In the days leading up to the trip to Vegas, like the complete idiot and loser I felt like, I didn’t end up apologizing to Shelly. She wasn’t giving me the cold shoulder outright, which made things worse. It would feel like I had a good opening to apologize and get what I wanted to say out of my mouth. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t get myself over that hump to make it happen. It was a lame excuse and doesn’t justify not apologizing, but I was having so much trouble. Knowing I was going out of town on a potentially dangerous mission with Lizzy should have given me the kick in the pants I needed, and yet I found myself still unable to say the few simple words I needed to. How the hell could proposing to someone be easier than just apologizing?
“You didn’t say sorry to her, did you?” Rebecca asked without looking at me, zipping up my suitcase. We were setting a hard deadline of one week in Vegas, so I didn’t need too much, but she insisted I bring at least that suitcase.
“I did not.” My face flushed and I picked an imaginary piece of dust off the edge of our comforter.
She sighed, her disappointment obvious. To show she still had my back, she patted my shoulder. “Promise me when you get back you will, okay? You two can’t leave this hanging forever. So help me, I’ll drag you to her room by your ear.”
“You have my word.” I put my hand over hers and nearly called the whole Vegas thing off. Seriously, what the hell was I doing? What was I trying to get myself into? “Would you stop me if I said I just wanted to stay here with you and Megan?”
“You can say whatever you want, but you promised your friend you’d help her, so you should stick to it.” She put her chin on the top of my head and let out a deep breath. “Anyway, you tempt me, so don’t push it before I break. Just be safe, okay?”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me to Lizzy’s? We can say bye there.”
“Nope, I’ll start crying, and I don’t want to have an audience. I need to take Megan to school anyway. Now that she figured out Chloe and her little brother both live here, she’s been dying to play with him at school. She’s in second grade and he’s in first, so they don’t see each other in class. At least they both have recess together. From the way she talks about him, it sounds like the poor kid is being pulled in every direction by her.”
“Sounds like we got some young love on our hands.” I closed my eyes and imagined Ryan being forced to do Megan’s playground bidding, barely able to keep up with her energy. “It’s good she has a real friend here. Some luck, huh?”
“They’re just the cutest. Good thing you met Chloe when you did. Worked out for you and Megs.” She checked the time on her phone and frowned. “It’s about time for me to take her to school. Let’s go say bye.”
I took the suitcase and followed her downstairs. I’d been out of my home for extended stretches so many times, whether by choice or by circumstance, that I didn’t know when would be the last time I saw it again. I had to tell myself that if I could return from a foreign planet, I could come back from Sin City, no problem. If I could survive an alien poison and gigantic robot, I could come back from a few casinos and a lady who could hide within glass.
Megan was kicking her legs on the couch with her backpack on when we walked in. When she saw us hit the floor from the last step, she ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I set the suitcase down and patted her head with one hand. The other pulled her close in a warm hug.
“Will you be back soon?” She grabbed at the end of my shirt.
“As soon as I can, kiddo. Shouldn’t be more than a week.” I picked her up and looked her in the eye. “How about we chat on Rebecca’s phone if we’re both free? That means after you’ve done your homework, eaten your dinner, and do your chores.”
That produced a wide grin. “I’ll show you my grades! I’m getting good at math.”
“Well, then it looks like I’ll have something to look forward to at night. Now, it looks like you’ll be late for school if you stick around. Wouldn’t want to keep Ryan waiting, right?”
Her face went a little red, giggling as she ran to the door. She started impatiently bouncing on the heels of her feet while twirling a strand of hair around her little index finger.
“Please be safe, okay?” Rebecca held my hand and looked toward the ground. “After Rose and what happened in the mountain...I don’t think I could handle it again. You need to come back, and don’t make us wait so long this time.”
“You have my word that I’ll be back.” She looked up at me with worried eyes and I gave her a kiss that I hoped could transfer some confidence over to her. “Think about something for us to do when I’m gone. We’ll do it when I come back. It’ll be a great family outing. Sound good?”
“You coming back is all I need,” she muttered.
“Ethan and Rebecca are flirting!” Megan yelled, pulling us out of the moment. I decided “flirting” was too advanced a word for her to know at her age. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”
“Oh, just you wait until you’re dating. I’m going to embarrass you every chance I get.” I gave Rebecca a quick peck on the cheek. “We better do this before someone changes their mind.”
“Right, right.” Rebecca took Megan’s hand and led her outside. She looked back and tried to look as confident as possible. “Good luck. I love you! You have someone here too!”
“Wait, who?” I followed after Rebecca, but she was already at the car, starting to get in. I also happened to notice that Shelly’s car wasn’t in the driveway either, which left a knot in my stomach. Apologizing to her in person wasn’t going to happen until I made it back from Vegas. A phone call or text message would have felt too impersonal for my liking.
“Hey there, stranger!” Lori poked her head around our opened door and smiled. “Thought I’d walk with you to Lizzy’s.” Lori waved at Rebecca and Megan when they pulled out of the driveway. She exchanged a series of blown kisses with Megan who was half hanging out of the window. I watched them drive off and already missed them.
“Are you going to hold my hand when we cross the street too?”
“Not if you look both ways, but if you get smart with me again, I’ll loudly announce that I’m holding your hand when we cross.” She waved me outside and pursed her lips. “Come on, better not to keep that one waiting. You know how she gets.”
We started walking in silence. For a girl who could easily read someone’s emotions, Lori didn’t always do a great job of hiding hers. I kept glancing over at my small friend, watching her fingers twist around each other and fidget awkwardly. She couldn’t have made it any clearer she had something she wanted to say without outright telling me what it was. Waiting for her to speak up wasn’t doing much, we were halfway there and she hadn’t said another word. Her shoulders were tense and each step she took looked on the verge of being forced. When we reached the main intersection we had to cross, she stopped and finally looked up at me.
“Are you going to be okay for this?” Lori brushed her short hair behind her ears and huffed. “You’re obviously upset, and I won’t be there to help you out if you need it, so I need your head in the game.”
“I fought with Shelly and I haven’t apologized to her yet,” I whispered, not wanting the whole neighborhood to hear my confession. There was no sense in lying to her. If I told her everything was fine, she’d be able to see through it. “And I’ll be fine. I don’t want you in danger to bail me out anyway.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Lori cocked her head at me slightly and my vision went red with anger, and worst of all, a desire to hurt her that I couldn’t stop filled me. Somewhere in my mind, a voice was screaming at me to calm down and think about what I was doing. I had no reason to be mad at Lori. She hadn’t said anything to upset me or hurt my feelings. That voice was quickly covered by and drowned in an ocean of anger. Without any real control over what I was doing, I created a sword in my hand and brought it down toward my friend.
There was a loud clash that filled the quiet neighborhood, and I felt the resistance of my sword hitting something much harder than skin and flesh, thank goodness. In an instant, I was back to normal, albeit more than a little shaken up from the sudden swing. I broke my sword down and took a step back, trying to catch my breath and make sure my head was clear. If I was going to have another episode like that, whatever the cause, I needed to be as far away from my friend as possible so she didn’t get hurt.
Lori had some sort of collapsible staff out in front of her. She hit a button on it and it retracted back into the handle that she put in the back of a hidden holster on her belt. She pulled her T-shirt down to keep it as covered as she could manage. Lori shook both her hands and winced. “Those new muscles aren’t for show. You really did get stronger. I’ll have to start lifting weights or something.”
“Lori, I’m so sorry. I have no idea what happened or what came over me. Are you hurt?” I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t injured anywhere. I held my hands out to check her hands and arms for any damage, stopping myself out of fear I might accidentally hurt her.
“Surprised, right? I actually learned I could do this when we were fighting in the mountains. I have free influence over the emotions of someone if I want to.” She put her hands on her hips and winced again. “I’m fine, by the way. Hands are going to be a little sore, but it’s my fault.”
“Hold on, you made me do that?” I took another step back, but I didn’t know whose sake it was for that time.
“Yes. Ethan, do you really think someone as sweet as you would just suddenly decide to hurt me, a girl half your size? And if you did, do you really think I’d have been ready for it if I didn’t make you do it there? Not to stroke your ego, but if I didn’t plan for that to happen, you’d have cut me in half.” She tapped the side of her head. “Remember those times you were suddenly just furious with me around? I didn’t always register it in the moment, usually because I was so pissed myself. After I had a little while to cool off, I would realize how angry you were. Those moments usually came and went so fast that they probably didn’t stick with you, but I think those were all this ability of my Anomaly.”
“Jeez, why would you do that to someone? That’s terrifying.”
“Because I wanted to show you that I can help you more than you think.” Lori put her hands behind her back and started rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. “Look, I know that I’m small and I’m not as strong as you, Alex, Val, or even Lizzy. I get I didn’t win the genetic lottery, even get a few of the numbers. I get all of that. I’m not helpless. And it’s not just limited to anger. I could make you and Rebecca hate each other and never want to see each other again. I could make Megan feel that way about both of you. I could make you fall in love with me. Hell, I could make Rebecca fall in love with me.”
“Lori-”
“I’m not telling you that to sound scary or make a threat. Since Rory died, you’ve become my best friend, so I want you to understand that I do have the power to help you guys who are suited for direct fights.” She chewed her bottom lip for a few seconds. “I’m sorry about doing all that to you, but seeing—or feeling—is believing. I swear to you, I will not do it again on purpose unless you ask me to.”
It was hard to get a read on her. She looked defiant, ready to strike if I talked down about her powers. Not that I was going to, not after what she managed to make me do in just an instant. But there was something else about her too. She still looked so small, but I could see in her eyes how much her power development meant to her.
“Ah hell, that’s pretty cool. I can’t be that mad.” When her eyes sparkled, I knew I made the right decision to praise her powers. “Do you mind sharing how it works?”
“Right, isn’t it great!?” Lori’s grin was bright and proud. “Ever since I started pushing myself more when I met you and our little group got formed, I’ve been trying to study up on more powers, including my own.”
“Nerd.”
“Oh, shut up. Not all of us get to cheat by training with aliens.” We crossed the street and she told me about how her power worked. Despite her best efforts, most of her words went in one ear and right out the other. The way she thought about her Anomaly and how she used it didn’t compute in my brain all that well. My Anomaly was so physical and tangible in the real world. Since she dealt with emotions, how she connected to it was harder for me to wrap my head around. I could make a sword that I could see, feel, and hold. Lori had nothing like that.
“I’m glad I have you behind me here. Your brain is better suited for understanding these powers.” I put together a crappy, makeshift club with my Anomaly and swung it around. “I’m not much more than a caveman here.”
“You should put your mind to it. As much as you can anyway. May I?” Lori held a hand out toward the club and I handed it to her. Her eyes widened and she gasped a little. “It’s like glass and it’s so warm. It's so pretty too. Why do you make weapons to use in your hands when you can control them around you too?”
“Uh, I don’t know. Just feels right, I guess? If I only used weapons floating around me, that would leave my body pretty defenseless.” I tapped the tip of my shoe against the sidewalk. “Well, I have the armor. I guess it just feels better to have something in my hands to use too. If I don’t use my hands for something, that’s a wasted tool, right?”
Lori nodded, still looking over the club I made. “Good, makes sense. Sounds like you’ve thought your power a little more than a simple caveman might have. Do you mind if I keep this club you made?” She started walking in the direction of Lizzy’s house again, idly swinging the club around, careful to avoid hitting me, herself, or anything around her.
“Sure, but I think it’ll break down eventually.” I followed closely behind, watching how she kept turning the club over in her hands, occasionally tilting her head toward it to get a better look during the apex of a swing above her head.
“That’s what I want to find out. I want to see how just how far you have to be before it goes poof.” Lori smirked.
“I can tell you about my powers, you know. You don’t have to do a distance test.” Even though I talked a big game, I had no idea what I would have told her. It wasn’t like I knew how long the club could stay intact before vanishing due to the distance between us.
“Humor me. I’ve always been a better hands-on learner. Is it okay?”
“Do your thing, boss.” I shrugged. “Let me know how it goes.”
Lori turned the club over in her hands like she’d been gifted the Holy Grail. Then, like she was handed a weapon instead of a mythical artifact, she started swinging it around again. It was weird to see my power in the hands of someone else, though it was cool to see her trying to work things out in her head. That didn’t help curb my concern when I had to pull her back from stepping out into traffic. Twice.
“Girl, are you trying to get yourself killed?” I asked after we made it to Lizzy’s driveway and I was reasonably sure Lori wasn’t going to eat a car’s bumper.
“Hehe, sorry, this is just fun.” She didn’t look too sorry. Luckily for her, I had bigger things to worry about, so I couldn’t stay too worried about her childish behavior. “Your Anomaly has grown so much since we met. It’s really something else.”
“Well, that’s because I’m a prodigy.” I took a bow, and she just rolled her eyes. “When I touched the Sphere, it boosted my power. At least, that’s how it was explained to me on Clamor. I had some trouble controlling it when I first tried using it again. The jump was so insane that I had to learn to reign everything back to something I could manage.”
“Even with the boost, you’ve done so well. I'm proud of you, Ethan. You haven’t even known about this world for a year yet.” Lori looked up at me, and to my surprise, her eyes were wet. “I’m sorry for all of this. If I hadn’t met you, you might not have ever known about your power.”
“Why do you say that? It’s not like my Anomaly would have magically disappeared if I hadn’t met you, so it’s silly to worry about it.” I created three little orbs and rolled them between my fingers. “Maybe it wouldn’t have shown up when it did. It’s a part of me, so the thing was going to pop up at some point whether I wanted it to or not. This did a lot of good for us too. I’m engaged, Megan’s the best little girl ever, I’m living in a great house, and my sister finally has a job that isn’t just tedious desk work. The McLeod stuff sucks and stresses me to premature baldness, but what can you do? Nothing good in life comes free.”
“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”
“I think you can tell if I am.” I pointed to the scars on my arms. “It hasn’t been a perfect, linear road of successes and victories. I can accept that. I’m at the point I don’t want to sweat the ‘small’ stuff anymore. Just hit a few home runs and get back to this life I want. Being the first human to meet an alien civilization is pretty cool. If we win, being the first human to be seen damaging McLeod will be a cool thing to hang my hat on.”
Right on time, Lizzy burst open her front door and waved us over. “It’s about time you showed up. God, I’ve been waiting forever! Come on, let’s go over this one more time.”