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Chapter Six Kali lagged behind Gary. He was about ten feet in front of her, and he was still keeping the same pace they had started at. Kali, however, was slowing down because of her frail state and not having enough sleep over the past day or two. Not to mention she was hungry. The hologram showed that they were in a desert, something Kali had never imagined. Dust occasionally blew into her eyes, and it was remarkably hot. There was nothing in this desert except for sand. Sand, heat, and the sun. Kali had never had sunburn before, but now it covered her arms and legs like a red rash. She didn't know what her face looked like, but she could imagine it covered with sunburn. Gary had stopped and was waiting for Kali to catch up. He had sunburn too, but his wasn't as bad as Kali's. Startling Kali, a cool, dustless breeze blew across her face, cooling her off. When Gary looked away, the breeze suddenly vanished. Puzzled, Kali examined the boy, completely forgetting about the dust, sunburn and heat. Wondering, Kali looked down at her hands. If Kali could possess magical powers, then could Gary? She quickened her pace to catch up to Gary, who was still waiting for her. "What's wrong?" he asked casually when she caught up with him. "Nothing is wrong. I was just wondering." "About what?" Gary inquired, suddenly interested. Kali looked at him and smiled. "Things. How much longer until we reach the city?" "What things?" Gary asked eagerly. "Well . . . I was wondering . . . do you know why there was that cool breeze? It went by so quickly . . . isn't that a little strange?" Gary looked at her sternly. "Yes, it is a little strange." He looked away from Kali. "We should reach the city in about a day or two." "Okay, spit it out. What kind of powers do you have?" Gary looked back down at her. "Who said I had powers?" Kali got a sudden idea. She concentrated her power, and remembered what Gary told her. She put her fingers together, and let the lightning flow from her four fingertips this time, instead of just her index finger. "What would happen if I decided to point my fingers at you? What would you do?" He gulped. Kali could see a line of sweat forming around the edges of his face. "Why are you so nervous?" Gary didn't answer. He looked away and started walking towards the city. Or where the city must have been if you could see it. Kali stopped the flow of electricity. "Gary! Wait up!" She ran after him, jogging to keep up with his steady pace. "Look, it's no big deal if you have special powers, I've got them too, remember? Nothing to be ashamed about." He stopped walking and looked down at her. "You really want to know?" "Yes." "No one else knows." "Knows what?" Gary sighed. "When I was seven, I discovered that I could control the wind and understand what it says, to some extent. Well, back then I thought that most anyone could do something like it. I came across it by mistake…" FLASHBACK A little boy, about seven years old wandered the forest in a narrow valley or canyon. The trees were brilliant shades of orange, red, and yellow. Some had floated down to the ground. In some places, it looked as if there had been a snowstorm of leaves. The boy sat down in a small clearing, leaning against a fallen tree. He sighed. He was bored. His father and his grandfather had gone to the city, leaving him behind. For some reason, he was never allowed to go to the city. His father had always said, "when you're older". His thoughts drifted to the leaves scattered about the clearing. They danced merrily across the clearing, dancing to the music of the wind and flying away. Staring at the leaves, he pretended that he could control them, make them blow to where he wanted them to. Minutes later, he realized that he was controlling the movements of the leaves. He made them blow around him, protecting him from any outside force that dared to interrupt his peace. "Gary?" a low voice called. Broken from his thoughts, the boy looked up to the sound, and the leaves floated down to the ground, some letting the wind carry themselves away before hitting the soft, green grass. The boy ran off to the voice. End of FLASHBACK Kali stared at Gary. "So, you can control tornadoes and hurricanes and such?" "How do you know what a hurricane is, but you don't know anything about chickens?" Kali grinned. "Do we get to see chickens in the city?" "Perhaps. And, to answer your question, I cannot control hurricanes. I can make small tornadoes though." Kali thought for a moment. "Could you use the wind to blow a storm off course?" Gary raised his eyebrows. "I've never thought about that. I don't think I have that much power, but anything is possible if you try hard enough." "Do you think that it's possible for you to blow a storm over here, so we can bask in the glory of the freshness that rain brings, and the coolness . . . " "No." "Rats." "You can slightly control storms though." Kali snorted. "How?" "Back there, with the demon on our tail. Wasn't that you who created that sudden storm, with the lightning and the thunder and all?" "I don't remember doing anything." "Interesting." "What?" "Nothing." "How can nothing be interesting?" Gary sighed. "Never mind." They continued to walk in silence. Night soon crept up on them, and they had to rest their tired bodies. Fortunately, they were able to reach a small oasis. A few palm trees stood around a pond. Flowing into a pond was a small waterfall, raining down from a cliff about ten feet high. The source of the water other than that was unknown. Kali washed her face in the water while Gary kindled a small fire. Kali raised her eyebrows. "What do we need a fire for? It seems hot enough already." "Desert nights are often very cold." Kali looked at their surroundings. Other than the small oasis at which they were camped, it seemed that they were traveling in a very large box of sand, not a desert. A cold wind blew and Kali shivered. She looked at Gary, but he shook his head. "It wasn't me." "So, what do we sleep on? We don't have anything." Gary pondered for a moment. "I don't know," he said slowly. "Maybe we should at least try to find a way up the rock. We'll be able to see more of the surrounding area, though there isn't much to see. Maybe we'll find something there," Kali said, trying to sound optimistic. Gary shrugged, not thinking that they would find anything. However, he was rather interested in finding where the water came from. Kali circled the cliff, which appeared to be a very large boulder that was cut like a cliff. She observed that this was much too small to be any cliff at all. Finding no path up, Kali circled the boulder again, looking closer. She ran her hand along the side. In doing so, she found a small crevice she had not noticed before. Gary followed her and looked at the crevice. "What do you suppose it is?" Kali asked. The crevice did not seem to fit. Gary reached out to touch the crevice. He thought he could feel some sort of magical prescience beyond the side. Knocking on the boulder by the cliff, he could hear a hollow sound. He also noticed that the part near the crevice was loose. Using as much strength as he could muster, he pulled at the crevice. It pulled open, like a door. Astonished, both Kali and Gary stepped inside. The room they now stood in was almost as big as the entire cliff. It was big for a room, though the cliff/boulder it was encarved in was small in cliff standards. Once they were all the way in, the crevice door closed abruptly, startling them both. They turned, but it was too dark to see much. "Creepy…" Kali stated in a whisper. Gary nodded, though he doubted Kali knew of his movement. "Do you think that we are not alone?" "Maybe I should light another fire?" "How would you be able to do that? I'll do that little electric hand thing that you showed me before we met the demon." A few moments later, they could see again. The room was nothing special. But there was a bed to one side, a basin of water behind what Gary and Kali thought was the waterfall, and a chair in one corner. Kali was right. They were not alone. |