The next day at school Jace arrived early knowing that Natalya would already be in class.
Entering the classroom, he noticed a few other classmates had arrived and were all at their own business. There, in a corner was Natalya. She sat with a perfect posture, her spine straight as she worked on her laptop. She didn't fit into the class at all, she was like a goddess among mortals, at least that was how she seemed.
At this moment Jace could only see the little girl who got so frustrated with herself that she wanted to end it all. He saw a child who needed privacy, who needed to hear some uplifting words even if they weren't true. A girl who never heard her parents say, "You will be anything you want to be if you put your mind to it", or hear her dad call her a princess.
He slowly walked towards her and sat down. She glanced at him but she didn't say anything.
"I'm sorry," he said softly but she wouldn't reply.
"I'm sorry Natalya" he repeated.
"You are a jerk, you know that?" x2
Jace was almost freaked out by the double echo.
"What was that?" he exclaimed.
"My ability" Natalya replied, her expression pained as she turned away.
"I try to speak up before it does, gives me a false sense of control" Her lips weren't moving but he could hear her.
"That's cool" Jace found himself saying. Well, he didn't say it, but he heard himself saying it, it was a bizarre experience.
"This is awesome" he laughed amazedly.
Seeing him act like a child who was just given a new toy, Natalya smiled warmly to herself. She was pleased someone liked the effects of her curse.
"How does it work? Is it saying what I'm thinking?" Jace asked.
"No, more like what you mean. Raw intention" Natalya explained.
"Is this why you don't talk to people?" he asked.
"Can't keep secrets with my ability. It only works when I engage people, otherwise, I'm just listening"
"Listening?" Jace was confused.
"Umm...okay so when I'm not having a conversation, I can hear everyone in this class right now all at the same time regardless if they are talking or not. But once I engage someone in a conversation, like give them my attention or reply when they speak to me, my ability gets redirected to them so I can only hear them" she explained as best she could.
"And they can hear you too" Jace added the part she wasn't saying.
Natalya simply shrugged in response not even entertaining the thought. She hadn't mastered her ability but she knew that if she didn't entertain a thought or give it any attention, her curse wouldn't act up.
"I'm sorry about yesterday" he apologized again.
"Help me save this kid and I'll forgive you"
****
After school, Jace and Natalya found themselves in the Library once again.
"Let's go" Natalya jumped in place excitedly.
"Shouldn't we prepare some things at least? I mean we'll be going to meet killers, plus the environment might do the job if we're not prepared.
"Don't worry, I have everything ready" Natalya replied showing off a ring on her finger.
Jace shook his head, reminding himself once more that he was in the presence of a Tucker.
"Okay," he said in a low voice to amp himself. Closing his eyes, he started to focus on the spatial nodes around him, paying special attention to the least used one. He theorized that wherever the men Natalya heard had gone, it wouldn't be a place frequently visited.
Feeling the node loosening for him, he quickly reached out a hand to her.
"Hold me"
Natalya complied and just as their fingers connected, they disappeared leaving the aisle quite as if no one had been there.
Meanwhile, in a distant part of the world where it was night, a shadow crouched by a wall silently observing the streets. It was eerily out of place because nothing cast it. It seemed like darkness which is the absence of light but was as formless as a shadow that danced to the reaction of light on the other side of whatever object cast it.
The shadow was in the shape of a crouching kid almost like a scene straight out of a horror movie. As if the situation wasn't bizarre enough, the shadow rippled and a person came out of it. A girl, a young smart-looking girl with eyes so clear and beautiful anyone would get lost in them. Her grey pupils especially stood out as she stared into the alleyway with a hint of surprise in her expression.
"Surprised to see me?" a figure walked out of the darkness, her red hair the most easily noticed part of her.
Clad in a full body fitted armor, she stood valiantly across from the shadow girl.
"Oh my God. What the hell is your problem? I said I didn't take it, will you leave me alone?" the shadow girl complained.
Aliyah was visibly taken aback for aback moment. She was used to hunting vicious criminals who spat vicious or cold words that for a moment she forgot that this time she was hunting a kid. A kid who simply stole something unassuming but critical.
"Even if you didn't steal it, I can't leave you running around" she shook her head and replied.
"What are you going to do? Send me to the Adoption Agency. Do you really think anyone can have light for a child? You don't know anything about me do you?" the girl tilted her head as she asked the last question.
"Why don't you tell me about yourself on the way to the Agency?" Aliyah replied deciding to ignore the fact that this kid just referred to herself as light.
"Come get me then" the girl challenged.
"Don't mind if I do" Aliyah replied and stepped forward confidently. She had barely taken two steps though when all of a sudden a bright light shone illuminating the entire alleyway. In the place where the shadow girl stood was what seemed like a small sun, it shone brightly but it didn't hurt or burn, nor was it damaging to the eyes which was another kind of bizarre.
"So this is your ability?" Aliyah muttered in shock.
"No" a voice replied as the light rippled and shifted until it turned into what looked so much like a star cluster or a neuro map.
"This is who I am, I am light and darkness"
Aliyah stared at the bizarre sight in front of her. Shivers ran down her spine as she wondered why nature would allow some humans power that made them seem divine. What she saw before her almost made her kneel, it wasn't because of the power coming from it but because the human mind could only attribute something it couldn't understand or even begin to think about or fathom as a miracle, and when it talked, it became a god.
Suddenly, a grating cold voice Aliyah was familiar with resounded.
"Gotcha!"
As she watched, a figure ran into the ball of lights and through it, coming out on the other side with a small bottle in hand, inside it was a little bit of that light dancing and struggling to get out and return to the origin.
A shrill scream came from the light, one of pain so intense Aliyah shivered once more.
"Run!" she shouted to the girl who responded by immediately shrinking into the size of a needle tip and shooting into the distance.
How does one chase light? She was long gone before either one could react.
"Zion" Aliyah spat, her gaze fixed on the grinning man.