Esper Chapter 18: Eye of the storm

Part 1

Amala Singh gleefully strolled away from the Digital idol Megan Byte event, bag full of favors and souvenirs. Though mostly surrounded by mothers and daughters, she took comfort in other fans being around her age, despite the majority being unsavory looking men. Seeing the cast in person, watching a live stage performance, openly cheering, the young woman couldn’t remember the last time she was so elated! Light giggling caught Amala’s attention, directed at her unintentional humming and skipping, nearly breaking out into a pirouette. She shot an embarrassed glare at the crowd who all backed away from the cross woman.

“Amala?” Recognizing the voice, Amala spotted Marisa, followed by a young girl with similar auburn hair and brown eyes using a cane to support herself. “It is you! Oh, you did mention being a fan of Digi-Idol. Constance, this is someone mommy works with! She also likes Digi-Idol!” A grin bloomed across the young girl’s face.

“Really?” Constance asked, brimming with reserved excitement!

“Y-yes! It’s my favorite!” Any apprehension and embarrassment from before was washed away by the delight of interacting with another fan! “I love the singing and dancing! Megan’s so cool! She’s also, like, a detective! I haven’t missed a single episode or any of the web exclusives! Uh…!” Though Marisa smiled, seeing her often sullen co-worker gushing with enthusiasm, self-awareness swept Amala with a bright red blush overtaking her face!

“Have you played any of the games? I love the rhythm games they make!”

“Me too!” The sudden and immediate pivot back to fangirling shocked Marisa! “I love dancing, and watching people dance! Do you dance?”

“Oh…umm, not really.” Abruptly, Constance grew morose. That nagging numb twinge in her lower back always a vexing reminder, she sheepishly looked at her cane, having difficulty just shuffling from one foot to another.

“That sucks. Dancing is the best! I…used to dance all the time when I was younger! It’s so fun twirling about freely!” The sentiment was understood but interpreted differently between Amala and Constance. Where Amala aimed to impart joy, wonderment, and love for dancing, the young girl assumed teasing. “I can teach you how to dance, if you want. Come on…” She extended her hand, but Marisa gently pushed it aside.

“Amala…dear…no.” Sternly, the woman spoke.

“Huh? No, no! I’m really a good teacher, here!” Forcefully grabbing Marisa’s daughter’s hand, she pulled her in close! “Follow me!” She quickly tried to gather her footing, but when the girl’s legs moved incorrectly, she became frustrated!

“That’s enough!” Marisa yanked her daughter away from Amala! “Are you stupid?! What is wrong with you?! She has scoliosis!” She was fed up with the well-meaning yet odd woman, blinded by her excitement, ignoring the obvious.

“Oh…I…” Realization slowly set in. Once more, her self-absorbed actions had upset someone, much like with Nicolaus Thompson. The young girl was in tears, having some of her accessories from the show broken upon Amala snatching her. Whispers of confusion and looks tinged with contempt from bystanders descended onto Amala’s shoulders. “I’m sorry.” She remorsefully apologized, shoving her own bag of merchandise into Marisa’s arms and sprinted off!

Without making it too far, a loud bang sent the crowd into a frenzy! Amala turned and her eyes locked onto the source, as she almost subconsciously prepped her pyrokinesis as well! Among the swarming crowd, a figure stood, smoking gun in hand; and at their feet lay a person, their beige and black hoodie, stained crimson with blood. As people rushed by Amala, she made eye contact with the figure. Her shaggy blonde hair was splayed across her bald patch laden scalp, and her white skin held no luster. The woman’s vacant grey eyes bore holes through Amala, and into her soul. They reminded her of someone, a little girl who’d received no help, only directions, only orders.

A smaller shriek drew Amala’s attention! Constance had fallen as the flood of people stampeded! Fearing the small disabled girl would be trampled, Amala dashed into the fray! Nudging others aside with a warm brush of discreet pyrokinesis allowed her to reach the downed girl swiftly. With her arms wrapped around the frail child, she leapt over the crowd, using her powers to boost them to safety! The few that noticed her were shoved by the mob, giving them no time to comprehend what they’d beheld!

The two landed on the sidewalk, escaping the frenzied crowd! “Um…Constance are you alright?” Quickly dispersing her mauve haze, she pulled the girl up to her feet.

“Y-Yes…what happened just now?! Where’s mom?!” Both scanned the crowd, though Marisa crying out her daughter’s name helped them find her!

“Constance! Constance, honey! Where are you?!” Hysterical, she nearly ran by the two, if not for Amala calling back to her, the panicked mother would have gone right down the block!

“Marisa, over here!” She turned to find her beloved daughter, rescued by Amala. On the brink of tears, she ran up, embracing Constance with a passionate hug!

“Thank the lord! Thank the lord! My God!” Marisa’s relief also helped relieve the emotional tension crushing Amala.

“Mom, stop! You’re squishing me!” Though uncomfortable, Constance was also happy to be reunited with her mother.

“Amala, did you save her? Thank you so much! I’m…I’m sorry about before!” More screaming continued as the frightened pedestrians fled!

“Huh?! No, I…I’m still sorry. I…” Amala noted the still possible danger, feeling compelled to urge the mother and daughter to seek safety. “We need to keep moving!” Those unfeeling vacant grey eyes plagued Amala. Again, she looked over the people, but the shooter was nowhere to be found. Together, the three ran along with the wave of people toward safety.

Part 2

It took some time for the police to arrive, and by then, many involved dispersed to other locations. They began taking statements, carting off the crime scene, and ushering injured civilians toward medics. “Amala, thank you so much!” Marisa thanked the young woman who was still in a slight daze. The gruesome site of someone being killed in front of her hadn’t shaken Amala, however, the look of the shooter did. “Uh…Amala?”

“…” She looked to the police placing a sheet over the body. It was a young adult, no more than 20, one with a familiar hoodie, a member of Beset’s sword. (Beset’s sword, they’re the people always talking on that message board. What happened? Who was it that just killed them? She looked…lost…) A thorny word lodged itself into Amala’s psyche, refusing to make room for any other thought.

“Miss Amala…?” Snapping back, Constance tugged at Amala’s sweater sleeve letting loose a bright smile through teary eyes! “Thank you!”

“…Oh, uh, no! Don’t worry about it! I’m happy to hav…” The bag of merchandise given to Constance was missing. Quickly pinpointing the bag, mostly untouched, the need to retrieve it overwhelmed any rational thought.

“Hey you, stop!” An officer reached out and grabbed Amala by the wrist! “Ma’am, you can’t just walk onto a crime scene!” Tunnel vision had led her as far as walking by the officers and reaching to pick up the bag before someone stopped her!

“Oh…sorry. This bag though…” The officer, Marisa, and Constance too, were all astounded. Nonchalantly, Amala pointed to the plastic bag emblazoned with a light blue Digi-Idol ‘DIID’ logo, centimeters away from the rolling pool of blood pouring from the victim’s perforated head.

“Uh…y-you can’t take that right now…” Befuddled and unnerved at seeing the unaffected woman, the officer was further dismayed at her pouting when denied.

Marisa rushed over and placed her hand on Amala’s shoulder! “Amala, sweetie, are you alright? I’m sorry officer, I think she may be in shock.” Genuinely concerned, Marisa took her co-worker, as if she were taking the hand of her own daughter and pulled her away from the grisly scene. The officer returned to his duties, disheartened at witnessing a person traumatized by the sight of death, not knowing how truly unbothered Amala was. “Don’t worry, sweetie, we’ll get you some help.” As Marisa pulled Amala in closer, she took notice of her neck. The wound had reopened as blood seeped through the turtleneck of her sweater! “Oh my god! Amala, when did you get hurt! Wait here, I’ll get the medic! Constance, wait with her, please!” Marisa sprinted off, leaving the two alone.

“Constance! Constance!” Amala gleefully whispered. When the child turned, in her hands Amala held the Digi-Idol bag! The little girl nearly fell back onto the ground, using her cane to steady herself! When no one was looking, Amala had used her pyrokinesis to snatch the items!

“I-I…t-thank…you…” Constance forced a smile, grabbing the bag, still splattered with brain matter. “…Miss Amala…are you ok?”

“Of course!” Radiantly smiling to assure the girl was her priority! More than anything, Amala wanted Constance to feel safe, ignoring her own condition. Suddenly Amala’s phone notification resounded, with a ‘And…you’re downloaded!’ being Digi-Idol Megan Byte’s catchphrase! That meant she’d received a message, and with an exaggerated groan she checked it.

[Guys! I think we should talk about yesterday!] It was the first time Katie Vang ever initiated a conversation in the messaging group!

[I couldn’t agree more!] To Amala’s own irritation, Vernon Marino replied almost immediately. [We need to break down the series of events! TBH, I’m still in the dark about what even happened, since I wasn’t there.]

[Right! Totally forgot to catch you up! We should all gather up and go over it in person!] The thought gave Amala pause. She didn’t want to see Vernon on her day off, and was still peeved at Katie for her abrasiveness the day before.

(Ugh! I wanted to just relax today! Anything is better than dealing with a meeting on a Saturday!) With that in mind, Amala composed the most diplomatic response she could muster in her annoyed state. [No. I’m busy.]

[Srs?! No, we should!] Katie fired back!

(What’s with you?! Why are you being so annoying?!) Constance took notice of how intently Amala was glaring at her phone. Seeing the woman with a cherubically beautiful face furrowing a brow didn’t damage her pulchritude, yet slightly startled the child. [I’m busy. I don’t want to!] It wasn’t often that Amala spoke in the group chat, but she did notice that the boys were reading their exchange, despite Vernon going totally silent.

[We also haven’t trained in a bit, so considering yesterday, don’t YOU think we should go over what happened?]

(…She has a point. My powers are being weird. Maybe…) Just as she was thinking that, another read receipt came through. It was from Nicolaus Thompson! It was the first time in 2 days that Amala had seen Nicolaus check any messages! With a sudden warmth bubble up in her chest, the eager young woman rushed to call him! (No way! Finally, that idiot hasn’t said anything in days! I was so worried…no! I was waiting to yell at him…no. I should apologize…ugh! What do I do?!) Only once did the phone ring before it cut off and went to voice mail. (…Did he just ignore my call…?) Anger, then sadness. Amala was overwhelmed by both, but the warmth still flickered in her heart. Her friend was safe… (…At least he’s alright.) In Constance’s eyes, that smile growing onto Amala’s face was like watching a masterpiece being painted. In her young life, in the few years she’d lived, the only time that the child ever saw a person smile so sincerely was her mother to her.

[So? Are we doing it or not? We could even do it ASAP! I’m game if everyone else is!] Katie continued to push for the meetup!

(…Nicolaus will probably show up, right?) She checked her phone again, seeing that Nicolaus had read Katie’s last message too! [Fine. Let’s do it!]

A pause hung over the chat. No one else messaged for a full minute as Amala grew red faced and fidgeted in place with embarrassment. [Sure, I guess.] Vergil responded, puncturing the thick dead air. A thumbs up to every message came from Harper, suddenly!

[Then it’s settled! When can everyone meet at my place? I’ll be back home soon, if that helps.] Rolling right along, Vernon messaged, taking charge once more!

[I’m not busy at all today, LOL!! Let’s meet up as soon as we can!] The group all agreed! Amala spent the whole time watching for another read receipt from Nicolaus. It came through and she was ecstatic!

“Over here! Her neck must’ve been hit by something.” Marisa ran back over to her daughter and the seemingly injured woman. Behind her was an already out of breath EMT, likely exhausted from checking on other citizens. “Amala, sweetie, this man—”

“No time to waste!” She said, enthused! Amala turned and walked right by Marisa and the EMT, stopping only to turn back and say something to Constance. “Constance, let’s talk about Digi-idol again! Next time we can play a game or watch the show together!”

“Wait! Your neck!” That warning from the baffled HR rep to her co-worker fell on deaf ears as Amala dashed off with only one thing in mind, seeing her friend!

Part 3

Though low on her priority list, Amala did expect to actually practice and learn more about her changing ability. She took the opportunity to rush home and locate her purple sweats… that’d been singed, drenched in some blood, and had fabric torn around the arms. With reluctance, Amala turned back to her pile of packaged clothes. “No choice…” She groaned, scouring the several unorganized, older packages. (Mom sent me workout clothes a while ago. She kept telling me to always look nice, otherwise no one would want to be seen with me. Well, you’re wrong! I’ve got a friend now, and he doesn’t even care if I look crazy!) Amala snickered, finally realizing how she referred to Nicolaus in her own head. (Friend…I guess he is.) Warmth loosened another smile on her tense face. After far too long, once again, someone to care for. (…I’ll say sorry. If he’s still mad at me, then I’ll just apologize again! I…don’t know what I did, or why he was mad, but whatever, he’ll get over it!)

At last, Amala found an old, yet unworn pair of dark grey yoga pants and matching top. She tossed aside her clothes, changing and finding the top to be far too revealing! It was fitted perfectly, of course, since her mother knew her sizes down to the centimeter. The part that troubled her was the belly and shoulders being exposed in the cropped tank top! Unfortunate, as the purple stripes running up the side of the pants to the top were cute. Not wanting to expose so much skin, she dug through the bags until happening upon another hooded jacket. Putting it on, the petite woman felt right at home in the slightly oversized black jacket. She zipped it up, and excitedly noted purple trimming! Hating to admit it, her mother understood her tastes perfectly.

(All set!) Exiting onto the veranda and closing the sliding door behind her, Amala pulled the hood over her head and took off into the bright, but chilly sky! (I need to remain calm. Whenever my body tenses up, the haze ignites. I wonder if Nicolaus will think it’s cool? I bet he will! I remember him talking about action cartoons before with Vergil. I should try to make friends with Vergil too!) She’d slowed to a drift, just floating along while exuding pyrokinetic haze and thinking. (They probably haven’t seen Digi-idol Megan Byte! I bet they would love it! I’ll show it to Nicolaus, then teach him the dances too!) Giddy at the idea, she sped off, hurdling through the air toward Vernon’s house!

Descending in the woods, Amala immediately spied Vernon, seated on his patio, laptop propped up in front of him on the table. “Oh, Amala! What’s up?” He muttered, not looking up to even greet his cohort.

First to arrive, Amala’s mood was slightly soured. “…No one else yet?”

“Nope. Just us so far.” Dark circles hung under Vernon’s eyes, and the two empty cups of coffee strewn across the patio table signaled a long evening. Leaning back in the seat, he gave an exaggerated yawn. “Have a seat.” He offered the chair opposite him.

She sat, hands on her knees, attentively listening should she be called, and silently awaiting Vernon to speak first. No conversation came, he simply sat there, slumping deeper into his seat as a subtle snore grew and his eyes fluttered shut. (…He did look very tired.) Amala took mercy on her co-worker and allowed him to sleep soundly. (What was he working on?) A half finished worksheet was present on the laptop screen. Vernon, in his exhausted state, missed several entries and made numerous typos. Again, Amala took pity on her busybody superior and pulled the laptop over to herself to go about fixing the mistakes.

“Yo!” The sudden call startled Amala! She turned to see Katie, dressed for training, in her green and black workout top and yoga pants. The energetic redhead was shushed, as Vernon slumbered. “Oh…sorry? Is he ok?”

“…Yes. He’s tired. Let him sleep.” Amala whispered back. Katie leaned in to see what Amala was working on. Top notch assistant she was, effortlessly reentering indexes across the spreadsheet without missing a beat, Katie was astounded at Amala’s speed. “Wow! You’re fast.” Though it wasn’t obvious to Katie, a slight blush flashed across Amala’s cheeks. “Hmm…” She leaned in closer.

“W-what?” Trying to maintain her rhythm, Amala withdrew from the woman entering her personal space. At that point, Katie was so close, her breath began to tickle the nape of Amala’s neck, meanwhile the redhead’s eyes were tracking something else.

“…You didn’t go to the doctor’s, did you?”

“…” Frozen in her seat, Amala hastily covered her unattended neck wound from the day prior!

(…) In the back of Vernon Marino’s mind, many things were present at all times. Regardless of any current objectives, his long term goals, and ever present doubts were always there. A new fear, in recent days had supplanted itself firmly into his psyche. It plagued him even when asleep, maybe more so when he was awake! That fear managed to overpower almost all other thoughts. “Hmm…?” Bickering and fumbling jabbed the end of the table into the man’s gut, jolting him awake!

Awaking to the sight of Amala ineffectively leg pressing Katie away as her zip-up hoodie was yanked open befuddled Vernon as lucidity returned to him. “Vernon, hold her still for me!” Katie demanded!

“No! Let go of me! Get off!” The two fussed back and forth, leaving the man opposite them lost.

“Uh…what’s happening here?”

“She has a wound on her neck from getting shot yesterday and she needs to have it treated!”

“Get off! I know you’re going to mess up my hair again! Leave me alone!” Finally, Katie successfully overpowered Amala, lifting the petite woman up from behind by her shoulder in a nelson. “Ow! Ow! Stop!”

“Careful, Katie! I’m going to guess she also didn’t get her shoulder looked at.” Remembering that Vernon knew about her other injury, Amala averted her eyes, mortified. “You didn’t, did you?”

“What’s with you? You little injury prone dork, you’re going to just end up falling apart!”

“…” Amala was pouting and fuming so hard she couldn’t get a word out, just muttered insults.

“I swear…I’ll be back. I’ve got stuff in the medicine cabinet.” Vernon trailed off back into his house.

“Quit squirming!” Katie held the frustrated Amala tightly, kicking futilely with her legs too short to reach the ground.

“D-Don’t touch my hair, ok?” Resigned to her fate, Amala could only hope she wouldn’t have to fight to free her hair again from that awkward beehive.

“…Is this a part of the training?” Harper Wolf said, half joking as he walked up to see the odd visual, only to receive annoyed glares. He laughed them off, but Amala’s eyes remained transfixed on him; deeply unnerving. “Where are the guys? Heh…” Trying to get away from those cold, purple high beams, Harper began scrolling through the unchanged group messenger.

“Harper, welcome!” Vernon returned, a first aid kit and several gauzes in hand. “You’re not with Vergil?”

“No. Haven’t seen him since yesterday.” Harper plopped down into one of the open chairs on the patio.

“I see…and Nick’O still isn’t here either.”

“We should go look for them!” Amala’s suggestion was quashed instantly as Katie forced her down in a seat, gripping her small shoulders with great force!

“Before anything else!” The annoyed redhead extended her hand to Vernon, to receive some bandages and an opened container of muscle pain relief gel. “Now, sit still!” Her green eyes were locked firmly on Amala when she commanded that!

“O-ok…be gentle…” Defeated, Amala surrendered, reluctantly opening her jacket to have Katie apply a new bandage to the wounded neck. Once that was finished, she moved to exam the injured shoulder. “Hmm…I don’t think it’s broken or anything. Badly bruised, yeah, but nothing seems broken. When did this happen? Was it from yesterday too?”

“…No. I fell.” She lied, swallowing her tears from recalling that traumatic evening.

“You fell? How’d you fall with your powers?” Harper chimed in, receiving the sharpest glare in response he’d ever felt!

“…My powers are being weird lately.” With a glum look, Amala did reveal that truth.

“Weird how?” Vernon was the only one none the wiser to the changes.

“H-hang on!” Halting the conversation, Katie interjected! “Let me finish this first, then, let’s practice! We can discuss everything then!” Her sudden insistence on training was already confusing to the group, as Katie was often the last to show up to practice. (…Baxter wanted me to report to him everything that happens, but if I can record it with my phone, that’d be even better, right?)

“Vergil and Nicolaus still aren’t here.” Another statement made by Harper met with a fierce glare! “…I’ll just stay quiet for a bit.”

“He’s right, but I do want to discuss everything from yesterday and see what’s happening with your powers, Amala.” The group agreed with Vernon.

“Hi…” Everyone nearly jumped out of their skins! Like a ghost materializing from nowhere, Vergil Trask joined the group, his presence being nearly undetectable!

“Holy shit! Verg when did…what happened to your face?!” Bruises, cuts and noticeable handprints were plastered over Vergil’s normally pale cheek! “Katie, hey! Check him out too!”

“Right! Come here, kid! Good lord.”

Part 4

“Amala…did you work on my laptop?” Vernon asked Amala, seeing the changes to his workbook. She hadn’t finished, but rereading all the information entered, it was obvious his assistant corrected all of Vernon’s mistakes.

“Uh…yeah. You had some stuff wrong, so I redid them.” The two sat at the patio table, watching Katie treat their teenaged ally.

“…Shit. You’re so good at this, I swear. Kind of frustrating, honestly.” He joked, though it was tinged with truth. “Do you have all of these written down on your phone or something?”

“No. I committed all those to memory.”

“What?! No way!”

“…I trained my memory. I don’t…want to forget anything ever again.” An odd statement with more gravity behind it than Vernon could’ve realized.

“Done!” Katie managed to apply ointment and bandages to the teenage boy’s face. The process was much easier than having to fuss around with the older, yet less mature, Amala. Vergil ambled away, remaining a ghost in his sneakers, despite Katie excellently tending to his wounds. Harper tried his best to interface with the nearly silent young man as Katie began repacking the supplies.

“Thanks, Katie. I’m amazed, aren’t you a waitress? How’d you get so good at bandaging and stuff?” Seeing the expertly applied bandages impressed Vernon and the entire group.

“Oh…” Katie thought for an instant. (No reason to lie, I guess.) Then continued. “I want…wanted to be an actor, so out in Wisconsin, I took first aid classes. I did whatever I could to get on set in movies and plays.” She said apathetically.

“That explains it! Ok…let me check something.” Once more checking his messages, Vernon noted that Nicolaus still hadn’t messaged, nor was he anywhere in sight. “What the hell? I’m going to give him a call. You guys hang on…” Vernon began phoning the missing member of their group.

“…Uh…thanks…I guess.” Amala surprised Katie, both by sneaking up alongside her and showing gratitude. That latter was difficult, having choked back a gut full of resentment. (…I should probably try to be nicer to her. Maybe we can be friends.)

“Right, no problem. You should be more careful, and go to the doctors’ office, ok?”

“I don’t like doctors.”

“I don’t care! If you’re danger and accident prone, you’re going to end up in the hospital anyway, so you may as well try to keep yourself healthy.”

“…OK…geez. Why are you so serious about stuff like that?”

“I’ve seen people get hurt badly filming the simplest of scenes, even in low budget movies. Whenever I would stand in and do stunts, small mistakes led to massive injuries and costs.”

“You did a lot.”

“Anything to get my foot in the door.” No amount of acting practice could overshadow the fatigue of stressing over one’s direction in life for days on end. Despite her normally tight-lipped nature, Katie felt the need to relieve any built-up frustrations in her chest. “You know; a lot of people would love to be in your position.” Katie looked at the small woman again, with nary a blemish on her doll-like face. Small nose, round and expression purple eyes, hair so long and black it matched her unreal beauty in its mystique, envy was a given. “I’ve got to ask, what’s with your eyes? They can’t be naturally that color, right?”

“…They are. Everyone on my mother’s side of the family has eyes this color.”

“That and no makeup? You really hit the lottery, huh?”

“I mean…I don’t really care about that kind of stuff.”

“Heh. If I was you, I’d take advantage of being born with everything. You got an easy lot in life.”

“…” That sat horribly with Amala. “No, I didn’t. I…looks aren’t…” Though she felt that way, saying it felt as if she would betray something ingrained in her by her parents. “…You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’d rather be able to walk around and not have to worry about things like that.”

“Then move out to Wisconsin! No one good looking out there. Sticking around that half a horse state in the middle of nowhere sucked!”

“But you got to be around your family…unless you didn’t like to be.”

“I didn’t.”

“Oh. I…I know how that feels.” Again, a little comradery was fostered in Amala toward Katie.

“They just wanted me to live with them, stuck in mediocrity.” Comradery dashed! “I can’t stand complacency. People who are too afraid to fall flat on their face and never realize their potential are the worst, especially those who have everything and don’t have to work for it.” Katie finally realized how candidly she was speaking! “Yeah, my folks always bug me. Calling me all the time, just to check in. You know, parent stuff!”

“…Mine only call to make sure I’m not failing at life.”

“Right?! Haha!” The conversation slowly, painfully, fizzled after that.

(This girl…I don’t think I can get along with her.) Both, different as they were, similar as they were, thought the exact same thing.

“…And nothing. What the hell is going on with Nick’O?” Ending his attempted call in failure, Vernon went about sending a message to Nicolaus personally. “…OK…” Though he didn’t anticipate an instant response, the man still kept an eye on the messenger. “Nothing.” The message remained unread as Nicolaus’s status stayed offline.

“What’s going on? Where is Nicolaus?” Amala inquired, already worried, and needing to hop ineffectively while trying to peek at Vernon’s phone over his shoulder.

“Don’t know. He’s not picking up, and he’s not online.”

“…” Shocking Vernon, when he turned to look at Amala, she was making a face he’d never seen before. Clear frustration bubbled over as she tightened her cheeks into a grimace, her button nose wrinkling, eyes squinting, he’d clearly upset her!

“Uh…are you ok?”

“We need to find him!”

“Seriously?”

“Nicolaus hasn’t said anything, or replied to any messages, or been seen in days! Something could have happened to him!” Vernon and Katie attempted to calm the ever growing anxiety in the frantic woman.

“I’m sure Spike is fine. He’s probably just been busy.” That reassurance from Katie was balked aside in face of Amala’s pouting. (…Oh…she’s really upset.) Perturbed by the woman’s frank, unapologetic concern, Katie quieted herself.

“Let’s just relax, Amala. Nick’O is probably just off sulking after getting turned down or something.” Vernon joked.

“He…!” Considering their last exchange, Amala circled back to blaming herself.

“He? Do you know something else? You two are close…right?”

“…We’re…friends?” With all the conviction of a milk-soaked gram cracker, Amala’s confidence in their friendship was brittle.

“When was the last time you talked to him?”

“…T-Thursday…” Drudging those recent mistakes up she tried to justify, regret further weighed on her head. “I…I yelled…at him. He’s probably mad…still.”

“Oh? I doubt he’d just ditch training because of that. Whatever reason he has for not joining us, it’s no big deal, it’s probably no big deal. Let’s just start training for now, and while we do, we can finally get around to discussing everything from yesterday.” Further bottling up her emotions, Amala reluctantly followed Vernon's suggestion and the group, deeper into the woods.

Part 5

(Need to find a good place to set up my camera.) Once in the clearing, Katie Vang snuck aside, finding a location just behind a tree to set up her phone recording. (...Is this ok to do?) Katie’s conscience plagued her. (I don’t really know what Baxter and his people are planning. He wanted surveillance, but that boss of his, who are they?)

“Hey, Katie! Where’d you go?” Vernon hollered!

“One second!” Swallowing her indecision, Katie started the recording. (I can always delete it if I change my mind.) She made sure everything was in place, then hustled back over to the group.

“OK! So, Amala mentioned something with her powers; demonstrate if you could?” Vernon gave Amala center stage.

Still pensive, Amala was close to just rejecting the offer and leaving, though a small hope Nicolaus would still show up kept her in place. “OK…” Releasing a plume of haze, Amala controlled the amethyst cloud, hovering it in front of her. She breathed easy, calming herself and trying to push any worries out of her head. “The other day, I noticed my powers were acting weird.”

“Was that when you fell?” Harper chimed in.

“Fell…? Oh, right! Yes! When I fell!” Her lying was so obvious to Harper, but he suspected that the others didn’t catch on.

(Don’t need to read her mind to tell what she’s thinking. Maybe if I get on her good side, she’ll chill the fuck out!) The thankful look cast to Harper quickly changed back into one of anger when Amala remembered who he was. (Maybe not.)

“Anyway, yeah. I can do this now!” Tightening her tiny fist, the haze compacted, shrinking, swirling, and then igniting into a small fire! The embers danced in the air until suddenly twisting into a spiraling fireball!

“Whoa! Hold on! How?!” Vernon’s eyes lit up beholding the flames! Amala eased her grip, exhaling, and relieved the tension in her muscles. The fire slowly faded into nothing more than a cloud of warmth, dissipating completely soon after. “That’s insane! You couldn’t do that before, so how does it work now? I wonder if mine has changed too? Has anyone else had their power change?” The thought brought to mind many instances for each person, it was obvious how their powers were both growing and changing.

(So that’s how the theater house got burned down. I had a feeling, but wow. Is this like what’s been happening with my powers?) Assuming correctly, Katie then theorized about her own abilities. “Changed doesn’t really describe mine. Gotten a boost fells more correct.” She offered. “Let’s see…” Extending her hand, a shadow slowly formed on the ground in front of her. Pitch black particles bubbled up, clustering into a head and rising into a full body, similar in stature to Katie. It split off, like an amoeba, creating another body, then another and another until there were ten standing in a row! “…Uh…that’s actually more than I thought!” With a flick of the wrist, all the dolls walked in separate directions! They each reached out to individual trees and began circling their index fingers along the trunks. “Yeah…this is a bit tough…” The strain weighing down on her head, it wasn’t nearly as severe as usual, and no nose bleed. “Oh, my nose isn’t bleeding.”

“Your nose was bleeding? Was it when you used your powers?” Vernon further inquired.

“Yeah. My nose just started leaking…and then I was able to do more.”

“…Weird. Amala, did your nose bleed too?”

“Um…” Thinking back, the sudden burst of flames was accompanied by a river of blood pouring from her nose when she apprehended Joffe. “Yeah.”

“A nose bleed when using your powers? Something like that happened to me once. Did any of you have something happen with your eyes? I remember Nick’O saying something about my eyes back then.” No one could confirm for him. While Vernon was busy deep in thought, Amala took the chance to sneak over to Vergil Trask, seated alone beneath a tree.

“Vergil!” She whispered.

“Yeek!” He shrieked, having the woman’s words tickle his ear! “W-What?” Face flush red like a tomato, he inched away from the beautiful girl invading his personal space.

“Do you know where Nicolaus is?” She chased, crawling up to him on the ground, further closing the distance between them.

Quickly running his back into the tree trunk, Vergil fought to make space! With little experience talking to women, much less one as pretty as Amala, the cagey teen didn’t even know where to rest his eyes. “No. W-Why?” At their angle, everything from Amala sports top, down to her exposed belly was in view! Vergil averted his gaze, stifling the desire to look down the woman’s loose fitting hoodie, and leer at her sparsely clothed torso.

“Well…” Though Amala felt compelled to apologize, she didn’t want to tell anyone else. “You guys always hang out and talk about cartoons, right?” Instead, she decided to move forward with her plan of making friends.

“T-They’re anime.” Spoken with the slightest twinge of contempt.

“Whatever.” The sentiment went right over Amala’s head! “You guys always talk, so…tell me about anime!”

“…I’m not r-really sure what you mean.”

“Like, tell me about what you two talk about!”

The spark of enthusiasm in her eyes was undeniable and overwhelming. “…Why?”

“What does it matter why? Here, I’ll tell you about what I’ve been watching! I’m watching Digi-Idol Megan Byte! It’s a great show! There’s dancing, and mystery solving, and of course signing! Also…” Amala rambled on as Vergil sat dumbfounded. He’d never seen the aloof woman so excited, nor expressive!

“Hey Amala! Come here really quick! I want to test some stuff with you!” Vernon called.

“Ugh! Fine!” Pouting and stomping her way back over to the group, Amala felt she was cut just short of the good part.

“…Everything ok?” Seeing his normally quiet and restrained assistant so animated was a shock!

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Right, well, I’d like you to practice with me a little.”

“Oh? How?” A quizzical tilt of the head, Amala was perplexed, but intrigued.

Walking back to the other side of the clearing, Vernon outstretched his arms, and took a deep breath. “Launch your best fire at me!”

End of Chapter 18