Wind Warrior (5 page)

He looked away from Jessica and was relieved
when he saw a familiar face pushing his way through the crowd.
Without answering Jessica, he raised his hand to get Sean’s
attention.

“
Sorry, Jess. I promised
Sean that we’d get together after class.”

Jessica sighed. “You know the formal is in
eight days, right? You’re not the only person interested in taking
me to the dance but you’re the one I want to go with. Still, you
need to make up your mind sooner rather than later if you want to
go with me.”

“
I will,” he said,
dismissing Jessica as he turned toward Sean. “I’ll talk to you
later, okay?”

Jessica placed her hands on her hips and
pursed her lips. When she realized she was going to be ignored, she
threw her hands up in the air and walked away from the two
boys.

“
Thank you for the save,”
Xander said.

“
What was that about? She
looked like she was going to bite your head off. Did you finally
realize Jessica’s a black widow?”

“
Very funny.”

“
Bye Xander,” Sammy said as
she walked past the pair. She brushed her hair out of her face and
winked at him. “See you in class next week?”

“
Of course,” Xander
replied, his heart pounding in his chest at the sight of
her.

She smiled and turned away, her fingers
lacing into the straps of her backpack.

They watched her walk away in silence,
neither Sean nor Xander wanting to ruin the beautiful moment.

“
Um,” Sean began. “Who is
that? What is her current relationship status? Why does she seem to
like you?”

“
Her name is Sammy,” Xander
laughed. “She’s a new student. We met in class.”

“
I want one.”

Xander placed his hand on Sean’s shoulder.
“Down boy.”

“
Oh no. You already have
your skank Jessica. You don’t get two beautiful women.”

“
I don’t
have
Sammy. She’s just
being friendly.”

Sean whistled softly. “I wish more women
were friendly with me like that.”

They watched until Sammy turned the corner
and walked up High Street. When she was gone, Sean turned sharply
on Xander.

“
Okay. What was so
important that you needed to show me?”

Xander looked around at the gathering throng
of students. “Not here. Is that field behind your old house still
empty?”

Sean shrugged. “Pretty sure. It’s a little
overgrown now and probably still has a bunch of old trash in it
though.”

“
That’s perfect. Let’s go
there and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Sean hadn’t exaggerated about the status of
the field. Unkempt by the owners, the crab grass had grown nearly
to Xander’s waist. As he walked through the field, his tennis shoes
kept striking rusted cans and empty bottles, which clinked as they
rolled deeper into the concealing grasses.

Xander stood in the center of the field.
From the periphery, standing well away near the tree line that
lined the edge of the field, Sean watched Xander stretch his arms
out wide. Xander closed his eyes and tilted his head backward.

“
Are you ready for this?”
Xander called.

“
Whatever
this
is, sure, I’m
ready.”

Xander heard the musical whisper of the wind
as it called to him. Like a snake through the safari, the wind
slithered between the tall grasses, causing them to sway and dance
in rhythm. The wind kicked up around him, pulling at his clothes
and hair. As the wind increased, it buffeted him from side to side,
nearly causing him to lose his balance.

The sensation was like magic to Xander. The
energy of the wind caressed his skin like an old lover. It
enveloped him where he stood and seemed to pour through his open
mouth, filling him with its energy. When he was satisfied with the
demonstration, he exhaled, forcing the soothing winds from his
lungs.

As quickly as the wind began, it died away,
leaving Xander standing alone again in the middle of the field. He
lowered his arms and turned excitedly toward Sean.

“
Did you see
it?”

“
See what?”

Xander gestured behind him, and then turned
in a tight circle. “The wind.”

“
The wind,” Sean replied
flatly.

“
Did you see the wind
blowing through the field? That was me.”

“
You made a breeze? That’s
what you’re telling me? That’s what was so important? Xander, I
love you like a brother, but I break wind all the time without
having to drag you out to a field to see me do it.”

Xander frowned at his friend’s disbelief.
“Fine. I was going for a small demonstration but if you want big,
we’ll do big.”

Xander returned to the center of the field
and held his arms outstretched again. He closed his eyes but
quickly opened one to peer at his friend. Sean leaned against the
trunk of one of the trees, his arms crossed defensively in front of
him.

“
You’re going to want to
back up for this one.”

Sean turned around and looked behind him.
“I’m already at the trees. I can’t go much further back.”

“
Get… I don’t know. Get
behind a tree.”

“
You want me to hide behind
a tree while you break wind again?”

“
Will you just do it?”
Xander said, exasperated.

Tossing his hands in the air, Sean walked
around to the backside of the tree he had been leaning against. “Is
this good enough?”

“
Thank you.”

Xander assumed his position in the field
once again, lifting his arms straight out from his side.

“
Come on, wind… spirit,” he
whispered quietly enough that Sean wouldn’t hear him. “Let’s give
him something memorable.”

Instead of slithering through the grass like
it did last time, the wind pounced on Xander like a lion. It roared
into the field and crashed into Xander. He staggered as the wind
took up a dance around him.

He quickly opened his eyes as a wall of wind
formed around him, swirling like the birth of a tornado. The grass
around him stood strangely still but the wind filled the rest of
the field. Every exhaled breath came out of Xander’s mouth in a
puff of smoke as the temperature plummeted around him.

As the wind swirled faster and faster, he
saw cans and bottles emerging from the grass. Like puppets being
controlled by a skillful marionette, the debris danced in the wind.
It got caught up in the swirling madness and became part of the
ever-expanding swirl of air.

Xander’s ears popped as the air pressure
increased. He tried to call out for Sean, or even laugh at the
excitement of the moment, but the maddening wind stole away his
words as soon as they left his mouth. Instead, he tilted his head
back and laughed silently into the swirling maelstrom.

The increased air pressure drew the heavier
objects out of the tall weeds. A rusted hubcap emerged, followed by
a dilapidated car radiator. They joined the rest of the debris in
its swirl, spinning in increasingly fast circles as the whipping
wind reached near gale-force strength.

The hubcap flew dangerously close to him as
it spun past. It was gone from his peripheral vision as quickly as
it had appeared. When it reappeared, it was quite a bit further
away, nearly to the distant trees. Like a projectile shot out of a
cannon, the hubcap slammed into one of the trees, embedding itself
deeply into the coarse wood.

Startled, Xander broke his concentration.
For a moment, the cans and bottles slowed their spin before hanging
in the air. They collapsed onto the ground as the last of the magic
dissipated from the air.

“
Sean?” Xander called out,
suddenly worried for his friend. If the hubcap had enough force to
bury itself into the thick wood, he was worried about what any of
the other smaller items would have done to his friend.

“
Sean!”

“
That was so freaking
cool,” Sean yelled, emerging from behind one of the trees. “That
was so freaking cool!”

Xander sighed happily at the sight of his
heavyset friend. “See, I told you hiding behind the tree was a good
idea.”

“
That was so freaking
cool!” Sean yelled again as he bounded through the thick grasses.
He crashed into Xander, enveloping him in a bear hug. “How did you
do that?”

“
I don’t know.” He saw his
friend’s disbelieving look and he raised his hands defensively. “I
honestly don’t know. I’d never done anything like this before
yesterday.”

“
Oh my God,” Sean said,
covering his mouth in surprise. “The guy and the bus. That was you.
You saved that guy’s life.”

“
Maybe,” he said. “Maybe I
did. I don’t really know.”

“
You’ve got to show me how
you do it.”

“
I don’t know how I do it.
I don’t think I could teach you even if I wanted to.”

“
It was so cool,” Sean
blurted. “What was it you did with the bus? F-5 strength winds that
blew him out of the way? Increased air pressure that made the bus
slow down sooner?”

“
I don’t know. I think I
was thinking about a car’s air bag. I think I made, like, a bubble
of air between him and the bus.”

“
A bubble,” Sean repeated
dejectedly. “You have super powers and you’re busy making a bubble?
Couldn’t you just fly in and save him or call down lightning on the
bus or something?”

“
You read too many comic
books,” Xander said as he started walking through the
field.

Sean didn’t follow and stared at his
retreating friend. “Don’t take this away from me. I’m best friends
with a real-life superhero. The least you can do is let me live
vicariously through you.”

Xander stopped walking and sighed. “I’m not
a superhero. Come on and catch up.”

Sean jogged alongside him again.

Xander smiled despite himself. “It was
pretty cool though, wasn’t it? It was an air bubble. I made an air
bubble between the guy and the bus. He bounced off it like a
balloon.”

“
Okay. I’ll admit that your
super bubble power isn’t entirely lame.”

Xander brushed his dark hair out of his eyes
and frowned. “Don’t you think it’s weird, though? I don’t even know
where these powers came from or why they suddenly appeared
yesterday.”

“
Who cares? You’re the only
guy I know that would complain about becoming a
superhero.”

“
I’m not a
superhero.”

“
Whatever you say. So what
do you think? Cape or no cape? And what color tights were you
thinking about for your costume? I was thinking the Superman
underwear on the outside of your outfit.”

Xander punched him in the arm.

“
You could always ask your
parents if they know where you got your powers,” Sean offered,
rubbing the spot where he was punched. “Most of the time in the
comic books, it’s inherited.”

“
Yeah, that’ll go over
well. ‘So Dad, I noticed I got your eyes. And Mom, I got your hair.
Which one of you gave me the ability to control the wind?’ I think
I’ll pass on that conversation. Anyway, I think they’re planning on
kicking me out of their house.”

“
Harsh. What did you
do?”

“
Me? Why is it something
that I did?”

“
Because you’re a junior in
college and you still live with your parents. You’re pretty much a
screw up by default.”

“
And my
grandpa.”

Sean smiled. “Yeah, you live with your
parents and your grandpa. You know if you ever get kicked out,
you’re more than welcome to come crash at my apartment.”

Xander smiled. “I may just have to take you
up on that sooner than you think.”

“
Forget about that for
now.” Sean stopped walking and looked at his friend mischievously.
“Want to see what else you can do with that power of
yours?”

“
Hell yeah, I
do.”