Sam is panting, and he puts his arm over his face as he calms down. “Sorry. Sorry.”
Gently, I guide him a few feet away from Costa, and we sit. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Really, I’m sorry. I’m being an asshole.”
Costa rolls over onto his side. “He needs a fix. That’s why he’s doing this.”
“Shut up, Costa. He’s not tripping. This hearing thing is the problem,” I spit out.
“Look at him, Stella. He got all fired up just from nearly killing me. You feel a little better now, Sammy?”
“Fuck off,” Sam says coolly.
I can see though that Costa’s right. Sam is already more peaceful than he’s been in days.
“Okay, I’ll tell you what I think.” Costa props his head on his elbow. “Your powers and your surges now? Stronger than ever. That’s because of Stella. She’s making everything about tripping bigger and better.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“You’re Sam’s…power augmenter,” he says.
“What the fuck is a power augmenter?” I look to Sam.
He shrugs, but something seems to be dawning on him.
“I’ve been watching you. It’s so easy to see.” Costa’s voice is seductive now, smooth and enticing. He reallydoesenjoy watching us. “You two are magnets for each other. Anybody can see that. The power with the light, Sam? Did you ever try using that when Stella wasn’t with you?”
Sam shakes his head.
“I saw you that night on the dock. What you did was amazing. And I don’t think you could have done that without her. And this hearing thing? Stella, do you remember what you said before Sam went under?”
I freeze. “Oh my God…”
“That’s right,” Costa says. “You said, ‘I hear you, Sam.’”
“No way.” Sam appears to be in as much disbelief as I am.
Costa sits up and rubs his throat. “And now, you hear.”
“The storm…” Sam starts. “It was a near hurricane.”
“What?” I ask. “The night Costa first showed up?”
Sam says, “I could only make it rain in small patches before.”
“No,” I tell him. “There’s no way. You didn’t make that storm.”
He turns to me, and it takes him a bit to respond. “Ididn’t make it.Wemade it.”
I flash back to that night—to Sam and me in bed with the lightning, the thunder, the way the storm grew as our connection did the same. “And the sun shower. Outside the inn.” I pointedly look at him. “Sam, the lights you could make. ‘In a dark, dark world, you give me such light.’”
“See? You’re his power augmenter.” There’s too much delight in Costa’s words and not nearly enough intimidation over this realization. “I made up that term, by the way.Power augmenter. It has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it?” He literally blows on his knuckles, and I want to scream at him for being so cavalier. “Your surge the other night? How you stayed under longer than you should have? That was Stella.”
“I don’t understand.” I’m in shock. But what Costa’s saying feels right. It makes sense in this nonsensical world. “How?”
Costa stands up, fully recovered—maybe even energized from his near-death choking. “The point is that Stella might be able to help you tone down the noise you’re hearing. She can get you to focus it.”
“I’m desperate,” Sam says. “So, let’s go with your theory. I don’t like it one bit because I don’t want her sucked more into our shit than she already is, but…this has to stop.”
