Nate practically dragged Nyx across the grass away from her school towards the woods. Nyx couldn't focus on anything other than running, and her heart pounding in her ears. Nate just kept yelling for Nyx to run faster. The fear started to feel like a giant weight pulling down Nyx's legs. Nate kept his grip on her wrist firm so she wouldn't fall behind.
After a few minutes, they stopped to catch their breath.
"Are you okay Nyx?" Nate whispered through his panting breaths.
"Am I okay? No, I'm not okay! Nothing about this is okay!" Nyx yelled as she started sobbing. She was right, she was very far from okay. She was probably never going to be okay again.
"Nyx, listen, we will go to my uncle's house in the next county over and we will figure this out, okay? I will try my hardest to keep them from taking you away, I promise." Nate grabbed Nyx's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, she felt a little better.
Nyx lifted her hood over her head and tucked her hair into it, trying to hide as much of her identity as possible. They walked swiftly through the woods, although Nyx was silently panicking. She had no idea what would become of her if she were caught, or what would happen to Nate if the authorities found out he was hiding her. "Hey." Nyx looked over when she heard Nate speak through slightly panting breaths. "I know you're scared, but we're gunna go see my mom and ask for her help." He said as he gently massaged his stab wound on his shoulder.
"Are you sure?" Nyx asked him as she stuffed her hands in her hoodie pocket, her voice was still shaking.
"Yes, I'm sure. You trust me, right?" He asked her as they started to near the end of the woods.
"Of course I do." Nyx responded sincerely as the woods came to an end and they entered a nice and quiet neighborhood, Nathan's neighborhood.
"Okay, so when we get to my house, you hide in the shed in my backyard while I talk to my mom, with some luck, she'll help us." Nate whispered to Nyx as they approached his home.
"How can you be so sure that she won't just turn me in?" Nyx's voice shook as she asked. Nate gripped Nyx by both of her shoulders and it forced her to look him in the eyes.
"Just trust me, she loves you." Nate smiled then turned to walk into his home, Nyx turned to enter Nate's backyard shed. When she entered, she saw a bunch of standard garden equipment and a big riding lawn mower. She sat down on the seat of the lawnmower and stared off into space, fidgeting with her fingers in her lap. Her mind started to wander, showing her the image of that guy choking and gurgling on his own blood. I killed him...but, how did I do that? Don't be dumb, you're an Odd One. Now, you've dragged Nate into this mess. You put him in danger. Nyx was jolted out of her thoughts as she heard a subtle knock on the shed door and Nate's voice.
"Nyx, come out it's okay."
She hesitated, then scooted off the seat of the lawn mower and opened the door. Nate took Nyx's hand with an easy smile and led her towards the sliding glass door behind his house. After Nate slid open the door and led Nyx inside, Nyx was then embraced by Nate's extremely loving, if not slightly overbearing, mother.
"Oh Nyx, are you alright? Nate told me about your...problem, don't worry my darling, we will take you to my brother's house, he lives on reservation land where authorities will not follow us." She hugged and gently swayed Nyx in her arms. Nyx couldn't contain herself anymore and broke into sobs. Nate watched with somber eyes as she sobbed in front of him. He sighed softly before moving to the sink and turned it on. He cupped some water in his hand and rinsed the slightly sticky blood off his face. He then turned back around and dried his face with a dish towel.
"Nyx, we should get going, they might expect us to come here if they managed to identify me." Nate gently grabbed Nyx's shoulders after she backed away from Nate's mother. He bent down slightly to be eye to eye with her.
"But what about your shoulder?" Nyx looked at him with a look laced with concern.
"Don't you worry about me, my uncle can fix me up." Nate smiled at her to reassure her. Nyx reluctantly nodded and they both led her to the car, Nyx climbed into the back seat and slid down so she was barely peeking over the window edge. Nate entered the car opposite of Nyx and slid down as well.
"It'll be okay Nyx, I promise." Nate said as he grabbed her hand. Nyx just nodded as Nate's mother started the car, pulled out of the driveway and away from everything she had known, her mediocre life, and into a life of running.
Nyx felt buzzing on her hip, which caused her to jump, she pulled out her phone and unlocked the screen, it was a text message from Alex.
2:36pm: Nyx! What happened to you and Nate? Everyone around school is saying that you're an Odd One? That can't be true right?
Nyx started to type back: I'm okay girly, and it's true, Nate and I are-
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Nate said to Nyx, halting her thumbs.
"Why not? It's just Alex." She responded as she made a confused gesture.
"Yes, but I don't think you understand what is happening to you, there is probably already a reward out for you, I know you think Alex is our friend, but you can't take that risk." Nate was locked in eye contact with Nyx and he spoke kind of coldly. Nyx thought for a moment, then hit delete on her message to Alex and turned off her phone. She nodded at Nate and he returned the gesture, but added a small smile.
After about an hour of driving, Nyx peeked over the window edge and saw a sign that said Mohawk Reservation Land, she felt an instant rush of relief and relaxed a bit.
"Nyx dear, if you don't mind my asking, what can you do?" Nate's mother spoke for the first time the entire ride.
"Mom I don't think-" Nate started before he was interrupted by Nyx's hand on his arm.
"No Nate, it's okay." Nyx whispered before she raised her volume to talk to Nate's mother, "I'm not really sure what I can do, all I know is that I have some type of...levitation power."
"Well my brother has lots of open land at his house, you can probably practice your ability in safety." Nate's mom sounded strangely calm for a woman who was helping a wanted girl.
After they pulled into the driveway, Nate's uncle was already sitting on his front porch, he looked up toward the car and smiled, and stood up to greet his sister as everyone got out of the car.
"Well, I'll be damned, Mary and Nathan! You guys never come to visit anymo-" Nate's uncle cut himself off when he caught a glimpse of Nate's clothes that were still covered in blood. "Holy shit, what happened?" He gestured to his nephew and Nate closed his eyes with a sigh.
"Alright Alan, I know there is a big conversation that needs to be had here, but right now I need help. Some of this blood is, in fact, mine." Nate gestured to his shoulder where he had been stabbed.
"Oh shit, yeah come in, quickly." Nate's uncle gestured for them all to head inside. Once they entered the lovely home, they all walked through the living room and into the kitchen. They all sat on the stools that surrounded the island in the center of the room. Alan left to enter another room adjacent to the kitchen for a moment before coming back with a first aid kit. Nyx watched with subtle worry on her face as Alan set the first aid kit on the island and popped it open.
"The shirts in the way, Nathan." Alan said as he pulled out sutures and set them on the island. Nate groaned in slight annoyance before he reached down and pulled his shirt up over his head. Nyx tensed slightly before averting her eyes, feeling her cheeks flush slightly. Nate winced slightly when he tried to pull the shirt over his wounded shoulder. Nyx was able to look back over at him and her chest felt tight when she saw the wound. It was still bleeding slightly and blood had ran all down the side of Nate's body. Alan brought up a wet washcloth and started to clean the blood around the wound. "So, how did this happen, bud?" He asked kind of condescendingly.
Nate glanced over at Nyx for a moment before answering. "We were jumped at school during our lunch period." Nate confessed and his mother sighed slightly. "This bitch that liked to fuck with Nyx brought a bunch of people with her, including this big dude, delinquent type. He did this to me after kicking my ass a bit." Nate sounded slightly disappointed. He was disappointed that he allowed himself to get hurt like this in a fight.
"Nathan..." Mary said his name only like a mother would. "Tell him what else happened." She looked at her son with a stern gaze.
Nate sighed and looked at Nyx again and she nodded, giving him silent permission to tell the story. "Okay, so after that guy stabbed me..." He glanced at Nyx again. "Nyx screamed and...the knife just flew from his grip and stabbed into his throat." Alan's hand stopped as he was stitching Nate's wound. Nate looked over and locked eyes with his uncle.
"Go on." Alan said quietly after a moment of eye contact. Nate took a deep breath and continued. "That's what most of the blood on my clothes is from. After that, the big pipes that were suspended above us started to fall. They would've crushed us like bugs but..." Nate paused clearly struggling with his words.
"I stopped them." Nyx suddenly spoke up, causing Alan to look at her. "I'm an Odd One." Nyx looked down into her lap in embarrassment as she held herself slightly.
"Is that so?" Alan responded, "Well, I suppose that I should start with saying thank you for saving my nephews life." Nyx was taken aback by his response. She was expecting him to freak out, get scared, pretty much anything but that. It was at that point that Alan had finished stitching Nate's wound and patched it with a few gauze pads. "There ya go kid. You should probably go get cleaned up. You still have some clothes here too, upstairs in the dresser in your old room. I wanna talk to the little lady here." He said in a warm tone, but Nyx still tensed. Nate stood up and Nyx looked at him with a slightly worried look in her eyes.
"He's not gunna bite Nyx, I'll be back in five minutes." Nate sounded genuine, Nyx smiled and nodded slightly. After he left the room, Alan turned back to Nyx.
"So, how did you stop those pipes?" He asked her as he interlocked his fingers in front of him on the island. Nyx swallowed her anxiety.
"I don't really know. I remember seeing the pipes coming at us, and I held up my hands and they just...stopped. I don't really understand how I did it." Nyx responded with a slightly shaking voice. Alan nodded slowly before he looked down at his hands, seemingly in thought for a moment.
"Well, I think it's only fair for me to be completely honest with you. Your life won't be the same ever again." Alan said directly, causing Nyx to stiffen and her pulse to quicken. "I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just trying to make sure you understand the true gravity of the situation you're in."
"He's right, Nyx." Mary said quietly, causing Nyx to look at her. "You should also know, Nathan's father is an Odd One." She said even quieter.
"Wait, really?" Nyx said in surprise, she knew that Nate's father wasn't really around for the whole time Nyx had known him, but she wasn't ready for this.
"Yes, that's why we had to move here from our previous home. It was a smaller town so the news spread like wildfire. They drove us out." Mary said with a slightly somber tone. Nyx was shocked, she had no idea. Although, it did make sense why Nate was acting so sympathetic towards Odd Ones. Nate entered the room again at that point, with a somber look on his face. He knew what they had been talking about.
"The point is that we know how you feel. I know that you're my best friend, and I know you aren't going to hurt me or my family. We want to help you." Nate said sincerely as he moved onto the seat next to Nyx. She smiled a knowing smile at him and her eyes began to mist slightly. She hugged him tightly for comfort and it definitely worked. Just the smell of his cologne made her feel better. The hug was broken when they heard Alan speak.
"Well, little lady. Let's head outside." He said as he pushed himself off the stool. "Why?" Nyx asked him.
He smiled in response, "It's time to practice your ability."