When All is Null and Void

Chapter Thirty-One

P A R T           TWO 

Caleb kicked Alexander in the teeth.

Or he might have, had the man not grabbed him by the ankle and flipped him on his back. "You left yourself wide open," Alexander said with a chuckle. Caleb rubbed his butt, where a bruise was already forming.

"Let's go again," Caleb said, bringing his fists up to his cheek bones. The two got self-defense fighting a month ago, and it turned quickly into kickboxing fanaticism. Alexander apparently did it when he was younger, before he was a Timewalker. Coupled with his mentor's training and YouTube, their battles had gotten epic. Caleb always came away with the most bruises. Alexander never even had a blemish.

"We should get back to the house," Alexander wiped sweat from his brow. "Isn't Danielle supposed to be coming over soon?" Out of breath as he was, Alexander looked somehow older. Even then, when Alexander wasn't tired from a workout, a haze seemed to have grown on him—a shadow Caleb couldn't place. "You still need to shower."

Unsure he wanted to see Danielle, Caleb offered a logical solution. "She has debate until five. We could just..." the rest hung in the air. Danielle didn't deserve this attitude; she had done nothing to Caleb's ire. His own guilty conscience was the culprit this afternoon. Earlier, when Rhea had popped by for a visit, she'd pulled Caleb aside and assured him of her full confidence in him. In Hopping unhindered, to Alexander's ears. But ultimately, Rhea was reminding Caleb of their deal. Befriend Danielle... get to know her...

Rhea left, and Alexander had suggested a mini outing to one of Alexander's apartments. This one, in West Hollywood, was Caleb's favorite. Neither the smoggy view of the city to the south, nor their activity set Caleb from the hazy cloud of guilt.

"I've still gotta make dinner, and I'm already dead. And you," Alexander tossed Caleb a water bottle from the fridge, "need a shower."

"You're the one who reeks." The words fell flat as Caleb placed a hand on Alexander's bicep and dragged—the sensation was near to the lurching in the gut after missing a step on the staircase, and the pain was similar to scraping a shin on the fall—them home. Caleb's Hops weren't instantaneous, like when Alexander was in charge. The hook around Caleb's gut was illusive, and the world bent with beleaguered slowness. Upon landing, Caleb took a heaving breath and wiped sweat that had nothing to do with exercise from his eyes.

"Not bad!"Alexander said on his way to the kitchen.

"No it wasn't," Caleb tried, and failed, to keep from snapping the words. Sure, it was a Hop. Awesome, wow!The bone deep ache in his finger, the exhaustion. If anything, that Hop was worse than the last six combined.

Alexander's optimism only seemed to frustrate Caleb.

"Any Hopping is good Hopping," Alexander said with his greeting card cheer. "Now go shower! I can smell the musk from the sink!" The jibe was Caleb's graceful exeunt line—he took it. Maneuvering around the piles and stacks of books, Caleb retreated up the stairs.

As the hot spray pattered down on Caleb, he fiddled with the ring. It used to twist, but now it didn't budge. Somehow the band had become an extension of Caleb's own body. Useless though it may be, he couldn't rid himself of it. Danielle had already asked about it. On the first day, actually, when the clouds had been low and they'd sat across from each other at Starbucks.

Danielle's questions had been pointed and rapid fire enough that Caleb had finished his pumpkin spice latte in minutes—every sip had been his moment to think, to err on the side of caution. She didn't know why they knew each other, why she would give Caleb her phone number. That one sort of stung. Apparently, she hadn't thought he was cute...not that it even mattered.