How many Telekinetics had Shafer lied about?
I opened my mouth to ask Rafe that very question, but he began speaking.
“There’s three atolls in this island chain, and over twenty-five islands,” Rafe said ahead of me. He had an irritating lilt to his voice like he was giving a presentation to a group of tourists.
We were on the mid-sized atoll, I knew that much. Rafe had dropped us at the edge of the central lagoon and was making his way up one of the many hillsides at the foot of the main mountain peak.
“I assume you know where we’re going?” I called out.
Rafe stopped reciting island facts just long enough to call back, “Do I look lost?”
“I don’t know how to answer that,” I muttered.
“If you look to your left, you’ll see we’re at the southern edge of the lagoon, which is rimmed with a massive coral colony, one of the most colorful in the region.” I groaned out loud. He ignored me. “It’s believed that this specific atoll slash island chain in the Gulf was created sometime during the last Inquisition, making it some of the youngest soil on the planet.”
“Stop talking about the Inquisition so nonchalantly,” I barked.
“According to local legend, the final Telekinetics on earth came together to form this island chain in the Gulf of Mexico, as a last-ditch effort to hide their dying kind.”
“Rafe,” I snapped.
Rafe stopped, threw his head back and sighed into the sky. “I did a lot of research on this shit, Wyatt. Why can’t you let me live my dream of being a tour guide for ten minutes?”
I shouldered past him, and he scoffed before pushing my back. I was already pissed, already sick of hanging out with him, and I quickly turned, shoving him back. Rafe’s eyes lit up, and then a shadow tugged at my ankle.
I jumped with a yelp. The shadows freaked me the fuck out, and he knew it. I waved my hand, sending a flurry of sand into him. Rafe cursed as he stumbled back. The shadows dusted him off before locking around my ankles.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I snarled as I started to sink down into the ground.
Rafe laughed like a maniac, then tried to catch my hands an instant too late. I threw out both hands, gritting my teeth as the ground beneath us shuddered before the earth began to twist, two rock formations wrapping around one of Rafe’s legs and his arm.
I sunk further into the shadows, and freezing cold dread shot down my spine.
“Dude, I’m serious,” I said, not even caring enough to be pissed that my voice was a little higher than normal. “Rafe,stop.”
Rafe laughed again, then groaned as the rocks squeezed over his shoulder.
“Okay, okay,” he relented, his voice a little breathless, and I rose back to my normal height, then stumbled into the patchy grass as the shadows released me.
Rafe fell on his ass right next to me as the rocks melted back into piles of dirt around us.
“Fuck, you got me good.” He wheezed a laugh as he rolled onto his uninjured shoulder.
Panting, I reached out to heal him and he batted my hand away.
“Nah, I deserve this one,” he said.
“Rafe,” I started, feeling a little guilty. I could already see his skin was reddened, darkening into a bruise where I’d squeezed him. One of his ribs felt broken but I couldn’t be sure without touching him.
Fuck, all he did was scare the shit out of me. We’d broken each other’s bones before, but never this intentionally.
Not to mention, Skye was going tokick my assif she saw Rafe like this.
“Oh, look,” he wheezed. “Our search is over.”
I whipped around just in time to catch sight of Vince Shafer, the Sensor, standing right at the edge of the trees, staring at us with wide, blue eyes.
“I’m not much for lyin’,so I’ll just tell you straight. I’m not happy to see either of y’all.” Shafer said, his lips in a flat line.
