WIP: Back in Action
I can’t help but still love the interactions between my original cast in the Soul Series. Finnley, Nate, and Glitch bring such an awesome dynamic to friendship. It was really fun to imagine them in the future and still keep a bit of their authentic character even if they are older and have kids.
This scene shows how even as the years have passed, they can still bring a new perspective on having powers.
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Kiya’s eyes lit up as she grabbed my hand. “Crap, we’re gonna miss it.”
She pulled me away from her grandparents before I could say anything, yanking me down a different hallway. Or was it the same hallway? Either way, I wasn’t going to let go. We finally slowed our pace as we came into another open room. Or at least we were standing above the open room, like stands in an arena. There were lights burning on the ceiling but the base of the room was complete blackness.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“They’re blowing off some steam,” Kiya replied.
She held her finger to her lips, studying the room below her. Finally, her eyes locked on something in the blackness and she pointed her finger. Barely a second passed before the blackness lifted up off the ground like a wave. It pulled away to reveal a man who lifted his arms like he was controlling the wave. Underneath the sleeves of his shirt, two long lightning marks traced up his arm to his elbow. One black, one blue.
“That’s my dad, Nate,” Kiya whispered. “Just wait a second.”
Nate shouted into the empty room. “I know you’re here. I can hear your thoughts.”
His hands spun in a circle, collecting the shadow behind him into a ball. As it lifted completely off the ground, a woman with deep purple hair appeared on the ground. Finnley. She just stood there tossing a tennis ball between her hands, directly in Nate’s line of sight, but he didn’t see her. He pulled part of the black ball away, letting it hover in his hand as he looked around. In an instant, he spun and threw the black shadow in the opposite direction.
“She’s right there,” I said.
Kiya grinned. “Perception trick. She’s playing with his head and making him think she’s not there. They can hear each other’s thoughts, so I’m guessing she’s taunting him somehow.”
I watched Finnley roll up her sleeves, revealing the same lightning marks on her arms that Nate had. She punched left into empty space, but almost instantly another man popped into that space out of nowhere. He was hit with some invisible force, knocking him back toward a wall. Before he hit it, he disappeared again.
Something crashed next to us as both Kiya and I jumped.
“Shit!” Kiya yelped. I looked next to her to see the same teleporting man now sprawled on the ground. Kiya whacked him with her crutch. “I hate it when you do that, Uncle Glitch.”
He grinned, glancing to me. “Oh, hey Ryder! How fun for you to see Finnley’s downfall on your first day.” In another instant, he was gone.
Kiya grumbled. “He’s the only person who can sneak up on me.”
“What’s the game?” I asked.
She smiled. “They have to steal the tennis ball from my mom before she collects their wrist ties.”
“The first part sounds easy,” I said, somewhat disappointed.
“Is it?” Kiya still had the same grin on. “Watch.”
The lights above us started to buzz, shaking as a blue streak of electricity burned across my vision. Eventually I caught up with it as it bounced between metal poles in the facility. The pattern became somewhat predictable before it bounced the wrong direction, headed toward the tennis ball in Finnley’s hand. She dropped flat to the ground, rolling parallel to the blue streak as she pushed up with her arms. It flew away from her, smacking into the wall of the arena. As the blue spark faded, I saw the imprint of a human body on the wall, the person it belonged to sitting cross-legged on the ground as he folded his arms.
“One down!” Finnley cheered, holding something small in her hand. “Marcus, that was too easy.”
Marcus mocked her last sentence, seemingly upset with his loss. He seemed to perk up as more people entered the arena. Wait, not more people; just Glitch. There were a bunch of him, dancing around Finnley as she spun in circles to follow his movements. Kiya leaned forward, fully invested in the game as a black shadow crept along the ground, poking itself out of the ground behind Finnley’s gaze. The blackness formed into a hand, looking to pluck the tennis ball from her hand.
Finnley froze out of nowhere before whipping around. Her free hand plunged into the shadow as she yanked back. From across the room, Nate was pulled into the shadow before Finnley flung him out by the wrist and sent him tumbling away, another little ribbon in her hand. She didn’t stop there. Glitch became a single form in the arena, somewhat twitching but not moving.
Kiya burst out laughing. “Glitch looks so funny when this happens.” She leaned closer. “He thinks he’s teleporting but he’s just standing still making faces.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as Finnley very gracefully untied the ribbon from his wrist, finally letting him free. He teleported a few times before smacking into the wall next to Marcus. Above them in the stands, I noticed the group of kids our age had gathered to watch, celebrating the win by Finnley. She strolled over to her husband.
“Reigning champion!” Finnley cheered, dangling the ribbons in front of Nate’s face.
He gripped her hand and pulled himself up from the ground, planting a massive kiss on his wife in the middle of the training arena. Kiya faked a gag as I laughed.
