The MORE Trilogy (66 page)

“Ready?” Tiernan asked.
 

Ava pressed her hands flat against the block. It was almost as tall as her, and she took a deep breath to center herself before answering. “Ready.”

Tiernan seemed unworried, simply leaning forward against the block, but not putting any real strength behind it. Ava, however, closed her eyes, her muscles tightening as she shoved against it and her feet slipping on the damp grass. She dug in and gasped when the block moved. Only an inch or so, but it definitely moved. She straightened, gaping at the block—then at Caleb.

“Did you see that?” she asked, breathless. “Did you see that?” She jumped up and down, a laugh bursting from her lips.

“Try again.” Caleb moved closer with an encouraging smile.
 

Ava nodded excitedly, putting her shoulder to the block.
 

Tiernan braced himself on the other side. “Go ahead,” he said.

Ava gritted her teeth as she pushed, the toes of her shoes digging into the dirt. The block moved, and Tiernan tensed, pushing back just a little. Caleb watched in awe as the shoving battle continued for the next several minutes, amazed at the tight set of Tiernan’s shoulders, the bulging of his biceps and faint sheen on his skin.

Ava’s making Tiernan sweat.
 

He couldn’t keep down a rush of pride at the thought.

Tiernan grunted with exertion, casting a glance at Adam. “Is she?”
 

Caleb realized he suspected Ava was cheating and grinned when the dampener shrugged and shook his head, disproving that suspicion.

Emma had managed to unblock whatever had been keeping Ava from her Race strength. And when it came to that strength, apparently Ava had a lot of it. To Caleb’s surprise, the block started to move, and Tiernan’s feet slid backward as he tried to keep it from happening.
 

With a shout, Tiernan stumbled backward as Ava pushed the block toward him for several feet before he dodged out of the way.

She gave it one more mighty shove before raising two fists victoriously over her head. “Yes!”

“I can’t believe it.” Tiernan braced his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. “I just can’t believe it. What happened?”

Caleb watched in amusement as Ava did a little victory lap around Tiernan before shoving at his shoulder.
 

“Emma lifted my block. I’m a hundred percent Race now. Want to wrestle?” she challenged.

“Shut up.” He glared at her. “I can’t believe you let her tamper with your brain. Not that there’s much to tamper with.”

“Oh, now, don’t be a poor sport,” she said.
 

“Then don’t gloat,” he snapped. “It’s not pretty.”

She fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Caleb thinks I’m pretty.” Ava ran over to Caleb and jumped into his arms with a whoop.
 

He swept her around in a circle, laughing against her mouth as she kissed him soundly.
 

“I’m strong,” she said breathlessly when he finally set her down. “Like,
really
strong.”

“I noticed.” Her excitement was infectious, and soon, even Tiernan was shaking his head and smiling.

“Come on,” Ava said, grabbing Caleb’s hand and dragging him to the edge of the grass.
 

“What are we doing?”
 

She stopped when they got to the track circling the field, taking his coffee cup and tossing it into the trash. “We’re going to race.” She stood, elbows bent and legs braced in a starting position. “I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m fast, too.”
 

“Oh, yeah?” Caleb shrugged off his coat and moved next to her on the track. “That sounds like a challenge.”

“Oh, it is,” she said with a grin. She tilted her head, studying him for a moment, then shouted across the grass. “Hey, Adam. Don’t let him shift, okay?”

Adam waved a hand in acknowledgment, never looking up from whatever had his attention on his cell phone.

“After all we’ve been through, you don’t trust me?” Caleb asked in mock outrage.

“Just taking precautions,” she said with a laugh. “Ready?”

“Ready.”
 

With a shouted
Go!
they took off around the track.

As it turned out, Ava was right. She was fast.

She was
very
fast.

Ava felt like she was flying. Running around the track with Caleb at her heels—falling farther and farther behind her, she might add—the wind whipping through her hair as her shoes slapped on the hard ground felt wonderful. She couldn’t hold in a thrilled giggle. It was exhilarating. Even more than shifting with Caleb because it was all her.
Her
muscles flexing.
Her
arms pumping.
Her
body moving at impossible speeds.

Not so impossible anymore, thanks to Emma.
 

As if summoned by her thoughts, Emma appeared at the gate, along with Audrey.
 

Ava slowed to a trot then stopped before the two of them, barely breathing heavily. “Did you see?” she asked Emma. “It worked. You freed up everything!”

Emma’s grin matched her own. “Well,
we
did,” she said.
 

With a joyous laugh, Ava pulled the girl into a tight hug, the two of them bouncing in excitement.

“Thank you,” Ava said.
 

“It was the least I could do, after . . . everything,” she said, glancing at Caleb as he joined them.

“I was going to offer to help,” Audrey said with a grin, “but it looks like you hardly need it.”

“You think there’s more?” Ava asked, tingling with excitement. “I feel like there’s more.”
 

“You won’t know until you try.”
 

There
was
more. Much more. She still couldn’t shift. Her compulsion skills, although slightly improved, were nowhere near as strong as Caleb’s, let alone Emma’s. But as they sat cross-legged in a circle on the grass, Ava uncovered yet another pleasant surprise. They were taking a break, and Tiernan and Adam were talking near the gate before the dampener left the area, no longer needed.
 

Ava was hungry and tired, and she rubbed her temples as the beginnings of a headache throbbed through her skull. Her stomach rumbled, and she flopped back on the grass, closing her eyes to the warmth of the sunlight on her skin.

“My mom makes the best fried chicken,” she mumbled distractedly. “It’s so crispy and juicy and incredible. I’d smell it cooking and my mouth would just water. What I wouldn’t give for a piece of it right now.” She inhaled deeply. “I can almost smell it.”

“Umm, Ava?” Caleb’s voice cracked a bit.

“Hmmm?” She was still a little lost in the sense-memory of her favorite food—the scent of the chicken, the warmth of the kitchen—steamy-humid from the crackling-hot oil. The weight of . . . 
something
 . . . on her stomach.

Her eyes fluttered open. She stared up at the sky, the smell of chicken even stronger somehow. “What’s on my stomach?”
 

“You did it,” Emma whispered in awe.
 

“What did I do?” Ava still didn’t dare look at her stomach. She was beginning to think she knew what she’d find and wasn’t quite certain she could handle it.
 

“Ava, look,” Caleb said quietly.
 

She curled up on her elbows and peeked down, her eyes widening in surprise. A plate of fried chicken sat on her belly, steam wafting in the cool air. She steadied the plate—almost surprised to find it solid in her hand—before sitting up, still gaping at it as she held it gingerly before her.
 

“It’s . . . chicken.”

Emma giggled.

“But how?” She looked around the circle from Emma to Caleb to Audrey. “Where did it come from?”

“Did she shift it?” Emma asked Audrey.

“From Oregon?” Audrey laughed. “I don’t think so.”
 

“Then . . . you think?” Emma sat up a little bit, turning wide eyes on Ava.

“Yeah,” Audrey said.

“Yeah, what?” Ava was getting a little irritated that the three of them seemed to know something that she didn’t, not to mention were talking about her like she wasn’t sitting right there. Holding a plate of chicken. That she really wanted to eat, actually.

“I’ve never seen anyone manifest something so complex,” Caleb said, reaching out for a drumstick.
 

Ava fought the urge to snatch it away, instead watching as he took a bite.
 

“S’good,” he said and licked his lips. “Try it.”

Ava took a piece, offering some to Emma and Audrey before taking a bite. The skin crackled, and juice slipped out the corner of her mouth before she caught it on her thumb.

“Does it taste like your mom’s?” Audrey asked, her green eyes appraising.

Ava took another bite, swallowing before she answered. “It does. It . . . 
is,
isn’t it?” She couldn’t believe what she was asking.

“I think so.” Audrey took a bite, nodding in approval.

“But . . . how?”

Emma finished her chicken and tossed the bone over the fence before wiping her fingers on her jeans. “You manifested it.”

“Manifested? Like
 . . .
” She waved a hand in the air. “Abracadabra? Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat?”

Caleb laughed. “No. Like, you realigned the atoms around you to create your mother’s fried chicken.”

Ava’s mouth dropped open. “But—but that’s impossible!”

“Rare,” Audrey said, holding up a finger and eyeing the chicken. “But not impossible.”

Ava’s mind raced with the possibilities as she gnawed on a chicken wing. She stopped mid-gnaw and asked, “How does it work?”

“I don’t really know,” Caleb said, reaching for another piece. “I’ve only met one guy years ago who could do it, but all he could manifest were ice cubes.”

“Ice cubes?”

“Yeah. He could pick water atoms out of the air and condense them.” Caleb took the plate from Ava and set it down before her. “Nothing this complicated, though. This is . . . well, it’s extraordinary is what it is.”

“You think you can do it again?” Emma asked, rolling over until she was lying on her stomach, her chin propped on her fists.

“I have no idea.” Ava couldn’t take her eyes off the half-empty plate. “I don’t know how I did it in the first place.”

“Well, if it’s like shifting, it’s a matter of visualization,” Caleb said as he switched into teaching mode once again. “You were thinking about your mom’s chicken. Your memories must be particularly vivid—maybe that helped.”

“It’s like using your Race sight.” Audrey leaned forward to emphasize her words. “Try to see all the details. Look within as you imagine it.”

“You also seemed pretty relaxed,” Emma said. “Don’t think too hard about it.”

Ava took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Remember. Focus. Look within. Relax. Got it.” She lay back down in the grass, laced her fingers together over her stomach, and closed her eyes. After a moment, she popped one back open. “What should I try?” she asked Caleb.

He shrugged. “Maybe try to make the chicken disappear?”

“Disappear?” Ava frowned. “Isn’t that the opposite of manifesting?”

“Not really.” Emma shifted her weight to one hand, waving the other dramatically. “You’re just putting the atoms back where they were.”

Ava wrinkled her nose. “Just like that.”

“Just like that.” Emma frowned. “Well, except for the pieces we ate.”
 

She looked to Audrey as if wondering if the pieces in their stomachs would disappear, too, but the other woman shrugged. Apparently, this was new to all of them.

Caleb crawled over to sit by Ava’s shoulder. “Don’t overthink it,” he said, laying a hand on her shoulder.
 

She could feel his gift mingling with hers, boosting it, and she sighed into his touch.
 

“Imagine the spot where the plate is,” Audrey said. “Then imagine it . . . gone.”