Mastery

Ace

Amanda

I tried not to scream but it happened so fast. One second he was sitting there smiling and before either of us could even register what happened, he was lying on the ground on his face with blood slowly running out of his nose. 

I had no idea what was going on but my first instinct was to protect him so I jumped towards him and spread my arms around his limp body to protect him. I dug my head into his neck, waiting for the blow to hit me next but it just stayed quiet around us. There wasn't anybody there.

As my mind started to process the few seconds before something threw Rory 10 feet forward, I grew more and more confident that someone had hit him. The way he flew off the swing like that... 

I stayed hunched over him like that for what seemed like hours until I was absolutely sure that whoever wanted to hurt him had given up and left. 

I slowly opened my eyes and standing next to us were bright blue boots. My whole body went numb. He wasn't gone! I slowly looked up and followed the boots to black jeans, a grey shirt and the most blue eyes i'd ever seen, practically matching the boots. His mouth was a straight line and his expression was deadly.

"I...i..'m sorry" I croaked. My voice was dripping with fear. 

I untangled myself from around Rory's still limp body and crawled backwards, away from the both of them. His eyes followed me and when i was  about two meters away, he started walking towards me too.

"Please don't hurt me"

He stepped over Rory's body like it was just a rock in his way and walked towards me. I wanted to get up and run but my back hit what felt like a slide.

"Get up"

His voice was smooth and youthful. He couldn't be much older than us. I placed my hands on the sides of the slide and pushed myself up. My legs still felt like pudding but i had to be brave. For Rory. He stepped closer and i noticed his hair was so blond it was almost white. He stuck his hand out and i whimpered. Nice job Amanda.

"Ace"

First, i was confused... but when i realized what he was doing i slowly stuck out my hand to grab his.

"Amanda"

"Yeah i know who you are"

That was right. He even knew were i lived. And what i was.

"What do you want?"

He nudged his head towards Rory.

"I thought i told you not to bring anyone"

I didn't say anything back. Rory could be dead. I balled my fists and felt them become warm.

"You're going to melt me?" He asked mockingly. 

He laughed sarcastically and cocked his head, shooting me a smirk. He was really starting to piss me off.

"What do you want?!"

He laughed and turned around.

"Don't you touch him!"

"I want to see fire, Amanda."

He walked over to Rory and put his foot on his head. I felt the ball of energy in my stomach return. Stronger this time. I almost panicked but i quickly reminded myself that it was all about control. He wiggled his foot and smirked at me.

"What's wrong Amanda... you look hot"

He laughed and i shot towards him. My hands going for his head. I almost grabbed his ears when i ran straight into a flat surface and fell backwards. The air was knocked out of me and my vision turned white and when it returned he stood over of me, sticking his hand out to me. I coughed as i caught my breath and reluctantly grabbed his hand and he helped me up. I rubbed my hand over the back of my head which had caught the impact of me hitting the ground. Rory still lay motionless on the ground and at that point i was sure he was dead.

"Don't worry about him, he'll survive"

"What did you do?"

"Your mastery is heat, and mine is force fields"

I nudged towards Rory.

"His is strength"

He looked confused. But I nodded confidently. Rory and I were in this together. 

"Why didn't he fight back?"

"Maybe because you caught him off-guard and from behind" I shot at him.

He laughed and sat down on the ground in front of me, crossing his legs over each other. All this time he had a cocky smile on his face which made me really dislike him. I broke our gaze and looked around. Nobody was around and the only car here was ours. How'd he get here so quietly? I sat down facing him.

"So can you start answering some questions now?"

He nodded and grinned.

"Who are you and where are you from?"

"As I already told you, my name is Ace and i'm from the same place as you"

"What do you mean?"

"You'll find out soon. If he is who you say he is, it'd be better if you heard it together"

That wasn't an answer. He said in his letter that people's lives depended on our meeting. I needed to know if he was talking about my family. 

"Who's in danger?"

"My sister is back at our headquarters with Paul, our technical analysist, trying to figure out who exactly"

Again, not an answer.

"So why are you here? Do we know those people? who are in danger?"

"They know you, and we're the only ones who can save them."

He almost unnoticeably clicked his tongue and held his hand to his left ear. He had a sister, headquarters and a technical analysist. What did i have to do with any of that? He got up and walked out of hearing-distance. Whatever he was talking about, was obviously none of my business.

Rory groaned and i quickly crawled over to him. I grabbed his head and gently put it in my lap.

"What the fuck?" He mumbled

"Shhht... relax it's okay"

His eyes danced around in their sockets and the left side of his face was covered in blood from his nose. He was not looking good. The blood was starting to crust but at least didn't seem to be bleeding anymore. Ace walked back towards us.

"You're right, he's one of us. Listen, next week Friday, the two of you are coming with me. I'm picking you up here, same time and don't bring too much baggage."

I had more questions but he turned around on his heel and ran off into the distance, disappearing. I quietly sat on the ground in front of the swings under the streetlight with Rory until he was conscious enough to walk. We left the swing still squeaking in the wind and i drove us back home.