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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