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There was any number of lies the could've told to explain why we were at Miss Maricel's house that night, but we chose to just let it be as it was. There was no way that the Ascendancy would believe that Lou and Dante were not involved now. And the only reason that night didn't end in bloodshed was because Marcus showed up.
I may have hated him for how he and Celia ended up, but for the moment, I was grateful that he was there. As far as the Ascendancy knew, none of the humans in town knew about the rest of us.
The next morning, I woke up with a gun in my face.
I groaned and rolled over. "What?"
"Celia is spending the day with Dante. They are already gone and I was left with strict instructions to start Lou learning as much as he can, as quickly as he can," Artie said.
"Why do you have a gun?" I asked.
"Because Marcus is going to shoot Lou today," Artie said.
That one sentence was like a bucket of cold water over my head. I sat straight up and look to him. "What did you say?"
"Marcus is going to shoot Lou today and I want you to be there."
"Why?"
"Because I want to see how far I can push him."
*
THAT WAS HOW WE ENDED up in the forest, behind our house. Lou was watching Marcus anxiously with the gun.
"Does he have bullets in that thing?" Lou asked me.
I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded.
"Who is he going to shoot?"
"That's a good question. If you can get it out of Artie, I would be eternally grateful," I said.
When I tore my eyes away from Marcus, I saw there was a sly look on Lou's face. "How grateful?"
I looked over at him and for a moment considered his question. I didn't think I was too obvious about my crush, but who knew what Lou could see these days.
"What are you referring to?" I asked.
"I only got a B on my final paper. How grateful would you be?" Lou repeated.
I felt that tightness building up in me loosen a little bit. "You got a B because that's what you deserved. Maybe if you had bothered to cite your sources, you would've gotten an A."
Lou looked disappointed but strolled over to Artie who was speaking to Azolata in a different corner of the field. The grass beneath his shoes crunched and the mist parted around him. It was early to be out here and too cold for regular humans. Artie and Lou were bundled up in layers and I admired the navy jacket that Lou wore and the beanie that was pulled down around his ears, hiding his dark hair. I had a hoodie on with jeans and regular boots. The cold really wasn't a factor for shifters.
As always, Azolata wore his leather jacket and t-shirt paired with jeans. He even had a cigarette tucked behind his ear.
Marcus was alone on the other side of the field, where he seemed to be most comfortable. He wore his Glenwood Lock deputy jacket on over a thick sweater and jeans. Marcus was never comfortable with those of us who had magic in our blood, but he seemed most unnerved by Azolata and kept his distance from him, as much as he could.
Lou came back over to me after a few minutes of speaking with Artie and Azolata and smiled at me.
"So? Who is Marcus shooting?" I asked.
"Everyone," Lou said and I realized that that smile wasn't from happiness or amusement, but rather nerves.
I stared at him.
"Artie says that he can put one big shield over a group of people. He can shield them from most things. However, he wants to see if I can do the same thing, but individually shield people. You, for instance, and Azolata at the other end of the field."
I looked over to my little brother who was watching the two of us speak.
"I don't want to get shot today. You know how much I hate it!" I shouted at him.
"Artie said that you would say that. So he told me to tell you that if that's how you feel about it, that I can try to shield him from getting shot," Lou said.
Sometimes, I wanted to strangle my little brother. He knew I would never let anything like that happen, not depending on a novice’s magic, no matter how powerful.
Artie jogged over to us and said, "I want to start small. We won't start with the shooting, at least not right away. And no one is in any real danger, not with Azolata here. So, let's get started."
Starting small apparently meant teaching Lou how to first make things float in the air. He appeared to be astounded by this talent and picked it up rather quickly. Then, Artie started tossing things in his direction, encouraging him to float them away from himself. This was a little harder for Lou to pick up and at that point, I wandered away and found a rock to sit on.
I pulled a book out of my back pocket, glad that I had the forethought to bring it in the first place. I was deep into Frankenstein, probably for the fourth or fifth time, when Marcus came and sat down next to me. I glanced up at him and went right back to my book.
"Do you know how long this will take?" He asked.
"Why? Do have a hot date? Or more teenagers to torture?" I asked, without looking up for my book. I was curious how he even got roped into this practice. It had to be Miss Maricel if I were to put a bet on it.
Celia used to chide me to be more careful with my words. I was known for my blunt and often brutal honesty, but I saw no reason to soften the blow with Marcus.
When he and Celia broke up, I was the one to help her put herself back together and get going again. She told me the reason they broke up was that Marcus wasn't sure that he could handle being with someone like Celia. And the fact that he never explained what he meant by that only made it worse. Was it because she was a werewolf? Was it because she was an alpha, and therefore more powerful than Marcus would ever be? Was it because he thought she was a monster?
In those initial days, she asked me those questions over and over again. I didn't have the answers for her, but I did offer to kill Marcus on more than one occasion.
The funny thing was, Miss Maricel confided in me that Marcus was still in love with Celia.
Maybe it wasn’t funny. Maybe it was heartbreaking.
So I chose my words to make them hurt. It was a small town and I knew for a fact that Marcus had not dated anyone since he and Celia had broken up with broken up four years ago.
"No, I just didn't want to be here all day playing with some magician," Marcus said.
I looked up to see Lou who was fending off rocks that were being thrown at his face by both Artie and Azolata. Some were shattering in mid-air, others were being pushed aside and dropped. Artie was delighted as he hurled rock after rock at Lou’s face. His laughter was contagious and I grinned broadly at him when he pointed at Lou and gave him a thumbs up.
"I wouldn't call him a magician if I were you. One day that guy is going to have so much power will be able to tear your intestines out through your mouth without giving it a second thought," I replied as I grinned at the three of them.
“Guy? Are you talking about Artie or Lou?”
“I'm pretty sure that Artie can do it right now and Lou will pick it up pretty quickly. You haven't won any friends here."
Marcus fell silent.
I returned to my book.
"I tried to say I was sorry," Marcus said.
I close my book and looked up at the sky. This was hell, I didn’t care what Mary Shelley had to say. This conversation, with this man, was my own personal hell designed by an insane med school drop out.
"When? When did you try to tell her you were sorry?" I asked.
"I went to your house, a couple months after we broke up. And when I passed the front window, the three of you were in there, playing some board game. And it looked so nice. The three of you, going on with your life, without me."
"Well, believe it or not, Celia does have more important things to think about and to do than waste her time on a guy who is going to be running her through the wringer. So yeah, she had to keep going. That kid," I said and pointed at Artie with my book. "He still had needs her. We still have things we had to take care of so, sorry she wasn't mentally and emotionally broken over you two no longer dating."
"She's so much stronger than me," Marcus muttered and looked down at his hands and the gun he was holding.
"And she always will be. In every way that you can think of, she’ll be stronger than you and I don't know if it's some bullshit toxic masculinity that has you stuck on that, but if you ever wanted a chance to be with her, you should have let that go," I said.
"You're talking like I don't have a chance anymore," he said.
"We haven't talked about you and what happened with the two of you in a very long time. I don't know if that's how she wanted it or if that's just how it was. But I'm not going to try and give you any answers right now. However, I would like to point out that the way she treated you last night was not exactly like someone who was longing for their very first boyfriend."
"Yeah. I saw that."
Marcus fell silent again and I thought there would be a moment’s respite when Artie called me over.
At least the conversation didn’t continue.
"Lou, I want you to block everything that we throw at you and Eli," Artie instructed.
I looked over at Lou and he looked back at me. He nodded and turned to Artie and Azolata in front of us.
"Okay, got it."
He took a deep breath and there seemed to be some internal signal between the three of them. At the same time, Azolata and Artie began to hurl rocks at us. When I saw what they were doing, I threw my hands up in the air to shield my face. Instead of feeling the rocks pelting my arms, there was nothing.
I looked over my arms and then dropped them altogether. In front of us, the rocks were stopped by something that I couldn't see. But they all looked like they were flies caught in the spider's web. They floated there, held in place by Lou’s magic.
Artie and Azolata stopped and they looked at each other.
"Eli, take a few steps to your left, away from Lou."
I looked at my little brother and swore in my mind that if I got hit in the face with a rock, then I was going to wake him up tomorrow morning with a bucket of cold ice water.
Like I had said the threat out loud, he grinned at me. "Don't worry. He can do this."
I stepped away from Lou and they repeated the process. Soon, they stopped and asked me to step even further away. This went on for quite some time until they were satisfied that Lou could stop whatever was coming for me and him at the same time.
"Okay. Now let's move on," Artie said.
Lou looked over to me and for a moment we seemed to share the same dread.
"How about we start with a non-living subject first?" Azolata suggested.
Artie nodded. "Good idea." He looked around and then focused on the rock that I was sitting on. "Marcus! Can you shoot the rock?" He asked.
Marcus, who had returned to his spot on the other side of the field, nodded. He took aim at the rock and looked ready for a signal.
"Don't think of it like a bullet. Think of it like the rocks we were just throwing at you. It isn't deadly because you are going to stop it. Remember your intent is only to stop the bullet."
Lou nodded and looked between the rock and Marcus. "What do I focus on? Marcus?"
"Focus on the bullet. That's what you are trying to stop," Azolata said.
Lou looked pained. "But I can't see the bullet."
"You aren't always going to see what's coming for you either. Focus on your intent and the magic will find its natural direction. The intent is what drives you," Azolata said.
Lou didn't look convinced but he nodded anyway. Artie looked over at Marcus and gave him one, tight nod.
Marcus shot.
The rock that I was sitting on exploded.
"Glad I didn't go first," I whispered.
Artie punched me in the shoulder.
"Don't let the fear or pressure guide you. Your intent is only to focus on the bullet," Azolata said.
Lou nodded and rolled his shoulders.
I patted him on the back.
"You got this. You are smarter than a bullet and Marcus put together."
Lou looked over at me and shook his head. "I don't know if that's an insult or encouragement."
Marcus shot again. This time the rock did not explode but the bullet came awfully close to its surface.
Nonetheless, Artie cheered. "Good job. Now, add a little push. It's going faster than the rocks so just the slightest nudge backward, or even to the side, will slow it and then you can stop it."
Lou nodded and Marcus shot again. This time, the bullet stopped five feet away from the rock. Lou let out a breath.
"Good. Do you want to move on?" Artie asked, gently.
Lou looked torn. I could tell that he did want to move on, but not at the risk of me getting shot. I stepped up to him and put my hands on his shoulders. "You got this. You’re learning faster than most people would have. Azolata didn't let Artie play with guns for at least two weeks."
"I don't want you to get hurt," Lou said.
"So, don't let me get hurt," I said.
Lou swallowed and nodded. "Okay. Let's try it."
Azolata walked over to Marcus and took the gun out of his hand. He ejected the magazine and looked the bullets over before slipping the magazine back into the gun and handing it to Marcus.
Azolata returned to our side and looked over at me. "I don't trust him."
Even though Marcus wasn't high on my list of favorite people, I didn't think he would go so far as to try to hurt me. Not with Artie here, anyway.
Marcus knew the kind of devastation that Artie could create and he wouldn't want to go near that was a ten-foot pole.
Artie stayed near Lou while he directed Azolata and me to opposite sides of the field. He spoke quietly to Lou and then nodded to Marcus. Marcus raised the gun in Azolata's direction and there seemed to be a fleeting moment of hesitation before he fired.
The bullet stopped almost as soon as it left the weapon.
I clapped. "That's impressive!"
Marcus raised the gun in my direction and there was a moment when I had to fight my instinct to flee and then he shot once more. This time, instead of stopping the bullet, the entire gun exploded in Marcus’s hand.
The shockwave of whatever Lou did knocked Marcus off his feet. For the briefest of moments, everyone in the field was still. I even got my first look at what Azolata look like when he was shocked. Then we all raced to Marcus his side.
He was on his back, blinking up at the sky.
"Did you mean to do that?" He asked.
Lou, who was trembling, shook his head. "I just wanted to stop it before it even started."
Azolata clapped Lou on the shoulder. "Good job."
When I looked over and Azolata, I couldn't help but notice the smirk on his face as he turned to look down at Marcus.
After helping Marcus to his feet, and seeing that he was not injured, we continued with the lessons as much as we could, considering that there was no gun involved now.
The next thing that was on Artie's list was to learn how to deflect people who were rushing at Lou. This was left, at first, to me.
"There is more mass, but it's the same principle," Artie said.
Lou nodded and from across the field, Artie signaled for me to go.
I was used to running into walls that Artie was able to build quickly from his own hands. I had even broken my nose on one before. I was prepared to be stopped in my tracks but as I barreled straight for Lou, nothing stopped me. I caught him around the waist and he stumbled, causing both of us to fall. I took both of our weights on my shoulder and protected him as we tumbled to a stop.
Lou ended up on top of me and when he pulled away, I couldn't help but notice how furiously he was blushing.
"You were supposed to stop me," I pointed out.
I waited for a snappy comeback but there was none. Instead, Lou stood up quickly and helped me to my feet. "New skill. I didn't want to hurt you."
Then he walked away.
I shook my head. I couldn't figure out whether he was into me or not and it was giving me emotional whiplash.
We reset and once more I charged at Lou. This time, instead of running into him, it felt like I was running through a vat of glue that was slowly hardening around my legs and then my hips. I was able to take a few more steps, but then I couldn't move anything below my waist.
"That wasn't quite a wall!" I called out as I struggled to move my legs.
"Artie never said it had to be a wall!" Lou replied.
I had to give him credit for his ingenuity.
Next up, Marcus and I both charge to him. It was the same result, a slow stopping and then complete immobility.
Lou let me go but kept Marcus there a second or two longer. Finally, Azolata, Marcus, and I all charged at Artie. I was worried that we would end up hurting him since Lou was no longer defending himself but someone else.
Instead, Marcus wasn't able to move at all. I got halfway across the field before Lou stopped me and Azolata was stopped about 5 feet from Artie.
When I looked over, Lou was panting and bent over.
"Yes!" Artie screamed. He ran full tilt at Lou and tackled him. Lou fell over and they began wrestling.
As I watch them and listened to their joyous laughter, I couldn't help but feel a little envious of Lou.
Artie had never been able to play like that with me or Celia. We were too scared that we would hurt him. Everything that we did, at the forefront of our minds, was designed not to hurt him.
We already knew how much hurt that kid carried inside him.