The Wheel Turns Anew: A Wheel of Time Fanfiction

Chapter 10- Discovery

The rest of Edwin's day passed in a blur. All of his thoughts were focused on Amanda, and what she wanted. Why would she need to talk to me? Of all people, me! As he walked through the hall towards his last class of the day, he felt goosebumps rising on his arms, and scratched his arm absently. He felt something tap his shoulder, hard enough to draw him from his thoughts.

"What the hell?" He spun around, prepared to chew out whoever tapped him. Nobody else was near him. "What the...?" He looked around, and finally shook his head, confused.

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He saw Amanda standing by the main doors. "Hey!" He called, "Whats up?" He quickened his stride, pushing through the other people in the hallway. That earned him a few evil looks and more than one person muttering under their breath, but he didn't care. "Hi." A smile lit up her face, and it was all he could do not to stare. "Remember what I said earlier? How I thought that it'd be best if we went somewhere?" She glanced at the groups of people moving around them, then back to him. "Hm? Oh! Right! Sorry. Yeah ok...how 'bout my place? It isn't far, maybe only about 10-15 minutes tops."

"That sounds good to me. Lets go." They set off for his house, pushing their way out the doors and into the world outside.

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Once they got to his house, Edwin unlocked the door and made his way to the couch. Sitting down next to him, Amanda seemed...agitated. Wonder whats wrong? "Hey Amanda? What did you wanna talk about?" He wondered if bringing her here was such a good idea. It seemed like it at first, but now that he thought about it, if his parents got home early it'd be tough to explain to them. Goosebumps rose on his arms, and he moved to scratch it, but he realized that he couldn't move at all. No! No no no no no! He reached for the Source, and came up against something that held him from saidin's light. He turned his head, looking at Amanda. She had a small grin on her face, and seemed to be holding back laughter.

"What the hell? This is you?!" He realized that that last part had come out as a shout, but he was too angry to care. He reached again for the Source, shattering her shield, wrapping her in flows of Air and slamming his own shield into place between her and saidar. The flows of Air holding him disappeared, and he stood quickly. He shook himself to clear his head, and saw the look on Amanda's face. Barely contained fear and guilt warred with confusion and shock. He released her bonds, but maintained the shield. "How did you break my shield? Thats impossible!"

He gave a short laugh, though it contained no humor. "It isn't impossible. Just damnably difficult. I only managed it because I'm a lot stronger than you." He gave a small grin, and, as if to prove his point, he said, "Here. Try and break the one I have on you." He felt her reach tentatively toward the shield, probing for weaknesses. He put his full strength into the shield, drawing on saidin until it felt like he would be swept away, the sheer ecstasy giving the slightest hint of future pain that could burn him out or kill him. Amanda, meanwhile, had changed tactics. She had switched from her probing to bashing against the shield. It achieved little more than a five year old punching a brick wall would. She switched again, creating multiple angles, trying to overwhelm the shield with numbers. "That won't work. Don't bother trying." Even as he said it, he felt her slamming again and again into the shield. She gathered herself for another attempt, but he dropped it before she could try. "What the hell! I almost had it!" He could hear the fury in her voice. "No, you really didn't. For how much I was drawing, you would have needed an angreal or a circle to break it." And I'm not sure if that even would have been enough. "Anyway, I imagine you wanted to tell me you could channel, and that you knew I could as well?" She nodded her head, and he laughed out loud. "Don't be so upset Amanda! This is great news!" She smiled, and he knew all was forgiven.

With a shock, he realized how tired he was. He leaned back against the couch arm, trying to get comfortable. "You...you should go. If...my parents...see you...trouble..." With each word his eyes grew heavier, but the final thing he saw was Amanda, leaning into him, her scent flooding his nose, the feel of her next to him setting off a flurry of feeling. His last act was to slip an arm around her, and he slipped into sleep.