Victor looks up at Leo and asks, “Do you mind keeping me company?”
Leo nods and lifts the covers to slide into bed. Victor wants to be happy that he finally got Leo in his bed, but he has a lot on his mind right now. Victor scoots over to cuddle next to Leo. As soon as he places his head on Leo’s shoulder, he starts to drift off to sleep. Leo lightly kisses Victor’s forehead and falls asleep with one arm wrapped around Victor.
Chapter Sixteen
The next day, Victor and Karl are working on more air spells. They have taken off their vests and ties after hours of practicing. Leo and Karl’s staff sit around a table playing cards. The staff are annoyed with Leo as he has a majority of the chips next to him.
Karl is impressed with how quickly Victor catches on with his air specialty. “Damn, I can’t believe how much you have done today. Let’s try doing some ‘Jedi tricks.’”
“You mean like a force push?” Victor snickers.
“That’s the one,” Karl answers as he throws his palm outward without looking in that direction. A gust of air knocks down a stack of wooden boxes. He starts showing off by throwing air punches, pushes, and kicks. Each time, he knocks down boxes all over the place. At one point, he kicks so hard that the gust of air breaks a box sitting on top of a stack. When he’s finished, the two muscular guys annoyingly throw their cards down and start walking over to restack the boxes.
“Is he always like this?” Leo asks the female assistant.
“You have no idea,” she responds with annoyance.
Karl creates a ball of water in each hand. He starts to drink one and then hands one to Victor.
Victor raises an eyebrow, asking, “Exactly how am I supposed to drink that without looking like you’re feeding me from out of your hand?”
Karl winks and then starts to freeze the outer layer of the water, creating an ice cup. When it plops into his hand, he hands it to Victor. “This better?”
“Yes, this will work,” Victor says, taking the ice cup. “I take it you used the air to freeze the water, or you froze the water itself?”
“A little from column A. A little from column B. Just a few tricks you’ll learn yourself.” Karl looks over and sees his staff finished placing the boxes back into stacks. “Okay, break time is over.” As soon as Karl speaks, a small red fireball hits Victor’s ice cup and melts it. Water goes all over the place.
“Really, Leo?” Victor shouts. Leo sits in his chair, giggling with a shit-eating grin.
Karl snickers while he escorts Victor to a stack of boxes about 20 feet away. “What I want you to do is throw a few punches. As you do this, concentrate on punching the air like you would do to a punching bag.”
Victor nods as he tries to remember a boxing workout his gym trainer gave him and starts punching the air. He focuses on the stack of boxes as he throws punch after punch, but nothing happens. He keeps his focus and begins to feel something solid when he throws another punch. He throws another, and the solid form becomes harder. He starts to go faster, again and again. Air pulses are beginning to push away from his knuckles.
As the pulses become stronger with each punch, the boxes shift slightly. Out of nowhere, Victor throws a kick, and a pulse of air pushes the top box.
Karl is impressed. “Not bad, but just focus on the punching right now,” he recommends.
Victor doesn’t hear him. Victor punches and kicks. He moves around like an MMA fighter. He kicks, socks, and throws a knee in for show.
Karl becomes concerned. “Okay, now. No need to act like a street fighter. Just go back to punching.”
Leo notices Victor showboating. “Vic! Just throw punches.”
Victor is in the zone, however. He doesn’t hear Karl or Leo calling out his name. Without him knowing, his eyes start to illuminate white again.
Karl starts to back away as Victor’s movements become more intense. “Leo, what’s going on?”
Leo walks over to Karl. “I don’t know, but I don’t think he can hear us like last time.” When Victor spins around, he notices that Victor’s eyes are glowing brighter than the night before. “Shit, I don’t know how to stop him.”
Victor starts throwing stronger air pulses, knocking down the remaining stacks. He throws his palm out to push the air. Victor begins roundhouse kicking, jump-kicking, and sweep-kicking. Then, before Karl and Leo can react, Victor begins to float. Karl and Leo start walking backward in shock.
“I don’t even think I know how to levitate,” Karl says in astonishment. “I can jump very high, but levitating, that’s something I can’t do.”
“VICTOR!” Leo shouts as loudly as he can. “VICTOR, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!” There’s no response from Victor. “I hate to do this but fuck it.” Leo conjures a large fireball and throws it at Victor. Victor doesn’t see the fireball coming but instinctively throws a backhand and knocks the fireball to the side, crashinginto a couple of stacks of boxes. Victor remains levitating as he turns his attention to Leo and Karl.
“Well, fuck me,” Leo mentions, as he knows what will happen next.
Karl’s staff runs to the boxes and snuffs out the fire with their Water Magic. But Victor pays no mind to them. His targets are Leo and Karl.
