The Seven (Fist of Light Series) (29 page)

Henry and Jas clashed in the background, their war cries breaking the relative silence of the night. Birds cawed irritably at the two contenders as they took flight for a place of quiet and solitude. Our little party alternately cheered and booed at opportune moments. Wiping the sweat from my eyes, I took a short step to a welcoming bench, and Simon took the opportunity to do the same. Henry was fairly practiced with the blade, but he seemed to favor more overt maneuvers that left him open to Jas’ blade. Even as I watched, Henry executed a high overhead swing, leaving himself open to a lightning slash made by Jas.

Simon was fascinated with everything supernatural, and he had been trying to figure me out since he had arrived. “So what you’re saying is that you have been training to harness the elements within your mind, in this place you dub the Dreamscape.”

“No, I don’t recall saying any such thing,” I replied.

“Oh, come on, Caleb!” Simon pleaded.

Unfortunately, amid all the revelry, and between my exhaustion, my additional exertions in the Dreamscape had become common knowledge. The others had found it peculiar, to say the least, that I was going out to the glade each morning and sitting there for most of the day, excluding breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was a reactive statement, to explain away my insane actions. The problem was that rather than a lie, the truth flooded in a relentless torrent between my betraying teeth.

“
Okay
!” I relented.

Simon’s attention was focused one hundred percent on my explanation of the past two weeks spent in the Dreamscape. He expressed no disbelief, though his eyes widened comically at regular intervals.

“So, you’re just going to sit there and believe every bit of that?”

“Of course. We live within a world filled with beings beyond our imagining. We’re not exactly normal.” He shrugged.

“True enough.”

Our attention transferred to the entertainment in the background being displayed by a stubborn Henry and an overly amused Jas. Henry was still holding to his brash, uncoordinated approach, expecting Jas to give way beneath his bulging biceps. I knew firsthand the strength Jas possessed, and had no urge to test myself against it under any circumstances. No doubt, Henry had a similar amount of strength and was used to bowling people over with it. That kind of thinking and action could only end in tragedy. He faced someone with just enough strength as him, but who didn’t use it in such a foolish manner.

Instead of choppy, brutal strokes, Jas flowed from stance to stance in a dizzying array of skill and grace. Henry knew he was outclassed and outmatched, that he was being toyed with, and let his anger get the best of him, which caused him to fumble yet another strike. He slashed toward Jas’ midsection, though Jas didn’t even bother to counter. He moved fluidly inside Henry’s guard and swung a devastating downward stroke at his larynx, stopping mere inches from bare skin. Wooden swords or not, a hit like that would have crushed a windpipe and the fun would have ceased right then and there.

Mary, Simon, Xavier, and I cheered while the rest of the lot took the opposing side. The two rivals clasped arms like brother gladiators, became unwavering comrades once more. Henry’s personality was always volatile when hostility came knocking, as had been discovered over the past days in his company. If he allowed his anger to get the better of him, I would not want to be on the opposing side when he unleashed the beast. As the two maneuvered between the ropes and out of the ring, Mary and Monique took their chance and stepped up. Henry’s smile shone through the night when Sandra walked over to comfort his bruised ego. Jas approached Simon and me, sweaty and reeking of things best left unsaid.

My nose was quickly covered, protecting myself from the brunt of the stink. “Come on! You ever try wearing deodorant?”

Jas shrugged. “Tried it. It clashed with my religious views.”

Simon repositioned his glasses. “Did you know that they actually mix human and animal feces into deodorant for the exfoliating properties?”

I looked at Simon as if he had just confirmed all my suspicions. “I
knew
it! That’s why I never use it.”

Jas had been guzzling a bottle of water, and so he sprayed what was in his mouth all over his shirtfront. “What?!”

“He was kidding,” I tittered, clutching my stomach. “You actually believed him!”

“I’ll show you something you’ll believe,” Jas said, raising the water bottle threateningly.

I jumped up from my perch, running away from the upraised weapon. “No, please! Not the holy water!” I pleaded between hysterics.

I was standing in Union Square, San Francisco, but unlike the real one, this one was deserted. Jeeves had me visualize and create this particular area because of the happenings in the city. The idea was, since there was a rampaging monster on the loose, the close-to-home Dreamscape would lend a vital edge to my training. Which it did, and I frantically didn’t think of the monster that ate both Kellogg’s and human body parts for breakfast.

My stomach fluttered with excitement and the rest of me reported that it felt like I had walked a thousand miles without food or water. It was as if I had finally reached the edge of my endurance, only Jeeves and I weren’t ready to admit it. What I had come to realize over the past couple days learning Metal was that I failed.
Epically
. Jeeves had explained to me that Metal was a very hands-on element, wherein much of the time you have to actually be touching the object you wish to affect. Another method, which is more widely employed, is to hold merely a sliver of that metal as a kind of a focus.

That was why I was holding a palm-sized piece of metal, while hundreds of the little buggers associated with it surrounded me. The idea was to further the training of my mind by concentration on multiple strands of thought at one time. It was incredibly difficult for me to fracture my consciousness to numerous tasks not relating to those elements that I possessed a propensity for, as had already been discovered, to my frustration. Using my focus, six pieces of Metal were raised from the ground and shot at the targets, which were staggered at twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred feet. Two of the projectiles slammed into the first target, one into the second, and exactly zilch in the last.

“Again, but this time, seven. You need to augment your ability, focus on the bigger picture,” Jeeves said.

Concentrating intently, I pushed my will and power through the focus, which was gripped tightly in my hand. One, two, then three shards of metal rose from the ground. Three others followed after, although more slowly than the first. My face was a picture of concentration and fatigue as the seventh shard was focused upon. A piece of Metal rattled on the ground, reluctantly shaking and stirring to life. Feeling the nearness of my goal, one more burst of will and effort was pounded out and the seventh rose smoothly into the air. A moment was taken to splutter and gasp before turning to the targets once more.

I thrust myself further into an emotionless state in order to garner more control. Before the opportunity was lost, I fired off all the pieces of Metal in quick succession, with only a short while allotted to aiming. Spots danced at the edge of my vision, black little buggers that pestered me as gnats would a good meal. I tried to slap them out of my line of sight as all the missed targets were absorbed. Damn it. As I tried to gather another set of Metal to throw at the targets, my legs turned to Jell-O and my circuit breaker fried. Those pesky little dots became a horde of locusts, impairing my vision as effectively as a solar eclipse.

“Damn it,” I cursed, but my voice sounded hollow and far away.

The next thing I knew my body was being carried, or, more appropriately, dragged between Henry and Jas. My eyes shot open and I took in my little glade from a new perspective, with my head lolling to one side. My armpits were spots of pain, mostly because they were supporting all my weight.

“He’s awake,” Henry said.

“Damn it, Caleb! I told you that you needed rest! Look what you’re doing to yourself,” he scolded, his accusing eyes taking in my bedraggled state. “
Jeeves
!” he called angrily.

He flashed in on the side of Jas that wasn’t currently occupied in carrying me. “It seems he’s reached the end of his endurance.”

“Don’t you see?” Jas threw a hand up, almost spilling half his burden to the hard-packed earth. “You both are! You can’t rely solely on quick recovery to keep you going. You’re running yourselves into the ground.”

“Who the hell are you talking to?” Henry said, a bemused expression on his face.

Jeeves was unmoved, although I was in no position to argue the point. “This was our final day, and it was of paramount importance that Caleb progress in expanding his ability to concentrate on disparate tasks.”

“Guys, I’m fine,” I said, trying to get my feet under me. Sluggishly, they obeyed.

Jas shook me by the collar, as Henry opened the door to the mansion. “Oh no you don’t. And no, you’re not okay. Do you
want
to kill yourself? Because whether it’s from exhaustion, or spontaneous combustion, the end result is the same.”

“Spontaneous combustion isn’t instant,” I offered.

Jeeves’ response was passionate. “Would you rather he die by the sword or by another Empowered? A supernatural predator prowling the dank and dark streets? What he has learned might keep him alive. Without that, he had no chance.”

“You win, this time,” Jas said through gritted teeth. “But you had better pace yourselves, next time. We have all the time in the world.”

“We have the time
remaining
to this world,” Jeeves corrected. “And as of now, the world is on the brink of demise as humans have become accustomed to it.”

Jas brushed that one off more easily than I’d expect. “Whatever. Doomsdays have come and gone and everyone’s still kicking.”

“You guys are starting to weird me out,” Henry admitted.

“He’s talking to his imaginary friend,” I stage whispered.

“Ah, but is everyone still here? Do your miniscule histories span that far back? Do you know how many times this world has fallen to the dark? Your age of science, so glamorous to those who behold its intricacies, has merely concealed what was once so blatantly visible.”

“Let’s just get him to his room,” Jas’ voice was stony and uncompromising.

Henry was befuddled. “I thought that’s what we were doing?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Jas said, coming to the realization that we were not alone.

“As you will. I am not the one with a corporeal form.” Jeeves waved dismissively.

An important question came to my attention. “Hey, can you do the cat thing from
Alice in Wonderland
? Where only your teeth stay behind, before you go poof?”

“Why would I ever demean myself by stooping so low? I am nothing like that imbecile.”

“You are vaguely similar,” Jas disagreed.

“You people are all crazy,” Henry said.

“Crazy,” I allowed my head to fixate on Henry’s blurred visage, “is my middle name.”

My head pounded, my mouth was dry, and I was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers,
again
. A thrill of fear trailed down my spine, and I lifted the covers momentarily before letting them fall back, satisfied. No duck prints,
this
time. Taking stock, it was comforting to find that my vision was no longer occluded by a swarm of locusts. A growling stomach brought me back to taking in my current situation, as well as an over-f bladder. My parched throat was first relieved at the sink, where I imbibed huge mouthfuls of water. Then more pressing matters were attended to, before a well-deserved steaming hot shower was indulged for a good thirty minutes.

Hopping out with hands pruned from exposure to the water, I felt ten times more me. Checking my reflection in the mirror, I discovered that the bags under my eyes had started to recede, and the starved look had faded somewhat. Jas might not have been wrong in his opinion, but there wasn’t any way in hell his wisdom would be recognized vocally. Revitalized, I ambled over to the closet and dressed myself for a day of leisure. I even donned a pair of Ray Bans to accentuate the stunning image. My mind turned to sword fighting and I put one arm out experimentally, flexing it.