The man smirks as his eyes skim over me and then Ashton. “Kick that gun over here,” the man says. Neither of us move. “Now!” Ashton releases my hand and kicks the gun with the toes of his sneakers. It skids over to the man and Ashton winces as it hits the legs of the chair.

“You’re lucky it didn’t go off,” Ashton says bitterly. “Seeing how the safety was off.” The man smiles at us as he bends over and picks up the gun, never taking his eyes off us.

“Why?” the man asks, sitting back up. “It most likely would have hit one of you two and we both know that you, Ashton, could have healed either of you two. Easily.” I turn my head toward Ashton, a confused look on my face, but he just stares at the man and raises an eyebrow.

“Then why point that gun at us?” The man shrugs.

“I guess it has something to do with her,” he says, pointing the gun at me. “I’m guessing she just learned what a powerful person she really is or she would have fought back when I stacked her the other day.” I clench my hands into fists and glare at the man.

“Believe me,” I say hotly. “Your stupid gun doesn’t scare me. You and I both know that I can disintegrate a bullet before it could hit either of us.” I frown slightly. Yeah, I know that. But how do I know that? The man looks startled and eyes me before turning toward Ashton.

“Oh, I know that,” the man says, lowering his gun. “I take it you bonded with her before I could find her again?” Ashton smirks and nods.

“It wasn't hard.” Ashton is acting all wrong around his-our- enemy. I glance at him and his facial expression is blank but there is a small gleam in his eyes. I can’t place it.

“Well,” the man says, smiling bitterly and raising his gun. My hand automatically goes up, my palm facing him. I have no clue what I’m doing, but for some reason, it feels right.

“Don’t even think about it,” I hiss between my clenched teeth. The man laughs and Ashton touches my other hand.

“Oh, come on,” the man says, clicking a bullet into the chamber. “I just want to see what you can do.” He fires the gun and at the same exact time a bright flash comes from my hand, blinding me. When I can see again, the bullet is gone and the man is smiling evilly.

Ashton lightly taps my palm three times. He wants to do something. I can tell.

In three…

Two taps.

Two…

One tap.

One…

He squeezes my hand lightly.

Now.

Ashton lunges toward the man and I hear a gun go off. Ashton groans as he falls and I scream his name as I shoot a bolt of lightning at the man, dropping him.

I run over to Ashton and drop down beside him. I touch his hand that is covering the bullet wound. If he can heal himself, why isn’t he? He’ll die if he doesn’t.

“Ashton,” I say, hearing the desperation in my voice and touching his pale cheek. “Come on, wake up.” Ashton moans and opens his eyes, his irises darker than I’m used to.

“I am awake,” he says, his voice strained. He pulls his hand away from his side as the bleeding stops. “I had to…” he winces and closes his eyes. He holds out his hand and in the middle of the palm is a bullet. I frown and take it out of his hand.

“You pulled that out of your side?” Ashton nods and sits up.


“Yeah. Now…” He looks at me and then at the still man. He raises an eyebrow and looks at me. “You took him down?” I shrug and stand up.

“Only temporarily. Why?” He shakes his head and stands up, walking over to the man to grab the guns. He turns on of them so that he’s holding the barrel instead of the handle and holds it out to me. I wrap my thin fingers around the handle and he releases the barrel but grabs my wrist. He pulls me toward him and I stare at him wide eyed. He smiles.

“Good job,” he says, leaning in to touch his lips to my forehead before letting go of my wrist and walking away. I stare after him and touch my fingers to my forehead, smiling nervously. What was I going to do about him?

I stare at the house before turning to catch up with Ashton. He holds a black back pack in his hand and I glance at it.

“What’s in that thing?” I ask, walking quickly to keep up with his long strides. He shrugs and flings it onto his shoulder without missing a step. “Oh, yeah. That explains a lot.” I grab his arm. “Would you slow down? My legs aren’t as long as yours, Ashton.” He slows and looks at me.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, running a hand over his face. “I tend to walk fast when I’m stressed.” I nod in understanding. He starts to slide his hands in his pockets, but I stop his one arm, lacing my fingers with his. He looks at me as we stop at a cross road. “What’s that for?” I shrug and give him a small smile.

“For the fun of it I guess.” I smile fully and let my curiosity get the best of me. “So,” I say as we cross the street, not letting go of his hand. “When you heal yourself-or any one for that matter- does it scar? Or hurt?” Ashton nods and hitches the bag higher on his shoulder.

“Hurt… Kinda. No too bad, actually. Scaring does happen.” He looks sideways at me. “My healing power isn’t that great. What I mean is, it’s not like I can take the displaced skin and blood matter, and put them back together.” He lifts his shirt with his free hand and shows me the scar. It’s pink and looks healed completely and I reach my hand out to lightly touch it. He winces and pulls away, dropping his shirt.

“I- I’m sorry,” I stutter, staring at him. He shrugs.

“It’s fine,” he says, taking my hand again. “It’s not like you knew it would hurt.” He glances at me and gives me a small smile.

I sigh and squeeze his hand lightly. I have so much to learn about myself and not much time to do so.








~







~





~

My stomach rumbles and I sigh. We’ve been walking for at least an hour and I’m starting to get tired. Ashton glances at me and frowns.

“You okay?” he asks quietly. I nod and the concern that was building in his eyes fades away. “Don’t worry. We’re almost there.” He lightly runs his hand across my shoulders.

“Almost where?”

“Almost here.” He smiles and pulls a key ring out of his pocket. He guides me to and old-ish looking black truck and we both slide in. We’re in an abandoned warehouse parking lot and I look over at Ashton. He slides the key into the ignition and an OneRepubic tune blasts from the speakers. He looks at me and smiles.

“What?” he asks innocently. “They’re one of those small pleasures you get in this life.” He puts the truck in gear and I wince as the gears grind together.

“Do you even know how to drive a stick shift?” I ask as the truck lurks forward. I grab the dashboard to keep myself from slamming into it. I turn down the music and look at him.

“No,” he says slowly. “Well… Kinda.” He gives me a small smile as the ride begins to smooth out. I smile back and lean into the hard leather seats.

“So. You bonded with me, huh?” I look at him.

“Yeah.” He glances at me before turning into a busy street. “Nothing to it really. All I did was give you the information you needed to know about who we are and what we want do. I couldn’t give you the information about your powers because no one but you knows what you can do.” He smiles at me. “Don’t worry, you’ll figure yourself out soon enough.”

Yeah, I know the basics, but learning about who I really am is a challenge that I might fail. But even if I do, I know Ashton will be there to help me get on the right track again. I close my eyes, listening to the music and the engine, letting it soothe me.