Preternatural (Worlds & Secrets) (22 page)

“Thank you,” I muttered, tears still rolling down my eyes as I constantly repeated
a phrase in my head that overwhelmed my tormented mind…

I almost died.

CHAPTER 8.

Power

“They’re never going back to school.”

“
Angelina, you’re overreacting,” Tantrus said, somehow calmly as he sat on the sofa.

“
Am I,
Tantrus
?
” she paced, nerve-wracked. “My son almost died and is upstairs traumatised and Liam, the poor thing, was forced to use almost all of his power! We should just be glad he’s not in a coma! I had to take them off school and make up some
stupid
excuse!” mum snapped. She bit her fingernails and seemed to have lost her cool. Anne suddenly walked into the living room.

“
How is he?” mum asked. 

“
He’s getting better,” Anne replied calmly.

“And Liam?
He’s scared me so much. He must
never
do that again; he’ll give me a heart-attack!”

“He should be fine. He’s restabilising and his skin is slowly returning to normal. We shouldn’t rush it. He needs to rest. But you know his anatomy, Lina. If we let him have the rest he requires, he’ll be better by tomorrow morning.” Mum
sat herself down and buried her face in her hands.

“
Angelina, it’s
not
your fault. No one could have foreseen this.” Mum looked up at Anne sadly with her eyes swollen and red from the excessive crying as she then leaned her head on her friend’s shoulder.

It seemed death was looking for me.

I sat on my bed with my legs pulled up to me. I was shivering and my wet blue hair
was still drenched in water. I was too stiff to change out of my uniform. I was alone in here with Liam fast asleep opposite me, pale and grey with what seemed to be scars on his skin.

I
was still engulfed in fear.

I saw my doppelganger waltzing around the room w
ith his black eyes opened menacingly. He didn’t smile, but he hummed creepily. I swallowed hard as I saw his movement slow down whilst he meandered towards me. I lifted my head up and trembled. His face was inches from mine; his black eyes looking through me as if he were looking into the depths of my soul. He precipitously looked at the door.

The last time he did something like that I almost died – so naturally I
sharply withdrew as the door creaked open. But he was gone in the blink of an eye. Jojo walked in timidly, holding a box of tissues and a fizzing green liquid.

“
How are you feeling?” she asked smoothly as she sat herself down. “Take this, it’ll help with the trauma.” I hesitated before taking the glass with my trembling hand before cautiously sipping the sweet, fizzing tonic. It burnt its way down my throat and I could feel my body numbing as it instantly rushed to my head. The anchor that sat in me and the spear in my heart that made me unable to forget how I could have so easily been killed were softened as my tense muscles relaxed.

“
I – I need to learn, Jojo. I can’t remain defenceless anymore,” I sniffed. Jojo gulped guiltily, knowing she could have very well defended herself.

“
Your grandfather’s downstairs. He wants to introduce you to some people. But first get changed. And don’t worry – you’re safe on Vernaesce.”

Why did I get the impression I wasn
’t? This doppelganger of mine wasn’t trustworthy. For all I knew, he could attempt to kill me in my sleep.

I trudged down the stairs with Jojo and the others behind me. I had changed out of my thick
, wet and dirty uniform. I tucked my dangling hair behind my ears and for bizarre reasons, I kept expecting the light soaring through the house to turn dark at an instance and shatter the sky with meteorites. Mum looked horrible. In a way, not because she was scared, but because anger wasn’t a look that favoured her graceful face. Granddad sat on the couch, but he wasn’t alone – and I didn’t mean Tantrus and Anne. I guess Jojo was right.

I stepped down from
the last step with a thud. The adults and the strangers suddenly ceased their murmuring as soon as they laid eyes on me.

“
Aden,” granddad started nervously, “how are you feeling?” I gave an incoherent nod as my lips trembled.

“
Aden, I am truly, deeply,
profoundly
sorry,” he sympathised.

“
It wasn’t your fault,” I started out somehow harshly. “As a matter of fact I don’t feel I should be ‘concealed’ like this,” the adults looked at me, embarrassed at my last statement, “as you were all suggesting,” I ended.

“
You heard that?” Tantrus asked.

“
The wind – I’m pretty sure it carried the sound waves.”

“
Look, the reason I am sorry, Aden; to all three of you children,” he directed towards Jaden, Jade and me, “is because I should have allowed you to explore your kinetic abilities – become more at
one
with them; so to speak.”

“
Let me stop you right there; I’m not angry. I don’t really
want
revenge…but I want
to be able to defend myself. And I’ll never forget what Liam did, almost giving his life and taking out his energy to save me. I don’t need to let anybody else do that. I’m not going to lie: I’m pretty
jealous of what Robbie, Jojo, Liam and Tammy can do.” Mum seemed uneasy and disturbed the whole time the conversation took place.

“
You can reach just
as full potential as them. This is why we are in the midst of these guests,” granddad ended. The attention was now turned to the two males and females that stood boldly next to him.

They were all tall. One of the men had rough
, red, shoulder-length hair, held in a ponytail that matched his fiery red eyes. He was the only guy of the two dressed extremely casual. The other was dressed formally with short, bark-brown hair and stunning, solid green eyes.

One of the women wore a frilly blouse with
silk sleeves covering most of her hands. She wore a frilled skirt to match and also, the strangest shoes I had witnessed. They looked
like tights in one way or another but were shoes, nonetheless. They were of a reflective blue colour and their white shoelaces crisscrossed their way up. She was a ginger; a head full of thick, long auburn-orange hair that cascaded down her shoulders and back in wavy locks. She had blue eyes like mine.

The other woman was just as tall and had the body of a gymnas
t. Her hair was waist-length, straight and gleaming white, which she kept in a tight ponytail. She wore a white tank top and tight fitted grey jeans, complimented with flat Burberry shoes and had the most stunning light blue eyes, somehow like mum’s but these seemed somewhat were screaming; they had emotion, they were alive.
Granddad named them in the order I had seen them.

“
Meet Dorian Pescalin, your Pyrokinetics tutor – that’s fire manipulation. Tobias Treadman, your tutor in Agrokinesis – a Terra-Turfers natural ability to manipulate wood and plants. He’ll also obviously take you through Terrakinesis, which is the manipulation of earth. We also have here Mirabelle Vinora, your Hydrokinetics tutor. And lastly is Vala Vorgell, your tutor in Aerokinetics. They’re all teachers at Lappington Academy of the Associates Ring – an institute serving as a college and University for Vernaescians after completion of the eleventh year of secondary school,” he concluded.

“Now, bear in mind, this isn’t
to make you the strongest people on Vernaesce. This is your ‘catching up’ because, trust me, you three have missed out on so much. What you’ll all start to learn are probably in the ranges of Vernaescian teens your age already,” Tantrus said to Jaden, Jade and me. Then, all our attention was drawn to a little blue bird that gently flew in from a window in the room’s which was shaded by the rustling tree outside.

“
Aw,” Jade muttered underneath her breath in awe. Suddenly, it twisted and morphed into a man whose face I was unlikely to forget.

“
Mr Leery
?” Jade, Jaden and I quickly exclaimed. His coiling locks of black were springing over his head like loops and fell over his forehead. His Caucasian skin was pale yet yellowish. I suspect it was due to the consecutive Shifftocasting. It seemed to have probably affected his eyes, somehow looking slightly inhuman. We were unmoved by them though; we had absorbed the fact that many things were possible on this planet. Nothing could scare me much anymore. I mean, what could possibly scare us other than a bunch of sadistic madmen that want us decapitated and deceased? Hm?

“
Speaking of which,” granddad started, “Mr Leery – Mr Leery, your Biology teacher, is retiring from his actual position for a trainer’s position in Lappington.”

Jaden was the one who
still found it most hard to come to terms with: “
you’re a Shifftocastan?
”

“
And your new teacher,” Mr Leery began. “I look forward to training you.”

“
I’ll make sure you all get a timetable,” Tantrus added. “But for now, Aden, you’ll go with Tobias to begin your Terra-Turfing lessons.” I looked over to him.

“
Can I go and change into something more appropriate to train in at least?” I asked Tobias.

“
No time, Cinderella! You’re dressed fine. Come on! While we’re young,” he hurried me out.

“
Stay safe,” mum’s voice quietly said in my head. I looked back and noticed her looking at me only vaguely before I turned around with Tobias and headed out of the colossal doors. Suddenly, Liam traipsed down the stairs, squinting at the bright light flooding the house. His skin was moderate and was midway of fully restoring to its previous replenished state.

“Liam! What are you doing; you need to rest,” mum said soothingly.

“The electric circulation was jamming. I was too still for my body so I had to move a bit,” he replied croakily as he massaged his throat.

“
Meanwhile, Jade will practise with Angelina,” Anne spoke. Jade shot a confused glance to her.

“
Does uncle Tom know any of this?” Jade quizzed.

“
Of course he does; he’s my brother, Jade,” mum answered dully.

“
Liam, these are yours,” Tantrus swiftly threw him two, long, thick batons. They were reflective and seemed to have been made from a sturdy, shiny metal.

“
Is this Tartalum?” Liam asked as soon as he gripped them. Tantrus nodded casually whilst sipping an emerald green liquid from a whiskey glass.

“
What’s Tartalum?” Jaden asked.

“
It’s a Vernaescian metal that’s stronger than diamonds and cannot be melted or moulded by Earthly fires or means,” granddad answered.

“
Is it meant to be like a wand or something?” Liam asked. Granddad merely scoffed.

“
Not really. But seeing as it would conduct your electricity, it should help you fight or control your Electrokinesis better.” Liam flexed his hands and the batons were immediately encircled with flickering blue static.

“
Thanks.”

Suddenly, I never felt so small. The shade that sheeted me from the aisle of towering oak trees on my left and right hand sides impressed a burden of unimportance and fear on me. But it was just because of that attack. Him, the Grinner. Because ahead, the life-sized planet in orbit and Vernaesce’s two moons made me think of the glory this world had to offer. The sun embedded in the bright blue sky ahead shed light on
Tobias and me as we strolled towards open grass and out of the trees’ shade. My eyes glistened like reflective sapphires and I had to block the rays forcibly crashing against my face.

“
So, where are we off to?” Tobias sighed.

“
You ever heard of the Watlowes Valley?”

“
In Yorkshire, isn’t it?”

“
Yes, precisely that. I
am
sorry for what happened to you by the way,” he sympathised

“
Don’t worry. That’s why I want to be able to defend myself.” Suddenly, Tobias grabbed a hold of my forearm.

“
Tobias, what are you doing?”

“
Deep breaths, Aden.”

“
What; breaths?”

“
And don’t let go.”

“
Wait;
what
,” I was confused and hanging in suspense. But all questions drowned into my loud but unheard scream as the ground suddenly ripped open. The roots and soil immediately grabbed a hold of us and spun us repetitively. My mummification of roots and vines was too quick and mind-scrambling for me to acknowledge the situation. The terrain back at home instantly re-grassed itself within a nanosecond almost digitally, but
deep
underground Tobias and I were spun, compressed, pulled and dragged in what felt like different directions as if we were playing a super-speeded version of underground Pacman. Finally, we were spat back out from the earth with a large explosion of soil. It felt like I would have been launched into the air, looking at the impact that I was ejected with. But we were merely standing in the same position we had left in, only we were covered in tiny specks of dirt. The terrain on which we stood was unharmed by the strange teleportation – well at least not when I looked down at it.