Peter ran to the railing and saw the evidence of the splash.
The asura laughed. "You look sad, little monkey," it mocked. "Want to join him?"
Peter saw the same dark wind start to spiral beneath his own feet. He felt himself start to lift off the ground, but he jumped back.
The asura moved Mr. Matthews' hands sideways through the air, sending a slice of dark wind at Peter. Peter dodged the attack.
"So you can move quickly," the asura growled. "But you can't dodge everything."
It made an unusual motion with Mr. Matthew's hand, jerking it upwards from the elbow. Peter wondered at it for a split second until he felt the changes in the wind from behind him.
He ducked quickly and avoided the hit.
"You need to leave this man," Peter tried to argue. "His sons need him. They don't deserve what you're doing to them."
"Are you really trying to appeal to my sympathy?" The asura laughed again. Then Mr. Matthews' face darkened. "I have none!"
The asura crossed Mr. Matthews' arms then uncrossed them. The movement sliced sharp streams of currents in Peter's direction. He leapt into the air, rotating above the attack in a sideways flip, and landed easily on the pavement.
He felt a surge of victorious adrenaline. He had flipped before, but he had never felt this rush, speed, or height. He realized suddenly that he could see the wind currents like he had on field day. He wondered if he could control them, too, just like the asura.
He imitated the same move with crossed arms and imagined gathering the wind currents like strings around his fingers. Then he whipped them out and streams of blue and white sliced through the air in crisscrossing arcs. The wind hit the asura and Mr. Matthews' body dropped to the ground, landing on a knee.
Peter then touched Mr. Matthews' head and – on instinct – said, "Be swept clean."
A massive gust of wind battered them from all sides and dark smoke exploded from Mr. Matthews, rendering him unconscious.
Then Peter watched in horror as the asura formed into a giant horse. It towered over him with glowing red eyes. It was made of smoke, but as it stomped on the pavement, it left a giant pothole with a series of cracks.
All of Peter's confidence was sucked out of him.
The horse-asura reared on its hind legs with a terrifying whinny. Before its hooves came crashing down, Peter stumbled backwards and landed on his rear. The horse lifted again and Peter rolled out of the way and onto his feet. Then he tore into a sprint.
He felt sudden changes in the currents behind him by his left shoulder. He spun to the right, just missing the giant teeth that almost snapped into him.
He turned sharply and ran underneath the horse-asura in the opposite direction, back to where he had started. He thought he could gain a few moments as the asura adjusted, but after a handful of steps, the asura materialized in front of him.
He stood stark still, staring into its eyes, full of hatred for hatred's sake. He resorted to the last thing he could think of as the creature grunted and picked at the ground.
If my deva is listening, he pleaded in his thoughts, if you're here, please help!
Suddenly, he was filled with a surge of energy and felt at one with the wind. In an instant, he knew the speed, the direction, and the formation of the air currents all around him. And he knew how to control them.
Peter punched the air and the currents formed a battering ram that slammed into his opponent.
He raised his arms from the elbows, and the horse-asura rose into the air.
Peter gathered the wind with his hands and wrapped it around himself in a circle. Then he blasted it at the asura and its form scattered and disappeared.
Peter slowly lowered his arms and took in the quiet night. Mr. Matthews was still passed out a few yards away. A gentle breeze rustled his hair. A single car turned onto the road and Peter jumped to the sidewalk, out of the way. The car passed over the bridge and drove off.
Peter felt like he should have been exhausted, but instead, he was energized. He felt like he could run a marathon. He felt like screaming out in victory. He felt like he could fly.
He had a reeling sensation, like his feet were glued to the earth but his body was pulling into the sky. It was almost like he could feel the sensations of gravity and the rotation of the earth.
Then, he became aware of an apparition, floating in the air before him. The creature looked like a human, but a transparent, glowing human. The creature's hair and clothes looked like they were made of stringy air currents, billowing in wind. Its face was smooth and graceful, but Peter couldn't tell if it was a woman or a man.
Its power radiated outward and swirled around Peter, drawing him in. But he wasn't afraid. He felt a familiar sensation. He remembered the vision in the haunted house. He remembered the currents he saw on field day. He remembered the wind that saved him from the pishacha.
"Do not be afraid, Peter Hunter," the creature spoke. Its voice sounded like the whispers of the wind. "You may call me Anuvata. You have grown strong and kind. I offer you a partnership. If you accept, we will work together to help many people in dire need."
"Does this mean you're going to talk to me now instead of tattling to Sensei?" Peter asked.
It slipped out before he could stop himself. He prayed the deva would not strike him dead.
To his relief, the spirit smiled. "I will speak with you from now on. That is," its eyes narrowed, "as long as you are listening properly."
Peter gulped. "Oh. I'm not always good at that," he admitted.
The spirit smiled again. "Don't worry, we have many other things to work on as well. Your sensei will be returning shortly. We will speak again soon. I am always with you."
Then the deva faded just as Sensei Rob came blasting out of the river with a battle cry and a cyclone of water propelling him upwards. He landed powerfully on his feet, shaking the bridge, as water splashed all around him. It all looked very powerful and dramatic.
Peter quickly leaned with his back and elbows resting on the bridge's railing. He adopted a relaxed and nonplussed expression.
"There you are," Peter greeted. "I was starting to worry. Luckily, my deva and I had no trouble cleaning up your mess."
"Uh. Wait. Your..." Sensei looked all around, studying the scene and holding his injured hand.
"I can only imagine what you're going through right now," Peter said with contrived compassion. "You've been doing this for so long and then this young sarcastic hero comes along, only training for the better half of a year, only met his deva just tonight, and he's the one to save the day while you were licking your wounds under water somewhere. I mean, that has got to be a blow to the ego."
Sensei's eyes narrowed, then he smiled and jostled Peter by the shoulder. "If I weren't so proud of you, I'd toss you in the river. Let's get back to the studio. I want a play by play. Tell me everything."
"Okay. But first, how was your little swim? Refreshing?"
***
When they got back to the dojo, Peter's adrenaline had him almost hopping. "Now that I have my powers, and they aren't flower-sparkle powers, are we going to spar? Air versus water!"
"That would be fun," Sensei laughed, "but no. These powers are not ours. They're on loan to us to use solely for the protection of the asuras' victims. They're not for our own benefit."
"But don't we need to practice them? Hone our skills?"
Rob shook his head. "The devas' powers don't need honing. Only our compatibility with them."
"Does that mean more meditating?" Peter groaned.
"And the eightfold path and accumulating good karma."
"That's not like any superhero story I know," Peter grumbled.
"That's because we aren't superheroes, kid. We're exorcists."
Charlie came out of the office. "Did Peter meet his deva?" she asked eagerly. "How exciting! We should celebrate! Robby, why are you wet?"
"He took a swim while I saved the day," Peter bragged. "Can we get a cake? I really want a cake."
Charlie laughed. "Cake it is! So tell me. What was it like?"
"It was awesome!" Peter exclaimed. "I mean, I felt like all my senses were heightened. And I still feel so energetic, like I could do anything! There's just so much energy! I bet I could stay up for three days straight!"
Then, without warning, he passed out.
***
When he started to stir, he was aware of Rob and Charlie sitting next to him on the benches. He couldn't open his eyes. His whole body felt lighter than air, but he couldn't move a muscle.
"He's so cute when he's sleeping," Charlie said.
"But I'm cuter, right?" Rob countered.
She laughed. "Is he going to be alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, this is just his system adjusting to the positivity of the deva," Rob explained. "The first time I met mine, the world became polarized. It was like coming inside after being in the bright sun and everything looks darker. Anything positive was beautiful and amazing and anything even slightly negative was just depressing. I saw a mom scolding her child for running in the street and I started sobbing."
Charlie laughed.
"You even out after the initial shock, though," Rob said. "The best part is: the more you interact with the deva, the easier it is to be virtuous."
"Does this mean he's reached enlightenment?" she asked in awe. "Have you reached enlightenment?"
"No. Just means that we're closer than we were before."
Peter passed out again.
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