I nodded and wished I could un-ask the question. "Sorry. Random thoughts."

  "I hear you." She resumed walking. "Let me tell you what I would do to Drew if I found out he had a side piece, though." I had to cover my ears after a minute. She didn't stop until we reached Kaitlyn's room. "So, in short, it'd be a bad idea for him. Got it?"

  "I wish I had never asked."

  "Don't we both. Now, here's the plan. You stand here." She pushed me against the wall outside of their room. "Shut up and listen. You need a better idea of what she's like to us. Don't make a sound." I nodded and she knocked on the door. "Katie!"

  "Lisa!" Kait bounced the door open. "What up, girl?"

  "We're going out tonight!"

  "I'm coming!" I stifled a laugh. I didn't expect anything less. "I'll call you when I'm ready!"

  "What about you, Nikki?"

  "I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I was planning on washing my hair tonight."

  "Are you sure? Kev's coming with us, he'll be sad if you don't!"

  I didn't expect her to laugh. "Yeah, ok. As long as he gets attention, he'll be just fine. Have some drinks, flirt with some girls, that's all that boy needs."

  "Earth to Nikki, you're the one dating him," Lisa said.

  "Your point being?"

  Lisa sighed. "Hey, I'm not going to pry into your relationship-"

  "So don't."

  "-but you shouldn't blow everyone off just because you're pissed at him."

  "Whatever you say. Have fun!" I saw Lisa step back and heard the door shut. She looked to me and rolled her eyes, then pointed back the way we came. We walked down the hall in silence. Nikki was definitely being cold there, but it wasn't completely out of line, considering our earlier conversation. Lisa didn't deserve that treatment though.

  When we reached the stairwell, Lisa tapped my shoulder. "So?"

  "I don't know," I said. "Maybe she's having a bad day. We did have another little fight earlier today."

  "You didn't see it. She looked through me with this empty expression. I was nothing to her. Super creepy. You don't even know."

  I took a deep breath as we walked up the stairs. "I'll talk to her later and try and get through all this. I know she doesn't dislike you, so there's got to be something else going on."

  Lisa didn't say anything until we reached the top of the stairs. "Haven't you had a girlfriend in the past?"

  "Not really, but I was pretty close with my friend Steph, and she was never like this."

  She shook her head. "Sometimes, Kev, you really make me wonder."

  Chapter Two

  The relentless bass sent tingles through every part of my body. It got other people up and moving. It made me vaguely ill. I sat alone at the table, sipping from a glass of water, watching my friends. Kaitlyn moved from guy to guy, never spending too much time with one, but making sure everyone got at least a touch or glance. She winked when she saw me watching her and mouthed something at me. Drew's advice rang through my head as she bounced, swayed, and glowed under the lights. I had to look away as his idea started sounding better and better. On the other side of the floor, Drew and Lisa danced together. Drew grinned down at her and she smiled up at him. Neither of them seemed to see anyone else. I again had to look away.

  Max, Jess, and Andreas were congregating around an old arcade machine. I expected Jess to take them both on without any problem, but she threw her hands up in the air and stepped back. She glanced back at me and waved. I waved back and she gestured for me to come join them, but I shook my head. Someone had to watch our table. When I looked up again, Jess was parting the sea of humanity with her usual disregard for social norms. She cut directly between a couple, seemed to consider pushing Kaitlyn over, and finally dropped herself in the seat next to me. "What's the story, nerd?"

  "What story?"

  "Why'd you come if your lady's all whiny and bitchy about you coming?" She grinned at me.

  "Lisa talks too much," I said.

  "Lisa didn't tell me shit. Max and Drew filled me in on what happened over break. That girl is naturally whiny and bitchy, and since she's not here, I assume that's what she's being whiny and bitchy about. Did you do something else? Acting like more of a complete ass?"

  "That's more her than me," I said.

  "It's probably both of you."

  "Probably." I sighed. "I don't know why I'm here."

  "Is that an existential question? I have so many answers for that."

  "No, as in coming out tonight."

  She twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "Let's see. You wanted to do stuff that would get her off your mind. Distract yourself from whatever bullshit she's pulling. It's not working, she's on your mind even more, and now you're miserable."

  "Get out of my head."

  "Yeah, it's kind of nasty in there. But don't worry, your humanity is safe with me."

  I glared at her. "You're lucky I don't break a glass over your head."

  "Oh, hyper violent reaction!" She smirked at me. "Going to buy some wifebeaters and shave your head? Grunt a lot? Breathe exclusively through your mouth?"

  "What should I do?" I asked.

  Her smirk vanished and she shrugged. "Get out of here. Go talk to her and see if she's ready to get over whatever bullshit is between you two. Leaving just to see her will score you some major points, dude." She leaned in a little closer. "Plus if you play your cards right, maybe you'll get some epic make-up sex."

  "That's a tempting thought. Unlikely, but it's nice to dream."

  "The next bus leaves soon," she said. We had taken Andreas' van. "Don't worry about ditching us. I'll make sure we give you some time. Unless you want Kaitlyn back early to walk in on you. She'd probably be into that. I think she's into everything. Or everything's into her. Is there a difference?"

  "No, that's quite all right." I stood up and grabbed my coat. "Thanks, Jess."

  "Make me proud, tiger."

  I walked to the door and looked back for a moment. None of my friends seemed to notice me leaving except for her. She lifted a hand and smiled. I pushed the door open and walked out into the cold. The trip back to Ripley was frosty at best, arctic at worst. It took longer than I had hoped to get back to the dorm. By the time I knocked on her door, warmth was a distant memory.

  She cracked the door open. "I thought you were out picking up chicks."

  "Too heavy," I said. "Can we talk?"

  "Sure. Talk." She didn't move from the doorway.

  "Can I come in?"

  "Why?"

  I reached through the crack and grabbed her hand. Her eyes grew wide. "Kevin! You're freezing!"

  "I hadn't noticed."

  She pulled me into her room and sat me down on the edge of her bed. Her hands were painfully warm against mine. "Didn't you wear gloves?"

  "Nope. No gloves, no hat. Two layers." I gave her what I hoped was a winning smile.

  "You're an idiot." She rubbed my hands between hers. "What were you thinking? How long were you out there? Did you walk back from downtown or something?"

  "No, I took the shuttle, but it dropped me at the edge of campus. Driver said something about not making the run all the way to the campus center every trip."

  "What a load of shit," she said. "You didn't have the presence of mind to warm yourself up?"

  "That's your area of expertise," I said. I could have, but I was worried about setting myself on fire with the issues I'd been having. "I never got the hang of it."

  She shook her head and the whites of her eyes glowed green, throwing strange shadows all over her room. "I'm going to try something new," she said. A fire seemed to spring to life where her hands touched mine and I pulled free with a yelp. "Sorry!" She held her hands close to mine without touching.

  "Feels like you're a human radiator now," I said.

  The glow in her eyes abruptly cut off and she waved her hands in the air. "Ouch. That didn't go the way I wanted it to. Are you still cold?"

  "Yeah, a bit."

  She pulled her comforter over and put it around my shoulders. After a short pause, she sat next to me and pulled it around herself as well, leaving us shoulder to shoulder. "Is that better?"

  "Better." She was looking down at the floor, or over at the door, or anywhere but at me. "Nikki?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Are you still mad at me?"

  "Yeah."

  "Are you going to look at me when you say that?"

  "No."

  "Are you really mad?"

  "Maybe."

  "Are you sure?"

  She elbowed me in the ribs. "I'm going to get mad if you keep bugging me about it."

  "I'm sorry."

  "You should be." She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry too."

  "You should be," I said and put my arms around her. "I think we were both overreacting."

  She leaned into me. Her hair smelled sweet, floral. She actually had washed her hair. "I was worried about you. You never told me what happened. With Shade."

  My arms tightened around her. "What did Absynthe tell you?"

  "You were contacted by a rogue agent. They took you and all those other agents out before fighting Shade." She shivered even in our warm nest. "I can't even imagine what sort of power they must have. Fighting six people, almost all at the same time? That's impossible, and then taking Shade on and beating him? I can't believe they put him in a coma. If they were that skilled, I'm surprised any of them are alive."

  I had no regrets. "I wish I remembered more of it."

  "It must have been traumatic."

  "I'd like to watch Shade get what he deserved." My previous trainer was a brutal, dangerous man, and that was before he realized I was a traitor. If he ever came out of the coma, I was dead.

  She shook her head. "I know how he treated you, but that isn't what he deserved. He was just protecting you."

  I tried to hide a smile. "Even so, it would've been nice to see him on the receiving end of a beating for once."

  To my sudden surprise, she twisted around and faced me, then pulled me in for a lingering kiss. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you like that." Another kiss followed and her arms slid around me. "I think I was mad because of the regrets I'd have if you didn't come back."

  "Regrets?"

  She looked me in the eyes. "How long are they going to be gone?"

  "At least another couple of hours."

  "Perfect. I'm going to warm you up." She leaned backwards, pulling me down until I lay atop her. Our hands started to wander. "We need to take advantage of these moments," she said when we both had a moment to breathe.

  I hated myself the entire time we made love. My body responded as any young man's would, I said and did all the right things, but in the back of my mind, all I could do was compare her to Star. How she moaned at each touch, how she tasted, how warm she felt. Everything about her, I judged against another girl. It was completely unfair to her. I tried not to let it get to me. I tried not to let my expressions tell her anything but how I felt in the moment. I tried to be hers and only hers.

  We fell asleep in her bed, her naked body curled up against mine. I wanted to leave but it was simply too comfortable to get up and go. Kaitlyn wouldn't care if I spent the night here. I let that comforting reassurance run through my mind as I fell asleep.

  I dreamed. Seductive red-haired phantoms touched me, but every time I focused on them, they had Nikki's face. When one actually bit me, I jolted awake. Next to me, Nikki grunted, but didn't wake up. My heart hammered against my ribs and my head pulsed and throbbed. It felt similar to the time before my powers had fully awakened and that terrified me. The psionic power trapped in my head was trying to get out and it didn't care how much it hurt me in the process. I leaned up and looked across the room. The clock read well past midnight, but Kaitlyn wasn't back. She had probably gone home with someone. Maybe Andreas if he was lucky. No. Andreas was never that lucky.

  I settled my head back on the pillow, closed my eyes, and tapped my power. Instead of the steady flow, only a trickle sputtered to life, barely enough to call up my Sight. I tried a couple of mental exercises to loosen up my power. Nothing happened except my headache creeping to a different part of my skull. I tried to coax a little more power out. The headache intensified for a long moment, but then my power reacted. A burst of power rang my skull before settling into a more normal rush. Nikki grunted again.

  The headache subsided and I decided to reach out to Absynthe. She might know why my head was aching. I pushed my mind outwards to find her. It took longer than I expected, and establishing a solid telepresence link with her took me four attempts. By the time her telepresence manifested, I was sweating. "Why, Kevin," she said. "This is a pleasant surprise. What's on your mind so late at night?"

  "I didn't wake you, did I?" I asked.

  "Of course not," she said. "Besides, I always have time for my student. One of the university's top talents."

  Her mental realm was a classically furnished room, accented with dark wood that resembled cherry or walnut, but there was something darker running through the grain. Her favorite colors were red and black and they were in ample display. Absynthe lounged on a simple leather couch, her black hair pulled back and flowing down her shoulders. I cleared my throat. "I'm having some problems."

  Her dark eyes looked down pointedly, then back up to my face. "Oh?"

  "Not that sort of problem!"

  She chuckled and crossed her legs. "Of course not. You're oozing sexuality. Just got lucky, did you?"

  My cheeks burned. "I'd say it's none of your business, but it's too late for that. It's nothing physical, nothing with Nikki, nothing like that. I'm having trouble controlling my powers."

  "How so?"

  "It seems like my power is slippery lately. That's the best way I can describe it. It's hard to get started, and even after I have it flowing, it's hard to keep under control. It sputters or surges when I'm not expecting it."

  Absynthe sniffed. "Sounds like you're out of practice."

  "It's not that," I said. "When I was trying to make the link with you, it took me four tries. I know my telepathic and metasensory powers aren't the best, but you know I have those basics down. Plus, trying to pull my power up was giving me some headaches that reminded me of the time before I was awakened."

  She sat upright and leaned toward me. I tried to ignore the cleavage she was putting on display. My mind was definitely still on sex. "Sounds like a mild mental fracture," she said. "Have you had anything strange happen lately?"

  "Absynthe, everything in my life seems strange these days."

  "Funny, but I'm serious. Have you had any unexplained restlessness or inordinate stress? Did you have any family problems while you were home? Did something happen during your trip to the city?"

  I grinned. "I was in a completely uncomfortable and weird situation. Does that count?" It wasn't exactly a lie, but it conflated my experiences at home with my other experiences in the city.

  "Could be the cause." She paused for a moment and her expression shifted. "Are you feeling guilty about something?"

  "What?" There was no way she could know.

  "What happened to Shade. He's showing no signs of awakening from his coma. Trust me, Kevin, there was nothing you could do in that sort of situation."

  I blinked and felt tension flow out of my muscles. "Absynthe, you should know, I don't feel bad about what happened to him at all. Not in the least. Couldn't have happened to a better person. I wish whoever did it beat him as hard as he beat me."

  "I never condoned the way he treated you," Absynthe said. Her tone grew chilly. "Still, what happened to him was vicious. Not to diminish your injuries and pain, but what happened to him was destructive beyond your knowledge. His powers may be gone. The feedback from the twist may have burned out his powers, or his personality, or everything that makes him who he is. We don't understand much, but we do understand one thing. He won't be the same if he wakes up."

  I swallowed back another comment. It was either him or me, and I chose me. "Sure. Sorry. I'm just bitter about the way I was treated."

  "That's understandable." She continued to stare me down. "Another potential cause would be injuries from the rogue. Perhaps a deep lying twist that our examination missed is starting to come undone."

  "I don't think so. When I went down, other agents were there, and then Shade showed up. I don't think there was an opportunity to sneak a twist in there. They'd have to be ridiculously good at psionic multitasking."

  "That's what we presumed as well," she said. "It's still not outside the realm of possibility. I'd like to do a checkup on you later this week."

  "Fine with me. What should I do in the meantime?"

  "A mild fracture isn't serious, but could be dangerous if it lingers. If it's just coming on now, I assume it's temporary, perhaps due to stress, injury, and lack of practice. Keep an eye on it. We'll start your training this trimester slowly and make sure you're fully healed before doing anything strenuous."

  "Sure, but what can I do other than wait?"

  She shrugged. "There's always a root cause. We can provide a professional therapist if you think it's a mental issue. A doctor if it's a physical injury, though that's unlikely in your case. Sometimes they resolve on their own. Very rarely, the fracture doesn't heal, and it can have permanent effects on how you use your powers. Trust me, Kevin. We won't let that happen to you."

  I sighed. "I was hoping for more."

  Absynthe echoed my sigh. "Exercise your mind lightly on a regular basis. Keep physically healthy. If there's anything you're worried about, try to distance yourself from it. Let things settle. That's all."

  "I'll do that," I said.

  She nodded and yawned. "Excuse me. It's late and I have things to take care of before bed. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

  "Nothing important enough to keep you from your beauty sleep," I said, earning a wry smile from her. "Thanks, Absynthe."

 

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