The Seven (Fist of Light Series) (30 page)

The sword appeared in my hand and a smile adorned my features. “Jeeves?”

“
Yes
?” he was clearly exasperated.

The weapon was given meticulous scrutiny, and was once again it was mind-blowing to feel its weightless quality. This time, the hilt was a multi-colored array of reds, blues, purple, brown, and metallic gray. I saw the connection, and wondered whether Jeeves chose the color scheme or it was preordained.

“Can you teach me how to use this pig sticker?”

“Who do you think taught the first samurai?”

It was hard not to be impressed. “You instructed the first samurai?”

“No, you half-wit. But they hardly learned it on their own. They were schooled by a master of Metal.”

“So the way of the samurai is a duplication of what the masters of Metal teach their pupils?”

“Absolutely not. Their practices have taken a life of their own, just as any culture molds to the trends of the ages. The discipline remains, however.”

“Ohhh.” I nodded sagely. “Of course. So, when can we get started?”

Jeeves dragged the words out of his mouth as if each cost him a fortune. “We have little time to be learning swords. If you survive, then maybe we will find breathing room to do so. Now leave me be, I would have
some
rest.”

“All right, you old grouch. I’m out to seize the day, as one should on such a fine morning!”

Leaving my room, a veritable swarm of people confronted me, compared to the desolate halls I was accustomed to. Rather than walking by my lonesome, there were seven or eight others visible within my line of sight. Which meant there had to be a lot of people cropping up all over, for that kind of mass to be in one place in the monolithic structure that was the Franklin Mansion. For the most part, there was only one family before me, starting with three children and progressing onto a pair of parents and grandparents. The only variance between what I saw and the average family took only a glance into their eyes to recognize.

The children were as expected: innocent and playful, wreaking havoc wherever they went. There was a subtle difference between the youngsters and the adults. Usually, there is a gap and maturity, common sense, brain development, the works. When I looked into the eyes of the older half of the family, however, those differences were multiplied ten-fold. The difference was astounding, and on instinct my guard came up, because knowledge is indeed power. I wasn’t sure I was a welcome guest at the mansion, and planned to keep a low profile until the answer to that question became known.

“
Uh, hey, Jas
?” I broadcasted, trying to exclude Jeeves as much as possible.

“
Yeah
?” He seemed preoccupied. “
You woke up
?
Finally
!”

“
Boss said to take the day off. And I didn’t sleep that long
,” I fumed. People these days; you take one day off and—

“
You slept all through the night, and the day following, Caleb
.” Finally, I had garnered his undivided attention.

I scratched my head curiously while walking through the semi-populated corridors. “
Really
?
Damn. Probably needed my beauty sleep. You don’t get this pretty without some preparation
.”

Jas chewed on that nugget of logic. “
That makes some sense, I suppose. Maybe you went through a metamorphosis, thereby curing yourself of all the ugly
.”

Belatedly, I realized for the first time since waking up that this day was mine to do whatever suited my desires. I digressed, both playing for time and tracking down an interesting idea. If we could speak over a distance through our bond, maybe I could take it one step further. Stopping in my tracks and setting aside my emotions, I left off trying to chew gum and walk at the same time and tested out my conceptual theory. I gave my mind a mental poke before a search and seizure was initiated, and I rifled through every nook and cranny that might conceal the connection.

“
Aha
!” the exclamation drew a few inquisitive glances.

Following the pulsing strand that most definitely represented the bond we shared, I rode the line, returning to sender. An exhilarating rush surged through my veins as my point of view was altered. There I–I mean Jas–was, standing at the rock climbing cliff face, drinking from a bottle of water. A light stirring of air breezed through the trees, which made the intense heat of the sun a little less oppressive. The cool water running down my throat instantly sated my thirst. His neck craned around as if he sensed the presence of an unwelcome passenger, and I ghosted back into my own body, which fortunately hadn’t lost all motor skills when it had been spontaneously vacated.

“Sick!” I celebrated, already thinking of the various uses for my new, coveted skill.

His position could be found by relating his location to mine, and that information could be put to good use when sneaking up on him. He would be none the wiser and caught completely unaware. My hands began to rub together of their own accord, the way an evil mastermind might when an evil plot had been recently hatched. There would be no bounds to the extent of mischief that could be caused with such a weapon at my command. I could take over the world! Pinching myself, and the world-conquering portion of my psyche was powered down, for the moment. My other, more rational self did have some good points that could not be denied, however. There were some more practical uses for this skillset, so, unfortunately, I’d have to inform Jas of the new development. That is, after I used it to sneak up on him.

It only took me a few additional minutes of inspired speed walking to get to my destination. People were out in droves, and so there was only minimal trouble blending in. Recalling a memory from a previous encounter with Jas, I understood that my smell wasn’t akin to a Were’s, and therefore was immediately recognizable as different. I guess it was going to be difficult for me to stay under the radar, when those with such a roided-up scent encompassed me. Although I was gathering curious looks, I managed to get behind Jas without him noticing my presence. Maybe he was more acclimated to my smell and so it became something in the background, rather than of immediate concern. Whatever the reason, my tactical maneuver was effectively completed before Jas could register my whereabouts.

Uncapping a chilled water bottle that had been acquired on the trek over, I unleashed its contents on top of Jas’ head. “Hah! Oh, yeah, that’s right! Who’s your
daddy
? Payback has been served, ice cold!” I strummed the connection that had been so recently discovered.

“Ahhhhhhh!” he threw his arms up in unconditional surrender. “Effing cold!” His head snapped around again in a convulsive shiver, as if he was trying to give himself a good case of whiplash as punishment for not realizing I was there. “What was that?”

“What’s what?” I parroted innocently.

“That!” He splashed the contents of his diminished water bottle on my shirt, giving it a good soaking.

“Ah, now that’s refreshing! Without the inconvenience of finding a pool, either.” I wiped some stray droplets from my face. “Since I’ve been revitalized, I believe it’s time to try my luck at that.” I pointed.

The steep incline was directly before us and it extended hundreds of feet into skyward. This didn’t look like something that was taken on lightly, unless you could fly yourself up. Worn handholds had been carved into the mountain at regular intervals, spread out for easy travel. It would be a straight shot, though require a lot of sweat from both parties to arrive at the top.

“That mountain is a beast! You’ve hardly recovered.” His eyes lit up. “All right, you’re on.” He grinned maniacally. “First one to the top acquires bragging rights, first one to the bottom with a flag gets the Biggest Kahones Award.” I pointed out said flags, which were situated at the top of the incline on each route.

I looked suspiciously at Jas. “No shifting allowed.”

Jas played as if offended. “I’m offended that you think that such a thing could even be considered! It would stain my honor. No elements, either. That way, there won’t be any unexpected surprises when you stand utterly defeated by my superior ability.”

I popped everything on my body that would provide me with a crack. “Put your boasts where your mouth is.”

I
couldn’t help but think of Em. Kicking at the plant life in the glade around me didn’t relieve any frustration, and neither did hitting it, either. I didn’t like to have the wool pulled over my eyes, especially by women. Problem was, it was difficult for me to perceive women in such a negative light, as if pigs could fly. It was a foreign thing, to see someone I had begun to care about pull a 180 and go bat-shit crazy on me. You think you know someone, and then they try to cook you extra crispy with their talents in Fire. Or maybe that was just a very good example of how weird my life had become over the past weeks. Scratch that, my life had become the definition of weird.

At least I had the power to act now, rather than taking everything on the brow. Now I knew what stalked the nights and prowled the heights of the cityscape weren’t fairytales. The problem was that events were passing me by when I should be out kicking ass and taking names. Some monster, maybe from another dimension, was eating people and I was sitting around training. My gut told me decisive action was necessary, but Jeeves had yet to give the green light. The discordant ringing in my ears was still there, however, almost imperceptible, on the edge of hearing. There was something profoundly
wrong
with the discordant tolling sound, besides the fact that it shouldn’t have been present in the first place.

“I just barely got away from those girls without losing my head,” Jas panted into the clearing, disturbing my train of thought. We’d both taken our Biggest Kahones Contest to the next level for the reason most men do a lot of stupid things: to impress girls.

“Why in the world would you want to get away?” I snorted in disbelief.

“How’d you find me so fast, back there at the cliff?” Jas switched topics abruptly.

“How would it be possible not to find you, standing out like a stick in the mud with those cheeks heating up every time a girl came within arm’s length?”

“Oh, come on. Don’t hold out on me. It only took you a couple of minutes to figure out where I was, all the way back from your room.”

“If you really want to know, then I’ll tell you,” I motioned him toward me, looking around suspiciously. “You better come closer.”

“Fine. But you better not be yanking my chain.” He moved within reach.

All in character, I brought up my hand to whisper in his ear. “You smell, really,
really
bad. All I had to do was follow the trail of body odor.” Bursting out laughing, I backed up with hands raised defensively.

Jas advanced upon me, one hand raised threateningly. “Don’t move.”

“Aw, come on, Jas. It was just a bit of fun. I’ll tell you what you want to know, calm down.”

“Get down!” he commanded.

When someone you trust tells you to hit the deck, you get the hell to the dirt. Falling backwards, I spun myself around as the ground rose to embrace me. Simultaneously, I extended my arms to blunt the impact and my roiling emotions were squashed before I latched onto my power. Instantly, things became vividly clear. Well, they became more clear than they had been just moments before. The reason Jas had told me to go to ground wasn’t because he wanted give me a good beating from that position.

Dashing from the trees and leaping through the air was an enormous hound born from shadow. Now that it had revealed itself, a certain wrongness exuded from its malignant presence. Like a clear pool of crisp water left to rot and deteriorate, the hound had been morphed and mutated by shadow, enlarged, turned into a snarling beast that possessed no ties to man’s best friend. Jas shifted behind me and leapt through the air in the guise of a red timber wolf, howling all the way. I decided it was time to say to hell with sitting around and watching things unfold. After rolling to my right, I shot to my feet and did what came natural.

I charged into the fray with my friend, backing up his insane bid to stop the beast before it could gain momentum to commit serious harm. The only difficulty with that plan of attack was the size variance evident between Jas and his shadowy counterpart. While Jas was nimble and quick on his feet, he was only half the size of the gigantic shadowhound. One swipe of the huge, mutated claws would put him out of the equation, and there was far too much room for mistakes in any confrontation. After calling Air, I amplified my actions and reactions, watching as the landscape around me blurred and the two quadrupeds slowed mid-leap.

“
Damn it, Jeeves
!
Wake up
!” I screamed into the recesses of my mind. “
What is this thing
?”

Searching frantically within, I looked for the one possibility that presented me with extrication out of this sticky situation. Water just wouldn’t do, although there might be something with Air. The rest of the elements at my command were iffy solutions at best, disastrous failings at worst. But if I were right about one thing, it would be that the shadowhound would have a serious aversion to light, especially in any concentrated quantities. Even as it loped beneath the darkening skies, I could see motes of shadow detaching themselves under the scrutiny of the failing sun. The howling timber wolf and the darkhound met in the air with animalistic ferocity, tearing at each other. Neither of them came out unscathed, although Jas took the worst of it.