The Guardian

Like Candlelight

Chapter 7

Itai couldn't face Arden or her mother that night. Instead he wandered the city, visiting the places that he would on any normal day: The local café, a hot- spot for high school and college students to meet and study. The kiddie park, where he first met Jay when they were both six. And finally the Houston Rec Center, where he stayed for the remainder of the night, training and then sleeping and then training some more. It was close enough to Arden's place for him to feel safe about leaving her alone.

Travis came into the training room at 9am, crossbow in hand. He stopped in his tracks when he spotted Itai, already warming up on the mat. "Hey," Itai greeted casually.

Travis scanned the room with a quirked eyebrow. "Wow. Someone got inspired overnight."

Itai ignored his unspoken question. "I want to start building mental strength, if that's okay with you."

Travis set down his crossbow. "You look terrible," he said bluntly. "That thing you're wearing doesn't even pass as a shirt anymore. And your hair is filthy. We're not doing anything until you take a shower."

It wasn't said cruelly enough to be an insult. "Okay, Mom," Itai said. "Only if you promise to start mental training today." He hated how desperate he'd become, but he couldn't take the illusions that Shruti created any longer.

Twenty minutes later Itai returned, wearing clothing that he'd dug up from the lost and found. It had turned transparent the moment he pulled it over his head, which made him feel much more safe going around a public building. He walked with confidence into the training room.

Tori stood on the balance beam, perfectly poised. Travis must've seen the nasty expression that Itai assumed. "She had a break and wanted to check up on you," he explained, trying to appease both Itai and Tori.

"Travis tells me you want to go mental. I can help," Tori offered.

Itai had no response.

"That's not a great idea," Travis said, and Tori's face fell a little. "Done right, mental connections require trust. And, well . . ."

"I don't trust you at all," Itai finished. Tori's feelings were none of his concern.

Itai had only had mental training once in his two months with Jeffery. It was uncomfortable, eerie, and most of all exposing. He hadn't been ready for Jeffery to see his mind, and wasn't prepared for Travis know him that personally either. But it was better than Shruti, who didn't only observe, she also destroyed. He could already feel her tricks chipping away at his mind.

"When can we start?" he asked.

"Now, if you're sure, I guess. Lay down on the mat, legs uncrossed," Travis instructed.

Itai remembered the drill from his first experience. Arms to his sides, fingers uncurled so that energy could flow freely. Eyes closed. Deep breaths.

At first it was the barest light in the corner of his mind. Itai had to search to find the glitch in the flow of his thoughts, and once he noticed it the light grew, still faint but becoming more present until it enveloped his head like the moon during an eclipse. Travis poked around, quickly picking out a weak spot and focusing all of his energy on it.

Memories burst in his head like bubbles. They didn't appear in any sort of pattern, just snippets of thought from different periods of his life. There was no sadness in any of the scenes, and Itai knew that Travis must be doing that on purpose, making the process as painless as possible. Itai's first cat nuzzled his hand. His mother sat at the table with him, laughing over a joke that Itai didn't remember. Jay splashing around in a creek, kicking water at Itai's direction.

Itai tried to focus on the task at hand: getting Travis out of his head. How was he supposed to do this? It worked differently for everyone. He tried flexing the muscles in his brain, but that only brought on a head-ache. Itai thought furiously about forcing Travis out-flinging him away, squeezing the intruding light into a puff of smoke, shoving it down until he didn't feel it anymore-but none of his ideas were working. In fact, they seemed to make Travis stronger with each pulse of energy.

Frustration brought him back to the surface.

Tori stood across the room, lifting weights and looking bored out of her mind. "Finally," she huffed when they made eye-contact. "You were mental for five minutes. Too long."

Travis gave her a pained look. "I didn't know how to do it," Itai said in defense. "I couldn't figure it out." Being conscious of your own mind was an unusual experience. What thoughts had been long forgotten, hidden in depths of his brain that he didn't even know existed? And how could he prevent other people from finding them before he did?

"We'll try again," Travis said, sensing his aggravation. "Try coming at me from a different approach. And for God's sakes, stop attacking me like some feral animal!"

Itai laid his head back down, relaxing each muscle individually until his body was calm again. It happened quicker this time-Travis was there, bringing up meaningless memories as Itai tried to drag him down. The anger came quicker, too. "Freaking . . . AGH! Were you always this stubborn, or did it just happen after you died?

He was re-awoken, this time by Tori kicking him in the side harshly. She didn't bother to apologize. "Again," Travis demanded.

The probing light in his mind. The sudden flurry of memories. It was déjà-vu to Itai. He inhaled slowly, imagining himself folding over the light and engulfing it in darkness. Travis tried to escape, but Itai held onto him fiercely, tightening his grasp to allow no movement. His mind bent some more, closing in, making contact-

And Travis was gone, snuffed out like candlelight.

Itai eased himself awake, the relief of success replacing the space where Travis had been. His chest was shuddering, partly from excitement, partly from the lack of oxygen. He waited for the panic to wean before opening his eyes.

By the time Itai came around, Tori and Travis were gone. He had hoped to try again, snuff Travis out until he got faster-- but there was clearly no chance of that. Itai had no idea of how long he'd been passed out, lost inside his own head.

•••

Tori has no chill. I know that this chapter is a bit short, but it's the best I could do with school going again :(
Thanks for reading!
-Shimena