Chp. 32 “Preparation”

After about three long hours of packing and unpacking Avery and I had finally finished. Although it was only 1:00 in the afternoon I felt pooped, and then before we could relax my phone rang in my pocket. I pulled it out, seeing Max’s familiar name flash across my screen. I slid to answer and spoke, “Hey, how did the talk with Gage go?”

“He’s up for it, pretty excited actually. Are you two finished packing?”

His voice held excitement and anxiousness, and I knew Max and Gage were going to be excited about this trip. It was an adventure, something new and interesting, but we had to keep in mind what was at stake here.

I replied, “Yea, I think so. What about you and Gage?”

I heard a pause and he mumbled, “Well Gage is done but I’m not sure if I should bring along my PS4, I mean a whole month without it-“

“Max, you’re not bringing that,” my voice cut him off and he sighed heavily on the other end of the line.

“But Andy, that’s a long time without checking my online status’s and invites-“

“No,” I sounded harsh but seriously? There was no need for him to take up more space with useless stuff when that wasn’t our main problem.

A pandemic sweeping through the nation and killing thousands was, along with the corrupted government affiliation was.

He groaned, “Fine! But I’m bringing my laptop so I can have Netflix!”

I rolled my eyes at him and spoke, “Alright, fine.”

I heard a slight pause and this made me think about what he could be conjuring up in his head. He was thinking of something, but I knew he would tell me about his thought soon. Then like I had predicted, his voice rang through the phone, “We need to practice, if you know what I mean.”

I felt my heart beat quicken at this, knowing he was absolutely right. We needed to train our powers and practice them as much as we can before we left, especially me. I agreed quickly, “Meet at the Yard in fifteen?”

“Sounds good, Gage and I will be there.”

I clicked the phone off and looked at Avery, causing her to question me with her confusion. “What did he say?”

“We need to go to the junkyard; Max and I need to practice.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Avery had offered to drive to the junkyard today, allowing me to sit in the passenger seat and watch her silently. I recalled the heated moment we had last night and how absolutely amazing it had been to watch her unravel beneath me. I grazed her arm lightly, smirking as I saw her cheeks redden, “I can’t stop thinking about last night Avery.”

She blushed harder, and she glanced at me slightly, “Andy, I dreamt about it last night. I’ve never felt so good…”

It felt good hearing that she was technically explaining me as her “best” but I still felt jealous towards the other girl. I remembered she had told me she had one serious girlfriend, and how she moved away, causing the split. I hated the idea of someone else being with her like I had been, but I knew I had the same circumstances.

We both had others before we met each other, but not one of them made me feel the way Avery did, and I was glad it was the same for her.

We pulled up to the familiar gate that separated us from the secluded area of the junkyard, and I realized we had beaten Max and Gage here. I stepped out, typing in the usual password which caused the door the slide open with ease. Avery drove inside and right before I was going to shut it I saw Gage and Max barreling down the street in the black Tahoe. I waved slightly to them as they entered the yard, allowing me to finally close the gate.

Gage spoke, stepping out of the Tahoe and into the office. “I’m gonna be in here and out of the way, I don’t want to be anywhere near whatever you two are about to do.”

Avery smiled at him and looked at me, “I’ll stay and watch, I find it fascinating.”

I smirked at her, looking at Max as we walked over to the opening where he and I had experimented and figured out so many things. Although I had pretty much mastered electricity, I had a new ability, and I wasn’t the best at it yet. I wanted to be strong and confident in myself, and I knew practicing would only help.

Max spoke, “You know, I researched Telekinesis and it’s a fairly broad power. You can pretty much do anything with it if you know how to control it.”

I looked at him with a curious look, “Like what?”

He shrugged, “The most common was creating a force field.”

I nodded, realizing I had heard a lot about that deriving from Telekinesis and decided that I wanted to try it. Before I had viewed this ability as a sort of “arm” but it was so much more than that. This “arm” could extend and widen, shorten and narrow. It was like elastic, invisible elastic that I could simply control with my mind.

I could flatten it like a piece of paper or I could ball it up, spread it out and cover a vast area of space… it was just completely limitless.

Then Max nodded towards me, “Try it, just do it right in front of you for now.”

I did as he commanded, focusing in on the familiar sense of the extra limb and commanding it to morph how I pleased. I had my eyes closed at first but when I felt control I opened them, watching Max as I raised my physical arms to help the idea. I formed it into a sort of blanket, covering just the front side of my body, watching Max grin in excitement.

I nodded to him, giving him permission to test out this power and how strong it was. He sent tiny electric bolts towards me, and even when I flinched I realized they had scattered as if they had hit a wall just one foot in front of me.

He smiled in victory as I laughed, “This is so awesome.”

I felt adrenaline course through me at this moment, watching the tiny electric bolts run up the invisible wall I held in front of me. I felt confident in doing this because it was simple, just like holding a blanket in front of me. What else could I do with it?

I spoke, “I’m gonna try and make it surround me completely, like a dome.”

He nodded in agreement, “That’s a good idea, I’ll give you a second.”

I closed my eyes again, feeling the familiar sense of power rise in my chest. I morphed the blanket-form and extended my arms over my head, helping the development of the invisible dome. It was getting easier to control now but it still required a lot of focus.

Luckily I was pretty good at that.

I nodded at him again, giving him the go ahead as she paced around me, throwing tiny bolts my way. The dome lit up with the impact of the tiny bolts and I watched in amazement as the lines of electricity ran up the sides. I smiled, it looked as if a tiny lightning storm was going on right before my eyes, and soon they disappeared.

I dropped the invisible dome of protection and smiled in victory, seeing a sly smirk on Max’s lips. He spoke, “Let’s see how you do under pressure. Go stand next to Avery, and you better shield her or she’s gonna get fried.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “No, I’m not doing that!”

He shrugged, “You better, this could possibly happen to either her or me, or maybe even Gage. Are you gonna let us die or protect us?”

I felt my mood damped a little as I looked at Avery, knowing Max was absolutely right. I could be put into this position in real life, and I would need to learn to protect my friends.

I eyed him suspiciously as I took my place next to Avery, knowing that she was just as nervous as I was. I quickly put of the familiar force field, making it much thicker on Avery’s side considering she wasn’t a Healer like me. This had me extremely nervous, and already my palms were sweating with anticipation. I knew I would have to maintain focus for everything to go well; knowing that if I didn’t Avery could get seriously injured. Although, I trusted Max wouldn’t put all of his effort into throwing electric jabs considering this was Avery.

I nodded, allowing Max to repeat his previous actions as Avery stiffened next to me. The moment the electric bolts hit she flinched, but I held my focus steady, knowing this was an important exercise. I made sure to hold it for as long as I could, strengthening it when I had the chance in between the shots of electricity.

Max ran out of juice and smiled, “Nice, you impressed me.”

I looked at Avery, knowing that this had been a huge step for her and I. I had learned to completely devote my focus to my power even with her next to me, and that was important. I was always good at working under pressure anyway.

Max eyed me for a second and smiled, “You can put up force fields, you can lift cars… but can you morph two powers together?”

I looked at him in deep confusion, “What do you mean?”

He shrugged, “You made this thing sounds like it’s something that is easily manipulated, so try morphing your electricity into your Telekinesis.”

It was a strange new concept but I was willing to try, mostly because it sounded challenging and useful if I could get it down. I held my hands in front of me, palms facing up as I pictured myself holding an invisible ball, except the “arm” was now in a sphere shape. Morphing this “arm” was growing easier and easier, but putting electricity within this “ball” required a lot of focus.

My physical hands touched the invisible ball, and I withdrew electricity from the electrical box I was standing next to. I squinted my eyes in concentration, staring hard at the invisible sphere in my hands and pushing the little bit of electricity I had into it.

It had only taken me about ten seconds, but it had felt like a lifetime because of all the concentration it required. Then, after I finished transferring all the electricity into the invisible ball I heard Avery and Max gasp in amazement.

It physically looked as if I was holding electricity, although I knew I wasn’t. There was an invisible force field I was holding in my hands, which was trapping the electricity inside, giving us a clear view of it. I smiled as I watched the tiny electric bolts dart one end to the other, knowing that this was probably a huge breakthrough for me.

Max spoke, “That’s… amazing.”

I nodded, watching as the electricity lit up and sparked while I focused harder. I moved my hands, and suddenly I felt the weight of this ball. It felt like it was holding a basketball, an invisible basketball that was filled electricity.

Max ordered me, “Now throw it.”

I looked at him, knowing this could be really dangerous, but I had to get rid of it. I looked forward, seeing a trashed car that had rust and parts falling off of it. I knew this could be a good target, so I drew my hands back and then forward, throwing the ball of electricity forward and into the car.

When it made impact I heard a loud crackling sound as the electricity scattered across the car, rattling it like an earthquake. Max and Avery clapped in excitement as I smiled, feeling a sense of accomplishment wash over me.

Then I turned back to Max, smiling in victory, “So, what’s the next challenge?”

POSTED: February 15, 2014

***A/N***

Ok guys, so it’s come to my attention that Wattpad has disabled the view of the last time a particular story has been updated, which is still a mystery to me. Because of this change I’m going to start posting the date at the end of each chapter WHEN I POST for those people who find it useful ^_^ Please Vote and Comment if you enjoyed it!