Coronation: A Kid Sensation Novel (Kid Sensation #5) (17 page)

We were sitting in a gazebo, chatting amiably, when I noticed someone coming towards us from the vicinity of the party. Telescoping my vision, I saw that it was Vicra.

“I think someone’s looking for you,” I said to Myshtal, interrupting a story she had been telling me about her childhood.

She looked in the direction I indicated.

“
Gzint msint
,” she said, causing me to snicker at hearing her curse. “I forgot that he mentioned wanting to talk to me earlier.”

She reached for my hand and then began manipulating the controls for the GPS that was on my wrist.

“I’m giving you directions,” she said. “Meet me for lunch tomorrow.”

She dropped my hand and then stood up; being a gentleman, I came to my feet as well.

“There you are,” Vicra called out to Myshtal when he got close. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“It’s my fault,” I said. “She mentioned that she needed to get back, but I just had so many questions and she was kind enough to try to answer them all.”

“Questions?” Vicra asked, puzzled. “About what?”

There was silence for a moment at Vicra’s unexpected query. Thankfully, Myshtal interjected before it grew too lengthy.

“Everything,” Myshtal said. “He’s completely ignorant of even the most elementary facts – like the names of common flowers and basic Caelesian history that every child knows.”

“It’s true,” I agreed. “I’m a moron.”

Vicra’s eyes narrowed, and I felt a tight ball of jealousy within him that he was actually doing an admirable job of suppressing.

“Come on,” Myshtal said, taking his arm and dragging him back towards the party. She looked back and gave me a friendly wave, then began listening to something Vicra was saying. In a few minutes, they were out of earshot.

I smiled to myself. For an evening that had begun with very little promise, it had ended up with me having one of the best…what? It wasn’t a date, since I have a girlfriend; I guess it was one of the best
non-
dates I’d ever had.

I teleported back to my quarters at the castellum and quickly got ready for bed. At that juncture, as I crawled under the covers, I should have been thinking about the
prexetus
(which was less than a day away), but for some my thoughts kept returning to how much fun I’d had with Myshtal. I started to doze while imagining that lunch tomorrow would be just as enjoyable, and it wasn’t until just before I fell asleep that my stomach rumbled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten anything the entire evening.

I woke up famished, my stomach growling angrily. Under normal circumstances, I don’t miss many meals – especially when I use powers that crank up my metabolism, like super speed. However, I’d been distracted by the unintended teleportation, followed by the non-date with Myshtal.

From what I could see, it was still early – a bit before dawn. I contemplated suppressing my appetite until breakfast was served, but then jettisoned the idea. What good was it to be a prince if you couldn’t get something as simple as an early breakfast?

I headed to the entrance to my quarters. Outside, as expected, I found Sloe. Upon hearing my request for something from the kitchen – “Nothing fancy; a large bowl of fruit will do” – the robot informed me that fresh fruit was brought to my suite twice daily and could be found on the table in the dining area. Moreover, there was also a kitchenette that was full of various types of
yraszin
– the Caelesian equivalent of junk food.

After thanking Sloe and going back inside, I hunted down the bowl of fruit that had been mentioned and devoured it in minutes. It was less than I truly could have eaten, but it would hold me over for the nonce.

I thought about going back to bed after that, but didn’t think I’d be able to fall asleep again. I simply had too much on my mind: lunch, the
prexetus
, the issues with my powers. (And that last was a biggie.) Finally, I simply decided to do what had been habit with me at one point whenever I became restless: go look at the stars.

Throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt (and remembering to don my crown), I turned invisible, phased, and then zoomed straight up, going through floor after floor of the castellum until I cleared the roof.

It was still moderately dark, and clouds kept the stars from being visible. Not one to give way to such obstacles, I kept going up, higher and higher, until I cleared the cloud layer. Once there, I came to a stop and just stayed still, floating, looking up at the heavens.

Above me were the stars in all their glory, twinkling brightly – reminders of how vast the universe is, and how tiny our own problems are in the great scheme of things. Even my own issues,
prexetus
included, seemed to diminish in comparison.

After a few minutes of stargazing, I felt much more at ease. I zipped away, engaging in an activity that I keep promising myself I’ll do more of, but for which I never seem to find the time: taking joy in the sensation of flight.

I dropped down below the clouds and found myself high above the Acropolis. It truly was majestic, a fitting home for the ruler of an interstellar empire. However, remembering that the city-palace had turrets and other defenses – and not wanting to be taken for some type of weapon or munition – I flew away at top speed, not slowing down until I was beyond the outskirts of the city.

It felt good to soar with the clouds, to leave all my troubles on the ground. At one point, as I flew randomly about, it occurred to me that I could have another glitch in my powers, that I could plunge to my death if things went haywire again. (It would all be because of that idiotic crown, of course, which was currently being firmly held in place by my telekinesis.)

But my powers were an integral part of me, elemental components of who I was. They were as essential to me as an arm, or a leg, or any major organ. That being the case, I knew I could trust and rely on them under any and all circumstances, just as I could trust my heart to keep beating and my lungs to keep me supplied with oxygen (Yolathan poison notwithstanding).

Those were my thoughts as I flew through the sky. Considering how my powers had hit some bumps in the road lately, it was a bold (and possibly foolhardy) stance to take, but I instinctively knew it was the right decision. Still, it would be nice to get some kind of sign that I wasn’t making a mistake.

As if in answer, a thunderous boom echoed from the sky above me, making me come to a halt and look up. I was below the cloud layer at the time, and the sun was just starting to come up. All of a sudden, the clouds flashed brightly, like some kind of lightning storm was taking place within them. I was wondering what was going on when something came barreling out of the cloud cover headed straight towards me, like a mad bull trying to gore a matador.

I phased, letting the object pass through me, noting as I did that it was a jagged chunk of metal about twice my size. I was trying to figure out where it had come from when another piece of metal – this one cylindrical and about the length of my arm – came shooting out of the clouds like a javelin.

I was still trying to make sense of what I was seeing when the sky opened up, releasing a torrent of metal rain. At the same time, a craft came whooshing out of the sky, heading towards the Acropolis. Then I saw a second craft. And a third.

I knew now what had happened: there had been some kind of accident, much like what I had experienced upon arriving on Caeles. The metal rain shower I had been caught in was debris. Thankfully, in this instance, all the escape craft seemed to be working, as the three ships I saw clearly seemed to be flying in a stable and controlled manner.

At that moment, something large and ungainly came plummeting out of the clouds not too far from me, and I knew I’d been premature in my assessment of the situation. There was a fourth escape craft, and from its erratic flight pattern – not to mention the smoke and flames belching from it – this one was in serious trouble.

I phased and flew after it, noting this ship was headed straight for the ground, albeit well outside of the Acropolis. As I caught up to it, I reached out empathically, trying to get a sense of how many people were on board. Oddly enough, I only picked up one set of emotions, and it was coming from one of the pilot seats. Surprisingly, the lone passenger was doing an incredible job of fighting off anxiety and panic, although I was picking up a high level of frustration.

Still phased, I passed through the ship’s hull and into the interior. I headed to the cockpit, where I found a slim, older woman with iron-gray hair sitting at the controls, cursing in Caelesian as she fought to try to level the ship off.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get you out of here.”

At the sound of my voice the woman jumped – or at least, she attempted to, but was strapped into the seat. As a result, she only made an odd hopping motion – like a giant bunny – as she spun the seat towards me.

“Who are you?” she asked, clearly shocked by my presence. “How’d you get on this ship?”

“Later,” I said. “We have to go.”

“Go?” she asked with a surprised look. “Go whe–”

I phased the ship, leaving only myself and the woman solid. We dropped like stones, with her showing a lot more poise than I would have thought possible. Instead of screaming hysterically, she yelped once upon finding herself in freefall, and then remained silent until I grabbed her, holding her in my arms like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold.

“This is your plan?!” she screeched. “Ejecting us so that we smash directly into the ground instead of doing it in a ship?!”

I laughed. “First of all, I didn’t eject us. Second, in case you didn’t notice, we’re not falling.”

She jerked her head around for a moment, confused – and then her eyes grew big as saucers as she caught sight of the ship we’d just left.

“Al’si!” the woman shouted, pointing. “She’s still on the ship!”

“Who?” I asked, perplexed.

“Al’si! My
rtasna
!”

She used a word whose meaning I was unsure of.

“Is Al’si some kind of pet?” I asked, recalling that I’d only detected one set of emotions on the ship. I can detect animal emotions – Terran animals, anyway – but usually I have to be on the lookout for them. Caelesian animals might be a different story altogether.

“No, you idiot!” the woman shouted. “She’s a person! She was injured and passed out when we were getting into the ship. I strapped her into one of the medical bunks.”

“Hang on!” I said, and then took off after the ship.

My passenger buried her face in my shoulder, the only shield available against the wind as I flew. The gusts didn’t bother me, but the lady’s actions reminded me that I couldn’t go all-out in terms of speed; I didn’t know how much she could take, and it was probably chilly to her already. (And with the erratic movement of the ship, among other things, all of my instincts went against trying to teleport back inside.)

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She lifted her face away from my shoulder just long enough to reply, “Don’t worry about me! Get Al’si!”

Since she’d given me the go-ahead, I turned on the afterburners. We didn’t come anywhere near Mach speed, but we started gaining significantly on the ship. Shortly thereafter, we caught up to it, and I phased us so that we could slip inside.

Once in the interior, I set the woman down and she scrambled over to where a set of bunks was located. There, strapped on one of the beds, was a young woman with blonde hair. Blood was running down one side of her face and she had an ugly knot rising near her temple.

She wasn’t broadcasting any emotions, which wasn’t unusual when someone slips (or is knocked) into dreamless unconsciousness. That was why I had missed her before when I scanned the ship empathically.

Assuming that there was no one else on board, I pulled the same trick as before – phasing the ship and keeping myself and the two women solid. I quickly wrapped an arm around each of their waists and flew straight up. A few seconds later, the ship crashed explosively into the ground, spewing metal, dirt, and debris in all directions, as well as sending up a massive fireball that seemingly nipped at our heels as we gained altitude.

*****

As directed by the older lady, I took the two women to the Acropolis. The journey basically consisted of me just picking a point on the outer edge of the city and teleporting us there. Once we arrived, I set the older woman down near what appeared to be some kind of pastry shop and then found something like a public bench nearby to lay the still-unconscious Al’si on.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright here?” I asked. “I can help you get wherever you like.”

“That’s kind of you, but you’ve done enough,” the older woman said, then gave me a queer look. “But I suppose I should ask, how are
you
?”

I almost did a double-take. “Me??? I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Your ears,” she replied, reaching up to try to touch the left one.

Ears again???
I thought.

“Look,” I said, pushing her hand away. “I’m fine. My ears are fine.”

“Are you certain?” she asked as she continued trying to touch my ears. “They look as though you went through a painful ordeal.”

“I didn’t go through anything,” I firmly insisted, still attempting to keep her from grabbing my ears like I was a farm animal she was trying to inspect before buying. “Nothing happened to me. I was born like this.”

“And you never had them fixed?”

“You know what?” I asked, ignoring her question. “I’m sick of this ongoing obsession that you people have with my ears, so I’m going to put an end to the issue.”

I concentrated, using my shapeshifting ability to change the contours of my ears. In just a few moments, they were pointed – exactly like those of Caelesians. (Just to be sure, I traced the outline of them with my fingers and was satisfied with the job I’d done.)

“Amazing…” muttered the old lady, who had been watching the entire thing. She reached up to try touching my ears again.

“No!” I said firmly, again pushing her hands way.

A look of irritation came onto the face of my damsel-in-distress, and she looked as though she were on the verge of saying something unpleasant. Just then, however, I heard a familiar whooshing sound in the air nearby. A few moments later, as expected, several of the Queen’s Royal Guard landed lithely a few feet away from us. It wasn’t Nirdaw’s group but some other unit, although I didn’t doubt that they were equally competent.

“Majesty, are you alright?” asked a man who appeared to be the leader.

“I’m fine,” I replied. At that moment, the older woman again tried to touch my ears, prompting me to grip her wrists and shout, “Will you stop??!!!”

Almost in unison, the guards all brought up their plasma rifles, aimed in our direction.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I shouted, placing my hands out, palm open, and stepping protectively in front of the woman. “Easy, fellas! She’s just a senile old lady. She’s not hurting me.”

The guards still looked unsure, as their leader’s eyes flicked back and forth between me and the older woman.

“Look,” I went on, “just do me a favor and make sure she and her friend make it home okay.”

With that, I zoomed up into the air. Glancing back, I saw the guards staring in my direction, looking like they wanted to follow me – perhaps thinking that I needed protection. I turned invisible to put an end to any of those thoughts.

I spent another ten minutes or so soaring through the sky, my mood buoyed even further by the fact that I had just used my powers to save lives. (And I had done it without them glitching on me in any way.)

It was clearly morning now, so I decided it was about time to get back to the castellum; someone was bound to notice soon that I was missing, and I didn’t need to start a panic. With that in mind, I teleported back to my suite.

I popped up in the dining area. In keeping with Sloe’s earlier statement, one of the servants had indeed brought fresh fruit while I was out. I wolfed it down even faster than I had the first time, and then headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower and freshen up. When I got out, there was a note on my bed telling me to meet my grandmother for breakfast.