This supergirl has no powers (Now Published so sample only)

Chapter 9 - Quill's control time

© Sandra Corton 2014

Chapter 9– Quill’s control time

Caspian’s POV

I could say nothing as Zeke and Winter went downstairs for a snack. Was Quill truly using her powers on me? Wasn't that going against pretty much every rule we had been taught at this school? I felt violated and furious at even knowing about this. From what Zeke said it had been going on since the day I first met Quill.

"Hey Caz, here this will make you feel better." Winter's voice that was so familiar comforted the distress I was feeling. I blinked and noticed she was holding a plate out in front of her with a huge sandwich on it. She smiled that special smile at me and I let out a breath.

"How do I stop it?" I turned to Zeke who pondered my question.

"You need to realise the moments she takes control. Now that you know she's doing it, you might be able to see when it happens. Look I need to warn you guys that the next couple of days are well....simply going to suck for the both of you. You have to endure it though; it's the only way to break Quill's hold on you." He sent a concerned look to both of us."

"That's all you're going to say?" Winter asked the one question that I wanted to know the answer to.

"Yes trust me it will work out better that way." Zeke said solemnly.

"Geez your power sucks man." I blurted out and we all laughed.

"You have no idea." Zeke replied dryly while sending me a strange look.

I quickly scoffed down the sandwich having not eaten anything at lunch and my stomach grumbled loudly. I had spent the whole time watching Winter and Zeke talking or laughing together. I had such a horrible feeling inside me that couldn't suffer any food.

I glanced between the three of us now, standing around Winter's kitchen looking friendly and happy. I was no longer feeling threatened by Zeke and his close proximity to Winter. In fact I felt a closeness building between the three of us that warmed me. These were the kind of friends I had always wanted; it was why I was always drawn to Winter.

"I don't get it." I mumbled around the last mouthful of crust as I frowned at the pair in front of me.

"You will soon. Quill tends to rile your emotions in her favour but it often doesn't work like that. It's why you've been so jealous today; it was simply a reflection of Quill's jealousy aimed at Winter." Zeke explained but I still wasn't sure if that made any sense to me. "Trust me by the weekend we are all going to be the best of mates while Quill and Cole continue to squabble and be petty." He assured me as he accepted a cookie that Winter offered us.

"That would make a nice change." Winter said with a smile.

"We still have to get through the week." Zeke answered her grimly, making her face fall a little. "If you two are going to be okay then I've got something I need to do." He said and I almost cheered. Spending time alone with Winter was what I looked forward to every day. Winter simply shrugged and Zeke was out of the house in a blink.

"Do you think he's right?" Winter glanced towards the door Zeke had left from.

"Well he hasn't been wrong yet." I replied as I watched her bite into a cookie.

It made me think of the two brief kisses we shared. I wish I knew what was the Quill thoughts in my head and what were my own. I pondered on it a moment and guessed that anything making me see Winter in a good light was me. That's when it dawned on me, the stupid friend thing I said when all I wanted to do was kiss her.

"Why didn't I notice it sooner?" I ground out the words and Winter looked at me a bit shocked.

"Caz what are you talking about?" Winter looked at me with worry filling those soft, grey eyes of hers.

"Winnie remember all the times I said something dumb and confusing about us?" The words came out of me in a rush at the revelation in my mind.

"Um yeah." She looked a bit hurt to be reminded.

"What if none of it was ever me?" I replied excitedly and for a moment she seemed to draw a blank before her eyes went wide.

"You think it's Quill?" She asked in surprise.

"I don't know but when you asked me about the kiss I just wanted to kiss you some more, instead I blurted out those stupid words." I finished and saw her eyes sparkle as a blush filled her cheeks.

"Truly?" She asked and though I shuffled my feet uncomfortably I nodded.

"Of course Winnie." I told her a bit awkwardly.

There was no way I was ready for what she did next, it kind of blew my mind in fact. She threw herself into my arms as her lips met mine and I was in sheer heaven. I pulled her closer to me as I caught a breath before capturing those sweet lips of hers again.

Something in the back of my mind went sharp and hard, making me pull away from her. I shook my head and tried to puzzle through what had just happened. Winter stood in front of looking a mixture of dreamy and confused.

"What just happened Caz?" She asked me as she reached up to touch her lips.

"I don't know but that just felt wrong for a second there." I replied feeling a frown filling my forehead.

"Quill." Winter uttered through her teeth.

"Probably." I said on a sigh.

"I never thought I could hate her as much as I do right now." She said as she stepped even further away from me.

"I can't seem to help it Winnie. It's like it’s somehow a part of what I'm thinking." I pulled at my strands of hair feeling frustration fill me too.

"Do you think we'll survive until the weekend? She's got to have something else up her sleeve." Winter started pacing the floor and once again no words wanted to part from me.

"I don't really know." I whispered. She let out a huff of breath then before pulling me into a hug.

"Maybe it’s better that you go back to your dorm." Winter suggested but I simply pulled her into me tighter. That elusive something shifted in my head again and I found myself pushing her away. "You're probably right." I said in a grunt.

I left soon after with a terrible feeling gnawing at my insides. Zeke had warned us that the next couple of days were going to be grim but already it felt much worse to me. I seemed to have no control over who I was of what I did. The anti-Winter part of me would keep pushing her away no matter how close I wanted to get.

Between worry over what Quill was up to and the drama of the afternoon that still made no sense, I felt unsettled. When Maverick had stormed into our class to demand both East and I follow him, I had felt instantly apprehensive. His stuttered words that included Winter and the Monster in the same sentence had panic swamping everything inside of me.

Finding her safe but worried about our sanity had made me grateful and angry all in the same breath. I realised then that I hadn’t mentioned any of this stuff to Winter. I decided not to bother though; apparently we would have enough to deal with in the next few days.

It began earlier the next day than I was ready for. Coming down for breakfast only to see Zeke and Winter closely talking had fury filing me. That red hot rage of yesterday returned threatening to engulf me whole.

"Morning." I growled out the words as I passed them.

"Hey Caz." Winter sent me that stunning smile my way which momentarily astounded me. 

"You have to remind him all the time that this is Quill's doing." Zeke said to Winter and for a single second I saw everything clearly before the rage returned.

"What are we blaming on Quill?" I puzzled as the doorbell rang.

Quill stood there looking unbelievably smug as she glanced behind me to Winter, then her face fell. It seemed she wasn't happy with Winter and Zeke's proximity, much the same as me really. Quill stared at me hard before sending me a smug, rather possessive look.

"Wow Quill using your power early in the day today aren't you?" Winter's voice rose above the others that had started chatting.

"Like you would have any idea about that!" Quill's smugness continued as she gestured for me to go into the kitchen.

Why was I following her again? Oh yeah 'cause I'm some weakling who has never been able to stand up for myself. My shoulders slumped as I once again became a sheep and followed. A glance back towards Winter and Zeke though got my blood boiling again. I'm sure the worried look they gave me was nothing but fake. I turned away then and let out a breath as I once again accepted my fate.

I wish I could control the rage that taunts me at odd moments throughout the day. It gets harder and harder though. When I saw Zeke and Winter leave together while I was sitting having lunch, something inside me snapped. They were at the door when words flew from my mouth that I never once meant to say.

"Now Winter that's a new low for you." She turned in my direction with determination in her expression.

"Don't say something you will regret Caspian." She warned me from across the room but I just couldn't shut up.

"Really little miss powerless?" I taunted and hurt raced across her features.

"Don't let her control you Caz." Her calm words simply lit a fire under me.

"Like someone could control me! I'm Caspian Anderson and you are a little being of no consequence." I stated as I watched anger light up her features and she stepped back towards me.

"Don't forget the pinkie promise Caz, you are about to break it." She said the words almost serenely but there was nothing I could do to stop myself as the words spewed from me.

"Like that matters anymore! That’s so childish and lame Winter." I told her snidely while my mind protested in the harshest way. She stormed across to me then, the fury in her eyes making them silver coloured.

"Fight her Caz. Don't give up what we have for Quill's pettiness." She told me emphasising each word with a poke in my chest.

"Winnie? What was I saying?"

Her presence wrapped around me helping me to focus. If she had been the only one to approach me then we would've been fine. Quill though came up on my right hand side glaring furiously at Winter. Zeke kept his distance but when he took one simple step forward all hell broke loose in my mind.

"Get away from me! We have nothing together, you are nothing." The words were out there and I couldn't take them back. The hurt and intense pain that flooded Winter's face had me wanting to squeeze my eyes tight shut to avoid seeing it.

"Don't ever talk to me again Caspian! When you remember that pinkie promise you should also remember that you were the one that didn't fight against Quill's consumption of you." She said the words coolly but I could hear the depth of agony behind them. 

She walked off then and I wanted badly to run after her. I wanted to throw myself at her feet and beg for her forgiveness but all I did was sit there. I stared after her retreating figure and I could see her shoulders shake. She was crying. I had made my best friend, the girl I loved cry. An agony of pain tore at me as Zeke hugged her. I wanted to thump him for daring to touch the girl that meant everything to me.

"You know you're better off without her." A cheery Quill said from next to me.

"Yeah whatever you reckon." I shrugged off her touch, got up and walked out myself.

Why had I said such horrible things to Winnie? She was the last person I would ever want to hurt. I loved her. The snarling red rage bit at me again that she had left with Zeke. He was the one comforting her hurt and pain right now when it should be me.

I heard the bell ring but I couldn't stop myself from plonking on the nearest stair and trying to contain my emotions. I felt people walking past me, some stopped or stared while some even offered to sit with me. I refused them all. The only thing I could focus on was how mean I had been to Winter. What had come over me to treat her like that?

"Caspian I think you need to explain a few things." Maverick's voice was polite but dread unlike any other filled me. I was surprised when he sat down next to me, though I shouldn't have been. We had got to know each other very well over the last few years.

"If you want to know why I said all that....well I don't really know" I put my head in my hands feeling horrible and sick on the inside.

"I am aware of what is happening. I also know that you, Winter and Zeke talked about this yesterday. You have to fight this Caspian. You are the only one that can show Quill for what she truly is. She is using every ounce of her power on you but just like Zeke said, her powers will be gone if she keeps it up. Go to our house and try to talk things out with Winter now. You have been excused from afternoon classes." Maverick stood there and offered me a hand up that I never once deserved.

Dragging my sorry self over to the Mangalow's house took a hundred times longer than normal. Going to ring the doorbell simply made my arm feel heavy. How could I have broken my pinkie promise to her?  I swore I would never become like one of the others that were mean to Winter for no reason, yet I had done just that. I had to be the worst friend in the world.

"I told you he would be here." I heard Zeke's voice and was glad the anger at him was gone. Winter stood behind him and I was surprised to see the small smile on her face.

"Shouldn't you be mad at me?" I puzzled forcing myself to look at her. Her face dropped into hurt then before I saw a glimpse of the bitterness I had been noticing recently.

"I want to be but I know that isn't you talking. I know that you would never break a promise to me." She told me softly and I felt a glimmer of hope flare brightly inside me.

"I'm sorry Winnie." I looked at the ground awkwardly feeling foolish and downright stupid.

"There's no use being sorry Caz if you won't fight back."

"Fight back?" I looked between Zeke and Winter feeling utterly confused.

"Quill is trying to control you remember." Zeke said firmly and Winter nodded her head in agreement.

"Uh no I don't." I told them while trying to recall anything of the conversation and Winter sighed.