Resistance

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

“Have a seat, Ryder.” said Randy in a strict tone.

I grimace and lower to the plump leather couch, Jace doing the same.

“So, you know how to use compulsion, eh?”

I gulped and shrugged. “I only did it twice...”

“Try it on me,” he instructed.

I blinked at him. “I don't even know how I did it the first two times—”

“Do you like toast?” he questioned, eyebrows quirked.

“What?”

“I said,” he started again. “Do you like toast?”

“Well, yes,” I agreed skeptically, brushing some hair out of my eyes. “I do enjoy toast...”

“Get me to make you some, then.”

I glanced at Jace, who was giving his dad a flat look. Diana, who was resting in the arm chair, gazing at the television, seemed to be relaxed and not into the conversation. But the way her hands were clenched and her eyebrows were slightly furrowed showed how she was listening.

“Uh, I guess I can try...” I muttered, clearing my mind. Since when did I back down from a little challenge? I thought smugly.

I desperately tried to focus, knocking down the barrier I created to separate my usual mind from the physic part of it.

I looked at Randy, eyes wide. No trace of color was surrounding his head. I glanced at Jace, who had a bright yellow aura. Hmm, I wonder what he was thinking about...

“You have no aura?” I questioned, but it ended up coming out more as a statement.

“You can see them?” he asked dubiously.

“Yes, I can, actually...” I turned to Jace again who was still deep in thought. “And what the hell are you thinking about so deeply? It's making my head throb.”

He snapped out of his odd daze to turn to me so fast I could have sworn I heard his neck crack.

“What?” he requested, his eyes still unfocused.

“I can practically feel you thinking about your aura's so bright it's like staring at the bloody sun...”

“Oh...” he muttered, staring at his hands in his lap.

“The toast.” stated Randy simply.

“Right, right...” I sighed. I stared at him, but I didn't stare at his head. I had a gut instinct telling me what to do and I followed through, ending up staring right where his heart would be.

I didn't concentrate, no. I just let my gut do the work.

I felt like a spark from a fire pricked at my sprained wrist, but I barley noticed it. I felt my eyes glaze over and I realized that my glamor covering them vanished.

Toast. Now.

Randy getting up with a blank look on his face snapped me back into my normal self, no more Wolf Ryder.

Hey, that sounded pretty cool...

Dishes clattering in the kitchen brought me back from my mind where I was planning my super-hero costume with the initials “W.F” for Wolf Ryder, of course...

A plate of toast was thrust into my line of view and I hesitantly reached for it.

Randy plopped back in the chair, a couple droplets of sweat splayed out on his forehead. I munched on the toast, not noticing Jace and Diana's intense stares.