Chapter 2

 

“We didn’t do it.” Brent walked over to Heidi.

Another fire department vehicle drove up. It lurched to a stop and Seth’s dad jumped out. “You kids all right?” Another firefighter jumped out of the passenger side and began climbing up the scaffold ladder.

“We’re fine, Dad.” Seth pointed to the fireman with the phone still by his ear. “He thinks we started the fire.”

Rylee glanced at the dying fire and water still gushing from the tower. “We didn’t.”

“Russ, put the phone away. That’s my kid. They’re the ones who soaked the flames on this end.”

Russ hit a button on his phone.

Seth didn’t let Russ reply. “You saw what we did? Totally awesome, ‘eh?”

His dad smiled. “Quick thinking, but dangerous.” He shook his head. “What were you doing out here anyway?”

Russ snorted. “Not hard to guess.”

Seth’s dad shot him a warning look. “Some inexperienced camper called nine-one-one and said he’d dropped a gasoline canister when trying to get a bonfire going.”

Russ shook his head. “Tell your kid and his friends to get a job or find something useful to do in the evenings. Not hang out where trouble seems to be finding them.” He got in his truck, slammed the door shut, and spurned gravel as he drove off.

Seth’s dad sighed and shook his head.

“Why couldn’t you stop the fire where it started?” Seth asked his dad, refusing to acknowledge Russ’s last remark.

“We got to the flames, but when the wind changed direction, suddenly we thought we were screwed. You kids… well, you basically saved the day.”

“Saved the night,” Heidi murmured.

“Superheroes.” Seth nudged her.

His dad either hadn’t heard or purposely ignored them. “Good job, but incredibly stupid and dangerous.” He tapped Seth on his chest. “You better not have been drinking out here.” He looked around at all of us. “You’re good kids, but what in the world? The cops are going to want to know who did the damage to city property. First the mine, then PHP, and now here. You guys are going to start getting the wrong reputation.” He glanced up the gravel road. “I think you need to get going.”

Sirens screamed further off in the distance, a different sound to the ones from the fire trucks. I glanced at the others, unsure if we should run.

Brent, on my right, stood staring at my elbow. “You need a bandage on that.”

“It’s fine.” I tried to pull my sleeve down to hide it.

Seth’s dad stopped jabbering when the firemen climbed down from the water tower and stood by the truck. The two-way inside the cab crackled to life. Police were heading to this area.

Seth’s dad raced to the truck and got in. He started the engine and did the fastest U-turn I’d ever seen. As he drove by us, he rolled the window down. “Get out of here. I’ll talk to the cops and make sure Russ is on the same page.” He sped away after the SUV.

We did as he said and raced out there. None of us spoke the ride home, and back at Brent’s place we gathered our things and said goodnight. I think everyone needed to go over the evening on their own. I know I did. So many thoughts were racing around in my head, competing with the noises in my ears, and I had no idea how to calm them down.

 

 

The next afternoon I leaned against the biology room window when a bike engine roared to life. Rylee was skipping last class to leave with Kieran on his motorcycle. I heaved a disappointed sighed and couldn’t stop myself watching as they zoomed off school property.

Trying to refocus my attention on memorizing the periodic table seemed next to impossible. My thoughts kept drifting back to Rylee. Her coy laughter as she climbed on the bike behind Kieran, the rustling of her hair as she tossed it over her shoulder before putting a helmet on and whispering she hoped he didn’t mind her holding him super tight so she wouldn’t fall.

Honestly, how could a hundred and eighteen chemical elements and their freakin’ atomic structure be more important than a hot guy? I groaned. What about chemistry between people? More like the lack of it. I obviously didn’t stand a chance if Kieran was even remotely interested in Rylee. Of course she’d be interested in the new guy. Who could blame her?

Kieran would have to be blind not to notice her. Straightening my arms to try and focus on the chart again, I swore under my breath when my bruised elbow rubbed against the desktop.

No way could I focus. Frustrated, I began picking up on everyone’s conversations – those studying and others gossiping. This freakin’ sucks! The guy I like is with the prettiest girl in town, I can’t sleep because everything is too bloody loud, and when I get annoyed it’s impossible to block anything out! I couldn’t do it when I was calm and it magnified a hundred times when I wasn’t. Rubbing my eyes against the palms of my hands, Heidi’s tentative step echoed in my ears several seconds before she spoke. It gave me a moment to try and compose myself.

“Everything okay?” Heidi never missed anything. She even made the effort to whisper below normal levels.

None of us had mentioned last night at the water tower. Somehow all of us had made the consensus to wait till we were on our own after school. I slid the chart back and forth across the counter then stopped as the laminate screeched against the fake wood desk. I tried to make my face blank, praying it would be unreadable. “Yeah, I’m all right. It’s just hard to concentrate with...” I pointed at my ears. Stretching my legs, I grimaced. “I think every muscle in my entire body has been ripped and shredded.”

“After what you and Brent did last night, plus training, I’m not surprised. How’s your elbow?”

“Bruised and ugly.” I glanced down. An icky, patchy scab surrounded by purple, green, and blue throbbed on my skin and deeper to the muscle. It actually seemed to have scabbed over pretty quickly. “It’ll heal. How are you feeling?”

Heidi swallowed and frowned. “I swear I can taste the lactic acid in my system from what we did yesterday. Are we going to Brent’s again today?”

“I think so.” Hopefully playing dumb worked. I did not want to appear obvious that I had just heard the motorcycle zoom away.

“I’ll go, but no training crap. My arms are killing me. I can barely hold my pen.” She pretended to lift her pencil like a weight bar and faked falling over. We started giggling, and then had to grab our sides at the same time from the sore muscles, which only made us laugh more. Class dragged, but at least we had each other to keep company.

After class, Heidi and I met up with Seth and Brent in the parking lot by my car.

“Where’s Rylee?” Seth glanced around and checked his watch.

I shifted, reminded again of the motorcycle ride.

Brent saved me from answering. “She and Kieran are changing the gym around.” He opened the passenger door to the Bug. “I went by my place at lunch and turned the alarm system off. Rylee bugged me all morning. When she gets an idea in her head…” He shook his head. “She was driving me nuts.” He dropped the passenger seat forward to let Heidi climb in, then straightened the seat and dropped onto it. “Let’s go see if they need help.”

Heidi shook her head. “She can be very persistent.”

Seth crawled into the backseat from my side and groaned. “Man, Zoe. This back’s so tiny for a big guy like me. I’m freakin’ sore from yesterday.”

Heidi giggled. “Not so tough now, eh? Yesterday you said it didn’t hurt.” She shifted and made a gagging face. “Ick. What’s that smell?” She swallowed and pointed to the front dash. “That air freshener tastes like rotten fruit to me. Can you throw it out? Pretty, pretty please?”

I sat down, fastened my seatbelt, and glanced at my two friends in the backseat. One teeny tiny fairy and the other a distant relative to the Hulk.

Seth plugged his nose. “Why’d you have to mention it?” It came out all-nasal. “Now the smell’s overpowering me.” His shoulders rose and he swallowed back a gag.

I laughed, reached down, and pulled the pink and red strawberry scented little freshener off my fan vent and tossed it in the garbage can in front of my car. I started the engine. “I’d give anything to block out a sound – any sound.”

Brent’s eyebrows went up. “It’s too much?”

Before I could answer, Seth leaned forward. “Last night’s still lingering a bit. If I inhale deeply I can still smell the fire.” He stuck his tongue out a few times as if his throat had been scorched.

Brent rolled his eyes. “Dude, I was asking Zoe.”

Seth dropped back against the seat, making the whole car shake. “I sense that now.” He chuckled. “Get it? Sense that now? I totally didn’t mean to say that.”

“You’re a funny man.” Heidi voice came across, clear and sarcastic.

“Are you wishing it would go away?” Brent watched me intently and made a conscious effort to speak quietly.

“I don’t hate it,” I said to Brent as I tried to ignore the cicadas loud buzzing from the trees lining the street and focus on the road. “Look what we did last night.” I winked at Brent. “Who’d have guessed we’d be water tower sliding like death-defying crazy tightrope walkers, and then stopping a fire!”

“It was pretty crazy.” He grinned. “I’m not complaining about our new skills.”

“I just wish they came with an on and off switch.” I rubbed my left eye.

“That would be nice.” Heidi giggled. “I’d even settle for a dimmer button.”

We turned into Brent’s driveway and headed around to the gym. Kieran’s motorbike sat next to the entrance so I parked the Bug beside it. Everyone climbed out of the car and stretched. As we walked toward the doors I tried to stifle back a yawn.

Brent paused at the door, his hand resting on the handle. “You know what I just realized? Seth and Heidi have similar abilities. Kinda like Rylee and me.” He shot me a sympathetic look. “I think it’s different for Zoe… Like living with the volume on full blast with everything. You’re sort of on your own.”

Seth shrugged. “Guess so. Zoe’s tough. She can handle it. Kieran should try and help you. Since he’s got nothing, maybe he could take up some of the slack.” He pointed at Brent. “What’ve you figured out with your ability? You’re skills seem all jacked up?”

“Not really. I think I’ve kinda figured them out. It’s a weird sense of touch ability, but it’s not like there’s some manual to compare or refer to. My hands are like see-through windows. I touch a wall and can see the other side. I play a guitar and it’s like I own its strings.”

“X-ray vision.” Heidi tapped a finger against her chin. “Which is weird. It’s like you’ve got sight inside your touch. Like two abilities in one.”

Seth laughed. “At least if something happens to Rylee, we’ve still got all the senses covered.”

Heidi punched in him the arm.

“Ow! What w—”

“Not funny.” Heidi glared at him.

“At all,” I added.

Brent tried unsuccessfully to hold back a grin. “Rylee’s got super vision. I don’t have that. I can just see through stuff with my hands… and my feet. They work too.”

“Gross!” Heidi covered her mouth as if the mere thought might give her the taste of feet inside her mouth.

As if to remind me how little control I had, crickets increased their leg rubbing screech, electrical wires hovered like a swarm of bees, and any other little distraction became something big.

Brent opened the door. “Let’s go and see what Rylee and Kieran are up to.”

The hallway inside appeared dimmed compared to the bright sunlight. Brent’s dad had offices and other rooms adjacent to the gym, so barely any sunlight filtered through the hallway. By the time we reached the short distance to the gymnasium doors, my eyes had adjusted. Music blared out of the stereo, making it feel like my eyelids were bouncing to the beat. Kieran and Rylee had been busy. They had rigged part of the equipment so it looked like an obstacle course. Rylee stood on the far side, setting gym mats on the floor so the Velcro lined up. Closer to us, and slightly hidden so I’d missed him on my first sweep of the gym, Kieran lay on his back tying something under an Olympic-sized trampoline. He crawled out when he saw us.

“Oiy! What do ya think? Still need to do that whole section, but it’s coming.” He pointed to an area with just a ladder with things lying on each rung.

Seth walked over and slapped him on the back. “Great idea. What do you want me to do?”

Kieran pulled a sheet of paper out of his back pocket and showed the hand-drawn diagram which amazingly resembled the gym. “What if we made a sparring area over on the mats Rylee’s setting out? This way we’ve got a bunch of spots and don’t need to change it up for a while. I was thinking of setting the ladder up and hanging stuff on it that we would use as stuff to spar with.”

“Time out. Time out.” Heidi made a T with her hands. “I’m game for setting the gym up, but I can’t stay late and NO going outdoors. We need to lay low at night.”

“I need to be home too. Loads of homework or my mom’s gonna kill me.” Seth held his hands out like he was holding a huge weight of books.

Heidi tsked. “Will your dad call our parents about last night?”

“He won’t.” Seth shook his head. “We talked this morning and he promised not to say anything. I told him you girls were shook up from being trapped in the mine and scared from that night at PHP. He agreed to keep it quiet.” He chuckled. “Yeah, my dad’s pretty cool.”

“Thank goodness.” Heidi smiled. She viewed the room and then snapped her fingers. “You know what? We should build some plyometric boxes over there.” She pointed to a bare spot in the gym. “To do plyo training. My old gymnast coach was a huge fan of jumping up and over stuff.”

“Great idea.” Kieran nodded.

Something metal clattered together and fell by Rylee. “Sounds like someone needs some help.” Seth winked and jogged away while I covered my ears with my hands.

“We’ve got wooden crates in storage we could use for the plyos.” Brent elbowed Heidi. “Come with me to grab a cart. You can show me how to set them up.” They headed to the far end of the gym by the brightly painted orange door.

With my baby fingers I rubbed circles on the sides of my temples. My ears hurt from all the noise, especially the reverberating pounding of the bass coming from the music.

Kieran’s gaze travelled from me to the stereo. “Crap! I forgot. Sorry.” He jumped up and shut the music off.

For a split second, there was peace and quiet. Then the rest of the world resumed its uproar in my ears.

Kieran shrugged. “I tried.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” I hated the mixed vibes my body kept sending me. One minute it seemed like I was on a one-way street, and the next Kieran seemed to be thinking the same thing. Shame I sucked at flirting. Needing a distraction from my thoughts and something to deafen the noise, I nodded to where Kieran had been working when we walked in. “Anything I can help you with?”

He held a screwdriver in his hand and tapped it against the open palm of his other. “I’ve been tryin’ to think of ways ta help you train yer ears.”

I nodded, loving the way his “r’s” rolled when he spoke. Focus, Zoe. Focus.

“… an’ I figured working with yer core balance would probably help everything. Seth made a good point yesterday ‘bout that.” He pointed to the place where he’d been under when we’d walked in. “I jimmied stuff around the trampoline kinda like a gladiator maze. Trap doors and everything.” He scratched his hair near the nape of his neck. “Do ya wan’ ta try it tomorrow?”

“Might have to wait a couple of days.” I raised my arm and pointed at my elbow. “Don’t want to rip this open.”

“Oye!” Kieran gently brushed his fingers along the rim of the bruise. “That’s gotta hurt.” He leaned in closer. “It looks like the scabs starting to come off.”

“I ripped it?” I twisted my arm, his fingers still grazing my bicep. It hadn’t come loose, it actually had peeled away because it was healing. Weird. The bruise still hurt, but the surface was healing incredibly fast. I wanted to see it closer on my own before I mentioned it to the others.

My face red, either from embarrassment or his touch, I glanced away from his piercing blue eyes. “It’s fine. I should probably bandage it. Except my dad’s always nagging about scabs needing air, except it’ll be gross if I ripped it off.”

“Brent!” Kieran shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to avoid shouting near my ears. “Do you have a first aid kit?”

“In the drawer below the stereo. Everything okay?” Brent called back.

“Yeah, we’re good.” Kieran winked at me. “Let me find something in the kit to protect that.”

Shy but totally loving the attention, I let Kieran rub ointment and then bandage my elbow. I couldn’t speak, and thank goodness he didn’t try to make conversation either. I didn’t want to think except my brain wouldn’t listen. It kept wondering if Rylee had talked him into asking her out or, if they’d already tried a thing or two under the bleachers. The thought made my face burn and I avoided looking at Kieran.

“Does it hurt?” Kieran’s warm hand gently held my forearm. “Did I make the bandage too tight?”

Our eyes met and I couldn’t look away. His brows pushed together with a small crease line forming between them. His handsome face with those piercing blue eyes sent butterflies into my stomach. If he liked Rylee, I was heading into huge disappointment. I shifted my stare to the square patterns on the wood floor. “I’m f—fi—” I cleared my throat. “It’s fine.”

His grip tightened like a vice on my arm. “What’s wrong?”