The Seven (Fist of Light Series) (15 page)

“What about school?”

He took some time to ponder the predicament before giving me the desired response. “School will have to be postponed until further notice. I have a dangerous impression that the Darkness has yet to make its move, and it won’t be through with you for a long, long time. Death rides upon your shoulder, son, for all those who would care to see it, and not all of those who discover you will be well-wishers like me, as I’m sure you have concluded from your heart-to-heart with The Chosen.” He winced sympathetically. “Homeschooling will have to be put into effect but allow me to handle that at a later time, when things have calmed down enough for less pressing undertakings. Surely you would much rather spend my money and enjoy the sunshine. I insist on buying you whatever you wish as a contribution to girls everywhere, however, don’t break my checkbook, please.”

“That sounds very generous of you, as my wardrobe has become threadbare, of late.” I grinned in return. “Trouble seems to follow me like a lost puppy, and it’s unlikely anything will change with my induction into this… society. As much as I’d like to go, I’m still pretty beat up. Plus, I think I’d still stand out like high-flying fireworks on the Fourth of July.” Considering my not-so-complete trust in Noah and Jas as well as my incipient paranoia, I couldn’t let them know that I was already completely recovered from my encounter with The Chosen. Though, from the gaze the two shared, my charade hadn’t fooled anyone.

Jas had been uncharacteristically reticent throughout the conversation, and it was a relief to finally hear him speak. “We would be taking the limo, and so you wouldn’t have to walk far, just into the stores, unless you wanted to do something else.” It took me a moment to realize there was no joking undertone whatsoever; he was putting up an emotionless front. His voice seemed more remote, as if he too was unsure of where we stood, or if he was about to realize he had pulled a Wile E. Coyote— look down, and you will surely plummet into the unknown.

I reminded myself that Jas had saved my life, whether or not he had helped me out of my original plight. Surely, he would have tried. And so, it wasn’t my place to hold any grudges, when he risked his skin for my well-being. Not to mention, he likely painted a target on himself and his friends by interfering so bluntly. Keeping him on a leash, short though it might be, seemed to be the most viable option, as of present. “All right, sure. I give, you’ve convinced me. Might have to call it a day sooner than I’d like though, as there’s no telling how far my legs will support me.”

Jas’ smile returned for an instant, sunshine breaking out of a dismal cloud. “Well, we can always have your carried back.”

The anonymous black limo was waiting for us when we finally extricated ourselves from conversation with Jas’ father. It was a modest affair, if viewed only from the exterior. He had seemed intent on wringing all the information he could out of me about my most recent escapade and my illustrious past. I didn’t provide perfect details, as I’m sure most parties included would have wished. I wasn’t yet ready to give up information that could potentially end my life in the wrong hands. While skirting the topic of the holding cell completely, I merely glossed over my summoning of lightning. Nonetheless, Noah visibly perked up at the mention of it, and so I rushed through the rest of the encounter and comforted myself that the most vital information had been kept close to my chest. Trust is always slow to be earned and easily lost. I have trust issues, to put it mildly.

The driver must have coordinated with his limo, for he was nondescript and easily forgotten. The rest of the world would come up blank seeing tinted black windows upon a limo and naturally assume things that were associated with expensive dinners, airports, and the rich and famous. Our driver approached the passenger door at the rear of the vehicle and allowed us to enter. Before the door closed, almost silently, the distinct smell that went with dog, or more appropriately wolf, permeated my senses, both the mundane and extraordinary.

Shooting an inquisitive glance toward Jas, who was seated on the longest seat along the length of the limo, I probed. “Loyal to the Clan?”

He scoffed sarcastically. “Of course. Nothing less would suffice for one of their most prestigious representatives.”

A shroud of silence overcame me as I was inundated with memories of my parents. Vague memories piled upon hazy renditions of my past life, where there was no need to sleep outside in the cold, or get into a fistfight over inconsequential matters. Thinking hard upon it brought the realization that I knew next to nil about my parents. Very little concrete recollections remained of my younger years with them. I thought it only human to think of my parents as upstanding people, who raised me well and loved the time we had together, short though it might have been. Distressingly, the only thing I could recall with any certainty was the night that altered the course of my life forever, the escape from the jaws of a relentless pack of indefatigable pursuers that hounded and haunted every passing shadow.

Something was at work here, but, if my life depended on it, I wouldn’t be able to discern my puppeteer in the shadows surrounding me. Though I had been running for years, I had been running from myself. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t in my nature to run from others. So it wasn’t as difficult as expected to break my number one rule, to stop running.

Enemies disguised as friends were on one side, obscure entities on another, friends who might be enemies, and, of course, my personal favorite, the all-encompassing plethora of people and not-people who wanted to either control or kill me. Why did my life have to become so increasingly complex between one second and the next, without even the allowance of a grace period? But crying myself to sleep wasn’t going to solve any of my problems, though the self-pity might provide momentary comfort. The best avenue of attack was to garner as many allies as
inhumanly
possible.

“You do that a lot, don’t you?” Jas asked.

“What’s that? Thinking? Always.” I grinned sardonically. “It seems there is a lot to be thought about these days.”

“You should be allowed time for thought. There’s quite a lot to process, to be sure. You’re actually taking this all rather well, for someone who just found out they belong to the supernatural community and a bunch of people want to maim, kill and use you,” Jas responded, mask still firmly in place.

I pondered that statement for a moment. I hadn’t really even stopped to think about how thoroughly this newfangled information had become absorbed with hardly a glitch in my operating system. I wanted to harness this newfound power to challenge those of the supernatural community who had entered my life and took my parents away. The fires of my heart burned white-hot in their intensity, and my veins blazed with the passion to stand in front of the not-people that would see others without the power to protect themselves.

Jeeves butted in on my train of thought, his voice sounding equal parts amusement and strain. “
Whoa, hey there, tiger, settle down
!
The atmosphere in here is just a tad bit uncomfortable
.”

Jas was squished as far as he could get away from the cloud of roiling electricity. “Ouch! Damn it! Turn down the lights, bro!”

Crackling tracers of lightning were circling around me, crawling down my body and generally wreaking havoc on the interior of the limo. Calming myself with promises of eventual conquest over my abilities, I was able to cut off the reservoir of energy within. Then I was finally able to send it back from where it originated in the nexus of my being, where it remained, a horse yet unbroken to my will. The lightning reluctantly disappeared from sight, spitting and crackling as they protested their dismissal. The loss of control very nearly destroyed the car, not to mention pointed toward a major setback in the control department.

Jas was staring at me, mouth agape, gasping. “What the hell, man! What was that about?! A little warning, next time!”

I took my time surveying the damage before answering his very reasonable question. I’d mutilated the interior. There was tattered upholstery, broken bottles, and destroyed lighting. I tore my eyes from the destruction long enough to notice Jeeves perched as close to the driver as possible, staring intently at the destruction wrought by my indiscretion. He looked worse for wear, his movements strained, which projected a weariness that appeared bone-deep. I could only assume that it was an ailment procured from our recent encounter with the room of death. Shivering at the ill-fated memory and simultaneously wondering why my physical condition felt optimal while Jeeves looked to be recovering from a string of high-speed car crashes.

“You look like you were on the receiving end of an old crone wielding a baseball bat,” I directed at the battered figure taking up imaginary residence in the limo. For once, my reply was vocalized rather than sent mentally, mostly to show Jas his question wasn’t being evaded or disregarded.

Jeeves managed a smirk, but it was a pitiful fallacy. “Some people don’t replenish their stores as quickly as those who are amped up like the Energizer Bunny on cocaine.”

That prompted a smile; Jeeves hadn’t changed one bit, even if he looked like road kill. It was nice to know that at least one thing in my life remained constant even as the rest tilted sickeningly around me. I went back to surveying the scene and was happily surprised to see that the windows hadn’t shattered. Now that would have been hard to explain.

“You know you sound insane talking to yourself, right?” Jas said. “You aren’t
just
talking to yourself, are you? I was never quite sure I believed the whole sentient object thing, but…”

“The power inside you is increasing,” Jeeves said, “and the longer it takes to master its intricacies, the closer you’ll be to experiencing spontaneous combustion. If you don’t learn to control this power, you’ll end up a gruesome, human-shaped splat on the roadside. Epically gruesome, though highly entertaining as well, but that’s beside the point at the moment, unless you feel like giving it a whirl.” Jeeves giggled, a foreign sound to my ears. After composing himself, leaving only a few stray sniggers to stray around the edges, he continued his instruction. “Think of yourself as a nuclear power plant. You just got turned on after being dormant for a decade, and it isn’t quite clear whether or not you’ll work without a blip in the system or become the next Chernobyl. Failure to harness the very dangerous forces within you will result in creating an outlet for things to go spectacularly awry. And, this is only the beginning. You’re still in the initial startup sequence, so buckle the hell up and put on your big boy pants before it’s too late.”

“Spontaneous combustion? Why didn’t you tell me this shit before? I thought I had more time!” My groaning reinforced displeasure with the position I’d been thrust into.”

I decided to be proactive. I explained to Jas what Jeeves explained to me. Kablooey!

Jas went through the many of the same reactions as my own when he had been enlightened to the plight. “You better get on that, like, pronto. Unless you really feel like experiencing the sensation of burning from the inside out.” He grinned good-naturedly, but it faded quickly.

“It’s all right. I’m planning on it, but I figure we can squander the amount of time it will cost us to go spend some of your Dad’s money. I’m sure I’ll hold together that long.”

A quick glance over to where Jeeves was sitting would verify this, but he had already vanished from sight.

T
he limo was waiting outside the entrance on Union Square when we walked out the door of Saks Fifth Avenue. We’ll chalk that one up to the mystic powers of Were Clan limo drivers and leave it at that. Our personal shopper helped us out the door with enough clothes to make a horse wary of dropping. His name was Dave, and he assured us that we could call him anytime whenever his services were required in our future shopping binges. He scampered off with a shaky smile and a hurried wave, however, when confronted with our big bad wolf driver. It goes to show that vanilla humans pick up a whiff of wolf, too, and understand subliminally that they were entrenched in a deep pile of doo-doo.