I don't think many of you knew I had written a short scene with Kassia and Daxton that was published in a free collection of stories. It takes place between book one and two of The Gifted Teens series. For those of you who haven't read it, enjoy:
Mind-Blower
By
Talia Jager
After driving up
a steep incline, Daxton parked, and we got out of the car. He took my hand and
led me into the forest. “Where are we going?” I asked for the millionth time.
Patience wasn’t my strong suit.
“I told you Kassia,
it’s a surprise.” He grinned at me, showing off the dimple on the right side of
his mouth.
“Good thing
you’re cute.”
He laughed and we
continued walking beneath the dark canopy of trees overhead. Small animals
scurried around. Coming to a flat area, he stopped walking and said, “Close
your eyes.”
“You’re kidding,
right? We’re in the middle of nowhere and you want me to close my eyes. What if
I trip and fall over a branch?”
He stood in front
of me, his brown eyes shifting to a softer shade of gold. “Do you think I’d let
you fall?”
I knew he
wouldn’t. I trusted him completely. Sighing, I said, “Okay, fine.” Slowly, I
closed my eyes.
His warm hand
slid into mine and he very carefully led me further. A few steps later, he
stopped. “You can open them now.”
I sucked in a
deep breath. We were high in the sky, on top of a mountain. A cliff was before
me and all around the leaves were turning brilliant colors of red, orange, and
yellow. “It’s like one of our dream spots,” I said softly.
Daxton nodded
making his sun-kissed hair fall in his eyes. I reached up and brushed a lock
back to the side. The corners of his mouth pulled up into my favorite lopsided
grin.
“I stumbled upon
it and knew you’d love it here.”
Peeking over the
edge, I said, “It’s a long way down.”
He laughed.
“We’re not going down. We’re staying right here. I have more surprises in store
for you.”
He spun me around.
A blanket was spread out on the ground beneath a cooler, some lights, and a
couple more blankets. I smiled. He sure did know how to win a girl over. “What
did I do to deserve all this?”
He put his arms
around my waist and pulled me close to him. “You fell in love with me.”
Blushing, I
responded, “Wasn’t hard to do.”
Slowly, he leaned
toward me and whispered in my ear, “I love you.” His voice sent a tingle
through my body, setting it on fire.
I moaned quietly
and closed my eyes. His lips were upon mine in a second and we moved together
in harmony. I didn’t ever want to let him go. Knowing I’d have to, I gently
pulled away. Our eyes met and I swear I saw into his soul. I could see how much
he loved me.
“You want me to
take you anywhere?” he asked breathless.
“No. I don’t need
a dream tonight. This is perfect.”
Daxton was a
dreamer. His gift was that he was able to take himself and anybody he was touching
to another world or place. We didn’t physically go there. Our minds did. It was
a wonderful, beautiful gift that we loved to use. One much different than my
gift of pain and death. I was a mind-blower, which meant I could cause pain to
anyone in my sight. If pushed far enough I could even cause death. But tonight,
I didn’t want to think about our gifts. Tonight, I wanted only to be with
Daxton.
As if sensing my
thoughts, he pulled me toward the blanket. “Let’s eat then. We don’t have much
daylight left.”
He brought me
over to the blanket and we sat down. He pulled out sandwiches and fruit, the
ultimate picnic meal. “So, how did you happen to stumble upon this?”
He chewed his
food and then answered, “Zane needed to talk. So, we went for a walk. Somehow,
we ended up pretty far from home and found this place. It reminded me of the
cliff in our dreamland. I knew I had to bring you.”
“What did Zane
need to talk about?”
Daxton hesitated.
“I shouldn’t.”
I gave him my
‘you-better-tell-me’ look. “You know you will.”
He sighed. “He’s
just…worried. About Mira. He thinks she’s holding a lot in and he wanted to
know what I thought he should do.”
“Oh.” I looked
away. My best friend was Zane’s girlfriend. She had been attacked not long ago.
Dealing with the ordeal was hard for her. She was so used to be strong and
independent. Truth was, I was worried about her too. But, looking out into the
horizon, I decided that tonight I needed to let that go and be with Daxton.
I changed the
subject. “Did you hear about the ceremony coming up?”
“Yes. I hear they
are honoring you.”
I felt the heat
rise in my cheeks. “They are honoring all of us.” I knew that because I’d
insisted. I told them I wouldn’t accept any award unless we all got one. They
were giving me an award for saving the school and ultimately the world from
demons in last month’s battle. That had been one situation where being a
mind-blower had come in pretty handy.
It was nearing
sunset. The sky was exploding into different shades of pink and orange. “Wow,”
I said under my breath.
“Beautiful huh?”
“Mhmm.”
He held my hand
as the sun went down below the horizon. I rested my head in his lap and he
stroked my hair.
“What are you
thinking about?” he asked.
“How lucky I am.”
He scoffed.
“Lucky?”
“To have you. You
could have had any girl you wanted and you chose me, even after the way I acted
towards you the first day.”
“I believe in
fate.”
“Really?”
“We were meant to
be together. I knew it the second I laid eyes on you.”
“You did?” I
remembered back to that day. I remembered holding his eye for quite a long
time. I made him look away first. There was something about him. Maybe he was
right. Maybe it was fate that brought us together and love that keeps us that
way.
Some awful smell
tickled my nose, and I hid my face in my shirt. “What is that?”
Daxton’s nose was
crinkled up too. “Smells like…” He took a deep breath.
We both
recognized it at the same time. The disgusting smell of sulfur. And outside of
the science lab, the only place I had ever smelled it was when demons were
near. “Do you think…?”
“Here?”
“What else could
it be?”
A branch snapped
in the distance, and I sat up. Something was coming. We were on our feet. I
couldn’t see anything now that the sun was down. I grabbed his hand and pulled
him.
“What are you
doing?” he exclaimed.
“Running!”
Leaves and twigs
crunched under our feet as we ran through the thick forest. Branches reached
out like arms and yanked off strands of my auburn hair. Tears sprung to my
eyes, but I knew I had to keep quiet if we were to escape.
“What are we
running from?” he asked out of breath.
“I don’t know. I
don’t want to know.”
“Can’t you just
kill it – whatever it is?”
“Not if I can’t
see it!” I yelled panicky. I heard more noises, but I couldn’t see anything. I
felt blind and helpless. “C’mon! We’ve gotta get out of here.”
He ran next to me
for a few more minutes. My heart was racing and my legs felt like they were
going to explode. Daxton was breathing heavily besides me. Something grunted
behind us, accompanied by the sound of pounding feet. It was fast, whatever it
was. The tall trees were blocking the moonlight, and I couldn’t see a thing. I
tripped a couple times.
“Damn.” I stood
up and brushed something wet and sticky off my hands. Must be blood, but it was
hard to tell in the dark. Pushing the pain out of my mind, I looked around
trying to find an escape. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Kill them.”
“How? I can’t see
them. I can’t focus. I’m powerless.”
“What if you try?
I’ll help you.”
“How are you
going to do that? It took a warlock and a shaman to train me.”
The sulfur smell
made my stomach churn. The hair on my arms stood straight up. The demons were
near. They were being quiet now. That scared me more than when I could hear
them chasing us. Clenching my hands into fists, I spun around trying to find
them.
Daxton grabbed me
and pulled me close. “Let me help you.”
I let out a deep,
shaky breath. “Okay.”
He turned me
around and stood in back of me, his fingers interlocked with mine and our arms
crossed in front of my chest like I was giving myself a hug. “Close your eyes.”
I didn’t like closing them when there was danger around, but I did. “Now open
your mind.”
“Open it to
what?”
“Just…open your
mind.”
I sighed and
thought about the demons, their horrible smell and their scary eyes. I thought
about how much I hated them and how I wanted to kill them all. “This isn’t
working,” I muttered.
“Because you’re
not letting it,” he said, his voice laced with frustration.
“I’ll try again.”
This time I kept my eyes open, and I pictured the demons. I opened my mind and
remembered how freaky they were. I thought about the purple swirls that came
from my mind when I was focusing, and I tried to draw them out. Okay, swirls, find the demons.
Wonderful. Now I was talking to the colors in my head.
The swirls
responded. They seemed to erupt from my mind and quickly streamed out into the
forest. When the swirls touched a demon, the whole demon lit up a purple color.
“Oh!” I gasped.
“You’re seeing
something?”
“You’re not?”
“No.”
“I can see them
now.”
The cat-hound
hissed at me with its pointy ears sticking straight up. Its nose crinkled and red
eyes glowed through the purple making me shudder.
“What do you
see?” Daxton asked.
“Cat-hounds. Lots
of them.”
“You know what to
do.”
I did. I focused
on them, clenching and unclenching my hands over and over again. I let my power
take over, starting from the innermost part of me until I couldn’t hold it in
anymore. It poured out of my mind, commanding the demons to die. They screeched
and flopped to the ground. Then they melted into the earth. I stood absolutely
still for a minute, listening for more. The woods were quiet, and I didn’t hear
anything else.
“Do you know
where we are?” I asked.
“Um…no.”
Great. I had led
us too far, and we were lost. Daxton took out his phone and tried to get a
signal. He shook his head. I tried mine with the same result. “What are we
going to do?”
“Ever been
camping?” he asked.
“If you consider
trekking across the country with Vala camping, then yes.”
He snickered.
“I’m sure that was fun.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Tons.”
He sat down on
the ground and opened his arms. I snuggled into them. The night had brought on
a chill. My thin shirt wasn’t going to cut it. I shivered.
Daxton wrapped
his arms around me tighter. “I’ll keep you warm.” He put his finger on my chin
and lifted it up. Our noses touched, and I could feel his breath on my lips.
Gently, he brushed my lips with his. The soft kiss quickly became more intense,
and I found myself heating up.
Pulling away,
Daxton asked, “Is that better?”
“Mhmm.” I smiled
lovingly.
He stroked my
hair until I fell asleep in his arms.
***
A few hours
later, a snort woke me up. Standing in front of us was a black demon bull with
narrow red eyes. The stench coming from him was overwhelming. When our eyes met,
chills ran through me. Silently, I squeezed Daxton’s hand. I felt him tense
behind me.
I concentrated on
the demon, and he let out a terrifying sound. My power rose again and I
released it at him. Before I could finish him off, something cold and bony
grabbed my wrist. My head snapped to the side and I gasped when I saw a little
demons all around us. “They’re everywhere,” I whispered, kicking one away from
my foot. He was fast and came right back, digging his teeth into my leg. I
yelled out as the sharp pain shot up my calf.
Daxton quietly
reached down to where he kept his dagger. “Kill the big one. I’ll take care of
the one biting you.”
I looked back at
the demon bull. He was standing up straight again and getting ready to charge.
I knew I only had seconds. And that was all I needed. I focused and my body
started to shake as the power took over again. Die! Two seconds later he was on the ground, this time for good.
I turned to see
Daxton shoving the dagger into the demon that was chewing on my skin. He flung
backwards and melted into the ground. The other little demons around him
started chattering. Even though I couldn’t understand their language, I knew
they were angry.
Focusing on the
demons, I let my power rise once again, and took them down. “Where are they
coming from?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“We need to get
out of here.”
“I know.”
I squinted into
the darkness as a soft glowing light appeared up ahead. I couldn’t look away
from the warm, calming, light blue glow. The hazy ball seemed to be pulsing.
Somehow, I knew it was nothing to be afraid of.
“What is that?”
When he didn’t
answer, I looked back at him. He was staring at the light, too.
It grew brighter
and floated closer until it was within arms’ reach. Then the light morphed into
a beautiful faery with translucent wings fluttering quickly. She had long brown
hair, which reached halfway down her back and big, green eyes. “I’m Laurel. Noe
sent me.”
“Noe?”
“Yes. She said
you were lost.”
Oh that Noe. I
could have just kissed her. Noe was a predictor. She could see the future. She
had trouble seeing things when demons were involved, but she must have been
able to see us getting lost. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She smiled. “Now, let’s get you out of here.”
Nodding, I stood
up. “Ow!” I yelled and fell back to the ground. I had forgotten the demons had
chewed off a piece of my leg for dinner.
“What’s wrong?”
Daxton asked.
Laurel turned
back around and flew closer. I pulled up my pant leg a little higher exposing
the nasty wound.
“Demon bite?”
Laurel asked.
“Yes.”
She put her tiny
hand in her pocket and pulled out a vial. “I have some faery salve. It’ll
help.” I knew it would help. I had used it many times when demons had gotten
ahold of me. I could hardly feel her touch as she smeared the salve over the
wounds. “There. Give it a few minutes, and you should be able to walk on it.”
She flew a circle
around us. I assumed she needed to make sure the area was still demon free. My
leg started tingling. I leaned on Daxton and stood up again. Very carefully, I
put pressure on my leg. It felt a little weird, but it wasn’t painful. “I think
I’m ready now.”
“Follow me,”
Laurel said. Her bell like voice sounding urgent.
Her glow
brightened again, and she flew ahead of us. We followed. By the time we got
back to the car a couple of hours later, the dark sky had started to turn to a
lighter shade of blue.
Laurel turned to
us. “Here you are.”
“Thank you so
much Laurel.” I smiled at her.
“Yes, thank you,”
Daxton added.
“You’re very
welcome. I’m glad I could help, child of the angels.” Our eyes met and she
smiled back. Then she flew away.
Daxton laughed.
“Child of the angels, huh?”
“It has a nice
ring to it.”
“How’s your leg?”
“It’ll be fine.
Are you okay?” I realized I hadn’t asked him if he had gotten hurt.
I lifted up his
shirt and examined his back and chest before he could even answer. He laughed.
“I’m okay. I guess you’re tastier than I am.”
I smiled and
threw my arms around him. “I love you.” I pulled him closer and kissed him.
A shudder ran
down my back. It felt like we were being watched. “Let’s go home.”
We hurried into
the safety of the car, but as we pulled away, I could see a pair of red eyes in
a bush. I knew they were always watching…waiting for their chance to get us.
The End
