The Weapon Within: A Paranormal Dystopian Adventure (The Unexplainables Book 1) (4 page)

‘
I bet! So how does it work?’

‘
Well, it’s kind of like watching TV inside my head. I hear and see the thoughts of people nearby but you really have to tune in to hear them clearly. It can be quite funny when people are daydreaming. I can communicate with other telepaths from a distance too, but I’ve only ever done it as far as the town. I’m not sure if it works any further away.’

‘
Do all the Nexes develop their powers from such a young age?’

‘
Not always,’ he replied. ‘The thing is, people are scared to show their powers in public because they could get into trouble. But they’re also worried about trying them out at home in case they set their house on fire or something.’

‘
That’s understandable.’

‘
Yeah, but it’s frustrating too because not being able to use the powers makes them kind of build up inside. It can make it worse when they finally do come out.’

‘
I can relate to that,’ I murmured. ‘It’s a horrible feeling.’

‘
It’s even worse at school,’ he continued. ‘We’re not allowed to play sports or take tests.’ He kicked the bale he was sitting on hard with the heel of his foot. ‘It’s so stupid. I mean, just because we have powers doesn’t mean that we’re going to cheat. But because they’re so scared of us we can’t even try to see if we’re clever or not. There’s just no point in bothering. It’s not as if we’ll be allowed to do anything decent in the future anyway.’

‘
You don’t know that. Things might change tomorrow for all you know, and if they
do
change and you haven’t bothered trying to make the best of things, you might miss out on an opportunity that comes up. I think any education is better than none.’

‘
Really?’ He eyed me sceptically.

‘
Believe me, I’ve never been to school in my life and I’d have given anything to have done so. You’re lucky that you get to go at all.’

‘
I guess so. It’s just . . .’

SQWARKKKKKKK!

We looked up to see a chicken three feet up in the air and heading our way at speed.

‘Watch out!’ Hugo yelled. I dived to the side as he did an impressive leap and caught the poor creature, setting it down gently on the ground, where it flapped its wings and scrabbled away, clucking loudly.

‘
Chicken fly!’ Brogan grinned broadly. ‘Look, chicken fly!’

Before we even had time to blink, the entire brood of chickens was whizzing around above our heads. Every time we managed to catch one and set it down, Brogan would send another flying, with peals of laughter echoing around the barn, until finally
. . .

‘
Brogan
!’ Tommy stalked into the barn and stood with his hands on his hips, looking down at his son. The chickens landed heavily on the floor and left the barn en masse and at speed. Brogan looked up at his father from under his eyelashes.

‘
Chicken fly?’

Tommy raised an eyebrow and stretched his hand out to Brogan who took it sheepishly and walked quietly out of the barn. Wiping his forehead with the back of his h
and, Hugo smiled. ‘Come on, let’s go see if they’re cooking yet.’

*

There were a lot of people in the garden by the time we joined them. Everyone was very friendly and I enjoyed listening to their conversations. Everything was going well until someone near me screamed so loudly that I dropped my burger on the floor. Staring around the garden, my gaze fell on a pair of yellow eyes watching me from underneath a nearby bush. Tommy ran out of the kitchen with a frying pan in his hand. Scrambling up, I sprinted across the lawn and planted myself firmly in front of my giant cat. ‘It’s ok, he won’t hurt you, I promise.’

‘
Are you sure?’ Tommy spoke warily. ‘Are you absolutely sure, Ava? I mean, it’s a wild animal and we have the children around, not to mention everyone else.’

‘
Let me show you.’ Looking him straight in the eye, I replayed the memory of how the animal had found and helped me. ‘I’m sorry, I should have mentioned it to you before but to be honest, with everything else going on it just didn’t occur to me.’

The cat
pushed his head against my legs and let out a rattling purr. A chuckle came from behind Tommy.

‘
Brogan, no!’

The little boy was just
out of reach, his arms stretched out in front of him. The cat watched him approach then lay down on the grass and tucked his paws in like a domestic pet. Brogan reached him and flung his arms around the cat’s neck, cuddling into the warm fur. The creature nudged him gently with his nose and purred again. I looked up at Tommy who was staring open mouthed.

‘
Is it ok if he stays?’

The crea
ture rolled on to his back with his paws in the air so that Brogan could tickle his tummy. Tommy rolled his eyes. ‘As long as it doesn’t eat any of us, I guess its ok.’

I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the grass, leaning against the cat and playin
g with Brogan. On discovering that I could make objects fly too, we spent quite some time sending items zooming around in the air. Brogan particularly liked it when I made Tommy’s burger fly around the garden, just as he was about to take a bite out of it. We were in the middle of a buttercup race when Oscar and a group of his friends arrived.

‘
Whoa! What the hell is that?’ A particularly tall, gangly young man pointed at my feline friend.

‘
It turns out that the myth of the Moors Monster is true,’ Brock told them jovially as he flipped some burgers over on the grill. ‘And Ava here has not only found it but has tamed and befriended it.’

‘
Sweeet!’ The man whistled and came over to sit next to me. ‘But what is it? Can I touch it?’ He reached out tentatively and touched the creature’s back.

‘
I think it’s a panther,’ Tommy replied. ‘There were rumours some years ago that someone in a nearby village was keeping some big cats in their garden. The law enforcement people were called in because of complaints from the neighbours, but the guy let the creatures go before they got there. They were supposed to have found them all but then people kept reporting sightings and the stories took hold. I have to say, I didn’t believe a word of it until now.’

The man looked at me carefully as though he were assessing me.
‘I’m impressed,’ he said at last. ‘I’m Noah by the way and you must be Ava.’

‘
That’s right.’ I nodded, shaking his hand. Several other people came to sit with us. One of them handed Noah a plate laden with food which he promptly began to stuff into his mouth.

‘
Nice, Noah.’ Oscar rolled his eyes. ‘Ava, meet Kenzie . . .’ A girl with jet black hair streaked with purple, a small metal stud in her nose, and several tattoos on her arms waved and smiled at me. ‘Lissa,’ a mousey haired girl sitting next to Kenzie smiled and nodded, ‘and this is Skye . . .’

‘
I’m Oscar’s girlfriend.’

I looked up curiously at the girl who had spoken. She
was very pretty with wavy brown hair and hazel eyes, yet her tone of voice and body language were hostile. She surveyed me with cold eyes, then made a point of fawning over Oscar. I decided to avoid her as much as possible.

*

As the light faded, Brock and Tommy lit lanterns and placed them around the garden. The panther stirred behind me. ‘You should go,’ I murmured. ‘It’s probably not a good idea for you to come here too often in case you get seen by someone.’ He purred and nuzzled against my back then sprang lightly to his feet and disappeared into the darkness.

‘
You have got to be kidding me. You can’t possibly rate that racket as music. It’s rubbish!’

The voices broke through my thoughts and I turned back to listen.

‘What sort of music do you like, Ava?’ Kenzie asked me.

‘
I don’t really know. I’ve never really heard much music.’

‘
Really?’ Noah tipped his head and regarded me. ‘How come?’

‘
It just wasn’t something that we listened to.’

‘
Ever?’ He raised an eyebrow at me. ‘What about TV?’

‘
My mother never let me watch it. She said it would give me the wrong impression about people. I was allowed books though.’

‘
What type of books do you like?’ Gwen called over from one of the reclining garden chairs.

‘
Cookery books,’ I replied. ‘I love seeing how people start out with raw ingredients and end up with a piece of art. But anything factual is fine.’

‘
Well, I’ve got lots of cookery books which you’re welcome to borrow. Some are quite old and have regional recipes in.’

‘
That would be great, thank you.’

‘
Can you actually cook though?’ Noah asked.

‘
Yes, my mother taught me when I was younger. Actually, come to think of it, she played the piano at the hotel she worked at so I did hear some music. It was about the same time I found out I could communicate with animals too.’

‘
Come on then,’ Noah settled back on the ground, shuffling until he was comfortable, ‘tell us what happened.’

‘
Well, one day Mother took me to the city zoo. It was the middle of the week so she thought it would be quiet. The animals were amazing, but it was the other children that interested me the most. Some were well behaved but others were awful. One boy caused trouble wherever he went. We followed a sign to the polar bear enclosure to try and get away from him. The path went underground into a viewing tunnel but the water was so cloudy we couldn’t see a thing. Then the boy came down the tunnel and pushed me out of the way. I remember putting my forehead against the glass, trying to block him out and the next thing I knew, I was staring into a pair of black eyes. The bear floated right up to the glass and the boy jumped up and down beside me, yelling at the top of his voice. I screamed “Stop it!” at him and at the same time, the polar bear bared its teeth and swam at the boy. Even though the glass was protecting him, it was still really scary. The boy screamed and ran away up the tunnel. My mother was furious with me – she was convinced I’d done it on purpose. When we got back out into the open the bear was out of the water and was watching as we walked around the edge of the enclosure. It roared really loudly and we ran all the way home.’

‘
So was that the first time you realised you had powers?’ Gwen asked.

‘
No, I’ve always known I had them but they’ve grown much stronger recently. When I was younger they kept bursting through when I got really angry or upset. The only time I was ever allowed to play with other children was when we came across an open-air ice skating rink one winter. I begged Mother to let me have a go and she gave in. I copied what the other people were doing and took to it really quickly. But then I noticed a little girl at the side of the rink crying because her sister had left her alone. I helped her learn how to skate and she was so proud of herself. As she skated past her sister, she looked up with this huge smile on her face but her sister said something nasty to her – I can’t remember what now. I was furious though and my powers erupted from me and knocked the sister off her feet. Everyone laughed except for Mother. She said that she saw the powers coming out of me, like a ripple on the wind or something. After that, she wouldn’t allow me anywhere near other people in case I hurt someone. And I had to try and stay calm all the time, so I basically had to stay inside all day long and only go out for a short walk with Mother at night.’

‘
That’s awful.’

I shrugged.
‘Mother did what she thought was right but it was very lonely. Actually, I just remembered a song that she used to sing to me. It must have been years ago.’

‘
Come on then, let’s hear it,’ Noah requested.

‘
What, now? You want me to sing?’

‘
Yep,’ he nodded, ‘let’s see what you’re made of.’

Closing my eyes, I let the music come to me.
I could hear my mother singing along in my head, her voice so clear that it felt as though she were close enough to touch. But then the image of her lifeless body swam into my mind and the song caught in my throat. Something built up inside me fast and the ground underneath me shook. My eyes flew open and I saw the faces of the people around me. They were scared. Some were crowding in on me, their mouths moving soundlessly. They were too close. Terrified, I tried to suck the powers back inside me. My body convulsed as a wave of pain forced my back to arch away from the ground. It felt as though my insides were melting. And then, suddenly, as though a switch had been flicked, the dark sky seemed to fall towards me until I could see nothing else.

*

I woke up in my bed. Brock was perched next to me, his face several shades paler than usual.

‘
Are you ok? Sorry, it’s a stupid question.’

‘
It’s ok, I’m all right.’ I flexed my fingers and gingerly moved my legs. Everything ached but that was nothing new. The memory of what had happened seeped into my mind like grains of sand falling through an egg timer.

‘
I did it!’ A huge grin stretched across my face. Brock raised his eyebrows in alarm.

‘
Did what exactly?’

‘
I stopped my powers.’

He frowned, his brow wrinkling.
‘Why?’

‘
Don’t you see?’ I sat up in bed and stared at him wide-eyed. ‘I managed to pull them inside me so that I didn’t hurt anyone.’

He
sat very still, regarding me carefully. ‘Are you telling me that in order to protect us from your powers you put yourself through excruciating pain by turning them in on yourself?’

‘
Yeah, kind of. But the main thing is that no one got hurt.’

‘
Except you.’

‘
That doesn’t matter.’

‘
Of course it matters!
You
matter, Ava! Seeing you like that, in so much pain . . . it was awful.’

My grin vanished
. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.’

‘
Well, perhaps you could work on a way of controlling your powers which doesn’t involve ageing me twenty years?’

‘
I’ll try,’ I promised. ‘Is everyone else ok? Are they upset with me?’

‘
No, not at all. They’re worried – we all are, especially Oscar. He didn’t want to leave until he knew you were ok. Right now he’s flat out asleep on the sofa.’

‘
He is?’

‘
Yep. Esther’s covered him up with a spare duvet so we’ll leave him there for the night. As long as you’re ok, that’s the main thing.’

‘
I’m fine.’

Brock
squeezed my hand gently then left the room.