Love Lines

20: Lil' Red Ridding Hood

"Ready?"

"Why do I feel like Little Red Riding Hood all of a sudden?"

The excited gleam quickly drained from his eyes and the nonchalant shrug that followed was a little more forced than I would've liked. I meant it as a joke but as he hopped up off the floor with less vigor than before, I knew what I said had hit a nerve, maybe even going as far as setting him on edge. "Grab your change of clothes and let's go."

"Don't be like that," I muttered as I snagged the small bundle out from under my desk, ignoring the urge to comment about my unfinished homework. "I didn't mean anything by it."

"You should really get used to it. I'm generally cranky." He turned to face me as he leaned against the door. "Ready?" When I nodded, he gave his own brief nod. "We start your training now. See if it's safe for us to go."

I frowned at him. "What?"

"Predict the future, rakli. I'm not blocking you any more so...peer into the future."

"That's not how it works and you know it. I need a trigger."

His smirk had an edge to it. "You don't need a trigger."

"Yes..."

"No," he said firmly. "You can do it when you want, where you want, and for how long you want. You just have to learn to control it."

"I don't know how."

"Try."

I shook my head. "Nope. I'd rather not. Last time I 'peered' into the future, the world turned inside out and I saw something about a close friend that I don't understand or like. Not to mention the time before that I got sucked into a creepy vision that I can't even remember."

"That's the thing about being a Time Particular. You're going see things you don't want about the people you really care about. And you're not going to see your ultimate vision again unless either Apollo or one of the Three Brothers asks or it's just time for it to be told. So you're good. Just...predict if your father is going to catch us or not."

"I would rather not and just risk going out there blind."

He sighed, his lips twisting up in unhappiness. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would you rather face the wrath of your father for having a boy in your room this late than see a vision?"

"Why did you have to phrase it like that?" He just shrugged and waited, studying me all the while. "Look, I don't want to see the future. It scares the living daylights out of me so if I can avoid it, I'm going to. Besides, my father's wrath isn't as horrible as you think. He trusts me and his bark is worse than his bite."

Andrzej just rolled his eyes. "Look, rakli, you need to learn this. I know it's scary and I know you're prone not to face things that freak you out, but you can do this."

"How do you know? I may see something about my father that I don't want to know or I just might not see anything at all. Then I'll be feeling like crap for nothing and in case you haven't noticed, having an asthma attack isn't on top of my things that are considered fun list. So, no. I would rather not."

"Oh for the love of Pete..." He stomped over to me and gripped my shoulders, staring me in the eyes with the feral look mixed with a bit of determination. "It's just a few minutes into the future. The affects aren't going to be as bad as they were yesterday. You're built for this, breed, reinforced, constructed, pieced together, whatever you want to call it. You see the future for a reason, just like Cyrus sees the past. You were chosen for this gift. You can do this and I'll be with you the whole time. It'll be ok. Trust me." He ran his hands lightly across my shoulders, calming me down. "The more you practice, the easier it'll be. You're all tense and that's not going to help so take a couple deep breaths, loosen up these shoulder muscles," he started giving my tight muscles a massage, "and just let it go. Remember to breathe through it and keep your mind calm and collected."