2
Her screams were muffled by the hand. Heather clawed at the cold, rough hand and she tried digging her feet into the ground, but nothing worked. The body dragging Heather was just too strong. It felt like she was being suffocated; she could hardly breathe through the muffling hand. She was pulled around to the side of the house where the person surprisingly stopped. The hand miraculously let go, and Heather collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. She coughed and sputtered on the muddy ground, trying to allow air back into her lungs. The person who had grabbed her just stood there, patiently waiting for her to regain her breath. When she finally did, she looked up to see who her kidnapper was. She did a double take when she saw who it was.
“You,” Heather’s eyes narrowed at him.
“Hi,” The cute, creepy, British boy looked incredibly uncomfortable under Heather’s hate glare.
“Oh, no. No, no no no. What are you doing here? What is wrong with you?” Heather quickly tried scrambling to her feet, but she was still too disoriented.
“Wait, please. Let me just talk,” The boy implored. This plea made Heather pause in her struggle to stand up.
“Are you psychotic?! You just practically killed me! Why in the world would I listen to you?”
“Because I know for a fact that you have an innate instinct to trust me.” Heather finally gave up the fight to her feet. She dejectedly sat down, brought her knees up towards her chest, rested her arms on her knees, and pondered how this stranger knew all these things about her and what she felt. She sighed, and looked up at him. The boy sat down in front of her, but left enough space so that Heather didn’t feel threatened. “Look, I know this seems creepy, okay? Believe me, I get it. But, you and I? We have a connection unlike anything you can imagine. It doesn’t make much sense now, I know, but I can explain it all. I promise. At this point, you just have to trust me.”
Heather eyed him suspiciously, and said, “Well, if you can explain all this nonsense, why don’t you do it now?”
“I can. But not here. We have to go somewhere else. I don’t really care; a coffee shop, restaurant, city park, wherever. You can choose,” The boy said, hope slowly showing in his eyes.
“So, let me get this straight. The first time I meet you, you grab my arm so hard that you practically cut off my circulation, scaring me half to death. The second time, you pretty much kidnap me and almost suffocate me. And now, you want me to go with you somewhere so you can ‘explain everything.’ How do I know you’re not going to hurt me for a third time?”
“Alright, I will admit it, the whole kidnapping idea probably wasn’t the best. I apologize for almost killing you. But, if I was planning on killing or hurting you, wouldn’t I have had done it already, while we are alone behind a house instead of a public place where there would be eye witnesses everywhere?” The incredibly good-looking boy reasoned with her, an adorable half smile on his face.
Heather sighed, rolled her eyes, shook her head, and said, “God, why does that make so much sense?” She then stood up, wiped the mud off her hands onto her jeans, and suggested, “I like coffee.” The boy jumped up, beaming, and said, “Thank you! Thank you so much! Everything will make sense, I promise! Come on, we don’t have much time.” He took off towards Heather’s car with huge strides. Heather scurried behind him, thinking Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?
When they reached the car, the boy headed around towards the passenger seat. As Heather had her hand on the handle of the car door, she said, “Hey, just so I know who to blame if I don’t come back alive, what’s your name?”
The boy chuckled and said, “Pratt. Henry Pratt.” He then opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. Heather murmured, “Henry Pratt,” mocking the way Henry introduced himself, and plopped down into the driver’s seat. She sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day, and turned the key in the ignition. Heather backed out of the driveway and headed towards The Top Coffee Shop.
Heather turned into the parking lot of her favorite coffee shop and parked the car. She got out and started walking towards the entrance without saying a word. Henry followed close behind. They momentarily waited in line, gave the barista their orders, and sat down waiting for their drinks. There was a moment of awkward silence, then Heather shot Henry a look that said, Well? Henry sighed, and began. “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”
“Wow, that was deep,” Heather smirked.
“May I continue?” Henry remarked, already frustrated. Heather raised her hands in defense, but remained quiet.
“Thank you. Anyway, as I was saying, the eye only sees what the mind is prepared to comprehend. Now, you, like everyone in the world, were raised to believe in reality. Mainly because, well, that’s what you knew for a fact to be real. And while, obviously, reality is real, there’s more to it than you know. See, humans can only use a very small portion of their brain power. That’s just a well-known fact. However, some humans are born with ability to access more of their brain power than regular, every-day citizens. These cases are extremely rare, appearing on earth maybe once every thousand years. But, these people, the ones that can access more of their brain, they’re connected. Connected in such intricate ways that everyday people can’t comprehend it. Because they’re so connected, they come into the world around the same time period. So, basically, around every one, maybe two, thousand years, about six or seven extraordinary people all enter the world at the same time.” At that point, the barista interrupted their conversation and brought them their drinks. Heather was so enthralled by Henry’s explanation that she didn’t even hear her coming and jumped when she approached.
“Oh! Um, thank you!” Heather quickly responded. The barista gave her a weird look, and then stalked away. Heather glanced back at Henry, and nodded at him to continue.
“So, I’m sure you can guess what I’m leading up to. You are one of those extraordinary people. So am I. You and I can access almost three times more of our brain than regular humans.”
“Wait, I thought you said there were, like, six people at the same time, not just two,” Heather cut in.
“I’m getting there. In this specific special time period, what we call a Hirt, there are actually five of us, which is on the lower side. But, I’ll get there in a minute. First, a history lesson. Have you ever heard of the Original Four and the Kidell Empire?”
Heather shook her head in response. Henry continued with, “Alright then. It’s story time. About ten thousand years ago, it was the First Hirt. Meaning, this was the first generation of extraordinary people, who, by the way, we call Kidellians. In the First Hirt, there were five Kidellians born: Damien of Kidell, Euphemia daughter of Vist, Adalbert son of Site, Kallikrates of Dean, and Lykos son of Mor. At the time, no one had discovered the Kidellians, so these special kids had no idea they had so much power, until Damien of Kidell was about ten years old. See, Damien was brilliant; he quickly realized that he was different than the other kids in his clan. One day, he was playing with a friend in his clan, and they were kicking a rock back and forth between them, just having fun, when Damien’s friend accidentally kicked the rock high, and it came zooming straight towards his face. Damien instinctively thought the word, stop, and threw his hands up to shield his face. He envisioned the rock coming to a screeching halt in midair, though no one knows how he knew how to do all of this. Damien heard his friend scream and run away, and he looked up to see what had happened. The rock floated in midair, just inches in front of his face and shaking slightly. Damien stared at it in amazement, and when he broke his concentration, the rock went tumbling down with a clatter.
After that, he started using his powers to manipulate little things, like moving a leaf a little to the left, or trying to create a spark on a dry stick. When the rest of his clan realized the magical abilities he possessed, they thought he was a god, or at least a direct descendant. They praised him, and worshipped him. People would come to him for advice and such, though he never quite had the answer.
Though he was thought of so highly by his peers, he was very humble and assumed that he couldn’t be the only one with these extraordinary qualities. He decided to go on an expedition to find his missing puzzle pieces. So, he plotted and planned, prepped and trained, made and saved food for this incredible journey. When he turned thirteen, Damien was finally completely ready. One night, unbeknownst to the rest of his clan, he set out on a search for the others. He traveled all over the country by foot, slowly but surely, searching for his missing mates, and he miraculously found all of them, scattered throughout what is now Europe. Damien brought all five of them together, the five being himself, Euphemia, Adalbert, Kallikrates, and Lykos, and held the first Kidell Conference a few miles outside of his homeland. Damien taught the others all that he had taught himself, and showed them how to control their powers and their minds. He attempted to teach them to use it for good. However, as in all good stories, one of them started getting power-hungry and wanted to use his powers for evil and greed. Lykos was jealous that Damien was the one who was considered to be the leader and was the most powerful out of the five. He wanted to be the leader. He wanted to be powerful. He wanted to be respected. He wanted to be Damien. Out of all this greed and jealousy, Lykos devised a plan to overthrow Damien. He attempted to get the other Kidellians on his side, but couldn’t convince any of them. They all stayed true to Damien. However, Lykos did manage to get an army of people to blindly follow him, because he falsely promised them power and wealth.
It was a long, bloody, and futile attempt. Lykos gathered his team, and they went over the plan for what felt like the thousandth time. Lykos and his army finally attempted the assassination of Damien, and the plan went without flaw. Lykos sent a few members of his army in to ask Damien for advice, as a distraction. As Damien carefully and studiously listened to the traitors, Lykos, with the rest of his army as backup, caught Damien completely off guard and Lykos himself slit Damien’s throat with a make-shift knife that he sharpened with his very own hands.”
“Wait, ‘futile attempt’? If Light-saber slit this guy Demon’s throat, how is that attempted? Demon would totally be dead!” Heather interrupted.
Henry sighed. “It’s Lykos and Damien, not Light-saber and Demon. And, that’s exactly what Lykos thought too. See, it turns out, that along with the basic powers that all Kidellians have, which I can explain later, every single one of us has their own special power, their Givine. Euphemia, Kallikrates, Adalbert, and Lykos had all found their Givines, but they hadn’t been able to figure out what Damien’s was. And, fortunately for us, it turns out that Damien’s Givine was that he was immortal. The blood from the deep wound on his throat slowly seeped back into his neck, and skin crept back over the slit. Nothing was left of the cut besides a thin, scraggly scar. Lykos, flabbergasted at his failure, cowardly aborted the mission as soon as he could. His band of followers staggered out, screaming and following their leader. Before Lykos could get far, Damien shot out after him, allowing the people to go free, and caught and dragged Lykos back to the other Kidellians. And so Damien, with the help of Euphemia, Kallikrates, and Adalbert, banished Lykos to the ends of the world and put a curse on him that said that if he ever tried to resurface, the Kidellians would fight against him with all their power. Well, that curse and banishment was enough for Lykos; he hid in some unknown corner of the world for thousands of years.
“Time passed, and Damien, Euphemia, Adalbert, and Kallikrates became some of the most powerful people in the world. They ruled with kindness, fairness, humility, and justice. They became known to the Kidellians as the Original Four, and as idols and models for how we should handle our capability. The Original Four knew that people had heard about their tale, and humans from all over the world came and asked them for advice on different things. At that time, they didn’t have to keep their powers and abilities a secret. All was quiet since Lykos was banished.
“Well, at least at first. See, Lykos still felt burnt and insulted at his failed attempt. He held a grudge, and still wanted to be immortal and powerful. So, while everyone thought he was hiding, he was actually working on a way to make himself immortal. And he succeeded, actually, with very few tribulations. The Kidellians figured out that Lykos was still a potential threat now that he was immortal, and began to prepare for the revenge and wrath of Lykos. But, nothing happened. Since Damien was the only one of the Original Four who was immortal, Euphemia, Kallikrates, and Adalbert soon passed away one by one. However, that never stopped Damien. He knew he had to keep the Kidell Empire alive, and knew that he would do whatever it took to find the new Kidellians every Hirt and to keep Lykos in his place. He’s been searching for the Kidellians and training them ever since, just in case Lykos decides to try to rise to power again,” Henry finished.
“So, let me get this straight. Demon, Euphemism, Albert, Calligraphy, and Light-saber have magic powers. Light-saber gets jealous, tries to kill the immortal leader, gets cursed and banished, then he becomes immortal to take revenge, but never does anything. And now the immortal leader, Demon, is rounding up kids telling them that they too have magic powers and training them to fight an evil force that currently does not exist.” Heather summed up, sounding extremely skeptical.
“Well, when you put it that way . . . ” Henry said thoughtfully.
Heather sighed. “Look, because I have nothing else to do today and I’m feeling generous, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Let’s say for a moment that your little story is true. You mentioned that each so-called Kidellian has basic powers and their own special one,” Heather replied, putting air quotes around Kidellian. “Explain that. What are the ‘basic powers?’”
Henry smiled, because he knew that Heather was now interested. “Fair enough. Each Kidellian has three basic powers. The first, to put it simply, is zooming powers. See, they can look at an object and let their eyes magnify the object. For example, if there’s a sign a mile away, we can let our eyes adjust to the distance, and boom. You can read the sign as easily as if it was right in front of you. But, the really cool thing about this ability, is that we can zoom in on objects close to us too. We can magnify the object so much that we can actually see the molecules making up the object. This means that not only can we change the state of matter that the object is in just by imagining the molecules moving faster or slower, we can also start fires. Like, if you magnified a pencil in your mind so much that you could see the molecules and envision them moving faster and faster, you can actually make the pencil light on fire.
“The second ability that all Kidellians have is the ability to move objects. I don’t think I have to explain this one very much, but if you can imagine an item moving, then you can make it actually move.
“The last power is the one that you have already partly experienced. We all have the ability to connect to one another through our brain power. See, those flashes that you have are the result of your brain trying to connect to the other Kidellians. When we make a connection, you can see what the other Kidellian is seeing through their eyes. Your brain was instinctively trying to connect to another Kidellian’s brain, and so you saw just a flash of what he or she was seeing. When you have full control of your brain power, you can connect to other Kidellians and spend minutes seeing what they’re seeing.”
“And what about that special power? You said each Kidellian has their own special power,” Heather interrupted again.
“Yes, their Givine. Damien has kept track of every Givine he has come across in The Scroll. As I told you before, Damien’s Givine is that he is immortal. Adalbert’s Givine was that he had extreme strength. Euphemia could manipulate her molecules to make herself invisible. Kallikrates had the ability to talk to people convincingly; for example, she could tell someone that the sky was purple, and they would believe her without a single thought of doubt. And Lykos was brilliantly skilled at making potions. Now, this may not seem like a very good Givine, when in fact it’s one of the best. See, he could figure what ingredients to put into a potion in order to give him more power and ability. Lykos actually managed to give himself all the Givines that the others had; his were just slightly weaker.
“Now, here’s the thing. There are multiple Kidellians who have the same Givine, but they cannot live in the same Hirt. So if a Kidellian can turn invisible, there might have been another Kidellian in a past, or future Hirt with the same Givine, but not in the same Hirt,” Henry explained.
“But what about Light-saber? You said he had the same Givines that everyone else had.” Heather responded.
“Ah, see that’s where it gets tricky. Yes, it is true that two Kidellians cannot be born in the same Hirt with the same Givine. But Lykos wasn’t born with all their Givines. He gained them using his own special Givine. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah, I guess. So, if you’re a Kidellian, what’s your Givine?” Heather responded.
Henry smirked. “You haven’t figured it out yet? I have extreme strength, like Adalbert.”
“Oh. I guess that explains the bruises on my arm and you almost strangling me earlier today.”
“I said I was sorry! Geez, let it go!” He chuckled. “Anyway, there are only a certain number of Givines that a Kidellian can possibly have. The Scroll is basically a list of all the potential Givines. There is a total of about fifteen Givines possible.”
“Wait, question! How does Demon know when a new Hirt is starting?”
“Smart girl. Damien receives a prophecy through a dream whenever a new Hirt is starting. No one has figured out how, or who for that matter, these prophecies come from and Damien is the only who gets them. It always starts the same, and then explains how he’s going to find each Kidellian.” Henry answered.
“How did the prophecy go for this Hirt?” Heather asked.
“Each prophecy starts with this warning:
‘It’s about to begin:
A new generation of hope and sin.
Never trust;
Never lust;
Rely on just yourself.’
Then, ours continued with:
‘Travel far and near,
The one will become clear.
He is the enemy, it may seem;
Just remember your dream.
You don’t have to search far;
Just look for the boy and the black star.
The one you ignore and see through
Is destined to save you.
Bump into fate,
Never make the mistake.’”
“Bump into fate, never make the mistake. Isn’t that what you said when I ran into you at the psychologist’s office?” Heather remembered.
Henry nodded. “That part of the prophecy was for you. Each rhyme is intended for a Kidellian in the new Hirt and usually describes how we are going to meet them.”
“Which one was yours?” She asked. Henry reached across the table and rolled up his sleeve, showing Heather a black star tattoo on his wrist. He explained, “Mine said, ‘you don’t have to search far; just look for the boy and the black star.’ See, last year, when I was a sophomore in high school, I decided that I wanted to follow my dream of being a singer, so I dropped out of school. I left South Yorkshire, England to go to Los Angeles. I moved into a tiny apartment, and the day I moved in, my neighbor came over to welcome me. When we shook hands, he looked down at my wrist and saw the tattoo. It turned out that my new neighbor was Damien. He immediately knew I was a Kidellian from the prophecy.”
“So, you’re trying to tell me, I’m the fifth Kidellian?” Heather synthesized. Henry nodded. “Look, this has been fun and all, and your story was very elaborate and I can tell you must have spent a lot of time on it, though I can’t possibly fathom why, but I’m sorry. I don’t believe in magic.” With that, Heather rose out of her chair and sauntered out of the coffee shop. Henry quickly bolted out of his chair, shouted, “Heather, wait a minute!” and caught up to her outside the coffee shop.
“It’s not magic, Heather. It’s not magic. What can I do to make you believe . . .” Henry paused when he saw an older man approaching behind Heather.
“Heather?” The man asked. She whirled around.
“Dr. Thompson?” Heather responded, surprised. “I didn’t know you liked Top Coffee Shop.”
“Yeah, I come here every morning before I go to work. What happened yesterday? Are you alright?” Dr. Thompson asked, with genuine concern in his voice.
“I’m fine. I just . . . um . . . thought I saw something but I guess I was wrong. Oh! Sorry, I forgot to introduce you to each other. Um, Henry Pratt, this is Dr. Thompson, my psychologist.” Heather gestured between the two of them. She glanced over at Henry, and did a double take. He was staring at something on the ground. Heather followed his gaze to see what he was looking at. It looked like Henry was infatuated with Dr. Thompson’s loafers. They didn’t look like anything special to Heather, but Henry definitely saw something. She glanced back at Dr. Thompson. He was glaring at Henry with terrifying eyes.
“Um . . . Do you guys know each other?” Heather asked, completely and utterly confused.
“Heather, why don’t you wait in the coffee shop for a few minutes, okay?” Henry suggested, already trying to push Heather back into the Top Coffee Shop, his distrusting eyes never leaving Dr. Thompson.
“Henry . . . Henry, stop. What’s going on?” Heather asked trying to rip Henry’s impossible grip on her arm. This time, she didn’t have to try hard. Henry let go of Heather’s arm almost immediately, but not because of her. Dr. Thompson lunged at Henry, knocking him over and forcing his grip to be released, but not before dragging Heather down with them. Heather screamed and scrambled to the side. Henry jumped to his feet and yanked Dr. Thompson up with unbelievable strength. Henry then shoved the doctor backwards into the coffee shop wall. Dr. Thompson slumped to the ground, momentarily unconscious. He quickly regained his bearings, and leapt up. Heather sat there in stunned silence, and watched the whole episode unfold. Dr. Thompson tackled Henry to the ground, and wrapped his hands around his neck. Henry struggled to get his hands off from around his neck. His face turned red, his mouth gaping, trying to allow air in. Despite his unbelievable strength, he just couldn’t get Dr. Thompson off of him. Henry’s hands relaxed and for a moment, he stopped struggling. He was about to draw in his last breath, when Dr. Thompson was brutally shoved aside. Henry gasped for air, sputtering and coughing as oxygen reentered his lungs. He glanced up to see Heather standing above him, asking if he was alright. He ignored Heather, and looked back at Dr. Thompson who was quickly rising to his feet.
“Get back, Heather! Trust me! Get back!” Henry shouted at her, and for the first time, Heather did what he asked. There was a pause in the action, where both Henry and the psychologist stared at each other and looked like they were concentrating extremely hard. Henry closed his eyes for a moment, then flashed them open. All of a sudden, Dr. Thompson’s clothes sparked, sputtered, and started burning. He screamed, trying to swat it out. The flames just grew higher and higher, until Dr. Thompson was completely engulfed in flames. Henry stood there, staring at him with such intensity that it was almost as if he was controlling the flames.
“Help! Help! Oh God, somebody please help me!” Dr. Thompson kept begging and pleading. Heather screamed Henry’s name multiple times, yelling at him to stop, but he obviously didn’t hear a thing. After about a minute of this extreme torture, Dr. Thompson fell to his knees, then slumped to the side and didn’t move or make a single noise. Henry blinked for the first time since Dr. Thompson started burning, and the flames slowly died out. All that was left of the psychologist was a charred body in tattered, burned clothes. Heather sat there in horrified silence, unable to tear her eyes away from the completely destroyed body. Henry stood off to the side, his breathing slightly heavy, but otherwise fine. He turned towards her, motioned for her to get up, and said, “Come on. Let’s get back to the car.”