Dominance

Chapter 19: Human Battery

Back in the moderately bare room; aka Twister's makeshift recovery ward, Sara was relieved to be sitting among friends. Especially Ashlee, whose presence and familiarity was a welcome distraction from the recent onslaught of stress and negativity.

Twister had been cleaned up but was still on the foam mattress on the floor. He was either unconscious or in a deep sleep, lying on his side facing the wall. Although still partially covered by a shabby blanket, he was now thankfully clothed. Sara could see the logo of the heavy metal band, KnotSlip, on the back of his black long-sleeved shirt. Despite the circle of people sitting near him chatting, he did not stir.

"- I think I might be a Dreamwalker," Sara ended her confession nervously.

The tense air of suspense broke. A wave of laughter erupted from everyone, excluding Sara who was rather taken aback by the reaction.

"I'm not sure if that really counts. You had me scared for a second there though, Sara!" Ashlee sighed, relieved.

"What do you mean?" Sara asked, still bewildered. It was not the response she had expected.

"Well... When you said you might have powers.. Err, as far as psychic abilities go, Dreamwalkers are the most common and also the most harmless. The majority of people with that ability don't even know they have it. It's hard to distinguish between being in your own dream, or someone else's. And you wouldn't even remember most of the dreams when you wake up anyway."

"It's a nice way of saying it's a useless ability." Tyson grinned.

"What if hypothetically you could link to other psychic people though?" Sara asked as casually as she could. "Like, maybe you could combine and make a more powerful ability?"

"I don't really get what you're asking. I guess, hypothetically, it would depend on the other type of ability." Clyde answered with a chuckle. "But it's probably a good thing none of us have said psychic abilities anyway. Because if you think shifters have it bad, psychics have it worse. They have a huge target on their backs. Apparently, the government doesn't like people who can blow up things with their minds, or walk through walls, just wandering around and doing whatever they want to."

Sara gulped and downcast her gaze. She felt awful for hiding it, but also felt relieved she'd made the decision to discreetly explain what had happened to her and leave Aleron totally out of her revelation. There was already a plenty big enough target on her with the current supernatural situation she was in.

"They're not going to hunt down a Dreamwalker though, right?" Sara asked hesitantly.

"Nope. I'm pretty confident that people's nightly imagination doesn't interest them." Clyde replied.

"Are we really safe here?" Sara whispered softly to Ashlee, expressing her downheartedness.

"Were you paying attention at all during that meeting?" Tyson laughed.

"Were you?" Sara shot back, eyeing Tyson's cast.

"We're inconspicuous, for now," Clyde answered Sara's question. "But we won't be able to stay long."

Sara turned to look at Ashlee and she responded by smiling reassuringly. It was the same smile that had always felt welcome and open, but now Sara dwelled on all the untold that hid behind it.

"So, you're a witch? Since when?" Sara tried to sound unpretentious as she asked.

"Spellcaster." Ashlee corrected Sara. "No one likes being called a witch. It's kinda medieval. And since always, I guess? I'm nothing that epic though. I don't have a strong enough ability to cast on my own really... I just do trinket spells that can be done with the use of aids."