Oxygen

Chapter 13 - A new arrival

Today's the day. Charlie is coming to help out with the training. Jordan and I have been practicing everyday for two weeks, since there's not much else to do around here. Everyday has the same routine; breakfast, training, lunch, training and painting. I've been trying to teach Jordan to paint, but he just can't get the hang of it. Oh well.

"We should tidy up before Charlie comes" Jordan suggests, and I nod in agreement. "When is he coming?" I ask. "Four, I think" Jordan states.

We spend all day cleaning the house, wiping down the tables, and vacuuming the carpets. When Charlie arrives, I'm excited to get to know him, and find out some more about Jordan.

A black SUV comes down the drive, and I follow Jordan to it as it parks next to our van. A tall, dark and reasonably handsome man steps out from the drivers side, and gives Jordan a wave as he approaches.

Behind the car comes a girl, with a short, blonde, pixie hair cut, and a small frame. She smiles broadly as she approaches, and runs to hug Jordan.

"Hi!" she squeaks, giving Jordan a huge fright as she jumps on him, wrapping her skinny legs around his waist. Hmmm. My brain is telling me not to be ok with that.

"Hey" Jordan replies, less enthusiastically, and places her down on the gravel. "Fern, this is Georgia, Charlie's.. girlfriend. Georgia, this is Fern" I smile in response, giving her a slightly guarded wave.

She comes straight at me with a hug, but not jumping, thank goodness.
"Nice to meet you Fern" she says, her honey tone soothing my throat as she speaks.

"Sorry about this, I forgot to tell you she was coming" Charlie said apologetically, giving Jordan a hug, and patting him on the back.

"It's an honor to see you again, Fern" he says, giving me a gentle embrace. "You too" I say, not really remembering much about him.

We show our guests inside and sit down. Jordan and I sit on a grey love seat, and Charlie and Georgia take the armchairs.

"So, why are we here?" Georgia asks. To me she comes across a bit ditsy, and by asking this it confirms that she definitely is.

"You're helping us with our training" I say, looking at Jordan with an odd expression. By the way he looks back, he knows exactly what I'm thinking.

"Oh, ok" she says, and Charlie laughs to himself. This is going to be a long day.

"So how is the bonding going?" Charlie asks, and I look to Jordan, unintentionally gripping his hand.

"It's going ok, I guess. We've been on the second stage for almost a month though" he looks down at our hands, and up to me. His deep blue eyes are dark and worried.

"Well not everyone advances across the stages quickly" Charlie says, taking Georgia's hand in his. "We were on stage two for quite a while" she replies.

"I don't know, I think something is wrong" Jordan says. I move closer to him, and massage his hands with mine. He's never told me about this.

"Give it a few days, we'll help you with training, and then we can talk about it" Charlie suggests. He's one of the smartest Kingsley's.

"What's your ability?" I ask, both Charlie and Georgia.

"Mine is Mental Manipulation. I can control what someone is thinking, their memories, and basically control their brains. My favourite trick is turning people unconscious" he smirks, and Jordan coughs at this.

"Yea, we've all learnt from that one, you wanna watch out for him, Fern" Jordan warns, and Georgia nods. Charlie laughs, and Georgia laughs with him.

"My ability is Emotional Manipulation" Georgia explains, "So pretty much I just change people's emotions, make them mad and stuff. Not as useful as Mr Brainy over here" she shoves Charlie in the shoulder, and he shoves her back. "True".

We spend hours talking, and I learn more about the Kingsley's. Jordan's Uncle Harry, Charlie's dad, has Psychic powers, while his wife Jasmine has Possession. This is apparently because when they met, they had problems with control, and they argued a lot.

Jordan's parents have some of the strongest powers. Cathy has a mind shifting ability, so she can manipulate a person's personality and perception, make them unable to think straight. Michael's ability is illusion, which he uses to shift reality to make it a confusing state for the victim.

"Do the Summer's have any abilities?" I ask, curious.

"Unfortunately, yea. Natalie's Dad and Granddad are the only ones. For some reason their partners didn't get any when they bonded" Charlie answers. He's like the Wikipedia of the family I'm guessing.

"So what are they?" I push for more detail.

"Alec's ability is called Uni-mind. He can basically connect his mind with all living and non-living things to understand them. But it will only work if he's touching the object." I nod as Charlie explains.

"Martin Summers", Charlie continues, "Has dream manipulation. That means he can create, shape or enter someones dreams, when they're asleep. He has to be near the person to do it, so he's not a big threat when fighting".

"I wonder what our abilities will be" I think aloud. "I'm sure they'll be something special" Jordan counters, "You are the first for a hundred years of two clans to bond together, I'm sure they'll be magnificent" Charlie agrees.

Georgia rubs my shoulder and says with a sweet, caring tone, "Of course they will! You two make a great couple, I've seen the way you look at each other. Your one for the books!". I nod in response, and suggest that we go to bed. It is almost ten after all.

Jordan and I take the couches, pushing two of them together so we can touch. I change into a baggy t-shirt and get under the blankets. Jordan comes in beside me and kisses me on the neck. "Goodnight my lovely" he says. Lovely. I like that one.

"Night marshmallow" I say, curling into his chest. "Marshmallow?" he says. "Yea, your soft like a marshmallow" I explain. Jordan laughs and rests his head on mine. I watch his eyelids flick closed as he falls asleep, with me in tow.

The snowy field is back. I look around to see the same view as the first time we were here. Except this time, we are running, a head on collision towards the opposition, which are of course, the Summer's. Jordan runs ahead of me and starts rugby tackling a bulky man with a sword.

To my left Georgia is running, but not attacking anyone. When I look ahead of her I see the bearded man wincing in pain, crying his eyes out. Manipulation, I think.

Then I see a small woman coming towards me, Natalie. Her long hair flies behind her as she sprints towards me, hitting me with a huge force. I fly backwards, hitting a pack of ice as I land. I get back up quickly, and throw a fist, straight at her face. She counteracts with a knee in the guts, knocking me back.

It appears that I have no abilities, because my next move is to pull a sharp sword from my pocket, and swing it at her throat.