Run To Earth (Power of Four) (28 page)

***

As soon as Aaron walked out of Armana’s hut, he came face to face with a livid-looking Drake. His deep-set brown eyes were swimming with anger. His gaze scanned Aaron from head to foot.

“What happened?” he asked. Even his tone was laced with fury.

“Nothing,” Aaron replied and walked past him.

Drake turned to follow. “So why
are you here to see the Empaths?” he asked. “You were here last night too, and the night before that.”

“No reason,” Aaron replied.

Drake’s hand gripped Aaron’s arm and he pulled him around to face him. “I think there’s a bloody damn good reason!” he hissed.

Aaron looked from the serious brown eyes down to the hand holding his arm. “Let go of me, Drake,” he said calmly.

“Not until you explain to me what the
hell
you think you’re doing!”

“Why?” Aaron asked, still with forced calmness. “Who are you to me? Why should I explain myself to you?”

Drake’s grip slackened until his hand dropped away and he stood back, blinking in surprise. Aaron felt a stirring of guilt but he pushed it down. He wasn’t being rude. He was asking a legitimate question. Drake wasn’t someone he should answer to, so why should he do it?

Drake took in a breath and held Aaron’s gaze. “You can’t become a Hunter,” he said. “I won’t let you.”

“Yeah?” Aaron asked. “How you gonna stop me?”

“I’ll tell Skyler to stop training you.”

“I’ll find someone else,” Aaron replied, knowing full well how difficult it would be to get another Hunter to help him.

“Why are you doing this?” Drake asked, his eyes narrowed in confusion. “Don’t you understand how dangerous hunting is? You can very easily get killed! You know nothing about this realm, about the demons. How do you expect to survive a hunt?”

Next to him, Aaron felt Sam and Rose shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other, shooting him worried looks. He tried to ignore them.

“It’s my life,” Aaron pointed out. “If I save it, lose it, what’s it got to do with you?”

“You’re the son of my best friend!” Drake said. “He left you in my care.”

“Then he made a mistake,” Aaron said. “He should be the one caring for me, not you.” He tried really hard not to let Drake’s wounded expression bother him, but it did. “I can take care of myself and I can make my own decisions,” Aaron stubbornly went on, ignoring his guilt. “I’m becoming a Hunter and if Dad doesn’t like it, then he’s going to have to come here and stop me himself.”

***

As Aaron trudged up the stairs, he could barely keep his eyes open. He had forced a few bites of mashed potatoes and roast chicken at dinner tonight, fighting sleep all the time. He wasn’t sore, Armana had healed him back to perfect health, but the day’s activities had drained him. Who knew getting the stuffing knocked out of you could be so tiring? Aaron snorted at his own thoughts. He really needed his bed.

He walked into his room and, without closing the door, he fell face forward onto his bed. He was asleep almost instantly. It felt like he had just closed his eyes when someone was shaking him by the shoulder.

“Wha–?” A hand muffled his mouth and Aaron shot awake, all sleep draining from him as fear bubbled in its place. He blinked in the darkness, staring wide-eyed at the figure looming over him.

“Shh,” the voice whispered. “Don’t wake the other two.”

Aaron recognised the voice and instantly calmed down. He pulled the hand away from his mouth and frowned. “Kyran?” he whispered. “What are you doing?”

“You’ll see,” Kyran whispered. “Come on, get up.”

“What?”

“Up, from your bed. Follow me downstairs,” Kyran said, sounding annoyed. “Hurry up.”

Kyran slipped out of the room. As quietly as he could, Aaron padded over to the door and followed Kyran downstairs, leaving Sam and Rose still asleep. He went downstairs and saw a light glowing in the living room. Kyran was waiting for him inside.

“What is it?” Aaron asked, hurrying over to him. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Kyran replied. “Why?”

Aaron stared at him. “You woke me up at – what time is it?”

Kyran glanced at the window, studying the dark sky. “About two in the morning.”

Aaron gaped at him. “What’d you wake me up at two in the morning for?” he groaned.

“To teach you a little something called self-preservation,” Kyran replied.

Aaron moved to the door. “Two in the morning, Kyran. It’s
two
in the morning. I don’t want to learn anything right now.”

The door thudded closed and a loud click rang through the room, just as Aaron reached for it. Surprised, Aaron turned to stare at Kyran.

“You wanna keep getting your ass handed to you?” Kyran asked, his eyes a blazing green. “’Cause if you’ve got some sort of masochistic desire to get pounded by Skyler, then I’ll open that door and you can go back upstairs and sleep.” He paused, holding Aaron’s gaze. “But if you actually want to learn how to be a Hunter, then you can spend a few minutes learning the basics of defence.”

Aaron stared at him in disbelief. “
You’re
going to teach me?”

“No, the fairies are.” Kyran narrowed his eyes at him. “Do you see anyone else in here, genius?”

Aaron fought to keep his smile back. “What happened to ‘It’s not my job to help anyone’?”

Kyran’s frown melted and his lips twitched up into an almost smile. “Come on.” He gestured to him. “I’m only showing you how to block. Nothing else.”

Aaron smiled and walked over, taking his stand before Kyran.

***

“Ready for some world-class beating?” Skyler teased as Aaron followed him up the pathway to their usual spot – the clearing facing the garage and artillery huts.

Aaron didn’t reply but noticed a small group of Hunters sitting in front of the garage. “What’s with the audience?” he asked.

Skyler smirked. “I thought you’d like it,” he said. “Maybe the fear of humiliation will inspire you.”

Aaron didn’t say anything but turned to survey the group. Ella and Zhi-Jiya were here, so was Omar and Julian. Inside the garage, squatting next to his bike, was Kyran. Ryan was standing next to him. Kyran met Aaron’s gaze and a slow smirk spread across his face. Aaron returned it with his own before looking away.

Skyler led Aaron to the middle of the clearing and turned to face him, his condescending smile in place. “Alright. Ready then?” Skyler asked, cracking his knuckles.

Aaron took his stance. “Ready,” he confirmed.

Had Skyler been paying attention, he would have noted right away that Aaron’s stance was different. He was still standing with his feet apart but his shoulders were pulled down, back straight. He wasn’t getting ready to jump out of the way. He was standing his ground. It was the first thing Kyran had corrected last night.

Don’t jump out of his way. Stand with confidence. You have just as much power as Skyler. You’re not going to move. Plant your feet to the ground. You’re going to block him.

Skyler was smirking at him, flexing his fingers. Kyran’s words flashed through Aaron’s mind.

Use your senses. You can’t see Skyler’s attacks, but listen for them. Skyler can send a tornado at you without a twitch of his fingers, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hear it coming.

Aaron stared ahead but made a point of looking past Skyler, past his smirk and his cold eyes. He strained his hearing, on alert for the faintest of sounds.

Listen for it. There’s a slight whistle when the air comes rushing at you. It’s just like when you throw a ball across the field. You
can hear it cut through the air. The powers are the same. Listen for it and you’ll hear it. Faint, difficult to make out, but it’s there all the same.

Skyler didn’t move, except for a very slight jerk of his finger. Aaron knew it was coming. Just like last night, when Kyran had demonstrated a hit by throwing him a jolt of power. Aaron heard the faint, barely audible whoosh as something came speeding at him. Time slowed and Aaron sucked in a breath.

Stand, lift your hands and block the power. Make it ricochet off yourself.

Aaron’s brow creased. His hands came up, palms out, the tips of his thumbs touching. Fingers slightly curved, just like Kyran had shown him. He felt the power hit his hands and the force was enough to have him stagger back a step. Aaron pulled both hands down and out, forcing the jolt of air to hit, gather itself into a ball under his fingers, and bounce straight back.

Skyler didn’t expect Aaron to block, let alone knock back his own jolt of power. His surprise cost him as the jolt hit him smack in the chest, throwing him to the ground. Gasps were heard from the gathered crowd. Every eye was on Aaron, who was gaping at Skyler with stunned surprise himself. His hands throbbed. The skin of his palms felt like it had been burnt and a few of his knuckles had cracked when he caught the jolt of power, but Aaron couldn’t hold back his grin. He had done it. He had blocked and thrown back Skyler’s hit.

Skyler was on his feet in moments, platinum blond hair messy and falling into his narrowed blue eyes. His mouth twisted into a snarl and he started towards Aaron. “Where the hell did you learn that?” he spat.

Aaron didn’t say anything, but smirked at the boy’s anger.

Skyler turned to look at his friends, all of whom had seen him take a hit from the amateur, joke of a mage, Aaron Adams. His furious gaze found Kyran, still in the garage, wearing an amused smile that spread from ear to ear. The rest of the Hunters looked shocked. Kyran looked downright gleeful.

“Son of a demon!” Skyler growled and darted towards him. “Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing, Kyran?”

Kyran faked a perfect look of confusion. “I’m fixing my bike,” he replied.

“Sod off!” Skyler raged. “You know what I’m talking about.”

Kyran shrugged. “No idea what you’re on about, mate.”

“Come on,” Skyler scoffed. “Block and throw back? That’s practically your signature move!”

Kyran walked over and jumped down the few steps to be on the same level as Skyler. “That’s not my signature move,” he said. “Block and throw back is a basic move. One you should have taught Aaron from the word go.”

Skyler’s fury only grew. “You’re telling
me
how to train?” he asked. “You lost your mind?”

“You’re the one losing his mind,” Kyran said, the mirth gone as anger flooded his eyes. “You spent days smacking him around when you should have been teaching him.”

“I’ll do what I bloody want!” Skyler hissed. “Who are you to tell me otherwise?”

“That’s not on, Sky,” Ella interrupted, coming to his side. “You said you would train Aaron, not beat him up.”

“Yeah,” Ryan added. “You volunteered to train him.” He gestured to Aaron, who had walked over to stand behind Skyler. “No one forced you. Why are you taking your anger out on Aaron?”

Skyler looked around at the other Hunters. “Fine,” he spat. He turned to Aaron. “I’m finished with you! Go and find someone else to train you.”

Aaron didn’t say anything, but felt his heart drop.

“I’ll teach you, Aaron,” Kyran said, but his eyes were on Skyler.

Skyler gave him a furious look. He turned to glower at Aaron before walking away.

Kyran shook his head, smirking at Skyler’s retreating form. When he turned around, he met Aaron’s eyes.

“You really mean it?” Aaron asked. “You’ll teach me?”

Kyran held his gaze a moment before smiling and looking away.

“To tell you the truth,” he started, “I just really wanted to piss Skyler off.” He gave Aaron a head-to-toe look. “But training an Elemental might be fun in itself.”

They made their way back to the cottage, working out a training schedule.

“I’m sorry, how many hours?” Aaron asked, flabbergasted.

“Sixteen hours a day is nothing,” Kyran assured. “You’re training to be a Hunter. It’s hard work.”

“Yeah, I know, but sixteen hours?”

“I’ve trained twenty hours a day. Trust me, you can do it,” Kyran said.

“Fine, whatever,” Aaron gave in. “As long as you don’t get me up at two in morning.”

“Get over it,” Kyran said. “It served you well, didn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Aaron fell quiet. “I’ll have to cut back my hours at the orchard, though.”

“I’m sure things will continue to grow without you, like they always have since the beginning of time,” Kyran said.

Aaron turned to him. “You always have to be sarcastic?”

“It’s my default setting,” Kyran replied.

When they neared their cottage, they found Jason Burns waiting for them.

“Ah, there yeh are.” Jason gave his usual yellow-toothed smile. “I’ve been waitin’ for yeh.”

“Everything alright, Jason?” Aaron asked.

“Aye, aye.” Jason waved a hand. “I hav’ good news for yeh. I’ve got yeh yer own p’ace.”

Aaron had almost forgot his stay at Kyran’s cottage was only temporary. “Oh,” he said. “Right, cool.”

“Yeh can move in tonight.” He winked at Kyran. “Bet yer glad yeh get yer p’ace back, eh?”