"The chains on my mood swings just snapped.
Run."
• • •
Rage's POV
• • •
I grin at the thought of being able to communicate with Asher telepathically. That would be so cool, honestly. My grin falters as I remember that this is the first time I have ever tried my powers out with someone else without hurting them.
I shake my head. I am beginning to care too much.
"Ready, Rage?" Asher asks me with an eager grin.
Smiling softly, I nod. I close my eyes as Asher closes his. I breathe deeply and shut out the others and focus on the mental aspect of my powers. I reach out with my mind and feel Asher doing the same, but I can't get them to connect. Our powers are like two forces. Or, better yet, like oil and water. They clash and refuse to bond.
I feel Asher's powers fade and open my eyes to look at his frustrated brown eyes.
"This isn't working," Asher grunts.
"Clearly," I agree, rolling my eyes.
"What's the matter?" Gage asks, mystified.
"Our powers aren't... compatible," Asher explains.
I smile slightly at his choice of words.
"Try again," Gage instructs. "Try doing it differently."
I want to score at that. Easy for him to say.
But I bite my tongue, wanting to figure this out.
Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes again. I focus intently on Asher's powers and shut out the others as they begin to talk quietly with one another.
I reach out with my powers and try to force my way into Asher's, but that doesn't work either. He tries doing the same. My mind beginning to grow incredibly exhausted, I reach out and grab Asher's hand. Instantly, our minds flow and a bond is created.
"Can you hear me?! Can you hear me?!" Asher yells mentally.
I wince and reply, "Not so loud. Please."
"Sorry," Asher apologizes, mumbling.
I open my eyes to see a coat of pink covering his cheeks.
"It's okay, Bambi."
His head snaps up and his brown eyes gawk at me. "Bambi?!"
"I stand by my decisions," I declare.
"Why, though?"
"Can you really not see?" I ask with a lifted eyebrow.
Hesitating slightly, Asher reluctantly nods and admits, "Yeah, I can see why..."
"I'm not liking this," Nekoda mutters. "Can Rage read our minds too?"
I shake my head. "I can't read anyone's mind. I can communicate with animals telepathically -and now Asher too-but I cannot connect with any one else, unless they have strong fauna powers too."
"What's the difference?" Gage asks, curiosity igniting his sharp hazel eyes.
"Humans are animals, true," I start. "But we are much more complex and communicating with a human or controlling them would be impossible. I never even imagined being able to connect with anyone at all, let alone so quickly."
Asher ducks his head to hide a grin at my words.
"Smart peoples go blah blah blah blah," Boaz groans from where he is laying on the floor.
"Blah blah blah blah," Kolton says with a grin. "Does that mean I'm a smart peoples now?"
"Oh, honey, I think you know the answer to that," William responds with false pity in his voice.
Have rolls his eyes at their exchange and I check the time on my phone.
"Hey, where's Darkon?" I ask with a frown.
They said he wouldn't come until later, but it is later so...
"Here, give me your number and I'll send it to Darkon so you can contact either of us," William suggests, his green eyes glimmering.
"Why don't you just give me Darkon's number?" I question, confused.
Kolton laughs at my question, but I don't see what was so funny about it. I wasn't trying to be funny. I guess I am just one of those people who are naturally humorous.
"Go ahead and put your number in here," William directs as he hands me his phone, ignoring my inquiry.
I trade him phones and quickly out my number in. At least, I think it I put in my number. Honestly, all the numbers for a little jumbled...
Thankfully, I now have William's number. I quickly shoot out a text to him to make sure I have him the correct number.
"What does... SDKJ mean?" William asks slowly.
I blink just as slowly. "Don't you know?" I ask in an innocent voice. "It stands for Slowly Dancing, Knitting, and Jamming."
"Knitting?" William echoes, his eyes drawn together.
"Yes," I confirm. "It's a new term for drug use."
His eyes widen comically.
I'm about to continue, when Gage cuts in, "William, she's messing with you."
I pout, "You ruin all my fun."
Gage merely rolls his eyes.
"Ruining fun? That's my kinda fun," Boaz remarks from the floor.
I gasp, "Boaz?! How could you do such a thing?! I thought we were friends!"
"Friends?!" Boaz repeats, sitting up immediately in horror. "Shit!"
"We're not friends?!" I cry, and begin to pretend to cry. Really, though, I'm hiding my hysterical laughter.
" Someone fix this! " Boaz orders.
"Umm... I have a book you can have?" William offers.
"Sure!" I agree with a cheeky grin, looking at him.
William, realizing I was messing with him again, groans. "Well, now you're stuck with the book my grandma gave me. I started reading it a while ago, but... it's not my cup of tea, I guess. It's been sitting here gathering dust for some time now."
"I'll take it," I agree, delighted that he is actually willing to give me a book for free.
"So smart people like books...?" Kolton says. "I think I give up being smart." He waits a beat before looking around at us and saying, "You guys do know, I was just pretending, right?"
"Yes, we absolutely know you aren't smart," William teases.
"Good," Kolton replies with a relieved sigh, running a hand through his golden hair.
William's phone buzzes. Pulling it out, he announces, "Darkon is just a minute or so away."
Rising to his feet, William pulls the book from a shelf and hands it to me. I don't get the chance to read even the description, though.
All conversation stops as Darkon enters.
He looks terrible.
Instantly, I know what happened.
"Darkon!" I exclaim, startling him. "I told you not to jump from the tree! You look even worse now! "
I shoot him a look saying that we'll talk about this later. Darkon shoots me a grateful look and quickly plays along.
"Well, you jumped first..." He mutters.
"Well, I should get home," I announce, leaping to my feet. "We can test distance later, Asher. Thanks for the book, William."
The boys try and talk to me, ask me to stay, but I ignore them.
Sometimes, you just gotta kill a guy.
• • •
Blood splurts as the dog slams into the wall. Again and again.
"Mommy!" The girl shrieks.
She was just reading when the dog got up. She thought her dog was just getting food. And then she heard the slamming.
"What's going on?!" Her mother cries, taking in the scene.
With a whimper, the dog slams into the door again, pawing at it as he tries to get out. Falling back, it lets out a loud howl filled with sorrow. Around the neighborhood, matching howls and barks are heard as all the pets scream in a tragic uproar.
• • •
Fury fills my veins. I am Rage. Pure Rage. In this moment, I know nothing but anger.
How dare he hurt Darkon?!
I storm down the street, hardly noticing anything. I don't know where Amadeus is, but I am hoping to find him at the ring. Logic kicked in, unfortunately, so I made a detour to get dressed like Raven.
My anger is consuming and all I can think about is how angry I am. The animals can feel it too. They howl and race toward me until I am surrounded by an army of animals, almost as angry as I am.
I throw open the door of the gym and yell, "Where is Wolfgang?"
I close the door behind me, not letting the animals in. Everyone stares at me in fear, an all too familiar expression.
"I said, where is he?" I hiss at them, my eyes flashing with anger.
"He hasn't showed up since you beat him," A man answers quickly.
"Where can I find him?" I ask, looking them all dead in the eye.
"He's probably at a different fighting ring," A different man answers finally.
"The one at the warehouse," A third voice chimes in.
I look at them and order, "Someone take me there. Now."
"Why?" A younger one asks, terrified.
"He hurt someone," I snarl. "So I'm going to hurt him."
"You won't hurt me?" He presses.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Blondie," I snort. I don't hurt scrawny kids who look like they get hit often enough as is.
"I'll take you," He agrees.
None of the other men try to help him or talk him out of it, even though they all think that I am going to kill him. It's self preservation at it's finest.
"Let's go," I order, a smile spreading across my face.
His brown eyes widen and he nods. He opens the door and promptly slams it shut.
"Th-Th-There's a—"
"Quit your blathering," I snap. "I know there are animals out there. They followed me here."
Using my fauna powers, I send them all home. They reluctantly agree. They don't want to leave me, but the animals know better than to argue with me. Especially when I am furious.
I fling the door open and the place is completely clear again. Blondie looks at me with amazement in his eyes.
"Lead the way," I call to him.
Nodding, he sets off at a jog. I grin, glad that he understands the hurry. I run after him. I don't know how long it took us to get there, but it feels like it was mere seconds. That can't be the case, though, because Blondie is doubled over panting when we arrive at the warehouse.
"Blondie, what's your name?" I ask before I enter.
"Alex," He replies quickly.
"I'm Raven," I introduce myself.
"I know," Alex remarks with a smirk. "Everyone knows who the person with the championship title in both powers and non-powers is."
"Here, I'm going to give you my number," I tell him quickly. "You let me know if you ever need a favor, alright?"
His eyes widen and he grins hugely. Quickly, Alex passes me his phone. I punch in my number and pass it back before calling out a goodbye.
Did I waste time? Not really. If Amadeus is in here, he wouldn't leave without going through this door. Besides, I needed to thank Alex for helping me. I may be furious, but I wasn't raised by wolves. Actually, wolves would've been nicer. At least they don't beat their young.
I try to open the door, only to find it is locked. Taking a step back, I snap my leg up and kick the door off of its hinges.
"WHERE IS WOLFGANG?!" I roar, louder than I have ever yelled.
A silence falls in the place and my eyes land on Amadeus. I storm over to him, fury bubbling. If I were a cartoon, fire would be pouring out of my ears.
"What the fuck do you want?" He hisses, apparently recognizing me.
"Revenge," I state with a sick grin.
Without warning, I throw a hard left cross and shatter his nose. Amadeus jerks back, grabbing his nose, and swearing like a fiend. I knee him in his groin and throw an open palm to his throat, crushing his windpipe in one blow. But I am not done. No. I am still furious. If I stopped now, it wouldn't be enough. I straddle him and throw punches at his already broken ribs. I pound him until my anger has dissolved at least somewhat.
Getting up, I glare at the crowd ferociously.
"If you ever, ever, help this sick fuck out, I will personally kill you," I promise.
With that, I throw one last kick to his long unconscious body and storm out of that warehouse.
I wanted to kill him. I craved his death.
And that scares me.
I've already killed enough people; I can't add more deaths to my toll. I may be a murderer, but it wasn't by choice. Killing Amadeus would've be made me a killer by choice. Besides, if I'm this fucked up already, killing Amadeus would've only made things worse.
And I don't want things to get any worse than they already are.
• • •
Q: Are you excited for the new school year?
A: Positively thrilled. And I mean that seriously. I do online school so all but one of my brothers leave me for eight hours. It's pure bliss.