She was sitting on their bench, her back to him, looking out over the pond. He had come expecting solitude, but it was the most natural thing in the world for her to be there. He sat down in silence. She said nothing, but leaned her head on his shoulder. All was right in the world.
Then she spoke.
"You came to say goodbye?"
"Goodbye?" A cold wind began to blow, raising dead leaves from unseen nooks and crannies.
"This isn't your place anymore," he was told gently but firmly. "You made your choice."
"When did I choose?" he demanded. "When was I asked?"
"You chose," she insisted. "You chose and now you have to go. It's time."
"I'm not ready!" he protested. "I need more time."
"Your time is up. Time to get up Nicky!" Her face metamorphosed into A.J.'s. "Wake the hell up, Kaos!"
Nick jerked awake, panting hard. It took him a few moments to recognize A.J.'s face hovering over his and a few moments more to figure out he was in the guest room at A.J.'s house.
"Nightmare?" A.J. inquired.
Nick nodded. His mouth was dry, he had to wet his lips before speaking. "How'd you know?"
"Look around."
"Huh?"
"I mean, look down."
He rolled over to check the floor, and had to grab the bed to save himself from a nasty fall. "Oops." Panda was sniffing around the carpet disinterestedly, and his master was standing securely on the floor, but nothing else in the room was. Everything seemed to be floating about three feet above the floor.
"Put my house down gently please?"
"Your house?"
"Ok, I haven't checked downstairs yet, but my room and the hallway are like this too." A.J.'s brown eyes darted over Nick's face. "Must have been bad, huh?"
"It was... painful." Nick closed his eyes for a moment, figuring out what he had done while asleep. His bed and the rest of the room's furniture slowly returned to floor level.
"Wanna talk?" Nick hesitated. "Suzanne told me a little after you left. Might make it easier than telling Brian."
"I..."
A.J. sat down on the bed and made himself comfortable. "How come Suzanne expected Lina to end things?" he asked, skirting the issue a little.
Nick's face twisted into a sour expression. "Everyone expected it to fall apart eventually. It didn't matter who started the ball rolling; Lina, me, some other thing... nobody believes... believed our partnership was permanent."
"Why not?" A.J. pressed. "What's so different about you?"
"Power," Nick sighed. "Most psychics can broadcast a few hundred miles at most. If anyone forms a partnership, it's pretty easy to meet at a "random" local place and start a "real" relationship. A few people can broadcast over thousands of miles, mostly if they're talking to someone just as strong. Lina and I are the only North Americans who can send or recieve to any psychic - and a lot of non-psychics - anywhere in the world." He laughed. "That's how she got me in the first place - no one else wanted to handle teaching me."
Lina was sitting on her bedroom floor, leaning against the leg of her desk, reading a new sci-fi novel when she felt *it*. The unmistakable charge through the atmosphere that made her skin tingle and her vision suddenly that much clearer. But this was much stronger than she'd ever felt it. She was transfixed, her skin on fire. Afraid of actually burning it, she hurled her book across the room. The auras of everything in the room converged into one blinding, rainbow-coloured blast. Her eyes squinched shut and she prayed for the sensation to end.
It finally did, leaving her breathless and shaking.
Hundreds of miles away, Nick Carter was finally feeling better, having released his frustration in one long, satisfying mental scream. He reflected how helpful the technique was in dealing with things without annoying his parents. Out of nowhere, a strong female voice rang in his head, demanding,
What the fuck was *that*?
Lina listened to the echo from her yell, admittedly much more abrupt than a first contact should be, but she hadn't really been able to help herself. Man that was far... southern States at least. It wasn't unusual for her to pick up emergences from all over North America, but with that intensity... "I might actually have competition," she mused aloud.
Carefully, she gently pried a few details from his mind. A boy, Nickolas...(what kind of messed up spelling was that?) Gene Carter, twelve or thirteen years old, oldest of five. Both a performer and a painfully shy kid, someone who got teased in school. Sounded familiar.
Normally she'd turn him over to the local transition team, who had probably heard him themselves, but no one was more qualified to deal with a loud, powerful, out-of-control psychic than she was. From the remarkable psychic silence around him, she guessed that was everyone else's idea as well. Well and good, if he recieved as well as he sent, he probably would have heard every well-meaning psychic on the continent.
As usual for a new psychic, he was wide open, no mental defences whatsoever... although she sensed he'd had quite a few psychological walls up before emerging. First thing, she'd teach him how to build a sheild to shut out all the unwanted mental voices and feelings of everything living that were probably already beginning to plague him.
But before she could do that, he had to be ready to be taught. Right now he was just terrified.
Nick woke up the next day, feeling strange. Everything in his room was shining with a weird glow. He'd had way too many dreams, and none of them made sense. Even now, ghostly images seemed to dance before his eyes. For a moment he contemplated telling his mom he was sick. Out of nowhere, his mother's voice drifted into his head, speculating about what a big chance this audition would be.
Sighing, he slid out of the top bunk and landed on the floor. He glanced at Aaron, still hanging onto sleep, huddled in a cocoon of sheets. Normally he would have shaken his kid brother awake, but he seemed so tired. Nick felt it coming off him in waves. He decided to leave him for now and went to get dressed.
As the morning wound on Nick found himself picking up on other people's feelings, hearing their voices in his head. He tried to pass it off as his imagination, but normally he could turn his imagination off. He soon couldn't concentrate in class, hardly able to pick the teacher's real voice out from all the phantom voices. The fact that they were doing math wasn't helping.
"Nickolas? Can you demonstrate problem five from the homework on the board for us?"
He struggled to his feet, then stopped. On top of the voices and feelings, the images were starting back up again. The desks and blackboard in front of him wavered. Finally he couldn't take it any more. "Stop it! Just stop it!" he screamed.
No one noticed his textbook fall onto the floor, they were too busy staring at the crumpled form lying next to it, unconscious.
Lina felt Nick pass out and sighed with relief. He had kept himself awake much longer than most, definitely a sign of a strong personality. The calm of his unconscious would be good for him for a while. She checked her watch. Still half an hour to go till lunch and her free period. "Lord save me from Chemistry," she grumbled, but settled in to make an effort.
The minute class ended she flew to her locker, shoved her bookbag inside and teleported out. No one ever noticed her abrupt exits from the hubbub of the locker room. She arrived in an obviously shared room, full of the kind of mess only a pair of young boys can generate. There was only one occupant, a scrawny blonde boy tucked into the upper bunk. Lina left him unconscious for the moment, and dove in.
Hi there, she sent as clearly and directly as she could, already working to build up a sheild around the room. Nick sent back a vague, unfocused response, more feeling than thought, but definitely confused.
My name's Lina. We're going to be spending a lot of time together.