The Havoc Chronicles (Book II): Unbound (10 page)

“Different, but equally sucky,” I finally said.

“So which one do you like more, Josh or Rhys?” Amy asked. She watched the stage, deliberately not looking at me. I could tell she was up to something.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Amy tore her eyes away from the stage and gave me an innocent look. “What do you mean?”

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “Don’t give me those doe-eyes. I’ve been your best friend too long to fall for that one.”

Amy shrugged and leafed through her script. “I just wanted to see if you really liked both of them.”

“Well I don’t. At least I don’t think I do.” Did I? “I know I like Rhys, but this whole thing with Josh has become awkward...” I trailed off. It suddenly dawned on me what Amy was hinting at. “Why? Do you like one of them?” I asked. A very unwanted and ridiculous pang of jealousy flashed through me.

Amy closed her script. “Me and every other female on the planet. Oh, come on,” she said when she saw my look of shock. “Nearly every girl in school likes one of those two guys. I just wanted to know which one you liked so I could stay away from him.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh, scream, or cry.

Closing my eyes, I took several deep breaths. The problem was that I wasn’t sure what I wanted. Well, I did. I liked Rhys, and I was pretty sure he liked me too. But something seemed to be keeping him from taking that next step into a real relationship. Until I figured out what that was, it didn’t seem like we were going to have any real progress. If I couldn’t be with Rhys, did I want to be with Josh instead? Was that fair to him? To only want to be with him because I couldn’t be with the guy I
really
liked? Wouldn’t that be leading him on?

“I really don’t know, Amy,” I said. “This is unfamiliar territory for me. I’m used to pining after hot guys, not being the object of a Neanderthal tug-of-war. I can’t really get mad at Josh because he’s such a nice guy, but what I really want is for Rhys to just tell me how he feels.” By the end of this my voice had gotten louder. I realized that several people were looking at us.

Amy made some shushing gestures and once everyone had turned back to watch Rhys and Josh, she leaned in and whispered, “Well, if there ever is a clear victor in the tug-of-war contest, let me know so I can start comforting the loser.”  She gave me her most conspiratorial smile, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

That was my Amy.

***

In Binder training that evening Mallika taught me how to weave a snare. Kara came along to help.

We met in the hidden training room at my house, which I was now coming to think of as my second bedroom given all the time I spent in there.

“The key to weaving a snare is patience,” said Mallika. “Have you ever done any knitting or crocheting?”

I nodded. It had been a few years, but back when I had plenty of free time on the weekends, Mom had taught Amy and me the basics. I had made a few scarves and even attempted a pair of socks, although they ended up looking more like misshapen baked potatoes.

“Good,” Mallika said, “because you are going to weave the binding tendrils together to create a rope strong enough to hold a Havoc. A basic knowledge of any kind of weaving makes the process much easier.

“First we need to help you generate the initial tendrils.” She went on to explain the rather complicated theory behind it.

“It sometimes helps to see it done by someone else when you are first learning,” said Kara. She raised her hands and thin black tendrils oozed out of her finger tips, sinking towards the floor. As they grew in length, they wove together in a simple braided pattern.

“Okay, Madison,” said Mallika. “Try to feel what she’s doing and see if you can do the same. Don’t be frustrated if nothing happens, this isn’t an easy skill to learn.”

I concentrated. Mallika was right, I could
feel
the snare Kara was weaving. I took in a deep breath and pushed.

Thick, black cables shot out of my fingers, flying across the room and rebounding off the walls. I jumped back and stopped the snare, the ends of it flying away from me as I released my mental hold.

Silence dominated the room. Mallika and Kara were wide eyed with shock.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “This happened before, and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

Kara started to laugh. “You don’t know what you did wrong?” she said, her Scottish accent was difficult to understand through her laughter. “You didn’t do a thing wrong. That was brilliant!”

“When did you try this before?” Mallika asked.

“During the solstice,” I said. “You two were working so hard and I thought I would give it a try to see if I could help. But instead of making a useful weave, mine just sort of flew out all over the place.”

“Can you do that again?” Mallika asked. “Perhaps a bit slower?”

“I’ll try.” I closed my eyes and concentrated on pushing the feeling outward. Once again thick, black cables came out of my fingertips, but this time they emerged more slowly.

Mallika reached out and held one of the cables, examining it closely. It felt strange having her touch it. I could somehow sense her through the cable – feel her touch.  

“You never cease to amaze me, Madison,” Mallika said, releasing the cable. “Never in all my time as a Binder have I seen anything like this.”

“Is that in a ‘I’ve never seen anything so incredible’ kind of sense or more of a ‘I’ve never seen anyone mess up a snare that badly’ kind of sense?”

“Definitely the incredible one,” Kara said. “What you did completely changes the game.”

“Changes the game? What do you mean?” I asked.

Kara looked at Mallika in disbelief and then back at me. “Didn’t you see what you just did? You cast the thickest snare I’ve ever even heard of. And the way it shot out of you was amazing.”

“What Kara is trying to say,” said Mallika, “is that your snare was so thick you wouldn’t need to weave it to make it strong enough to hold a Havoc. You also created it much more quickly than any Binder we have seen, which means you could potentially create a snare strong enough to hold a Havoc on demand. There would be no need to weave it first and try to lure the Havoc inside.”

We spent the next hour testing how fast I could produce a snare and learning how to control the direction of the individual tendrils. I may not have had to weave the tendrils into a rope, but I would still need to maneuver them to tie up the Havoc. Otherwise it would simply walk away from my jumble of cables.

Maneuvering the cables turned out to be much harder than I expected. By the end of the lesson, I could make them rise a few feet into the air, but not much beyond that.

“Don’t worry,” said Mallika, giving me a good-bye hug. “That comes with practice. And believe me, you will have plenty of that.”  

***

When Rhys drove me home on Friday, I could tell that something was on his mind. Rhys was never what I would call “chatty” on the best of days, but he seemed even quieter than usual.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Rhys turned to me, his expression confused. “I think so,” he said. “Why?”

“No reason,” I said. “You just seem quiet today.”

For some reason my comment made him blush. “Well, I’ve just been doing some thinking,” he said.

“About what?”

“Nothing really,” he said. Then in a too-casual tone of voice he said, “So, do you have any plans tomorrow?”

My pulse quickened, and I felt a thrill of excitement. I took a few deep breaths, doing my best not to let my emotions run wild and slip into a pre-zerk.

“Just practice with you,” I said. “Why?”

“Well, I was just thinking that... I mean you’ve been working so hard with this play and Berserker training and now Binder training that I thought maybe tomorrow you should take the day off.”

I
should take the day off? My heart sunk, and I snapped back to reality. Not
we
- just me. He wasn’t asking me out; he was trying to get away from me. But why? Was he sick of me already? Maybe I had done something to offend him, or even worse – maybe he was interested in another girl and already had a date planned.

“Okay,” I said, trying to keep my voice more cheerful than I felt. “If that’s what you want. Maybe Amy and I can do something together.”

A look of panic crossed Rhys face, and his eyes kept darting over to me and then back to the road, clearly torn between wanting to avoid an accident and looking at me.

“No! I mean, uh, you can do something with Amy if you want to,” he said, “but I was thinking maybe you and I could do something together tomorrow.”

It was several hours before I stopped smiling.

***

My date with Rhys – date! – was set for the next day at eleven in the morning. He had suggested that I dress warmly and be prepared to spend time outside. Since it was late April, on any given day it was possible that there would be rain, so despite the appearance of sunshine that morning, I brought a jacket and wore several layers. Not exactly what I would call sexy attire, but I kind of liked the outdoorsy look.

When Rhys showed up, he proved that the outdoorsy look can look really good! He wore a charcoal Gore-Tex jacket, cut in a way that emphasized his v-shaped torso, and a black knit hat and scarf. He looked comfortable in them, like he was in his natural element. Which, when I thought about it, was probably true. He had grown up working on his father’s fishing boat in Wales, so he was no stranger to the outdoors. He probably didn’t have any Gore-Tex back then, but I’m sure he had other ways of staying warm and dry.

“You look beautiful,” he said, giving me a shy smile.

I blushed and lowered my head. I knew he was giving me a genuine compliment, but even after all these months since my change I still had difficulty figuring out how to respond to compliments about my looks. It wasn’t something that came naturally to me.

“Thanks,” I said after a slight hesitation. “You look really nice, too.” Oh, no, that didn’t sound dumb at all.

We drove to the Oregon coast and out to a small seafood restaurant with a gorgeous view of the ocean. I had seen it before, but had never been inside.

There was a line of people waiting to get in as we arrived. Rhys calmly made his way up to the perky blonde hostess with a name tag that read Heather.

“How may I help you?” she asked, and I saw her eye Rhys appreciatively. I felt an instant dislike for her.

“Reservation for Owen,” Rhys said.

“Well, we’re rather backed up right now,” said Heather, in a nasty flirty tone.

Hello? Did she not see Rhys was with me?

She looked down at the reservation book, and had opened her mouth to say more, but instead she quickly looked back up and had a different kind of expression on her face. Her leering smile had been replaced by a nervous grimace. She glanced at me and back at Rhys.

“This way, Mr. Owen,” she said.

Heather led us through the crowded dining area into a large banquet room that could have easily held two dozen people, but was completely empty. That seemed odd given the line outside.

She sat us at a table by the window with a gorgeous ocean view. Through the glass I could faintly hear the rhythmic crashing of waves.

Our waiter – a guy, thankfully – took our drink orders and brought them back almost instantly. While we decided on our entrées, he waited in the far corner of the room, clearly torn between giving us privacy and being available when we were ready to order. Were we his only customers?

“What’s going on?” I asked Rhys.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re in this big room by ourselves while there’s a line of people waiting to get in. The hostess got really nervous when you gave her your name, and our waiter seems to be waiting only on us.”

Rhys shrugged and seemed a little embarrassed. “It’s not a mystery. When I made reservations, I told them I wanted to rent the entire back room. I knew this place could get crowded on the weekend, and I wanted to make this a relaxing afternoon for you.”

I took a quick sip of my drink to hide the look of shock on my face. Had he rented out the entire back half of the restaurant? I didn’t know how much that cost, but I was pretty sure it was more than anyone had spent on a date for me before - unless you counted the Mercedes Eric bought for me that my dad made me give back.