The Enemy Beside Me + The Liar Beside Me (Book 1 and 2)

Chapter 32

'I'M DOING IT! I can't believe it!' There's no fire dancing in my hands, but there's heat; my hands are radiating in orange. I had expected that my skin would burn, so I was hesitant when Eien had told me to let it go. But now look at me!

It's the weekend again, and although it has only been done twice, we all know going to Alasdair's mansion is now a tradition. Good thing Kaito doesn't stay here. He's regularly in his offices. Plural because he owns more than one building, not only in the Tetsubun area or the whole Kobushi City.

The garden has high walls so no passersby can inspect us whilst we all practice our gifts. For the first time, after training my breathing and controlling my emotions more, my pyrokinesis is slowly developing. Still, deep inside, I'm afraid I might use it rashly. But I also know I have to understand it. I have to befriend it, no matter how terrified I am.

'Here, high-five!' Declan doesn't give me a chance as he slaps his hand to mine. My hand sizzles, smoke bursting into tiny sparks and then the orange glow dies out.

'What the hell?' I protest and shoot him a sharp look. It took me half an hour to perfect the glowing hands!

'Oh, relax. You can do it again.' He shrugs and goes back to producing spears made out of ice. Once he's satisfied, he hurls spears at the ice dummies made by him. He's not only strong, but he's also incredibly fast that once I blink, all of the six dummies have been crushed into tiny pieces.

All I can say is, 'Wow.' I know by then, I'll never catch up. What am I thinking? I don't need to do that. What I need is to make sure I'll never lose control of my power ever again.

The only catch with Declan's power is that there's gotta be a source of water nearby. Because of that, he uses the water in the air. He admitted, though, that he has yet to be proficient in it. So if he partners with Eien, they would be this deadly team no one should cross with.

I focus on Watanabe and Eien. For some reason, they have become closer in such a short period. It all started with Watanabe's attempt to talk to me about my nametag. It was awkward. But the following days, he was more informal and laughed—though there was no sound—at some of my quips.

He didn't even ask why Eien was almost late. I, on the other hand, did the opposite. I asked the kid where he had been. He said he had decided to have a nap somewhere and had almost forgotten about Kaito. I wanted to remind him how irresponsible he was, but Watanabe stopped me and told me to leave it.

Watanabe transforms into a large bird. I'm no expert, but I think it's a hawk. He flies high but not over the walls. I hear Declan say, 'Yeah, that's nice and all but make sure you won't shit on us.'

The hawk doesn't listen as it circles us again and again until the wind gets powerful with the help of Eien. Watanabe dives towards us, fighting the wind as much as he can. The rest of us hide in the igloo Declan has constructed. When I determine that the anorak has left us alone and is now busy protecting himself from Eien's power, I poke my head outside and see that Watanabe has changed into a spider.

'The Himalayan Jumping Spider,' Alasdair says beside me, also watching how Watanabe tries to survive Eien's aerokinesis. 'Later, he'll turn into a Waterbear. But he won't last that long.'

'How do you know?'

He smirks. 'Watanabe easily panics. Unless you give him an easy job, he'll always think of escaping instead of fighting back.' True enough, a naked Watanabe comes tumbling down next to the igloo.

We've seen him without any clothes countless times, but Declan still says, 'Ew, dude, get some clothes on!' He receives no response, but he laughs at his own joke nonetheless.