The Power Within (7 page)

“Gracious,” she said, bending down to examine Gabriella. “Tell me everything. What
happened
?”

A long look passed between Gabriella and Darren, and he had the sudden feeling that she was going to tell Ms. Therian everything, including how Darren's initial outburst caused him to fling lightning at two people unintentionally.
If they hadn't been magic and blocked the bolt, I don't know what would've happened. . . . Please don't tell, Gabriella
, he begged.
Please don't.

“They must've sensed we were Changers,” Gabriella said, choosing her words carefully. “All of a sudden, they attacked. There was, like, no warning.”

“None,” Darren agreed, feeling a rush of gratitude toward his friend.

A pensive frown crossed Ms. Therian's face. Then she glanced up at the sky, which seemed to grow darker by the minute. “We've lost the light,” she said, holding
out her hand to help Gabriella up. “Come, let us get back to the car.”

“But we didn't find anything yet,” Darren protested.

“It can't be helped,” Ms. Therian said firmly. “Perhaps there was nothing to find. Though it is very interesting that two magic-users were patrolling the area. Very interesting, indeed.”

“Why were they even here?” Gabriella asked as they began to walk back to Ms. Therian's car.

“I do not know,” Ms. Therian admitted. “Perhaps they were watching to see if any Changers would come to investigate? It seems odd. There might be more to consider here than we initially thought.”

“They must know something about Jai,” Darren said.

“Yes,” Ms. Therian agreed. “I think that is likely.”

Darren clenched his fists, trying to contain the brewing lightning. “If I could've stopped them—if I could've hit them even
one
time with my lightning—we could have, I don't know,
captured
them or something!”

“Don't despair,” Ms. Therian said. “Our mission may not have yielded much, but we learned something important. Auden Ironbound's servants are aware of
Jai and his mysterious disappearance. Perhaps they are even responsible. Two young magic-users, attacking right out in the open? That's very poor form. If I were their teacher, I would be livid.”

In the growing darkness, Gabriella and Darren exchanged a furtive glance. Luckily, Ms. Therian didn't seem to notice.

By the time they got back into the car, Darren was glad it was dark; that way, no one could see how upset he was. During the drive back to Willow Cove, he stared out the window into the night. He knew Gabriella was right, of course. He couldn't just let his lightning continue to spiral out of control. The stakes were too high, and the results were too dangerous. A sick feeling washed over Darren as he remembered the angry red burn on the tender skin of Gabriella's ear. It looked like it hurt—a lot. And yet, she was incredibly lucky; a few inches to the left, and it would've been so much worse.

Never again,
Darren thought firmly, clenching his fists once more. He had to find a way to get his Changer powers under control before he could do any more damage.

As Ms. Therian approached Darren's house, though, he realized just how hard that would be. Seeing this familiar house, the place where he'd grown up with Mom and Dad and Ray—all the happy Christmases and backyard barbecues and patio breakfasts—felt like a knife in his heart. How had it all slipped away? Ray was gone, living at college; now Dad was leaving for good; and maybe even Darren and his mom would be moving away too. The little house just sat there, lights glowing in the windows, like everything was okay. Like it wasn't all falling apart.

Darren tried to take a deep breath, but that uncomfortable tightness was pressing down on his chest again.

“See you tomorrow, Darren,” Ms. Therian said as she pulled up to the curb.

“Text me later,” Gabriella added. “And have a good night.”

“Thanks,” Darren said, getting out of the car. “You, too.”

Then he shut the door and hurried up to his house. It still felt like home, but with a big, empty space where Dad should've been. How could something that was missing feel so enormously overwhelming?

Darren's hands were hot again. Burning, even.

Get upstairs,
he told himself. Alone, he could breathe; alone, he could calm down, and then he would somehow find a way to get through dinner with Mom, both of them pretending like that huge, terrible emptiness wasn't there.

“Darren! I thought I heard you come in,” Mom said as she walked out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

Halfway up the stairs, Darren froze.
Stay—calm—
he thought. “Hey, Mom,” he said, trying to sound normal . . . and failing miserably.

Mom's welcoming smile disappeared, replaced by a look of concern. “Oh, sweetheart,” she said. “Come here. Let me give you a hug.”

“I'm . . . okay. I'm—just— I have a lot of homework,” Darren managed to say.

Mom was quiet for a moment. “I'm not going to force you to talk about it if you're not ready,” she said. “But, Darren, you can't keep your feelings locked up inside. I know how hard this is. I know how much it hurts. . . .”

Then why are you doing it to us!
Darren wanted to yell. But he held his tongue, and his temper.

The lights flickered, anyway.

Mom glanced at the hall light warily. “The lights again? If this keeps up, I'm going to have to call the electrician back,” she said with a sigh. “Dinner will be ready soon, Darren. I can't wait to hear about your day.”

“Okay,” Darren said, already making a mental list of the things he couldn't tell her: a secret mission to Fisherman's Bay, how his teacher is a werewolf, accidentally hurting his friend with a bolt of lightning from his own hands.

Darren trudged up the stairs and, finally, escaped to his bedroom. He sighed heavily as he sat down at his desk and began rummaging around in his backpack. He
really
didn't feel like doing homework right now, but maybe it would take his mind off how awful he felt. One by one, he dropped his textbooks onto the desk with a loud thud. Now he just needed his calculator and pencil case and—

What was that?

At the very bottom of his backpack, Darren's fingers brushed against something unusual. Something he didn't expect to find. He grabbed hold of it and pulled
out a woven leather band that he'd never seen before. An intricate pattern of interconnected loops had been pressed into the band.

Cool,
Darren thought as he slid the wristband over his hand. The leather was completely broken in, so worn and soft that it seemed to take the shape of his wrist immediately.

But where had it come from?

Ray!
Darren suddenly thought. Of course. It would be just like Ray to give Darren something special, a reminder that he would always be there for him. Darren tried to think back on if he'd ever seen Ray wearing this bracelet. Maybe. It was hard to remember, since he hardly saw Ray now that his brother was in college.
I did see Ray in my room this morning before I left for school,
Darren thought.
Maybe it belongs to him. Maybe he put it in my backpack while I was brushing my teeth.
He pressed his fingers against the bracelet and smiled as he thought of his brother. The sparks brewing in his fingertips began to falter and then dimmed. Darren stared at his fingers with wondrous relief.

I can control this,
he realized,
as soon as I can control my feelings, my emotions—myself.

Ray was far away right now, and Darren could only guess what he was doing—getting pizza with his buddies, maybe, or holing up in the library for another late-night study session. But despite the physical distance between them, in that moment, Darren felt closer than ever to his big brother. Whatever Mom and Dad did, together or apart, Ray and Darren would always have each other.

Darren's phone buzzed with an e-mail. It was from Ray, which made Darren grin. It was like they were both thinking of each other at the exact same time.

Little D. Hope you're hanging in okay. I want you to know you can talk to me anytime, man. I am here for you, always. And I think Mom is going to find a counselor for you to talk to. You should do it. I dropped in at the counseling center on campus this morning and felt about a thousand times better after I talked to somebody there. Plus, a counselor is totally confidential—you can tell them anything, and they will
keep it secret. Also, think about adding a couple extra workouts to your schedule. Exercise helps with stress—a lot.

Fear and anger are like poisons. Keep them inside too long, and they'll make you sick. Don't be afraid to let those emotions out. You have to trust me on this.

Love,

Ray

Darren read Ray's e-mail twice, twisting the leather band around his wrist the whole time.
If only it was that easy,
he thought sadly. He was glad that Ray had seen a counselor and found it helpful, but Darren couldn't imagine any counselor in the world who could keep all his secrets. They were too big, too overwhelming.

Darren's best friends at school, Ethan and Kyle, wouldn't come close to understanding how he felt, and as for his Changer friends . . . Well, he wasn't sure he was ready to talk to them about this sort of thing yet. Darren had really only been close to Mack, Fiona, and Gabriella for the past few months. Could he trust them
to not spread it around school or to
not
look at him without some kind of pity? And he didn't want them to think he was some kind of baby who couldn't go on missions because there was stuff going on at home. . . .

No. Darren's best option—his
only
option—would be to keep what was going on at home to himself. And for the first time, with the sparks under his skin extinguished and that leather wristband pressed against his skin, Darren thought he might actually manage it.

Gabriella was speaking in such a low, rushed whisper that Mack had to lean in close to hear her.

“And I was trying to attack the magic-users—I'd transformed, and I just wanted to, you know, trap them or something—and Darren was supposed to back me up, and he was trying. I mean, it was totally obvious he was trying really hard, but . . .”

“But what?” Mack asked impatiently.

Gabriella shook her head. “It's like the harder he tried, the less control he had,” she explained. “His lightning was flying
everywhere
. I was spending all my energy trying to dodge it. It felt—”

Gabriella's voice broke off unexpectedly.

“You can say it,” Fiona said. “Whatever it is, you can tell us.”

“I know it's wrong, but it almost felt like I was fighting three enemies,” Gabriella finished. She looked ashamed to have spoken those words aloud.

Mack frowned. “But Darren would never try to hurt you,” he said.

“Of course he wasn't
trying
to,” Gabriella retorted. “But he did all the same.” She flicked her long, black hair over her shoulder to reveal her left ear, which had a red, oozing welt on it.

“Darren did that?” Fiona asked incredulously. “With his lightning?”

Gabriella nodded. “I had to tell my mom I accidentally burned myself with a curling iron,” she said. “It really hurts, and I don't know what I'm going to do with my hair at soccer practice today. I read that
nahual
s are supposed to have healing powers, but I haven't really developed any yet, so I can't just heal it up quickly.” Gabriella paused and then sighed. “Look, I'm not telling you this to trash Darren behind his back. I'm really
worried about him. I tried to tell him that he could trust me—whatever is bothering him; we're his friends, his teammates. And I know firsthand how keeping something from your teammates can mean losing—”

“Hey, guys,” Darren said as he approached. “What's up?”

A heavy, uncomfortable silence fell over the group.
Oh, man. Did he hear what Gabriella was saying?
Mack worried. He racked his brain, trying to think of something,
anything
to say.

“Cool wristband,” Fiona said loudly, filling the silence.

“Thanks,” Darren said with an easy smile as he pressed his fingers against the leather band. He looked like he was about to say something else, but just then, Ms. Therian entered the ancillary gym, clapping her hands.

“Transformations, please. We will pick up where we left off yesterday,” she announced.

Mack glanced at Darren out of the corner of his eye. Gabriella hadn't mentioned if she'd told Ms. Therian all the details of their misadventure in the woods, but he had a feeling that she probably hadn't. Mack was torn.
On the one hand, if Darren's powers really were spiraling out of control, Ms. Therian needed to know. Just thinking about the angry-looking welt on Gabriella's ear made him flinch.