Chapter Five
"Really, Luke? Do we have to practice here?" Kira asked, surveying the town square and taking note of the Council's platform. She had only just escaped being the center of attention yesterday afternoon. A repeat performance was not high on her to-do list. "Can't we just use your backyard?"
"I don't want it to seem like you're hiding. Besides," he continued, "conduits are going to stare at you no matter what. You might as well give them something to gawk at."
"And, me practicing is something to gawk at?" Kira asked.
"Oh yes," Luke said and stretched his arms over his head.
Kira plopped down beside him on the grass to stretch out her hamstrings and continue stalling. She rolled up the sleeves of her t-shirt, slightly annoyed with Tristan. The one downside to having him pack for her was the noticeable lack of her semi-revealing clothing, something she was sure he did on purpose. All of her practice tank tops had been left at home. Sure, they were skin tight, but now all she had were bulky unisex tees that she could hardly move around in.
And they were hot, especially in the scorching heat resting over Sonnyville. The sun usually felt comforting, but in this town the heat seemed stronger than normal. She would have to ask Luke about that at some point.
"Let's go," he said and eased into a standing position. Kira reached her arm out for help, feeling too lazy to do it on her own. He grasped her palm and pulled her up, promptly ending the contact at that.
"What are we starting with?" Kira stepped back, putting enough space between them to make the practice difficult, but not above her level.
"Target practice," Luke voiced. He reached his hand out to the side and Kira shot a small ball of light at his palm, more so a sudden burst of energy than her really strong powers.
When it touched Luke's hand, he moved to a new location. Kira fired again, trying to control herself and release the fire in small increments. They had done this drill many times before, but Kira still found it annoyingly difficult to focus her energy on the little target Luke's palm created. Even more difficult was reigning in the river of fire that roared inside of her, the one that surged forward and tried to force its way out.
After a while, Luke motioned to stop and Kira noticed the fine layer of sweat on his brow. She reached her hand to her own face and felt liquid drops. Odd, Kira thought. She usually never sweats during their practices.
"Let's practice your off-switch." Luke yelled across the field. As they practiced, he continued to step back to make the target increasingly smaller and harder for her to focus on. But, this next drill wasn't about control, not quite.
"Go!" Luke shouted over and Kira let herself release. With her hands out, the flames burst forth and even slightly stung her palms with their intensity. Letting it drain always felt like a delicious release. But, before Kira let herself have the satisfaction of letting everything go and giving into the power, she thought 'off.' Sometimes that was all it took and her fire would instantly cut off. This time, Kira felt the internal struggle and she willed her finger closed, shutting the light inside her hand and giving it nowhere to go.
The moment when Kira found herself on the verge of losing herself in her own flames was the moment she knew to cut it off. Luke and her once tried to see how long she would last. Kira drained herself and tried to release it all, but she had gone into a semi-conscious state where she lost not only her control, but also her mind. Luke had needed to forcibly hit her over the head and knock her unconscious to get her to stop. They stopped trying to test her power after that.
Most conduits reached a point when they felt hollow inside, as if there was almost no fire left to fly, and that was their stopping point. For Kira, it was more of a breaking point, a moment when letting it all go could mean losing herself in the process.
Kira lowered her arms and looked at her teacher, wondering if he wanted to try it again. She could usually stop herself quicker than she just had. Instead, he waved her over towards him and tossed a water bottle in her direction when she got closer.
"What did I tell you?" Luke shrugged, a happy smile on his face. Kira followed his eyes and looked around to see a ring of conduits encasing the park. None of them ventured closer, but people stopped where they were and stared over at her and Luke. A woman with a stroller and a man walking his dog had forgotten their errands to focus on Kira. A few children who had gathered to play also stood at a slight distance.
"Why won't they come any closer?" She questioned and then gulped down her ice-cold water.
"I don't think they're afraid, per se. I think they're all just waiting for someone else to make the first move. And, you are sort of scary when you go all zombie-conduit like that."
Kira shoved him with her free hand.
"So, what's next teacher?"
"Let's do some mental exercises for a while," Luke replied and tossed his water back on the ground. "Come on, let's practice on the platform so we have even ground."
Kira groaned inwardly. Mental exercises were her least favorite. Sure, calling her fire was tiring and exerted a lot of energy, but those drills were easy for the most part. She had almost no mental control, which was of course why Luke always made her practice this. And, she had no desire to be even more visible to the town by doing this on a raised wooden structure.
Lining up next to each other, Luke and Kira stood with their feet together and arms by their sides. Then, on Luke's count, they moved into yoga-like poses, concentrating on their breathing and trying to find a Zen-like place of peace. Luke always seemed revived by these exercises, while Kira tried her best to keep her eyes closed in faux-concentration. It reminded her of when she used to pretend to be sick so she could stay home from school, a sort of fake-it till you make-it mentality.
"Mind if I step in?"
Kira eyes jutted open to look for the source of the deep voice: her grandfather. Stumbling out of her contorted pose, Kira moved to shake his hand or say hello, but Luke beat her to the punch.
"Of course, Councilman Peters," he said while stepping smoothly aside.
Now that the Councilman had come forward, Kira couldn't help but notice the other conduits had also moved in closer, slowly creating a very defined circle around the podium. This is not good, she thought as she gazed at the crowd, I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. In a moment of clarity, Kira realized this had probably been Luke's plan all along...the jerk. She had absolutely no desire to be the center of attention.
"Miss Dawson," her grandfather spoke, pulling her out of her reverie. "Shall we?"
"Uh, of course," Kira fumbled for words. Turning to walk a few paces away from the older man, she saw Luke position himself on the corner of the wooden platform, giving her plenty of space to get in the zone. She turned in time to see her grandfather drop his cane and slide it a few feet away from him. Is this even a fair fight? She questioned and studied the old man who was now slightly hunched over.
"On my go," he said in his deep, rumbling voice. "One... Two... Three..."
Kira waited for the 'go,' knowing she would let him take the first punch, if you will. He was such a man of honor in this town; she didn't want to beat him. She would rather look mal-trained than embarrass the grandfather she was hoping could love her.
"Go!" He finally said and Kira waited for the hit. In an instant, a ball of power slammed into her stomach. She had no time to dodge it, try to absorb it into her body or hit it with her own shot. Instead, Kira was thrown back on her butt. She landed hard against the wooden floor of the platform with the wind completely knocked out of her.
"Whoa," she said in a daze while sitting up slowly. Her grandfather's power felt like steel and it oozed with authority. With a smile Kira thought, I guess the old man still has it in him.
She caught the smirk on his face before he replaced it with a focused frown. "Is that all you've got?" He challenged and an excited gleam rose in his eyes. He seemed younger with every passing second, Kira thought.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Kira jumped up at the ready. "Let's try that again."
This time, when he uttered the word 'go,' Kira was ready. She shot fire out of her left hand, hitting the ball of flames he flung at her. The two fiery globes slammed into each other and winked out of existence in midair. An instant later, another burst of her grandfather's power was flying towards her and she barely had time to meet it with her own flame. And another after that, and another, until Kira was sweating with exertion and panting from exhaustion.
Her grandfather was fast and she was barely keeping up with him. Twice already she had had to skip throwing her power and instead absorbed his into her body. It was easier than meeting his power in midair, but it took more time. Soon enough, her grandfather was bulldozing her with his flames.
At the exact moment Kira knew that her strength had started to wane and had lost track of her grandfather's movements, Luke shouted to her.
"Left!" He screamed and Kira shot left, deflecting a ball of flames she had not even noticed.
"Above you!" Luke shouted again and Kira could not help but direct her next throw up into the sky, hitting another of her grandfather's globes.
"Left, Kira. Come on!"
"Right!"
"Low! Move faster."
"Center!"
Luke continued to yell out commands and Kira couldn't stop herself from following them. She wanted to do this on her own. She wanted to lose to her grandfather on her own or win on her own, without Luke telling her what to do. But, when someone is telling you the right moves, someone who has been instructing you for months, you can't help but obey — at least that's what Kira told herself, because he was the only thing keeping her alive in this fight.
"Your face! He's shooting for your face." Luke blurted out again and Kira deflected the shot. His screams were actually distracting her. Instead of watching her opponent to judge his moves on her own, she was listening and waiting for Luke's voice. Didn't he know it wasn't helping her? Wasn't her grandfather annoyed?
"Above!" Luke screamed and Kira jumped out of the way, letting the flames crash into the wooden floor and disappear without leaving a scorch mark.
Kira sensed that Luke was about to shout again, but instead she turned to him and yelled, "Shut up, Luke! You're not helping me, okay. You are completely distracting me. I can't concentrate on anything except for your voice!" Taking a second to breath, Kira looked into Luke's shocked face. Complete surprise and confusion covered his features. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling," Kira apologized, "but, I want to do this on my own. So can you please stop telling me what to do."
"Kira, what in the world are you talking about?" He asked, concerned.
"What do you mean what am I talking about?" Kira said, annoyed.
"I haven't said a word since you started fighting."
"Luke, please. You've been screaming at me for the past ten minutes." Kira said, looking around for her grandfather to back her up. He was on his way over to the two of them.
"Kira, why would I do that? I swear, I haven't said anything." Luke stood his ground and Kira was the one who was beginning to feel confused.
"But, I heard you." She said unsteadily.
"What's the matter?" Councilman Peters asked as he approached. Kira noticed that he too had a fine layer of sweat on his brow. It made her feel a little better, knowing that he was tired too.
"Um, nothing. I thought I heard Luke say something, but evidently he didn't." Kira said, not wanting to fight in front of her grandfather. If Luke wanted to deny helping her, he could go right ahead. But she knew what she heard and she knew Luke had to be lying.
"Good, then let's get back to work. Luke, I want you to fight Kira so I can observe both of your movements." And with that, he walked over towards his chair on the Council and sat down to watch. Luke shrugged and moved to the other side of the platform while Kira tried to push her thoughts to the back of her mind.
"Ready?" Luke called. Kira nodded and waited for him to make a move.
After a few seconds of waiting for his move, Kira sensed that it would be a center shot. Some instinct in the back of her mind told her it was where he would go. So, almost at the same time as he released, Kira did too. The flames met exactly halfway between the two of them before vanishing.
Right, Kira thought and fired again. Now above, she heard the whisper in her brain, telling her it was the right move. She felt empowered, but exasperation was there too, gnawing at her.
The more they fought, the more in sync Kira and Luke's movements became, as though they were tethered together. They fired at almost exactly the same time, meeting evenly with neither gaining any upper hand.
Frustration was pushing even further into her thoughts, but Kira had no idea why. She had no reason to be annoyed — this was the best she had ever done against Luke. It was like she knew his movements before he did. If anything, Luke should be frustrated. He was throwing everything he had at her and nothing was making it past her defenses. If Kira were Luke, she would be confused, maybe slightly proud, but also ticked off that this was happening in front of a Council member.
Kira glanced at Luke's face. Sheer determination was visible in his narrowly opened eyes, but the furrow of his eyebrows did read of slight anger. He was annoyed and frustrated. But, why was she feeling that way too?
Kira traced the emotion back, searching for its source, but it seemed like some sort of cloud in her brain, something not connected to her body... almost like it belonged to someone else. And what if it did? Kira looked back at Luke, letting her instincts fight while her mind wandered. Could she possibly... was it possible? Was she actually reading his mind? Or, were his thoughts somehow invading her head and forcing their way inside?
Utterly distracted, Kira forgot to fight back and one of Luke's flames hit her smack in the middle of the face. Whiplash ensued as she stumbled backwards, thrown completely off balance as the fire forced its way inside of her skin. Normally, she enjoyed taking in Luke's power. It was friendly and refreshing, but she had been completely unprepared for the blow. And, as it were, she was standing so close to the edge of the platform, that the stumble sent her flying over the side. With a thud, she landed on her back on a patch of not-so-soft grass.
Luke's face appeared above her as he leaned over the edge.
"You okay?" He asked with lips full of barely contained laughter.
"Yeah, yeah," Kira sighed and stood up, rubbing her bum free of grass. Of course, she had to careen over the edge of the platform with a massive crowd watching. She hadn't noticed until that moment that half of the town had arrived in the square to watch her practice. She looked around at smiling faces and muffled laughter. Great, she thought, and placed her hands on the platform to push herself back up.
"Up until a minute ago, you were performing admirably," her grandfather spoke when she was standing again. "I look forward to the trial tomorrow."
With a nod, he turned around and walked away. The clicking of his cane against the wood reminded Kira that he was an old man, but definitely one with spunk. She hoped he would someday let her into his heart or at least over for dinner. Looking through old photographs of her mother would be more precious to her than he even understood.
"Ready to head home?" Luke asked. His voice called her realization back into prime focus.
"Luke!" She shouted practically into his ear. Startled, he jerked backwards.
"Jeez, you need to learn some volume control. What's up?"
"Luke! I think something really crazy is going on, but you need to hear me out first, okay?"
He nodded and walked over to their bags. "Is this a 'let's go talk in private' conversation or an 'I'm so excited I need to spill my guts right now' sort of thing?"
"The latter, so just sit down," Kira said and placed a hand on his shoulder to force him into a seated position. She remained standing but took the water he offered. The thud of her sneakers against the wood as she paced was helping her think. How to phrase this? She asked herself. Not one for finesse, Kira figured the blurting it all out approach would be simplest.
"So... I think I can read your mind."
"Ha! Very funny. Can we go home now? I'm beat." Luke started to stand.
"No, I'm serious. I think I've been hearing your thoughts inside my head."
"Kira, come on. That's ridiculous!" Luke laughed, but Kira thought he looked slightly worried behind his calm exterior. Something about the smile in his eyes wasn't quite like it normally was. The laugh lines weren't deep enough.
"No more ridiculous than being a human flame thrower." She shrugged and watched as he sat fully down, settling in to hear what she had to say. He shrugged back, signaling to Kira that he was prepared to listen, even if she sounded like a mental person. "I'm not sure when it started, but there have been times when I've felt overcome by foreign emotions, ones that suddenly seem to appear out of nowhere and take over my thoughts. Until five minutes ago, I never realized that it only happened when I was around you."
Kira thought back to the truth in those words. Yesterday in Luke's room something had happened, the day before during the fight and when he had walked into her room before the party. Even earlier, Kira thought, when I first woke from my coma, something was different, but I just didn't realized it. When he came to visit, the few times Tristan wasn't there, Kira sensed his emotions. She knew exactly when he was upset or angry or hurting. Before she thought it was just because they were such amazing friends, but it must have been this, some crazy psychic connection.
"Luke, you can speak to my brain — this is so bizarre," she said, still slightly in shock. After plopping down next to him, Kira finally met his eyes and waited for him to speak. Even though they were best friends, she would never want him to be able to know her thoughts, something so private and so intimate. Kira was perfectly happy being on the receiving end rather than having all her secrets spilled.
"Okay," Luke said slowly, twisting around so their bodies faced each other, knee-to-knee in an Indian style position. "Let's test it. I'll think of a number and you concentrate on trying to figure out what it is."
"I don't think it works like that," Kira said skeptically. Something so superficial wouldn't work.
"Just try it, okay?" Kira nodded and started to concentrate.
Focusing on Luke's forehead, she tried to see inside of it. All she ended up doing was noticing that his hair had gotten even blonder since they had come to Sonnyville and his tan was darker too. Concentrate, she told herself and switched her tactic. She looked into his eyes instead. Number, what number are you thinking? Kira questioned over and over again.
After a few minutes both of them gave up at the same time, breaking their contact almost perfectly in sync.
"Nothing?"
"Nothing!" Kira sighed and blew a stray curl away from her forehead in exasperation.
"I was thinking of the number three, by the way. In case that helps," Luke shrugged.
"It's not exactly mind reading if you give me the answer," Kira joked and starting thinking of another approach. "I think we need to try something with more meaning. I seem to only pick things up when there are strong emotional investments involved. Can you think of something you really want or a moment when you were really happy? Maybe I'll get something from that."
"Not completely sure that is something I want to test," Luke said and leaned back on his hands.
"Come on, Luke. We need to know if I'm having a moment of temporary insanity or if I can actually read your thoughts. Wouldn't you rather know?"
His brows came together as he squinted his eyes and worry lines appeared across his forehead. He closed his lids and brought his fingers to the spot on his nose right in between them, clearly in deep and difficult thought.
"Okay," he finally said, opening his eyes and looking at her again. "Okay, let's try it out. I'll think of something from when I was a kid and you concentrate on me. We'll see what happens."
After a deep breath, Luke's face turned very focused and Kira in turn concentrated on him, on looking behind his features and into his thoughts. She met his eyes again. After all, they were the gateway to the soul, right? That was how the saying went, and what better way to read Luke's mind than peering into his heart.
In the back of her own mind, a switch flicked on. Slowly, she felt laughter tickling her senses, giving her goose bumps. It was pure joy. Kira wished she knew what past memory he was thinking of, what could have made him this happy. But, she tried to stay focused and kept contact with his eyes.
The more the happiness spread, the more Kira could tell it reflected in her own features. A smile gradually spread across her face and, though she didn't see it, her eyes began to sparkle, like twinkling stars almost too bright to look at. But Luke never shifted his gaze. His thoughts, however, were a different animal.
Kira sensed it, connected as she was to his mind in that moment. Pure joy was still there, but it was now rimmed with slight agony and something different, something Kira couldn't place. Not nerves, but some sort of excitement that still contained joy, just not one so pure and innocent. This emotion was strung through with complications. Still though, it lifted her up and made her feel light, like a floating bundle of happiness.
Kira began to feel almost drunk on the emotion. She was getting lost in Luke's mind. The distinction between what feelings were hers and which emotions belonged to him was slowly escaping her. Was that her fear or his? Her hesitation or his excitement? Slowly, like a whisper almost blown away in the wind, two words streaked across her mind:
"Kiss me."
Her words or his?
Kira's eyes focused again on Luke as he sat in front of her. His pupils expanded. They were deeper, more thoughtful than she had ever seen them. He was leaning in now, his eyelids slowly shutting, cutting her off from his soul and trying to let her in a different way. Kira couldn't move, couldn't separate her thoughts enough to know what she wanted to do. Those two heartfelt words were still drifting in her head. He was coming closer. Her life was in slow motion. He was only a few centimeters away now. Her brain wasn't working. Did she want this? Did he want her to want this? Were his thoughts keeping her from pulling away or were her own?
Trumpets.
Trumpets? Kira thought, her mind completely freed now. Trumpets were playing.
Her eyes shot widely open and she jerked to the side, fleeing from Luke's encroaching lips and jumping for his phone. Trumpets were his ring tone. She forgot that he had changed it.
She dug through his bag, pulled out the vibrating phone and said, "Uh, do you want to answer this?" in a really lame attempt to change the subject.
Luke still leaned forward, completely immobile from the change of events. It took him a moment to even register what she had said.
"Sure, sure," he reached his hand out and sat back down. Kira wasn't sure where to look.
"Hello?" She heard Luke ask. "Tristan?"
Her eyes focused on the phone.