Fantasy

23 - Jayce

"Against! I'm against the RA!" the kid sputters. I suppose he could be lying. After all, he did attack me, but then again, I did trip. He might've thought I was trying to hurt him when I fell in front of him. I decide to let him go. Folding my knife on the tree I reassure the kid, "So am I. I guess that makes us allies...but that doesn't mean I trust you," I add. Or that we could even get along. I'm not saying I instantly hate the kid (okay, so he's not really a kid, but a college kid anyway), but I'll admit I have a pretty biased dislike of him already, based on his appearance. He reminds me of the jocks in high school; the ones who got a new girlfriend every week. I couldn't stand them and this kid seems like a clone, right down to the cloud of cheap cologne that follows him wherever he goes. Seriously, has he ever heard "a little goes a long way"? And I'll bet he's pretty popular with girls what with his blond hair, blue eyes, and bulging muscles. I bet he's popular period. Still, I could be wrong and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. It is just my first impression after all.

"Good," he answers as I let him up, "I don't trust you either, especially since you tried to kill me!"

"Look, I didn't attack you. I was running from agents when I tripped and I put my arms out to break my fall. I didn't know you were there," I explain. He looks skeptical, but doesn't say anything further. "What's your name, anyway?" I ask, "And how were you able to fight me when I was invisible?"

"My name's Randy and," he hesitates, "it's my extra power. I can sense where people are if I know their name and stuff."

"But how do you know my name."

"Um, you could turn invisible and you weren't Levina or Riley, so..."

"Process of elimination. Your deductive reasoning skills are pretty good. Either that or my identity is more obvious than I thought."

Randy nods, "Thanks, I think. You do realize I have no idea what you just said, right?"

"Doesn't matter, but, with your power, can you see Levina? We got bombarded and then separated. I just now lost the seven or so agents chasing me and I've been trying to find her."

"Uh, yeah, hang on a minute... She's safe, and in the woods with someone. I can't tell who, but probably another Worldd since they aren't fighting."

"How far away are they?"

"How should I know?"

"You can't tell with your power?"

"No, I only know the direction they are in relation to us."

"Well what direction are they?"

"Southeast."

"Then let's head southeast," I say, pulling out an ordinary compass.

"Fine by me, but I still don't know which way southeast... oh," Randy replies, pulling out his phone and pressing an app for a compass.

"Odd," I say to give him a hard time, "I thought phones were just meant to call people."

"Welcome to the twenty-first century," he mutters, "Don't tell me you don't have a cell phone."

"Oh I do," I answer, removing my flip-phone from the front pocket of my jacket. Randy glances at it, and then shakes his head.

"How old are you?"

"I'm only twenty-six, thank you very much."

"And I'm only nineteen, grandpa," Randy retorts. I put my phone away, shaking my head.

"Oh, and who just pinned you to the tree a few minutes ago?"

"I'd just gotten out of a fight with my caseworker and I'm tired!" he whines.

"I just got done fighting seven agents."

"No, you didn't fight them. You just ran from them."

"While I'd love to continue this frivolous argument, we really should be heading southeast seeing how my sister could be in mortal peril, just saying," I remind him a bit harshly.

"Relax, I told you, she's fine. And if anything happens I can just teleport to her and help her out."

"You can do that?"

"Yeah, it's part of my extra power. The problem is I couldn't take you with me, so let's get going Mr. Worldd," Randy says as he starts following his compass.

"Don't call me that," I tell him, checking his phone against my compass as we walk along. Fortunately, they match.