Chapter 9: Minus 1

QuickShot:

With my bow in my hand and an arrow in my other hand, I place the end of the arrow on the bowstring. I close one eye and line up the shot.

"Gotcha," I say, looking down my arrow at the target at the other end of my room. With the big, red, circle right in front of me, I release the bowstring and watch as my arrow soars through the air.

I nod my head when my arrow hits the target.

"These seem to be working fine," I think, looking at the set of newly crafted arrows. All evenly lined up and placed neatly next to one another, I reach down to grab another arrow.

I repeat the process, loading my bow and pulling back the bowstring. The target once more in my sight, I count down.

"One. Two. Three."

Releasing the string, I couldn't believe it when Ms. Justice walks in. Without realizing it, she had accidentally walked in between my arrow and the target.

"Watch out," I yell, using my telekinesis power to grab Justice and throw her out of the way.

Screaming as she hits the wall, I look at my arrow as it hits the target.

"Ouch," Justice cries, rubbing her arms. "Really?"

"Justice," I say, tossing my bow aside and running to her side. "Justice? Are you okay? I'm so sorry. I was practicing my archery, and then you came in, and, and then--."

"Relax," Justice says, bringing up her hands. "It's okay. Really. It is."

I help Justice to her feet. Once back on her feet, we stand near each other for a while. Just standing and staring at each other.

"Soo," I start, feeling my face get a little hotter all of a sudden. "What, what brings you to my room?"

"Oh, nothing much," Justice answers. She turns around and rubs the back of her head. "Just wanted to see you. I mean, I wanted to see how you're doing. Yeah, that's it."

"I'm doing fine," I say, turning to cough a little. "I was just practicing some archery, testing my arrows, uh, doing some other stuff."

I laugh before suddenly feeling very tired. My arms and legs feel heavy and my vision goes blurry.

I shake my head, hoping to recover but it's no use. I drop to my knee, and this time, it's Justice who helps me.

"Whoa," Justice yells, catching me. "Easy there. Easy. Come on, this way."

Grabbing an arm, she tosses it around her head. Carrying me to my bed, she pats my pillow before placing me down. Afterward, she sits down beside me.

"Hey," Ms. Justice says. "Are you feeling better? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine," I reply. I think I'm smiling, but I can't be sure since I'm too tired to even think.

"You know," Ms. Justice starts, "Sometimes, I have a hard time telling if your telekinesis power is a pro or a con. Do you know what that means?"

"Of course, I know what that means. I'm from a different time, not a different place."

"Okay," Justice says, nodding her head. "Just checking. Anyway, as I said, I'm having a hard time deciding if your telekinesis power is a pro or a con. On the pro side, you begin able to move things with your mind and make force field is awesome. On the con side, however, using your power completely drains all your energy. So I guess it's half and half."

"I guess so.

We both laugh.

"Uhh," someone interrupts. "Should I not be here?"

"What," Justice yells, looking behind and jumping off my bed. "Oh. Hi JumpStart. What's up?"

"Nothing much," JumpStart replies, walking into the room. "Again, should I not be here?"

"What do you mean by that," Ms. Justice asks.

"I mean," JumpStart starts, looking at me and then at Justice. He then grabs her by the arm and drags her away.

Ms. Justice:

"I mean," JumpStart repeats, this time whispering. "I mean, does QuickShot..."

JumpStart stops talking to peek over my shoulder. He looks at QuickShot as she rests on her bed.

"Does she have some sort of illness?"

"What," I ask, looking at the now sweating elf.

"Because if she does, then considering me gone."

JumpStart then nudges his head at the OutPost's exit.

I roll my eyes before looking at QuickShot and then back at JumpStart.

"QuickShot is not sick," I say, "She accidentally used her power. You know they take a lot out of her."

"Are you sure," JumpStart asks. "Are you really sure about this?"

"Yes."

"Because I still don't know much about your 'modern-day' disease. The flu. The common cold. The Black Death. Oh, and don't even get me started on those chicken pox."

JumpStart starts to scratch himself. Meanwhile, I shake my head.

"Okay first," I say, counting my finger. "The Black Death was from a long time ago. Back before people knew about soap and washing their hands. Second, you get chicken pox only once in your life."

"People get chicken pox once in their life," JumpStart says, scratching his back. "People. Humans. I am an elf. A wood elf!"

Since his hands are busy, JumpStart starts to flap his ears back and forth like they're wings. He keeps on flapping them over and over until I push him out of QuickShot's room.

"Okay," I say. "That's enough. Come on, get out of here, you germaphobe."

Bringing up my foot, I literally kick the panicking, scratching wood elf out of the room before returning to QuickShot's side.

"Thank you for that," QuickShot says, smiling as she starts to push herself out of bed.

"No problem," I answer, running over to help her. "Well, almost no problem. What are you doing? You need to stay in bed."

"I'm fine," QuickShot declares, clawing out of bed. "I am, I am fine. Watch me walk."

Back on her feet, QuickShot takes a few steps before dropping onto a knee.

"Nope," I yell, running over to help my friend. Once more, I have to toss one of QuickShot's arms around my neck and carry her to bed. The whole time, as I'm carrying Quickshot, she is moaning.

Carefully and as gently as I can, I lay her down on the bed. Once tucked in, I place my hand on her forehead.

"Wow," I say, pulling back my hand. "QuickShot. Your, your forehead. It's burning hot. Are you okay?"

"I'm, I'm fine," QuickShot replies, her breathing slowing. As she does, she closes her eyes and pulls up her blanket. "I, I just need a little sleep. Please wake me in one hour. Okay?"

"Got it," I say, shooting a thumb-up as I turn to walk away. However, before I can make it far, QuickShot grabs my waist.

"One hour," she says, "Okay?"

"Yes," I whisper, putting her soft hand at her side and tip-toeing away.

As I tip-toe out of QuickShot's room, I take a quick look back.

"So much for the talk," I say, thinking back to when QuickShot kissed me. As I think back, I remember feeling something new and explosive. It was strange but comforting. It was hard yet soft. It was something. "It's fine. We can talk later."

Walking into the OutPost's living room, I drop onto the sofa we have and cross my legs. I lay back my head and close my eyes. As I rest my mind, a beeping sound knocks me out of it.

The beeping gets louder and the lights to the OutPost turn red.

"Shoot," I say, pushing myself up and running over to the computer. When I get there, JumpStart and SpeedBlade are already there.

"What trouble is there," SpeedBlade asks, looking at the OutPost's computer as JumpStart types away on it.

"Hold on," he replies, "I'm having trouble typing since I have these on."

JumpStart brings up hands that are covered by oven mitts. I shake my head and take them off before throwing them to the side.

As he finishes typing, he steps back and we all watch as surveillance cameras pop up on the screen. They reveal someone standing in a massive electronic store, with people running from him. The person the people are running from is somehow shooting both ice and fire from his hands.

His body is split into two, ice on the right and fire on the left. While he burns some flatscreens with his left hand, he freezes some bystanders with his right hand.

"Time to fight," SpeedBlade says, running off before returning with my shield and his sword. "Here."

He offers me my shield and looks at where the man is before looking at the map of sewers JumpStart had placed on the screen.

"According to this map, this route is the fastest. Let's go."

About to run, SpeedBlade stops.

"Wait, where is QuickShot?"

I'm a little hesitant to answer, but I have to.

"She's too tired to get out of bed," I say, looking at JumpStart and SpeedBlade. "I'll check up on her later, but for now, let's go help those people."

I run through SpeedBlade and JumpStart and slam my foot down on the button. The wall opens, and I turn back to the guys.

"Come on," I say, "Let's take this guy down."