Chapter 17: Chapter Seventeen

"Can I drive us to school?" Lana asked as she stared longingly at his car as they started to leave. It was just them, Lyra was still at her friend's house who said they were more than happy to take her to school.

"No." Eli walked onto the sidewalk towards the school. He didn’t want to drive or get to school any faster than he had to. His single hand was in the pocket of his hoodie with his backpack slung over his right shoulder. Every step sent it swaying awkwardly along with his empty, hanging left sleeve. Anxiety churned in his gut as he led the way. What were people going to say?

"It's okay, you know."

"What do you mean?" He turned to look at her with a hollow stare.

"Losing your teleportation for a bit sucks, but—"

"I'm not upset about that," he said then paused, "well, I am, but I'm more nervous about how people are going to react to my missing arm."

"Oh."

"Thanks." He glanced at her but she was starting to get ready to dash on ahead. "That might not be a good idea. You don't want to bowl anyone over or piss off any drivers or anything."

"Fine. It's just so boring and slow walking."

"Enjoy it! This used to be how slow we used to move every day. I think driving you everyday and powers , in general, have made you spoiled."

"Ha ha, okay. That's rich coming from you." She turned to glance at him with a smirk. "So they found out huh?"

"Yeah, apparently mom found where I had stashed the training clothes. Ironically, I had just learned how to have basically a video game inventory of sorts. If I had thought about it I could've put them inside and no one would've ever known!"

"It was only a matter of time. I would have told on you if you didn't take me." She shrugged.

"So you weren’t bluffing? That's pretty rude, you know."

"Or is it irresponsible to sneak out anyways or I don't know go haring off into a mall when people are firing guns and powers all over the place?"

"Fine."

They walked for a few minutes in silence before impatience and irritation started to prickle at him. Between Body of Light and Dynamic Vitality, he had so much strength and energy now that this slow pace was infuriating. Not to mention how easy it would've been to zip through a couple of teleports straight there. But then he’d have to deal with people reacting to his arm.

What would they say?

He distracted himself with a glance at his status and how Rapid Recovery was unequipped. It was so hard for him to have it equipped and on all the time. Knowing that it was actually interfering with his emotions and helping him recover more than just physically had taken a lot of the fun out of it. It was still an incredible power though. Amazing even. The ability to not only heal himself but give him a flood of energy was invaluable. It was also dangerous. He didn’t know whether or not his judgment was trustworthy when he could recover so easily.

"Please don't zone out and make this walk even more boring, Eli."

"Sorry. I wish Lyra was here, to be honest. She always made walking or going to school more fun."

"Yeah... I'm really worried about her." Lana turned to him with a grimace. "Saturday really shattered her. She wasn't like you and me when it came to powers. Sure, she loves them, but they were only about the art for her."

"And she was there at the mall right in the thick of it. They were at the food court, weren't they?"

"That's what I heard, yeah. She won't talk to me about it. She thinks I'm just jealous that I didn't get to fight."

"...You aren't?"

"No, of course not. I wanted to go and help protect them too." She glanced at him with a scrunched brow. "Sure, I like testing myself and improving my powers as much as I can, but a battlefield isn't the place for that. I like a good fight, but that doesn't mean that's all I want to do."

"What do you even want to do? I kind of assumed you'd be all for combat of any kind and that you were ready to join up with the Task Force when you were old enough."

"Oh. Well, maybe. That's my backup plan, I guess, but I really want to try out for sports again. Imagine a superpowered Olympics or just how sports will change in general! I'm still bummed I didn't get in varsity or anything, but maybe there'll be new divisions for powers and I can get in that."

"I still can't believe how badly you took failing to get into varsity. You're in ninth grade, you're not supposed to get in yet."

"That's just what they tell you," she said then added in a snarky tone. "I still can't believe you ghosted all of your friends because Tom was a bit rude to you."

"A bit rude to me?" Eli scoffed as he turned towards her incredulously. Heat flushed into his cheeks and down his arm as his temper started to rise. "He fucking bullied me and my friends, Lana. They fucking catfished me and linked the chatlogs everywhere. He's beaten me and said disgusting things to you and about you at every turn!"

"Yeah, but like, he's actually not that bad. So what, he's just a bit abrasive?"

"Abrasive? You call stomping on someone's chest and ribs 'a bit abrasive'? Abrasive is being a bit standoffish, maybe saying a couple of comments, he's out of control."

"But his parents beat him!" She protested then yelled, "Stop laughing! It's not funny!"

"No, obviously, it's not. What's funny is that you think that excuses it!" He shook his head as they started to get closer to the school. Fuck, no one was waiting outside. He wished he had his phone so he could check the time. They were probably almost late.

"I mean, it doesn't, but it's not like it's fully his fault then?"

"It's a good thing you have superstrength, Lana. You just better hope he doesn't get it either." He shook his head as drained Perception and split it between Strength and Stamina as he started jogging to the school.

Shadows writhed across his skin with a cold rasp as he drew closer to the doors. What would happen when people saw that he was missing his arm? What would he say? Eli stepped into the bustling cafeteria where most of the students waited at tables with breakfast or where they chatted with friends. He started to make his way over to the bathroom where he usually hid when he noticed Roman sitting at a table with Theo.

He changed course.

"Hi guys," he said as he sat down awkwardly as his empty sleeve fluttered as it swung out.

"Hey man, is your sister here?" Theo's eyes brightened at Eli's presence then dimmed as he started searching over the crowd of sitting people for Lana.

"What happened? You had to leave pretty fast yesterday. I haven't seen you have to rush home that fast since you stayed the night last year and your parents found your browsing history..." Roman asked after putting down some kind of bizarre watch on a big bracelet thing that looked like it was fit for armor on the table. What was that called? Right, a bracer.

"Okay, so, I've been sneaking out at night to practice my powers, right? Well, I had a secret bag in the attic full of different clothes, an analog watch so my dad wouldn't sense it, and an old pair of shoes. Well, my mom found it and was furious at me. She grounded me and made me give her my Spatial Control power."

"Spatial Control? You have an E4 teleportation power?" Theo hissed in excitement as he leaned forward then paused. "Wait. She made you give it to her? Ram, are our parents going to take our powers too?"

"If you keep turning yourself into an abomination with them they might." Roman chuckled then turned back to Eli. "That's pretty rough. At least it wasn't your dad punishing you this time."

"Thanks a lot, Eli. I just got detention for running and cracking the cement of the sidewalk." Lana grumbled as she plopped down on the other side of the table. "Oh, and I saw Kady by the way. She asked me about you. Apparently she had texted you or something and you never answered?"

"Who's Kady?" Roman and Theo asked at the same time as they both leaned closer to him.

"Just a friend. A girl in my Spanish class."

"What are you doing sitting with us? Go talk to her!" Roman commanded like a Legionnaire of his namesake.

"Guys, I'm not intere—"

The bell rang signaling the start of classes in ten minutes. Eli got up as quick as he could and took off with his backpack bouncing awkwardly on his shoulder with every other step. Walking through the crowd was a humbling experience after the loss of Spatial Control.

Fortunately, classes weren't too bad.

People reacted more or less how he expected. There was a lot of hubbub and general questions about his missing arm, but most teachers cut off the interrogation by his classmates as soon as they could. Other than that the hardest part was trying to figure out how to apply enough pressure whenever he wanted to write something.

He really, really regretted merging Telekinesis with Teleportation now. Eventually, he figured out how to create an almost extra hand of barely warm constructed light on his remaining hand to brace the page.

That brought him to his Social Studies class where he listened to the teacher drone on and on about the review for finals coming up. Eli figured a better use of his time would be to try and figure out how to use Voidshade Control better. The second he focused on the shadow beneath his desk he felt it respond instantly. A peek under was enough for him to see the faint midnight shadow deepen to black. He grabbed the shadow of his chair and had snake itself over to the circle he was forcing it all into.

Where the old shadow had been was the faintest smudge of an outline. No black shadow or trace of light, only gray as if all the color had been leeched to where his circle was. He tried to shape it into words and felt resistance, so he compromised with a triangle. A cube. Then a horse... nope, it broke and snapped back to being a normal shadow as physics reclaimed it.

But those were just flat shapes. Could he make them solid?

The shadow rolled under his control again beneath his desk straight to the center where he tightened it into a circle. He tried ballooning it up vertically, but it did nothing other than a weak quiver.

Maybe he needed more shadows? He didn't feel as much resistance as he did with trying to force it into complicated shapes...

Cords of shadow snaked out from beneath the folds of his clothes to where he pooled them in his shoes. He shivered at the frosty brush of the shadows as they crept down his skin. They trailed out over the top and onto the tile to join the far darker circle.

Another tug on the circle and he watched it flex as it deepened to the color of the void. He watched both with his eyes and his grip on Voidshade Control as it darkened further. Heat flooded into the power as the spot where the shadow rested became an absence. Fear shot through him at the thought that the power would be able to annihilate or devour the tile beneath it even as he felt it harden and rise into a cylinder before he dismissed it and let the shadows snap back to normal.

He wished he still had Spatial Control so he could observe it from both sides. How much easier would it be to control and sense his connection with voidshade?

 

<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Voidshade Control Ev. 0/Lv. 1 -> Voidshade Control Ev. 0/Lv. 2>

<Congratulations, Elias Newton! You have leveled up the following power: Voidshade Control Ev. 0/Lv. 2 -> Voidshade Control Ev. 0/Lv. 3>

 

He scraped the sole of his shoes over the spot he experimented with and frowned at the slightest of dips underneath his desk. Had that always been there? He decided to ignore it and pay attention to the lecture... at least until he remembered that lunch was coming up.

Classes flashed through on a loop of people exclaiming about if he was okay, and what happened. It was way past the point of being tiresome. What was the point of gossip if it wasn't talked about once and it was over?

At lunch, he got his tray of food and sat down at his usual table with Kady who eyed him like an eagle watching a mouse scurry across a field straight towards her.

"Hi, Kady..." He trailed off as he set his tray down with a clatter across from her.

"So, I've heard some interesting things today."

"Yeah," he slumped a bit. "I bet you have."

"Are you okay? It sounds awful. I wish I could create permanent copies so I could give you an arm, but I can listen if you want to talk about it instead?"

Eli's mouth gaped wider as she continued to talk. A part of him had expected her to ask what had happened knowingly and then try to dig for info when he'd say he was at the mall.

"Yeah... okay. I'll take you up on that," Eli said before he started to explain more or less everything that had happened in the mall other than the part about who Dave was or that his parents were actually targeted.

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"You're kind of a dumbass, Newton. But in a noble way." Kady shook her head at him while she played around with her plastic fork. "Well, what are you doing after school?"

"What do you mean?" He frowned as he glanced up at her.

"'What do I mean', well are you going straight back home or were you going to do something else?"

"Oh, well, my friend and his brother invited Lana and I to go hang out with them? I was probably going to do that, although... I'm not sure. I'm kind of in a lot of trouble so I might head straight home. And Lana got detention."

"How about I meet you both outside school and we'll find out?" She smiled while her hands twitched as if she were going to move them across the table closer to him. She didn't. Eli didn't know how he felt about that. So much had happened that he hadn't really thought about anything like that in ages.

They talked about the safe topic of Spanish next period and then how her weekend went before the bell rang and they threw their trash away and dropped their trays off.

***

"There you are Eli!" Roman called out as he swooped in to join his conversation with Kady. Where they stood chatting outside the school on one of the surprisingly free benches. "Hi, Roman Anders, Mechanical Extraordinaire. Nice to meet you...?"

"Kady. Kady Norton." She shook his hand as she introduced herself with a befuddled look on her face. "How do you know Eli?"

"I've been his best friend for about two years." Roman shrugged off-handedly as he swung his backpack around. "I wanted to give you something real quick, Eli, but is there somewhere else we can go?"

"Sure," Eli glanced at both of his friends before standing up and following behind Roman as he led the way around the school building to a more secluded area. Paranoia tingled down the back of his spine even though he knew the rustling of grass behind him was Kady and not Tom and his goons.

"Alright, here we go." Roman flipped his backpack around as he zipped open the biggest pocket and revealed a scuffed unpainted mechanical prosthetic arm. Eli glanced at it in shock as he studied the hard planes and ridges of the protective shielding up to the joints at the elbow, wrist, and each of the small fragile knuckle joints for the fingers. He reached out to take it but Roman shook his head then nodded at the hanging sleeve of his hoodie.

Eli shucked his backpack with a loud thud before he ripped his hoodie off too. He tugged the short sleeve back on his shirt to reveal the stump of what was left of his arm. It didn't even have a scar. They'd been able to heal that, but not much else.

"So. A couple of things first," Roman said as he started fitting the end to his shoulder. "It's going to be ridiculously heavy at first. I used all of my powers and Theo also chipped in on it too."

"What do you mean?"

Roman eyed Kady warily then right as she was about to leave he spoke, "I have four different powers that I'm on track to merge into an ultimate mechanical assembly, analysis, and control power. So far I have all of the pieces and it works, but I gotta iron out the kinks."

Cold metal pressed right up against what was left of his arm. Eli gritted his teeth and almost complained, but Roman beat him to it.

"Sorry. You can't cover it with cloth, I'll explain in a second." He knocked his knuckles against the rounded part of the arm that cupped over his stump. Gears whirred as a band clamped and suctioned around his stump while Roman held up the weight of the arm. "Anyways. That's just the first part of this. If that was all I had this would be literally impossible. I also have two dream-based powers. Oneiromantic Conjuration which doesn't really apply here, but I want to merge it later on with the real star: Dreamer's Enchantment."

A cascade of spinning gears sounded off as the arm began to bend and wave as it flexed and spun. Plates and segments composing the outer arm began to slide and retract as it gradually started to shape itself to fit what his arm looked like before.

"Wait, you mean?" Eli asked as he glanced from the prosthetic arm to Roman with a widening grin.

"Hell yeah. I can weave other powers into objects. That's what I did with mine and Theo's so the arm will heal itself and be like a real arm once it's bonded to you. The only downside is that our powers took up almost all the room on it. You'll only be able to push one power through at a time." Roman explained as ran his free hand up and down the metal arm. "Alright, ready?"

Eli nodded.

One final knock and the prosthetic clamped down as all of the metal plates aligned themselves perfectly to where they were supposed to be. A tingle built right at the edge of his stump as a current started to run over his shoulder directly into his spine. Tension built as the muscles of his back locked up. Pain spiked in his jaw as he gritted his teeth.

He collapsed to his knees as sensation started to jolt through the metal arm as the fingers flexed and bent almost wildly. He almost screamed at the weight of the air as his arm sliced through it from one movement to the next. From one moment to the next, debilitating torment turned to extraordinary pleasure as the arm gradually came under his control.

Eli found himself kneeling in the grass next to a barricade of cloned Kady's to block off the sight of him while Roman was muttering to himself about ways to fix it. He held up both of his hands with a blink and watched as they both squeezed into fists. Ecstasy crashed through him at the feeling of curling both of his hands into fists. At the joy of not having only one arm. Light glittered on the hardened panes and edges of the arm as it drew on his Body of Light.

"How does it feel?" Roman asked nonchalantly as if he were trying to be smug while he swiped his hands across his sweat streaked forehead.

"Like a glove," Eli grinned as he climbed to his feet with the assistance of the quartet of Kady's. Two of which tried to hold him up while the others glared at Roman.

"Are you insane? Like that's cool and all, but what if that went badly?"

"Ah, it's fine." Roman stumbled over his words. "Theo could've helped him if it went badly."

"Speaking of, where is Theo?" Eli asked while he waved his left arm again and watched it move in transfixed fascination.

"I don't know. Do you think he tried waiting for Lana?"

"You mean... like a stalker?" Kady asked with a quartet of frowns. Eli had to restrain a chuckle at the dizzying sight. He doubted she knew she had her power still on.

"I hope not," Roman sighed. "I really, really hope not. What do you think E—"

"Nope. Nuh-uh. Not my business. I tried interfering with her dating life before and it did not work." Eli shook both of his arms in an exaggerated motion. He didn't think Theo would fight him like Tom, but still. Nope. If she needed him she'd ask or it'd be obvious. A stray thought fired across his mind... Did Lana have a weird thing for boys with 'T' names?

"C'mon, let's go look for them," Roman said as he led the way towards the back of the school and the abandoned gymnasium. Eli started to hurry to keep the same pace, but Kady grabbed his hand to pull him back for a moment.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kady whispered.

"Yeah, I really am. It's incredible," He whispered with a smile then he called out, "You're a genius, Roman!"

"Hell yeah!" Roman shouted as he whirled around and then smirked at the distance between them. "How about we split up? I'll check behind here and you guys go around the building?"

Eli opened his mouth to say it was fine, but Kady beat him to it.

"Sounds good! We'll meet you back at the front of the school!" Roman nodded and took off at a heavy sprint, for a mundane human. Eli winced inwardly at how low he ran. Everyone really did need a body focused power. He’d need to try and convince his parents and Lyra to get one at some point. They were too weak without it.

They walked along in awkward silence. Crisp grass rustled and crunched beneath their footsteps as they rounded the back of the school showing the fields where the baseball and football teams were practicing.

"So, uh—" Kady started to say right as he blurted out a realization that had just hit him as his mind caught up to his earlier thought.

"Fuck! I forgot about Lyra!" He turned his head around back to the front of the school and hoped that she was still waiting there and hadn't gone back home without them. His parents would kill him if he let her walk home alone after everything that had happened.

"Oh, okay, should we—"

Eli had already turned radiant and kicked off in a flashing streak of light. Yards were chewed up in his mad dash as he pushed himself harder. Faster.

He really missed Spatial Control now for sure. It was hard to run this fast and not be able to sense the surrounding space with ease. Too bad, otherwise he could've drained Perception to boost Stamina or Strength.

A long walk of about ten to fifteen minutes shortened to about a minute as he slowed to a stumble. A gaggle of students eyed him warily as his radiant body turned back to flesh and blood... and metal. He scanned through each of them then sighed once he realized both Lyra and Lana were gone.

Should he check inside?

Eli started to shimmer as he was about to turn radiant and go blitzing through the halls before he stopped and decided to walk like a normal person. A fast walk though. While his parents probably would kill him if the school called about him using his remaining powers like that, they'd still be pretty upset if he left Lana and Lyra alone.

He grumbled as he marched down hallway after hallway to check on the art rooms, the gyms (never know), and even the detention room.

"Mr. Newton! Have you seen your sister?" barked Mr. Mitchell, the grizzled coach that was halfway into retirement.

"Nope! I'm trying to find her."

"Well, if you find her, let her know her being tardy added on an extra day."

Eli nodded as he slowly walked away... then started jogging as slow, but fast as he could. He walked into the library and glanced over and across the shelves where he found Lyra chatting with a group of her friends.

Relief.

He really wished he had his phone though so he could text Lana or Roman and Kady to see if they'd found her. Lyra caught his eye with a wince as if she were afraid to see him standing close to the entryway, but she hurriedly said her goodbyes and walked over to him.

"Hey Lyra."

"Hi..." She frowned as they started to move back into the halls. "Did you need something? Dad said I could stay at Ava's house again."

"Oh. Sorry about that, my phone is broken... yeah." Eli frowned as he studied the dark circles under her eyes and the way she wouldn't even make eye contact. She was hunched over as if she carried a massive weight. "Are you okay, Lyra?"

"Pfft. Obviously not. We almost died and you didn’t see what our parents did. They were… they were monsters, Eli. Both of them. And you lost your arm and—" She stopped as she finally glanced down at his mechanical arm that shimmered with bands of light still. He hadn't been able to stop it from glowing, but he could dim it at least. "How did you...?"

"Roman has powers that let him build it." He said offhandedly, he didn't want to share his friend's secrets in a public space especially. He almost asked more about how she was doing, but she looked so uncomfortable and upset that he didn't want to hurt her any more than she already had been. "Well. I'll let you go back to what you were doing, I guess, don't be a stranger okay?"

"Bye."

Eli watched her leave with a frown before he left the library to head for the front of the school building and blinked at seeing everyone gathered out there. He really needed to fix his phone or get a new one.

"Where's Lyra?" Lana asked, breaking off her conversation with Kady.

"She's staying over at her friend Ava's place tonight." He started walking off to go home before pausing to turn around. "Thank you guys so much, but we should head home. I don't want to be in any more trouble and..."

"It's okay, we get it." Roman nodded as he stepped closer to him. He held his hand out for fist bump which Eli touched the knuckles of his right hand against. "The other one."

Eli grinned as he tapped the knuckles of his new mechanical arm and hand against Roman's. "Thank you, seriously. Thank you too Theo!"

"Of course! Let me know if you figure out that residue thing. If your power isn't enough to heal it, I will." Theo called out from where he'd moved over to say his own goodbye's to Lana.

"Bye Eli!" Kady called as she rushed over to hug him. "I'm glad you were okay after everything that happened."

After a few more moments of farewells, they left.

"I'm really starting to get worried about Lyra," Eli admitted as they shambled back home.

"Me too. She's usually not like this. We're the ones that get upset or flip out about things, but she's... she's actually hurting." Lana's voice croaked as if she were about to start crying. She took hold of his shoulder briefly before letting go again.

They walked home without saying another word.

 

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