Chapter Nineteen

Travis was so close to Giovanni, he could smell the alcohol mixed with his minty breath. A few more millimeters, and their lips would touch. And then he stopped.

Travis pulled back and ran from the room as Giovanni called after him. In that moment, he wanted to be home more than anything. A tingle ran up his spine, and then liquid warmth enveloped him. When it passed, he was back in his room. 

A wave of nausea hit him hard, and he rushed to the trash can and vomited. He cleaned himself up and washed the foul taste from his mouth, wondering what the hell just happened. He ran into the babysitter as he was coming out of the bathroom.

"When'd you get back?" she said with a concerned expression.

"Just now. I wasn't feeling too well, so I came home early."

"Okay. I'm here until five, so you can go back out if you want."

He told her he was good and went back to his room to think.

What the heck almost happened at Giovanni's?

"Bruh, you almost kissed my mans. Don't ya think you're on a first-name basis?"

Travis clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth in annoyance. I didn't ask your advice, so do fornicate with a chainsaw. 

"Who you tryna fool? Ya likes him and wants to kiss him. Either accept that, or I'mma make you go back there."

That's it! I'm coming in there.

***

When his mindscape materialized, Travis blasted Prometheus with a gust of cutting winds. Prometheus teleported behind him, catching Travis off guard with a kick to the head. 

"Nigga, who you think ya finna beat with that pussy shit?" Prometheus followed up with a flurry of punches and kicks, overwhelming Travis. 

"When did you get this strong?"

"Don't try and change the subject. You gon' stop acting a fool and admit ya likes JJ, or do I need to whoop that ass some more?"

The roar of blood filled Travis's ears, his rage and disgust building with each heartbeat.  "I don't like Giovanni! How dare you interfere in my life like this."

The ground cracked, and white tentacles sprang up and gave Prometheus chase. He dodged them, then obliterated them with a wall of blue flames. "Just for that, Imma take control of the old body." He waved his hand, and chains bound Travis. 

"Later, chump."

"You stay the hell away from Giovanni, or I'll . . . "

Prometheus vanished, leaving Travis alone with his thoughts. How could I let him beat me like that? How long will he body-jack me this time? And what will he do? And why is he so insistent upon my socializing with Giovanni? I can puzzle that out later. I need to figure a way out of these chains.

First, he blasted them with flames, but they didn't melt. Next, he formed diamond blades from the ground and used them to cut the chains. But every time he was on the verge of cutting himself free, the chains reformed. A pit of worry formed in his stomach as his anxiety skyrocketed. What am I going to do?

"Perhaps I could be of service?"

Travis recognized the voice immediately. Oblivion was floating above the edge of the plateau, a serene smile on his face. Only this close did Travis realize that Oblivion's teeth were made of bones and his skin, writhing souls. He fought back the urge to vomit. "W-w-what do you want?"

"To help."

"What's the catch?"

"Unlike the ignoramus whom you share your body with, my help doesn't always come at a cost. Tell me, have you heard the fable of The Frog and the Scorpion?"

Eying Oblivion, Travis shook his head.  "Why?"

"A lesson. While there are several variations on this story, I prefer the frog and scorpion one the best. Once upon a time, a scorpion came upon a river and needed to cross it, so he asked a frog to carry him across.

 "The frog replied, `No. Surely you'll sting me.' 

"The scorpion laughed. `Then we'd both drown.'

"The frog agreed, and the scorpion hopped on his back. Halfway across the river, the scorpion stung the frog.

"`Why did you sting me?' asked the frog with his dying breath.

"The scorpion replied, `It was in my nature.'"

  "That's a stupid story. The scorpion could have waited until they'd crossed to sting the frog."

"True, but the moral of the story is that you must embrace your nature, whether that's your feelings for the Giovanni scion or your destiny. You will find no respite until you do."

"Right. Any tips on getting out of these chains?"

"I was under the impression you didn't want my help. Farewell."

"No. Don't. Damn it!"

Alone again, Travis's thoughts turned to freeing himself. This was his mind; he was the master of this domain. "Teleport," he told himself. Managing to move a yard but still bound, Travis prepared to teleport again when he had the sudden urge to try exploding the chains. With few options left to him, he fingered the links. "Explode," he said under his breath, but the chains remained. Next, he pictured the links exploding and, one-by-one, they did. 

Once he was free, Travis intended to rip Prometheus a new one. But his plans changed when he heard a bird shrieking in the distance. Something told him to investigate it, and as he looked out over the plateau, the creeping greyness now coved two-thirds of the forest. The bird cried out again, more incessant this time as though its life depended on him finding it. 

Each cry sparked the phantom of memory in Travis--men in Neo-Nazi outfits speaking German, the scent of gasoline, the taste of the chocolate, and the heat as flames enveloped him. Then there was only darkness.  

The bird cried out again.

"I'm coming." He imagined himself flying, and he slowly hovered off the ground and followed the bird's cries. It took him a while to locate it, and what he found shocked him. 

Before him was a brick wall floating in the air.

"Are you in there?"

The bird trilled, and Travis asked it to trill once for yes and twice for no.

"Yes," it trilled.

"Do you want me to free you?"

"Yes!" 

"I don't know if I can, but I'll try."

 He pictured the bricks exploding, as he'd done with the chain links. But the wall remained intact. Something in Travis told him destroying this wall was the key to everything. He tried again, focusing on the mortar. Centimeter by centimeter, he chipped away at the wall, but his head hurt like someone had taken a steamroller to it. When he'd removed enough mortar to pop out two bricks, a giant blackbird in chains stared back at him. Then a black light whooshed out of the wall into him, and with it, more memories and power.

However, before he could make sense of what happened, Prometheus showed up and resealed the wall.

Trave punched him. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you don't go brain dead trying to free him before you're ready."

"Like hell you will."

They fought, and thanks to Travis's rage combined with the power-up from the wall, he trounced Prometheus and locked him away. But Travis knew that wouldn't hold him forever. 

***

Once back in the physical world, Travis found himself somewhere he didn't recognize. Closing his eyes, he pictured home, but when he opened his eyes, he was at Woodward and Nine Mile Road, several miles from home. He checked his pockets and found a wad of twenties, which he used for the taxi ride home. 

After sneaking in, he stashed the rest of the money in the loose floorboard where he used to hide his cutting supplies. Then he booted up his computer and scoured the internet for information on strengthening his mind.

When the babysitter left, he waited until his mother got off work to sneak to a local park he'd scoped out on Google Earth as a training spot. From his new memories, he'd learned he had dominion over all the elements and telekinesis, the latter of which he planned to train tonight.

Spotting a forty-ounce bottle laying in the grass a few meters away, he willed it to move. It wiggled a bit, but that could have been due to the wind blowing, so he tried again once it'd stopped.

Come on. Move!

The bottle exploded, and Travis nearly jumped out of his skin.

Let's try that again.

 A dirty tennis ball lay three meters away by a trash can. Come to me. The ball wobbled. Then it rolled toward him, stopping at his feet. Travis yawned, rubbing his throbbing forehead. That's enough for today.

Settling into bed, he wondered if Oblivion was as bad as Prometheus led him to believe or if Prometheus was the real villain.  

***

The rest of the week, Travis trained at the park every night and avoided Giovanni whenever possible until Friday when Giovanni cornered him in the kitchen at St. Michael's. 

"What's up with you? And why'd you run away so fast?"

Swallowing back the lump of fear in his throat, Travis put on a brave face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He went back to washing dishes, but Giovanni grabbed his arm. "Bull. You've been ghosting me all week," he said, dropping his voice to a whisper, "ever since our kiss."

"We did not kiss. And even if we did, which we didn't, it was because of the vodka."

Giovanni pouted. "Be that way, but we still need to complete that assignment for Dr. Dull before Monday."

"And like I told you before, we can do it online. I still have your contact information, and I assume you still have mine?"

Giovanni sighed. "When do you want to do this?"

Shrugging, Travis said, "How about tonight? Say five o'clock? Unless you have a party to throw or something." 

"Nope. My ass is all yours," he said, and Travis laughed. 

"What's so--oh!" Giovanni's face flushed. "I didn't mean it like that. Or did I?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Giovanni, you're such a dork. Now scram before Joan gets on my back about not finishing these dishes before my shift is over." Travis said, swatting him on the butt, leaving a wet handprint on Giovanni's shorts.

"Thanks. Now people are gonna wonder why I have a handprint on my ass."

Travis snickered. "And that's my problem how?"

Shaking his head, Giovanni walked away, muttering obscenities under his breath. Travis's eyes followed him. 

"I been knew you liked my mans, so why you fronting?" Prometheus said.

I'm not dealing with you today. Bye. Travis pictured chains enveloping Prometheus and then wall after wall surrounding him.

"Come on. No. Don't. You suck . . ."  

Prometheus's voice faded, and Travis smiled. That'll show him.

 

Author's Note: Methinks the lady doth protest too much. Next chapter, Travis and JJ commiserate over their crappy parents and learn more about each other.

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