The Pain Thief

Chapter 13

A FEELING OF FOREBODING

Zoe lay down in her bed staring at the ceiling. It was Sunday morning and she had woken up early for some reason. The sun was filtering in through the windows, creating a peaceful scene. 

She had changed the night before from the beautiful red dress and into some baggy sweats and a tank top. Her white hair was splayed out under her, the red flowers hidden back in her drawers. 

In truth, she was still feeling weak from giving Jack so much of her energy, but was recovering quickly like she said she would. Her healing ability allowed her own body to fix itself up quicker so she wouldn't feel weak for very long. 

Zoe heard a shift and some movement followed by, How are you feeling Young One?

She didn't move from her position, feeling no threat at the appearance of Malachi and Reyna. "Better Malachi. I'm feeling better."

The large white wolf climbed onto her bed, nuzzling her neck and laying down next to her. Reyna climbed up after him, laying across her legs. 

We were quite worried about the two of you,  said Reyna, but we couldn't come out with so many people. 

Zoe allowed herself a smile. "I know. You're both still worried. I can feel it."

Malachi hummed, his voice deep in his throat. We might have to use... that... to defeat them. 

She sighed and placed her hand atop Malachi's head, stroking it slowly. "Unfortunately it looks that way. Will you be ready to do it should I ask?"

Of course, both wolves responded. 

Zoe smiled as she fell back asleep, feeling safe with her wolves nested around her. 

***

It wasn't until Monday after school that Zoe and Jack had the opportunity to discuss the situation with Mr. Z. Despite her protests, Mr. Z made sure Zoe stayed in bed all day Sunday so she would get to feeling better. He sat up in her room with her, Malachi, and Reyna, telling her stories of his life that she'd heard many times before. Sometimes he talked about his wife or son, but these were the times when Zoe knew how much he missed his family. 

Jack's parents had kept him in all day too, even though he had recovered quickly due to Zoe's healing. The both of them were only let out for school and it was only due to Mr. Z's assurance that Jack was able to come over. 

He sighed as the two of them stepped in. "Sarah's been acting pretty weird since Saturday. I'm not sure why."

Zoe shrugged. "Weird how?"

"Like I'm hiding something," he decided upon. 

Zoe looked to him in concern, wondering if she had figured anything out about them since Saturday. "Hmmm," she said, "I guess we'll just have to wait until she says something. We can't force it out of her since that'd mean admitting to having a secret. Maybe she'll forget about it."

"We can hope," said Jack as he sat down at the table. Zoe walked over to the fridge, getting him and Mr. Z some lemonade. Mr. Z would be coming in momentarily after he cleaned up his gardening tools outside. 

In a few minutes they were all sitting around the table like they had done many times before. Any time the two of them didn't know something, they would gather around and Mr. Z would talk with them. It was kind of like the command center for the base of their operations. 

"You two don't completely know what happened the other day, do you?" asked Mr. Z. 

"I just remember feeling an incredible amount of power weighing down on me," said Zoe. She narrowed her eyes. "It felt like it was crushing me and taking all my strength."

Mr. Z nodded. "I felt that power and went over to you two, but you had already fainted. That power is the power of someone who had harnessed a lot of hazes and stolen their power."

"So... is this one of the people controlling the haze?" asked Jack. 

"Probably," said Mr. Z. "This person more than likely used one of their supposed stones to completely absorb the hazes. That's why they had so much strength. The two of you aren't used to something with so much power, so you fainted and it drained you."

"But what are we supposed to do now?" asked Jack with his eyebrows knitted. "If that's their power... how are we ever supposed to defeat them?"

Mr. Z was silent for a moment. "It will be difficult, but the two of you can defeat them in battle. Obviously working as a team would increase those chances, but individually, you are both still strong enough. Now that you've felt it once, you both should be able to track this power, meaning that you'll feel it when it's activated."

"So we'll have to fight this thing then?" said Zoe. 

"But you have to be careful," said Mr. Z. Zoe could tell that he was being completely serious. "If this enemy knows about you, they'll know you two normally fight with each other to combine your offense and defense. They'll probably try to find a way to split you up, so be wary."

They both nodded, but Zoe was uneasy. It was hard enough knowing there was a new, stronger enemy out there, but if what Mr. Z said was right, she wasn't sure either of them could defeat them on their own. 

 ***

A whole week passed without much activity. Even the hazes had been weak and easy to defeat. That's when something strange happened. 

Zoe and Jack had run out of school to kill a haze that had appeared, but couldn't find it anywhere. Jack ran down an alley when something hit him in the back and he fell onto his face. He drew a sword and looked around, prepared to see a haze facing him. When he turned though, there was nothing there. 

Jack looked around perplexed. He kept the sword in his hand. 

"Jack!" he heard. He looked to see Zoe running up to him, her white hair flailing out behind her. "I saw you fall, are you alright?"

Jack saw that she looked extremely scared and nervous. To reassure her, he said, "I'm fine. I thought something hit me, but maybe I just tripped since there's nothing here."

She didn't look convinced. "I'm going to do a complete work up to make sure. Stay still."

Jack wanted to protest, but he knew at that point there would be no talking Zoe out of it. So he waited patiently while Zoe sifted through his energy, checking him for even the slightest thing that may've been wrong. Jack always got a little nervous when she did this since she had to stand so close, and probably would've went a little red if he didn't know how serious she was. 

When she was done, she pulled her hand away and her eyes returned to normal. "I couldn't find anything," she whispered dejectedly. 

Jack grabbed her hand. "Isn't that a good thing?" he said softly. 

She pursed her lips and started biting the bottom one. It was a habit that she had whenever she was nervous about something or couldn't figure something out. 

Jack squeezed her hand gently and tilted her chin so he could look her in the eyes. "I'm sure it's nothing Zoe. I know you're scared about these upcoming fights, but really I'm fine."

She knitted her eyebrows and Jack could see the unease swimming in her eyes. "Maybe Mr. Z should check you out," she said quietly. 

He smiled softly. "I'm fine Zoe." He stepped back from her and turned all the way around. "See? Nothing's wrong."

Zoe still didn't look convinced, but she conceded. Looking back, Jack really wished he had listened to her and had gotten checked out. The situation was about to get a whole lot worse.