Second Semester Chapter #34: Graduation – We Are Children no More

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Chapter #34: Graduation – We Are Children No More

 

Greeley Colorado

May 17th, 2031-CE

 

Through the help of Lone Wolfe, Curtis had managed to score three extra tickets so Angela, Serena, and Lone Wolfe could attend his graduation ceremony. Of all of their friends from freshmen and sophomore year, of the inner circle, only Curtis remained. Robin and Ray had moved away over that summer. Lone Wolfe graduated at semester in his junior year. Jena had got her GED and moved to Montana. Lone Wolfe was determined to support his friend and his friend appreciated it.

Many things had happened since that summer day three years ago. Discoveries of a fireproof book of spells unlocking a larger mission for Lone Wolfe and a band of Keepers of the Balance. Jena becoming a Lilithian and discovering their involvement in the plot with the mages. The mission of the Cataclysms and Lone Wolfe’s private mission to save Serena from her own death and her own usefulness in the mission. Many things had changed. Many things had become clearer since that day long ago.

Lone Wolfe placed his right hand in Serena’s left hand and played with the diamond white gold ring on her left ring finger. Her lips smiled and her chocolate eyes glistened in the spring light, “everything is going to change now.” She said in her silky voice as her hair wavered in the subtle breeze, “Graduation from college next year, finding a house. Finding real jobs. Children. The rest of our lives.”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “A life returning to normal.”

Angela chuckled at that comment, “Returning to normal? Define normal? When have we ever been normal? Even before the fiasco in Missoula we were psychics and had our own screwy little problems.” She seemed to fume at that moment, “With all of the things that Jena has done for us, she couldn’t trouble herself with coming to Curtis’s graduation ceremony? For a while I wasn’t sure if he was going to make it. Especially with the friends he started to keep near the end after you and Jena moved on with your lives. You two grew up too quickly.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged off the comment, “If you think about it, It was all for the best. It allowed me to not worry about high school during the mission. Now that the mission is over I can focus on College and getting my life together after that.”

Angela shrugged, “Just remember, you are still living with me for the time being. If things worked out just slightly differently, you could have been living with your father. I am sure that would have been a downer for your relationship. Say nothing about what that would have done for your mission.”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “Funny how things work out sometimes.”

Serena nodded and adjusted her leather beret which was her grandfather’s much like the triskal in circle pendant that Lone Wolfe wore. She leaned in against her betrothed and smiled, “Probably about time we shut up, your friend and the rest of his class is getting on stage now.” Her eyes widened as she saw the amount of people in gowns gathering on the seats on the stage, “My god, that’s a lot of people!”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “I forgot that you went to a charter school. You probably had a much smaller graduating class. There are a couple hundred in the class of thirty-one. Too bad he screwed around most of the time. Curtis is actually pretty smart. I bet if he applied himself he would have been valedictorian but he is about middle of the pack.”

Angela nodded, “At least he is graduating on time.”

Serena shrugged, “Well, he is also a couple of other things most of the other people in his graduating class aren’t. He has some telepathic abilities and he is a telekinetic. He is also a hybrid. He is one of the Templars. He also fought in the battle with you to protect the Lilithian secrets in Montana. No matter what anyone says, he is in a class by himself. Too bad we don’t get medals for saving the world like that.”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “I’m glad they don’t give us medals and fan fare for things like that. All that would do is paint targets on our back. I can protect you and I from anything that comes our way and Robert said the mages wouldn’t bug us because of my powers but there are plenty of things that would come and get us. Anonymity is something that protects us now. That is why, now that our mission is complete, we are now referred to as the dark. We are now supposed to go into hiding. Wait for the next generation of Keepers of the Balance to rise up and take on the next mission. When that happens then we should be safe. The attention will be off of us.”

A troubled look washed over Serena’s face, “You said that your mission was such a success that it might have cancelled out one of the generations that serve. That means it could be ten years or maybe twenty before the next generation rises up. That means twenty forty or twenty fifty before we see other Templars to take your place. Do you really think we will be safe until then?”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “Most things will leave us alone. That which doesn’t will be handled easily.”

“Shush you two!” Angela hissed quietly, “The class valedictorian is about to start the speech!”

Lone Wolfe rolled his gold eyes, “Glad I didn’t have to suffer on stage with doing this. I would have clowned out. The same old ‘thus begins the first day of the rest of our lives speech.’ They should get some new lines already.”

Angela waved him to be quiet as a woman in a white uniform approached the stage. She placed a tablet on the podium and glanced out to the assembled audience before clearing her throat and adjusting the mic, “This is a day of celebration for all of us, not just those gathered on stage. Just like prom is a rite of passage that we have went through as children, graduation is a rite of passage that marks us earning our adulthood. With this; we have the ability to leave the nest and fly away to build nests of our own. We have the ability to continue the cycle that will perpetuate our people into the future. Throughout the last two hundred years our culture may have changed but this rite has stayed the same. First it was few, then many as the education became necessary but it is only a step in a larger cycle for us.

“Now our journey truly begins. As your next empties, the first day of the rest of our lives truly begins. We will make our way into the world and gain the experience we need to live. We will eventually pass this experience on to future generations and they will carry the torch on to the next generation as the day of their lives begins. But that is in the future, clouded and uneasy to see. For now, what is clear is this; I present to you the class of 2031!”

The principal came up and presented her portfolio to the valedictorian. She accepted it with a smile and walked off of the podium after moving her tassel to the other side of her hat. The principal walked up to the podium and announced the names as his secretary wheeled a large cart to the front of the stage. Each person walked up to the front, moved their tassel and accepted the portfolio that was handed to them. The audience clapped cordially for the most part. The friends and family of those gathered clapped and cheered louder for each of their members as they accepted their diploma.

Lone Wolfe, Serena, and Angela waited in anticipation as they got closer to Curtis’s name. When his name was finally called, the three of them cheered louder than his three family members that were waiting with equally bated breath. He smiled and nodded to each of the groups as he accepted the diploma. After that it was the anticipation of finishing the ceremony so they could buzz out for a camping trip the four of them had prepared for months.

The waiting was the hard part. It was a warm spring day. It reminded them of how the mountains would feel. They had cold weather gear stowed away in their cars and they weren’t sure how long it would be before the ceremony was over. While the ground had thawed in the mountains, if they didn’t depart soon, it would be night before they got everything set up. It still got cold, close to freezing up in the mountains this time of year.

About half an hour after Curtis’s name was called, the ceremony was finished. The graduating class threw their hats into the air as was custom. Lone Wolfe was the only one of the three that didn’t get to participate in this ceremony before. He wondered at what the custom was about. He decided he would ask later. When he graduated at semester, they offered him the opportunity to sit at the ceremony with the class of 2030 but he declined. He figured if he wasn’t able to participate in other functions after graduating at semester, he saw no point in that ceremony as well. They handed him his diploma after Christmas time that year.

Curtis went to his family first and handed his diploma to his mother. No doubt, the family had plans to have it framed. It was usually custom to do that. Lone Wolfe had his packed away in a box in his room at Angela’s house. He was not sure where Serena had stowed hers away. She was in the process of moving her things into his room.

The three of them rose and started to slowly move toward Curtis’s direction. They wanted to give the family time to say their praise to their son. Lone Wolfe recalled that after the mission he had some close calls with senioritis during the last year. For a while it looked like he wouldn’t graduate. He managed to pull his grades up and passed in the middle of his grade. It was good news and showed that he could do what it took when he needed to. Lone Wolfe wasn’t sure how much of it was Curtis’s own work and how much of it was the powers that Lone Wolfe had given him during their mission. In either regard, it was something that he earned.

Curtis walked over to his friends and greeted them with a smile and received a group hug as a reward. He nodded and said, “okay we have to return these robes so I will be back in about five minutes. Sorry for the trouble.”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “It’s fine. You did good my friend. Excellent work!”

Curtis nodded and ran off toward the building with a group of other graduates. It was a sad thought knowing that their tie to this school had now ended. Even though the three of them had graduated before he did, they were still tied to the school because he was there. That time had now come to an end. There would be no more finagling lunch schedules and school schedules to meet him for lunch or pick him up and hang out at the store or a coffee shop. There would be no more after school meet ups to discuss the goings on in the school. No more childhood gossip. Another chapter of their life had come to a close. It was tough for him to realize that they were no longer children.

 

*        *        *

Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

May 17th, 2031-CE

 

The sun was starting to set and three tents still had yet to be fully pitched. The sun had made it quite warm for them to set up but now that the sun was starting to make its final descent past the mountains, the breeze brought a chill. The four of them worked as fast as they could in order to set up the tents in time. Curtis looked around for a hammer so he could stake the tents, “Lone Wolfe? Do you know where the hammer is?”

“I believe it’s by the car,” Lone Wolfe stated as he and Serena worked on threading the poles through their tent. With them being the closest to complete they would split up and help the rest get their tents up before dark.

Curtis reached out with his hand once he spotted the hammer and it flew through the air to his hand. Lone Wolfe studied the movement and noticed that there was no gold flash of seal aspect magic preceding his telekinetic move. He arched an eyebrow and commented to his friend, “Nicely done! You seem to have managed using your telekinetic powers on your own! You will have to show others how to do that someday.”

Curtis shrugged, “Not really sure how I managed to do that. I was playing around with my powers on my own with the aspect power you gave me. One day I reached out with my hand and I was able to pull objects toward me like I had used my aspect power. I don’t know why but I now can pull things to my hand whenever I want. The rest of what I should be able to do with my Telekinesis doesn’t work right, why?”

Lone Wolfe thought about it for a moment, his five points seal gave him the answer right away, “Using your aspect seal slowly gives you the knowledge of how to use your abilities. Playing with pulling objects towards you taught you how to do that.”

Curtis cocked his head in confusion as Lone Wolfe and Serena finished getting their tent set up and moved on to help the others with his tent, “Do you think I can do that with other psychic abilities? Ones that I don’t have already?”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “Not ones you don’t already have. You can use those powers with aspect magic but you won’t be able to use them on your own.”

Curtis shrugged, “So much for being able to tell the future. Could have won the lottery if I had some of your talents.”

Lone Wolfe chuckled and Serena rolled her eyes, “Clairvoyance doesn’t work like that. I already had him try.”

They hurried to get the last two tents up and helped Angela with setting up the fire pit. There was still a little bit of light left so they hiked up to the clearing. They stood on the hill over the clearing watching the sun set. Lone Wolfe wrapped his arm around Serena and leaned in as the sun sat. Curtis smiled and glanced at his friends. Angela nodded and rested a hand on both Serena’s shoulder and Curtis’s shoulders, “If it hasn’t set in yet.” She stated to gather their attention, “Let me say this. There are no other adults around here. We made our plans on our own. We came here on our own. No one else is telling us what to do. We are children no more.”

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Second Semester Chapter #33: The Twin Watchers

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Chapter #33: The Twin Watchers

 

Greeley Colorado

July 15th, 2028-CE

 

Lone Wolfe hopped into the SUV and buckled his seatbelt in. He knew his encounter with the watchers occurred at about the same time as Jena’s and the twins. The watchers must have gotten to her first and she used her pre-cognition to get across town so fast. He never tried to use his abilities to drive before. For that matter, he never tried to drive before. She glanced around and pulled out of the parking lot.

The urgency was setting in for the clairvoyants. Jena could feel it. It was because of all of the people they targeted, the three of them had the best connections to each other and the twins had the weakest connections to everyone else. Jena blamed herself for that because Robin would stay if she were still with Lone Wolfe. Not only did she mess up their relationship but she also pushed Robin away without realizing it.

She wasn’t broadcasting her thoughts but Lone Wolfe seemed to understand it, “You didn’t do anything wrong. She also made bad calls throughout the relationship and she wasn’t welcoming of you as well. If we were still together she might have tried to talk me into going with her if she wanted this. It would be a lot harder for me to say no if that was the case.”

Jena glanced back and gave him a slight smile. While his words were enough to make her feel a little better about herself, they were enough to dissuade her from the reality of the situation. Too late she realized that there was a pull between them all. Too late she realized that they could have been close friends. Too late she realized the positive changes the two affected on each other. Now they were going to lose them. She was sure of it. Even more sure than the two oracles in the vehicle with her.

They pulled up a couple houses away from the twin’s home and jumped out of the vehicle. They saw five of the watchers with Robin and Ray walking down the side walk. Lone Wolfe and Jena approached, “Hey Robin!” Lone Wolfe managed to call out before his voice choked up. He didn’t realize it would be this hard to talk to her.

Robin seemed to freeze as well. He nodded almost mechanically, “Hi, Lone Wolfe.”

Jena could sense the tension between the two people. She stepped forward and chose to speak instead, “Where are you going with these people?” She questioned.

“They have invited me to join the watchers. I and my brother have accepted the offer,” She replied.

Jena shook her head, “So that’s it, you are just going to leave us?”

Robin refused to look at Jena, “There is nothing to tie us down here. They said they can help my father find a better job down in Denver. The only thing that would stop me would be if someone else would speak up.”

Jena glanced back at Lone Wolfe who had grown as pale as a sheet during the exchange, “I don’t know if you can get him to speak,” Jena replied, “Would the words of anyone else make any difference to you? I want to get to know you as a friend and I am sure that Angela would like to get to know you as a friend as well. How about giving us all a second chance? A chance to be friends together? Friends properly without the angst and BS that came when you and Lone Wolfe were dating.”

Robin shook her head but glanced to Angela. Angela could tell that she felt bad about not including her in more of their activities to date. She glanced back to Jena then back down to the ground, “After everything that happened between us I don’t think that you and I can do just friends the way you want.”

“What about me?” Angela questioned in response, “I hardly know you but I would like to get to know you better. How about giving us all one more chance so we can be better friends?”

Robin glanced to Lone Wolfe, “You are the deciding vote. How about it Lone Wolfe.”

Jena wanted to roll her eyes but she didn’t do it. She fought the urge with every fiber in her being. Instead, to help fight the urge she projected to Lone Wolfe, “No pressure but you have to say something to get her to stay here. I don’t think she will listen to anyone else. She clearly won’t listen to me and she didn’t seem to listen to Angela. Do you want her to stay?”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “I do but I am not sure if I have the strength to say anything. I am not sure if I even have the fortitude to project what I want to say to her. What do you want me to do? Can someone tell me what to do? She seems to want this. Who am I to stand in her way?”

Robin glanced to him, “Are you just going to stand there and twiddle your thumbs all day or are you actually going to open up your mouth and produce some sounds in a pattern that vaguely resembles language? Remember, I don’t speak caveman so try to shoot for English!”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “What do you want me to say? What do you want to do? Do you want me to tell you that I want you to stay? I do but is that enough to keep you here? Is there anything else that will get you to stay?”

Robin shook her head angrily, “I want you to stop being so fucking wishy washy! Make up your damn mind! Tell me what you want from me! Tell me if you want me to be friends! Tell me if you want us to be more than friends! Tell me if you want to never see me again! Tell me what you see for our future.” Tears started to stream from her eyes, “Do you see us together in any way in the future? Do you?”

Lone Wolfe shrugged. He tried to glimpse the future but it was cloudy. He couldn’t understand why he didn’t have a clear view of the future. She had broken it off with him and at the time he wanted nothing more than to fix the relationship with her and make it so they had never broken up. Now that things had started to heal he felt that their future was starting to divide. He didn’t know how to explain it to her in a way that would make sense. He wanted her to stick around as a friend but he didn’t know how to explain it to her. He shrugged again. He glanced to Jena and saw a worried look on her face. He glanced back to them, “I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t have the power to make this decision. I don’t have the vision to see the future clearly in this case. I feel like you have the power to make the decision here. I would like for us to be friends. I feel like we have a future as friends. I want for us to have a future together.”

Robin’s dark amber eyes showed the venom contained within them, “That’s exactly what I am talking about, Lone Wolfe! I don’t hear you say anything definite! All I hear is ‘I want this, and I want that!’ There is no ‘Yes, silly girl, we have a future together! We are friends or we are lovers in the future but we are together!’ It’s touching that you want us to be friends and you want us to be more than that but you can shit in one hand and want with the other. Only one is going to fill up first.”

“Unless you’re Curtis,” Jena commented in response.

Angela smirked, she couldn’t help it. Jena smirked a little at the comment and it got the attention of the watchers but it did nothing to relieve the tension of Lone Wolfe or Robin. Lone Wolfe glanced down and seemed to shrink into the background at that moment. He wasn’t sure if there was anything more that he could say. Jena placed a hand on his shoulder as she responded for him, “You can make all of the harsh statements you want, Robin. It doesn’t change the fact that you asked him to look into the future to see if you had a future together. If he can’t see it then he can’t give you an honest answer. If you asked him for his desires I am sure he would have responded differently. That is why he gave you the wants and hopes in his statement.”

Robin shrugged, “If that’s true then I guess this is where we part ways then.”

Lone Wolfe shuddered, “Goodbye Robin. I will always cherish the time we had together. You helped me out when I needed it the most. You were around when I needed someone around more than anything. You made last summer the best summer ever. You made the last Christmas the best Christmas ever. I will never forget that. Thank you!”

Robin stopped and the anger bled away from her face in that instant. She wasn’t aware of what he still felt of all of those experiences. They weren’t soured by their breakup. Instead, they seemed to retain their vibrancy and color in his eyes even as he recounted them to her. For a moment, she thought about staying behind. She thought about changing her mind and staying. She could have been wrong about her own thoughts and feelings.

She glanced to each of the watchers then back to her brother, “Ray, what do you want to do? You have been pretty quiet about this entire thing. You have yet to weigh in about what you want to do? Do you want to stay here with our friends or do you want to join the watchers? I was not sure if you wanted to join or not. You have been following my lead this entire time.”

He smiled and glanced to the watchers, “You have two powers and I only ever had one. I feel like I have always been the third wheel in this situation. I would like to be something different this time. They can teach me how to use my telepathic powers properly. I can be something better with the watchers than I can if I just stayed here. I would like it if my friends came with me but they all seem determined to stay where they are.”

The five watchers glanced towards the three psychics standing betfore them that were trying to convince their new charges to stay. Lone Wolfe could tell that they were trying to decide which one of them should speak. He thought about using his powers to block their telepathic communication. That this point it would just be showing off. He had done it to one group and they had left. That was when everyone thought they were a threat.

After a moment, their chosen representative chose to speak, “You may have turned down the people sent to find you and talk to you but it isn’t too late to change your mind. You are all friends and you can be friends together with the watchers. We can give your families the same promise we made hers. We can make sure they find good jobs and are relocated to better areas in Denver.”

Angela crossed her arms and shook her head defiantly, “Right there, sir, is an insult! I have no family. The home I live in has been in my family for four generations! I am the fifth generation to live in the house! You can’t find many heirlooms like that anymore. If you take me to Denver, you take me away from my roots. I prefer to stay here. You offer me nothing of value by taking me away from here and to Denver. I refuse to join your order. You claim to watch us but you knew nothing about my family home? I find that hard to believe!”

Jena took a step back, “My home has been here and it has always been here. I cannot just pick up and relocate so easily despite what you may think. I turned you down once, not just because of your creepy methods of recruitments but because you ask us to move so far away. I would like to remain friends with Robin and Ray and they sound like they won’t be that far away. Maybe we can keep in touch through text and the internet. I can’t just leave here though.”

Lone Wolfe nodded and took a step back, “I feel the same way as both Angela and Jena. My father worked hard to make the home we live in his home and something that will keep us safe for years to come. My mother is no longer here but there is a piece of her in that home. You ask us to just give that up which is impossible.” He glanced to Robin, “You have spent time in that home during Christmas. During the time when most of the town didn’t have power, we were warm and comfortable thanks to all of that planning forethought of my parents. If my father and I leave that behind, he will have to start all over by going to a different home. We may not be able to build that again. I can’t ask him to throw that all away. I don’t think he can.”

Robin nodded and looked defeated, “I also cannot deny that my brother wants this more than I do. We don’t have the roots here that you three do. We weren’t born here and don’t have your attachments. Maybe you are right and we will have contact through text and the internet. We will have to see. I guess it really is goodbye.” With those words, the twins and the watchers walked off to leave the three other psychics alone on the sidewalk. No one said anything even well after the twins and the watchers had disappeared. The twins, themselves, had become the watchers.

Jena placed a hand on Lone Wolfe’s shoulder. She could feel the pain coming off of him. They all felt some of the pain that he felt but he took the brunt of it. It was certain now. Robin had left. She would not be coming back. She would be a watcher. He may see her again but they would never be the same. They wouldn’t be the children they were when this began. They would be something different.

Second Semester Chapter #32: The Watchers

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Chapter #32: The Watchers

 

Greeley Colorado

July 15th, 2028-CE

 

Jena could sense something coming with the storm. She didn’t know if that was something she got from Lone Wolfe or if that was something she could sense on her own. She didn’t know what to make of it before she saw several figures roaming the streets. They seemed normal enough at first until she noticed that all of them had psychic abilities. They were fairly powerful psychics as well. They were stronger than most of the average psychics as well. She glanced at them and couldn’t help but think Lone Wolfe, what did you and Angela do while camping? This many powerful psychics being around so soon after you two come back from camping cannot be a coincidence.

Long ago, Jena had figured out a way to hide her presence from other telepaths. The only person she could not hide her presence from was Lone Wolfe. She figured that was because they have known each other since they could remember. She noticed that they walked right past her as she sat at the bus stop. They hardly gave her a glance, either they haven’t noticed me or they are looking for someone else. I swear they are looking for Lone Wolfe. I could warn him but then they would know that I am just like them and really good at hiding.

She shook her head. She knew she had another way to warn him. She took out her phone and sent him a text message, “There are some people wandering around. I think they are looking for you after your camping trip. I know they are looking for someone with psychic abilities because they are all really powerful psychics. I have seen ten of them so far!”

It didn’t take her too long to get another message from him, “Are you sure that they are looking for me?”

“What else would bring out so many powerful psychics? The timing is right; you and Angela had to have done something on the camping trip and brought them out of hiding. They are really interested in finding you.” Jena replied over text message.

“You are going to lecture a clairvoyant over matters such as timing?” Lone Wolfe questioned over text message. She could practically hear him laugh as he typed that message. She did have to admit there was a certain amount of humor in the circumstance.

She put her phone away and rose from the bus stop. She had planned on seeing Angela at the bus stop today and see how their trip went. Lone Wolfe had missed some summer school but was able to make up the homework from it so his plans were still on schedule. For some reason, they were still on their way towards where Lone Wolfe lived and the school. Why would they be going to our neighborhood? She questioned to herself. The groups split into two at that point and one headed to the school and the other headed towards the neighborhood.

“Lone Wolfe! They are heading for you! I am following them and they are heading for the school. They are also heading down our neighborhood.” She texted in response

She got a response a moment later, “that’s strange that they are heading down both places. If they coming for me then why are they heading down both streets?”

Jena shrugged and sent a response, “They have to be tracking you. They wouldn’t know that you have summer school so they are seeking you out telepathically. Too bad I don’t know that little trick Scarlet taught you. You might want to use it now.”

“I assume you are using your own special trick to keep yourself hidden from them,” Lone Wolfe replied over text, “Otherwise they would have noticed you by now. Maybe they split up because I am not the only target. Crap! The twins!”

“What should we do?” Jena panicked, “There is only one of me and there are two groups of them. If you use your trick then they will notice me and if you don’t, they are going to come for you!”

“You get to safety. My trick won’t affect her empathic powers, you can use yours too. They can protect themselves. I can protect myself. Those guys are the ones that will be in trouble,” Lone Wolfe replied.

She could feel her telepathic powers cut off at that moment as Lone Wolfe used his power to neutralize all telepathic powers in the area. The people in front of Jena stopped and started glancing around. They were not used to having their powers taken away in such a fashion. Jena had experienced it before.

Jena turned and ran from the mysterious psychics. She hoped, despite the feelings she had for Robin and Ray, that they would be able to fight the mysterious psychics off. She didn’t know what the psychics wanted with all of them but she didn’t want to stick around and find out. As she headed back to the bus stop, her blood ran cold. She was only aware of the people that had come after them on this side of town. She had no idea if there were people that were going after Angela.

She slid to a stop at the bench and hoped that none of the mysterious people that sought Lone Wolfe and the twins had followed her. Instead of wasting time with a text message, she called Angela, “Angela! There are people after Lone Wolfe, the twins, and possibly you! You might want to close up shop!”

 

*        *        *

 

Angela had enough time to hang up the phone with Jena before several people walked into the door of the shop. While she was not as proficient with telling people’s abilities as Lone Wolfe and Jena was, she was starting to pick up on psychics in general. All of the people who walked in were psychic and all of them felt like they could be stronger than her. Angela shook her her head and did the only thing she could thing of.

She thrust her hands forward and for the first time ever, she used her shaman magic against someone. A burst of wind flowed from all around her and shoved one of them out of the door and slammed the door shut. The other two that had made it into the store were thrust back against the wall with force. She saw more people outside and kicked the ground. The concrete in front of the door raised up just enough to jam the front door shut.

She glanced at the two of them as they struggled to their feet and caught their breath, “Okay you two, who the hell are you and what do you want with me and my friends?”

The man glanced to the woman and they struggled to remain upright, ”The clairvoyant didn’t say that any of them was psychokinetic.”

Angela cocked her head in confusion. They mistook her blast of air with a psychokinetic blast of kinetic energy. They knew all of them were psychics and that seemed to be the entire point of their visit. She took a step forward and held her hands high in the air, “I will repeat myself only once more; why are you here for me and my friends?”

Both of them raised their hands in defense, “Oi! We aren’t here to hurt you! We just want to talk!”

Angela lowered her hands, “If you just want to talk, then why did you come in force. I see there are four other peopl with you. My friend reported that there were ten people looking for her and her friends. Seems pretty interesting that you would send seventeen people after five psychics.”

“In case of attack,” The man answered as he tried to find a space furthest away from the shaman, “As you are an indication.”

“Well, The backdoor is locked,” Angela stated and kicked down with her foot again, “If it wasn’t hard for you to get by before, it is now.”

They glanced at each other before the woman commented to her partner, “unusual control of her psychokinetic abilities. How is she able to pull upon the ground like that? Isn’t that something that a telekinetic should be able to do?”

Angela cocked her head in confusion, they still haven’t figured out what I am doing. They have only been told that we are psychics and nothing else. That is true of the younger teens but I have other powers. What are they and why are they here? “I thought referring to someone in the third person while they are standing before you is nothing short of rude and psychokinetic’s get very upset when they are treated poorly. How about telling m who you are and why you are here?”

The both of them nodded, “We are watchers.”

“Decided to do a little more than watch, didn’t you?” Angela commented as she placed her hands on her hips, “Now, why did you decided to do a little more than just watch people like me and my friends? What made you move from more than just stalkers to actually doing something about it?”

They both shook their heads as they responded, “You misunderstand. We didn’t seek you out to abduct you. We want to find you and your friends to ask if you could join us.”

Angela Cocked her head again and walked back to the cash register, ”Why should I believe you? There are seven out there right now. You have two groups of people after my friends. To me, that looks a little bit more like you are trying to take us away quietly instead of asking us to dinner.”

“We were initially going to show you that there are a lot more people in the world like you than you know,” The man commented in response, “The Clairvoyant guide who sent us here told us that you haven’t seen a lot of psychics outside of your group of friends.”

Angela shrugged, “Your clairvoyant should have come himself. Aside from that person and my friend, I haven’t seen other clairvoyants outside of my family and his family. He should have made the overture to see us himself. As far as the rest of the psychics are concerned. I am familiar with this number that Jena told me about; one in two hundred. For every two hundred people on the street that I pass, I probably passed a psychic along the way. I know we aren’t alone. Maybe you should be sending smaller groups to not freak out the local population.”

She sighed and sat down on the stool. She glanced at the two of them as they tried to figure out how to get out of the building, She glanced to them and asked, “So what happens now?”

The female watcher shrugged, “I take it that you do not want to join.”

Angela nodded, “I bet you can also say the same thing about Jena who warned me that you are coming as well. So where does that leave us? Those of us that don’t wish to join?”

“We will leave in peace,” The female replied.

Angela glanced around. The other five watchers were gathered around the front door trying to figure out how to un jam the door. She hopped off the stool and glanced to the back door. She stomped her heel and the concrete around the back door slid home as it had never been disturbed. She couldn’t see it from her angle but she could feel it. She glanced to the front door and said, “Have them move back.”

The woman glanced to the glass door and the five people gathered on the other side of the door backed off. Angela took a step forward and stomped down with her foot again and the concrete blocking the front door also shrank back down into the ground as if it had never been disturbed in the first place.

The woman glanced down in awe at the floor. Since there wasn’t even a mark that the floor had been disturbed by a power she glanced between her colleague and the shaman before replying, “That cannot be a psychic power doing this to the floor. Psychokinesis and telekinesis would have left the concrete disturbed. Yet, the floor looks better than when you moved it. What are you doing to the floor?”

“A little test for your clairvoyant overseer,” Angela stated instead of flat out answering, “You are right, I am not just a psychic. I am also something else. If you want to know what that is; ask your clairvoyant. If he is as powerful as my friend, he might know the answer to that question. Now out before I show you what else I can do with my powers!”

They wasted no time in getting out of her shop. When they rejoined the others they made a hurry of moving out of the area. Angela didn’t let her guard down until she was sure they were gone. After that. She wondered if she should close up shop and rescue her friends. She found herself grabbing her keys and locking the front door before moving to the back before she had time to process that fully.

 

*        *        *

 

Jena raced away as three of them spotted her, “Wait! You are Jena? We just want to talk to you!”

Jena shook her head as she ran for it, “Get away from me you creepers! I want nothing to do with you! Just leave me alone!”

“But we are just like you! If we could use our telepathy we would show you!” They replied as they followed her.

Two miles, I just have to get two miles away from the school then I can use my own powers against them! Jena reminded herself as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn’t understand what they wanted with her and she didn’t want to know either. All she wanted to do was get away from them and make sure they didn’t have a chance to get to her before she could get past Lone Wolfe’s sympathetic range. She glanced back and noticed that one of the three chasing her were gaining on her, “Fire!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, “Fire! My god, can’t you all just leave me alone! You are like a fire on my ass!”

“We just want to say our peace then we will leave you alone if you still want nothing to do with us!” The man protested.

Jena shook her head, “Not accepted! Just go away!”

The man reached out and managed to grab her shoulder. She closed her eyes and screamed, “Just leave me alone!” At the top of her lungs. She didn’t see the gold flash that emanated from a symbol at her feet. The man let go.

She opened his eyes. The man and his companions stood there with blank stares for a moment before walking away. They didn’t seem to recognize her nor did they seem to remember why she was so important to her. They walked off as if they had nothing more to do with her at this point in time. She blinked and her panicked green eyes slowly changed to confusion, “What just happened?” She asked, more to herself than anyone else, “I don’t think I used my telepathy against them. I can’t sense the minds of anyone around here. I wonder if the panic I felt broke through somehow?”

The ordeal wasn’t done yet, she reminded herself. There was still the twins and Lone Wolfe that still had to deal with these mystery psychics. She took off running for their neighborhood where the twins lived, “I’d rather not put myself in danger just after getting out of it but if Lone Wolfe has any chance of putting things back together with Robin, she has to be saved. Lone Wolfe only has to deal with two of them. Maybe I can pull some miracle off and do what I just did to the other three to the ones heading after the twins.”

 

*        *        *

 

Lone Wolfe had managed to excuse himself from class and waited in the hall way for the people who sought him out. He leaned against the wall with arms crossed and when he saw to men approaching him, he called out, “I don’t think you have a hall pass. As a matter of fact, I think you are a little old for school.”

“Are you the one blocking our telepathy?” The one on the left questioned in response.

Lone Wolfe nodded, “I am. Level playing field. You tried to surprise me so I surprised you. A little even considering that you decided to have more than one of you versus just me. I hope you don’t mind. Before you go any further, you should know that I am really quick when I use my clairvoyance. If you decide to make this physical, you will have a hard time trying to either catch me or land a blow on me. I can also knock you out in an instant. What brought you to me?”

“A week ago, our clairvoyant advisor told us that he sensed a massive disturbance in the mountains northeast of here. In that instant, he could see that the people responsible for that live in Greeley. We were sent to find the two clairvoyants and their psychic friends and see if they wanted to join the watchers. We are an order psychics. We watch the interaction between humans and psychics and try to keep the two worlds from colliding in war. We try to learn as much as we can from our psychic abilities as well. Your disturbance in time was powerful. It told anyone with a touch of clairvoyance that two clairvoyants were in the area. No one had seen a perfect moment like that in a long time.”

Realization washed over Lone Wolfe’s face at that moment, “You have been watching Jena and I for a while now. I recognize those words. She was the first one who coined them.”

Both of them nodded but it was the one on the right who responded, “You have no idea how hard it is to find another compatible telepath that could communion with her. One that we could also trust with our secrets. It ended up being a daughter of one of our members. One who we knew would join the order when the time was right. We figured we would approach you and the others when you turned eighteen.”

“You and your friend figured out how to create a perfect moment, one powerful enough to almost stop time,” The other one added, “That kind of power was troubling. We had never seen that before so we decided to approach you now. We see you have other powers as well. We have never encountered another telepath that could block our abilities so completely before.”

Lone Wolfe shook his head. He figured that there was a reason why Scarlet didn’t show back up in Greeley this summer. She was planning to eventually return to the town after she got her degree. She usually returned home after summer break started for her. He had been wondering what would have kept her from returning. If they were after powerful telepaths, she would be on their radar.

“Pretty rare talent,” Lone Wolfe nodded, “Surprised you didn’t find anyone like that before, considering you found Jena so quickly. Why did you rush your time table?”

“We are not the only order of psychics,” The Watcher on the left replied, “There are other orders of psychics. In truth, if we were the only order, we would let psychics find us and conduct our research in the shadows with no one to interrupt us. As it stands, there are other orders that won’t operate like that and are actively recruiting. If you ended up on our radar then chances are that you also landed on someone else’s radar too. There could be a government organization that will want to study you and your friends for their powers. There could be another order that has plans for humanity. Considering how most psychics view humanity in general, how do you think they will react with powers such as yours at their disposal?”

Lone Wolfe shivered at the thought. Still, he didn’t want to join any order. He had his own plans for his own life and didn’t want to yield for anyone. He didn’t quite know why, yet, but he knew he had to finish what he started with school before it was too late. He shook his head, “I still don’t want to join your order or any order of psychics for that matter. I just want to live as a normal human in a normal world of normal people.”

“Can you say normal in that sentence a little more?” The watcher on the right smirked, “We understand. It is a rarity that we find people like you that want to live with normal humans despite what they have been through. If you feel that way, we will leave you alone.”

They turned to leave but Lone Wolfe needed to know something before he left, “Wait!” He called out and forced them to stop, “What about the rest of my friends? Will you leave them alone?”

They glanced back to him “You would enforce your own will over theirs?” They questioned in response.

He felt a pang of fear go through his body. While he was sure that he did not want to be a part of their world he couldn’t be sure about the rest of his friends. He might be the only one that wouldn’t join their order. He shook his head, “No but if they don’t want to join, will you leave them alone?”

They nodded, “What do you take us for? The government?”

The two watchers turned to leave at that moment. When they were clear of the way Lone Wolfe started to head back to class but something told him he should go back to the parking lot instead. He wished that his assignments for the day would be done and the teacher had excused him as he started to head for the exit. The door caught the sunlight at just the right angle as he opened it and the blinding blaze caused him to close his eyes. He never saw the gold flash from his feet that granted his wish for him.

He stepped out into the parking lot and saw a familiar gray SUV sitting in the parking lot. The windows in the front rolled down and hands waved out of the SUV, “Hey beautiful!” Angela called out, “Looks like you made it through your encounter with the watchers. Let’s rescue the twins now!”

Second Semester Chapter #31: Tempests

Previous Chapter:

Chapter #31: Tempests

 

Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

July 7th, 2028-CE

 

Unlike most people, it was not too hard to convince Angela to take a camping trip to the woods to just think. The only thing she needed to do was make sure that it was slow enough to warrant taking an impromptu vacation at this point. As it turned out, Jena’s suggestion to go today was a good one. She was able to close up shop after looking up the analytics for her store to see that a lot of people weren’t buying a lot after Alban Heruin. That did make it a good time for her to get away.

She slipped out of the house early in the morning and headed up to Swamp Lady Pool camp ground. After the fourth of July festivities, it would be torn up from all of the dirt bikers but they would have left and the area should be relatively quiet. When she got there, it was still early in the day. It didn’t’ take her long to set up her small dome tent and get her padded sleeping bag unfolded. After that she started working on the fire pit.

She wasn’t intending on using the fire pit right way. She wanted it ready in case the weather started to get colder or later in the night when she would use the light and heat. Her intention was to walk down to one of the lakes she had a pass at and catch some fish. She had some food but she always liked eating fresh trout. Especially if that fresh trout was cooked over the fire absorbing some of the smoke along the way. She went to her car to grab out the fishing supplies and made sure everything else was stored in the tent when someone walked up behind her.

She spun around and saw the man. She looked to be his age and she asked, “May I help you?”

The man glanced around, “Where is everyone else?”

She shrugged, “Are you lost? Are you expecting someone?”

The man shook his head and took a step toward her, “I was thinking that you would be in a group. If you aren’t maybe you and I could have some alone time.”

“Excuse me?” Angela stated and pushed the man back, “You aren’t my type. Buzz off before I have to do something you will regret.”

The man pushed her back towards the tent where she tripped and fell over the threshold onto her padded sleeping bag. Within a second he was crawling into the tent and almost on top of her. She kicked at him as her Nwyfre reached for the sky and started to turn the weather.

The first kicked propelled him out of the tent but did not deter him from his goal. As he scrambled to get back into the tent, Angela turned and reached for her backpack. Inside of it was a bowie knife. If she had to, she would use it against him. She would not go quietly. The man pulled at her just before she got the pack open. He growled, “What are you trying to get, girlie? Is there something in the bag that you want to use against me. How naughty of you to do that—Ack!”

His collar tightened around his neck. Angela didn’t have a chance to use her powers against him yet, she was till readying the tempest to stir enough Nwyfre for her to use her powers against him. She glanced passed him as his torso was thrust back away from her, “Hey!” A familiar male voice stated from behind the man, “She doesn’t like you. How about going away now!”

Lone Wolfe shoved the man back and placed himself between Angela and the Man. His arms were crossed and his gold eyes bared down on the man daring him to get up and make a move against either one of them. The man rose to his feet, his teeth clenched with anger. Lone Wolfe’s eyes narrowed and the man froze up. Lone Wolfe took a step forward, “Forget about us and go home!”

The man nodded and walked away as fast as he could. Lone Wolfe waited until he was sure the man was away. The man abandoned his gear and headed straight for his car. He sped off. Two miles later, Lone Wolfe let out the breath he was holding and started to walk away. Angela rose to her feet quickly, “Wait, where are you going?”

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “I am going back to my tent. I figured you would want to be alone. Especially after that ass hat.”

Angela shrugged, “Sure, men aren’t on the top of my list of companions but you are a friend. You also saved me. What are you doing here anyway?”

“Camping,” Lone Wolfe replied. He glanced back at her, “I assume that is what you are doing here as well.”

Angela nodded, “that was the plan. What brought you here? What told you I needed help? Was it just your clairvoyance?”

A crack of thunder off in the distance disturbed their conversation. Lone Wolfe glanced up to the sky and saw that the blue summer sky had quickly clouded over and was now dark gray and getting darker. He glanced back to his gray eyed raven-haired friend, “That and the weather changed suddenly. I don’t know why but I knew it was you at the moment.”

Angela pointed up to the storm threatening to break at any moment, “You took a look at the weather changing and knew that was me? How could you have known that?”

“You don’t listen too well,” Lone Wolfe replied, “I don’t know how I knew, I just knew that I did know it was you. Am I wrong? Is the storm a natural event that just happened to pop up out of nowhere?”

Her jaw dropped, “Why would you attribute that to me?”

“That is a lot different than ‘you are an idiot.’ So, you are responsible for the storm?”

The first drops of rain started to hit them. They were big drops and signaled the fact that the storm was going to open up on them at any moment, “We better move this conversation to inside the tent.”

Lone Wolfe nodded and followed her into the tent. She zipped up the opening as lone Wolfe sat down on the tarp, “So, are you responsible for the storm?”

Rain tapped on the fabric rain shield as she answered, “yes. What confounds me is how you know this. No one except for Scarlet would know what I am.” She glanced at the young golden eyed boy and asked, “Did you communion with her after that night she and I shared together?”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “No. Our last communion was before that time. Like I said, I have no idea how you affected the weather. I just knew that you did.”

Angela took a deep breath, “I am about to tell you something and you need to keep it a secret.”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “It’s not like I have a lot of friends. If you aren’t comfortable with telling me, just tell me to drop the subject.”

Angela shook her head, “I am fine with it. For years now I have known how to do things like affect the weather. My mother and grandmother were raised as pagans and druids. I learned shamanistic magic as a child. I didn’t learn from my mother or grandmother but from someone else. What I was taught went far beyond what they would have taught me and it does have serious affects like the storm you see.”

A blast of lightning close by blinded them for a moment and the sound coming a split second later made them jump. The storm was getting worse by the minute. The rain was now pounding away at the tent as opposed to just tapping it before. Lone Wolfe glanced around and said, “okay, you can stop it now.”

“I haven’t been channeling energy into the storm since before you dismissed that guy,” Angela replied, “After a certain point, the storm gains a life of its own. There isn’t much we can do but wait it out.”

“Do you think we can wait it out when it sounds like it is going to start throwing ice at us at any moment?” Lone Wolfe questioned in response.

Angela shrugged, “I’m not sure to be honest. There isn’t much we can do right now except maybe see if my weather radio is working. If it is we can check and see if we are in any sort of flood warning.”

“You can’t just stop the storm?” Lone Wolfe questioned in response.

“I am not sure if there is anyone alive that knows how to stop this once it starts. Nature is a pretty powerful force once you get it going,” Angela shook her head in response as she started rummaging through her pack. She glanced at the younger teen as she went through her bag, searching for the radio, “you didn’t happen to leave your tent open, did you?”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “No. If I did, it wouldn’t matter anyway because it’s probably a lake now.”

The pounding on the tent started to get deafening at that point, “That would be hail. Are you sure your tent will hold up to this punishment?”

Angela shrugged as she found the radio, “I’m not really sure. If it rips, we can head to the SUV. Just grab something hard to shield yourself with while you do that.”

She fiddled with the radio for a moment. It powered on without issue. She had trouble finding a station that was local to them. After several minutes of nothing but the constant pounding of hail against the tent, she found a station that had local weather. They listened as they reported the thunder storm warning for the Red Feather lakes area. There was also a flash flood watch in effect since they were in a mountainous region. He glanced to her and asked, “Do you know where we can head if this gets worse?”

“Up hill, captain obvious,” She replied, “That’s what you do during a flash flood.”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “yes but trying to go up a hill while being pelted with hail?”

“We can use my sleeping bag if we need to. It will hold up better than the tent will because it has a built-in pad. The only problem with it is it will get heavy as it gets water logged,” Angela replied as she headed towards the door and unzipped the screen flap enough to see out the window. Through the small slit of screen, she could see the hail was not as big as she expected. It just sounded loud as hell against the fabric of the tent. It was as if someone was pelting the tent with pebbles, “We should be fine in the tent unless we see signs of flood. Keep the radio going until the rain starts to slow. I will keep an eye on the weather out here. If it looks like it’s going to start to flood then we can move to higher ground. We shouldn’t have to take the sleeping bag with us.”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “If you say so. I have seen what even small hail does to crops before.”

Angela nodded, “I’m not saying hail isn’t bad news. I’m just saying it shouldn’t hurt us or bash our skulls in if we don’t have protection.” She glanced over and could see the corner of her car. It didn’t look damaged and instead looked like it was weathering the assault of ice well, “Well the car looks okay. As long as your tent was maintained okay and you closed the entry flap then you should be good to go once the storm settles down. That is unless you want to grab your stuff and bunk in here, in your own sleeping bag.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “That doesn’t sound too bad. I can call my father after the storm goes away and see if he will let me stay as long as you want to stay.”

She cocked her head in confusion, “You are here by yourself too?” She asked.

“I needed some time to clear my head after Robin broke up with me,” Lone Wolfe replied.

Angela glanced back to the storm only out of necessity, “I’m sorry to hear that. You two looked lovely together. If she wasn’t so straight, she was cute enough for me to make passes at her. Why did she break up with you?”

Lone Wolfe sighed, “Because I decided to take summer school to get ahead in in classes and graduate early. She decided to cheat on me instead of following my lead.”

She shook her head, “That’s a shame. If I liked boys that way I might have gone for you. She doesn’t know what she gave up.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “Doesn’t matter now. I just need to fine my own way.”

Angela glanced down, “Maybe you just need a friend.”

Lone Wolfe glanced towards the radio as it continued to play the same set of messages again, “You might be right. I need a friend, nothing more or less. I guess it is a stroke of luck that we both happened to be here at the same time.”

“I think you have more than one friend who cares abut you but if you want someone who you know won’t sleep with you then I guess I am your girl this go around,” She glanced back out the narrow screen slit, “Well, the hail is completely gone now. It is just heavy rain now. Hopefully it will let up soon and we can go get your things before we have to start scrambling to get up a hill somewhere. At least we won’t be pelted while we are getting soaked.”

“That’s always a plus,” Lone Wolfe nodded, “They aren’t mentioning anything about a tornado up here. Just a severe thunder storm on the radio.”

“Not likely to get a tornado in the mountains,” Angela nodded, “Not impossible but highly unlikely. Not enough sky and the terrain isn’t conducive for the formation of one. It will hit a mountain and break apart and that is assuming it has enough space and time to form in the first place. Really, flooding and lightning are our two big worries right now.”

Lone Wolfe didn’t want to move up next to her and make her feel more uncomfortable. Instead, he sat by the radio and asked, “How does it look out there? Does it look like we might have to make the trek up the hill?”

Angela shrugged, “With as hard as it is coming down it is difficult to say. That means we might have to book it or if it calms down soon and everything drains off we will be fine. It coming down so hard makes it look worse than what it is. At least it makes it look that way initially. It if keeps this up then we will be in trouble.”

“Anything I can do that can help you to control the weather at all?” Lone Wolfe offered, “Drain my energy to help you channel yours as an example?”

Angela glanced back to him, “You’d rather I kill you so the storm clears?”

“Not kill but drain me of energy,” Lone Wolfe replied, “Leave enough for me to live but I will sleep like the dead for a while.”

Angela shook her head, “in either scenario, it wouldn’t work. We would still have the storm to contend with. As long as you take care of it, nature gives you all the energy you need. You just have to know how to channel it and direct it.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged. He sat back with almost nothing to do. He thought about taking out his phone but he wasn’t sure if he would end up going through old pictures from his relationship or just surfing the net. Angela glanced back at him and noticed the boredom and sorrow both glowing on his face, “I can open the flap a little more without it, I think. You can watch the rain if you want.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “I was figuring that you needed some space.”

“You let me be the judge if I need space or not,” She replied.

Lone Wolfe nodded, “Beats trying to figure out if I wanted to sit here and play with my phone or not.”

She unzipped the flap a little more while he stood and walked over to the doorway. He watched the rain fall and hit the ground. There were numerous puddles splashing manically with droplets of water as they hit. They were coming down with enough force to make this mist of almost rain going up at the same time. His eyes widened at the sight of the rain covering just about everything in sight, “Don’t you think we should be going for higher ground?”

Angela shook her head in response. The rain slowed only slightly. It wasn’t anything to do with the time as the splash of the drops against the water also lessened as opposed to the same splash being slowed down. She thought back to her childhood and the first time she made a tempest. Just like back then, the rain seemed warm and she was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. She smiled and glance back to the inside of the tent and kicked off her shoes. She glanced to him as she went to take off her socks, “Take off your socks and shoes! Also, empty your pockets of anything that can’t stand getting wet!”

He cocked his head in confusion, “Are we making a run for higher ground? Why do we care about socks, shoes, and electronics if we are?”

“It’s not going to flood,” Angela replied, “The rain is starting to die down.”

“Okay, so what are we doing?” Lone Wolfe questioned in response.

“We are going to play in the rain!” Angela replied.

Lone Wolfe nodded and kicked off his shoes as he emptied his pockets. He glanced at her in confusion, “So if we are going to do this, why keep the rest of our cloths on? They are just going to get wet.”

Angela shrugged, “I have a change a clothes so it doesn’t bother me to get these wet. If you want you can strip down but you will be the only one.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged as he pulled his socks off. She unzipped the door and stepped out into the rain. She zipped up the tent as Lone Wolfe stepped out. His feet sank into the wet grass and mud. Despite the slightly cool rain, the ground still felt warm from being baked in the sun from earlier in the day. The ground squished between his toes as he walked.

It didn’t take long for his clothes to hang on him like a sticky wet mess as he walked out in the heavy rain. He glanced to Angela who took off running for the nearest puddle and jumped right into the middle of it splashing water everywhere and giggling as if she were six. Lone Wolfe shook his head, “You are acting like a kid!”

“Exactly!” She nodded, “There are no other adults here to tell us what to do! When was the last time you were allowed to splash in a puddle and act like a kid! Join in! The water is fine!”

Lone Wolfe shrugged and took off for the same puddle and jumped in. The splash enveloped them both and exposed exactly what she wasn’t wearing underneath. At that moment she didn’t seem to care. She looked around as if there was something starting to happen to the rain around them. Lone Wolfe didn’t seem to notice yet. She smiled and charged him. Pushing him.

He started to fall over but the fall felt slower than normal. He had enough time to crouch down and plant his foot back to keep himself from toppling over. He blinked, why is my precognition kicking in? I didn’t will it to. He asked himself. He waved it off quick enough. He saw the rain drops were moving slower than before. He figured the rain was letting up.

In his crouched position he cupped his hands and shoved them into the puddle and thrust them forward, covering Angela head to toe in muddy water. She laughed from the fun they were having. The water started to drip off of her muddy white shirt. It was dripping far slower than it should, what’s going on here? Everything is moving slower now.

Seeing that he started to notice and was distracted by it. She was determined not to lose the moment, Angela ducked down and leapt forward sending them both down into the puddle of water and splashing it everywhere. She glanced down to him as the rain slowed even more from their chortling, “This is called a perfect moment. Look around. Time is moving slower but we aren’t.”

He glanced around. The rain drops were falling so slowly it was almost as if they were drops of gel falling through water itself. They splashed and he could see the ripples and tiny drops dancing around. He glanced back to her and said, “I tried to do this on my own once but it didn’t work. How did we start this together?”

Angela rose to her feet and pulled Lone Wolfe up to his by his arm. In the ever slowing rain, Angela ran over to a near by fir tree and pulled down on a branch. She let go of it after a moment and both of them watched as it snapped back slower than normal. It shook off droplets of water in the rain. Some combined with falling rain drops, hanging in the air like gel. They could see the shock waves of the water droplets bouncing off of each other and combining.

The rain and droplets from the tree were now falling so slow that the two of them could run over and flick at the drops and change their course without getting wet. They could destroy the drops if they wanted or they could combine them into larger and larger drops. They glanced at each other, “How much slower can we keep pushing this?” Lone Wolfe asked in response.

Angela shrugged, “I don’t know,” She answered, “I was wondering if you knew how any of this worked. Is there anything after this?”

With those questions, they both fell out of the moment. The rain resumed its normal pace and surprised them both with a sudden barrage of rain and sound. Both of them laughed more in shock than anything else. Lone Wolfe glanced at her as he chuckled, “What happened?”

“We fell out of the moment,” She replied.

“How do we get back into the moment?” He questioned in response.

“Stop questioning why and have fun!” Angela replied.

Both of them giggled and chased each other to a different puddle that had not been as disturbed and muddy as the last one. Both Lone Wolfe and Jena slipped as they reached the puddle and feel in back first as their feet came up. With a big splash, the water mixed with the soggy sand underneath turning the clear water in a light brown mess quickly. Both of them laughed again as the time started to slow down. Both of them noticed but as they threw mud clods and splashed water at each other.

Lone Wolfe took off for the trail he headed down on. He wanted to check to see how his camp ground was faring while in this alternate flow of time. He laughed as he did. Angela followed behind him, “It is hard for you to run and hide when you are leaving a trail!”

He glanced behind him and saw that when the waster splashed up and away from his feet it hung in the air for a while before slowly falling to the ground. He smiled, knowing that they were back in the moment and continued to run down the path, “Too bad there is no one else around! I can sense any person around for two miles and there isn’t anyone else here. I would almost like to know what we look like to normal people?”

Angela shrugged, “Why question the moment?”

“I’m curious,” Lone Wolfe replied as he ran through the slow falling rain. He continued to run through the rain and down the path as the rain slowed even more.

As the two ran they noticed that they more hit the rain drops as they nearly stood still in the air as opposed to falling down on them now. He glanced back to her and asked, “Aren’t you curious now?”

Angela shrugged, “I guess. If there were other people around, would we be able to do this in the first place? Would we be noticed by them and if we were, would they be able to notice us at this speed?”

They laughed as they got to his closed tent. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the tent was closed and the stuff inside appeared to be fine. HE glanced back at her and something heading up to the clouds. He pointed towards the object in the distance.

It looked like the faint trail of a lightning bolt only in reverse. Once it connected with the cloud, it released several flashes before the entire thing dissipated. Both of them stood in awe for what felt like several minutes until the thunder came which sounded bizarrely slow and distorted. The sound surprised them so much that the moment ended a moment later. They glanced at each other in bewilderment. It took a moment before either of them could speak, “I wonder what would have happened if the moment continued on for any longer?” Angela questioned in response.

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “How slow did things go when you found out how to do this before?” He questioned.

“It didn’t slow down too much. It was just enough for us to notice. It didn’t get slower as we continued on. Come to think of it; while we were in the moment, I tried to stop the ability and start it up again slower but I didn’t have that urge this time. I wonder if it was something the both of us were doing without noticing it that caused that. It was as if each tick of the clock took a little longer than the last.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “So we can start this with other non clairvoyants but we can only progress this far with each other. I wonder if we could progress at all with other people watching us. Were you doing this in a public setting?” Lone Wolfe questioned in response.

Angela nodded, “Now that you mention it, we were.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged as they started to walk back to her camp ground, “When we have a chance to dry off, we will have to come back for my stuff.” He glanced at Angela as she followed, “As far as what happened with the moment you had the first time, it is possible that the feeling you had was the public scrutiny. There is no one around to witness what we are doing.”

Angela nodded, “It could be, there is a lot we don’t know about our abilities.”

Lone Wolfe nodded in agreement with her as they walked, “That is what Jena was saying all along. I don’t know enough about these abilities to say with certainty if we are doing anything right with them.”

 

*        *        *

 

With Lone Wolfe knowing that Angela was a shaman she was okay with pulling the water out of the firewood using her powers after the rain stopped. She had intended to do that with their clothes as well but the energy they both spent in the perfect moment left them drained. Their minds were wired which kept them up but she couldn’t muster enough Nwyfre to pull the water out of her clothes let alone his. Lone Wolfe did have enough energy to fashion a makeshift clothes hanger. They stripped out of their clothes and hung them up after she started the fire so their clothes would have a chance to dry in the morning.

Lone Wolfe glanced to the fire to keep his mind off the fact that Angela did not have a bra on, “Why didn’t you wear a bra if you were going to run out in the rain?”

Angela shrugged, “I don’t know. I didn’t think that far ahead. It’s fine. For some reason I actually trust you around me even if we are both in nothing more than our bottoms.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “I think you would be more comfortable if I was still dating someone.”

“Oh, if she were here, I would be trying to jump her bones right now, dating you or not,” Angela flashed him a smile, “She is a cute one. Her loss for letting you go, however. You are the one that lesbians can trust themselves around.”

“I’m not sure if that is a compliment or not,” Lone Wolfe stated after a moment.

She smiled, “I would wrap my arm around you but not without at least a bra on. Take it as a compliment. I wouldn’t show off my body to just anyone. I might show it off to someone like Scarlet because I like her. I might show it off to someone like Robin or Jena because I want to sleep with them. But because we have to wait for our clothes to dry off I don’t mind if you see what you see. Now if you pull out your phone and start snapping pictures we might have problems.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “That would be the least of my worries if I were in your shoes and you had a fifteen year old boy sitting next to you.”

She arched an eyebrow, “Oh. What little evil things are going through your mind? Thinking about any sort of flogging activities while I am around?”

Lone Wolfe shook his head and blushed, “What the heck? You have a smutty mind!”

Angela giggled, “You know, boys aren’t the only ones allowed to be perverts. I know plenty of girls who think perverted thoughts. We just aren’t as cavalier about sharing them in public. We share them with people who we trust when others aren’t around. So, if you aren’t planning on that, what did you have in mind?” Angela questioned in response.

Lone Wolfe held out a hand to forestall any comment like that, “I had nothing like that planned. No snuggling, no attempting to explore how serious you are about who and what you like, no touching, no fondling, none of that. My concern is what if a forestry service person comes up her in the middle of the night and sees us sitting here in just one garment more than our birthday suits?”

Angela giggled, “You are sitting here next to a topless pretty woman with no one to stop you from imagining anything and no one to tie you down and the first thing your mind goes to is the cops?”

“It’s a valid concern,” Lone Wolfe replied, he was sure his face was far redder than the orange glow of the fire would give to it on its own.

Angela shook his head, “You know there are several things wrong with this situation. The first one is our underwear is soaked. I left them on because I thought we might have problems if we were naked but now I am starting to think you aren’t looking at me and giving me any sort of compliments because I’m not pretty!”

Lone Wolfe sighed, “That’s not true but you put me in tough spot. If I say you are pretty then you might get creeped out by me. If I don’t say anything then you will think that I think you are ugly. That isn’t true in the slightest. What do you want and what would be an acceptable answer?”

Angela giggled, “You can say I am pretty if you think so. You can say anything you like as long as you follow it up with if I wasn’t a lesbian.”

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “Okay but don’t hold it against me. You are pretty. If you weren’t a lesbian I might be tempted to take pictures of you if you gave me permission. I might be tempted to ask you if we could have our way with each other if you liked boys. However, I just need a friend right now. You just need a friend right now. One of the best things I think we can have as friends together is girl watching. We can trade notes and you might have some insight as to whether or not that girl would be my type or your type if you know what I mean.”

Angela nodded, “That is an acceptable answer and it doesn’t really change anything between us.”

“What does that mean?” Lone Wolfe questioned in response.

“That means that we can girl watch together when we get some free time. Maybe next year we can go to the carnival together, if we both can work up the courage to go and see who is there. Find each other dates and the like,” Angela replied.

Lone Wolfe nodded and at that point he had the strange urge to say something. It came with a premonition. A premonition with her living for a very long time. He couldn’t see her death but this was the furthest he could see. He could see her having a child and having adventures he couldn’t fully understand yet. That lack of understanding clouded the vision and made it hard to see. He could also see his children playing with her child as they got older. He glanced to her, knowing there was urgency in what he had to say, “Maybe you will understand this more than I. I cannot see your death but I can see you living a very long life. I can see you having a child of your own and our children playing together. Almost as if we have become life long friends and raised our children together. Maybe you can explain why my clairvoyance urged me to say that. Do you have a fear of death or something?”

Her jovial expression disappeared but it wasn’t filled with fear or anger. It was surprise followed by an odd sense of relief. She nodded, “If you didn’t have that bewildered look on your face I would have swore that Jena told you to drop that in there when the moment was right. I would have told you the moment would have been right during the perfect moment. However, seeing that look on your face I can see that you really did just have that epiphany. Yes, I do have a fear of death. It isn’t a normal fear of death like everyone has. Most of the members of my family fell to some lurking time bomb in our heads. Jena took a look with her powers and didn’t see anything wrong but that doesn’t mean that she found it or that it is there to be found yet. She could have been wrong and she could have missed it. However, I know you have powerful abilities and if you saw that then you have my confidence.” She smiled, “Thank you! You are one of the best friends I could have hoped for. I only wish fate had brought us together a lot sooner than I did.”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “Better late than never.”