Across Worlds - Chapter 31 Part 3

Phillip cleared his throat. “Let’s move on. Zeke, you’ll train Falyn?”

“Yes, sir,” he responded. Akia debated sharing her concerns, but she decided against it. That would only cause more trouble.

“Perfect,” Phillip responded. “Braeden already agreed to teach her shape shifting so you just have to stick to the basics. Not that you’d be able to teach her shapeshifting anyway.” Zeke shrugged. He knew that he could only teach Falyn so much. He didn’t need Phillip telling him that. And based on the look on his face, he wasn’t too happy with sharing the duties. But Braeden was Falyn's father. He had the right to have a say in her training.

“Akia and Sam, I need you to leave as soon as possible," Phillip instructed. "Preferably now. Get to the barrier as fast as you can. Once you make it across into Vertfay you can transport. I still haven’t worked out how to transport across borders yet. It’s something I’m looking into.”

“What exactly do you want us to do?” Sam asked, gaining his voice once again.

“Find Seth,” Phillip responded as if it was obvious.

“But where is he?” Akia asked, looking pointedly at George. The boy only shrugged.

“How should I know? All I saw was a small boy standing with Rhys and another adult figure. There was some buildings around them, but not enough to give me a clear image."

Of course not. Akia though, crinkling her eyebrows. “So how are we going to transport to him?”

Phillip shook his head. “You have to figure that out. I just wanted to remind you that you can’t transport across barriers.”

Akia rolled her eyes. Phillip was always the one looking out for everyone. He knew that she knew about the barriers. Sometimes it seemed that he just liked to remind everyone that he was in charge by giving orders. Which was stupid, really, because everyone knew he was in charge. It was like he was still nervous that he would lose all of them if he didn’t remind them that he knew what he was doing.

He sighed and stood. “Everyone is dismissed. Sam, Akia, meet me in my quarters.” Without waiting for a response, he turned and left the room.

Zeke was the first one to leave. He mumbled a, “See ya,” before walking out the door. No doubt he was going to find Falyn to start their training. Akia would just have to learn how to trust him. As Phillip said, Falyn needed training. They didn’t have much time left before they’d have to take the fight to Rhys. They’d need Falyn for that especially.

George was still sitting at the table, staring down at his hands folded on the surface. To Akia’s surprise, he didn’t say anything. She figured that he’d take advantage of Phillips’s absence and restart his argument with Sam, but it didn’t happen. Instead, he looked rather glum. Layna’s threat must’ve hit harder than it seemed.

The door swung open again and Zeke stuck his head in. “George,” he said. “We have to talk.” George nodded and got up slowly from the table. Without making any eye contact, he headed for the door. Before he could even make it out, the door closed in front of him, forcing Zeke back into the hallway.

Akia stared at Layna. It was obvious that she was the one to have shut the door. Zeke sure hadn’t done it and no one else had that kind of power. It was amazing to see. Akia had never seen someone use their telek powers before. Not only was Layna able to shut the door, but she was able to force Zeke back with it. Akia really hoped the door had smacked him in the face.

George stared at the door for a moment before turning. “Layna, you really need to stop that trick.”

“It’s my best one,” Layna responded, arms crossed. “You’re not leaving until you apologize.”

“No.” George replied all too quickly.

“How’d you do it?” Akia asked. She was still in awe from the magic. It was always different being able to actually see someone use magic, especially one different than her own.

“Brain power,” Layna said quickly. “George, you’re not leaving until you apologize.”

“I refuse. Now let me leave.” He snapped.

“No. We can’t go on like this. You need to make nice with Sam so we can move along with this.”

“Layna, just leave me alone.” George turned back to the door and jiggled the doorknob. It was apparent that it was now locked, no doubt another trick of Layna’s. Sighing, he rested his forehead against the door. “If I apologize will you let me go? We don’t have time for games.”

“Yes. And I’m not playing any games, George. You know that.” Layna replied, arms still crossed. It was interesting to watch the scene in front of them. Akia had missed a lot in the years she was away in Agathi. One of those seemed to be George and Layna becoming closer friends.

Akia could still remember the day she had met both of them. They were in Lightport even before the magicians came. Layna was the first one to find Akia, hanging out with Sam of course, and explain what had been going on. George wasn’t too far behind her. The four of them became friends quickly, but only sporadic friends. They didn’t know much about each other, only that all four were determined to find a way to get their lives and worlds back.

Back then, Layna and George would only talk. There wasn’t anything that made Akia think that they were very close friends. But it seemed that their relationship had developed over the years. George was a rather stubborn person. If he would listen to Layna, then she had to be something special to him.

They all waited for George to turn around. It seemed like he wasn’t all too keen about it, which Akia could believe. However, she knew him well enough to know that he would do anything that would help himself. There was definitely some selfishness laced into his personality.

Finally, he turned to look at Sam. His eyes were empty as he said, “I’m sorry. I’ve been on edge for days. The pressure gets to you, ya know? Can you forgive me?”

Sam narrowed his eyes. It seemed like he wasn’t all too keen about apologizing either. But he quickly relaxed and smiled. “Yes. I’ve been at fault too. If I hadn’t had said anything earlier—"

“No,” George interrupted, shaking his head. “It’s all my fault. You had nothing to do with it. So just… leave me alone, okay? If we just stay away from each other we won’t have to have these kind of conversations anymore.” He turned to look expectedly at Layna. “Can I go now?”

Layna shook her head. “I’m not going to get anything else out of you am I?”

“Nope.”

“Fine. Go ahead.” Layna didn’t even move, but when the door clicked, Akia knew that she had done it. Telekinesis was always tricky magic to identify since it was all from the mind. That made it super helpful in combat. If only there were more teleks out there. They’d really come in handy when fighting Rhys.

Without another look back, George stalked out of the room. The second he was out of sight, Layna sunk into the nearest chair. She didn’t look as bubbly and upbeat as normal. Instead, her face was downcast and she twiddled her fingers.

Akia looked at Sam, communicating with him silently like they had mastered years ago. They did it so well that they had almost all of the looks memorized. This one said Do something or we won’t have our telek to fight with us.

“Layna,” Sam started cautiously, sitting next to her. “You don’t have to worry about George. He can take care of himself. I don’t mind having him as an enemy in all honesty."

“You don’t get it,” Layna snapped. “This isn’t about you or me or even Falyn. This is about creating a united front to go after Rhys. Our home worlds are gone, Sam, gone. I don’t know about you, but I’d really like things to go back to normal. And how do you think that’s going to happen when two people in our group are trying to kill each other?”

Sam gaped at her. “I don’t want to—"

“My point is, we have to work together and that won’t happen if we’re fighting. And if no one else will bring it up, I will.”

Akia had never seen her act like this before. Layna was always the positive one of the group. When everyone feared the worst, Layna would remind them of the best. Now she was the one who needed a positive outlook. Something about George really got her upset.

“We’ll get through this,” Akia said. “I know it.”

Layna nodded. “I sure hope so.”

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For the LMS contest. Word count: 1,512 or something close to that