A Tainting Light (The Manipulators Book One)

Chapter 4 part 1

Chapter Four

Oxygen

I walked back to the cold, steel shack that I now resided in. Pika was not guarding the doors right now so I slid the heavy metal door open and walked around the hall to see Keegan pulling on a coat sleeve.

"Finn! I was just about to leave." She pulled her shoe over her heel and stomped into it. "Do you want to go get a bite?"

Now that food has been mentioned, I realized how starving I was. "Yes," I groaned.

She quickly smiled and gently grabbed the side of my forearm. "A couple of us are going to The Seadragon if you want to come," she said. "And you might want to flip your shirt around."

I nodded and we started to walk down the path Sylvic and I walked that first day. The leafs fell and danced around us as we walked through the golden path. She was something contagious to watch. Her hands would rise with the wind and her eyes would shutter close. Her blonde hair flew in her face and she would just let it reside there. She was captivating. She was beautiful.

We reached the old brown bridge, the mentibus, and I felt a warm energy going through me. "So, do you remember what you saw when you first crossed this?" I asked.

"I do," she went into a soft whisper, "but if I told you I'd have to kill you." She jumped up on the arm of the bridge and tiptoed across. Her arms were stretched wide to keep her balance. The stream below would follow the line her hand was creating. She jumped off the bridge and back onto the path then nodded her head signaling me to follow.

"Do you miss it?" she asked. "California."
"It doesn't really feel like I've gone anywhere, I mean it's a couple hours away," I said.

"How can you say that when we're in a completely different universe," she laughed. "It might be the same planet, but everything here is so completely different." We reached the black sand. She took off her brown sandals and buried her toes under the warm grains.

"Have you been there?" I asked.
"I used to live there too, a few years back," she said. "I was twelve, I think, when I came here."
"How'd you find out," I said, "that you can manipulate?"
"It was at my birthday party." She stopped walking. "I had a ton of my friends over for a swim party. I had a crush on this boy that my best friend liked and she told him. I was so embarrassed. Next thing you know she was dragged to the bottom of the pool by what seemed to be nothing and passed out. She never woke up."

Her facial expressions did not change as she told me this. It was as if it had no lasting effect on her. "I could just feel that I was pulling her down. I came inside to tell my mom and Sylvic was already waiting inside to take me here."

"I'm so sorry Keegan."

"Don't be. I'm stronger here." I could not decide if I thought that she was stronger. Maybe her skin was coarser, tougher than the porcelain she seemed to be made of, but I didn't know if she was any stronger.
We got to a small sand path between us and the island. The volcano covered half of the island but instead of the fresh blue lava I saw the other day, it cooled to a purple color. The path was lit with torches even though it was light outside.

At the beginning of the path, there was a small wooden arch. It was twisted with light and dark brown bark. A vine spiraled throughout the arch. On the top the word "Anador" was engraved and appeared to be burning.
"What's Anador?" I asked.
"That's the island," she said. "This has to be my favorite city I've been to since I've been here." She slapped the sign above us as we walked through.
We walked down the torch lit path with the clear sea next to us. I looked down to my left and saw a palace built in a dome-like bubble a few feet under the water. We reached the bottom of the massive mountain. There was a small village in the distance, but Keegan walked towards a green lagoon. A man wearing a shirt made out of leaves and scaly looking blue pants walked toward Keegan.
"Heard you have a new one," he said with a feminine voice. He looked over at me, "he's pretty cute don't you think," he whispered to her.
"I'm literally standing right next to you, I can hear everything you're saying," I said.
"He is pretty cute," she laughed. She looked over at me and mouthed the word sorry.
"You showin' him around?" he asked while fixing her hair.
"Yeah we're meeting everyone at the Seadragon," she said.
"Ugh how are you not over that place yet?" he asked as if he was repulsed by the restaurant."I'm Brav." He grabbed my hand and brought it to his heart. Then pulled us towards the lake.
We get to the edge of the lagoon and a sharp metal fin rose out of the water. It kept going higher and higher until it reached about three times my height. Copper colored steel dragged from the corners of the ship to the same point in the middle of the ship. I followed the different pieces of copper to the front of the ship where it created an eight rayed star. Underneath the thick pieces of copper is a slick silver base. A large door dropped down to the sand.
"Enjoy your lunch you two," he said waving his hand to the door, "Keeg we need to catch up soon it's been too long." He kissed both of her cheeks.
We walked inside the empty ship. I looked up and stairs covered the walls to the top of the ship. Giant bulbs of light are stretched out above us.
"Your friend was - different," I said.
"His father invented pretty much everything here, but yeah he's very out there," she laughed.