiful when you wake up
in the mornings?” He coughed, trying to hide a laugh.
“Oh, shut up, or I’ll find another Traveler to take me home.” I threw my elbow into his ribs. Trent laughed again and dodged my blow.
“Good luck with that,” he said, but he took my hands anyway and we were off.
We landed in my living room back home. I looked at the clock. Considering what time Dad’s flight was supposed to land and how long it took to drive here from the airport, I had about fifteen minutes before he would be pulling in the driveway. One thing was for sure, a shower was necessary—a quick shower.
“Thanks for taking me home, Trent. And I really am sorry about earlier. I won’t let it happen again,” I said, trying to convey how much I meant it with my eyes.
Trent stared at me for a minute. I began to feel uncomfortable under his scrutiny. “What is it?”
“It’s nothing,” Trent said, his eyes shifting shyly to the floor. “Well, it’s just… you really are kind of beautiful, Ava. In a very real way,” he said.
I snorted. “Right, sweaty hair and drool on my face. I’m America’s Next Top Model,” I joked, realizing he probably had no idea what I meant.
Trent smiled. “Good luck with your dad. I’ll come get you tomorrow after you’re done with school.”
“Sounds great. Don’t be late!”
Trent chuckled. “I’ll be here at 2:45 sharp.” He winked.
“Excellent.”
Trent still stood there, unmoving. I did too. A couple seconds of silence passed and we both laughed at the awkwardness.
The Cyrun Page 15
