Page 22 of Detonation
The second my feet cross into the designated area, my skin prickles as if sensing an attack. I don’t question it, falling into instinct and trusting my powers. My hand tightens into a fist and, in a split second, a thick wall of rock appears in front of me, a loud thud sounding off the other side of it.
I stand there, stunned by my shock. Was that him? No.I did that?
I shake the disbelief away. I can marvel in awe later. Right now, I need to focus. As I unclench my hands from my sides, the rock slides back to the ground.
I guess there’s no countdown to this fight.
As the barrier between us disappears, my opponent stands in front of me again, a slight smirk on his face. I let my instincts take over, sinking into a deadly calm focus. More smoothly than yesterday, vines burst from the ground, wrapping around his legs, and tug violently at his ankles. He topples to the ground, face first.
A loud groan sounds before he lifts his head to reveal the crimson stains on the ground, the bottom half of his face painted in his blood.
A little over half of the crowd leaves and I turn to their leader for an explanation. She locks eyes with me, something akin to the stirrings of respect in her eyes. “Soren is the middle of the pack in terms of power. Everyone below him was instructed to leave if he was defeated.”
I don’t allow myself the luxury of an inflated head, aware that it could just be beginner’s luck. There’s no way the rest of the group will be that easy.
Blood has already been spilled. How long before it’s mine?
Chapter Six
Zedd
It’s been days since Lana left and it feels like I’m experiencing life in grayscale. Nothing feels alive without her. Nothing feels colorful.
I thought I loved her before she left, but now I’m realizing that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend the intensity of the mate bond until now.
What she means to me, to us—it’s all coming into focus. Love is an inadequate word for the intensity of our feelings for her. She loves harder not in spite of our flaws but because of them. She teaches us how to be vulnerable. No matter how many times she’s gotten knocked down, she’s stood up, fighting for her family, pushing us to do the same.
Despite the violence with which our first lives ended, despite the trauma that we’ve all experienced in this life, she’s taught us, shown us again and again, that we’re the lucky ones. To have another chance at happiness, to have Beth as our mother in this life, to have each other. It’s more than most people will experience in this life and we’ve been blessed to experience a bond so strong in both lives.
The twins were right. She's capable of so much. And though she wants us by her side, she’ll do just as well in our absence.
But to picture a moment where we aren’t with her makes my chest feel like it's caving in. Yet, in the same strangled breath, I know she's a woman with a mind of steel and the ambition of a lion. The world is hers for the taking.
She doesn't need us but her soul chose us.
Every moment that I've found myself worried for her wellbeing; I've reminded myself of the twins' faith in her. I never thought the day would come where Luke and Leo would be the voice of reason but, with the realms falling apart, I’m stunned that I’m turning to them for sound advice.
The mood of the group has dulled and we’ve taken to merely getting through the day and meeting our most basic needs. Our days consist of training, showering, eating, and sleeping. Yesterday, Serenity forced us to go home, practically pushing us out the door, as we’ve apparently become ‘shells of men,’ according to her.
Today, we’re right back to the training grounds, panting and sweating, aching from the constant go and no rest. She’s run us through the obstacle course thirty times as a warm up and forced us to take a break before we move on to close combat training in the afternoon.
We’re making progress quickly but is it fast enough?
I hope you’ve found help, Lana. I hope you’re hanging in there, Ash.
Straightening from my bent over position, I snatch the water bottle that Hale tosses at me from the air. Squeezing the cool liquid into my mouth, I quench my thirst, sweet relief at parching my dry throat, before I tip the rest of it over my head. I soak up the reprieve from the heat and overexertion as the water runs down my bare chest.
I’d give anything for a dip in our lake back home.
“How’re you doing?” Hale asks. I notice that he’s fidgety, anxious to get back to training.
As always, he’s proven himself to be a worthy leader for our unit. Despite the exhaustion, he’s never once complained. His only words have been to check up on us or to push Serenity for the next step in training, and the next, and the next, never wanting to rest for long. He’s led by example, pushing us to not give into our bodies’ demands for a break.
I send a tunnel of air around my head, drying my hair and feeling slightly refreshed.
It’s crazy how quickly we’ve accepted our powers and the fact that we’re not human but it all comes so naturally. The void that was inside us since childhood, the void that we thought was solely our trauma, is filling, little by little, like the final piece to the puzzle.
I run a hand through my hair. “Honestly, I feel like I’m finding myself more and more as we develop our powers. It’s starting to feel like second nature.”
