Changing the Future

Chapter 46

Confession time: even though I had been hesitant about speeding up time for a singular person, after some practice with some weeds and cows, I sped up Paul's recovery process so that he was fully healed and functional within four days of his surgery.

"The doctors are not going to like this," Raina had told me, making sure that the door was locked and that the blinds were closed, preventing anyone else from seeing in. "They'll turn him into a guinea pig for the rest of his life. Most people don't wake up for at least a week, and when they do, they don't function like this."

"The Mist," I said, keeping my voice low as Paul groaned in his bed, waking up from a nap. "Make it seem like he's still here for a few days, just until he's cleared to leave."

Raina reached into the pocket of her scrubs, pulling out three silver beads no bigger than a thimble. "You're so lucky I study the obscure stuff," she said as she positioned the beads on the bed. "Now go. I think Percy would like to get his stepfather back."

"Stay safe."

Then, before Paul was fully aware of what was happening, I shadow-traveled us back to Sally's apartment, abruptly landing on top of the couch in the living room. It didn't help matters that I cushioned Paul's fall, meaning that I got all the air knocked out of me. After Paul stood up, I got up to my feet, clutching my chest as I tried to breathe normally again.

Needless to say, both Percy and Sally were overjoyed at the sight of Paul, surprised to see him to in perfect health. I'd have to tell them of what I did eventually, but not right now.

Anyhow, after hanging out with the Blofis' and Percy for a little bit, I caught the train back to school, completely drained from all the shadow-traveling I'd done this past week. Seriously, not even the unicorn draught I had was enough to make me feel well-rested, every muscle aching like I'd just sprinted a marathon.

And, of course, my return to school was marked by all my friends continuing their begging for me to train them, to which my answer was still no.

"If you want to learn how to fight," I'd told them that night, my eyelids drooping with exhaustion as I forced myself to read the next chapter in our biology textbook, "go take a karate class or something."

Unsurprisingly, Pete reminded me that fighting bare handed wouldn't do any of them much good if they couldn't kill the monsters. I don't know how many times I had to tell them that as long as they didn't go searching, monsters would leave them alone for the most part. Even then, if things really got bad, just run in the other direction. It's not that complicated.

This begging lasted for weeks, and around mid-April, I finally caved, tired of having to avoid my friends because they wouldn't stop pestering me otherwise. Do you know how annoying it is to have a twenty-two-year old man asking, "Please?" repeatedly anytime he was in your presence?

If it wasn't for the fact that I'd built up a tolerance to that kind of thing between the orphanage and camp, I promise you, I would've decked Pete in the face weeks ago.

"Meet me at Garden's Park at 10," I told them one night, watching the looks of shock on their faces, unable to believe what I was saying.

"But it's already 9:40," Patrick said with a frown, holding up his phone to show everyone else the time.

"Then consider this your first lesson: always be on time." I smiled, remembering that Salina had done the same thing to me one day. Clearly, the fear of discipline worked wonders on students. "I'll see you in twenty."

True to my word, I was waiting by the playground at 10, beginning to warm up while I waited for my friends to show up. They finally arrived five minutes later, the four out of the five of them completely out of breath from sprinting to make it here. Andy, on the other hand, was fine, having done CrossFit ever since he was in high school and running marathons every other month.