Pardon My Dust!

Okay, so some things in this book don't make sense. So I'm fixing that. One by one, I'm completely reworking my chapters, changing the tense, the sequence of events, cutting events, etc.

Chapters that I have finished with will have "(redone)" following the title. Please let me know what you think!

Chapter 47

Aiyamar

My Team moved off down the hall, Tzara following sullenly. I still don’t want to acknowledge her as part of the Team; she wasn’t, really.

I even feel a little resentment that Lorik is the Leader now. I mean, it’s not like I have anything personal against him. It’s just wrong, somehow, that Kyle isn’t leading. He’s a natural at it.

Even when he first started, after Chris left, Kyle was the best Leader. At least, he was in the 1-4 Quarter Corps. We’d risen from being Team 031 to Team 009 in only a single Earth year. That’s record time.

At least I know Lorik though, unlike Tzara, who is simply an intruder.

We slowly made our way back across the Mess Hall, and back to the Team 009 dorm. On the way, Kelta struggled to tame a threatening thunderstorm brewing overhead. It was only one of several such “impossible” weather phenomenons.

I ducked around Eyrad so that I could stand next to Kelta. “Hey.”

She sniffed and brushed a hand in front of her eyes. It was a poor attempt to hide her tears.

With Kelta, you never know if she’s just leaking, or actually crying. But it would make more sense for her to be crying, what with…well, everything.

“Hey,” I said again so that only she could hear. I slipped my hand into hers and squeezed. “You want to talk later?”

She shook her head, sending auburn hair flying in self-generated air currents. “I’m just worried, you know?”

I nodded. Of course I knew. She’s worried about her crush, Wynn. For the last 18 Earth months, she’s been constantly thinking about him. Now it’s gotten to the point where I’m worried about her. It’s not exactly easy having relationships in the School. Sure, some do it, but it’s technically against the rules. Too many complications if someone defects in battle.

So, it’s not like she can just tell him, in case he’s the type to say something to Kyle. Neither one of us thinks that he would, but it’s better not to take changes. They are pretty close.

She was doing a good job of keeping it to herself, because no one knew until she told me. And she only told me because I threatened to tell Kyle that she was acting strangely (not eating, sleeping, etc). The last thing she wanted was for a mind-reader to ask her what’s wrong.

As far as we know, no one else knows except for Krystal. How she managed to pry it out of Kelta, I’ll never know. She must have a gift for persuasion. That’s why Kelta wants her to ask Wynn how he feels about her. Discreetly, of course. I’m really excited to see what he says (and what he thinks).

…

We reached the dorms slightly damp. Poor Kelta had lost control, unleashing a torrent of rain onto us and a few other Classmen. No one minded. Rain seemed appropriate for such a somber mood.

I felt so bad for her. She’s usually not like this at all.

Lorik had us line up, and then he addressed us simply. “We’ll have to chance the portals for this mission. Aiyamar, Astulad, and Tzara will help strengthen them and lessen our chances of being teleported to the middle of nowhere. All of you, be on the look out for enemies. Take notice of any emblems, signs, et cetera. Collect your weapons. We leave in 2 Earth minutes.”

While I certainly wasn’t thrilled with being forced to work with Tzara, Astulad was practically glowing. I mean that in a literal sense.

Chapter 46

Aiyamar

After we were debriefed (I can’t say that without laughing, even considering our circumstances), Kelsey signaled for me, Kelta, Eyrad, Llare, Ya’asa, and Lorik to follow her.

She led us to one of the few hallways not crowded with rescuees from the battle. We saluted her, as is customary, and she returned the gesture formally. I just knew that she was going to tell us something really bad.

“First, you’re all going to be screened.” I didn’t like the way she’d say that. I’ve never been screened (as far as I can remember), but I’ve heard that it hurts a lot.

One by one, we lined up. Lorik was first. He, of course, wouldn’t be afraid of the screening; he could pretty much make sure that Kelsey didn’t hurt him. In fact, I kind of think that if he wanted to, he could take over the School. Good thing he’s loyal to Kelsey, as was proved when she was done screening him.

When my turn came, I heard Kelsey’s voice in my head. Just relax. If you fight, I’ll be distracted and it’ll hurt. I did what she said. It did hurt, worse than anything I’d ever felt, but it was over really fast.

When she was done, we all lined up in front of her to hear what she had to say.

“You all have met Krystal Watema,” she said, stating it as a fact. We all nodded our heads silently. “How many of you have heard about Krystal’s, uh, encounter before she came here?”

Ya’asa and I raised our hands. Eyrad’s arm twitched, which for him was the same as raising his hand. Poor thing, he’s so freaking shy.

I had heard something from Kyle about the Immaterial Beast that Krystal had killed. I didn’t know the whole story, but I had said something to Ya’asa, and between ourselves we had managed to make a pretty tall tale out of it.

“Well, to make a long story short, she was sought out, and attacked by an Immaterial Beast. We don’t have positive identification of the species.”

All of us gasped. Even me and Ya’asa. It was just so shocking to hear the rumor confirmed.

Kelsey continued without stopping. “I’m sending all of you to go find Krystal. She’s in major danger. We think it’s because of her immense raw power.

Say nothing of this to anyone,” she said, looking straight at me. Okay, I admit, I’ve been known to say too much at times. “The rest of the students think that you’re going to rescue Kyle. I hate to say it, but we’ll have to let him look out for himself for a while.”

If I know anything about Kyle, he’d probably prefer we go after Krystal, anyway. I could imagine him berating us for not finding the other members of our Team before him.

Llare raised his hand. “How are we going to find her? The portals are broken,” he said.

“You’ll be going with another person. She’s going to be a member of your Team. Temporarily, anyway. She’ll help you with the portals.”

The faces of my Teammates would have been hilarious if it was any other time and place. We’d already lost our Leader, our newest member, and two older members. Now Kelsey wanted to throw another handicap on us? A new Team member? Seriously? And why should this new person be coming with us to rescue our friend?

Out of the shadows stepped Tzara. She said nothing, but looked as peeved about the arrangements as we were.

“This is Tzara,” Kelsey said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “She’s a Shadow Manipulator from Natiskes.”

Natiskes? That world is renowned for its people, who are proud and rather unfriendly. This was not looking good.

Lorik nodded at Tzara, his face completely expressionless. At least he had the decency to keep his feelings from showing, unlike the rest of us.

Tzara didn’t seem to mind. I bet if I could have read her mind she would have been like “Well, at least the feeling is mutual.”

Istalcia ran into our hallway, out of nowhere. “Kelsey, you’re needed.”

“Thanks, Istalcia. One more thing. Aiyamar? Where are—oh, there. Astulad will accompany your Team, but you and Lorik will need to heal him first. Take Tzara with you; her Shadows might strengthen your Light.”

With that, Kelsey tore down the hall after Istalcia.

Chapter 45

Kyle

Lum beat me when I got back. He’s a weird little guy; always ready to thrash someone. This time, it was supposedly because I was late. He probably just had too much of the local beer. It wasn’t a huge deal. He’s a foot shorter than me, after all. Right after he finished, I healed myself. In front of him. I can’t tell you how satisfying that was. I’m a god, remember? (I’m getting way too much of a thrill out of that).

But the triumph was a little…I don’t know. Bittersweet, I guess. Or maybe I felt guilty.

There have been so many nights that I’ve lain awake, wanting to heal Krystal. She always has bruises. I just can’t imagine how it was for her. I mean, she didn’t know about her Power, so she just had to live with the pain.

I almost broke my promise to the Leaders and healed her. Twice. But worse things would have happened if I did. For example, our friend the Immaterial Beast.

I’ve been thinking about that. The School has a lot of enemies, so it’s kind of hard to single out one. But who would send a freaking Immaterial Beast after an untrained Energy Manipulator? It’s true, we’re pretty much jacks-of-all-trades. We can twist our Power to do almost everything the other Manipulators can, so we are the most powerful. But still, at the time, Krystal didn’t even know about the School.

I guess the only reason someone would come after her is to use her power. If she didn’t know what side to fight for, she would be easily swayed.

It still doesn’t make sense though. They obviously knew where she was, so it would have been better for them to kidnap her earlier. That is, if that’s what they wanted.

I haven’t eaten enough to be thinking this much. I’m probably missing something really important. This just feels like it should be so easy…Lorik and Mom would be so disappointed.

I’ve got to find a way to get back to the School. I know that that’s what Kelsey would have me do. Especially with the portals all wonky like this. But my Team is out there. I have to find them. If I could get to Krystal and Wynn first, then our combined powers would make finding the rest of the Team easier. And Wynn is really good at remaking portals. If we gave him enough Energy, he might even be able to make a new one.

Not to mention that it’s probably not a good idea to leave Krystal for much longer. I don’t think Wynn could deal with her for very long.

…

Krystal

The flames crackled and slowly died away.

Let’s get away from here, Wynn suggested.

I followed, dumbstruck at what had happened. Since when do I control fire?!

Wynn led us deeper into the vegetation so that we could hide in case more soldiers came. His hands were gentle, but firm, as if he was worried about the state of my sanity. Truth is, I was too.

“We have to leave. Can you sense any portals?” Wynn whispered.

“What? No. I can’t sense portals!” I hissed back. He sighed in exaggerated patience. “Yes you can. They’re woven together with Energy.”

“Oh. I don’t know…I could try.” My body was drained. And I had successfully and officially freaked myself out.

“Yes. Do that,” he said, his patience beginning to run out. He sensed something, and it was making him jumpy.

I had no idea how to sense a portal. My lessons with Lorik hadn’t gone that far. I guessed that the most reasonable thing to do would be to reach out like I was searching for another person’s mind.

I was immediately overwhelmed. The natural energy emissions from the plants, myself, and the remaining waves from the dead soldiers put way too much stress on me. I nearly collapsed, but Wynn was standing close enough to steady me.

“Ouch,” I said weakly.

“Never mind. Can you feed your Energy into me? Maybe I can sense it,” he offered.

“No, let me try again,” I argued. I don’t know how to “feed Energy” into someone, I realized.

This time when I reached out, I ignored the waves from the living things around me. It definitely helped with the stress factor. Once I focused on what I was looking for (Wynn described it as fizzling dark light, whatever that means), I realized that we were standing less than 5 feet from a portal.

“There it is,” I pointed excitedly.

Wynn turned calmly, as if he already knew where it was. “Good. I could feel it, but it’s really worn down. We might end up somewhere more dangerous.” He inclined an eyebrow. I noticed that this is his most common expression. “Do you want to chance it?” I asked.

“Um…do you think we could fix it or something? ‘Cause I don’t feel like getting captured again. Once in a day is enough, don’t you think?” I was not ready to land in some random world, which, with my luck, would be a heck of a lot worse than the one we were in.

Wynn cast his eyes to the ground. “I somehow doubt that you would know what to do,” he said quietly. He wasn’t insulting me, just stating a fact.

We were silent for a minute. Okay, a little more than a minute. More like 10 minutes. It was starting to bother me. Finally, I said something. “Maybe Kyle could help?”

Wynn nodded, and then looked a little concerned. “Will you be able to?” he asked, referring to the trouble I had last time I tried to contact Kyle.

“If I did it once, I’m sure I can do it again,” I said defiantly. Just then my stomach growled.

I hadn’t eaten in at least 2 days.

Chapter 44

Ikah

Customer service is terrible in prison.

I’ve been banging on the walls, the door, the ceiling, and the floor for ever! I stopped awhile ago. It was pointless.

They haven’t been back up to feed me yet, and it’s definitely been too long. I know because I made a water clock out of the stale water they brought up last time. Guess they didn’t like the noise. Ah well. More time to plan my escape.

My cell is completely windowless, and I didn’t see any light when the jailer walked in, so I must be underground. I can hear a sort of ringing sound when I tap the stones in the walls, so there’s probably another cell next to mine. Or it could be a hallway. But something feels really weird about this place. I can sense the presence of water. A lot of water. But it feels different; there are a lot of particles and things in it. That’s normal, but this is way more particle-y than any water I’ve ever worked with. I can’t tell what the particles are. Probably dirt. If it is, then wherever the water is, it’s probably just a bunch of mud.

It’s so irritating. All I need is a pern of water. (I think that’s a little less than an Earth quart.) Then I could bust out of here. The tricky part would be finding another portal. The regulars still haven't’ figured it out, but there are at least three portals in every square Earth mile.

Life is so complicated.

If I could just see the water, I wouldn’t be in this mess. And Krystal, the real reason I’m here, is probably fine. I bet she’s getting all cozy with Kyle.

Of course, they insist that they’re “just friends.” The sad thing is, the rest of the Team believes it. It’s way too obvious that Kyle can’t even stop thinking about her. And does he even look at me? No. Just my rotten luck that I spend almost 2 years crushing on him day and night, and he doesn’t even notice.

I don’t know what he could possibly see in Krystal. She so…weak. And she’s a major kiss-up. She has to be if Lorik likes her. I’ve known him for almost 5 years and he still doesn’t like me. Until Krystal and Aoife came along, he didn’t like anyone. Poor Aoife. He’s fallen pretty hard over her.

Someone’s coming.

Chapter 43

Krystal

I withdrew my mind, too tired even to stand, much less support a mental connection. No wonder they charge extra for long-distance calls I thought tiredly.

Next thing I knew, I was facing the sky. A burning, harsh pain settled in on my right arm. I couldn’t move it.

I looked over as Wynn shouted something. An arrow stuck out of my arm, hot blood leaking from the hole.

It was like I turned into a different person. I leaped up and sent a stream of fire in the general direction the arrow was shot from.

What happened there? It was supposed to be electricity, not fire. Kind of like lightning. Not the time to think about that.

To my dismay, the enemy arrows didn’t stop. Instead, they caught fire and continued heading towards us.

I ducked and rolled, snapping the arrowhead off into my arm. I didn’t notice the pain. It could wait. The volley of burning projectiles flew harmlessly overhead.

Wynn dropped next to me, crouched on the ground, barely visible. I instinctively reestablished our mind connection.

You’re hurt, he said when he felt my presence.

No way, really? Believe me, I noticed.

Left!

I dodged a rock that had come hurtling at me. It struck in the ground, right where my head had been.

Go! Wynn ordered. I knew he meant for me to hide in the near foliage. I thought about disobeying. Leaving him to fight our enemies didn’t sit well with me. Then again, he obviously knew how to handle himself. In the few moments that I hesitated, he’d dropped seven or eight men with his bow and arrows.

I ran for cover, and turned around just in time to see Wynn just…disappear. The attackers (they looked like soldiers) stopped, bewildered, and began hunting for Wynn and I.

Some of the arrows hadn’t burned out; there were sparks still there, barely alive. I looked at them, wishing that I could manipulate Fire. That would make an easy getaway.

The minute I imagined the whole platoon of soldiers going up in smoke, it happened.

I’m dead serious. The sparks left in the smoldering arrows suddenly grew into fire. Huge, leaping, crackling flames ate up the platoon in only a few seconds.

Wynn looked at me, his eyes wide. I think that for him, that’s the same as saying “OH MY FREAKING GOSH! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!” But he’s a little more mellow.

Did you do that? He finally asked, breaking the silence.

I think so.

Good job, he said simply.

I don’t think I’m supposed to be able to do that.

Chapter 42

Kyle

It has been approximately 4 months since the Rastians enslaved me.

Life as a slave wasn’t as bad as you would think. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no picnic, but at least the Rastians were humane people. It probably didn’t hurt that I’m apparently a former god, as I demonstrated by use of my Power. The Rastians now called me Ragnok, a word that means “destruction”. They learned it from one of the ancient otherworldly visitors.

Judging by their stories, the “visitors” were Templar knights or Masons.

I guess being a god wasn’t all that great, anyway, because I still had to do all the dirty work.

Every day I woke up at the crack of dawn. The dawn there is the same as any other time of day; the light never changed. It was kind of like mist, only made of a smoky, dim light.

Lum either had me bring him tea or get firewood first, depending on his mood. Lum was the head honcho, I guess. He’s also Fortan’s father. So that makes Fortan a princess, right? Well, if she is, she’s a lot nicer than she has to be.

After I got the fire going (using my “god” powers, of course) and made breakfast, I had to stand in the Rastian marketplace and help whoever needed it. I felt kind of like a juvenile convict sentenced to community service.

Most of the people who “needed help” were teenage-looking girls, who could just as well have carried the single packages they bought by themselves.

Later on, (I don’t know what time it was) I had to go escort Fortan home. I don’t really know what she did before I picked her up. It didn’t look like school or anything. More like some sort of church service. Well, temple service.

The Rastians’ religion is kind of complicated. As far as I can tell, the ancient visitors brought Christianity with them. Some of the Rastians had converted, but a lot of them hadn’t, and still practiced the traditional rituals and stuff.

Lum and his family were obviously part of the second group. When I had first become a slave, he whipped me for returning the Catholic cross gesture that another Rastian had greeted me with.

Then he’d whipped me again when I addressed him first, instead of letting him talk. After that, we were cool with each other. Mostly. He had some anger issues.

The Rastians didn’t really keep a tight leash on me, so there were plenty of times when I could have escaped. The problem was that I had absolutely no idea where my Team was, where the nearest portal was, or even if a portal (provided I found one) would take me back to the School. What if I got dumped in a worse place than Rast?

I had tried to find my Teammates with my Power, but none of them were on Rast. If I remember our geography classes right, Rast is a pretty small world. I think it’s only about 4,000 miles square. I searched the entire world for my teammates. Nothing.

That is, not for four months.

I was carrying crudely wrapped packages for a young woman who kept flirting with me. I was pretty much ignoring her and keeping my eyes down. That didn’t help much because I’m at least a foot taller than the general population.

It wasn’t long before I got fed up with her constant flirting and chatter. I can’t stand you!

EXCUSE ME?!

I tripped and dropped the stuff I was carrying.

“Oh, you poor thing, you must be so tired,” the girl said as she curled her hair on her finger. She didn’t offer to help. “Why don’t you…rest at my house?” she suggested, batting her eyes.

“Um, no, t-thank you,” I stammered. How’d she get into my head? I hurriedly strengthened my mental block.

I don’t know, but quit blocking me! This is hard enough!

Finally, I recognized the voice.

Krystal?! How—

I already answered that!

Her answers were getting harder to hear, so I sapped some Energy from the Rastian girl to keep the connection with Krystal.

Hold on a minute!

I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS! I CONTACT YOU OVER TIME AND SPACE, USING ONLY MY MIND, AND YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON HOLD?!

Good old Krystal.

I quickly finished my job and then got as far away as possible from the Rastian woman.

Are you still there?

Kyle, this is not a phone conversation! Don’t ever put me on hold again!

Kryssi, relax! Where in the worlds are you?

I don’t know!

I took a deep breath. I’m used to dealing with Krystal when she was like that.

Okay, is anyone with you?

I felt a little irritated, and knew that it was just Krystal’s emotions.

Wynn’s here. Where are you?!

Rast.

Like I’m supposed to know what that means.

Have you met anyone there?

Yeah. Some tri-clopses.

Tr?—nevermind. Wait, Tri-clopses? Ask Wynn what they were. The only world I had ever heard of with tri-clopses was Yarco. There were humans too, but some were mutated into tri-clopses. Something about radioactive fallout, I think.

He says he doesn’t know.

I swore softly to myself. If they were in Yarco, maybe they could chance using a portal to come to Rast. From there, we could figure out what to do next.

Why are you taking so long to answer? It’s like, 10 minutes between replies from you.

It’s the Time factor.

I really wanted to ask Wynn if he thought there was a portal nearby. Portals are mostly Shadow, so Shadow Classmen are really good at finding them. But I could feel Krystal straining to keep the connection open. Too much more pressure would probably hurt her. Really bad.

Krys? Are you still there? She’d been quiet for a while.

Yeah. Her voice was getting weaker.

Are you alright? Are you hurt?

No…I…keep…gtg…

Gtg? Huh? Oh, “Got to go”.

The connection evaporated. Once it did, I just felt…empty. Hollow.

It had felt so right to be connected to Krystal again. I hadn’t really noticed how much it hurt when we’d been separated. We’d been connected for almost 8 years. She hadn’t known, but we were. I kind of felt lost without Krystal.

Oh, crap. I’m starting to sound all girly. Ugh.