Children of the First

HIATUS ENDED

Bridget’s flailing limbs plunged deep into my flesh as my hand closed around her. A whole new level of pain shot up my arm and coursed through me. It felt like my veins were filled with broken glass and I was burning up from the inside out while freezing to death.

Other than the pain, the first thing I felt was Bridget’s panic. She was absolutely hysterical, and I felt her terror as though it were my own. The anxiety and fear of everyone in the room surged through her tiny body, leaving me dazed and trembling. I knew these emotions weren’t mine, but they were so tangled up in the flood of sensation that they were impossible to ignore.

It wasn’t just emotions either; I could feel what they looked like, how they smelled, the sound of their breathing. I felt colors. But this was more than synesthesia; I didn’t just feel colors instead of seeing them, I felt colors the way you feel your blood pump and your heat beat. I felt everything that way.

Soon there were so many things running through me that they bled together in a wash of light, noise, and pain. Especially pain.

My senses burned as my tried to sort out all the information; I felt my eyes blister and my skull split open from the shrieking in my ears. I was beyond screaming and crying. I couldn’t separate my own thoughts from what was being poured into me—I was lost and powerless.

Then, after what seemed like years but was probably only seconds, the pain dulled and the classroom fell away, leaving me numb in a dark, silent void.

The torrent of sensation came rushing back just as quickly, but this time it was different; instead of just the people and things around me, I could feel everything. I felt the earth shifting below me, the rise and fall of the tides, the breath of the wind as it tumbled over plains and coiled around mountains, the heartbeat—no, the life—of every living thing, and the pulse of Magic as it flowed though them all. As it flowed through me. As everything flowed through me.

This wasn’t the tangled mess of sensation I’d felt in the classroom. It was rivers and forests; it was war between nations and peace among insects; it was every individual blade of grass. I felt them all at the same time, but each one as itself.

I realized I was so much more comfortable because this was the same connection everyone has their entire life: the same force that makes my heart beat also makes the wind blow—the same magic that shaped the mountains and filled the sea also makes my fingernails keep growing. The only thing that had changed was that I was now conscious of the magic flowing through me.

Then I heard a voice—or rather, several voices. “Sha’anyr,” they called in unison, both distant and deeply intimate.

“We are with you, Sha’anyr,” said the voices. “Do not forget.” A sudden wind had picked up as they spoke, threatening to drown them out as it grew

“Don’t forget what?” I called as the storm’s howl reached a crescendo. “Who are you?”

“I’m Fallon, honey. Don’t you remember?”

I opened my eyes to find Fallon bent over me, her face no more than six inches away from mine. “Of course I remember you,” I croaked. My throat was raw and my entire body ached.

“Oh good,” she said, sitting back on her heels. “I hate meeting new people twice.”

I sat up, discovered that was a bad idea when my head started spinning, and flopped back down, smacking my skull on the linoleum, which was an even worse idea. “Gai fucking hell,” I groaned, clutching my head as I rocked back and forth.

“Well that was stupid,” Fallon said matter-of-factly.

“Yes it was,” Lenis scowled at me. “But not nearly as stupid as grabbing a Pirouette with your bare hand right after I told you not to.” A tiny hint of a smile crept onto his lips. “Bet you won’t do that again, will ya?”

I shook my head and winced—there was something about headaches that I wasn’t getting. “Is Bridget okay?” I asked.

“She will be,” Lenis replied. “Luckily, you didn’t actually injure her, but she’s exhausted and pretty shaken up. She’s back in her house if you want to apologize.”

“Thanks,” I said and carefully got to my feet.

“You know, I’ve never seen anyone actually tighten their grip on a Pirouette.” He chuckled. “That must’ve been fun for the both of you.”

I didn’t bother to answer him; focusing instead on making it to Bridget’s “house” before my legs gave out.

“Bridget?” I whispered through the cage’s open door. After a few seconds, the tiny creature emerged from wherever she’d been hiding and teetered toward me. “Bridget, I’m so sorry—I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that, I just wasn’t thinking. I would never hurt you on purpose... but you already know that, don’t you? You can feel it?”

She nodded, then curved her body forward until her head touched the ground.

“She’s bowing,” Lenis said over my shoulder. “It’s an apology.” He grunted. “She must really like you or something; because she didn’t even apologize to me the first time I got stuck, and never to a student.”

“Aww, she has a crush on you,” Fallon beamed. “That’s adorable. Do you like her back? Like, like-like?”

“I’m just glad she’s okay,” I said.

“You do!” Fallon threw her head back and laughed. “You like-like her! You like—” She stopped mid-jeer and frowned. “The word has lost all meaning,” she shrugged. “You wanna go get something to eat?”

“Hang on,” Lenis interrupted. “I should call Raekos EMS and have them take you to the health center for a thorough examination. But then again…” He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I do hate paperwork and I don’t see any blood or missing limbs, so we can probably just skip all that nonsense—assuming you two can keep your mouths shut.”

Up until then, I hadn’t noticed that the other students who had been in the room were gone and it was just the three of us.

“Deal.” Fallon said, grabbing my wrist with one hand and both our backpacks with the other. “See ya, Profster.”

Fallon pulled me through the entire Lab Complex and out into quad before she let go. She tossed our backpacks on the lawn and turned around to face me.

“Those things are like fifty pounds each,” I said, motioning toward the bags. “How did you—“

She cut me off. “Look at me,” she commanded.

Her eyes seemed to glow an even deeper green as she gazed into mine. I was mesmerized, the pain in my head all but forgotten.

“You’re fine,” she declared, breaking the trance. “At least physically—I make no claim as to your psychological well-being; for all we know you could be a ticking time-bomb of murderous rage set to go off any minute now.”

“Well at least I’ll be healthy during my killing spree,” I grinned, already feeling more like myself. “After all, no one likes a psycho with the sniffles.”

“Oh that would suck,” Fallon laughed. “The last thing you do before you die is catch a cold? How embarrassing, not to mention gross; phlegm does not mix well with the blood of the innocent.” She handed me my backpack, swinging hers over one shoulder. “So,” she chirped, “lunch?”

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