Chapter 115

*Ariya*


“I need to get hair dye and plastic wrap!” Caleb announced.
“Do you have access to your wolf? How did you figure out that Justin is gone? What does that even mean?” Drake asked, urgently.
“Are you ok? Do we need to try to break in to get you both out?” Keo asked, worried.
“No, we don't need hair dye or plastic wrap.” I laughed.
“You really want to try plastic wrapping me to a chair, don’t you?” Ivan laughed, “I don’t have access to my wolf, Drake. No worries on that. Ari holds the key to my wolf being accessed. Remember the talk with my parents that we had? That was part of what we talked about. Something felt weird and we were going to talk to you about it tonight but when we were heading to the arena, I realized that I was aware that I was Ivan and that Justin no longer existed. I still have the memories of when I was him and I know how to act, but Justin is gone. You guys don’t need to break us out. As long as I don’t have access to my wolf we are good.” Ivan explained.
“The second you realize that you have access to your wolf you need to get out of there immediately or they’re going to kill you.” Drake warned.
“We will. It’s ok right now. We can’t get out though. When we fought we realized that everyone was terrified. They were surprised about how fast our attacks were and the skill level we were at. Ari needs to continue to learn more and so do I if we’re going to get out of there. When we realized the shock that everyone, including Boss, had, we tried something. We tried to see if we could knock him out.”
“Are you crazy?! What if he noticed?!” Drake roared at us.
“We saw an opportunity, Drake. He didn’t notice, because Ivan’s attack was aimed at me and I tried to block it.” I told Drake.
“I had to break her wrist to make it look good.” Ivan growled.
Drake paled again, “At least pain for us is only temporary.”
“Even if it wasn’t temporary, the pain was worth it. We found out that Boss has more than 1 ability.” I told them.
There was tension and fear in the air after the revelation.
“That’s not possible.” Keo gasped.
“Unfortunately it is.” Drake sighed.
Everyone turned to Drake, shocked. We stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate.
“The thought that everyone only has 1 ability is false. Most people only awaken 1 ability. There are a few that have both abilities of their parents and happen to awaken them both. It’s very rare though.” Drake explained.
“I knew it!” I exclaimed.
“I get the feeling that’s not everything.” Ivan said.
Drake sighed, “I only ever heard rumors about it. I don’t know if it’s true or not. But there’s also a chance that Boss’s true ability is the ability to take other people’s abilities.”
“What do you mean? There’s a rumor that Boss is like that?” I asked, fearful.
Ivan wrapped his arms around me and I could tell it was instinctive. He was trying to console me and protect me at the same time. We didn’t have to worry about Drake but we were worried about this possibility.
“No, just that there are a very small number of people that can take other people’s abilities. It’s likely that your Boss falls in 1 of the 2 categories.” Drake said.
“So Boss either has 2 abilities or the ability to take other people’s abilities?” Caleb asked.
“That’s right.”
“How do we figure out which one it is?” Keo asked.
“I don’t know if we can. The only thing we can do is prepare for what we know he already has.” Drake said.
“Those aren’t easy ones to prepare for. Boss can control the gravity under someone. He can also stop something flying at him as if he has Telekinesis.” Ivan muttered.
“Are we sure it’s Telekinesis?” Keo asked.
“Not completely.” Ivan said.
“It could be anything. We need to be prepared that objects can’t hit him like he has a barrier around him or that he has Telekinesis. It’s not going to be easy but we’re all going to have to get stronger.” Drake said.
“Ivan and I already thought that. I just don’t know where to start.” I said.
“That’s just it, princess. The point is to get started. That’s all we can do.” Ivan told me.
“Unfortunately we all have a lot to work on.” Drake started.
We all looked at him. Drake was basically an elder even though he didn’t look like it. I don’t think any of us were exactly sure how old Drake was since he didn’t age but we knew that he had knowledge that far surpassed what we knew. Drake was also like a parent to us. He was the closest thing to a father figure any of us had. We waited for his direction.
“Ariya’s plan is solid. The only part is our execution. We all have a lot of learning to do. Ariya, you and Keo need to work on swapping places so that the swap is instant. You and your brother have differences in your abilities and your energy manipulation can be used in different ways due to the color. Keo, you need to work on your mind links since it is newer to you. Ivan, you have a lot to work on with Ariya and learning more about your mate bond. I’m sure your parents told you both what the mate bond entails. Caleb, you need to increase your speed and stamina. Also, Ivan, we could all use some training from you on our hand to hand combat.” Drake told us.
He wasn’t wrong. There was so much that we all needed to work on. We needed to start now. Not wait to see what Boss was going to do next. Ivan and I had most of our memories and we knew that we wouldn’t get the really important ones until it was absolutely necessary. I had a lot to learn and since Ivan and I completed the mate bond, he did too.
“How are we supposed to get better at everything when I’m locked in a room? Ivan and I can’t make too much noise and if I put a barrier up each time they’re going to get suspicious.” I asked.
“They’ll only get suspicious if they’re looking, Ari. But you’re right, we can’t do that every time. We also don’t have a ton of room to work with. It will be useful to work on our hand to hand combat in a small area but it’s more than likely that we’ll be fighting in bigger spaces. We also need to learn how to fight together, otherwise we’ll just be in each other’s way.” Ivan said.
“One step at a time. The most important thing is the next step. Ariya, I’m guessing you have enough space to start working out in the room you’re in? Ivan can probably instruct you. We can work on Caleb’s speed while you guys do that. Energy Manipulation practice can be done where you’re at too. You just need to be careful. Get used to movements and sudden activation. From there, we can work on fighting each other. Ariya, since you can pull all of us into your mind, we can actually practice hand to hand combat here. We’ll have to physically practice the movements but our mind will already know what to do. We’ll have to have our physical body able to match the movements though.” Drake told us.
We all nodded in agreement.
“We can’t spend too much time here until we get used to snapping back and forth instantly. If it takes too long and someone shows up, Ariya and I could get caught.” Ivan mentioned.
“Guess we know where to start then. We all need to practice getting to this point and then getting back. We could time it.” Caleb said.
“We will. Not now though. Ivan’s right, spending too much time for him here could be dangerous.” Drake said.
“When should we practice this one?” I asked.
“First thing in the morning after I speak to Boss. He will let me know if he plans on coming over to the room. It would give us at least an hour after I see him for some uninterrupted practice. Unless he comes with me, that is. But it will give us some practice time. Outside of that I would say before I leave for the night or after I leave for the night.” Ivan answered.
“I guess that means for now, everyone goes back and Ari and I practice swapping.” Keo grinned at me.
“We should work on trying to figure out if there’s a difference we can catch when they switch, that way the 3 of us always know who is who but also if it’s possible for anyone else to tell the difference.” Drake laughed.
“So each time we swap you guys will guess?” I asked.
“I won’t be guessing, I’ll already know.” Ivan laughed.
“Mate bond?” Caleb asked.
“Yup. Did you and Keo bond? Maybe there’s a way you can tell.” Ivan wondered.
“We did. How do you tell with Ariya?” Caleb asked.
Ivan let his eyes change to his wolf eyes. He came over to me and kissed me softly on the forehead. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him closer to me. Ivan smiled and hugged me tightly.
“I know because I use my wolf eyes. The mate bond marked both of us. There’s a hidden mark that I can only see with my wolf eyes.” Ivan explained.
Caleb looked at Ivan, wide-eyed, “I can’t make my eyes do that unless I’m shifting in and out. Is the mark visible when you’re a wolf?”
Ivan’s body shivered, “I’d have to shift with Ari there to be able to tell. I can try though. After that, Keo and Ariya can start practicing on swapping places.”