The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 20

"What in the world do you have!?" Skylight looked up from the battle strategies he was looking over with Supernova.

Kiki was running around the Glade's people, laughter spilling out of her mouth. "A knife!!" She screamed, laughing even harder.

Eyes widening, Skylight shot up from his seat, "NO! Kiki!"

Supernova held a hand up to her mouth to hide her snickers. Seeing TJ and Kiki chase each other around the Glade was one of the highlights of her day. Especially when it was TJ chasing Kiki. There was just something comical about the older brother struggling to keep up with an eleven-year-old. What made it even funnier was the fact that Skye was the one who had given the knife to Kiki. It was currently sheathed, so not in danger of hurting anyone, yet it was probably best that there wasn't a goofy preteen running around with a weapon.

After a few minutes of chasing, TJ and Kiki made it to the training area of the Glade. Kiki darted around the elemental masters that were training, forcing TJ into a mad dash to avoid bumping into people.

Sunbeam looked up to see his children running wild. "TJ! Kiki!" He held his hands up to stop the people he was training with. "TJ! Kiki!" he tried again.

Kiki just giggled harder and ran from the irritated TJ. As she ran, the hand holding the knife moved around quickly. This caused TJ's anxiety to skyrocket, even Skye was getting nervous.

Eyes flashing red, literally, Sunbeam glared at his children. "Tyler James King! Kiki Eliza King! What are you doing?!"

Kiki and TJ both stopped, and Skye did as well.

"Kiki. Put. The. Knife. Down. TJ. Stop. Chasing. Your. Sister." Sunbeam stamped his foot on the ground. The color of the grass traveled up his leg, leaving the grass gray, and his foot green.

Skye bumped into TJ from behind and clutched his arm. Although Sunbeam wasn't yelling at her, she was still intimidated.

TJ glanced back at Skye, then back at his dad.

Sunbeam took note of Skye's fear and corrected himself. "Skye. You're doing great honey."

Smiling, Skye looked down and quickly let go of TJ's arm. "Technically, I gave Kiki the knife."

"Don't worry about it. I would've gotten it eventually." Kiki grinned and returned the knife to Skye.

"Should we be worried?" Skye looked up at TJ.

He shook his head, "Nah. Seems pretty typical for her."

Sunbeam shook his head and turned back to the masters with him. Planting his feet on the ground, he spread his arms out wide.

TJ and Skye walked over to the group. TJ pulled on his power and let orbs of darkness settle in his palms. He let the orbs join together so that he now had a string of power connecting both hands. Settling into an empty spot with the rest of the masters, he copied his father's stance.

As much as Skye wanted to bring out her power, she didn't. Her power was dangerous, as most powers were, but her's got out of control much more easily. TJ's power was light, Skye's was explosions, her's posed much more danger than TJ's did.

The two teenager's feet bumped into each other as they got into position. TJ's face flushed and he looked away. Skye turned red and avoided eye contact.

Sunbeam laughed to himself as he remembered doing nearly the exact same thing with Tai when they were young. He half expected a voice to shout in his mind saying 'I'm not old you're old!' or 'Bold of you to assume you don't still look like a total dork when you see me'. Tai always enjoyed playful yelling at Niko. The banter was one of the things Niko missed most about her. There were many things, of course, but her sass and no-nonsense attitude were some of the most prominent things.

Without realizing it, Niko had summoned his power creating blue spots that stained his hands. He wiped his hands on his pants, before spreading out his arms again. He moved them in a circle and the elemental masters followed him in sync.

Huntress watched from afar. She remembered the days when she, TJ, and Skye would train together. Those training sessions typically ended with them rolling on the floor in laughter. Shift wasn't an easy power to train with like light or color was. It wasn't tangible, you couldn't see or touch it. The closest it came to visible was the silver dust created when a shift took place.

The dust also matched the scars that traveled up and down Huntress' arms. They also had a resemblance to her crown, however, it was not inspired by the dust. She allowed the dust to seep through her fingers. She'd been feeling uneasy for a while, and her current guess was that something was wrong with her brother.

Everyone in the Glade was on edge, so for a while, she'd chalked it up to just being that. But her dreams were starting to convince her otherwise. She would wind up back at her childhood home from before she joined the Glade. A black shape would chase her around, before suddenly deciding Huntress wasn't worth it and leaving. As the void turned away, she'd wake up jarringly. She hadn't told anyone yet, but she was thinking about it. Maybe Dani would know what to do. But for now, she thought it best to leave the less important problems alone, and focus on the more important things. Glitch.