Chapter 17 - Two Saviors, Two Great Guys

Chapter 17

Two Saviors, Two Great Guys

 

Three weeks later, Whinny had been out of the hospital for two weeks and three days.  Viggo’s and Whinny’s aunt and uncle were still missing.

“Viggo!”  Whinny called from her room.  Her big brother came and leaded against the inside of her doorframe.  He was wearing a greenish turtleneck and dark jeans with scuffed up tennis shoes that were white, once upon a time. 

“Yes?”

She closed her laptop.  “I’m going out.”

“Where?”

“Out.”  He gave her a look.  He knew she didn’t want to tell him.  “I don’t know.  Out – to get some air.  I have a lot on my mind.”

“…okay.  Be careful.”  He walked away with his hands in his pockets, whistling the tune of Edelweiss.

Whinny shut her door.  She changed into jeans and a long sleeve white shirt.  Over it, she layered with a short sleeve shirt that matcher her pink All Star high-tops.  She threw on a navy blue hoodie and left it unzipped.  Whinny made herself a double chocolate mocha, slipped on a scarf and fingerless gloves, and headed on outside. 

*~*~*

Viggo reached for the phone and answered.  “Hey.”

“Hey Viggo, please tell me Whinny’s still there.”

“Sorry, she left about ten minutes ago.”

“Where?”  His voice sounded a little desperate.

“I don’t know.  She said she was just going out to clear her head.  It has been really crazy for her.”

“What are you doing right now?”

“I’m studying for the trig test.”

“…but it’s Saturday…”

“And the test is on Monday.”

“But its… whatever.  Drop that.  We have to go find her.

Viggo thought a minute.  “Kay.  I’ll meet you at the park downtown.”

“No!”  Kade then quieted. “She’s not there.”

“Then where are we going?”

“Just drive around, one of us will find her.”  And Kade hung up.

*~*~*

Kade let Viggo check out downtown, while he went everywhere else.  First, he tried the Pizza Hut they had gone to before.  Then the park, a couple shops, library, a restaurant or tow, even the police station.  Finally, Kade had an idea. He parked the Stang on a patch of dirt, and headed off into the woods where they filmed their science project and Spencer was almost shot.  Then he heard voices.

“You can transfer your powers from person to person, but only the person with them can give them away.”  It was a low voice.  The hunter.

“How?”  Whinny.

“You’ll know.”

 “But I thought you said they could be taken away too.” 

“There is a way to do so, yes.”  There was a pause.

“Okay… Explain to me more about Caleb.”  Kade moved in more so that he could see them.  “Can I see him?”

“Only if you want to.”

“If I want to?  So is he here right now?”

“No.”

Whinny’s eyes widened.  “So I’m alone…”

The man grinned.  “And you don’t have your Kade here yet to protect you, or disappear, or-“  He stopped. Whinny brought her eyes to his arm, and knew what he didn’t want to say.  “So I need to take you now.”

“What?!”

“Come with me please.”

“No!” 

“I’m sorry, you have no choice.  You have no fighting tactics of ‘powers’ of such a category.  Fun fact time!”  He said in a creepily cheerful voice.  “Did you know that I have the power to blow your head off right now?”  Whinny didn’t say anything, and Kade decided it was enough, so he revealed himself.

“Kade!”  Whinny’s voice sounded desperate, but relieved.

“Don’t touch her!”

The man had been smiling, like he predicted his showing.  “What are you going to do?”

“Well, we’re not going to run.”

“Alright then.  Strike me.”

Kade took the first chance he had, to do so.  He whipped his arm around, but the hunter dodged.  Between two of Kade’s quick arm motions, that looked as if he was sword fighting, the hunter shot out his arm towards Whinny.  This act, tied between cruelty, and desensitization, threw an innocent sixteen year old girl into a tree, like a discarded doll. She didn’t even black out, but left there on the ground to lay in agony. 

This angered - infuriated – Kade.  The eighteen year old boy started thrashing aimlessly at the agile man who seemed to dodge every attempt.  Then Kade thrust his hand out with all the force possible, and with all his strength, he threw the man, whom for once didn’t expect it, into a tree with a very thick trunk.  The hunter grabbed hold of the tree and struggled to stand up.  “Feels good, doesn’t it?”  Kade looked confused.       “To have-“He flinched and gripped his arm.  Then he stood up straight.  “to have all that power.”

Kade looked at his hands.  Whinny glanced up to see what his reaction would be, and it scared her.  He wore a look of fright, confusion, realization, and lust.  “Kade!”  She cried.  Kade dragged his eyes from his hand to Whinny’s worried face.  She mouthed the word “focus”.  Kade looked at his hands and saw power, he looked at the hunter in pain, and saw victory, then he looked at Whinny and saw empathy, rather, felt it.  After all, she was what he was fighting for, his life’s purpose.  Or maybe not.  Maybe there was something bigger for him than just being a bodyguard.  No!  He couldn’t think that.  Whinny needed protection, a sanctuary.  Kade looked back at his hands.  The feeling of power overwhelmed him.   The conflict between his heart’s emotions and his mind’s desires clashed together and he couldn’t think.  He froze.

The hunter saw this as a perfect opportunity to make his move.  Kade felt a gust of skin-melting heat fly past him and he heard someone crying out in an agonizing, piercing tone.  Now this woke Kade up.  He warped himself back to the present reality and ran to Whinny.  She was lying on the ground and looked lifeless.  He looked around for the hunter and saw nothing but traces of burnt clothes and a small fire, remaining on one log.  Kade stomped it out and then picked Whinny up.  “Whinny.”  He said quietly.  “Whinny!”

When Kade reached the car, he laid Whinny down in the back seat and drove as fast as he could to Viggo.

*~*~*

“How did this happen?!?!” Viggo was pacing back and forth.

            “She went to the man alone, then I came and screwed it up.  I hate this whole fricken powers thing!  None of us would be like this if it didn’t happen!”  Kade had been pacing too.  Then he went back over to Whinny who was lying on the couch.  Still breathing.  “C’mon Whinny.  Wake up.”  Viggo kept pacing and Whinny kept breathing.  “Damn! Why won’t she wake up?!” He buried his head into his hands.

            “Swearing is not gunna get you anywhere.”  Viggo said quietly.  Kade gave him a hard look and then softened it.  “What happened?”  Viggo asked again. 

“She went out alone, the hunter and I got in a fight, and I thought more than I should.”

“That explains a lot!”  He said sarcastically. 

“I’ll give you more of the details when she wakes up.” If was not an option.  “Why don’t we just take her to a hospital?”

“Because if the doctors- just… it wouldn’t work, okay!”

“Fine.”  They paced for about five more minutes.  “I gotta take her somewhere.”

“Why?!  She perfectly sa-“ He cut himself off from saying something he didn’t mean and quickly corrected it.  “comfortable here.  At home.” 

“I’m just gunna take her for a drive, okay?  Like back to the park.”

“Why, Kade?” 

“Because once she wakes up she’s gunna want fresh air.”

Viggo didn’t find any sense in arguing with him.  So he shrugged. “I have to come with.”

They all loaded into the mustang. 

*~*~*

Whinny woke up on the car ride there, and the first thing she asked for was a dark chocolate raspberry frappuccino, which they stopped off to get.  Once they reached the park, she got out and dropped to the grass.  “What happened?”

Neither one of them answered her question.

“Hey man, I’m gunna go check out the spot where this happened.  Where was it?”

“Right where Spencer almost got shot.  You remember how to get there?”

“Yeah I got it.  Thanks bro.”  And Viggo jogged off.

Kade sat down next to her.  “You don’t remember what happened?”

“Not after I fried the hunter and he took off again.”

“Hmm, not much action after that.”

“No thanks, I’ve had enough action.”

They were quiet.  “That was quite a stunt you pulled there.” Kade finally decided to bring that topic up.

“Excuse me?”

“Meeting up with the hunter alone.”

“I thought Caleb was with me!”  She said defensively.

“Didn’t you hear anything he said?  Caleb doesn’t worry too much about you when you’re with the hunter, because I’m usually there!”

“Well I’m sorry!  This is all so confusing!”  They were quiet for a minute, until she slapped him on his shoulder.  He casually turned his head.  “Don’t ever do that to me again!”

“Do what?”

“I know what you were thinking about back there!”  She looked mad, disappointed, and scared.  “Don’t do that again!  It won’t help you any!”

“What?!  You wanna have me trail around you for the rest of  your life, making sure you’re not speared, shot, strangled, sacked-“

“Thank you!” This was a hard question to answer.  She was almost sure she didn’t want to be with him for the rest of her life… but she still wasn’t sure about that. She also didn’t want any of those things he so quickly listed to happen to her.  So she thought of something to shoot back.  “…I have Caleb!”  He didn’t show it on his face, but it hurt Kade.  “Caleb?  Really?!  You haven’t even seen him!  You’re just going off something a guy who wants to kill you said!”

“You were the one who just quoted him about Caleb!  I believe he’s real.”

“Why?!”

“Why are you arguing whether he’s real or not!  You apparently don’t care about who’s with me.”

“If I don’t care who’s with you, then that means I don’t care about what happens to you.”  She gave him a yeah-that’s-what-I-meant look.  Again, Kade was really hurt, but this time it showed on his face. He took her hand.  “Whinny-“

“Caleb!?”  She suddenly gasped, cutting Kade off.

Kade whipped his head around to see a boy with mesmerizing blue eyes, brown hair that fell over his eyebrows and flipped out at the end.  His left ear was pierced twice and he wore a cross necklace with leather string instead of a chain.  He was very tan and stood at about 5’6.  He wasn’t smiling, but wasn’t frowning either.  His face showed the expression of excitement, peace, and everyday originality.

“Caleb!”  Whinny announced.  Her face was filled with awe, and she dropped Kade’s hand as she advanced toward him. They embraced in a hug.  Caleb’s face was highlighted by a small smile that said he was glad to see her too, but had a hint of uncertainty that only Kade noticed.

Whinny stood back and took a good look at him.  “Whoa.  You-“

“Look like a normal person.  We thought you’d be some weird abnormal person thing.”  He interrupted her, not caring about what she was going to say.

The two ignored his remark.  “You look so young! I thought you’d be a lot older.”  Whinny said.

“Yeah well I guess you don’t remember.”  He stopped like he was thinking about something else, then continued.  “We were best friends as kids.

“How old are you?”  Kade asked, folding his arms across his chest.

“Seventeen.”

Kade didn’t say anything but kept his hard stare.

“So… what’d I miss?”

Whinny glared at Kade.  His eyes widened when he realized he was being accused.  “Me?!  What did I do?!”  Caleb stood back and watched them argue as they got louder and louder.  “I had to look all over for you, and fight the guy with the possibility of dying.  I saved you’re life Whinny!”

“And I thank you for wasting your good deed of the year on me!  Back out there, you were thinking about not only killing the man, but turning your back on us!  On me, so you could quench that thirst for power you have been holding onto longer than you know!”  Whinny turned to him for backup.  “Caleb!”

“Honestly?”  Caleb asked.   Whinny nodded hesitantly.  “He’s right.”  He cocked his head at Kade.  “You my friend,” still talking to her, “cannot go out alone.”

“What?!’”

“It’s okay.  I got rid of two of your pursuers today, so now I’ll always be with you.”  He said this, almost protectively.  “And you,” now looking at Kade.  “might not be strong enough to handle these yet.”

“Why?!”

“Your abilities.  I’m not even sure what you have, but you have a lot.”

“How?”  Kade asked, now interested in the topic.

Caleb thought a minute.  “I’m not sure.  She did something and somehow gave them to you.  Which means… she can take them away.”

“How?”  Whinny asked.  Kade shot her a glare at how willingly and quick she asked the question.           

“I’m not sure about that either.  I need to figure this all out.”  He turned directly towards Whinny again.  “But you definitely can’t go out alone anymore.”

“Why am I so important?  Why can’t I just pass them off?”

“You can.  But Whinny please, don’t do anything you’ll regret.  These were given to you.  You were chosen out of everyone.”

“What am I supposed to do with them?”  She had all these questions, but Caleb wasn’t answering them very well.

“Nothing.”  Caleb looked relieved to hear a question he could actually answer.  He noticed Kade and Whinny exchanging frustrated glances.  His mouth pulled into a smile.  “Whinny, you’re not supposed to do anything with them.”  Whinny opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off.  “You keep them.  You’re just the carrier.  You’re destined to pass them on when- you’ll find the right person.”  He looked down and avoided eye contact with both of his listeners.  She caught this and dove into his thoughts.

“Caleb… until when?”  Kade asked, they could tell he might have been nervous when he saw Whinny shift uncomfortably and looked down. 

“Until her time is…”  He looked for the right word.

“Over.”  She filled it in for him.  She sighed a sigh of relief and fatigue.  Really she had nothing to live for so why’d it matter.  Unless… Kade.  No.  She couldn’t think like that, although it happened a lot now.

Kade pressed his lips together and crossed his arms over his chest.  “What are you saying?”  Caleb opened his mouth to answer but Kade cut him off.  “She’s not going to risk her life for this!”  It was said as a question and a fact. When both Caleb and Whinny looked down again, he looked even more uncomfortable than before. He uncrossed his arms.  “Goddammit!  Why couldn’t-“ He stopped himself before he got a  repeated answer. 

He must’ve been really worked up.  He didn’t normally swear.  Whinny looked up at him.  She looked tired.  “I just wanna go home.”  Kade’s expression turned soft.  He put his hand on her back and guided her back to the car.