Esper Chapter 19: Calm Before…

Part 1

“OK.” With zero hesitation, Amala Singh replied!

“S-stop!” Vergil Trask dashed out from under the tree and got in between the two! “T-there’s no way you can b-be serious!” He threw up his hands, hoping to convince Vernon Marino! On the other side of the clearing the eager man smiled brightly, unyielding in his instructions for Amala to attack him with her pyrokinesis! “You’re just going along with th-is, Amala?!”

“I am. If Vernon wants me to do this, there’s a reason. I’m not against it, so it’s fine.” No hint of trepidation in her body language, Amala leisurely stretched, preparing for whatever her superior had planned.

“W-what if s-something goes wrong? Y-you might slip up or something!”

“I assume that we’re testing that. Am I correct, Vernon?” An enthusiastic thumbs-up given in response! “It’ll be fine.” With his concern discarded like rubbish, the dejected young man was left to sulk silently back under the tree. Katie Vang, however, was thrilled at the prospect! She snuck over to her concealed phone. The angle was perfect, catching both in frame, and still recording! “Ok, here I go!” Amala unleashed her haze, tightened her fist, and ignited it into flames! “Ready?”

“Yup.” Vernon confused everyone. Hands planted firmly in his pockets, and not exuding a molecule of haze, he confidently waited with his defenses totally down!

“…I’m pretty sure my fire is real fire, you get that, right? It will burn you!” Having unleashed the blaze which engulfed the theater house just the day before, Amala knew that for sure!

“I’m aware. Go ahead and fire away!”

“…” With crackling flame just centimeters from her fist, the pyrokinetic was halted, sparing a glance to the other baffled participants. All silently awaited the outcome. “…Fine!” No more consideration, the fire shot forth like a hose! The stream was intense, but meager compared to the one that swallowed up Joffe’s penthouse.

Aghast, the flames swallowed Vernon whole! Everyone expected a cry of pain, but the man remained unaffected! The stream of fire looked to have made contact, however upon closer inspection by Harper Wolf, it was obvious Vernon’s telekinesis was actively blocking the assault! “Wow! Vernon, you’re able to control your telekinesis without using your hands now?!” He was amazed!

“No, I’m not.” Vernon replied. Amala withdrew her hand, allowing the orange flames to subside. “It’s like when I dropped Nick’O before, or when Amala first discovered she could fly. To some level, our powers work automatically, or subconsciously, I guess. Let me try something.” Vernon exuded his own haze, comparing it with Amala’s. The burgundy mist, as opposed to her magenta mist, wasn’t warm, and when he tightened his fist, it simply shrunk the radius before him. “…Hmm.” He pondered.

“It’s p-pyrokinesis, I think.” Vergil Trask chimed in. Being a fiction lover, he’d surmised it as soon as the flames burst forth.

“Yeah, I already know that. I looked it up too!” Amala smiled at Vergil, making him shy away, face lit ablaze with a blush. (…I was just saying you were right.) Growing discouraged, the socially inept woman wondered if she was failing at making a new friend.

“Bah! This really is confusing! Amala, you can still fly and lift things, right?” She nodded. “Then what happened before when you blew that officer up?” Silence. It took a moment for Vernon to catch onto the awkwardness of the conversation. “Oh…right, sensitive subject, sorry. Forget-”

“I think it’s because I crossed my arms like this.” Without missing a beat, Amala answered. Only Harper, knowing her true nature, comprehended how callus to death the woman was. “Let me see.” She unleashed more haze, then tightened her fist again, igniting the flames, and when crossing both of her arms, the flame spread about! Embers danced about, catching onto the ground!

“Shit! Put it out!” Vernon readied to stomp the possible fire, but Amala lifting her hands, as if yanking up puppets by their string, drew the embers off the ground! By fanning both hands, the flames dispersed. “I’m guessing you don’t know how you did that, right?”

“No, I…kind of had a feeling I could, but that was the first time I did it.” Discovering more about her pyrokinesis filled Amala with intrigue, and delight. “Maybe…like this!” She tried again, but instead of slowly changing the haze into flames, she rapidly crossed her arms in front of her! The result, a sizable explosion! If not for the distance Vernon, Katie, Harper and Vergil sat from Amala, they’d have likely been caught in the blast! The dirt in front of the small woman was obliterated, sending chunks of earth flying upward, cratering the forest ground! “I did it!”

“...Yeah, you did it. Wow!” The explosion from Vernon’s perspective was Amala’s purple mist suddenly sparking into a blast, one that destroyed the ground leaving a truck sized crater! “…Amala, I want you to blast me again.”

“No! Wait! Stop! Y-you two are going way too far!” Vergil frantically pleaded, placing himself into the line of fire again! “W-What if you…” Though it was hazy, his memories of the day prior hadn’t left him. Feeling that psychic energy burst forth from him, killing people, crushing, tearing, and goring them…Vergil retched, barely holding back vomit.

“Dude, are you alright?!” Harper ran to his friend’s side! “Maybe he’s right. This could be dangerous.”

Excitement palpable, Katie interjected! “Relax, you two! Vernon knows what he’s doing!” Again, she brushed aside Vergil’s concern, which he took personally.

“Y-You just don’t get it…!” With a shaky voice, Vergil fired back unlike ever before! “…I-I mean…” Then realized how heated things were getting and slowly backed down, shrinking in place as he trembled under the judging eyes of the others.

“…What do you say, Vernon?” Amala asked. For a minute, Vernon pondered again.

“…Do it!” He took his position once more, as did she! “Don’t hold back this time.” Burgundy mist rose, cloaking Vernon.

“…Fine.” Amala sparked the flames by flicking her wrist, like igniting a lighter! Pleased with the turnover from haze to fire only taking a split second, Amala felt it could still be done faster. “Take this!” With more vigor, and leaning into the intensity with her body language, the flames roared forth, clearing nearly 60 feet in the blink of an eye!

Vernon raised his own hand, extending a wall of telekinetic haze forward! The fire bounced off the barrier, not affecting it at all! The group was amazed at how fast Vernon drew out his power! “Surprised? Well…It’s because I practice.” Vernon spoke with a bit of spite. “Unlike those of you who either ditch these training sessions or just half-ass it, I’ve been testing my limits. The other day, when I tested my lifting strength, I found out my car was light when lifted by my telekinesis. You all probably could push your powers further if you trained more!” Shaming the group wasn’t Vernon's original intention, but he’d spent many a night practicing alone. (Ah…am I saying too much? No, they need a push. If I can do better, so can they!) He doubled down. “Amala, you’re not even bothering to take this seriously!”

“What?!” An insult, taken horribly considering her mindset. “I am!”

“Not nearly enough! You’re being lazy.”

Meant only to push her into trying, those slights trudged up a feeling of being cornered and berated. “…No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are! Come on…I expect better! You’re so good at work, and I’m sure if you actually try, you can do it! You’re talented, show me your best!” Vernon’s words further incensed Amala, but she continued to hold back, reeling at the idea of blasting Vernon with any real firepower!

“…Talent can only get you but so far without hard work, right Vernon?” Ill advised, Katie egged on Amala. “Maybe she’s just used to getting everything on her own, for free!” Katie’s mouth ran away from her again, letting her darker, deeper thoughts just spew out! (Huh? Did I say that out loud?!)

“Whoa, whoa, Katie chill! Amala she was joking…” A cold, piercing glare reached from beyond the wall of telekinesis. The frigid gaze settled on Vernon, overwhelming the heat from the fire he repelled.

The stream of flames slowed, and the heat radiating across the clearing faded, or so it seemed. Flickering embers spiraled upward, swirling atop Amala’s raised palm, combining into a ball of fire! The swirling crimson orb raged into an inferno in Amala’s hand! “Talent? Lazy? Fine. I’ll try my hardest!” Winding up, Amala reeled back, stopping just short of lobbing the sphere of fiery and certain death at her co-worker! “…Ah…” She was frozen in place, letting the flames dissipate and die away. “…Sorry.”

“…” Not since learning of the mysterious deaths from the Newtonville Rock incident had Vernon felt death looming over his shoulder so intensely. With Amala’s incensed glare, he felt that frosty breath chilling the back of his neck unlike ever before. “Let’s call it…uh…h-how about we discuss what happened yesterday?”

Part 2

“OK, let me absorb all of this.” Muting the television, Vernon began processing the events recited back to him while pacing back and forth in his living room. After spending so much time over Vernon’s, the team felt comfortable enough to individually unwind on the brown leather couches and white shag carpeting; Harper even began leaving a phone charger plugged in, knowing he’d always see it again. “Yesterday, Vergil’s sister Wilhelmina was kidnapped from her school, Landon Middle school. Vergil and Harper caught wind of it and took off chasing after her. Harper lost Vergil, called me, then I sent Amala to assist. You two were able to track down the kidnapper, which ended up being a member of the 365, who took Wilhelmina to the theater house…for some reason.”

“Yes, that’s all correct.” Amala confirmed, attentively seated with her hands on her knees, taking up as little room as possible on the couch.

Left scratching his head, Vernon had many questions. “OK…so…A-Amala is it right to assume you burned down the building?” Having showcased a whole set of emotions never seen before, a bit of caution was had when engaging his subordinate.

“Yes…by mistake!” She added, feeling it needed to be said.

“Right. Well, what about you, Katie? Why were you there?” The former actress stood up, wanting to address another matter first.

“Before that, Amala, I’m sorry.” Laying the false sincerity on thick, Katie even hung her head in shame. (You’d better accept this.) Continuing on… “I don’t know what came over me! I…just felt I was being fed lines or something.” Amala cut her eyes to Harper, ducking behind the couch’s armrest onto the floor. “All the same, very sorry!”

“Yeah, ok, whatever, I forgive you.” A blush rose on Amala’s cheeks as she turned away, embarrassed.

“Now, back to why I was there. I…was a stage actress.” Genuine disappointment in having to correct herself, though Katie masked it with a smile. (Should I tell them about Matthew? No, I don’t want them to think I was involved in all that kidnapping and drug running shit.) Resolving to cover her tracks, Katie aimed to further distance herself from the situation. “I just showed up to the theater house for a rehearsal. Next thing I knew, those explosions rocked the whole building! I went to the back to make sure no one was there and I found the girl in one of the offices. Right when I was about to escape with her, Harper bumped into us, then…” It only took a second for Katie to adjust the truth in her head. “The director and owner of the theater house, Matthew, came around the corner with some guy following him. He got upset and shot Matthew dead, then turned his gun on us! I used a bunch of my mannequins to push him away…now that I think about it, my nose bled a bunch back then too.”

“And the fire started, when?” Vernon asked, constructing a picture in his head for the sequence of events.

“When I came across the gangster and that little fat man.” Amala clarified. “The gangster shot me in the neck.” She said, rubbing her sore, bandaged wound.

“OK. Then you guys left, am I right?” The group nodded. “What about Wilhelmina? I assume you carried everyone, right Amala.” Again, confirmation was given. “Guess as long as she keeps quiet, we’re fine.” A thought wedged itself into Vernon’s mind. “…Did you know those two cops were reported as dead yesterday?”

“What?!” All the others were shocked!

“Seriously? Do you guys not follow the news?”

Harper frantically searched the report online! “He’s right! What the hell?” The online article mentioned both Niles Letterman and Kevin Greene, officers of the Trenton police department, being found dead in the middle of a desert, with no suspects. “…It ended up getting buried under news of the shooting from today.” An event that’d not left Harper’s mind, or Amala’s.

“By shooting, do you mean the one near the mall in downtown Trenton?” She inquired, recalling those distant lost eyes of the shooter.

“Uh-huh. My boy, Pete was down there, ended up seeing it happen.” Witnessing a murder changed most people. The gruesome deaths of Niles and Kevin were grotesque beyond belief, never sticking in Harper’s mind because of the sheer absurdity, but seeing Pete breaking down only deepened his fear of Amala. His friend had seen someone killed in front of him and couldn’t bear the sight; Amala had killed without batting an eye. Peering into the woman’s mind for the second he did was like looking into a calm lake with a monster watching him from beneath the surface. “He was really torn up about it.” A total lack of reaction from Vergil drew ire from Harper, until an update was suddenly attached to the article that shocked him. “…Multiple shootings?!”

“Multiple? Today?” Leaning over his shoulder, Amala studied the updated article. Within an hour of the first incident, four separate shootings went down with four victims. “What was the connection?”

“Probably something to do with the 365. Doesn’t matter, the officers being found is the more important matter. Finally, one of many loads off our backs.” Finally pulling off his light burgundy workout jacket, Vernon began to unwind, feeling disconnected with the subject at long last.

“It’s not a load off our backs!” Amala asserted, jumping to her feet! “Nicolaus mentioned how worried he was about that! He found it suspicious that the officers’ bodies were never found. It was really bugging him!” Recalling their conversation, keeping in mind Nicolaus’s suspicions about Vernon, doubts were supplanted in Amala as well. “And we still don’t know where he is! I think we need to find Nicolaus!” Restless and worried, Amala had brought herself almost nose to nose with her boss, retreating into his jacket and backed against a wall.

“Ok…calm down…” The fire in her purple eyes weren’t incomparable to her pyrokinesis.

“H-He wanted to investigate all the weird things surrounding us.” Vergil added. “What happened with the off-officers really bugged him. He also was…” Vergil stopped just short of divulging more that Nicolaus had confided in him.

“Also?”

“Nothing…” Vergil clammed up, shrinking into the corner of the living room.

“…Why do I feel like Nick'o is only not talking to me?” A mostly correct assumption. Vernon checked his phone again, seeing no replies from Nicolaus, again unintentionally meeting eyes with the concern plagued Amala. “I’m sure he’s just ignoring my calls.” Any growing animosity was usurped with delight by a phone call coming in. “I’ll be back. Got a call!” He walked right by Amala and off into his house, leaving the group. The others silently sat until Vergil got up himself.

“I’m…uh…g-going to the bathroom.” He quickly scurried off toward the restroom on the second floor, walking right by Harper without a word. Normally, annoying Vergil, playfully, would goad a response, however, any attempt Harper made to speak with him throughout the evening was ignored.

With Katie lost in her own world, pawing through her phone, and Amala, returning to her bizarrely attentive silence on the couch, awkward air choked the room. “Bathroom.” Harper followed Vergil upstairs. With his friend already in the restroom, he waited outside, planning to confront him the second he exited.

A text message from Lefty came through. [Sorry about before, lol! Pete’s good now. Bro was shook!] Often sardonic, Harper was wading knee deep into unfamiliar waters. His increasingly unusual reality was becoming cluttered with new feelings and uncertainty, and he hated every part of it.

[It’s whatever. You good? You were crying too back there! Lol!] Omitting the ‘lol’ at the last second before sending off the message.

[I wasn’t crying! ‘Weed hit bad. No idea what came over me. Out of nowhere I was just…gloomy? ‘last time I smoke something Pete’s dog-ass brings! Lol!]

Vergil exited the bathroom, nearly jumping out of his skin upon seeing his best friend awaiting! “Dude, I texted you all last night and today, and now you’re ignoring me! What’s good?”

“S-sorry. I was busy.” That nearly sent Harper into a fit of rage!

“Busy with what?! You ran off yesterday after Wilhelmina, and I didn’t see you afterwards!” Silence was his reply. “For real! What the fuck is happening?! Where did you go?” Again, no reply. “Answer me! I’m your best friend, dumbass! Stop acting like a little…” Halting his outburst, Harper took a deep breath and started again. “Listen…I want to know what happened with your face. Your dad do that to you? He’s an asshole, I know that.”

For a reason unknown to even Vergil, that upset him. “…W-what Amala said about your dad, is it true?” Harper struck Vergil, sending the boy to the ground! Both were shocked; Harper had never punched anyone in the face before, and Vergil had never expected his friend to hit him!

“Verg…I-I didn’t mean to do that!”

“What’s going on?” Amala peeked up and around the staircase, seeing Harper standing over the downed Vergil. Humiliated and hurt, Vergil bolted past Amala and down the stairs! “What…Vergil, wait!”

The commotion startled Katie’s attention away from her recording, watching as Harper and Amala chased after Vergil storming through the front door! “What the hell is going on? Uh…Vernon! Vernon, come here!” She elected to call for Vernon, who was still engaged in a phone conversation.

Heart overflowing with unrest, Vergil stomped off down the dark wooded path! As Harper reached out, grabbing his friend by the shoulder… “Get off!” Vergil jerked away, unleashing an unintentional psionic wall, blasting up the soil just short of Harper! In the split second it could’ve hit him, Amala used her haze to grab the pudgy boy and tug him back across the ground! “Just…J-just leave me alone!”

The boys had fights before, some of their scuffles nearly coming to blows, but never was a punch actually thrown. “Not going to follow him?” Amala asked, reluctantly offering the boy a hand after finding a shred of empathy in her heart.

Sitting on the cold and dry ground, Harper struggled to analyze the muddled feelings in his chest. The prior day he rescued Wilhelmina. giving him a high like never before, but also glimpsed Vergil’s warm memories, grafting a bizarre patch of sympathy onto his often-pessimistic psyche. Harper worried his friendship was damaged and wanted to give chase, but what overshadowed that notion was fear. At his feet was a perfectly cut, inch thick, groove in the earth. If Amala’s reactions were slower, Harper would’ve lost a foot at least! “…No…” Was all he could utter watching the skinny back of his friend disappearing into the woods.

Part 3

“Hey, Raquel, what's going on?” Thankfully it was just a voice call. If Raquel Childs had seen the face of Vernon Marino, beaming as he was, she’d have teased the man relentlessly. The two messaged back and forth frequently, but Vernon hadn’t chatted with his ‘friend’ in some time. “Feeling alright?”

“Exhausted. Sorry we haven’t had a chance to hang out lately.”

“Nothing to worry about. Seeing as you guys have been working the warzone known as Trenton lately, I can only assume you’re busy.”

“Yeah, but I do want to see you! What do you say we grab lunch tomorrow or something? I’ll be in town.”

“Sure, love to…” Above his head, off in the other section of his own home, Vernon could hear a commotion. Instead of finding the source, he fled to the kitchen in the back hoping to continue the conversation. “Let’s drop the work talk. You mentioned before that you were thinking of trying a different restaurant, since the last one wasn’t up to your standards.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Marino! You said that place wasn’t any good, not me.”

“I said, and I quote, ‘it’s like walking onto the set of a bad sitcom’…or something. It was funny, you laughed!”

“It was, but that was still messed up! Screw the restaurants, I’ll cook something nice for you.”

“Oh? Inviting yourself over again?”

“Why not?”

“You know…I’ve never been to your place.”

“That’s because it’s messy.”

“That’s a surprise!” The two idly chatted as the commotion continued! Suddenly someone called his name from inside the home, so Vernon exited through the sliding glass backdoor, shutting it behind himself. “You, messy? Unbelievable. You always tidy up my place whenever you’re over.”

“Again, busy. There have been…way too many fires across the city lately.”

“Fires…” A thought slowly formed. “You’re talking about the theater house burning down, you mean that?”

“Yeah. The hotel too.”

“Wasn’t that a gas explosion? Something those…Beset guys did, right?” Lodging itself firmly in the back of Vernon’s mind, he ignored that thought, choosing not to confront it; not then.

“Gas explosion…yeah, sure. Luckily, I wasn’t caught up in it.”

“…What? You were there?!”

“Yeah. Joffe was my responsibility, after all. I messed up.”

“…Aren’t you overworking yourself a bit?”

“I’m tough and have a lot more stamina than you!” She joked, not realizing she’d sparked Vernon’s anxiety. “Nothing’s going to-”

“No, seriously! Don’t they have other people who can handle that kind of stuff?”

“…Vernon, relax. I’m fine. I get that you’re worried, but we’re understaffed with everything going on in the city. I appreciate the concern, but you shouldn’t get yourself all up in a twist.”

“…I guess you’re right.”

“Vernon!” Startling him as she hollered his name, Katie ran up and grabbed the man by the wrist and tugged him toward the house!

“Call you back!” Vernon hung up the phone so fast, Raquel didn’t even catch his sign off. “What? I was in the middle of som-”

“Harper and Vergil were fighting over something!” Dragging the man half a foot taller around the front of his property, they found Harper and Amala, but no Vergil. Harper brooded on the ground while Amala seemed to prod him, poking the boy’s chubby cheek with a sadistic smirk. “Hey, where’s Vergil?”

“He left.” Just two words were pushing it for Harper. If he’d said more, he wasn’t sure if the floodgate of frustrations built up would burst open.

“Vergil went down the hill. He was…angry about something.” Taking it upon herself, Amala interjected.

“And neither of you tried to stop him? Seriously?!” Vernon groaned, cloaked himself in his haze and shot upward! “…Can’t see him from up here.” Shadows cast throughout the forest under the moonlight shrouded everything in a dark veil. No animal, let alone person, could be seen. As the effort appeared fruitless, Vernon returned to the group and pulled out his phone, trying to call Vergil. “…He’s not picking up. Why’d he just run off?”

“He just got mad and left.” A snap answer from the sulking teen annoyed Vernon.

“Mad at what?” He persisted.

“Just…stuff, man.”

“What stuff? Explain.”

“Butt out, dude!” Harper fired back! “This doesn't have anything to do with you, so quit being a busybody and mind your own business!”

“…” a twitch in Vernon’s right eye was missed by the others, yet Amala had seen it before and knew what was about to happen. “My business, huh? Well, while you're minding your own business, your friend, beaten and battered, just a day after his sister was kidnapped, is walking off into the night! In this situation, what do you think is the correct thing to do?” He looked to both ladies standing off to the side, wishing they weren't beholden to the dressing down. “I wouldn't let my friend, in an obvious state of shock and clearly dealing with something, just walk off!”

“Yeah, and not everybody's you, Vernon!”

“Clearly! That and no one here wants to tell me what's going on!”

“That's because it has nothing to do with you! Like I fucking said!”

“But you want my help when you need it, right? You want me to drop everything and help you, but you can’t even talk to me?! Everyone here is acting like this, ducking out of training, ignoring messages and hiding stuff!”

“And you're not?!”

“No! I wouldn’t hide anything from any of you that affects this group!” Though Harper considered scanning Vernon’s mind to see if that were true, he was still hesitant about using his powers. “I can’t believe you’re giving me flack! What’s with all of you lately? It’s like you’ve all lost sight of the fact that we still have these powers and don’t know anything about them.”

“…And those shootings…” Amala muttered.

“Forget about that for now.” Her concern was noted specifically by Harper despite being brushed aside by her work superior. “Ugh! Harper, go and talk to Vergil.”

“…” Short of continuing the argument, Harper decided to just tell Vernon whatever it would take to end the back and forth. “Fine! Whatever! I’m done for the night anyway.”

“I mean it! You guys should talk this through, especially if it’s not that big a deal. You don’t want small things like that to ruin your friendship.” Vernon recalled such an incident in his past, but even thinking about the outcome for the girl he was seeing at the time caused him to course correct with another story. “…Friend of mine and I argued over a game of basketball in college. We lost a pick-up game because he missed a wonky 3 pointer…” Amala became thoroughly uninterested the minute sports were mentioned, pulling out her phone and scrolling through notifications. “Told him to practice it, but he didn’t listen to me. We had a massive game to get into the playoffs, and he got the ball, open court, no one blocking him, and right at the buzzer…he missed. Same situation as the pick-up game.” Growing weary of Vernon’s attempted lesson, Harper’s eyes wandered over to Amala’s screen. Several threads, that at a glance, even he could tell were serious. “We argued after that, mostly because he couldn’t accept me telling him where he messed up. Kept telling him to keep his elbow tight, but in the end he didn’t budge. I let him down. Should’ve kept on him to listen to me…maybe he would’ve made it big time.” By then, everyone was fully detached from story time with Vernon. Katie was lost in her own business about Baxter, wondering if the evidence on her phone should be sent to him and if he was trustworthy. Harper was reading thread titles over Amala’s shoulder, who scrolled down the list without a care. “…Looks like everyone wants to call it a night.” One thing they could all agree on. Electing to believe that everyone was simply too choked up at the heartfelt story Vernon was narrating, he ignored their obvious uncaring expressions. “Harper, really…go talk with Vergil.”

“…” Vacantly staring at the older man, Harper responded with little to no enthusiasm. “Sure.”

Part 4

Despite ending on an awkward note, everyone achieved at least one goal that night. Amala, however, was unsatisfied. Posted up outside Vernon’s house, she leaned back against a tree, phone pressed to her ear, listening again with anger to the voice mail answering service on Nicolaus Thompson’s phone. “…Is he okay?”

“Who?” She cut her eyes to the approaching Harper with a frigid glare. “Can you stop doing that?”

“No. I don’t like you.”

“…Then why help me with Vergil before?”

“…Not sure.” Amala questioned that herself. In her mind, seeing the boys fight amongst themselves reminded her of the many arguments she and Chelsea had, giving a tinge of sympathy and resentment. “…Were you influencing me with your powers?” Her eyes narrowed into an intense lioness-like scowl.

“No! I swear!” She closed the gap between them, needing to stand on the tips of her toes to stand nose to nose with Harper. Knowing how harrowing the inside of Amala’s head was, Harper had solemnly promised himself to never plod around in there again. “I really didn’t. I haven’t used my telepathy since yesterday at the theater house. What if I hurt someone again…?”

“Hurt someone? Whatever. Doesn’t matter. Now, about Mister Calvin…er! Calvin Wolf, your father!” Cheeks red with embarrassment, Amala stepped away trying to compose herself with deep breaths. Once calm, she immediately jumped back into Harper’s face! “Well? Answer me. What did you find?”

“Nothing…” The heat surrounding them soared! “Nothing because I didn’t use my powers, ok?!” Quickly correcting himself! The temperature in the air rapidly decreased. “Look, I will, I promised. It just hurts to use my powers right now and I don’t want to hurt someone else.”

“…Read my mind.” She demanded, petulantly.

“What?! You said-”

“Shut up and do it!” Deciding whether the terrors of peering into Amala’s mind or incurring her wrath in person was worse, Harper ultimately decided on telepathy.

“OK, well, don’t be mad!” Eyes closed, and with the lightest of force, weight grew on the crown of Harper’s head as he engaged his telepathy. Weaving thoughts traced across the air, and like a circuit, he felt the connection established. “…Do you feel it? Does it hurt?”

“Can’t you tell?”

“That’s not how it works. The deeper I go, the more things I see, perceive, feel.”

“…Then what do you ‘see, perceive, feel’?” Annoyance, Harper picked that up. Just scraping the edge of Amala’s mind was like looking into a building through a cloudy window. More annoyance, and moving deeper, he could tell it was directed at him. Further still, gauging his own powers, thoughts began to form in front of the telepathic boy. (He’d better hurry up. I want to try calling Nicolaus again.)

“…What’s with you and Nicolaus?”

“…” Ready to shout, the frazzled young woman halted, answering as honestly as possible. “…I want apologize, ok?” Surprised at her frankness, Harper didn’t need to sift through her thoughts to know she was telling the truth. That beautiful face of Amala’s was expressive in a way he’d only seen on television; with eyes that gave away everything. “Ow!” Pain started resonating from the front of Amala’s head.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to!”

“No, it’s fine. That does confirm one thing though. You can read minds without hurting someone. Read Calvin Wolf’s mind, I want you to confirm the truth for me.”

“…A-Alright.” Defeated, Harper was unsure of how to confront his father with such a thing! Amala returned to her phone, which ignited a thought in Harper. “You were looking through threads online before, right? Was it about those shootings?”

“Yes. It doesn’t concern you.”

“No…I guess it doesn’t, but—”

“Hey!” Vernon’s voice surprised the two! He walked out from the front door, having finally gotten around to taking off his sweatshirt, down to just a white tee-shirt and sweatpants. “You two still here? Katie’s already got her ride lined up, guys. Amala, you going to help Harper find Vergil?”

Reflected in his determined dark-brown eyes, Amala could see her own frowning face. She knew more than anyone, those meant he’d push an idea until it got done. “…” She just nodded her head once and grunted mumbled insults under her breath.

“Cool! If you guys need me, I’m one phone call away!” Almost gleefully rushing back into his home, Harper spied Vernon pulling up his phone the second he hit the couch.

“So, about those threads…” Harper began again.

“Why are you so persistent about that?”

“My buddy Pete, he witnessed the shooting, and my other friend Lefty has been talking about how dangerous things are…” Newly uncovered guilt weighed heavily on his shoulders. (It’s not really my fault…Vergil was the one who lied to the police. But…) Vergil, Wilhelmina, Warren Prince, and even Juan, all those lives were changed, or ended due in part to events he set in motion. Somewhere in all that, he even found room to blame the ongoing war between the 365 and Beset’s sword on himself. Harper tossed and turned, groaning as he battled those conflicting feelings within himself, fighting against taking the blame.

“OK, what is with you all of sudden?” Analytical eye that she had, Amala had been paying attention to Harper’s sudden change in attitude. “Ever since Wilhelmina was kidnapped, you’ve been trying to be nice and friendly. You weren’t like this a few months ago.”

“That’s not true…”

“The heck it isn’t. I do not forget things.”

“I…” He decided to lie, not completely, but more shift the truth. “Want to help the Beset’s sword.”

“Why?”

“They aren’t the bad guys! I remember reports on the news and posts online about how they were going after bad guys in Trenton.”

“Bad guys like your father.”

“…” He stifled the urge to argue. “You were browsing the website, so you care a bit. You even seemed to care when I mentioned it earlier!”

“I don’t…not care.” Amala brought up her phone again, seeing there were new posts since she last checked! “There are new ones.” Chills ran up Amala’s spine when she actually read the forum posts beyond a cursory glance. “Need help, being chased. They’re coming for us. The 365 are following me…”

“Seriously?!” Harper grabbed Amala’s phone and looked over the titles, noticing an already clicked subscribe button at the top. “Wait, you’re subbed to this forum!” Amala snatched back the phone in hopes that Harper wouldn’t realize she was acting as a vigilante. “Those guys were saying they’re being hunted. Don’t you want to help them?”

“…No. I can’t.” The pain in her shoulder and neck hadn’t subsided in just the day she had allowed them to heal. “Regardless, you still haven’t told me why it’s so important that we help.”

“Ugh! Why can’t I just want to help them?!” Stubborn beyond all expectations, Harper tried to find another solution. “…You want to find Nicolaus, right? I could probably do that for you.”

“What?! How?!” Before, Harper stood opposite a woman with her arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and who basically spat short biting remarks at him. From distain filled purple spotlights to excitable girlish glee tinged puppy dog eyes, giddily pulling her fists to her chin to contain her enthusiasm, and suddenly weightless tone, Harper wondered how deep Amala’s scars ran.

“My powers, I can use them to kind of sense all of you, even when I don’t mean to. It’s been like that since…maybe since that night at the Newtonville Rock – the time with the police officers, I mean. Always a low, slight, murmur from you, Katie, Vergil, Vernon, and even Nicolaus.”

“Then you have been reading my mind for a while now!”

“No! I…quit it!” Picking on Harper was becoming enjoyable to Amala by that point! “Those people clearly matter to you, even just a little bit. Wouldn’t you feel guilty if something happened to them?”

Amala considered that. She didn’t want to involve herself with Beset’s sword directly, never even posting on the forum herself. Comments acknowledged and cheered her unseen activities, though the praise was totally undesired. Rescuing children who were being kidnapped in the city and punishing those who she deemed as evil were the only things that mattered! That resolve was rock solid until her life was truly in danger. When Amala couldn’t even rely on her own powers, she got scared. That shaken resolve had only avoided total collapse due to rescuing Wilhelmina! Before that, she thought about just walking away and leaving everything behind. Viewing her actions as a kind gesture and moving on was comforting, plus the justice she was seeking ultimately had no real end goal, or even plan! She didn’t know what to do, but…weakness, being lost, loneliness, Amala didn’t want anyone else, especially children to experience what she had! “Fine, I’ll help Beset’s sword.”

“Nice!”

“And you’re coming with me!”

“…OK…?”

End of Chapter 19