Hidden Away

Twenty-Five: "I Think I'll Always Need You"

After practicing a while longer in my room with Lily, she went downstairs in search of something to eat. I stayed in my room practicing for what only felt like an hour, but was actually over four. I guess I got a little carried away. Now, I feel much more comfortable with this new ability. Definitely comfortable enough to be around a large group of people again.

I had decided a couple minutes ago to go look for my brother. We haven't talked in a while and I feel like we need to catch up a little. I'm not going to lie, my motivation for looking for him might be influenced slightly by the fact that he was getting along with Evan. It's not that I'm jealous that my brother is hanging out with my best friend. It's more curiosity.

I make it to his room. The door is closed so I knock, entering the room when I hear Rowan shout, "Come in!" I'm not expecting what I walk in to. Most of what Rowan has sitting out is now floating in the air. Rowan is just standing there, concentrating on keeping his things in the air.

"I see you've discovered a new ability," I point out as I walk into the room, closing the door behind me. Rowan eases everything back into its proper place before addressing me.

"Yeah," he laughs. "I found it out shortly after training ended. You got the same one?" he asks, causing me to nod. He must not have seen me practically throw Lily during training. "We must be linked somehow." A pillow suddenly flies my way and hits me in the face, causing me to fall back. I try not to let out a hiss from the pillow hitting my bruised face, so I instead let out a pained laugh. I use my telekinesis to pick the pillow up off the floor and throw it back at him, only I fail to hit him because he stops it in mid air and it drops to the floor. "Though that doesn't explain why I had my power surge before yours. If we were linked somehow, we would've had it at the same time," he explains, sitting on his bed. He looks like he notices the bruise on my cheek, but he doesn't say anything about it, so I don't either.

"If we are linked, I don't think that means everything has to happen to us at the same time," I point out, joining him on the bed. "I mean, we're twins. Maybe we're experiencing similar abilities because of that?" I offer. Rowan only shrugs, leaving a silence to hang in the air around us.

I decide to bring up him hanging out with Evan. Not because I'm jealous or mad because he's hanging out with the guy who practically lied to me for two years about my life, but because I'm curious as to why they're all of a sudden hanging out when they rarely talked before. I could be wrong since that was only one time, but the question is still itching for me to ask it. "I see you and Evan are getting along," I start, cutting through the silence. I inwardly cringe when there's no response for a couple seconds, regretting even having said anything at all.

"Do you want to go for a walk in the forest?" he turns to me as he asks the question. I feel utterly embarrassed considering he dodged what I had said. He probably sees my face redden because he quickly adds, "I'll tell you about Evan. It's just that we haven't hung out a lot since we got back from the coronation and I want to hang out with you again." The way he says he wants to hang out with me is cute.

I nod and follow him as he stands. I follow him all the way down the stairs and out the front door. Our walk starts out like a lot of walks I've been having with people lately: silent. Neither of us say anything for a while. From where we are, I can just about see the outline of trees that indicate the start of the forest. There's a large hill in front of us, making it so we can only see the tops of the trees. "I'll race you to the edge of the forest!" I barely register what Rowan says when he's already meters ahead of me.

"That's not fair!" I yell as I start running. "You cheater!"

The wind blows through my hair as I speed up. Rowan is pretty far ahead already, which makes me force myself to go faster. Every time my left foot lands on the ground, I exhale. It doesn't help that my hair is in the way and painfully whipping against my face as I run. Once I get over the hill, I use the momentum I get from going down it to my advantage, speeding me up even faster. I will my feet to move faster and faster until Rowan isn't so far ahead. He's only a couple meters in front of me. He goes even faster when he looks over his shoulder and sees that I'm gaining on him.