Dominions

Chapter 16: Judah

Judah sat in his math class and counted the seconds as they flew by. He was appalled at the fact nobody wanted to talk about what happened to them. How could they ignore what was said? There was a whole other life that they had, and not one of them was curious about what happened to get them here.

He pulled out his phone and punched their contacts into a text message.

Look, I know that things are weird, but we can't go about ignoring this forever. We need to discuss this. Meet me in the field during the free period. The cave. - J

The bell rang, and Judah sprinted out of his classroom and down the hall. He felt his phone buzz, but he didn't bother to see what it said. They had to come. There was no other option.

He opened the door to the hallway, and the sun shined on his face. The warm Texas weather shocked his body from the cool air conditioning in the building. Humidity was so thick today that Judah felt like he was swimming to the field rather than walking. A line of sweat appeared almost instantly on his forehead, and he eagerly wiped it as he rushed to the field.

The field was a popular place for students to spend their days during their free period. There were lots of trees for shade, and the groundskeeper for the school kept it mowed and tamed for the students who chose to spend their time there. There were park benches and picnic tables, and on the very opposite end of the fields lay a tiny cave where people would go to hook up in between classes.

Judah walked quickly. If he wanted to get to the cave before the couples did, he had to move fast. When he arrived at the entrance to the field, there was nobody but him out on the lawn. He hustled to the other side, and when he got to the cave, he sighed in relief as he plopped down on a rock and waited for the others.

Three minutes ticked by, four minutes ticked by, five minutes ticked by before he heard another pair of feet near the entrance. He looked up and saw Selena staring at him from the cave opening, and he smiled lightly at her while she came and sat.

"You couldn't have turned off the humidity?" Judah teased.

"You're lucky it isn't raining," Selena replied. She attempted to hide the smile that spread across her face. "I am still working on this whole 'controlling the weather thing,'" she said as her fingers came up in quotation marks when she talked about her power.

Judah noticed that even when Selena seems uncertain, she still looks just as beautiful to him. Her eyebrows scrunched in a way that made his stomach have butterflies. The way she bit her lower lip when trying to think about what she wanted to say next made him melt. She was everything he wanted, but right now, she couldn't be with him.

Judah was ready to retort with a flirty comment when he heard footsteps coming from the side of their cave. He turned to see Elle, Jayden, and Asher standing at the entrance. Asher smiled grimly at Judah and Selena.

"Are we interrupting something?"

Selena blushed and turned her face away as Judah stuck his middle finger in the air and gave Asher a crooked smile. "No," said Judah, even though he wished that they had.

"What's the big emergency?" asked Elle as she came and sat next to Selena. "I had homework I needed to do."

"We can't just ignore this, Elle," Judah said gently. He knew that if he pushed too hard, everyone would turn against him. Their instinct was to run from it. Judah didn't understand that. This is the coolest thing that had ever happened to him. From the time he was younger, he dreamed of being more than just the kid from Saffron. Even in his wildest of fantasies, something this cool had never even occurred to him to be possible.

"I think we should just ignore it and hope it goes away," Elle chimed back.

"I agree," said Selena as she averted Judah's eyes. "I just have a lot going on, and adding this to it is not-"

"I was attacked last night," Asher interjected.

A silence fell over the cave, and the five friends could feel the tension pass through each of them. Judah wanted to shout that he knew it! They had to band together and work on their powers to help save the world they come from. Not to mention the creepy bad guy that sent those monsters after them last week was still out there. Judah doubted that he would disappear.

"Like by a random in the street?" asked Jayden with a hopeful expression.

Asher looked at him and furrowed his eyebrow. "No, Super Star. By the monsters who chased us through town last week. I was at my girlfriend's apartment, and all of a sudden, they were there. I went all Lord of the Ocean on his ass, and they went away,"

"Lord of the ocean?" Elle asked in a mocking tone. "Seriously?"

"I could see the water in the air!" Asher said. "I literally moved it with my mind, Princess," he glared at Elle and then widened his eyes. "My mind."

Judah placed his face in his hands and sighed. He knew that this was going to happen. Whoever that man in the red glowing orb was, he played the long game. It had been seventeen years since he last saw us. Whatever power they possessed was something to be desired to keep a man as powerful as that interested for as long.

"So three of us have accessed our powers," Judah said, reassured that this was suddenly possible. He couldn't help but beam as he picked his head up from his hands and looked at the group.

"Actually, four of us," Jayden said. "I kind of went to a spirit world?" He looked confused as he spoke. "One second I was on my porch and the next I was in a graveyard, and these zombies came surrounding me, and then my grandpa saved me from it and told me that all of us have a super big destiny."

"So Super Star dabbles in shrooms," said Asher. "No worries, I partake in a little bit of the hallucinogens, but at this moment, it's not helpful."

"I didn't do drugs!" Jayden shouted as he kicked Asher. "I'm telling you it's like I was there before. I kept having this dream, and all of a sudden, it wasn't a dream anymore. The dead people were upset that I was there. It was terrifying."

"And with me starting to access memories, that's all of us," said Judah. "We need to figure out-"

A shudder fell over Judah's spine. The world around him stopped spinning, and suddenly he was frozen as he felt the pressure in his head come back. Judah! Said a familiar voice. He tried to focus on the voice, but it sounded like it was coming from far away. The more he focused on the voice, the harder it was to concentrate. Judah! Pay attention to the sounds coming from me.

Judah took a deep breath and centered in on the sounds. Slowly the voice sounded like it was coming closer and closer until it was no longer a whisper but a full shout. Judah! The voice said, relieved. It's Elora, picture me. Remember what I look like and picture me in the area that you are.

Judah remembered the woman in the lavender-torn ball gown. He remembered the blonde hair and the old worn face. He pictured her in the cave, sitting in the middle of the room. It was as if the world was paused, and the play button was pressed quickly. The group gasped, and Judah jumped up from the rock he was sitting on. Standing in the middle of the tiny cave was Elora. She smiled at the group as she turned her body to face each of the other kids.

"I'm afraid this meeting isn't going to be as happy as I'd like it to be," Elora said with a frown. "I am here to warn you. Gedeon has not given up in his plight to obtain the power of the Dominions. You are all in grave danger."