Chapter 49:
"You can what?!"
"I can shut them out, dude it's really not that complicated." She sighed in exasperation.
"Yeah, whatever. So how about we go create an army and take down these grey bitches."
"You know sometime in the future that might be seen as a racist joke?" She lightly punched my shoulder. "And yeah, I would love to see Gavin and Rose again. I wouldn't mind seeing Henry and I'd just go out of my way to see my dear sister Brook. And then there's Kyle..." She trailed off, laughing.
"Oh come on, Kyle isn't that bad!" I poked her dimple, which I just happened to notice at this precise moment for whatever reason.
"Duh! But you learn a lot when you have a bond with someone who is dating your sister. God, gag me." I laughed at her reaction but then again felt bad. It must suck to have to have your soul bond. Is that how it works?
"So..." I started. "You wanna teleport there? I'm still getting the hang of this paranormal world."
"To some of us it's the only world we know." She said sadly. "And yeah, I got this. But I have a better way." She started to smirk and my eyebrows went together in worry.
"Oh God. You don't happen to have any wet ideas of traveling..." Somehow my words sent her into fits of giggles. I was confused for a moment but then it hit me. "Oh shit, Megan! That's not what I meant! I meant like underwater stuff..." I rambled, causing her to laugh even more. "Shut up," I mumbled.
"Let's go." She grabbed my arm and we dove into the water. She also grabbed the wrist of Brook while I grabbed Kyle. We entered a whirlpool in shallow water. I felt as if my eardrums were about to pop at any moment. Finally, my head poked above the shore and I realized we're back in Australia.
"YES! SWEET JESUS LAND!" I cried as I rushed to the shore. Brook, Kyle, and Rose laughed into the water, causing them to inhale the salty water. I kissed the ground, getting a mouthful of sand. I collapsed on the ground into fits of coughs and laughter. The trio joined me on my reunion with the ground. We laughed until our stomachs hurt, causing people walking by to shoot us dirty looks, which only caused us to laugh more. By the time we were able to brush ourselves off the ground, I had eaten enough sand to last a lifetime. "Okay let's get back to Hell."
"Dude, I think you mean Satan." Kyle wrapped his arm around Brook. They look odd together considering she's so tan and he's dotted in freckled. Megan looks like a cross between Brook and Kyle. She could honestly be their child...you know, if that weren't so weird. They linked arms while Megan and I awkwardly tagged behind.
"God, gag me. Sometimes it's so hard to shut things out especially when..." she trailed off. "Don't make a bond with anyone, it's awful but sometimes you have to."
"What do you mean by 'sometimes you have to'?" I looked deep into her brown eyes searching for any lies or uncertainty.
"I'll tell you another time. I'm in too good of a mood to ruin it with the talk about bonds."
"You know, when most kids consider the talk, it's about sex not bonding." I tried my hand at sarcasm, obviously failing with my awful innuendos.
She giggled. "Well I suppose sex could be considered bonding." She laughed even harder, nudging my shoulder.
"Dude I can't believe we're having this talk. Can't we talk about normal stuff like how my pet goldfish died when I was five and I had to flush it?"
She crinkled her nose. "Who keeps a fish as a pet and flushes it of all things!" She threw her hands up in the air, gathering unwanted stares.
"Shh!" Don't bring attention to yourself. "You don't get out much, do you?" I looked up at her sympathetically as she shook her head.
"Well after everything with Greystone and Green Diamond and stuff, I spent a lot of time underwater with the mer-people. It helped a lot because I had the water power and I learned to manage and control it." She smiled nonchalantly.
Before we knew it, we were standing in front of Gavin's small house. All I could think about was how I would get to see Grace. Kyle mentioned on the beach how he sent her and Will home for whatever reason. Then again, I'd have to see Gavin and that thought thrilled me about as much as drinking slug slime. I shuddered at the mere thought of it and heard a shrill laughter echo through my brain causing me to jump back in alarm.
"What is it, Owen?" Megan grabbed my arm protectively. Her eyes are furrowed together in sincere worry. I gently shook out of her grasp.
"Hey, I'm okay. No worries. Just thought I heard something." I trailed off. Megan is cool and all but I'm not sure how much I want her to know.
"I get it." She said shyly. "You can trust me, though." She smiled and looked down at her hands. Kyle is fumbling through his pockets to find the key to Gavin's house when a little ray of sunshine burst through the door.
"Owen!" Grace called, jumping into my arms. I held her close to my chest. "I can't breathe." She fake coughed and started laughing. I ruffled her hair.
"I missed you, Gracie." She wrapped her arms around my waist. "I patted her back before pushing her off of me. "We'll talk later, okay?" She nodded her head and ran off to play with Will.
I saw Rose peak her head through the doorway, revealing half of her face. I nodded at her and she turned away. I hung my head, hoping nobody had noticed. We walked through the doorway and I immediately wanted to turn back around. I noticed Gavin with his filthy hands on Rose's face as she stood on her toes to kiss him.
"God, lovebirds, get a room!" Kyle called out. I swear I wanted to run up and give him a hug if I wasn't glaring daggers into Gavin's back...Rose blushed furiously and ran to a different room while I bro hugged Kyle. Brook smiled at me, and I politely smiled back but I feel as if my insides are burning.
I walked to where my old room was to find it hadn't changed at all. I smiled, flopping onto the queen sized bed. I fell into a treacherous sleep before I could tell my mind not to. Most of my nightmares include Grace's dead body or mine. I had one good dream, though. I was standing over Gavin, a wicked grin plastered on my pale face. I held a knife over Gavin's heart as he lay pleading on the ground. Yes, I woke up with sweat in my palms and the taste of sour blood in my mouth but compared to the Hell I've gone though, that dream was a savior.
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I woke up to Megan, Brook, and Kyle sitting on the edge of my bed. "Oh look, sleeping beauty has awoken," Kyle winked at me and I rolled my eyes. Has nobody heard of privacy? "In all seriousness, dude, we're going to explain everything to you."
I clapped my hands together and pretended to thank god, doing the whole cross and everything. We all laughed until the heaviness of the conversation hit us. "So who's going to explain?" They looked between each other until they nodded at Megan.
"I always have to explain everything!" She complained but then smiled at me. "Fine. Where do I start? Okay, got it. Owen, we know this hasn't really been easy for you. You've been handling it crazy well even though we know you've broken down a few times." She smiled sympathetically at me. "We all did at first. We all wanted to be these perfect hero's of our own story, but that just didn't happen! It will, though. You have the best potential out of any of us."
"Well I don't know about the best potential..." Kyle joked. "I mean look at me," He lifted up his shirt to reveal a glorious six-pack and I just sat in bed and laughed. Megan tackled him.
"Put your damn shirt down, I'm trying to give a pep talk here!" Kyle sulked but sat back down on the bed with a smile and an arm around Brook. "Anyway, we wanted to explain bonds and stuff. So you already know Kyle and I have a bond and Will and Grace have a bond. Those are the obvious ones. I'm going to try and go as slowly as I can, okay? Alright, so when you accidentally killed Kyle, he was lying on the beach when I found him. I healed him with my healing powers and boom we have a bond. You don't always need healing powers for a bond they just really help.
"Anyway Will and Grace. Nobody died or anything but something happened. I think Will broke his arm or something when they were playing soccer and she meant to use a healing spell but accidentally created a bond. Suddenly they could feel each other's emotions and pain and they thought it was totally awesome."
"So if one of them dies, so does the other? What if one walks off a cliff and the other is just talking to someone and they drop to the ground, dead? What then? How the Hell do you explain that?"
"Shh! Don't scream so much! Okay so yes there are flaws but if one is feeling in trouble the other can come by teleporting. It really does have its perks and quirks, okay? As for the other bonds, this is where I screwed up. So you know how you're only supposed to have one bond?" I nodded. She took a deep breath. "I have three." I leaned back, letting gravity take me. My head hit the pillow with a thud and I curled into a fetal position.
"I'm dead. Leave me be." I could feel the covers being peeled away from my face as cold air blasted through my limbs. "Ow."
"Owen, let me explain." I remained silent, still curled up. "So there's Kyle and Hunter. I had to help him, he still had life and he's important!"
"Oh yeah, how? Who's the other? Stop pausing before continuing sentences. I know you like the suspense but I'm getting impatient."
She sighed. "I'm sorry Owen, this is just really hard for me to say." I sat back up, resisting my brotherly instinct to give her a hug. "He'll be important later. I'm not even sure what his power is but I'm guessing that it's fire. Anyway everyone you heal you get some of his or her power or they get some of yours. It always varies. How do you think Kyle can shoot water from his fingertips? Or how Hunter will suddenly be able to breathe under water..."
"Kyle you never told me about your waterpower! I thought it was earth and wind."
He scratched the back of his head. "Did I now? I don't quite recall." He turned his eyes toward the ground.
"Yeah, you created clouds and vines and everything when we first met! You know when Brook and Rose were demons!" Brook, who had been completely silent the whole time, spoke up.
"It was her fault! I'm not evil, I promise!" Kyle pulled her closer to him and shushed her.
"Owen, if there's one crazy important thing I've learned, it's to not believe everything you see. Got that?" I nodded, but I really didn't.
"And the last one?" Megan looked away, her face flushed. "Megan? Earth to Megan!" I laughed but everyone else remained silent. "Who's the last one?"
"Please don't think of me any different! I was younger and this was the first person I had to heal and I didn't know! He was my friend! My friend, okay!" I could tell she was on the verge of tears but wouldn't cry in front of us. I took her by the shoulders.
"Megan, I know this is hard for you, but who is the last person?" Kyle and Brook looked confused as well so I'm obviously not the only person she hasn't told.
"Promise you won't think of me any differently?" She held her voice and body firm but I could tell she was feeling weak and vulnerable.
"Megan, I don't care who you healed, I mean as long as they aren't some evil mastermind." I laughed but Brook and Kyle shot me warning glances. So maybe they do know.
"Let's have this conversation another time, okay?" I wanted to scream that there was no way we would put this off any later than it already is but I could tell she needed a break.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Go for a walk or something, you know where to find me." I flopped back down under the covers.
"Owen, please don't be mad." She looked at me with her pleading brown eyes and I sighed.
"I could never be mad at you. Now go take a break, you need it."
She smiled and walked away. "Thanks, Owen. I promise we'll get back to this conversation soon." She walked out of the room with Brook in tow.
"Finally some quiet." I rested my head on the pillow, ready to get more sleep when a freckled face appeared in front of mine.
"Not quite yet, buddy." I groaned.
"The Hell do you want, Kyle?"
"Just some quiet."
"Join me, then."
"No, I'm totally kidding. I actually want to talk to you. What Megan said about wanting to be a hero, we all did but we bottled up our feelings. You aren't like that. You channel all your emotions into things, great things. Really, I'm so proud of you. God I sound like a mom." His voice trailed off. "None of us really got the chance to know our parents. Well I never did at least."
"Megan said that we all have a younger sibling or are one. What about you? Were you older or younger?"
"I'm not sure if this is good or bad, to be honest. I was the younger sibling so I don't really remember what I left or what really happened at Greystone and everything. I just kind of wish I had some sort of memory of them. But I'm also kind of glad I don't have to remember Greystone. I was there for quite a while until my sister came back for me. She came with Gavin and a bunch of his friends. They were all a few years older. Anyway the only one that got away was Gavin and he promised my sister he'd take care of me. He did, oh he was like a big brother to me. He introduced me to Rose and Brook. I was merely eight at the time."
"Wait what about Will? I thought he was your younger brother."
"Well not by blood. I found him huddled in an alley and he told me about how his sister abandoned him. He reminded me so much of myself I had to help him."
"You guys look so much alike though! I would've totally thought you guys were twins if he didn't look so young."
"Everyone in this world has a look alike. Guess he's mine. Anyway my sister died that day as well as all her friends. Sucks, right? Every sibling was meant to die, but every once in a while. Someone escapes. Every once in a while, a miracle happens and we get out of there alive. Megan was supposed to die. The Green Diamond is for people with powers beyond yours and mine combined. Gavin went in there on her death day and switched souls so she could get out. Switching souls is merely a spell that you can use if you both have smilarish powers and same blood type. They both have the healing power. So Megan in Gavin's body ran away while Gavin in Megan's body took the death. Because it was a soul switch, somehow he managed to have some life left in him and Megan healed him as soon as his body was thrown into the ocean. Crap I just told you!"
"Wait told me what?"
"Were you not paying attention?"
"No, no, I was. This is just a lot to take in."
"I wanted Megan to be the one to tell you but I go ahead and open my mouth. The third person she healed was Gavin. He was never the same since. He used to be so great. Then some evil happened when they tried to kill him and his light powers turned to Hell. Suddenly he embraced his black hair. Suddenly he took a liking to abuse and even tried to kill me. His parrot form that I presume you once saw was what he used to be like. He would dye his hair to be these amazing colors but it would never last more than a few days. Now he loves his black hair and never likes to go into sunlight or out of the house and always he is with Rose. I have no idea why he does so don't ask. I thought that you would be good for her and that maybe she'd find someone other than Gavin to like. I don't know why the Hell she likes Gavin I mean he's such a douche!"
"Agreed. God Kyle, why so much information?"
"You need to be prepared, trust me. We're trying to come up with a plan but we need your help in the planning and everything. It's all a crazy mess and I don't know how we're going to pull it off. We need you and Megan, but we also need Rose and Gavin. Then we need Grace and Will and most importantly, Hunter."
"Why most importantly?"
"Well he has a large variety of powers. I'll admit, I used special effects when I used the clouds and vines when we first met. My dominant power isn't very common or useful for fighting. At least I have some waterpower. I can tell when people have powers and what powers they have if I can see them."
"Dude that's awesome! So what powers does Hunter have?"
"That's the thing, I've never seen him before so I have no idea but I can tell that power radiates off of him, it's really cool."
"Yeah anyway, that's sick af. Yes I just said af, you got a problem, bro?" Kyle laughed and punched my side.
"God, Owen, don't say 'bro' it's weird. It's weird af." We laughed until our sides hurt. "But seriously, we need help with this army thing. I know you may think that Gavin is the enemy, but trust me, he's a great guy deep down there. Gavin is still there. As for why he called himself David...I'm not quite sure except for the fact that he wanted a new identity. Okay, enough seriousness. Let's have a bit of fun before we decide to go on a death journey."
I found enough strength to nod. Forgive me, this is so much information and it is really quite hard to take in. I got off my bed and walked towards the door but Kyle stopped right in front of it. "So what's the deal with you and Megan?" He smirked and did an odd eyebrow dance. I pushed him into the door.
"Wipe that stupid grin off your face! I'm not giving up on Rose yet." I put my hands on my hips and pushed passed him and he eventually decided this argument wasn't worth his breath.
As we walked into the living room, I saw Rose sprawled across the sofa and Gavin was giving her a foot massage...wait what? I'm going to ignore that. I also see Megan and Henry speaking in hushed tones, but I'm going to ignore that too. What catches my attention is Will and Grace making a light show between their fingers. I shake my head to see if this is actually real. It's real. This really shouldn't surprise me at this point.
I walk over to the sitting fireworks and sit down on the couch next to them. "Dude that's sick!" Will looked around to see who had said that when his eyes eventually laid on me. He nodded his head and went back to his hands. Grace smiled up at me but ignore me as well. Sighing, I got up. I'm bored out of my mind here, to be honest. I've got no clue what to do. We were supposed to plan, but by the looks of Megan and Henry, I think they've got it all figured out.
Going back to my room and staring at the ceiling for a couple of hours doesn't seem that appealing so I decide to go for a walk outside. By myself. I'm so smart, aren't I?
As soon as the warm Australian air hits my face, I know I've made the right decision. I usually don't like going outside, or anyplace where I have to stand on actual ground. Oh well. I spot a large willow tree with lots of shade across the meadow. I run to it, not even out of breath by the time I get there. I lie under it, and memories flash across my mind. Usually, I try to suppress the memories of home. This time, though, I just let them float in. It occurs to me that I haven't picked up a novel in quite some time. I guess saving the world really takes reading time out of your life, doesn't it.
If only this had never happened...If only Grace would still be seven years old and not this mature young lady who already has a boyfriend, mind you. If only my parents were still here. God, if I could change one thing about my life right now, it wouldn't be to reverse what happened. Rose and Kyle and everyone else would still be here. They've been so amazing I would hate to lose them. Well, I'd hate to lose Kyle. The one thing I'd want to change is that I would have saved my parents and that they could be with me right here, right now. I can almost hear my father saying, "But we are here, we're here in your heart." I mentally rolled my eyes. I guess at some point I fell asleep because when I woke up, the sky was dark and the stars were shining. I guess nobody cares where I am. I sit up, propping myself against the tree trunk. Screw them, it's their loss. Don't they need me for their stupid scheme that won't work?
"You're right, young man. Their plan won't work." A man with a gruff voice stood over me. Slowly looking up, I took in my surroundings. There are many trees around here, but besides that really nowhere to hide. This unidentified man is quite tall and wearing a grey suit. He must be hot, considering it feels to be over eighty degrees here. When I look up at his face, though, it all makes sense.
I take a deep breath. "Hello, Mr. Grey."
(A/N: Is this cliffhanger enough? I'm going to stop posting TETB for a while. I don't think anybody actually cares, so I'm just going to write it for myself. Bye lovelies)