Chapter 8

 

-=Ravenwolf Magick School=-
-=Book 1: The Gathering=-
-=Chapter 8=-

AN: This is the longest chapter to date because I incorporated the Christmas Special into it. Also, I am working on bringing this part of the story to a close (maybe 1 or 2 more chapters). Pyro is already working on a story set in the RavenWolf Universe, and if any other authors would like to write some stories about this universe and the kids at RavenWolf's just let me know and I will be happy to send you the story notes that I have on all of the characters in this world.

-Dallas

***Dann’s Perspective***

I could not believe that Bobby’s parents could abandon him like they did. Just because he has special powers there was no room in their hearts or religion for him. That was just wrong. Luckily in the weeks since that fateful day he has been able to settle in to the routine here. Of course it has taken a lot of help from me and Robin as well as Mr. Black. Mr. Black has done a lot to help Bobby overcome his abandonment as well as help him to gain control over his powers. Bobby also understood about Robin and I needing private time alone in our room since it turned out that he was also gay. Hehe, I wonder what his parents would say if they found out that little tidbit. Not that it mattered now since they have waived all rights to him.

“Come on Bobby, we’re going to be late for class.” I said as I shook him in his bed to wake him up. A few days after he arrived a new bed, dresser, and desk appeared in our room while we were all in class. It was nice that Bobby had his own bed and all, but sometimes I actually missed having him in the bed with me and Robin. Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to cuddle up with Robin in bed at night, but there was just something about Bobby being in the bed with us that felt right.

Bobby woke with a start looking around him, his eyes finally coming to rest on me. I could feel a sense of dread wash over him for a brief moment and then was gone. “Dann, you startled me. I was having a bad dream. For a second there I thought you were my dad.”

“It was just a dream bud. You never have to worry about that monster bothering you ever again.” I said placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. I thought about having Robin send a message to Mr. Black letting him know about Bobby’s dream, but decided not to since the dreams have not been as bad lately and he’s actually been sleeping through the entire night.

“I know,” he said with a smile, “this one was no where near as bad as the ones I was having. So there is no need for you to have Robin tell Mr. Black.” Bobby said with a lopsided grin. “I’ll tell him about it when I’m with him this afternoon.”

“I am glad that you’re still improving.” I said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

“So am I Dann. And thank you again for all that you and Robin have done for me; Ryan and Mark too. I don’t know what would have happened if it weren’t for you guys.” Bobby quickly gave me a hug before running off to the bathroom.

I smiled after him thinking ‘Anytime buddy, anytime.’

Mark stuck his head around the corner of the door into the room, “I saw the rugrat run out, does this mean we’ll be able to head down to breakfast soon?” he said with a grin.

“Hey,” I said defensively, “No body said you had to wait for us.”

“Oh, I know, but SOMEBODY had to stay up here to make sure you two got out of the room on time.” He said as he dodged the pillow I threw at him.

“Get out of here,” I yelled after him, “Go eat, we’ll be down a couple of minutes.”

I heard the main door close and got up to finish getting ready for the day. Just as I was finishing putting on my shoes Bobby came back in and started pulling his clothes on; he finished dressing about the same time I finished getting my books together for my classes. “Come on Bobby, grab your books or you won’t have time to eat before classes.” I told him.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” He said as he quickly grabbed his books off his desk and followed me out of the room and down the stairs to the cafeteria.

---

Our classes seemed to fly by. I was really enjoying my classes, but especially my computer and wood shop classes. We had started learning how to carve wood and combine different woods and other mediums in preparation for our class finals which would be for us to make our own wands. In computers I was starting to work on building an electronic Book of Shadows. I found it much easier then trying to keep up with a big hard bound book. This one I could keep on a jump drive and be able to access it anywhere.

Robin was having a little trouble with his math and history classes, but luckily, between the seven of us we were able to get him the help he needed; while Ryan seemed to be having trouble with English, and Mark with History. Once again, it was a good thing that between the seven of us we each had our strong spots and were able to help each other.

The days seemed to fly past with days turning into weeks, before we knew it was getting close to Samhain. All the kids in the school, except maybe the fifth years, were looking forward to the holiday. It just so happened that there were a few haunted houses being put on in the area and we managed to talk some of the teachers into taking us around so we could go through them. A couple of them were pretty good, but others just plain sucked.

The school had a big Samhain celebration out by the lake since it was still rather warm outside at night. After the celebration and the feast everyone wished each other a happy new year and went to bed.

Robin and I had talked to each other at length about Bobby and did not feel right about doing anything in bed with him over in his own bunk alone. We found some alone time together though whenever we could. We managed to get one of our parents to take us to the house on weekends sometimes so we could have some time to ourselves. It sure would be nice when Bobby was able to find his own boyfriend.

Mark and Ryan seemed to be as thick as thieves. Even though we knew there was nothing sexual going on between them, you rarely saw one without the other. While Ryan was spending a lot of time with Suzy, Mark couldn’t make up his mind if he wanted to be with one of the girls or one of the guys.

In mid November we had a small party for Rachel’s birthday. When I gave her a hug for her birthday she suddenly went very stiff and got a far away look in her eyes. I could feel the power radiating from her. “What’s wrong Rachel?” I asked with a bit of concern in my voice.

“I don’t know, when we touched I suddenly saw something. It’s hard to explain, I saw a young boy with fire all around him. He was scared. I saw him running from a house and meeting his parents outside, then I saw you, Robin, Ryan and your folks all there with them.”

“Rachel, I think you just got your active power.” I said with a smile. “It looks like you can see the future. It has to be the future since nothing like that has happened yet.”

“You mean I just had a premonition?” she asked, surprise tinting her words.

“Looks like it.” I chuckled. “I’m going to have Robin call my pop up here since this is his general area of expertise. He can help you develop it.”

“He’s on his way up.” Robin said.

“Thanks babe.”

A few minutes later pop came into our common room and looked around at everyone. “Dann, what’s going on? I got a message from Robin to get up here. He didn’t give me any details.”

“Pop, Rachel just got an active power. It’s right up your alley too.” I said with a smile at him.

“Oh? And just what would this power be?” he asked looking at Rachel.

“Well Mr. Drake, it seems that I had a premonition when Dann gave me a hug.” She told him.

“A premonition huh? What was it that you saw?” pop asked her, giving her is total attention now that his curiosity had been aroused.

“I saw a young boy surrounded by fire. Then I saw this same boy with his parents standing in the snow. Then I saw Dann, Ryan, Robin, you, your husband, and Ms. Starr all there with them.” She said.

Pop thought about this for a moment. “Sounds like the future all right, since there has not been any snow yet. There’s just not any way to tell how far in the future. Can you remember any other details?”

Rachel thought for a moment, “It was just after dawn, and you were all dressed like you had just finished a ceremony.”

“Hmm,” pop thought for a moment, “Sounds like it may be at Yule them. That’s the only ceremony that takes place at dawn when there is snow on the ground.”

“Then we have about a month before this happens.” Robin said.

“Looks like it.” Pop said to him. “In the meantime Rachel, I want you to start coming to me in the afternoons after classes and we can start exercising your power so you will have more control over it. Just come to my classroom when you are done for the day.”

“Ok Mr. Drake, and thanks.” Rachel said.

“Ok, I’ll let you kids get back to your celebration, and I’ll see you Monday afternoon.” Pop said as he left the room to go back to his apartment.

The party resumed with everyone wanting Rachel to touch them to see if they could get a glimpse of their futures. She did manage to get some premonitions off some of them, mostly relating to how they were going to do in their classes that term. But when she touched Mark she got a vision of him with the boy she saw in the premonition she got off of me. “Oh Mark, I have good news for you, you are going to be getting you a boyfriend soon.” She told him giving him a hug. Mark was all smiles wanting to know more but Rachel refused to say anything more on the subject.

Rachel pulled me aside before the girls left for the night and told me that the boy she saw with Mark was the same one she saw when she hugged me. “But don’t tell him,” she implored, “I want it to be a surprise for him, not to mention that I don’t want to jinx things. Besides, if he knew who it was he might try to hard and actually push the boy away.” I agreed with her reasoning and promised not to let him know.

After the girls had all left and we managed to get the common room cleaned back up we all went and crashed for the night.

Sometime during the night Bobby must have had another nightmare because we woke up the next morning with him in our bed snuggled up between us. I must have been really dead since I don’t remember him crawling in between me Robin.

This had me worried since it had been nearly a month since he had had a nightmare that was bad enough that he needed to get into bed with us. I gave Robin a mental nudge to wake him up and let him know what happened. As soon as I had him woke up enough to be coherent I had him send a message down to Mr. Black to let him know that something had apparently happened with Bobby during the night and that he might want to talk to him sometime today.

Robin and I carefully climbed out of bed so as not to wake Bobby up and headed to the bathroom to get our showers and get ready for the day.

The rest of the month seemed to fly by until right after Thanksgiving when everyone started getting ready for their midterm tests. The Seven of us in our group all felt that we did really well on our tests and were looking forward to the coming Yule break.

It was my first winter in the northern states, so needless to say, I was no where near ready for all the snow that had dropped in the weeks since our Thanksgiving break. I sat in our dorm's common room with a couple of the other students; Robin was sitting next to me with his head lying on my shoulder. Ryan was sitting in the chair next to the small couch that Robin and I occupied as we sat watching the weather report. We were all interested in the weather since it was only a few days before we would be breaking for Yule/Christmas. The way it was looking, most of the students would not be able to go home because of the storm that was coming in that threatened to shut down all forms of transportation. Luckily, Robin and I only had to go a short distance back to my house for the break.

A collective groan eminated from the students that were milling around the room half-way paying attention to the weather report.

"Well, it don't look like I'll be going anywhere." Ryan announced. "They just shut down all the airports in the state in preparation for this blizzard that's coming in."

"Go for it." I heard Robin tell me in my mind. "Hey Ryan, why don't you come spend the break at my house?" I asked.

"Do you think it would be alright with your dads?" he asked. I liked Ryan, in the 4 months since we've known each other, he has become a very close friend to me and Robin. We have no secrets from each other, which is how it should be with true friends. "I kinda figured that you two would want to be able to spend the break alone since it's your first Yule together."

"No it's not," Robin piped up with a grin on his face. "We've spent hundrads of Yule's together, or have you forgotten again that Dann and I have been together for centuries?"

Ryan reached over to pop Robin in the back of the head, but Robin knew it was coming and was able to move out of the way in time to keep from getting hit, which just made him smile all the more. Robin and I's power’s have been growing since we first got together. He has now gotten to where he knows what people are going to do before they do it, and I can now sense the feelings of every person within a mile of me if I concentrate. "OK, your first Yule in this lifetime together, you happy?" Ryan chuckled at Robin.

"Yeah, much more accurate." My goofy lover responded. I have to admit that I was looking forward to being able to spend some quite time alone with my love, but that didn't mean that Ryan couldn't come home with us for the break. It would sure beat him having to stay here in the school for the two weeks of the break. Granted, it looked like there were probably going to be a lot of the kids staying due to the blizzard. But that was only going to affect those that have to travel a long distance to get home. Those that live in the area could still go home.

“At least Bobby doesn’t have to worry about the weather problems.” Ryan stated. “All he has to do is step through a shadow and go anywhere he wants to.”

“True. I must admit that would be one super cool power to be able to have.” I said.

“Yeah,” Ryan agreed, but with a touch of sadness in his voice, “I just wish I had some kind of power like you you guys have, or even Mr. Black.”

I put my arm over Ryans shoulder, “It’s not all that good all the time man. It’s like next to impossible to keep secrets from Robin since it is almost like we are one person split between two bodies. I know his every thought, and he knows mine.” Of course that comment earned my a quick jab in the shoulder from my love. Even though I knew that it was coming, sometimes it’s just easier to let it happen than to try and be constantly dodging his playful attacks.

I silently made a petition to the Goddess to help Ryan get over his bit of jealousy. “Come on guys, let’s get some clothes packed, Dad will probably be wanting to head out very soon to try and beat the storm home.”

All three of us got up and went to our rooms to get some things packed to head to the house. “I heard your plea to the Lady, and I agree, I think he is just a little bit jealous of those of us that have some kind of active power.” Robin said as he was throwing clothes into a duffle bag.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “Do you think it might be possible that he just has not come into his powers yet? Ours didn’t appear until we came together, but look how young Bobby is and his are full on already. So I guess there is just now way of knowing when or if someone is going to have an active power.”

“True dat babe. Speaking of Bobby, have you noticed how everyone has been kind of avoiding him since he arrived? It’s almost like they are afraid they’ll catch something from him.”

“It’s not that babe,” I responded with a sympathetic tone, “I’ve felt a few of those people’s emotions when he was around, and they were afraid. Mostly because nobody understands his abilities. Powers like we have are one thing. Everyone is familiar with ESP and such, but not what he can do. I asked Pop about it one time and he said that he had heard stories of a very few people that had been able to do what Bobby does, or at least something very similar, but that there had not been a reported sighting in centuries.”

“Wow.” Robin exclaimed.

“Yeah, in fact, he also said there seems to be more and more active power witches appearing these days than there has been in centuries. Almost like for some reason all of the ancient powers have been lying dormant all these centuries and are now starting to re-awaken.”

“That is so cool. It would be the ultimate Yule gift if Ryan was to get active powers over the break. If he was to get some kind of active power, what do you think it might be?”

I thought for a moment before answering him, “I really would not have any idea. But with the way he is always trying to keep from being noticed, I think it would be kind of funny if it turned out to be invisibility.”

Robin started laughing, “Or something like a chameleon and just blend into whatever he’s standing in front of.”

We were both laughing so hard that we didn’t even notice Ryan come in. When I looked up and saw him, he was standing in the doorway shaking his head with a big grin on his face. “Are you two packed yet?” he asked.

We grabbed our bags and the three of us headed downstairs to dad and pops suite to meet up with them to head home for the three weeks that we would be off.

Dad, pop, Ms. Starr were on the couch waiting for us. They grabbed their bags and the 6 of us loaded up the SUV for the trek back to the cabin.

It had only been a couple of weeks since we had been there but the drive back with the snow now covering everything made it all look so different. Like something out of a fairy tale.

“Actually,” Robin leaned over and whispered to me, “it reminds me of Narnia.”

“You know,” I replied, “you’re right, it does kinda look like what they showed Narnia as in the movie.”

Ryan leaned forward from the back row in between Robin and me, “Speaking of Narnia, I can’t wait to see the new movie. I want to see how much they changed it from the original.”

I gave Ryan a quizzical look, “What do you mean the original? I thought this was the first movie from the books.”

“Oh no,” Ryan chuckled, “There was actually a British TV series back in the late 80’s that covered the entire book.”

“Wait a minute,” Robin exclaimed, “we weren’t even born then. How do you know about it?”

“You never hear of re-runs or DVD’s?” Ryan said popping Robin in the back of the head. I normally would have laughed at that, but I felt it as well.

“Ouch,” I yelped grabbing the back of own head, “not so hard Ryan.”

This of course got a funny look from dad in the review mirror, followed quickly by that look that I’ve come to know as ‘We’ll talk about this later’. Of course, I could feel the concern radiating off of him.

The rest of the ride home was made in relative silence as we just looked out the windows enjoying the scenery as it went by. It would have normally only taken us about fifteen minutes to get home from the school, but with all the snow and the slick roads it took us closer to thirty before we were pulling into our driveway.

We quickly unloaded the SUV and got everything into the house. Dad got a fire going in one of the fireplaces, while pop got one going in the other one and Ms. Starr got to working in the kitchen getting something thrown together for lunch while make out a list of things that someone was going to have to go into the market and pick up.

Between the two roaring fire and the central heat system, it did not take very long before the whole house was nice and toasty.

“Dann,” I heard dad call out, “Can you come down here to the office please?”

I could feel his concern. I just hoped that I could alleviate those concerns and put his mind to rest.

I gave Robin a quick kiss and bumped fists with Ryan before heading downstairs and leaving the two of them to play on my X-Box.

I walked into the office to find all three of the adults sitting there. Pop motioned for me to have a seat in the chair next to the desk. “You’re probably wondering why we called you in here I bet.” Pop started off.

“Actually, I think I have an idea. I’ve felt the concern coming from you three ever since the incident on the way home when Ryan popped Robin in the back of the head.” I said.

They all exchanged looks, but it was Robin’s mom that spoke first, “You could FEEL our concern?”

“Yes, my empathic abilities have been getting stronger over the last month, I can right now, if I concentrate, tell you what the general mood is up at the school, and if I concentrate a little harder I can focus on any individual up there.”

Dad looked at me pensively, “Is this why when Robin got hurt you felt it?”

“Actually, that was more because of our bond. The same is true the other way too, he can feel whatever happens to me. I think Ryan kinda likes it because he can pop either one of us to get the other one for something we said.” I said with a grin on my face and a groan in my head from Robin.

“Ok, we just want to be kept aware of how much your powers are advancing.” Pop said. “What about Robin, has his powers been growing as well?”

“You could say that.” Robin sent directly into pops mind.

Pops eyes got incredibly huge. “What’s wrong?” dad asked him.

“I just heard Robin in my mind. So he can now project his thoughts to other people, not just you?” pop asked me.

“Yep, he can now communicate telepathically with anyone. He has to initiate it though. He can only hear someone else’s thoughts, other than mine, if he’s concentrating on them.”

All three of them let out a collective whistle, which got us all to chuckling. “I guess that could prove useful in an emergency.” Robin’s mom said. “If something happens to someone nearby, then Robin could alert me right away.”

I gave it a moments thought, “You know, you’re right, I could feel if someone was in trouble, and then Robin could alert you to it, now of only we had someone who could teleport then we could really do some good. What about Bobby? He can move through shadows.”

Dad got a panicked look on his face and I could feel the sense of dread wash over me that he was radiating, “I don’t even want any of you boys trying anything like that with him. He is still trying to figure out how to use his powers, and I don’t think it would be at all safe for him to try and take anyone with him.”

“Ok dad, you may be right. Is there anything else?”

The adults all looked at each other and shook their heads, “No, I think that will about do it, just be sure to let us know if your powers grow any more, or if you find out about any of the other students getting active powers.” Pop said.

“Ok pop, we will.” I said before heading back upstairs to my room, my friend and my boyfriend.

Everything went smoothly for about a week. We enjoyed our freedom from school with many hours of snowball fights and playing with the X-Box as well as making preparations for our annual Yule celebration. We had several nights of heavy snow, but they didn’t phase us any as we were will stocked up in the cabin and did not have to worry about getting into town to buy anything.

Then on the morning of Yule we got a surprise. Ryan and I had gone outside to bring in more wood for the fireplaces. While out there Robin snuck outside from the front door and around to the deck where we had the wood stacked up. Suddenly we heard “Ryan! Think fast.” And turned just in time to see a snowball headed right for Ryan’s head; he put his hands up to block the snowball but it never made contact. Instead it suddenly reversed direction and hit Robin in the head instead.

Robin and I stood there in shock. I could feel an enormous amount of power emanating from Ryan. Ryan slowly lowered his hands surprised that the snowball had yet to make contact with him. When he looked over at Robin he could see where the snowball had hit him instead. “Wha Wha What happened?” Ryan stuttered out looking at the two of with a curious expression on his face.

“Dude,” I said, “I think you just got your Yule wish.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“I think you just got your active power. I can feel a whole lot of power flowing from you. You threw your hands up and the snowball reversed course and hit Robin instead.”

A shit eatin’ grin started to spread across Ryan’s face as it started to sink in. “I was actually thinking that I wished it was Robin getting nailed with that snowball instead of me.”

Robin had finally recovered enough from his shock to make it over to us. “Let’s try something shall we?” he asked. “See that plastic cup sitting over there on the table?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Ryan asked him.

“I want you to stand right here and concentrate on that cup and think about it flying through the air and being in your hand.”

“You’re nuts, aren’t you?” Ryan asked him.

“No I’m not, just do it. Hold your hand out toward the cup and visualize it coming into your hand.”

“You mean like this?” Ryan asked, stretching out his arm toward the cup which suddenly flew across the deck into his hand. “WOAH!!!”

I looked over at Robin, “So much for your chameleon theory.” I said with a chuckle.

“No kidding,” my beloved smiled at me, “I would have never thought telekinesis.”

“Ok Ryan,” I said, “You need to practice that and get control of that power real quick. Start by moving simple things around and focus on controlling the speed at which they move.”

“You really think I could do this?” he asked starting to feel the excitement of actually having an active power. “This is great; maybe with all of us here with these powers we should start calling the cabin here Xavier’s West.”

I gave him a funny look, “Why would we do that?”

“Good grief, don’t you two ever watch movies or TV or read comic books? Xavier’s School for Gifted Children, it’s the home of the X-Men, as well as a school for mutants.”

“But we’re not mutants. Are we?” Robin asked.

I put my arm around him, “No babe, we’re not mutants. But I do want to have a little fun tonight at dinner to show Ryan’s new power.”

They both looked at me with mischief in their eyes, “What do you have in mind?” Ryan asked.

I grinned at him, “Like I said, you need to practice; I want you to get decent control over your power real quick. Tonight at dinner, I want you to levitate something to you from the opposite end of the table.”

“Oh man,” Robin grinned, “the `rents are going freak out.”

We spent the rest of the day exercising Ryan’s new power, by dinner time he could do just about anything he wanted. If he could visualize it in his mind he could make it happen. He even floated things out of my bathroom where he couldn’t actually see them, but knew what they looked like and where they were.

Robin’s mom yelled upstairs for us to get ready for dinner. We all jumped up and got cleaned up and were able to school our faces into neutral expressions, which was not easy as we were all ready to bust out laughing at what we had planned.

We all sat down at the table, said our thanks to the Lady started passing food around the table. Ryan got the rolls and started looking around the table. “Does anyone have the butter?” he asked.

“Oh dear, I just knew I was going to forget something.” Ms Starr said, “I’ll go get it.”

“That’s ok,” Ryan said, “I’ll get it.” But made no move to get up from the table. Just then the butter dish came floating in from the kitchen and sailed right into Ryan’s waiting hands.

All three adults watched the butter dish flying through the room with their eyes bugged out and their jaws hanging open. All three of us kids started laughing and reached over to close the mouth of the nearest adult.

“How?” pop asked.

“Ryan got his active power this morning. We’ve been exercising it all afternoon so he could learn to control it. We started off outside where he couldn’t break anything if he lost control then moved upstairs to fine tune it.” I stated like I was giving a report in class.

Dad turned his attention away from Ryan and looked directly at me, “I thought we told you that we wanted to know as soon as you found out about any of the students getting an active power.”

“I know dad, we just thought it would be more fun to give a demonstration.”

“He’s got you there babe, you have to admit, that was a pretty impressive demonstration.” Pop said with a bit of a chuckle.

“Not to mention the look you three had on your faces when that butter dish came floating through the room.” Robin chimed in starting to laugh.

“Yeah, I wish I’d thought to have a camcorder running to have caught that on tape, but then that would have given it away that something was up.” Ryan added with his own laughter.

“Ok,” Robins mom piped up, “Can we just finish dinner while it’s still hot? And Ryan, no more flying food at this table.” She told him rather sternly.

Ryan lowered his head, “Yes ma’am.” He knew that he had been chastised. In the months since we had all known one another we had learned that when Robin’s mother laid down the law it was written in stone. Don’t get me wrong, she was not some mean tyrant. She could be very fun at times, but there where other times when she did not approve of playing and at the table was one of those times.

Since it was Yule, we all went to bed right after dinner so we could get a few hours of sleep in order to be able to get up before sunrise for our annual celebration to welcome the rebirth of the sun god after his long sleep. This was to celebrate the return of life to the earth as the days would start getting longer from this point on warming the earth so that she could give birth to the new growth and life that would come in the spring.

About 6 a.m. dad started waking everyone up. We all grabbed quick showers to get fully awake, of course Robin and I took ours at the same time like we usually did. We all dressed warmly and went out in the backyard for our ceremony.

Everything went great with the ceremony, watching the sun come up with those I cared about the most was great.

No sooner had we finished the ceremony and started packing things up to head back inside than I was struck by a sudden sense of power and emotion. The force of this feeling hit me so hard that I nearly fell over, and probably would have if Robin hadn’t have been near by grab me he saw me start to go down.

“What’s wrong babe?” he asked me in a near panick.

Dad heard the worry in Robin’s voice and turned around to see what was wrong, when he saw the state I was in, he quickly came over and helped robin get me inside where it was warm and into the nearest chair. “What’s wrong son?” he asked me as the others all started to gather around me for support.

I looked at dad and pop while holding onto to Robin, “Someone just got an active power, and between the amount of power and the emotions I’m getting from the kid, it nearly knocked me over.” I paused for a moment, “Dear Goddess, dad, he’s a pyrokinetic. And he’s in trouble.” I looked at Robin, “Can you get a fix on him babe?”

Robin closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. “He’s about 15 miles away, he accidentally started a fire in the house. He’s panicking. I’m going to try and calm him down, but we need to get over there quick, his parents a freaking out even more than he is.”

Dad immediately jumped into action, “Ok, everyone into the suburban, let’s roll.”

Everyone ran out the door and jumped into the SUV. Dad threw the truck into four-wheel-drive so we would have better traction and we headed off to find this power kid.

A few minutes later, after driving at speeds well above what was safe for the road conditions, we spotted the smoke rising from a house up ahead. “That’s it.” Robin yelled out. “The family is all out of the house, but is panicked over what has happened. They are all in shock. Babe, do you think you can do something to help them calm down some?”

“I don’t know; I’ll try.” I responded and concentrated on sending calming emotions toward the family.

When we pulled up we could see that the fire seemed to be contained to one corner of the house. We could hear the fire department coming in the distance, but at the rate the fire was spreading there probably would not be much left.

As soon as Ryan was out of the truck I noticed him get a serious look of concentration on his face. The flames started to go down and I could feel the great amount of power radiating from Ryan. I could not tell exactly what it was that he was trying to do, but whatever it was it seemed to be working as the fire was starting to go out.

Dad, pop, and Lisa ran over to the family to make sure that they were alright. “Is everyone ok?” Lisa asked as they came up to the small family.

The calming emotions I was sending to the family were having the desired affect as they were no longer hysterical and were able to answer Lisa in the positive. “We’re all ok,” the boy’s father responded, “But for the life of me can not figure out how that fire started or managed to spread so fast.”

“Or for that matter,” his wife jumped in with a tone of total confusion, “how it’s going out now.”

The boy was totally quiet and just kept looking at the ground; I could feel his shame and panic. I walked up to him and extended my hand, “Hi, I’m Dann, what’s you’re name?”

The kid must have jumped three feet when I spoke and broke him out of his self-crimination so I tried to pump a little more calm into him.

He finally settled down enough to respond to me, “My name’s Chase, why are you here, you aren’t with the fire department and you’re not one of our neighbors?”

I thought quick about how I could explain it to him without freaking him out any more than he already was. “Well,” I started, “It’s a bit hard to explain and will sound like something out of a fantasy book, but basically, I felt you do that.” I said pointing at the dying fire.

“ME!” he exclaimed, “How could I have done that, I was asleep when it started.”

I quickly sent another wave of calm over him before continuing. “What were you dreaming of just before you woke up?”

“I was a bit cold and was dreaming of a nice roaring campfire that I could warm up next to. Next thing I knew the smoke alarm was going off and we all came running outside, dad had just gotten off his cell phone after calling 911 when you guys pulled up.”

I thought for a moment, and then called Robin over through our link.

“You wanted to see me?” he asked as he came over to where Chase and I were standing.

Chase looked at Robin funny. “He never said anything.”

Robin smiled at Chase, “Yes he did Chase, and you just couldn’t hear it because he called me in my head.”

“How do you know my name?” Chase asked Robin.

“The same way I knew to come over here, Dann told me.” Robin said with a huge grin on his face.

“nu-uh, people can’t really do that stuff.” Chase said giving Robin a defiant look.

“If that’s the case,” Robin asked him looking him dead in the eye, “then how do I l know that you ACCIDENTLY started that fire just by wishing for a roaring fire to warm up next to in your dream?”

Chases mouth dropped to the ground. “You mean you really can talk to each other in your minds?”

I smiled at Chase, “Yes, it’s called telepathy. And what you did this morning has a name too, it’s called pyrokinesis. It’s the power to create fire with your mind. Our friend Ryan over is telekinetic, that means he can move things with his mind. And somehow, right now, he is using his power to put out the fire. I’m empathic, that means that I can feel other peoples emotions, that’s how I was able to know that your gift awakened this morning and that you were scared.”

“Wow,” Chase said after a moment, “That’s SOOO cool. You mean I can make things catch on fire just by thinking about it?”

“You sure can,” I responded, “but your gift can be VERY dangerous if you are not careful.”

Chases parents, who were standing nearby, listend to everything that was said in shocked silence. They finally turned to dad, pop, and Lisa “Is what he just said true or is he making it up?” his dad asked pop.

“It’s true alright; these are some very special kids that have been given some very special gifts.” Pop extended his hand to Chase’s dad, “Hi, My name is Glenn Drake; this is my husband David Drake, and our neighbor and friend, Lisa Starr. The brown haired boy there is David and mines son Dann, with him is Lisa’s son Robin, and the young man still standing over there, somehow, putting out the fire is their friend from school Ryan.”

Chases dad took pops hand, “I’m Gene Martin and this is my wife Sara, and our son Chase. I still don’t know how, or even if I can believe what I’ve seen and heard but I want to thank you folks for coming. If it weren’t for young Ryan over there we have lost the house by now.”

About that time Ryan came walking slowly over, totally drained and exhausted from the effort he was putting out, “Fire’s out Mr. D. I can’t feel any more heat anywhere in the house.”

“Thank you son,” Mr. Martin said to Ryan, “I don’t know how you did it, but we would have lost everything if you folks hadn’t have shown up when you did.”

“Thank you sir, I’m just glad I was able to do what I did.” Ryan responded.

“Well, It’s pretty cold out here, and there is not really enough light to be able to start going through the house right now,” Dad said, “so why don’t you folks climb into the truck where it’s warm, we’ll go back to our house get some breakfast, let you all unwind a bit, and we’ll bring you back when it’s a bit warmer to see if there is anything you can salvage.”

“That’s really appreciated,” Mrs. Martin said, “But we’re hardly in any condition to be going anywhere, we aren’t even really dressed.”

Lisa chimed in at that, “Don’t you worry about that. You look to be about the same size as me, so you can borrow something of mine, and Gene looks to be about the same size as Glenn. And since the boys all tend to like were clothes that are baggy and generally two sizes to big, I’m sure that Ryan probably has something that would fit Chase. Now come on and let’s get out of the cold.”

Mrs. Martin finally gave in, “Thank you all so much, I don’t know how we will ever be able to repay you for your generosity.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Pop said as he climbed into the truck. It was a good thing that he had left it running as it was nice and toasty inside after standing around in the snow. I was cold, and was dressed for it, but the Martins were nowhere dressed for being outside in the cold.

When we got back to the house everyone piled out of the truck and headed inside. Once inside dad took charge of things. “Ok, listen up, Dann, you boys show Chase to your bathroom so he can get a nice hot shower to thaw out, while he’s doing that I want you Robin to find something in your stuff that he might can wear. Gene, Sara, if you two will follow me I’ll show you to the master shower where you can do the same thing while Lisa runs next door to find you something to wear Sara.”

We took Chase up to my room and showed him were the shower and towels were at, then sat down on the bed to rest for a few minutes while he took his shower.

While Chase was in the shower, Robin and I started hugging and kissing each other, “Happy Yule babe.” I told him, “I don’t know how I can ever love you more than I do, but everyday something happens that makes me realize how wrong I am.”

Robin gave me a kiss, “I know exactly what you mean, because I feel the same way.” And with that we started kissing passionately, each of our tongues wrestling for dominance in the others mouth. We were so into each other that we did not even notice the shower cut off, or the bathroom door open a few moments later.

“OH MY GOD! YOU GUYS ARE FAGS???” we heard from the bathroom doorway and quickly jumped apart looking at a very shocked Chase.

Before we had a chance to even say anything Ryan ran into the room with some clothes, but instead of handing them to Chase he used his powers to pin Chase to the ceiling. “Those are my two best friends you’re talking about there dude. And unless you want to find yourself on a one way ticket to the moon, I suggest you check that attitude of yours.” I had never seen Ryan this mad before. “Yes, they are Gay, I’m straight, but that doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that they love each other very much, and that I will do anything to protect them. Do I make myself understood?”

Before Chase had a chance to respond the adults came running in to see what was going on. Dad took in the scene quickly. “Ryan, put Chase down.” Chase started to drop, “GENTLY!” dad yelled real quick and Ryan caught him before he managed to fall halfway to the floor, and then lowered him the rest of the way down.

“Now,” pop yelled, “Would one of you like to tell me what’s going on in here?”

“I came out of the bathroom and they were kissing.” Chase blurted out.

“Yeah, so?” dad asked.

“You mean you don’t care if your son is mackin’ on another boy?” Chase asked dad in a stunned voice?

“Why should I? They’re a couple and it’s their room. Do you have a problem with folks that are gay?” dad asked him with just a hint of an edge to voice.

“Well,” Chase started and then paused a moment, “no, it just surprised me is all. I had no idea.”

“Good, now why don’t you get dressed and everyone come downstairs, it looks like we all need to have talk.” Pop said and led the adults out of the room and back downstairs.

Ryan gave chase a menacing glare that made him drop is head and look at the floor. “I really am sorry guys; you just shocked me is all.”

Robin managed to recover his voice first, “It’s ok Chase, and no harm was done. You’re right, that was not the way for you to find out about us. Now why don’t you do like pop said and get dressed so we can go downstairs, it looks like Ryan managed to find you some clothes.”

Ryan handed Chase the clothes and he went into the bathroom to get dressed. “You two actually are going to let what just happened slide?” Ryan asked us in surprise once the bathroom door was closed.

I looked at my friend and replied, “We did for you didn’t we?”

Ryan got a chastised look on his face, “Yeah, I guess you did, I had forgotten about our first day.”

“Ryan, come here.” Robin said and we pulled him into a three way hung when he was close enough, “It’s ok bud, and thank you for standing up for us like that.”

Ryan sniffled once squeezing us tightly, “Anytime dudes, I wasn’t kidding you two are my best friends and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”

“Thank you,” Robin said, “now we might want to break this up before Chase comes back out and we fry what brain cells he has left.”

We all had a good chuckle and squeezed one more time before we seperated, and not a moment to soon as Chase came out of the bathroom fully dressed.

Ryan walked over to Chase and put his arm around his shoulder. Chase flinched at the contact. “I’m sorry man, I over reacted,” Chase relaxed a bit, “I had pretty much the same reaction when I first found out. I should not have reacted the way I did.”

Chase looked at Ryan, “It’s ok. You were just protecting your buds. I’m sure if I had friends like that I’d do the same thing.”

I saw the evil mirth in Ryan’s eyes when he gripped Chase’s shoulder, “No you wouldn’t have, you would have incinerated them on the spot.”

Chase gave a chuckle, “Yeah, I guess you’re right since my power is different from yours.”

With the tension finally dissolved we all headed downstairs to join the adults in the living room.

When we walked in dad noticed our camaraderie, “I take it everything is alright now between you four?”

“Yes dad.” Robin and I said at the same time that Ryan and Chase said “Yes sir.”

Dad smiled at us. “Pop and I have already pretty much filled in Mr. and Mrs. Martin about you guys, but you might want to go ahead and bring Chase up to speed.”

Robin got a big ole grin on his face, “You’re right, and I know the quickest way to do it too.” Robin looked at the rest of us, “Ok guys, we’ll all hold hands and I’ll link the four of us together so we can share each other memories, that way we can all be on the same page as to what we all think is going on. This will take a lot less time than each of us telling our story.”

“Is that safe?” Mrs. Martin asked my dad.

“It’s safe, Robin has become a very adept telepath, in fact he was the one that pin-pointed your location after Dann felt Chase’s powers go active.”

As soon as the four of us joined hands the room became very bright with a silvery glow like that from a full moon. “Well done my children.” A female voice said from out of nowhere. Suddenly there was a shimmer like that of thousands of pieces of silver glitter in the corner of the room and suddenly there was a woman standing there emitting a silver glow. “I am the goddess Hecate, protector of outcasts. The true magick of old is returning to the world. There will be many younglings who will awaken to their powers upon entering puberty, you four plus one more will be the ones to help locate these children and bring them to the school where they can be taught the ways of light. You four plus the one that has yet to join you are a balance, you four are a balance unto your selves, with two of you being gay and two straight. When your fifth member has joined you then you will be an elemental balance, with each of you representing one of the 5 elements. Dann, with your empathic powers you are the spirit and have dominion over the emotions of others. Robin, with your ability to move thoughts through the air, you will have dominion over it. Ryan, with your ability to move the physical world, you will have dominion over the element of earth. Chase, as I’m sure you have figured out by now, you have dominion over fire. In fact, you could have controlled the flames this morning and made them go away yourself, but I was very impressed with the way that Ryan used his ability to move all of the air out of the house to suffocate the fire. The fifth member of your group will have mastery over water. You five are charged with helping my children. You five adults have done a great job in raising them right. Now it is time for them to shine and help bring the light back into the world. Gene, Sara, your prayers are to be answered. Your financial problems are about to come to an end. I must leave now, but know that I will be watching.”

As the Goddess disappeared in a shower of sparkles the room dimmed back down to its normal light level.

A moment later the four of us found ourselves in a circular embrace by the five adults surrounding us.

“I knew that you guys were destined for something great when your powers started to appear.” Dad said.

“And I know we know why you have been given them.” Pop added.

“We’ll do whatever we can to help you guys.” Mr. and Mrs. Martin both chimed in.

“Yes, we all love you boys very much and will do everything we can to support you.” Lisa finished up.

I grinned at my parents, “Well dad, pop, it looks like this has been the most magickal Yule we have ever had.” I looked at the Martins and asked them, “What did she mean about your financial problems?”

Mr. and Mrs. Martin looked at each other and then back at me. “Well, Sara here is a Calculus teacher, but the school she was at had to make some cutbacks so they chose to cut a couple of the advanced math courses, and my me being a landscaper there is not much work for me during the winter with everything covered in snow.”

I noticed the look that dad, pop, and Lisa exchanged and knew that things were about to get much better for the Martins.

-=End Chapter 8=-