Nature's Sign

Chapter 4

"Alexa!"

I turn as someone calls my name. Jake emerges from the forest, wearing his mysterious smile, and walks over to where I am on the hill. "Jake! What took you so long?" I ask.

Jake shrugs.

"Mr. Knight had to talk to me," He says.

"Mr. Knight? Isn't that your dad?"

"Yes," Jake says stiffly.

"You don't need to get stiff about it, you know," I say.

Jake sits down on the hill next to me.

"Hey, where are your fox and dragon?" Jake asks.

"Their names are Flame and Sky, and you don't like it when they're around so they're at home."

Jake cringes.

"Right, right," Jake says, looking like he is lost in thought.

"Um, I have to go, see you tomorrow, same place," Jake says as he leaves in a hurry.

"Bye," I call after him.

I sit on the hill for a few more minutes, then I start heading back to the clearing. When I get there, Jake is standing there with a squirming bag.

"Jake?"

Jake freezes when I say his name. Slowly, he turns around.

"Jake? What are you doing?" I ask, "Wait, where is Flame and Sky? They always come greet me when I come back."

I look at the bag and realize that Jake is taking Flame and Sky.

"Why are you taking Flame and Sky?" I ask, stunned.

"I did what I had to do," Jake responds.

"Who asked you to do this? I know you wouldn't do this of your own will," I say.

Jack flinches.

"Well, what if I did do this of my own will? What then?" Jake yells.

I stand there, shocked.

"Then, you are no longer my friend." I say.

Jake had never yelled before. I knew he had powers, but he only ever showed me his mind control powers.

Jake looks at me with a cold look in his eyes that I had never seen before. I look back at him with even colder eyes. My only friend, the only person who knows my powers. I grow vines all around Jake. I start shooting them at him. He dodges all of them.

"You missed!" Jake says, triumphantly.

"No, I didn't," I say, grabbing the bag off one of the vines.

Jake looks at his hand in shock. While he was busy dodging the vines, I was snagging the bag out of his hand.

"How?" Jake asks, "I was reading your movements in your mind, how?"

"You're no longer my friend, so that's my secret," I say coldly, "Now, go back to your father before I change my mind about letting you get away."

"You're stronger than I thought you were. Maybe you are the One," Jake says as he runs away, leaving me to wonder what he meant.

I jolt up in my bed, clutching my chest. Pain moves through my arm and emerges in my head. I remember what happened with Giant. I fall back onto the bed as Mother Nature walks in.

"How are you feeling?" She asks, Sky and Flame follow her in.

"I feel like my heads going to explode," I say, laying my arm over my eyes, cringing at the pain in my arm.