The Fire In My Eyes (13 page)

I paused under a streetlight to rest and think. All three incidents had involved something that defied common sense. All of them involved stress, extreme emotional reactions. I had pushed people twenty feet away and jumped several feet straight up in the air. Those were almost possible for a normal person, if they were in amazing physical condition. My physical condition wasn't even average, let alone amazing. As for the pill bottle, no one could levitate an object like that. That was direct defiance of gravity. Even worse, the woman healing Nikki's injuries. That was far beyond anything a normal person could do. I didn't know first aid, let alone know enough to heal a person from those sorts of injuries.

Snowflakes drifted down around the streetlight. I tried to visualize it suddenly going out, plunging me into shadow. Nothing happened and I smiled. Of course, nothing would happen right now. Ripley had impaired my power. I almost wanted to ask if he could give me repeated treatments to keep it turned off. Of course, that would probably end with the same result as the permanent treatment. I'd rather be a functional freak than a vegetable.

I shivered. The cold was too much. I huddled into my coat and continued uphill to the dorm. The main lounge was warm and empty. I shook the snow off and headed upstairs. The door to Andreas's room was partly open and I was tempted to stop and have a drink. I had spent some quality time there in the days after Valentine's Day with him, my roommates, and some experimental brews. It had been a temporary solution to my problems.

The door to my room was unlocked. Both Max and Drew looked up as I walked in. That was surprising. Outside of sleeping, it wasn't too common that we'd all be in the room at the same time. “What's up, Kev?” Drew asked as I hung my coat up. “You look tired, man.”

“Exhausted,” I said. “Think I might try to take a nap.”

“At least you don’t look as depressed,” Max said.

“It's true,” Drew agreed. “You've been lurching like a zombie ever since Valentine's Day. I was thinking about dragging you to the infirmary.”

I sighed. They had noticed. It wasn't as if I could hide something that obvious. “I haven't been sleeping well.” I hadn't told them what had happened between Nikki and me. Lisa had fished for answers a couple of days ago, but I hadn't taken the bait.

“You'll sleep worse when you hear what Max is thinking,” Drew said.

I looked at Max, who grinned at me around a cigarette. “I was thinking we need to have a bonding experience.”

I held a hand up. “I don't want to hear anything about bonding with you.”

“You should be honored. But, seriously, we get all of April off for spring break. I was thinking we could go to Florida. Road trip. Sound good?”

That sounded rehearsed. “You've been planning this for a while, haven't you?”

Drew jumped in. “We might miss the big spring break crowd, but man, it's still Florida. Hot beaches! Hot bitches! We might even find a chick with low enough standards for Max.”

Max flipped him off, but continued to grin at me. “Gives us something to look forward to, get through finals, you know. Change of scenery. Get our minds off of school and the people up here. What do you think?”

I sat down on my bed and kicked my shoes off. Getting away from the insanity here would be nice. “Sounds great, but I don't have a car. Do you?” Max's grin grew even wider. “You look like you've got something in mind.”

“Remember how I'm a rich bastard?”

“You might have mentioned it once or twice before.”

“My family owns a big ass RV that my dad uses for camping trips. Well, used once, to be exact. It's been sitting around for years. I'm sure I can get my parents to let me borrow it for a month.” Max looked so satisfied with himself, I almost couldn't bring myself to start shooting him down. It did sound like fun, and it would keep my mind off other things.

“Do you need a special license to drive one? They're huge, aren't they? Hard to drive?” I asked.

Drew shook his head. “I asked that too. Normal license covers it. No harder to drive than a van. You got your license, right?”

I nodded. “All right. How would it get here? Is it going to be in any shape to drive after sitting around for so long?”

“Well, my parents do keep staff on hand for maintenance,” Max said. “I assume it'll be in decent shape. They'll probably send a guy to drive it here and then fly home. Or two guys in two vehicles. Something like that.”

I lay back on my bed. “How can you be so sure that they'll let you borrow it?”

Max chuckled. “I haven't asked for anything lately. It's a small favor, as far as my family's concerned.”

That boggled my mind. Borrow something that probably cost as much as a small house, and call it a small favor? Rich families were weird. “All right, I'm in. I know my parents won't mind. Sounds like fun.”

Drew cheered. “Told you he'd be in, dude! Call your parents, let's get this set up.”

I rolled onto my side and watched Max call home. “This is Max. Yes, that Max. Is my mother available? Sure, I'll wait.” He rolled his eyes. “Maximillian, my ass. No matter how often I tell them to call me Max, they never listen.”

“You have people to pick up the phone for you?”

“My mom's personal assistant. What, did you think we had a butler?”

“I was hoping for maids.”

“Yeah, me too, but my mom always kills that plan whenever I float it.”

Drew leaned over toward me. “Hey, Kev. Five bucks says he gets it, no problems.”

“Done,” I said, sitting up and pulling out my wallet. Drew followed suit. We both slapped five dollar bills down on the corner of my bed.

Max flipped us both off, then turned his attention back to the phone. “Hello, Mother? Yes, it's me, your darling son. I'm fine. No, no disasters, no catastrophes. My grades are fine. My health is fine. My friends are fine.” He paused, then pulled the phone slightly away from his ear and grimaced. “What do you mean, 'what do you want then'? That's quite rude.”

“I'd probably ask the same thing,” I said.

Max shot me a dirty look, then spun his chair around, facing away from us. “Well, I'm looking for a favor. Nothing too big. I was just hoping to borrow the old RV that Father bought for that camping trip a few years ago. Why? We were thinking of making a trip to Florida.” He sighed again. “I know, I should stop by and meet all these wonderful girls you know, rather than wasting my youth away. Oh? Oh, her. She's wider than she is tall. I don't care how nice she is or how rich her family is, she's not really my type.”

Drew shouted a little louder than necessary, probably so that he could be heard on the other end of the phone. “Max, there really are girls out there who have low enough standards for you?”

Max winced and spun back around. “No, that was Drew, Mother, you met him last time you were here. Yes, I'll tell him.” He lowered the phone for a moment and covered the mouthpiece. “You, sir, are an uncouth young man.”

Drew gave Max a thumbs-up and grinned. Max rolled his eyes and spun back around. “Yes. One month, for our spring break in April. My discretionary fund should cover the costs. No, none of us have driven one before, but we'll figure it out. There are plenty of guides on the internet on what to do. All right, I can wait.” He covered the mouthpiece again. “She's going to ask my father. She's being pretty agreeable, which makes me nervous. But I think it's in the bag.”

“Looks like you're about to lose,” Drew said to me. “I'll have a drink in your honor.”

“It's not over yet,” I said.

“What did Father say? Oh?” Max blinked twice, then his face slowly drained of color. He reached into his desk and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. His hand shook as he pulled a single cigarette free, then dropped it on the floor. “I understand. Really?” Color returned to his face. “Well, I'm interested. Let me check with my friends.”

“That doesn't sound too good,” Drew said as Max covered the mouthpiece of his phone, then bent over to scoop up the dropped cigarette.

“Well, they don't want me to borrow the RV. I don't understand why, they never use the damn thing. But, they made me a counter-offer.” Max examined the cigarette, then blew on it and stuck it in his mouth. “If I come home for spring break, they'll buy me a new car.”

“A new car?” I asked. “Seriously? New as in new, or new to you?”

“Brand new. Mom said to let her know what I was interested in and she'd pass it along. She also said that my friends are invited to come spend the month at our place,” he added. “So, if you guys are cool with it, we'll do that this break, and we can take a road trip in August. My parents will provide transportation there and back. I'll ask Lisa and Jess if they want to come. Andreas too, but he'll probably be busy with research. Think we should ask Kaitlyn?” He glanced at me.

I shook my head. If we asked Kaitlyn, we'd have to ask Nikki. No way. “Andreas would get jealous.”

“True enough,” Drew agreed, nodding at me.

“It's a plan, then,” Max said. He took his hand off the mouthpiece. “Mother? I just asked my roommates. We’ll do it. How many? I'd say no more than half a dozen, including myself, but that's subject to change. I'll be in touch with you over the next couple of weeks about the details. Yes, I understand. All right. Goodbye, Mother.”

He flicked the phone closed and I scooped up the pair of five dollar bills. “So sorry, Drew, but your drinking money is now my drinking money.”

Drew groaned. “I'll just get Max to buy me a beer. He owes me now.”

“Like hell. You'll owe me a drink every night we go out,” Max said, burying his face in his hands. “I hope you two appreciate what I'm going to go through for this. I just walked into a trap.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“My mom said she has some young ladies she wants to introduce me to.” He groaned. “She picks these girls based on how much of a scheming bitch they are, with added points for being drop dead gorgeous. You guys don't know pain until you go to dinner with a girl who looks like a model, but has ice water instead of blood. No, shut up, Drew. Just shut up.”

“I wasn't going to say anything.”

“Like hell. I saw the look on your face.”

“Look on the bright side,” I said. “Maybe your mom will hook you up with the opposite type this time. Sweet, innocent, intelligent girls, as ugly as the day is long.”

“Your bright side is damned dark, Kev,” he said. Drew chuckled.

“Are you sure your parents are going to let the girls stay too?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Why not? It'll throw them off, surprise them. It'll keep them off balance, which makes me happy, plus having those two around will be fun, which also makes me happy. Win-win situation.” I figured that he just wanted Jess around. From the expression on Drew's face, he was thinking the same thing.

Before either of us could voice our thoughts, Andreas burst into the room. His face was red and his breathing was ragged. Neither Drew nor Max seemed too surprised at his entrance, so I relaxed.

Andreas looked as if he had just run from campus to the dorm, his normally neat appearance disheveled, tie askew. His voice was slightly hoarse. “I need to drink. You are going to assist me.”

“Don't need to tell me twice,” Drew said. “Where? Your room? Downtown? Call it.”

Max and I didn't move. “Why?” Max asked.

Andreas took a deep breath and exhaled very slowly. “Kaitlyn.”

I jumped to my feet. “Yeah, that's a good reason.” Max followed suit.

“Shot down again?” Drew asked.

“She did not even give me a chance,” Andreas said. “One moment we were having dinner, and the next, she was gone. Hanging on the arm of someone else. Did not even look at me. Drinking. I need to drink now. My room.”

The rest of the trimester passed without further incident. My head still felt off-balance, tilted in a direction that only existed in my mind, but I got used to it within a few days. The dorm quieted down during the last weeks of March as people studied for finals.

I tried to avoid Nikki. Every time she tried to talk to me, I walked away. She was persistent. I was stubborn. Even so, I found my eyes drifting toward her while we were in class, or whenever I saw her on campus. She was still pretty, still interesting, and I still wanted to be around her. I knew I was being irrational, that what I had done was accidental, but every time I looked at her, all I could see was her face in the moments just before she flew through the air. Remorse. Guilt and remorse.

Finals were over sooner than expected. After the last day of tests, we celebrated with Andreas, watching movies and playing video games all night. Lisa and Jess showed up in the middle of the gaming session and Jess proceeded to thrash all of us in turn. Even with a drink or two in her, her skills were superior. A year ago, things would have been different, but I was out of practice.

I woke up late and slightly hung over. Max's parents had sent a driver with an enormous SUV to bring us to his place. The driver referred to Max as “Master Maximillian”, which made Jess and Lisa giggle. It took us a half hour to load the SUV and pick our seats. Max took shotgun, Jess and Drew took the two middle seats, leaving Lisa and I in the back. Drew shot me a slightly annoyed look. Lisa looked pleased. Jess seemed amused, or maybe she was just sneering. The girl was hard to read.

I didn't know exactly where Max lived, just somewhere downstate. We drove south, skirted New York City, then crossed a bridge to Long Island and headed east. When we drove through Hampton Bays without stopping, I began to wonder just how affluent Max's family had to be. We finally left the highway a few miles away from East Hampton. When we pulled up to the Pendleton house, I found myself at a loss for words. Judging from the silence of the rest of my fellow passengers, I was not alone.

“Home sweet home,” Max said.

“I'll take care of the luggage, Master Max,” the driver said. Max had spent most of the ride negotiating a compromise with the man on his form of address, and that was the best he had been able to get.

“Sweet mercy,” Lisa said, her voice trembling. “How much land is this on?”

“About an acre? We have a landscaper on staff to take care of it.”