The Quadrants

Chapter 7

Rohan was quiet that night at home. It was a ridiculous notion to think that what Titus had told him might be true. He had to have been joking, to see how gullible he was. But on the other hand, what other explanation could there be? As much as he wanted to disbelieve Titus, Rohan still found himself subtly studying his parents all evening. After dinner, he sat watching TV, examining them from the corner of his eye. He saw how they didn't seem to do anything that looked particularly powerful, in fact, Rohan thought they seemed positively ordinary, particularly weak, the way they lugged around baskets of washing or strained to get up from the sofa. Was this all an act to stop him finding out about them?

The following day, Rohan walked into his homeroom and glanced around. Eve was already there, in the front row, but Titus hadn't yet arrived and the teacher was late, again. He dropped his bag on the floor and said hi to Eve. Rohan thought she looked a bit glum, which wasn't surprising really, since he had hardly spoken to her at all for the remainder of the previous day, after what he had witnessed Titus do.

"How are you?" Rohan asked, hoping some conversation would cheer her up.

But just as Eve opened her mouth to respond, Titus arrived, and Rohan turned away. He loomed large, just inside the doorway, joking around with one of his doofus friends. Rohan jumped up from his seat and went across to him. Once he had calmed down the evening before, Rohan's mind hadn't once stopped thinking over all he had learned, and he had come up with a hundred questions to ask.

"Titus, can I talk to you?" said Rohan, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Titus's head swung around and he gave him a death-stare. Rohan carefully removed his hand. He waited several minutes for him to finish with his friend, then finally, he coaxed a reluctant Titus to a quiet corner of the noisy room.

"Look, not here," Titus said straight away. "Don't be an idiot."

"Then where? When?" implored Rohan, trying to keep his voice down. "You're the only one I can ask."

"Leave me alone," Titus hissed.

"What do you mean by genetic?" Rohan went on regardless. Titus gave an impatient huff. "I mean, is it possible for it to skip a generation... this, thing?"

"I don't know, I'm not a scientist." Titus looked like he was going to leave it there, but Rohan was still gazing at him expectantly, and having discovered how persistent he was, Titus probably figured he would get rid of him sooner if he gave him some answer. "Oh, who knows, maybe. But for your parents to have you, their parents must have come from the Quadrants at least."

Rohan stood there thinking about it, a furrow forming in his brow.

"Do you know your grandparents?" Titus asked. "Are they... special?"

"Well, not that I know of. One of my grandfathers died in a farming accident when I was little. A tractor rolled over on him, so I guess we can rule him out. And my mom's always making me go over to my other grandparents' house to help them with things, like... mowing, and carrying groceries. If they were like me, surely they'd just do it themselves."

"Surely," said Titus, mockingly, and he took the opportunity to make his escape while Rohan continued to ponder his ancestors.

When he wandered into their first lesson of the day, Rohan was distracted. His mind still churned with thoughts of fire and fazing, and genetics, but he eventually noticed that Eve was looking at him quizzically.

"Rohan, what are you doing?" she asked finally.

"What do you mean?" He plonked down beside her. "I'm not doing anything."