Evelyn Earth Part 21

I was speechless. I just stared down at him, fully aware of the fact that I had just kissed a stranger who seemed closer to me than anyone I had encountered since the world crumbled.

“I have to say, when I first saw you I didn’t expect this” he raised an eyebrow. His arm was still lightly touching my back and I shrugged it off before leaning back on my heels.

“Neither did I” I agreed.

“I take it then that this is the first time for you?” For a moment I thought he was asking me if this was the first time I had ever kissed a stranger, but of course he was referring to the fact that we both possessed the darkness.

“Yes.” I looked away, scanning the horizon. The sun had almost set completely and it was getting hard to see. He nodded in a thoughtful way and followed my gaze. The view that greeted me now was completely different to the one I had become accustomed to in the years that I had lived here. The Bolte Bridge had framed the setting sun for as long as I could remember, but now water and sky met in unobstructed harmony.

“Are you looking for your friends?” his voice jerked me out of my reverie.

“What?”

“Your friends, the two boys”

“No.” But now that he had mentioned it, where were Owen and Fins?

“Are you usually so chatty, love” he smiled at me. It was a lopsided grin and I could see that it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I’m just a bit in shock that’s all”

“You know what the best thing for shock is?”

“What?” I looked back at him warily. The glint in his eye coupled with his smirk made me think that the answer was going to be something dirty.

“Food”

“Oh”

“Were you thinking of something else?” I blushed instinctively, but by now all daylight had been extinguished and my embarrassment was swallowed up by the night. Without answering him I stood up and tried to brush myself off. I was covered in a mixture of dried salt, cold water and a various splattering of dirt. He stood up beside me, but I noticed that it took him a great deal of effort, without even thinking about it I reached out to help him. He grabbed my hand with the same speed I had seen him display on the bridge. Startled I took a step back, but he didn’t let go of me. His grip was cool and rock hard.

I felt the familiar tingle in my finger tips and realised that I could connect with him again very simply. I eased myself in through the tiny portal between our hands and was confronted by his name.

“Sebastian” I whispered. Before I could look any deeper he dropped my hand.

“Sorry” I mumbled, “I didn’t mean to pry.” He was angry and it rolled off of him in waves. I didn’t know how to respond so I turned away from him and tried to see if I could spot the others in the distance. I was still bare foot so I connected with the Earth once again and employed my far sight. Without the bridge and the pillars that had been firmly entrenched in the ground the water level of the little trickle had risen. It now resembled a small river that could probably be waded through.

Beyond that though everything seemed still and quiet. No movements presented themselves except for the occasional flap of seagull wings. As I pared back my vision Sebastian stepped up next to me.

“Since you know my name I think it’s only fair that you tell me yours”

“It’s Evelyn” I answered him.

“The others, they know me as Snow” his voice took on a more serious tone, “I’d like it if it stayed that way”

“I won’t tell anyone your real name, Sebastian, I promise” it was my turn to smirk now and I could see that he liked it.

“We better move off then Evelyn love, before it gets too cold and we starve out here.” He began striding forward and I found it almost impossible to keep up with him at a normal pace. Every few steps I had to quicken my steps so that I would fall behind. For someone who was only a slightly taller than me Sebastian was a lot more than he seemed.  As we reached the water he looked around and settled on a mound of hardened looking dirt.

“Will you help me with this? I’m still a little weak from our earlier exercise”

“Help you do what exactly?” I looked around confused.

“I don’t know about you darling but I don’t want to get wet all over again.” I was still confused and said as much. At first he looked annoyed and then he laughed.

“You really don’t know do you?”

“I would know by now if you stopped laughing and told me” I snapped back at him. I was getting a bit annoyed myself, his posh accent and condescending tone weren’t doing wonders for my nerves.  

“Look, Evelyn, I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but from what I felt before you had a hell of a lot of power behind that fit little body, I’m just surprised that you don’t know how to put much of it to use.” I didn’t know which part offended me more, the one where I didn’t have knowledge over my power or that I had a fit little body. I glowered at him. That small spark within me ignited and I dug deep for that abundance of power that he spoke of. Like a lighting flash I sent it out of my hand with a flick of my wrist and right into his chest.

It exploded over him in a shower of pitch black droplets and sent him to his knees. I felt my darkness hovering around him, but before I could do anything else his power slipped out from within him. Where mine was a burst of energy, his was a creeping miasma. I knew that if it reached me it could swallow me up just like it did the bridge. I reeled my energy back in and took a step forward because we both new that he didn’t have the energy reserves to show off and that no matter how much power we threw at each other it wouldn’t harm us anyways.

“Look Sebastian,” I accentuated his name, “Don’t tell me what I do and don’t know about my power, you want my help? Explain to me in fucking English what it is you want my help with.” He stood up slowly and I felt rather than saw his darkness seep back into his pores.

“Feisty aren’t you” he smirked. I clenched my hands and felt my nails dig into my palms.

“We’re creatures of the Earth, you and I, so when we need a little help from mother dearest she’s more than happy to be manipulated. Just take that fearsome power of yours and direct it into me—without the theatrics please. I’ll show you the rest.”

“Why can’t you just take the Earth’s power?”

“She only supplements our strength love, she doesn’t give us more unless we absorb more of her dark vengeance.” I kept my mouth shut even though I knew that he was wrong. I had been completely at the end of my strength when I had tapped into Her power, and there were no dark cloudy masses to absorb either.

“Makes sense” I replied, “how should I do this then?”

“Just make contact with me like you did before, but instead of spying inside my head channel your darkness into me.” I nodded in understand and moved to his side. Instead of taking his hand I simply put mine on his forearm and closed my eyes. I pulled out the darkness bit by bit and fed it slowly into Sebastian’s arm. Once I had steadied the flow of power I opened my eyes. He was looking right at me and I could see with minute detail how the darkness filled up his eyes overpowering his emerald green with inky blackness. He turned his gaze onto the mound of earth and with his other hand directed it upwards. His dark miasma had already enveloped the ground and just as he said he would he manipulated the earth into the form of a small hill. I was still feeding him my power and I could feel how it energised him, how it allowed him to do what he was doing.

Steadily he pushed the hill out towards the shore whilst slowly drawing more and more dirt into it. Before it could grow to the size of a small mountain he turned to me and smiled.

“Ready?” I let out a scream at the same time as him and it seemed as if just with our voices we had propelled the mound of earth across the river cutting it in half. The dirt settled down in a smooth line and as I released my hold on Sebastian’s arm I could clearly see that he had made a natural pathway for us.

“That was amazing” I gasped wide eyed.

“Come on we can’t just stand here looking at it, we did make it for a purpose.”

As we crossed the narrow path way I began to hear voices.

“Can you hear that?” I turned to Sebastian.

“Sounds like the lads” he replied. We both began to walk a little faster neither of us new how our friends had fared after the bridge was destroyed. A high pitched scream pierced the air. We both looked at each other before sprinting forward.