Ember
Stella and I trek the mile-long path through the woods from campus to the training area. Our steps kick up dust, creating a smokey trail behind us. The sun peeks through the leaves, and Lime basks in its warmth while perched on Stella’s head.
“Are you looking forward to training with Jomo?” Stella asks.
I shrug, letting my sight drift between the oak trees. “Sure.”
“That doesn’t sound too convincing.”
“I may be a little nervous.” I slide my hands into the pockets of my jean shorts. “I don’t know much about his abilities.”
“That’s why training with different people is a good thing.” Stella playfully nudges me with her elbow. “It’ll help widen our experiences to face villains one day.”
Lime flexes, as if he’s not scared to take on anyone.
“That’s true.” I face her, keeping my pace. “How do you feel about training with Aiden?”
“I’m not sure how I’ll work around his forcefields.” She playfully nudges me again. “You’ve practiced with him. Maybe you can give me some pointers?”
“That doesn’t mean I can help you.” I laugh but remember when I tried to understand Aiden’s power by touching his forcefield. The strange thermal-electrical happened so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to learn anything. “Electricity shouldn’t affect your golems though, right? Maybe they can blast through his forcefield?”
“Hmm.” Stella brings her finger to her chin in thought. “I guess you’re right. The electricity wouldn’t affect them like it does to us.” She frowns. “But it could blow them to pieces.”
Lime yelps, cowering in Stella’s curly hair.
I cringe at imagining one of Stella’s little golems exploding. “I guess… that’s a sacrifice you’ll have to decide if you’re willing to make.”
Stella reaches for Lime and cradles him against her. I’m not too sure if it’s to bring Lime comfort or herself. “No matter how much I love my golems, I have to be realistic. There will be times when they get destroyed.”
Lime whimpers, clutching her like a toddler does to their mother.
“Don’t worry, little guy.” Stella sniffles. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Lime squeals happily.
Up ahead, an opening between the trees comes into view—the entrance to the training area. My desire to avoid the other Defender students’ silent judgments has made me hesitant to come here, but I don’t want to train with Jomo in my private little field. That’s reserved just for the people I trust.
Stella and I emerge onto the running track that surrounds the field. The sheer size of the grounds is breathtaking. It’s about a quarter of a mile long. Trees circle most of the area, except for the lakeshore to the right. A few students hang out in the bleachers, and some enter the small shed that houses the training bots and first-aid station. Some of the training bots are already in use on the field. They’re triangular and have one wheel to move about. One student with mirror-like skin, who I recognize as a mentor from the Defender test, tackles a bot, like a bull against a matador.
“Do you see Aiden anywhere?” Stella asks, glancing around, but stops when she notices Billy talking with Summer in the distance. She places Lime on her shoulder, and he glances between her and Billy.
Billy notices Stella and gives a hesitant wave. His skin shifts rapidly between hues of green, but a streak of pink appears.
Stella barely moves her fingers to return the gesture. “I should’ve realized Billy would be out here too.”
Billy frowns and resumes his conversation with Summer. The pink in his skin turns blue.
“Do you think you’ll ever forgive him?” I ask.
“Truth be told, I miss hanging out with him.” Stella exhales loudly. “I think I let my trust issues cloud my judgment.”
“What do you mean?”
She nervously tugs on the edge of her forest-green tank top. “I had a couple boyfriends who bailed on me before, but Billy was never my boyfriend, and I was being a hypocrite for being mad at him for wanting to do right by Carly.” She chuckles softly. “But don’t let him know that, okay?”
“Your secret is safe with me.” I nod in Billy’s direction. “But don’t wait too long to talk to him.”
Stella nods. “You’re right.” She surveys the training field. “I’m surprised Aiden isn’t here yet if Billy is.”
I scan the field. There’s no sign of Aiden’s white hair anywhere. But the sight of catlike eyes causes me to pause in mid-search. Jomo’s smile stretches ear to ear, and he jumps over the bar in front of the bleachers, dropping ten feet down. His black gym shorts almost blend in with the color of his skin, and his yellow shirt matches the color of his dreadlocks tied above his head. He heads toward me.
“No Aiden, but Jomo’s here.” I catch Stella’s eye. “I’m sure Aiden will be here soon, though. He was stopping by Valentino’s office this morning to pass on the information that Billy and I learned the other night.”
“Ah. That makes sense, then.” Stella glances toward Jomo’s nearing presence. “Have fun with that one.”
I square my shoulders. “He’ll help me get stronger, right?”
“Right,” Stella agrees with a smile and leaves, walking in Billy’s direction.
Lime waves bye, and I wave back.
I glance over my shoulder and make eye contact with Jomo. He nods toward the field and turns in its direction. I get the hint to follow, and we go to the part of the field nearest to the lake, away from the other Defender students—away from their nosey stares.
Jomo takes a place a few yards from me. His ghostly hands explode from behind him and hover above his head. “Are you going to make a move?” He crosses his arms. “Or are we going to stand here all day, staring at each other?”
“Hi to you too,” I murmur. “I’ll be honest,” I say louder. “I’m a bit nervous. I don’t know much about what you can do.”
Jomo snorts. “You should be nervous.”
I don’t find his statement amusing. “Could you be… I don’t know. A little more encouraging?”
He drops his arms. “I’m here to train you, not to make you feel better. In the real world, Guardians are sometimes clueless about a villain’s abilities.” He snickers, narrowing his yellow eyes. “And you won’t always be able to hide behind your boyfriend’s forcefields.”
I guess his attitude about Aiden hasn’t changed any. “You have a point. About fighting against villains, that is.”
Jomo’s grin has a malicious edge to it. “Dodge.”
“What?”
His ghost hands fly at me, like a hawk swooping in for its prey.
I hit the ground and roll to the side, tasting the bitterness of grass.
The ghostly claws change course, coming after me. I roll forward, dodging another attack, but they swerve snakelike after me.
“Jomo!” I yell, flipping to miss another strike. “C’mon!”
“Do you think a villain would stop?” he shouts. “Or give you a chance to formulate a plan?”
I snarl, igniting my hands like torches, and aim a heat blast at Jomo while dodging another ghostly attack.
He spins, so casually, so effortlessly. My blast crashes behind him. “Is that all you got? I expected more from the Guardians’ daughter.”
This whole Guardians’ daughter thing is getting on my last damn nerve.
Jomo’s ghostly hands move incredibly fast, so quickly they turn into a blur, and they capture me in an instant. My skin pricks, like thousands of icy needles are jabbing into me. All my muscles tense, begging for my thermal energy to warm me, but my abilities don’t respond. A gray fog teases the outskirts of my vision before consuming my eyesight entirely. I try to move my arms, wanting to pry the hands off my shoulders, but I’m dead weight.
I’m dragged upward from the grass and onto my knees. I attempt to yell, to prove I’m still here, and that I’m not becoming a puppet.
No sound comes out.
“Ember, there’s no point trying to resist,” Jomo’s voice fills my thoughts. “Get to your feet.”
I stand against my will. My body moves sluggishly, as if wet cement is pouring over me, and my head lolls to the side.
“You got distracted.” Jomo’s voice has an unexpected calming edge to it. “As I thought you would. During your test with Carly, you let your emotions control a lot of your reactions. That’s something we need to work on.”
The pressure in my head intensifies, like my brain is on fire. My abilities try to fight with Jomo’s.
“Ember…” Jomo says my name like a warning. “You’re just going to hurt yourself if you keep this up. You can’t beat me. You’re not strong enough. Not yet. Be patient.”
I so badly want to scream and blast Jomo into next week. I don’t like his control. It feels wrong. It’s horribly invasive and manipulating. I push back on the fog overwhelming my brain. My entire head tingles, like my nerves are frying, and the pressure reaches a boiling point. I flex my fingers before the fog clouding my eyesight turns black.
* * *
“Ember!” Aiden yells, but his voice sounds muffled as if I’m underwater.
My hand twitches. I’m not sure if that was me or Jomo’s control. It takes me a moment to realize I’m lying on the grass. The gray cloud overtaking my vision lessens, letting me see Aiden’s blue eyes.
“Oh, thank the Guardians.” Aiden breathes a sigh of relief. “Are you okay?”
I rub my forehead. My temples throb with a migraine. “I think so.”
“I told you not to push back.”
I snap my head to the side to see Jomo kneeling next to me.
“You haven’t had enough training to win a fight against me.” He glances at Aiden, deepening his frown. “Stiles here is the only one who has broken out of my control.”
Aiden’s jaw tenses. He’s probably not enjoying remembering the first time he lost control of his anger. The first hint of the serum at play.
“What? Cat got your tongue?” Jomo teases. “You’re not going to claim that victory? Why? Is it because you’ll rip me apart for turning your girlfriend into a mindless puppet?”
“I’m not an idiot.” Aiden meets Jomo’s stare. “You’re one of the hardest-working Defender students here, and she can learn a lot from you.” He sighs, dropping his broad shoulders. “You also managed to get through my forcefield when no one else has. That showed me how much more I need to work on my abilities.”
Jomo doesn’t move, doesn’t even blink. His brows bend together, as if he’s in deep thought. “I don’t enjoy saying this, but maybe we should train together. It could be extremely beneficial for both of us.”
Nervousness grips my throat. I did encourage Jomo to open up to the idea of training with Aiden, but after talking with Aiden the other day, I don’t think he’s quite ready for something like this yet.
Aiden keeps his face emotionless. “I don’t know about that.”
“Think about it,” Jomo challenges. “You’re the only one who has broken through my control, and I’m the only one who has broken through your forcefield. We can push each other past our boundaries to get stronger. Faster. Better.”
“I–I don’t know.” Aiden’s eyes soften the tiniest bit. “I’ll need to think about it.”
Jomo grunts. “What? Are you scared?”
“Yes,” Aiden snaps, and his lips form a stern line. His veins glow faintly blue. “We’re not friends. We’re rivals. Things get too toxic between us. I’m not sure if this would be a good thing.”
I touch Aiden’s arm, hoping to calm him. If Jomo doesn’t back down, he could trigger the serum in Aiden.
Aiden closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath. His veins return to normal.
“It’s true. We are rivals.” Jomo stands and puffs out his chest. “But aren’t the best rivals the ones who keep pushing each other to be stronger?”
Aiden stares at the ground, seeming torn between how he should answer Jomo. “As I said… I need to think about it.”
“I think that’s fair,” I say, meeting Jomo’s eyes. “Right now, you both have a lot going on anyway. How about you discuss it after summer?”
Jomo sucks on his teeth. “I guess.”
I breathe a sigh of relief but groan instantaneously as the pounding in my head intensifies.
Aiden frowns and pushes some of my hair out of my face. “Maybe you should stop for the day.”
“Probably. My head may explode if I push it any further.”
“How about, next time, you listen to me? Hmm?” Jomo reaches for me. “Instead of pushing yourself to the point of passing out.”
I purse my lips, reflecting my annoyance. But Jomo does have a point. Passing out like this won’t help me learn anything.
Aiden stands, with his open palm toward me. “Let’s get you up.”
I grab both their hands, and they pull me easily to my feet, but I get woozy as the blood rushes too fast through my head. Aiden catches me before I fall back to the ground.
His strong arms tighten around me. “How about we find a spot to relax for a moment?”
I lean my head on his shoulder and close my eyes. “Sounds good to me.”
* * *
A slight breeze from over the lake tickles my face, kissing me with light sprinkles of water. I take another deep breath, enjoying the fresh crispness of the air. The sensation eases the pain in my head to a dull ache. I dig my toes farther into the sand, relishing the coolness, and lean my head on Aiden sitting next to me.
“Was Stella okay waiting to train for a bit?” I ask.
“Yeah. She understood. She was training with Billy and Summer anyway.” Aiden chuckles. “But I had to promise her an extra hour of training to make it up to her.”
I chuckle. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
Aiden rubs my back. “Are you feeling better?”
“I am, but I may stop by the first-aid station to get some pain meds for my head on the way back.”
“That’s a good idea.” Aiden twists a rock between his long fingers. The sparkling lake reflects in his bright blue eyes. “Promise me that you won’t push yourself that hard again.”
I laugh. “You don’t have to worry about that. I really hate passing out.”
Aiden smiles, but it’s tense, like his entire body.
I tug his face toward mine. “Hey, I really am okay. Don’t worry about me. Jomo didn’t do anything wrong if that’s what you are thinking.”
“I know,” he says quickly. “It’s not just that. I talked to Valentino before I came out here.”
“How did that go?”
Aiden runs his hand over his head. “Not great.”
“What happened?”
I stay still as Aiden tells me about his talk with Valentino. How he turned down the internship, and that the Guardians are no closer to arresting Stu than they were the day of the Defender test, even with the new information about Susan being married to Twisted Bill.
Disappointment and a smidge of anger brew inside me, but I stay silent, knowing from Aiden’s tone that he’s just as frustrated as me.
But some good news he tells me overrides my gnawing frustrations. “That’s great Valentino is looking into a way to test you,” I say, feeling hopeful. “Even if we’re getting nowhere with getting Stu out of here, at least something is in the works to help you.”
“Yeah.” Aiden tosses the rock into the lake. “Maybe they can create an antidote for the serum.”
My stomach grows uneasy at the thought of the serum inside Aiden—of the curse lingering over our heads—so I turn the conversation elsewhere. “And you’re sure you don’t want the internship?”
Aiden nods. “It’s not right for me. At least not now.”
I rest my hand on his lower back. “I think you’re doing the right thing.”
“Me too, but”—he reaches for another rock and throws it a bit harder into the lake—“I have my doubts.”
“About what? The internship?”
“No.” He faces me, and his blue eyes darken. “About Valentino. The Guardians.”
“What?” I say, not hiding my shock. “What do you mean?”
“Can I trust her? Them?” He balls his hand into a fist, and electricity crackles around it. “They never really cared about me. They just wanted to protect their secrets. Your parents’ secret.”
I flinch, knowing what he says is true. “I’m not sure what to say.”
“There’s nothing to say.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’ve just always looked up to the Guardians with wide-eyed wonder, but now I realize not everything is as perfect as they want us—the public—to believe.”
“I can’t say I disagree with you, but I believe in what the Guardians stand for.” Memories of my parents, of all the lives they helped—they saved—reassure me. “I’ve had my issues regarding Guardians. Especially when they failed to provide backup for my parents, but at the end of the day, they’ve done a lot of good for the city.”
“Have they though?” Aiden’s tone is unforgiving. “Your parents had ties to Black Mold and Mad Marie. Ties they hid to protect their jobs. How many other Guardians have done the same? These ties could be putting the city in danger.”
An urge to defend my parents’ choice boils inside me. But if my mom helped Stanley and Marie instead of following the Guardian path, would they still have turned into villains? Would my mom and dad still be here? Would Erik have to fight for his life after being blown to pieces?
I shake my head, damning my thoughts. “Aiden, there’s no reason for us to dwell on this. We can’t change the past. All we can control is the present.”
“I know.” Aiden throws another rock, and it causes a bigger splash than the rest. “That’s why I want to make sure I’m making the right decision. That I’m working toward a path that’ll do more good than harm.”
“I think you are.” I weave my fingers through his. “No matter what path you choose, Aiden, you’ll do good. Because you’re a good person.”
He kisses me softly, and a small spark nips my lips. “Let’s talk about something else for a moment.” He tilts my head to meet his gaze. “Have you heard about the upcoming Defender Ball?”
I’m not sure how I feel about Aiden changing the subject like this, but maybe it’ll do us both good to focus on something a little more lighthearted. “Jomo mentioned it to me, but it slipped my mind, with everything going on.”
Aiden’s charismatic smile takes my breath away. “Would you go with me?”
“Of course, silly.” I poke his nose. “You’re my guy. I’ll need to find a dress, though.”
His lips wrap around mine, stirring memories from the other night. “You could wear a garbage bag, for all I care.” A mischievousness forms in his eyes. “Or nothing.”
I playfully smack his chest. “My birthday suit is only for special private occasions. Thank you very much.”
Aiden’s laugh is light and genuine, and the sound lifts my heart. I realize I want more of this for him. For us. That things could always be this carefree. We’ve both had so much pain and worry in our lives. Something fun like a dance could do us both good.