Touch of Darkness

Chapter 11: The Raven

This telepathy was a difficult thing to manage. I knew there wasn't a reason to keep my training sessions with Zedd a secret from the others, but I felt like it was something Zedd and I shared; I wasn't sure if I wanted anyone else a part of it. Besides, the others have already expressed their distaste for him and telling them would only mean that they would try to talk me out of this. So I kept my thoughts to myself. I recently learned that you can put up walls, isolate your telepathy so no one else could hear your thoughts. It took a lot of power but sometimes this was necessary.

Zedd helped the others enhance their powers, but not to the extent he was helping me. The others wanted a means to spy on Zedd and Alessia, rather than actually improve their powers. Eventually, we would all have to get along.

After our office period, Zedd and I retreated to our secret training grounds. We learned how to summon and utilize energy balls, and some power replication; today, we were going to learn how to use everything else.

"Okay, first off," Zedd says, slowly lifting himself off the ground, "levitation."

He sets himself down and smiles, "It isn't as simple as it looks, it requires a great deal of concentration. If your concentration is broken, you could seriously get hurt."

I nod, "What do I need to do?"

He walks over, standing behind me, his breath hitting the back of my bare neck. I decided to make my hair in a messy bun today, leaving a couple strands on my face, but my neck was naked. No hair, nothing protecting it. Slowly, he speaks, "You need to clear your mind, and only think of being light as a feather."

Seems doable, I think.

Harder than it seems, Zedd responds. I didn't censor my thoughts at that moment. I take a deep breath and try to clear my mind. I imagine myself as a bird. A raven to be exact. Ravens were always my favorite kind of birds. They are usually depicted as harbingers of death but you cannot have death without life. There used to be a raven that would come to my window everyday when I was young, I used to think it was my father, the same father who I never knew. It gave me a sense of peace. So, here I was imagining myself as this bird, that this raven was going to bring me close to my father, and before I knew it, I felt my feet lift off the ground. I didn't feel Zedd behind me anymore, I felt free, light as a feather, as if I could float away and never come down.

"Great job, Victoria," I heard Zedd breath a sense of excitement, "But you're going too high, you need to go slowly."

His words seemed so far in the distance, as if he was miles away, and perhaps he was. I was stuck, not in the physical sense, in the mental sense. I was stuck in my own mind. I wasn't Victoria anymore, I was the raven, and the raven was not like the one I had imagined. This one was dark and evil, nothing good about it. I could see its beady eyes eyeing me, the darkness was overcoming me. I tried to fight it but there was so much; it was engulfing me and I couldn't breathe.

"Victoria!" Zedd's voice pierced through the darkness but I still felt like I was drowning. I felt myself feel dizzy and lightheaded and finally it happened. I felt some light protrude through and I realized I wasn't thinking about it anymore, not the darkness, not the raven, nothing. Instead my mind was filled with my friends. I saw Alice's sweet smile as she showed me her research into our powers. Chris' enthusiastic eyes as I helped him with his math homework so he could still play sports. Elijah's boyish grin as he taught me some football moves, even though I understand very little of the sport. Cain's mysterious smirk that for some reason made me feel safe and not scared. I even saw Zedd, Zedd who was this complete stranger everyone tells me not to trust but I feel drawn to him for some reason; almost as if he and I are intertwined.

These thoughts overpower the darkness, I feel the light expel the darkness almost immediately and I grin, happy that I solved it, until realization sets in. Zedd said I could only levitate if I focus and I wasn't focusing anymore. I look and see I'm floating quite a bit above the ground, and feel gravity take its course. I close my eyes, bracing myself for impact, a fall like this wouldn't kill me but it will definitely hurt. I never hit the ground, instead I hit something soft and hard at the same time; Zedd.

Zedd's sprawled out on the ground, groaning as I notice I fell directly on his chest. I look at him, eyes panicked, "Oh my God, Zedd! Are you okay?"

He nods, his voice pained but also a sense of worry, "I'm fine, are you okay?"

"Well-yes but-"

"That's all that matters," he flashes me his legendary smirk, "I couldn't have the prettiest girl I know getting injured now could I?"

And just like that, Zedd is back to the same sarcastic Zedd I've grown to be fond of. I roll off of him, sitting up and helping him in an upright position, "Are you sure you don't want Alice to heal you? I can call her right now."

He shakes his head, "Victoria, I'm fine. Besides, sometimes I prefer the pain, reminds me that I'm human after all." He grins at me before it falters, "I have to ask, what happened?"

"You didn't see into my mind?"

He shakes his head, "I tried to but it was so dark, like the connection was broken and there was nothing there."

I feel my body shake as I remember the experience, "I don't know what happened; one minute I'm fine, I'm floating like a bird, no care in the world, and the next, I'm overcome with this darkness." I feel my breathing begin to shake as I speak, "I have never felt this before, it was engulfing me, drowning me in it, and I barely broke free. It was horrible."

Zedd doesn't say anything, he stays silent, "How did you break free?"

"I thought of you and the others," I admit, "It was enough to bring light and banish the darkness."

Zedd doesn't speak, his face is dark and emotionless, I have never seen him like this. But as quick as this expression was, it fades even quicker. He replaces it with his usual confident smile and arrogant expression, "Well we can figure that out later, we still have some practice to do."

Not levitation, I silently hope.

We did enough of that today, Zedd responds, mentally. Outloud he says, "We are going to focus on wind power." I feel a slight breeze blow past me as Zedd twirls his fingers, "This is a simple power, but a powerful one. It could be useful when you're facing twenty attackers, or even two."

I take a deep breath, pushing the thoughts of what happened with levitation out of my mind, "Okay, what do I need to do?"

"You need to feel the wind on your hand. Twist your hand and wrist the way the wind flows. Let the wind run through your fingers, along your palm, and use your wrist to send it where you want it to go." He points to the torn curtain on the broken window, "Make the curtain move."

I nod, closing my eyes for a second, regaining myself, and then opening them. I hold out my hand and begin envisioning the wind. I have never been one for snakes, but I imagine it like a snake; slithering down my fingers, to my palm. Once it's to my palm, I move my hand in a downward, semi-circular motion, and send it towards the curtain. I must've used more force than I intended because I ripped the already torn curtain off the curtain holder, and sent it flying into the deserted town. I wince, "Oops."

Zedd lets out a low laugh, "I knew you were powerful, but you didn't have to take it out on that curtain."

"Well the curtain and I have had some issues in the past, it's all worked out now."

Zedd shakes his head, amused, "Okay let's keep practicing wind and we can call it a day."

For the next half hour, Zedd and I practiced my wind power. I felt myself getting better that I didn't have to envision a snake to get the wind to go where I wanted. I had better accuracy when I envisioned it, but it still worked. I had almost forgotten about what happened with the levitation, almost. We were done and the thought of facing my friends made me nervous. I need to tell them, after all, it was them that pushed the darkness out. But I didn't want to lose these training sessions with Zedd. I would have to sacrifice something, and neither one ended in my favor.

I took a deep breath nearing my house, I knew what I had to do.