Lysander and I grew closer as the months quickly passed. But during the week, we mostly stumbled home exhausted after hours spent perfecting our skills. When you watched movies with superheroes in them, none of them ever look tired after they zapped the bad guys into oblivion. But every day, Lysander and I, even the twins, would come home and crash in front of the television.
Luckily, even Professor Sturgis wasn’t forcing us to read as much now. “You need to use your skills. We’ll get back to reading later,” he’d said when someone asked him why he was going easy on us.
Because Lysander and I had Practicum every afternoon, we were probably even more exhausted than our other freshmen. Elana didn’t go easy on us just because we were still freshmen. I’m glad, in a way, that she didn’t. I felt more confident about my powers, but I also understood their potential dangers. When I focused too much or fine-tuned my abilities, I could feel them trying to overtake me. That scared me more than I wanted to admit.
By the time winter break arrived, everyone was ready for some time off. One night, as Lysander snuggled into me, he asked, “Are you willing to spend Christmas with my family?”
I laughed. “Have you asked Pete if he’s okay with that? Last time we were there, I thought he was going to skin me alive.”
“He’s all bark. Besides, now they know you saved all those kids, they think you’re some sort of superhero.”
I sighed. I knew he’d probably told them, but secretly I hoped my past wouldn’t cause them to hate me. I’d seen the fear on the faces of everyone in my life since then, except Lysander and the twins.
Even Elana and Dr. Fagan sometimes looked afraid when they challenged me or forced me to test my powers.
“If you think they won’t mind, I’d like that.”
He snuggled closer, which spoke to how happy that made him. I wasn’t sure how I felt. I suspected Lysander’s family would be freaked out by me, and maybe that would drive a wedge between us. I kept waiting for the next shoe to drop, and I figured maybe this was it.
I reminded myself no one had ever wanted me for long. I was told when I was a baby there had been a woman I’d lived with, but that she’d died when I was still a toddler. I didn’t remember her, but since then, I’d never stayed anyplace for more than a few months. The fact that we were going on four months together unnerved me and made me itchy when I thought about it.
That small green shoot of hope was growing. In my mind’s eye, it was six inches tall now. Still vulnerable, able to be taken out by anyone with half a mind to destroy it, but it was bigger than it’d ever been before.
The day before winter break, Elana pulled me aside and asked if I could come back early and spend some time working on my powers.
“Sure, um, are we going back to the Water Element community?” I asked.
“No, we’re going somewhere you can let your powers flow without fear of hurting others. Unfortunately, until you let them all out, we can’t know what you’re capable of doing.”
I looked at her, confused. “So where am I going?”
She took a deep breath. “It’s an island. Mostly deserted except for a few Fire element people. The island is an active volcano. But there, you’ll have all four elements at your disposal. More importantly, if you blow the island apart, no one will get hurt.”
“Do you think that’s a possibility?” I asked.
She chuckled nervously. “I think it’s more like a probability at this point, but don’t worry, the island is the perfect place to practice.”
I considered that for a moment, then nodded. “When do we go?”
Elana said she’d make all the arrangements and let me know, but it would probably be the week after Christmas. Classes started back in February, and Dr. Fagan said I needed as much time as possible in case I needed to get my powers back under control once I’d unleashed them.
“That sounds scary,” I said, concerned.
“You’ll be safe, considering your unique blend of powers. The rest of us will be on a nearby island, far enough away that we won’t be in danger, but close enough if you need us.”
I nodded again but wasn’t feeling confident. I was beginning to curse the powers again. They were just too much for one human to carry. I’d asked Dr. Fagan why I had all the powers when I was struggling to contain them, and he shrugged and gave me some explanation about being born with some and then probably being exposed to such extreme trauma caused the rest to develop.
That didn’t answer my question. What I really wanted to know was, why me? Why the unwanted orphan that, up until the day my powers erupted, had been nothing? A nobody. Why did I have these powers I now had to learn to control?
I knew deep down I should be dead by now. People like me didn’t live long. Briggs, the man who had been my handler, would’ve killed me now that I’d gotten too big to sell as a kid, or I’d have become like him. Knowing I would never become that kind of person, I knew I’d be dead, not going to school in a fancy superpower school in the clouds, or having Christmas dinner with an amazing boyfriend and his family.
I wasn’t supposed to have friends like the twins who loved to harass me, but cared about me and my relationship with their other friend, Lysander. No, that was other people. That wasn’t supposed to be me.
Chapter twenty-five
Lysander
“Kaden,youhavetohelp. It’s a family rule!”
