Chapter Ten

I woke up in a similar position to the one I’d fallen asleep in. My head was on a still-slumbering Tristan’s chest, one of his arms around my waist and the other crossing my body to rest on the side of my neck. I guess he’d nodded off while still stroking my hair to calm me down.

I glanced up at him, trying not to move too much in case I woke him. His face was completely relaxed as he breathed in and out deeply; he looked a lot more content than he usually did.

‘You’re staring at me ,’ he mumbled without opening his eyes, and I averted my gaze sharply.

‘Sorry.’

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked, his voice thick with sleep, and not, I noticed, moving away from me or letting me go.

‘Okay,’ I mumbled. The truth was I wasn’t really sure how I felt. Overwhelmed, I guess.

‘You’re overwhelmed,’ he said, and I looked back up at him sharply.

‘Stop doing that,’ I ordered.

‘Doing what?’

‘That mind reading thing or whatever, it’s not fair.’

Tristan chuckled, finally opening his eyes. ‘I can’t read your mind Cody, that’s not part of the package. It’s good to know I’ve got you so figured out though.’

‘You don’t have me figured out,’ I muttered, looking away again. ‘You just get lucky sometimes.’ I flushed at my choice of phrasing.

‘When else did you think I was reading your mind?’

I shrugged, embarrassed now. ‘Last night, when you said “No, I’ve never done this before”.’

‘Ah. Well. That’s different.’

‘So you could read my mind?’

‘No, but there was a pretty tangible flow of emotions. There always is when two people with powers sleep together. Couldn’t you feel it?’

‘I wasn’t really paying attention. There was some other stuff going on that I was distracted by.’

Tristan laughed. ‘You’re funny now.’

‘I’m always funny.’

‘Unintentionally.’

‘Shut up! So, when you said you’d never done it before, you meant...?’

‘I’ve never done “the ritual” before,’ he said, saying “the ritual” in a comical voice.

‘So in a way it was kind of your first time too,’ I suggested shyly.

He shrugged. ‘I guess. Kinda sad for three hundred and seventy seven, huh?’

‘Have you met a lot of people like me? Who wanted you to change them?’

‘A few,’ he brushed the question off. ‘But I bet you none of them would have laid in bed the next morning making pillow talk. Aren’t you even curious to use your powers?’

I sat bolt upright. ‘Oh my god,’ I breathed. ‘I didn’t even think of it like that.’ I paused, and looked at him expectantly. ‘What do I do? How do I make my eyes go all black and stuff?’

Tristan gave me a lopsided, indulgent smile. ‘That’s a side effect, not a mechanism,’ he told me. ‘I guess we should start small in case you blow up the house or something. Try and bring something to you.’

I hesitated, looking at him worriedly. ‘Could that really happen? Could I blow up the house by accident?’

‘Your powers are going to be really volatile for about a week or so, anything could happen. But I doubt you could do any real damage as long as you stay calm. Whatever you do, don’t get angry.’

‘Don’t provoke me then!’ I exclaimed. ‘I only ever get angry when you’re around.’

Tristan rolled his eyes and sat up too. ‘Shut up and call your shirt over here,’ he said in the same deep voice he’d had last night, and I had to focus on not letting a shiver of excitement run down my back.

‘Fine,’ I snapped instead, then turned to look at my t-shirt, which was laying in a heap on the floor a few feet away. I took a deep breath and concentrated, holding out my hand in its direction and ordering it with my mind to come to me.

After a few seconds I breathed out in disappointment, letting my hand drop. ‘It didn’t work,’ I said in dejected disbelief.

‘Course it did,’ Tristan said breezily, shifting around so he was sitting behind me. He reached forward and took my hand, lifting it up again and pointing it towards my shirt. ‘Close your eyes.’ I did. ‘Breathe naturally,’ he said in a quiet, calming voice right beside my ear. Breathing naturally was difficult when he was causing my pulse to accelerate. ‘Picture the shirt in your mind. Now see it lifting off the floor and moving towards your hand.’ I played the little movie in my head, and jerked in surprise when I felt the material of the shirt against my fingertips.

‘Oh my god!’ I exclaimed again, grabbing the shirt. ‘It worked!’

‘Yer a wizard, Harry,’ Tristan joked, the lopsided smile back in place.

‘I don’t even care that you’re making fun of me, that was amazing,’ I retorted, turning to face the crumpled heap that was my jeans. I raised my hand and concentrated on staying calm, visualising the pants flying towards me without closing my eyes this time. To my surprise, they did. ‘Ha!’

‘Well done,’ Tristan indulged me. ‘Feel like trying something more difficult?’

I nodded eagerly. ‘Okay. Get your shoes.’

I moved instinctively to stand up but Tristan caught my wrist, raising an eyebrow when I looked at him.

‘Oh. Right.’ I sat back down and made the shoes come to me.

‘Okay, now put them on and try to tie the shoelaces without touching them.’

I looked at him sceptically. ‘That doesn’t sound so hard.’

‘Don’t knock it til you try it,’ he warned me. ‘Big moves are easy; moving things around and blowing things up doesn’t require a lot of concentration. The intricate stuff is a lot more difficult. Gregory says Edwin couldn’t tie his own shoelaces until he was thirty, and he lost his Virginity when he was twenty two.’

‘I’m supposed to be super powerful this week though, right?’

‘You’ll always be “super powerful”,’ Tristan reminded me. ‘But this week you’ll notice it more because it will be harder to control. There’s sixteen years of repressed powers in you all trying to get out at once.’

‘Oh.’ I glanced at my shoes. Given the warnings he was liberally laying out, tying my shoelaces seemed distinctly anti-climatic.

Nevertheless, I slipped my feet into my trainers and hovered my hand over the laces, my face scrunching up in concentration. They gave a half hearted leap to the other side of the shoe and lay flat.

Tristan snorted, strengthening my resolve.

Glaring at my shoelaces now, I used my pointer finger to physically guide the laces in a loop around each other, tying a sloppy knot.

‘Impressive,’ Tristan admitted. ‘But kind of cheating.’

‘Means to an end,’ I said dismissively. ‘When do I get to start blowing things up?’

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When we finally emerged for breakfast I was crimson by the time we got to the kitchen. I knew everyone would know what had happened, and even if they couldn’t sense it on me (which they could) they’d find out eventually when I had to practice using my new powers.

‘Morning boys,’ Gregory said absently, barely glancing at us as we sat down. He was still poring over the blueprints from last night.

‘How’d you sleep?’ Edwin asked slyly, grinning. I went even redder.

‘Shut up, Edwin,’ Tristan said authoritatively. Normally I don’t think he would have gotten away with speaking to his dad like that but Edwin dismissed it.

‘Breakfast?’ he settled for asking.

‘Yes please,’ I mumbled, avoiding looking anyone in the eye.

‘Cereal’s on the counter,’ he said, nodding in that direction. I went to fetch it, but again felt Tristan’s hand on my arm.

‘Best if you exercise them as much as you can before tonight,’ he said, and I bit my lip but dutifully held my hand towards the cereal, watching in surprise as it lifted from the counter and soared into my hand.

‘Very good,’ Gregory said distractedly. ‘You’ve got good control for it only being your first day.’

‘Hide and seek is going to be much more fun now,’ Annabelle said happily, eating her own breakfast. I noticed Maya was absent and inwardly cringed; if she’d hated me before she was going to completely detest me now I’d slept with her crush.

Right on cue she appeared in the doorway, looking sleep-ruffled in the way supermodels look sleep-ruffled when they’re doing a photoshoot for pyjamas. She took one look at me and her already dissatisfied expression melted into rage.

‘Wonderful,’ she hissed, before turning on her heel and storming back up the stairs.

I glanced worriedly at Tristan, who shrugged. ‘She’ll get over it,’ he said dismissively, sitting down at the table.

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It was late afternoon and raining outside, but that’s where I was, precipitation phobia be damned. I was in the back garden of the Darlington house, standing under an oak tree and looking out at the rain pensively.

‘How you doing?’ Tristan asked, and I jumped. I hadn’t heard him coming.

‘Nervous,’ I admitted.

Tristan nodded, and stared at the rain with me for a while. ‘Want me to show you how to blow something up?’ he suggested eventually, and I grinned.

‘Always.’

He lifted his hand carelessly and an apple dropped from the tree across the garden, then sped towards me, aimed right at my head.

‘Jesus!’ I knew I should duck but some stronger instinct took over and my hand shot up of its own volition, the apple vaporising a mere foot from my face. I could taste it in the air. ‘Bit dramatic,’ I grumbled, dropping my hand again.

Tristan shrugged. ‘I needed you to know your instincts will take over when you need them to. Telling you wouldn’t have done any good.’

I made some more grumbling noises but had to concede it had worked.

‘Of all of us, you have the least to be nervous about,’ he said. ‘As of right now, you’re the most powerful one of us. You’ll instinctively go for complete overkill if you’re threatened; I mean, redirecting the apple would have sufficed. If you find yourself in a position tonight where you’re scared, nothing will be able to touch you.’

I breathed out a huge breath I hadn’t even realised I was holding. ‘That is kind of reassuring,’ I admitted. ‘What about everyone else?’

‘We can take care of ourselves,’ Tristan said, smiling wryly. ‘They’re just as powerful as I said they are, but we’re powerful too. And we’re angry. Much like the Incredible Hulk, we can be quite intimidating when we’re angry.’

‘I don’t doubt it,’ I told him, elbowing him lightly.

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A/N: SORRY, I know it's a filler but it was unavoidable. More action next chater, promise :)