Blood: An Affinities Novel (The Affinities Book 1) Page 8

  “See! See!” Kiki exclaimed, pointing in the little boys’ direction. “I was right—I predicted it!”

  The kid who hadn’t fallen spun to look at them as his face lit up. “Orla?”

  “Nah,” the other kid said as he brushed gravel off his pants, “it just sounds like her. Orla shimmers.”

  “Orla?” Kiki repeated as she scurried to the kids. Once she stood above them, she placed her hands on her hips. “You mean my sister?”

  “Is your sister’s name Orla?” the first kid asked with a snicker.

  “She doesn’t really look like Orla,” the other said as he studied Kiki with pale green eyes that gleamed in the light of the streetlamp above. His lettuce-colored hair matched his irises exactly, just like the other boy’s aqua blue eyes matched his hair, which flowed atop his head like calm waves.

  “Yeah, Orla’s prettier,” the aqua boy concluded with a nod.

  “We must not be talking about the same Orla, because I am clearly more beautiful than my sister,” Kiki fumed as she flipped her hair again.

  “Eh,” Seth grunted. “I always thought your sister was hotter—no offense.”

  Kiki let out a shriek that turned into a groan as her fists clenched. Adara couldn’t stop herself from beaming.

  “You two have weird hair,” Tray observed, scrutinizing the kids. “Do you have powers?”

  “Of course—everyone here does,” Lettuce Head replied with a shrug. “I can read an entire page with one blink and remember each word perfectly.”

  “No way,” Hartman scoffed. “You’re only, like, ten—you couldn’t have possibly mastered your Affinity yet.”

  “I’ve been practicing for years,” Lettuce Head said defensively, “and I’ve been here for years. Our families moved to Periculand as soon as it opened. They all have Affinities, too.”

  “Yeah, my mom can teleport,” the other kid enthused proudly.

  “So can I,” Hartman huffed.

  “Let’s see it, then,” Lettuce Head demanded.

  “I…don’t feel like it,” the orange-haired boy grumbled, shrinking back slightly.

  “What’s your power?” Adara asked the blue-haired kid. “Something water related, I’m guessing?”

  “Well, I was gonna be the star of the swimming team before we moved here. They only have a pool at the training school, and we’re not allowed in it.”

  “You have an Affinity for swimming?” Tray questioned.

  “No, he can go a full hour without breathing,” Lettuce Head said. “He was born with only one lung. What can you do, normie?”

  “Let’s not get hostile,” Lavisa injected. Nerdworm didn’t seem to take offense to the little boy’s words, though, as he stared at him with curious intent.

  “What does your friend’s lack of a lung have to do with his ability to not breathe for an hour? Wouldn’t he have a hard time breathing with only one lung?”

  After years of enduring scorn with Tray as her only true ally, Adara was reluctantly but irrevocably on his side of any argument she hadn’t instigated. That was why, when Lettuce Head began to deride him with laughter, her core heated instinctively.

  “You really are a normie. You don’t know the first thing about Affinities, do you?”

  Adara was prepared to lash out, but Lavisa stepped up first, quelling the argument with cold intimidation. “This was a pleasant chat, but we’re leaving—”

  “Wait,” Lettuce Head pleaded, grasping Lavisa’s arm before she could walk through them toward the perpendicular alley. She looked poised to flip him onto his back, but his mouth was jabbering before she could move. “Don’t go that way.”

  “Why?” Lavisa asked as she yanked her arm from his clutches.

  “Nero’s down there with a bunch of his friends,” he whispered, glancing around frantically. “They would have beaten us up if they saw us, and they’ll beat you up, too.”

  “I think we’ll take our chances with Mustard to protect us. She’s never lost a fight,” Adara said suavely, her interest piqued at the mention of this terrifying Nero.

  Lavisa’s frown deepened. “Well, that’s an exaggeration.”

  “Hold the phone,” Hartman said after teleporting one measly foot closer to the conversation. “Did you just say Nero’s down there? As in…Nero Corvis?”

  “You know him?” the aqua-haired kid asked.

  Hartman shifted uncomfortably, glancing down the dark alleyway. “He’s my stepbrother.” Pausing, he turned to the other teenagers with a serious gleam of trepidation. “We should go—back to the school or something.”

  “And pass up the opportunity to meet Nero?” Adara questioned, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

  “He’s right,” Tray interjected, just as stubbornly against the idea as she was stubbornly for it. “We’re going back. We don’t need any trouble tonight.”

  “Maybe you don’t, but I think you’re forgetting how much I revel in trouble, Nerdworm,” she said as her lips bunched into a crooked grin. “I want to get acquainted with this Nero. Hm…Seth, of course, you’ll come…Eliana could be useful with her mind reading…Lavisa, obviously, for protection—and Hastings, because you just look like you have a badass power.”

  “Seth is not going!” Kiki shrilled as she clung to his arm. “I will not let him do anything dangerous—not now that we’re happily back together.”

  With raised eyebrows, Adara glanced at Seth, who shrugged. “Sorry, Dar—gotta please the woman.”

  Her teeth ground with undiluted fury, but she withheld her rage as her eyes roved over the others. “Is everyone else going to be lame pieces of trash, as well?”

  “I’m not in the mood for a fight tonight,” Lavisa responded as she picked at a small scab on her hand.

  “I’ll come,” Eliana volunteered with a small smile. “It could be…interesting, and I think Hastings wants to come, too.”

  Judging by the way he stared at the ground, Hastings did not seem like he wanted to join. He didn’t, however, object to her claim, and when Adara barged past the young kids to enter the side road, he and Eliana both followed.

  “Catch you losers later,” Adara called back to the others as she proceeded into the darkness.

  “I am not a loser!” Kiki’s whiny voice echoed through the quiet town, rivaled only by the sound of Adara’s snickers. Openly insulting Kiki Belven was not a luxury she had often indulged in—mostly because the other girl had always had horde of followers fawning at her feet. Here, though, things would be different.

  The road in the ominous alley was composed of white stones, and the ivory-colored buildings glowed in the moonlight, illuminating their path despite the lack of streetlamps. A few windows were alight on the higher floors, but all of the street-level shops were closed.

  Adara was too distracted to peek into any of the stores; her mind was buzzing with agitation, consumed with the question of how those children could have known and developed their powers at such a young age when she still had no inkling as to what abilities she possessed. “How did you guys discover your Affinities?”

  “Um…” Eliana began, clearing her throat. “Well…I’ve always heard, um, voices, you know…and stuff…”

  “And you?” Adara prompted, glancing at Hastings. Half of his face was hidden behind his long red hair. “Do you even talk?”

  He licked his lips and then swallowed. “Not about my Affinity.” His voice was gruff and dark but smooth and unwavering.

  “Right. Well, will it help us if this Nero goon tries to destroy us?”

  His eyes met hers gravely. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  “Ooh, he’s kinda spooky,” she enthused as she nudged Eliana’s arm. “You diggin’ the mysterious vibe?”

  The blue-haired girl scratched her forehead but didn’t give a response before her embarrassment morphed into an expression of serious intent. “I sense people,” she whispered, nodding to the alley between a café and a clothing store. They’d reached the apex
of the semi-circle now, and Adara could hear faint, girlish laughter emanating from ahead. “There are two, I think…”

  “Do you know what they’re thinking?” Adara asked as she began to slink closer to the buildings.

  “I can’t read specific thoughts, but they’re…um…happy, it sounds like,” she responded uneasily.

  “Hm. I do enjoy ruining a bit of happiness.” Adara flashed her companions a wicked grin as she approached the gap between the two buildings.

  “Wait,” Eliana hissed, but Adara ignored her, jumping into the alley like a pouncing cat.

  A few witty phrases rested on her tongue, but she barely had the opportunity to open her mouth before a harsh, cold jet of water collided with her face, rendering her blind and breathless. Spitting and retching, she wiped away the water with her sleeves, and when she finally opened her eyes, she found a couple standing in the dank alleyway.

  With her tall, thin body pressed up against the thick, handsome boy, the girl panted heavily, her eyes wide but indistinguishably dark in the nearly-nonexistent light. Her hair was cut short and styled with a few strange braids and ponytails, and her delicate fingers were outstretched, as though she’d just thrown something. It dawned on Adara then where that sudden torrent had originated.

  “What…the hell?” Adara managed to cough. Water still streamed down her face from her soaked hair, but it felt warmer than before—almost hot compared to the initial chill.

  The girl just sighed, letting her head fall back, while her body remained intertwined with the boy’s. Her style wasn’t far from Adara’s, with distressed jeans and black crop top. A band logo was printed on her shirt, but Adara was too disoriented to read it.

  “She just…shot water at your face…from her hands,” Eliana said incredulously, gawking.

  Adara’s eyebrows creased as her lips parted. “You have some kind of water power. But how—”

  “Oh, primies.” A deep chuckle rumbled from the boy’s core as he disentangled himself from the girl’s embrace. “You just don’t have a clue.”

  The girl’s expression was cagey, but she didn’t stop him as he ambled toward them with a menacing air. His mass easily doubled Seth’s, who was fairly strong for his age, and his muscles bulged in defined cords beneath his skin. The dark color of his hair was just as indiscernible as the girl’s, but the ferocity and savageness in his eyes was apparent in the way they gleamed like dark gray steel.

  “So, you must be Nero,” Adara mused as she looked him up and down. “I’ve heard about you, though I don’t know that I’m impressed.”

  “I’m impressed,” Eliana whispered sheepishly into her ear, but Adara just waved her off.

  “I heard you were in juvie,” she continued, taking a bold step closer to him, “and, I thought, in a place like this, you might make an advantageous friend.”

  Nero snorted disdainfully. “I don’t make friends. I just make followers out of the right people—the useful people. What’s your Affinity, primie?”

  Adara’s jaw shifted before she grabbed Eliana and presented her like a gift. “She can read minds. That’s useful.”

  “Already got one of those. I’m looking for something unique.”

  “Well, I’m sure Hastings has some—”

  “Hastings?” Nero repeated, peering around the girls to see the boy lingering in the shadows. Only one eye peeked out from behind his messy hair, and he used it to stare directly at his old prison-mate. Though Nero’s chest remained puffed, Adara was certain she saw a flicker of wariness in his gaze. “Ah, Hastings, how could I forget you? You were quite popular in juvie—and not in a positive way. With your…talents, you’d be a great asset. What do you say?”

  “He says yes,” Adara answered, ignoring the distaste in Hastings’s glare. “He doesn’t talk, but he says yes. I think you’ll find that I can be valuable, when I want to be—”

  “I wasn’t asking you,” Nero sneered before glancing back at Hastings again. “The invitation is only for him. We don’t want normies like you.”

  “Normies,” she repeated as recognition sparked. “Those kids said that… Is it the same as primie?”

  “Only a primie wouldn’t know what a primie is.”

  “Well, that’s not very helpful. What about normie?”

  “It’s a derogatory term for Reggs—the scum of the earth,” he informed her tersely. “So, Hast—wait, what kids?”

  “We ran into two kids on our way back here. They told us to avoid you, so naturally I did the opposite.”

  “Those little twats,” Nero growled, clenching and unclenching his fists. “I paid them to make sure no one would come back here and disturb us…”

  “Well, they seem worthless,” Adara stated. “I, on the other hand, am pretty talented at getting people to do what I want.”

  “Are you a mind manipulator?” the tall, nameless girl asked. Her skinny arms were now crossed over her chest, and she studied Adara with mild interest.

  “No. I didn’t even know those existed.”

  “So you’re powerless and stupid,” Nero derided. “You were unwise to come here like this, normie—especially when I’m trying to have a private moment with my girl. So, I suggest you scram before this gets ugly. Now, Hastings, why don’t you do the honors of making these girls run away so we can talk specifics?”

  The red-haired boy did not hesitate with his response of a flat, “No.”

  “No? Did you just say no?”

  “Are you deaf?” Hastings stepped between the two girls and glared up at Nero with both eyes blazing like fresh blood. “I said no. Do I need to repeat it again?”

  Adara blinked and then cocked her head at Nero, triumph swelling her pride. “Huh—look at that. Hastings chose us. What are you gonna do, Big Boy—use your little Affinity on us? Try me. I’m eager to see what it is.”

  “Uh, Adara—” Before Eliana could voice whatever knowledge she’d collected from the intimidating boy’s emotions, though, his massive arm had wound back and slammed down, his fist like a hammer against the nail that was Adara’s nose.

  With blood spurting from her nostrils and tears rushing from her eyes, her body whizzed backward and struck the ground. Coughing, she propped herself up on her elbows and then spit blood toward Nero’s feet. The heat enveloping her face was nothing compared to the spark in her chest, the rapidly-growing wrath unfurling, almost like a fire had ignited beneath her flesh.

  Her anger immediately abated at the very notion of those flames. The concept of fire had been weighing heavily on her mind throughout the day, ever since Mitt Telum claimed she’d attempted to set Kiki’s house ablaze. To even consider that her Affinity could be related to fire…

  She shook her head, dispelling the ridiculous thoughts to a part of her brain she planned not to visit. Psychologically, her stress was alleviated, but physically, a pounding headache had stemmed from her nose, clouding her vision along with the tears.

  Squinting, Adara looked up at Eliana, who was paralyzed by the violence that had unfolded before her innocent eyes.

  “Shut up,” Adara grumbled, sensing the reprimand in the girl’s protuberant eyes. “I’m fine.”

  “Y-you don’t look fine. You could have a concussion—”

  “I’m fine,” she repeated as she struggled to push herself from the ground. A hand reached down toward her face, and in her state of dizziness, she reluctantly took it. Once upright, she found herself face to face with Hastings. His eyes seemed to be coursing with the reflection of her actively-bleeding nose.

  “You’ve just declared war, Big Boy,” Adara threatened as she pivoted back to Nero. With the tears, blood, and nausea that hazed her vision, she could barely see the smug sneer on his face.

  “War?” he said, chuckling derisively. “I believe you were the one who came here to provoke me—and I believe our army greatly outnumbers yours.”

  “Don’t be so sure,” she mumbled, sending him a glower of death before uncoordinatedly spinning on her heel and
stalking down the road. After only a few steps, Eliana and Hastings had to come to her aid, but she shooed away their assistance and opted for stumbling blindly across the cobblestones.

  “It’s looking a little better,” Eliana observed as she stuck her face in front of Adara’s. “Um…less bleeding, but still a lot of blood.”

  “I don’t care about the blood. I care about the disrespect.”

  “I thought you said you were, uh…bullied at your old school,” Eliana said cautiously.

  “I was, and I won’t let it happen here. Kiki doesn’t run this school.”

  “Um, well, I think Nero does, actually.”

  “For now,” Adara grunted, seething through the throbbing pain, “but not forever.”

  7

  Reunions

  Adara fumed externally and internally when she stalked into the Residence Tower lounge. Eliana couldn’t decipher her specific thoughts, but she was almost certain they revolved around Nero’s demise. How the girl planned to demolish someone who could have killed her with one punch was beyond Eliana, but the curious part of her was eager to watch it unfold.

  Following at Adara’s heels, she and Hastings trailed into the vibrantly-colored room, careful to keep a few inches of distance from one another. Although Hastings had been fairly placid during their walk back to campus, his posture shifted into circumspection upon entering the crowded lounge, and he now bit his nails and watched their peers as if any one of them might attack him at any moment. Even with his obviously cautious demeanor, Eliana couldn’t detect the slightest hint of fear from him. His mind was so heavily guarded that it was as if he wasn’t thinking or feeling anything at all.

  “And Stromer walks in covered in blood,” Tray Stark drawled from where he stood amongst a cluster of couches. His eyebrow raise increased Adara’s already-present fury to an unsettling height. “Why am I not surprised?”

  She tried to scowl, but the movement of her broken nose caused her to wince instead. “Can it, Nerdworm.”

  Her response didn’t surprise him, but it did cause Lavisa to glance up. Sprawled on her own purple sofa, sharpening a stick with a rock, the yellow-haired girl surveyed the blood caked on the lower half of Adara’s face and snorted. Ackerly’s reaction was far less amused; bristling in his armchair, his earthy eyes were wide behind his glasses, and Eliana could sense his queasiness at the sight of the blood—or perhaps the venom in Adara’s glare.