Velli

Okay, so she doesn’t know anything about my life yet. But she knows about Jeremy. Maybe she could deduce that I know Jeremy? He needs to get out of that house. I need to call another emergency teleporter.

A slower but tighter panic constricts my body at the thought of how much that will be. I’m spending so much money, and I have to have eighty thousand drops in a month or my mother dies. She will die on the street because the only hospital that can help her will kick her out. And no one will care except me because no one cares about anybody.

“And… and I can prevent all that.” My words calm me. In a way, I’m blessed with this challenge because my problems are solved by one thing—getting powers. Getting eighty thousand drops or a loan for that much is easy with powers. With powers, I can beat the Old Soul. Heck, with enough power, I can even change the culture of Division’s Hand and solve our biggest cultural issue—that no one cares about anybody.

This problem is terrible and a challenge, but I’m blessed to have it. Still, unsure how I’ll solve it. I’ll take it step-by-step.

After I get the teleporter. I arrive at Jeremy’s house, to his confusion.

“How’d it go?” he asks.

“Really could have gone better. We need to get out of here ASAP!” is what I should say.

However, his eyes are downcast, and I recognize every sign of depression. I won’t add to that. I’ll never make a miserable person’s life worse. Instead, I do what I do best. I lie. “Step one is complete. She’s weak and wounded, and I have her in checkmate. Now comes the fun part.” I put my arm around him and smile.

The stench from not showering or brushing his teeth smothers my nostrils. I neither show a reaction to the stench nor blame him for it.

“I need you somewhere safe, though, to strategize with me. Like a weak and wounded animal, she might do something stupid, like come here. Which could be fine, of course, but I would never use you as bait. I have something much more sinister planned for her. Come. We must go to the safe house.” The ease with which I lie might become a problem soon.

“Oh, wow, man. You’re really like—thank you. Do I have time to grab some stuff?”

“Yeah, of course. Take your time.” One lie begets another. He does not have time to grab everything he wants. It is of the utmost importance we get somewhere safe now. “Yeah, man, I’ll just chill out here waiting for you. I’ll call a teleporter in five or so?”

“Do you mind waiting fifteen minutes? I want to take a quick shower.”

“Yeah, cool, fifteen is fine.” I need to address my problem with lying at some point.

I stand alone outside his house. My feet twitch. My head swivels until my neck hurts. My mouth goes dry, and I am positive every minute something is on my back that wants to harm me and I am going to die, but it’s only rightful, nightmarish anxiety. Finally, after twenty minutes, Jeremy arrives with a suitcase, and I call a teleporter.

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We arrive at the safe house, aka my mom’s hospital. Thankfully, no one is outside to embarrass me, so Jeremy is still in awe of me, in awe of the hospital’s size itself and how I could afford to buy a room for anyone in here. The answer is I can’t, Jeremy. If I don’t get powers in less than a month, my mom will die. That’s too much of a burden for him. So—

Doesn’t look like it’s doing you any favors, either.

Well, someone has to carry it. I convince Jeremy I need him in this particular room to look after my mom because she gets lonely, which is true in a way. She’ll be grateful for the company.

We enter through her door, and I remember I lost the scarf she gave me at some point. I open the door. She’s working on something else.

“Oh, hey, Mom. This is my friend Jeremy. We’ve run into a bit of trouble. Someone wants to kill him, normal problems. Is it fine if he stays here?”

Her face glows at the opportunity. “Of course, of course. I bet we can get an extra mattress in here.”

“I have a sleeping bag,” Jeremy mumbles, as shy as a rabbit.

“Velli, get him a mattress with sheets for extra comfort.”

“Sure thing. So, Mom, Jeremy’s youth was stolen. He’s thirteen. Just a heads-up. I’m working on fixing that… if we can.”

Jeremy nods in acknowledgment and remains outside the room, head down.

“Okay, Jeremy, I have to go let the guy up front know you’ll be staying here”—and pay him more money—“and make some arrangements. I’ll be right back.”

“Come on in and sit next to me,” my mom calls with her signature smile, and he obeys. I leave to let them figure out that situation.

I come back with a mattress, bedsheets, and more debt because Jeremy is staying here. I force myself to remain calm. As long as I get powers, it will all work out.

How many legends do you have so far, Velli?

I ignore Fate and struggle to open my mom’s door while I carry a mattress.

She and Jeremy sit in the hospital bed and cackle at something on Jeremy’s laptop. This is the happiest I’ve seen him. Oh, thank Division, I’ve finally done something right. My mom does tend to have a positive impact on people.

“What are you guys laughing at?”

“Your mom gave me some ideas for dating.” Jeremy wears a real grin. This is good.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I’m going to message some of my teachers from school.”

“Ohhhh.”

“Yeah, like, some of them were cute.”

“That’s a bad idea. I wouldn’t do that.”

He looks at me with his mouth open, like he’s surprised his teachers wouldn’t want to date a thirteen-year-old kid. Then he looks at my mom.

She shrugs and waves me off. “Jeremy, it’s fine. I have a friend who did something similar.”

Jeremy breathes a sigh of relief and goes back to his laptop. I know for a fact she does not have a friend who has the same condition. She might, and I mean might, have a friend of a friend of an acquaintance who looks five years older than they are. My mother is a crazy-hopeful, delusional lady.

She covers the side of her face and mouths a rebuttal to me, “It’s fine. Let him have some hope.”

“No,” I mouth back. “This is insane.”

“They’ll reject him, but in the meantime, he’ll be happy.”

“Mom, stop,” I mouth back as slowly as possible for full understanding.

She waves her hand, dismissing my objection.

“How’s your scarf?” she asks.

“Fine, everybody liked it.”

“Well, that’s great. I made you this in arts and crafts.” She presents me with a bracelet of cheap plastic beads that say, God has a plan for you and me.

“That’s so cool,” Jeremy says, shockingly genuine.

“Thank you, Jeremy.” She turns back to me. “Velli, can Jeremy come to arts and crafts?”

“I would like to go,” Jeremy adds.

I don the bracelet from my mom then go and check with the admin to make sure Jeremy can go to arts and crafts.