Psychic Chapter Ten: Squadron In the point of view of April We practiced our psychic powers in Will's backyard. It was Mid- January. Drake and Sonya would watch us, and give us pointers on how to better use our powers every so often. I often glanced at Will to watch him as he practiced controlling fire. He made it seem so easy. Out of all of us, not including Drake or Sonya, Will was definitely the most skilled at using his psychic powers. He was always ultimately careful not to burn anyone or anything he didn't mean to. I tried to strengthen my skills by trying to move things with my mind that were difficult to move in real life. I didn't want to break anything expensive like a car, but I wanted to see what I was capable of. I found that moving things with my mind was similar to moving things by myself. I still had to think about it. I had to determine things like how much strength was needed, so that I wouldn't be trying to move a feather like it was a rock. One day, I was trying to move a rock the size of CJ, when I noticed that I couldn't see Will anywhere. I looked around. I saw Lindsey and Grayson making a combined effort with their powers. Water conducts electricity, so they decided to try and make use of it. Drake was on his cell phone, talking quietly, and Sonya seemed to be listening in on his conversation. But where was Will? I heard a branch of a tree snap nearby. I looked up. Will was sitting on a limb high up in one of the trees. He had a piece of paper in his hands, and he seemed to be consentrating hard on it. I stepped through the snow over to the tree and noticed that the lowest branch was high above my head. I wouldn't be able to climb it. Suddenly, I got an idea. I could lift objects, why not lift myself? I consentrated on myself, imagining I was floating up into the air. I opened my eyes. I was still on the ground. I jumped at the sound of Drake's deep voice right behind me. "I wouldn't try that just yet." He said. I gasped and whirled around. He was standing there, his white gaze fixed on me. "Why not?" I asked. Drake smiled momentarily. "You're not strong enough. What if you fell? You're abilities are becoming more powerful, but you're just not there yet." I nodded. I imagined falling, and cringed inwardly. "April?" Came Will's voice from above. I looked up. Will was leaning on a limb, looking down at us. A wave of fear suddenly rushed through me. "Will! Get down from there! You could fall!" The thought suddenly scared me. I wouldn't be able to catch him with my powers. Will laughed, showing his perfectly white teeth. "I've been climbing these trees all my life! I've never fallen." he said. "Famous last words." Drake muttered. Will's smile disappeared. He sighed. "Alright, alright. I'm coming down." He said. "Be careful!" I said. Will smiled, and climbed down a few branches, and then jumped down the rest of the way, landing in the snow below with a white puff. I gasped. "Will! Did you fall?" I ran to him. Will rolled over on the ground. "Yeah." he said, pushing out his lower lip. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to die." Then he sat up with a laugh. I smacked him on the shoulder. "Don't scare me like that, you!" I said. Will smiled. "I made this for you." he handed me the piece of lined paper. I took it. The words on it read, 'The fire in my heart, burns brighter than the fire in my hands.' I noticed that Will had used his powers to burn the words into the paper. "You like it?" he asked. I smiled. "I love it." I answered. Will grinned. Then he picked himself up off the ground. Drake cleared his throat. "Have everyone gather round. I just recieved some news about our... situation." he said. Will nodded. He turned and waved at Lindsey and Grayson. "Hey, guys! Come over here, will you?" he said. They obeyed. Drake smiled at Lindsey. "I'm proud of you for coming up with the combination attacks. That was very inventive of you." he said. Lindsey smiled. "Thank you, Drake." she said. There was a moment where the two of them looked at each other. Grayson stirred uncomfortably. "So, what did you call us over here for?" he finally muttered. Drake turned back to the rest of us. "I got a call from a member of my squadron. The Psychic Killers are on the move." The air became very silent. No one said a word. Drake allowed a little smile. "Don't worry so much." He added. "They're not headed in our direction. My squadron has followed them to Dallas, Texas. We'll keep an eye on them. The Psychic Killers are looking for The Society. But they'll never find it. And even if they do, they'll be walking into their own demise." Another long silence. We all stared at Drake. As much as we knew we needed to fight, the prospect of killing was beyond all of us. Talking about killing people sent chills down my spine. I knew that everyone else felt the same. "There's some good news, though!" Drake said, strangely optimistic. "The Psychic Killers have entered a territory that has lots of psychic warriors. My squadron is no longer needed over there. They will be sent up here to Rexburg as soon as possible." he smiled proudly. Drake was obviously very confident in his squadron's abilities. I tried to imagine them, these psychic warriors, travelling the country and fighting a band of murderers. As awesome as it sounded, it also seemed a little scary. The squadron was coming up here? I wondered what that would be like. I felt a little safer knowing that help was on the way. Spring. It looked a lot like winter, here in Rexburg. The city was still covered in snow, but at least the sun was shining during the day now. Drake had informed us that his squadron was finished with their buisness at The Society and were headed up to Rexburg presently. Everyone at school was excited. The prospect of summer vacation wasn't very far away. Lindsey would be graduating from high school, and Will, Grayson and I would be moving up to the 12th grade. All of us had come a long way in learning to control our psychic powers. I still hadn't figured out how to safely lift someone off of the ground. Will had been kind enough to be my test subject, but we called it quits after he had several scars and bruises. He told me it felt like a big, strong invisible hand. Too strong, sometimes. I avoided trying to lift living things for fear that it might hurt someone after that. I felt clumsy with my power. Drake told me that this would go away with time. Will and I were sitting at one of the cafeteria tables after school one day. We had a government class together and we were studying for the midterm. At first, things were going well, but then I started to notice something strange. "Okay, Will." I said. "What does the word 'repeal' mean?" I asked. Will sat back and blinked. "Uhh..." he mumbled. I smiled. "Will, I just said the answer to this like five minutes ago!" I said. "The answer to what?" he responded numbly. I looked at him. He was staring at the other side of the room, but his eyes were glazed over. "Will, there's a spider on your hand." I lied calmly. "The answer to what?" he repeated. I blinked. Was he okay? I waited a couple seconds to see if he would snap out of it. "Will!" I yelped suddenly. Will jumped in surprise and looked at me in alarm. "What?! What's wrong?" he asked. I stood up. "I think we should take a break." I said, gathering up our things. Will sat and looked up at me. "I spaced out again, didn't I?" he asked. I nodded. "Maybe you're just tired." I said. "A lot of stuff has been going on lately. I mean, think about it: Did you know that this year we were going to learn how to fight with our minds? It's heavy stuff!" Will looked down at the ground and nodded. "You give me too much credit." he said. "You didn't even know you were psychic until a few months ago." I bent down and kissed my downtrodden boyfriend on the cheek. "Let's go to Sammy's." I said. Will nodded and helped me gather up our things. "William has been sitting up in that tree for almost an hour." Lynda said. I looked at Will's mom. She was as worried as I was about him. We were in the house, sitting at the kitchen table, watching him through the window. He was at the far side of the of the backyard, sitting in a tree and seemed to be staring off into the distance, lost in thought. This was a look on his face that I was familiar with. I remembered when I first met him, he looked lost in his thoughts often. Before I met him, life was so simple. It was also incredibly boring. I didn't really talk to people outside my circle of friends. Then one day, Jackson started talking about some new kid that he said I might really like. The first day I saw Will, I was in my Geometry class. He reacted to my presence funny. It wasn't until later that I found out it was because he couldn't figure out why he coudln't read my mind. To be honest, I wasn't really afraid of him. Just confused. He was odd. Incredibly handsome, but he seemed to stand out from the crowd. Not on purpose, of course. I immdediately noticed how desprately he wanted to fit in, but he seemed much too preceptive. He kept to himself and stayed quiet. I immediately liked him, but he seemed so spacey. Sometimes I wondered if he even realized I was with him. Now I knew it was because he wanted so much to be with me, but couldn't bring himself to lie to me. Will really was such a sweet and thoughtful person. But what was wrong with him? Never before had something been troubling him that he didn't feel like he could tell me. Perhaps he just needed to come to grips with this Psychic Killer buisness. It was difficult to take in, to be honest, but this seemed to be something else. Maybe he, himself didn't know? "Maybe I should go talk to him." I said. Lynda looked at me and nodded. "Yeah, he looks like he could use some company." she smiled a little at me and winked. I smiled weakly back and went out the back door. I walked across the wet snow in the backyard over to the tree Will was in. As I got closer, I noticed Will's eyes were closed. When I got to the base of the tree, I could hear him snoring softly. 'He's asleep?!' I thought to myself. 'We've been inside worrying about him and all he did was come out here to take a nap in a tree!' I laughed a little. "Will? Sweetheart! Wake up!" I said gently. Will's eyes opened. "Must've dozed off..." he muttered. He looked down at me. A goofy smile spread across his face. "Hey there, Beautiful! Come on up!" he said. I shifted from one foot to the other nervously. "I like having both feet on the ground, thanks." I said. Will laughed. It was a relief to hear him laugh. Maybe things weren't as bad as Lynda and I were making them out to be. Will made his way down the tree and pulled me into a hug. Just then, we heard the roaring sound of Drake's motorcycle. We headed inside. When we got into the house, everyone else was already there. Grayson poked a joke at us, something about 'making out in the woods' but the noise of the voices of everyone else made it hard to hear. Drake finally got everyone's attention. "I just got a call from my squadron." he said. "They should be here in about ten minutes. I'm going to have them meet all of you. Lynda looked perplexed. "Ten minutes! I need to clean the house!" she said. Lindsey laughed. "They're not here to inspect it, Mom." she said. But we all humored her and helped her tidy the place up. "Soon, a dark red car pulled up, and four people got out. I watched them walk up to the front door with interest. They entered the house and saluted Drake. "Sir!" They all said in unison. I was impressed. There were three boys and a girl. They were all dressed in a similar fasion. Black tight-fitting shirts and black khaki pants. They each had dark-tan utility belts around their waists, and hand guards strapped to their wrists. They were dressed in black from their shoulders to their boots. The girl had sunny red hair and blue eyes. She smiled confidently at everyone. She was slender and stood tall, even though she was only a little taller than I was. The boy next to her had dark skin, and a wide smile. He was almost twice as tall as the girl was, making him the tallest out of everyone in the room. He was muscle bound from head to toe. The second boy had blonde hair, almost white. He looked calmly at all of us, not smiling, but not frowning either. He looked impossibly thin, with skin almost as white as his hair. The third boy smiled proudly. He had spiky black hair and a broad smile of white teeth. He was almost as strong-looking as the dark skinned one. He was wearing sleek sunglasses. Drake introduced each of them. "Everyone, this is my squadron. Clarie Jessop," he pointed to the girl. "Robert Grafford," he pointed to the dark skinned man. "Nicholas Jensen," he pointed to the white-haired boy. "And Thomas Jessop." Thomas pulled his sunglasses off his face and looked at me. He moved his eyebrows up and down once and said, "Nice to meet all of you!" he spoke in a low voice, almost as low as Drake's. He didn't take his eyes off of me. I got a little nervous. I took a timid step backwards towards Will. "We came here as soon as The Society allowed us, Sir!" Robert said. "We're sorry we couldn't stay here and help you." Clarie added. Drake smiled and waved his hand. "At ease, soldiers." he said. "I'd like you to meet the psychics you are assigned to protect." He turned to us. "William, Grayson, Lindsey and April." We waved at them. Thomas winked at me. I took another step backwards. "Clarie is a terrapath." Drake said. "That means she can control things made of earth and stone. Robert is a pyropath, like you, William. Perhaps he can give you some pointers." Will nodded enthusiastically while Robert smiled. "Nicholas has an ability called Superimpose, or Telekenesis C." Drake continued. "Nicholas can temporarily control the body of a non-psychic. And Thomas is an airpath. He can control the air within a certain radius of himself." Drake turned back to his team. "So where do we stand, Thomas?" he asked the black haired boy. "We had a run-in with the Psychic Killers in Mississippi." he said. "They were headed due West, and we tried to fight them off, if not send them back to South Carolina." he continued. "They scattered when they realized we were too much for them, though. We just got word this morning from another squadron that they've been spotted in Springfield, Colorado. That squadron is protecting a small psychic family over there, but we don't think the Psychic Killers will be there for long." Drake nodded. "They're looking for The Society." he concluded. "But they won't find it. Very good. I wouldn't expect any less from my top-notch squadron." he said. The four of them looked very proud. I felt a lot safer. These people obviously knew what they were doing, and they were here to protect us. I suddenly felt Will's hand on my shoulder. I looked up and smiled at him. He looked very serious, and he wasn't looking at me. I followed his gaze to Thomas, standing closer now, smiling confidently and flashing a winning smile at me. I instinctively grabbed Will's hand. Sonya stepped forward to the squadron. "It's good to see all of you again!" She said. The four members of the squadron smiled at her, even Nicholas. "We have a safehouse set up for my squadron, Sonya, and I to live in while we stay here in Rexburg to fight off the Psychic Killers." Drake said. He handed Richard, Will's dad, a piece of paper. "This is our address, and the safehouse phone number." He said. "Call us if you see anything suspicious." Richard nodded. "Thank you for all of your help." he said. Drake nodded with a small smile. "It's a pleasure, Mr. Duncan." he said. I saw him glance at Lindsey. That made me smile. Later that night, Will drove me home. As we drove, I decided to ask him something. "Will?" I asked. Will glanced at me, then back at the road. "Yeah, April?" he answered. "Are you feeling alright?" I asked. Will looked confused. "Um... Yeah?" he replied. "Why?" "Well, I've just noticed lately that you seem kind of... spacey." I said. "You know when we were studying earlier today, you kept spacing out. I just worry that maybe something's wrong." Will smiled. "I was just tired today. That's all." he said. "Don't worry." "OKay." I said. So he was just tired? I guess that made sense. That explained why he climbed up that tree to think by himself and ended up falling asleep. Suddenly, I realized we were pulling into my driveway. When Will parked the car and jumped out so that he could open my door for me. I hopped out of the truck and smiled at him. "C'mere, you." Will said. He pulled me into a warm hug. I rested my head on his chest and listened to his heart. Will's poem he gave me came to mind. 'The fire in my heart, burns brighter than the fire in my hands.' I hugged him tighter. "I love you, Will." I said. Will's breath came short for a moment before he answered. "I love you too, April." he said softly. Then he let me go. I went inside my house and watched out the window as his truck disappeared into the night. The next day was Saturday. I was walking to the store to meet Will. He wanted to hang out with me, but he had some errands to run for his mother. So he texted me and asked if I wanted to meet him at Broulims, the local grocery store. I said that I would, and I decided not to drive since I lived nearby. It was freezing cold, however, but living in Rexburg for so long had made me used to it. I walked down the street to the store, and enjoyed how the snow made Main Street look so pretty. A man in a grey hoodie walked past me. As he did, I noticed a high, soft, screeching sound began emitting from his pocket. He stopped and turned around to stare at me. He had dark eyes, and his chin was speckled with the beginnings of a beard. He looked about 25, despite his whithered face. "You're... a psychic." he whispered. I stopped breathing. He took a threatening step toward me. I backed away hurredly. Suddenly, he seemed to remember where he was. We were standing on Main Street. With a wave of fear, I realized that he must be a Psychic Killer. As long as I was in plain sight, however, it was too risky for him to attack me. He'd be spotted. "I have a knife in my hand." The man said, gesturing to the hand in his hoodie pocket. I gasped quietly. "If you don't do as I say, I will have no problem stabbing you in the neck right now." He nodded his head to an alleyway nearby. "In there." he growled. I couldn't move. I needed time to think of a plan! Was I going to die? "In there!" he said louder. I obeyed. He followed me in. "Stop." he commanded when we were deeper in. It was darker in here, and it had started to snow. The man smiled. "The Boss is going to be so happy with me. I've caught a psychic!" he said. "Where is your boss?" I asked as calmly as possible. "He's South of here, but when I tell him that there's psychics up here in Rexburg, he'll come up here for sure!" he pulled his hands out of his pockets, and I saw the glint of a knife. I gasped. "Now, I shall have he honor of taking your life." he said. I didn't wait for him to move. I reached up, and with my mind, I broke off all the icicles hanging from the rooftops. I brought them down and pointed all the jagged tips at the man's neck. This surprised even me. I didn't think I was capable of holding so many heavy objects at the same time. I felt a little more confident. "Drop your knife." I said, my voice quivering slightly. The man laughed. "I don't think you have the guts to kill me." he said. I hesitated. He was right. I couldn't kill anyone. But he wanted to kill me. What could I do? The thought of actually using these sharp icicles for what I was threatening made me sick. "Maybe I don't, but I have no problem doing this." I brought up the biggest icicle, and broke it over the man's head. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, unconsious. I stood perfectly still for a moment. Never in my life had I done something like that before. I held onto the icicles with my mind, just in case he woke back up. I slowly crept closer. The man was still breathing. He had a good-sized welt on his head that was slowly turning purple. I gathered up my courage, and lifted the knife out of the man's limp hand. As I did so, I could see something black on his wrist. I recoiled in disgust immediately, but then drew closer again out of curiosity. I timidly lifted the grey sleeve of the man's sweater. I pulled it up to his elbow. His arm was decorated with black tatoos. Different shapes and symbols that I had never seen before covered his arm. The biggest symbol I did recognise. It was a simple trefoil knot. It was thick and weaved in and out of itself on his forearm. I found the sheath to the little knife in his hand, and took it as well. At least he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else with this knife. Then he groaned and winced. Letting the icicles drop to the ground with a crash, I was gone. I ran. I ran for all I was worth. Broulims was only a few blocks away. I ran through the parking lot and into the grocery store. I peered down each isle until I saw the most wonderful familiar face in this world. "Hi, April! Oof!" Will said. I ran straight into him and wrapped my arms around his middle. I said telepathically. Will stiffened. he asked in a serious tone. I buried my face in his chest and started to cry. I felt Will's strong arms wrap around me. I immediately felt safer. He rubbed my back and kissed the top of my head. With one arm protectively around me, he finished the grocery shopping and brought me to his car. He placed me in the passenger seat and put the groceries in the seat behind me. Then he got into the driver's seat, but didnt start the car. Instead, he looked at me for a long time. "How did you get away?" he asked very seriously. I could hear the fear in his voice. I looked up at him. "I broke an icicle over his head." I mumbled. Will let out a breath that almost sounded like a laugh. He smiled for a second and took my hand in his. "I... I can't believe I wasn't there to protect you." he whispered. I stared at him. His handsome face was lined with concern and... was that anger? My eyes flooded with tears. "Will..." I whispered. Will gathered me up in his arms. He kissed me and then buried his face in my shoulder. "I almost lost you today." he said. I could now clearly hear from his voice that he was crying. We sat like that, in the car, for a very long time. What if I had died today? What would have happened to Will? I didn't want to think about that. Suddenly, a horrifying thought came to my mind. "Will, the man! He said something before I knocked him out!" Will lifted his head from my shoulder. I continued. "He said that his boss is just South of here! And that if he told him there were psychics up here, his boss would come for sure! When he wakes up, he's going to tell his boss!" Will's face changed. He looked determined. He started his car and drove to a part of town I didn't recognise. We pulled up to a little white house with trees bordering the property, practically concealing the house itself. "Will? Where is this?" I asked. "This is where Drake and Sonya live." Will answered. He took me up to the front step, and rang the doorbell. Clarie answered. "April! William!" she said happily. She came forward and gave me a hug. Then she took a step back and looked at our concerned faces. "Don't everyone get excited at once." she said sarcastically. Sonya's face appeared in the doorway. "Come in, you two!" she said. Sonya sat us down in the small front room on a couch. "Is Drake here?" Will asked. Sonya smiled. "Yes. I'll go get him." She re-appeared a few moments later with Drake, and the other members of the squadron. "William. April. What a surprise! To what do we owe this visit?" he asked. William took a deep breath. "Drake. April was attacked by a Psychic Killer today." Everyone fell silent. Thomas let out a high-pitched whistle. "Wow! You took on a Psychic Killer, and lived to tell about it! This is one tough chick!" he grinned at me. "I find that extremely attractive!" he added. I felt Will stiffen next to me. I said telepathically. he answered darkly. Drake stepped forward. "April, what exactly did this man do?" he asked. "I need as many details as possible." I related to everyone my experience. I described what the man looked like and what he had said. "After I knocked him out, I took this so that he wouldn't hurt anyone else." I said. I pulled the sheathed knife out of my pocket, and handed it to Drake. The room immediately became thick with tension. Drake looked angry. Sonya and the members of his squadron looked at him warily. "I recognise this knife." Drake said slowly. "You ran into Dominique." "Who's that?" I asked. Drake turned away, holding the knife gently with both hands, studying it. "Dominique was once a friend of mine." Drake said. "That is, until I joined The Society. I didn't hear of him again, until I saw him in a report, saying he had slaughtered two psychic girls after joining the Psychic Killers. I went to him and told him to stop, that what he was doing was wrong. We got into a fight, and he gave me this." Drake lifted up the sleve of his shirt and pointed to a thin scar on his upper arm. "This scar," he said. "Came from this knife." he held up the knife. I nodded slowly. "I'm sorry." I whispered. "I only knocked him out. He's probably gone by now." I said. Drake shook his head. "Don't be sorry. Nobody expects you to kill anyone. You did the right thing. Did you notice anything else about him?" he asked. I told him about the tatoos on the man's arm. I drew the trefoil knot on a piece of paper and showed it to everyone. "This is the only symbol I remember." I said. "There were lots of others, but I can't remember what they looked like." I said. Drake nodded. "This symbol is the... logo, shall we say, for the Psychic Killers. It represents unity. That all different groups will be made one. In this case, however, it means that all the different groups will be removed to leave one." We all nodded. Suddenly, Drake swiveled around to face his sqadron. "Squadron 44! Front and center!" Immediately, the four warriors saluted Drake. "Sir!" They all said. Drake stood before them. "A Psychic Killer has been spotted here in Rexburg. If I had to guess, I'd say he's only a scout. April knocked him out, but he's probably on the loose again by now. He'll notify Marlow that there are psychics in this town. Be on your guard. This means we're on full duty now." "Yes sir." the four of them said. I was impressed with the squadron's obedieance and willingness to help us. I felt safer knowing they were with us. Surprisingly, things quieted down after that. We thought that Psychic Killers were going to start popping up in Rexburg quickly after that. But Clarie, Thomas, Robert, and Nicholas kept a close eye on us, and anything that looked remotely suspicious. Drake and Sonya kept us updated, but there wasn't much to tell. Life returned back to normal. As normal as life could get for a psychic. School wasn't so hard, and Will liked to take me on dates in my free time. I noticed after the incident with the Psychic Killer, Will became more protective of me. I knew he was just worried about me, so I didn't mind. He asked Drake to teach him to fight without his fire. He wanted to be absolutely sure he could protect his loved ones. I noticed as the weeks rolled by that Will was becoming stronger.