After separating from my fellow half-pod-person and going home, I take a shoebox out from under my bed and place Evan’s picture inside it, along with a few other random personal objects. Among them are this broken black gel bracelet I got at school after another Dark warlock committed suicide (I wore it out from overuse, but I couldn’t bear to throw it away) and an old Mythos action figure I used to play with when I was really little. It’s Icarus, his wings already starting to melt. Not sure what value he has, other than sentimental.
Icarus and his wings serve as a paperweight now, holding Evan’s picture in place. Perfect. She’ll stay nice and safe now.
The next morning, before I head out for school, I grab a box of Trader Joe’s peanut butter cups - I’d agreed to bring some to Ms. Y’s class for our holiday party.
The peanut butter cups aren’t a big hit, not when some other guy brings Oreos and another brings Spam musubi. Not that those aren’t good items - the musubi in particular is very addicting - but I feel that I wasted my time bringing the peanut butter cups. At least Evan is willing to share in the delicious, melt-in-your-mouth goodness.
We don’t meet up at the old firehouse right away after school. Kevin can’t come at all because he still has to work at the ice cream shop (on the coldest day of the season so far, too - the daytime high today is only 46 degrees, and it’s expected to dip as low as 42 by Sunday, the winter solstice.) Evan, Adele, and Rachel have to all get home first to check in on the Michaelsen ‘rents, too, so we aren’t able to meet up until three o’clock, despite the fact that we all get out of school around noon today.
“I should warn you girls,” Harris says when he opens the garage door, “Thor usually takes a while to stop gettin’ vocal with new people. So don’t be afraid if he growls or barks at you a lot, okay?”
“I’ll growl right back at him if he does,” Michelle says.
“He’ll take that as a challenge,” Harris says. “So don’t do it.” As soon as all the girls, plus me, are inside, Harris closes the door and goes into the back, where Thor is snoozing next to his water bowl. The image calls to mind (at least to me) the thought of a drunk hairy dude with a beer gut snoring in his armchair with a bottle in his hand, so I snicker a bit. I’m not sure if my laugh is what wakes up Thor first, or if it’s Harris nudging him in the side.
Either way, he sits bolt upright, his nose pointed straight at the girls, and starts growling lightly, exactly as Harris said he would.
“Easy, boy,” Harris says, rubbing the big dog’s neck and shoulders.
Thor bounds away from Harris and up to the girls, then starts sniffing their legs thoroughly. He even gives me a once-over before pushing off and rounding on Evan, giving a satisfied snort in the process. He passes Evan and Adele without comment, then comes back to Michelle, who was his first target. He growls at her, loudly, and she growls back. In the background, I see Harris do a facepalm.
But then Thor backs down, sits on his hind legs, wags his tail, and starts panting, his mouth stretched open in what can almost be described as a smile.
“Aww, look,” Michelle says, squatting down so she can pet him - and get licked in the face, which she doesn’t seem to mind all that much. “He’s an adorable little beastie, isn’t he?”
Rachel gets down next to Michelle. “Yeah, LLY too, Thor,” she giggles as he nuzzles up to her.
“What kind of dog is he?” Adele asks. “I wanna say a schnauzer, but he’s so big.”
“Yeah, even the giant schnauzers don’t get more than, I dunno, two feet? Two and a half?” Evan looks around for someone to answer.
Harris shrugs. “I always figured he was just a really unusually big specimen.”
“He could be,” I say. “Hell, I think he could’ve been a pack leader for a bunch of wild schnauzers, and he got kicked out when a new alpha took over.”
“You think so?” Harris says with a laugh, filling Thor’s dishes with water and kibble. “Personally, he always struck me as a lone wolf type.”
“Haha.”
Adele takes her turn to pet Thor. “So did you just bring us here to have us meet your dog?” she asks.
“No,” Harris says. “But I can’t deny that wasn’t one of the reasons why.”
“One of them?” Evan asks. “What was the other?”
Harris looks at me, then says, “To show you what you saw yesterday.”
Rachel looks at Evan. “Wait, you already know what we’re here for? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Yeah, why not?” Adele asks. “What’s the surprise?”
“Um, it kinda defeats the purpose of a surprise to give it away early,” Evan says.
“Exactly,” says Harris. “So, um, Jason, do you wanna start, or should I?”
I shrug. “How ‘bout we go together?”
Harris considers it. “Okay. But let’s be careful. We don’t want another crazy reaction like last time.”
“I know, right?”
“Crazy reaction? What are you guys talking about?” Michelle asks.
“Glad you asked,” Harris says. He tells me to stand about ten feet in front of him. “Everyone watching?” The girls all stand at attention, and even Thor perks up some, his eyes widening behind all the thick fur on his face.
“I’ll start it off,” Harris says less than a second before throwing a fireball at me. I barely have enough time to react and throw up my Ice wall to protect myself.
We then look at the girls. Evan’s face is the least shocked-looking, but not by much - I don’t think she was expecting this kind of high-stakes mock combat. With Thor, I can’t even tell, but it looks like he’s grinning at us. If he had thumbs, I’d expect him to put them up and say, “Good one, dudes.”
But Rachel, Adele, and Michelle (huh, another pair of rhyming names there, haha) all are fighting to keep their mouths shut. It’s not working, especially for Rachel and Adele, probably because they’re younger and more easily amazed.
“You guys have other powers?” Rachel asks.
“Besides Dark?” Adele adds.
Harris and I nod. “And that’s not the only trick we can do,” he says, showing the girls his Dark/Fire spiral move.
“Whoa,” Michelle says, finally super-wowed. “How do you do that? I’ve been tryin’ to figure out a double spiral for years.”
“The trick is to rotate your wrists,” Harris says. “Also, you need to kinda do the Spider-Man thing - hold your middle and ring fingers to your wrists, and let your indexes and pinkies do the rest.”
I punch Harris’s shoulder. “Hey, why didn’t you tell me that? Talk about holdin’ out on me, dude.”
“‘Cause it’s tougher than it sounds,” Harris says. “Go on, try it and see for yourself.”
I try to do exactly what Harris says, but my wrists and fingers must not be flexible enough. It doesn’t help that my fingers are also pretty short - for a guy, I have small hands. Michelle has trouble with it too, and Rachel does at first also - but eventually, she’s able to make a very good double spiral of Light.
Evan, however, does the best double spiral of all, firing a lot of Ice into the air and creating a localized snowfall. Thor sniffs the snowflakes, clearly worried they’ll taste awful again, but after lapping up one, he’s addicted. So am I - sucking down frozen water is a lot of fun for me, and this snow is no exception.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if perhaps my predilection for chewing on ice cubes was just my body’s way of telling me I had potential Ice powers. Does this mean that anyone with a double power has similar cravings or feelings?
I ask Harris about this, and he says, “No, I never wanted to eat spicy stuff or anything. I still don’t, in fact.”
“Wimp,” Michelle says. “You can’t be a true Fire unless you’ve eaten three habaneros in a row. With no milk or iced tea or anything.”
“Michelle, don’t be rude,” Rachel says. “You’re still a true Fire to me, Harris.”
“Um...thanks?”
Adele starts laughing her head off at this point. “Oh my God, Rachel. You love Harris, don’t you?”
“No I don’t!” Rachel cries. It’s hard to say which is hotter - Harris’s Fire power, or Rachel’s burning red face.
“You really love him!” Adele sings with manic glee. “You wanna kiss him!”
“Oh, shut up,” Rachel moans, hiding her face in her knees as she curls up in a royally embarrassed ball.
“Harris and Rachel sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-”
“Adele, stop it,” Evan orders. “It’s okay, Rachel,” she says when Adele finally shuts up. “She’s just bein’ funny. Or she thinks she is, anyway.”
I exchange glances with Harris. “Were we this relentlessly tease-y with our buddies when we were their age?”
“I dunno,” Harris says. “Did you even have buddies?”
“Not really.”
“Neither did I.”
I sigh, cracking my knuckles. “Guess that answers that question.” I make another attempt at the double spiral, and this time the two energies circle each other, neither making perfect spirals, but also not touching each other.
“Hey, I did it!” I say. “Kind of.” My triumphant grin slips a few notches, and now it’s my turn to blush.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Evan says. “You did a good one.”
Harris and the other girls chorus their agreement. Even Thor adds a bark, but I think that’s more from him suddenly smelling something. He then paws at the door leading into the house, whining and repeatedly sniffing at the crack at the bottom of the door.
“Is there something in there?” I ask.
“I have no idea,” Harris says. “I never go in there. It’s locked. See?” He jiggles the door handle, which doesn’t even turn.
We all freeze as we hear faint voices coming from the other side of the door. I could swear one of them says, “What’s that noise?”
Everyone looks around in fear, and Harris barely has to mouth, “Hide,” before we do so, taking refuge behind the stacks of boxes just as the voice’s owner unlocks the door and enters the garage. To my left, Evan grabs my hand, holding it so tightly I’m sure she’s cutting off the circulation. To my right, Harris keeps a strong hold of his own on Thor’s collar.
“There’s nothing here but junk,” says a second voice. I pop my head above the box long enough to catch a glimpse of the two dudes examining the room by flashlight. One is a broad-shouldered redhead, probably a Fire if not a Normal, and about the same age as Harris, Evan, and me. The other has his back turned, but I can see a shaved head.
“One man’s junk is another man’s treasure,” says the shaved man - I can tell because before I drop back out of sight, I can see his jaw moving. I also notice that he has a British accent, similar to Dad’s, but his voice is rougher. Probably a smoker.
“Look, Henry,” the shaved man says. I hear the rattle of metal - he must be picking up one of Thor’s dishes. “Whoever lives here must have a dog.”
“Or a cat,” Henry says. “Not everyone’s a dog person like you, Oscar.”
Oscar snorts. “What cat would need a bowl this big?”
The metal clinks again, and Thor’s ears rise as he realizes someone’s messing with his food source. He starts to growl, low in his throat at first, but then louder.
“What’d I tell ya?” Oscar says. “There’s a big dog in here somewhere.”
I see Harris roll his eyes, then he takes the garage door opener out of his pocket and presses the button, then lets go of Thor. He lunges forward, barking like a hellhound.
Oscar and Henry both scream before sprinting out of the garage as fast as they can. Oscar, being slightly shorter, gets taken down by Thor and pinned to the ground while he barks in his face. Henry stops to help his fellow intruder up and away from Thor before taking off again. Thor stands in the driveway, still barking up a storm until he’s satisfied the danger has passed.
“Awesome job, boy,” Harris says, crossing to the shelf where he keeps Thor’s kibble and tossing a Milk Bone his way. Thor trots up to the treat, grabs it in his mouth, and carries it back into the garage as Harris closes the door.
All is silent for a few minutes, save for the sounds of Thor chewing on his Milk Bone and the pounding of my heartbeat in my own ears. I’m sure the others are all still buzzing in a similar way.
“Who were those guys?” Adele asks, her voice squeaky.
“I have no idea,” Harris say. “Never seen ‘em before.”
“They were obviously bad news, though,” says Michelle.
“I know, right?” I say. “That one with no hair, he looked like that guy who always plays terrorists and arms dealers and stuff on TV.”
“Which one?” Harris asks.
“I dunno, but he’s been on everything you can think of and then some. NCIS, 24, maybe even Hawaii Five-0.”
“Hey, they left the door open,” Evan points out. “You wanna see if they took anything?”
“Good idea,” Harris says. He leads the way into the old firehouse, with Thor right on his heels. We split up and check every room, but nothing’s been stolen or broken or anything. I check the front door, and it doesn’t appear to have been forced open. Not by any blunt instruments like crowbars or anything like that.
“But maybe they forced the lock and we just can’t tell,” Harris says when I show him the door.
“What, you think they used a bump key or something?”
“I dunno,” Harris says. “And I don’t really wanna take the lock apart to find out.”
“Let’s get outta here,” Adele says when we’re done searching the house. “This place is givin’ me the creeps.”
Rachel nods. “I know. It’s ‘cause it’s all abandoned, right?”
We get out of the house right away. Even Thor seems to want to leave the place behind - he keeps nudging Harris’ legs and whining until he leashes him up and takes him with us.
“You know, if your dad doesn’t know you’ve been takin’ care of him,” I say, gesturing to Thor as we set off down Spellman Boulevard, “how do you get all the food and supplies and stuff?”
“It’s what I spend the biggest part of my allowance on,” Harris says. “As long as I don’t overdo it, I’m fine.”
“Okay then.”
I slow my stride a bit so Evan can catch up with me. She’s bringing up the rear right now, with the other girls up front, and Harris and Thor behind them.
“You okay?” I ask her.
She pushes her braid over her right shoulder instead of her left, where it was sitting before. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I dunno,” I say. “Gettin’ caught up in the middle of a break-in might have a lot of potential to really screw with your day.”
“True,” Evan says. “But I did get to meet Harris’s dog, who then got to defend us all from the invaders. I almost wanna kiss the creature.”
I shake my head, laughing. “He’s slobbery, so be careful.”
“Good to know.” Evan smiles briefly. “Hey, can I try on your glasses?”
“You won’t be able to see much,” I say.
“I just wanna know what I look like with spex,” Evan says.
I take my phone out of my pocket, then hand Evan my glasses so she can put them on. The first thing she says is, “Oh my God, you weren’t kidding. Your eyesight must suck.”
I blink rapidly, trying to get a decent glimpse of Evan while I snap a picture on my phone.
“Nice,” she says after my glasses have been returned and she gets to see the picture. “I look good. Text me the picture, why don’t you?”
“Okay,” I say. “You don’t secretly wear glasses, do you?”
Evan shakes her head. “I always wished I had to, but no. So does Adele. Some of us are still convinced she pretended to have bad eyesight when she got her first eye exam just so she could get a prescription for glasses.”
“How can you pretend to have bad eyesight?” I ask.
“I dunno,” Evan says. “How can you not have good eyesight?”
I laugh, even though Evan’s comeback isn’t all that funny. “What’s weird is that when I get my eyes checked, the test they do seem to get totally random results,” I say. “And yet, when my glasses are made, I can see perfectly with ‘em.”
“How does that work?”
“You askin’ me?”
Evan and I both laugh, then stop talking for a while. At one point, somewhere near Independence High, I start holding her hand. She doesn’t seem to mind - in fact, she edges a bit closer to me, and even wraps her arm around mine. I can’t say I don’t enjoy that.
But it’s brought to an abrupt end when Adele calls out from down the street, “Evan, Mom and Dad want us home now!”
“Crap,” Evan mutters. “Sorry, Jason, but you know, the parents need me.”
“I understand completely,” I say, disentangling our arms so I can hug her goodbye. “See you tomorrow?”
“Michelle's gonna come by to pick you up at nine,” Evan says. She then stands on her tiptoes so she can kiss me on the cheek. I can almost feel her visible breath on my skin as she then leans forward and whispers, “LLY, Jay.”
She then saunters off with the rest of the girls, while Harris comes back up to me with Thor in tow.
“Congratulations,” Harris says, holding out his fist. As I bump mine with his, he adds, “How does it feel to have finally reached first base?”
“Does that even count? “I ask. “It wasn’t even a full-on mouth kiss.”
“We dorky Dark boys have to take what we can get,” Harris says.
“I guess so,” I say. “By the way, what does ‘LLY’ mean? Evan said it to me right after she kissed me.”
“I have no idea,” Harris say. “Then again, I don’t keep up on text-speak slang.”
“I’ll probably look it up when I get home,” I say.
“Have fun with that,” Harris says.
A few minutes later, I reach the entrance to my neighborhood, say goodbye to Harris and Thor, and then get back home.
As soon as I’ve showered, changed, and fired up my laptop, I go to Urban Dictionary to look up “LLY.” I start ROFLing, literally, when I see the meaning of that particular acronym. It takes me a full five minutes to recover sufficiently to text Evan:
“Did you just tell me you ‘lickin’ love me?’”
Evan’s response is: “XD It’s true, though. lly <3”
“At least I finally know I’m not alone,” I say. “lly 2 u too, Snowflake.”
“XO.”
I don’t remember much of the rest of this day, except for watching a Christmas-themed episode of Bones with Dad at dinnertime. My mind is on Evan, and my joy at finally discovering she likes me back. Surprisingly, Dad fails to pick up on any kind of happy love vibes I might be giving off, which is most unlike him, but for which I’m actually kinda grateful.
What I do remember is getting up late that night and climbing onto the roof.
Before you ask, yes, I can actually do that. Because of its tendency to stick everywhere, Dark energy is very useful for Spidey-style wall-climbing. I only need to stick a few little “pads” of energy to my fingertips and I’m good to go.
Each type of warlock has a special extra power or two to go along with their element. For Darks like me, it’s night vision and wall-climbing.
From what I’ve heard, Ices are able to generate wind, and also fly - or at least glide on actual wind.
I decide to see if I can do either of these now that I have Ice powers.
The wind-generating ability works like a charm after only two tries. “Cool,” I whisper to myself. “Now let’s see…”
Trying to see if I can fly is very risky. Sure, I can see where I’m going, especially with the dark of the moon approaching. But what if I lose control of my flight and crash?
Luckily, there’s enough wind for me to try it out on.
I spread my arms, catch the freezing wind (wait, am I still barefoot?), and launch myself off the roof.
I nearly face-plant on the front lawn before raising myself up on a random updraft and soaring about thirty feet into the air.
Oh. My. God. I can fly. I can actually freaking fly!
I have never felt so good in my life, never. Even the time I was able to do my Dark power right for the first time when I was twelve, or the day I finally figured out how to get my raging fourteen-year-old rocks off, don’t compare to this. I can’t resist the urge to yell “WHOO HOO! FUCK YEAH!” as the wind carries me over a few more rooftops.
When I get back to my room (I have to walk back because I can’t fly very well against the wind), I check my reflection in my mirror, just so I can see my stupidly awesomed-out expression.
Which then changes into a shocked grimace, as if I’d just seen a ghost. Which I might as well have.
Because I dunno who that guy is in the mirror with the silvery skin, polar-white hair, and bright blue eyes, but he sure as hell can’t be me.