Chapter 18

I heard someone scream my name. I was sure it was Rachel, but I was too busy flying back off the terrace to worry about it.

Just like back at the mall, I had tried to make myself as small a target as possible, but whatever Charlie had hit me with wasn’t like a bullet, it was more like a shotgun blast and it knocked me off the terrace and out into the manicured lawn. The only thing that saved me from taking the true brunt of the attack was the same shield appearing on my arm, between me and the discharge.

I landed in a heap, my body hurting all over. Scrapes, bruises, and just good old-fashioned pain made me unwilling to move. I focused on my pain, willing it to go away, and the damage to heal. It wasn’t easy at first, but when the pain let up I could feel my back itching. It reminded me of cuts and scrapes that itched when healing. After about a minute, it was done. I remained on the ground, making small movements, feeling for any deeper injuries, or anything that would hurt only when I got up. The only surprise about using that gift was the lack of a headache. I could wonder about that later though.

Before I got up, a face appeared over my head. Rachel looked down at me.

“Ral, are you okay?” she asked. Before I could answer, she looked up at something I couldn’t see. She backed away, out of my view.

Charlie loomed over me, his grin still in place. “Damn boy, I thought we were gonna duel.”

There was no thought to it. I threw both my hands at him, using the push I had used on the gunman the day before. My pain and dislike of Charlie’s grin went into it. I wanted him away from me, far away.

Charlie flew back and tumbled away from me. I was sure he didn’t have wings, but then I wasn’t going to look for them either.

I rolled over onto my side and didn’t feel any more pain. Rolling over completely, I got to my feet, looking for Charlie. The ground sloped down, away from the house. It probably fed to a creek when it rained. The lights on the ground only went out about fifty feet around the backyard. Rachel was off to my right and the house was to my left. The rest of the spectators were still up on the terrace watching.

Charlie was getting up too. He looked odd or, at least, his aura did. Somehow, his aura had shaped itself into a type of second skin. I had never seen anyone’s aura do that before.

The appearance of his aura had distracted me. I just stood there staring and Charlie sent another pulse wave at me.

I went flying again, but my landing was a bit softer. I hadn’t landed on a mix of rocks and grass, just grass and soft earth. It still knocked the wind out of me and I lay there relearning how to breathe.

I heard someone walking toward me. I craned my head around and saw Charlie approaching. I wasn’t sure what else he could do, but I didn’t want to wait and find out.

I studied him. His grin was back in place. I had wiped it off because I’d caught him off guard the first time. I’d have to find a way to do it again. I also realized that he was up and moving faster than me. His landing hadn’t hurt him. Was his aura acting like armor?

Rolling onto my side, I watched him. He stood a dozen paces away watching me get up. I didn’t know what I could do if his aura was protecting him. The only thing I could think of at the moment was to get him to drop his guard. I rolled over onto my hands and knees, acting like I was still hurt.

“C’mon. You can’t tell me that hurt you. Not after that first shot,” he said.

His voice was mocking. I wanted him to shut up. I looked up at him, caught his eyes and my head burst with pain. I shook and fought the pain, trying desperately to keep my eyes open, to not let him out of my sight.

What happened? I did something but I didn’t know what. Charlie was still grinning at me. Whatever I’d done couldn’t have affected him. He would have responded, right?

He opened his mouth to say something else, closed it, opened to try again, and closed it again. His expression clouded over. His aura, still in that second skin form shifted and rolled. He wasn’t happy. He rubbed his hand over his throat and looked at me. The smile was gone. He stared at me as I got to my feet.

“What’s the matter, Charlie?” I said. “Cat got your tongue?”

He sneered at me, and though he couldn’t talk he could still use his energy shots.

I knelt my shield back in place on my arm and braced myself against the concussive force of his power.

He shot at me again and again. The force of each shot pushed me back into the grass. My shield took the brunt of the force and the energy washed over me in a tingling rush, but I still got pushed back a few inches with each shot.

Finally, tired of just sitting there taking everything he was dishing out, I timed my push between his shots and knocked him back across the lawn.

He landed and rolled, but was standing again almost immediately. His expression was lined with anger.

I strode towards him, my shield still on my arm, but thoughts of how to stop him rolled through my head.

He looked at me, pulled his hands back, and threw another shot at me.

I knelt and set myself with my shield in place. His shot hit me but I didn’t even budge. My shield was adjusting to his power, absorbing everything.

I took a few more steps toward him and he shot again. I didn’t even kneel, just put my shield out and let it absorb the shot. A few more steps put me within touching distance. I reached out and tried to grab his shoulder, but his aura kept me from touching him at all.

He grinned again and swung his right fist at me.

I brought up my shield and he hit it dead on. His armor absorbed the hit just like my shield did. We were slamming inanimate objects against each other.

If I couldn’t knock him out as I had done to the gunman, I needed a different way to end this.

Charlie came back with his left.

I ducked under his swing. He’d put everything he had into the punch. Since he couldn’t hurt his hands beating on me, he didn’t have to hold anything back. I couldn’t let him connect. I had to keep him at range. Kneeling at his feet, I pushed him away from me. Again, he flew back.

With my shield, his energy shots were worthless, and his armor made it pretty much impossible for me to go toe to toe with him.

Rachel yelled at me, “Ral, remember the chair!”

I glanced back at her and gave a curt nod. Charlie was getting in range for another energy shot. I reached out to him and grabbed him. It wasn’t like with the chair though. I could feel the weight of the chair, how its weight shifted when I lifted it off, Rachel. Charlie wasn’t inanimate. He struggled. This time, however, unlike when I tried to touch him and his aura kept me from him, I grabbed everything, Charlie, his protective aura, everything.