The Compendium (8 page)

Chapter 10

Josh woke us at dawn. We had a simple breakfast of oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs, and milk. Minutes later we trudged through half-grown fields of what Josh told me were plain old potatoes. Our path followed one of the irrigation lines where no one could tread on the crops. It reassured all of us to hear the water rush through the pipes as the sprinklers came to life. Jonah had even more water at hand than we had hoped.

“When we reach the clearing, I’m going to put you in pairs. Faith, you’re with me. Cole, you’ll fight Max. Jonah, you’ll fight Camille. Irina and Ilya, you’ll fight each other,” said Josh.

“No offense, but what are Irina and Ilya going to do? Punch each other?” said Cole. He grinned at me and I shook my head, wondering how the dig made my not-so-burly brother feel.

“We’re starting off with a form of capture the flag. We’ll leave sparring for later.” Josh rubbed his hands together with enthusiasm.

“Each pair gets a red flag and a blue flag.” Josh pulled two flags from a side pocket of his board shorts. “Your goal will be to capture your opponent’s flag while keeping your own. For the first round, keep your flags visible and easily accessible, like a hip or chest pocket.”

We reached the clearing and paired off as instructed. The field couldn’t have been better for our purpose. The space was round with flat earth and the trees stretched up twenty feet or more. Ankle-deep grass with a sprinkling of wildflowers gave the clearing an idyllic pastoral vibe.

Josh pushed out with his arms waving us all out of harm’s way. “Faith and I will go first. Make a circle around us. Give us about a fifty-foot radius. I want you to see what we’re doing, but I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Speaking of hurt, are you really sure you can withstand fire?” Faith opened her palm and brought a small dense ball of flame to life.

“Worry more about what my offense is going to be.”

Faith raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes.

Faith and Josh squared off once we formed a ring around them. Faith wasted no time in blasting Josh with a stream of vibrant orange flame. I shielded my eyes from the heat.

Josh’s clothes began to burn, including his flag. He walked forward, his body unhurt from the flames and he reached for Faith’s flag in the front pocket of her jeans. As Josh laid his hand on Faith’s flag, he thrust one solid blow with the heel of his palm directly into Faith’s solar plexus. The blow sent her flying backward, shutting off her fire and knocking the wind out of her as she hit the ground.

“What was her first mistake?” Josh turned to us.

Faith gasped for air as she struggled to sit up.

“She destroyed your flag before she could take it.” Cole stood with his arms crossed, not the least bit bothered at his sister being knocked to the ground.

“She didn’t come up with a plan,” said Jonah.

“She acted over-confidently and didn’t stop to evaluate your attack. Even though that’s pretty much what you told her to do,” I said.

Faith glared at me as she drew deep breaths.

“Thank you, Irina.” Josh pointed at me as he stood tall with flawless skin and the smoldering blackened remains of his T-shirt and shorts. “But, the other answers are also valid. Brute force isn’t a guaranteed strategy. Strength should always be used for a calculated benefit, weighed against the risk of exposing yourself. Cole and Max, you’re up next.” Faith got up and made her way back to a seat in our circle. Josh peeled off his holey tee and brushed ash from his sooty hair.

As Cole and Max reached the center of the ring, I decided they would have been evenly matched in a fistfight, if they were both normal men. Max towered at least half a foot taller than Cole, but the latter’s sheer muscle mass would more than make up the difference. I had no idea how strength was going to defeat camouflage or vice versa. The pair stood sizing each other up until Josh gave the signal.

Cole crouched into a grappling stance and charged at Max, who easily sidestepped the attack, blending into the grass and trees. It wasn’t until Max reappeared, holding Cole’s red flag that anyone realized what happened.

“So, two for team Foothills. Jonah and Camille take your places,” said Josh as Cole and Max reclaimed their spots in the outer ring.

“Are we really sure this is a good idea?” I remembered the image of Camille shooting a molten golden substance from her fingertips into the sand at Sombrio Beach.

“If anything goes wrong, I’m the best person for Jonah to be around,” said Camille.

“Give me some credit. I’m not made of glass,” said Jonah, irritated.

Jonah struck first, shooting a thin but powerful stream of water at Camille’s hip. Her flag shot out onto the grass. Camille stepped to reach for her flag as Jonah bolted forward. Camille flung a handful of her stunning golden gel straight into Jonah’s stomach as he dove for the flag.

He doubled over and I flinched. I fought the urge to run to him, not wanting to embarrass him further. As Jonah rolled on his side in the fetal position, I saw no visible damage to his stomach. He also had Camille’s flag scrunched in his fist. Camille knelt and placed her hands on Jonah’s stomach. He relaxed as she closed her eyes and pressed on his abdomen gently.

“Good work Jonah, but what would your next move be? You know you’re compromised, but you sacrificed endurance for a quick win. In the field, you’d already be dead in lethal combat. If the flag was only a means to an end, you wouldn’t see the finish line,” said Josh.

Jonah stood up, still recovering his bearings. They both returned to the circle as Ilya and I reached the center. I stared at my male counterpart for a long moment. My twin brother was not a physical powerhouse like the other men around us. Even so, I knew he had an array of tricks up his sleeve, developed over many more years in the variant world than myself. I stared at him, concentrating on seeing his next move, hoping to spark a spontaneous short-term vision, as I’d done with Ivan and Waynesburg.

Ilya took a step towards me as two clones took steps to his right and left. Three identical guys stared at me with my own amber eyes, all smirking in unison.

“Can’t you tell us apart?” said the Ilya on the left. “How about the flags? Which one is real?” said the Ilya on the right.

I smiled and then pressed my lips together, eyeing each Ilya in turn, evaluating their features and subtle body language. I reached out hoping one of them would flinch and give away the game. No change and I retracted my hand. My frustration compounded as I circled the trio, careful not to get close enough for one of them to grab my flag.
What will his offense be? Can one of his illusions take my flag?

I focused hard on each flag, looking for some distinguishing mark. I reached out again and to my amazement, the flag closest to me started to flap as though a breeze hit only Ilya’s hip. The flapping flag wriggled free and darted straight into my hand.

“What the hell was that!” shouted Ilya as the center and farthest copies of him evaporated.

“Looked like telekinesis to me. Nicely done, Irina.” Josh clapped slowly and I saw genuine respect on his face.

“I did-didn’t do anything,” I stammered. I looked down wide-eyed at the blue flag in my hand.

“You’ve got his telekinesis,” said Ilya. I knew he meant Ivan.

“How? Why now?” I said.

“Ivan’s injections are complex formulas designed for long term change. Some work more effectively than others. You might have had this ability for a long time,” said Jonah.

“It must have been your intense focus. The mind and body have a strong relationship when fight or flight kicks in,” said Josh.

“So is this permanent?” I paused. “Is it stable?” What I really meant was,
If Tatiana’s injections planted this ability, am I going to get sick?

“Who cares? Roll with it, honey!” Faith swiveled her hips triumphantly.

“You may actually have a combat skill now,” said Cole.

“Try it again,” said Max.

I held my arm up, palm first towards Ilya and tried to will him off the ground.

“Something smaller for now,” said Josh.

I surveyed the ground around my feet. I spied a large dried maple leaf and reached towards it, concentrating on guiding it up into the air. The leaf stirred and began to rise. I guided the leaf end over end, looping higher and higher above me. I concentrated on holding the leaf in a mid-air loop with my right arm. With my left arm, I coaxed another maple leaf up off the ground. I conducted the two leaves into interlocking loops, creating an elegant airborne leaf dance as the two crisscrossed orbits.

“Excellent!” said Josh, still pleased with me.

“Wild! This is going to be awesome!” Faith’s purple tentacles of hair bounced as she hopped up and down in my peripheral vision.

“Well done,” said Camille.

I broke eye contact with the leaves to find her looking at me with matronly affection.

I looked around and found all faces trained on me. Each of my friends stared, unwavering, mouths open, eyes wide.

“Okay, it’s time for new partners. We’ve still got a lot to learn,” said Josh.

The rest of the week passed slowly as grueling days followed exhausting nights. We all fought each other. Josh taught us basic blocking and attack moves. He gave us lengthy lessons in evading arm and leg attacks, with an emphasis on avoiding a blow from opponents when we didn’t know their strengths.

I felt the bone-breaking force of Cole’s fist in my ribs, barely softened by my new ability to keep his energy at bay. Faith burned my arm so badly once that Camille’s healing took overnight to fully restore me. If I concentrated, I could sense Max while he was camouflaged, but I never moved fast enough to catch him. Whatever made up Josh’s body, I couldn’t lift him off the ground or anticipate his next move.

Finally, Jonah’s fire hose style attack knocked me down over and over. Surrounded by irrigation piping, Jonah was as strong as any of us in the clearing. I did not enjoy being knocked on my ass, but I felt reassured he wasn’t at death’s door. I also considered that he could be faking his strength, ready to collapse at any moment. I pushed the thought away whenever the idea tried to take root.

I awoke standing on an orange cliff under a purple sky. An unfamiliar canyon wound under the horizon on either side. I looked down to see a river of metallic sludge oozing along the canyon floor. Chunks of debris floated in the sludge. Steam intermittently bubbled here and there. The sky darkened as I watched the river. Lights streaked across the sky, red and white, blinking. Black pellets fell from the lights, exploding in the distance as they hit the ground.

A figure walked through the smoke left by an explosion on the cliff directly opposite from me. While the smoke cleared, Ivan reached the edge of the cliff. His face distorted with a ripple. He reached up with both arms, burying his hands in his hair. His fingertips pulled on his scalp. Ivan’s expression melted. He peeled off his face in a downward motion taking the rest of his body with it. In Ivan’s place stood a red-eyed humanoid reptile with giant curling horns, identical to what I’d seen reflected in the window of Ivan’s apartment.

The horned figure let out a ferocious roar. The ground shook. The landscape shivered until the canyon transformed into a green valley below dry sage-covered hills. Ivan seemed himself again, smiling and tapping his wristwatch, strolling toward me. I shuddered, shaking my head. The green grass floor trembled and a crack opened horizontally between us. Trembling turned to shaking. The crack ripped into the ground in both directions until a canyon separated us.

A hand brushed my cheek. I whirled to find the source of the touch. I found myself lying in bed back in the guest bedroom in Josh’s farmhouse. I shouted and sat up.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Jonah sat on the bed beside me like a concerned nurse. His telltale scent of water and soap wafted over me as he placed his large hand on my shoulder.

“I had a nightmare.”

“I know. You were talking in your sleep, saying ‘no’ and calling for help.”

“I dreamed about Ivan and his earthquake test. Not everything in the dream made sense, but it ended with an earthquake ripping a canyon into a green valley. We need to get back on the road.”

“Let’s talk to the others at breakfast.” Jonah stood to leave.

I had to fight the urge to reach for his hand and pull him back to me. Instead, I rose to follow him, changing into jeans and a T-shirt in swift fluid movements.

Everyone but Max sat at the dining table eating. Max emerged from the kitchen carrying a fresh plate of pancakes and a pitcher or orange juice.

“Morning, everyone. I had a dream about the earthquake test. It’s time to get back on the road now.” I picked up a plate and transferred a couple of pancakes to it.

“Good morning to you too,” said Ilya.

“We’re not ready yet,” said Josh firmly.

“We don’t have time to train as much as Ivan’s thugs have done. We have to work with what we’ve got.” I glanced around the room at them, trying not to show my fear.

“We don’t know who’s still working for Ivan or what he’s really got up his sleeve.” Cole reached out to the plate of fresh pancakes and grabbed several with his bare hand.

“There might be nothing we can do to stop this test,” said Faith.

“Can you all honestly tell me that if a giant earthquake hits California with no warning and kills thousands, you’ll be okay with us having done nothing to stop it?” I said.

“I’m sure he’s testing in the middle of nowhere for the first round. Sure it’ll suck to let Ivan to get one step closer to perfecting his tech. But the test itself probably won’t do any harm.” Faith gulped casually on her glass of orange juice.

“You could be right, but if you’re wrong and he uses an urban area for testing, the effects could be terrible. It’s not like he has to hide or face consequences. People will think it’s a regular earthquake. Nobody will go looking for a perpetrator,” I said.