Levi-Part 1

-One

Cori sat cross-legged on her bed, absentmindedly strumming her guitar, singing a sweet song and thinking…just thinking. About anything and everything. Mostly boys. She was your average teenager.
Cori sighed and set her guitar aside. She was bored. She dropped her head into her hands. Surely she could think of something to do. Well, actually…maybe she couldn’t. Summer had been a real drag so far, and they were only two weeks into it. Her two best friends had abandoned her for half the summer. Arian was off at some track training place and Mirabel had been shipped away to a gymnastics camp. Cori’s older sister, Hayley, was at a summer math thing for two more weeks, her twin brother Gary was at basketball camp, and even her little twin brother and sister, Elli and Eli, were at Grandma’s for a couple weeks. Cori was alone with her guitar and the big empty month of June. It was frustrating to only know people who were athletic, when she was kind of…not. She was slender, yes, and she guessed she could run pretty fast if she was scared enough, but she was just too uncoordinated to do anything without tripping and killing herself.
Everybody else was good at some thing normal. Hayley was a genius at math, Gary was so into basketball it was like a sickness, Arian was the fastest runner at our school, and Mirabel was amazing at gymnastics. Elli and Eli always stayed with Grandma in June. Of course, there were no camps nearby for singing or guitar or anything Cori was good at. Typical. And anyway, Cori didn’t much like camps. She wasn’t very social, and she didn’t like crowds. She was always the odd one out-except for when she was with Gary. Cori always felt like she belonged with Gary-they were twins after all. Cori missed Gary so much it was like her arm had decided to go to camp instead of her brother. She always felt abandoned when he went to basketball camp. He called everyday but it still wasn’t enough, not when they were used to seeing each other every single day. They were connected. Cori glanced wistfully over at Gary’s empty bed for a second, and then looked away.
Back to the problem at hand, what was Cori going to do?
She felt a little irritated with herself. There was no reason to be so mopey. She could easily get up and go outside and…ugh! What would she do outside? Get a tan? As if I need that, she thought, glancing down at her coffee colored skin.
“There’s nothing to dooooooooo!” Cori shouted, throwing herself back onto her bed.
“Not true! The girl with the beautiful voice could come hang out with me!”
Cori jumped violently, half-falling off her bed. She righted herself and looked spastically around the room, realizing when her eyes caught on the open window by her bed that that was where the voice had come from. She crawled across her bed to look outside, and was met with the sight of a grinning boy. He had jet black hair and light skin, but that was all she could see from her second story window. He was standing in the yard right next to hers, across a brown fence.
“Who are you?” She called down to him, waving.
“I’m Nathaniel. Old-fashioned name, I know. I hate it. Just call me Nate.” White teeth flashed as he smiled up at her. Cori scrunched up her nose, unsure what to make of this strange boy.
“What do you want?”
“Hey, hey, no need to sound hostile. I was just hanging out here in my boring back yard and heard a mysterious girl singing. I figured I’d see who it was and try to make a friend before I died of inactivity. So you want to hang out?”
Cori pursed her lips doubtfully, trying to suppress an amused smile. She was also amazed that he’d even been able to hear her way up in her room. “I dunno…what if you’re some weird stalker who preys on innocent girls? I’ve never seen you before, and I’ve lived here all my life.”
“Well, of course not. I just moved here. Yesterday, in fact. I promise I’m not a stalker. Here, pinky promise.” He waved his pinky in the air. Cori smiled reluctantly and held out hers. They curled their pinkies in the air. “Now will you come out here?”
“I guess. I’ll be right out.”
“Whoo!” He whooped. Cori rolled her eyes and closed the window, hopping off her bed. She wondered idly if it was wise to go hang around with a guy she didn’t even know, but then dismissed it. He was probably a normal guy from a normal town looking for some friends in a new place. And so without further ado, she left.

Nate smiled happily. So the friend total was at a dizzying number of-one. Oh well. He hadn’t been able to see much of the girl from where he was, just her curly, copper brown hair, shining in the sunlight. He hadn’t gotten her name either.
Nate plopped himself in the grass, leaning against the fence that separated his yard from the girls’ and looking around. The yard was pretty, if empty except for the trees. There were four or five big oaks, a patio, the fence, and that was about it. Boring. He sighed and looked up at the sky, only to have his view blocked when a head popped across the fence. It was the girl. She didn’t see him sitting on the ground as she looked around, her blue eyes flicking around the yard. Nate noticed appreciatively that she was very pretty.
“Nathaniel?” She called out tentatively.
“I thought I told you to call me Nate.” He said, enjoying immensely the look of surprise and annoyance on her face as she started and looked down at him. “So what should I call you?”
She blinked once. “Eh…call me Cori.”
Nate smiled cheerfully. “Hi, Cori. Nice to meet you.” He jumped up and grabbed the hand resting on top of the fence, pumping it up and down in a vigorous handshake. “Care to join me?”
Cori smiled, revealing a dimple in her chin, and quickly scrambled up the fence. But of course she had trouble with it, and of course she fell trying to get down. Cori cursed her clumsiness, but then thought maybe it wasn’t that bad when Nate caught her. Nate blinked as her sweet scent washed over him. She smelled like strawberries. Then he recovered himself and set her back on her feet.
“Not too coordinated, huh?” he asked, grinning at her red face. Cori stuck out her tongue.
“Of course I am. Can’t you tell?” She said, displaying a real gift for sarcasm.
Nate laughed out loud, his light green eyes twinkling. “I like you, Cori.”
Cori smiled wryly. “I like you too, Nate.”
“I thought you did. It’s hard not to.”
“Nate!” She laughed.
“What? It’s only the truth.” He smiled unashamedly. “You know what?”
“What?” She asked curiously.
“Your eyes are the exact color of my favorite pair of old, faded Levis.”
“Uh…so?” She blushed; embarrassed that he’d even taken a close look at her eyes.
“So I have the perfect nickname for you. Can you guess what it is?”
“Isn’t it a little premature to give me a nickname before you know my last name? Or my age? Or ANTHING besides my first name?”
Nate thought about it. “Nope. So can you guess the nickname?”
“Na-ate!”
He sighed. “Okaaaay. So then…uh…what’s your last name? How old are you? What school do you go to? Siblings? Those enough questions for you?”
Cori ignored the last one. “It’s Corianna Layne Reece. I’m 16. I go to the West Carter High right here in town. I have an older sister named Hayley and a little sister named Eloise-Elli for short. My little brother is Eliam, Eli for short, and he’s Elli’s twin. Oh, and did I mention my brother, Gary? Yeah, he’s my twin, too. It sort of runs in the family. How’s that for a surprise?”
Nate blinked, and Cori enjoyed a nice moment of silence before the inevitable retort came. Cori felt like she already knew him too well.
“Hm. A twin, huh? That is…” A slow smile spread across his face. “AWESOME! When can I meet him?”
Cori sighed. Did anything stump him? “In two weeks. He’s at a basketball camp until the end of June.”
“Oh. So where are your sisters and other brother?”
“Elli and Eli are at Grandma’s and Hayley is at some math camp.” Cori said glumly.
“Any friends?”
“Yup.” She didn’t say anything else.
“Like who?”
Cori sighed. “Arian’s my best guy friend, but he’s at a track camp, and my best girl friend, Mirabel, is at gymnastics camp. Everybody just has some camp to go to this summer. Except for me.”
“So you must be pretty lonely, huh?”
“Duh.” She rolled her eyes.
“Well then, I will keep you company until they get back. And don’t try to change my mind. I’ll stalk you if I have to.”
Cori raised an eyebrow. “But I thought you weren’t a stalker?”
Nate smiled mischievously and waved a hand through the air. “I lied, of course.” He abruptly turned and started walking, pulling her along with him.
“I know a way that will make sure you’re not allowed to avoid me.”
“Oh, really?” Cori asked skeptically. “And what way is that?”
Nate grinned and tugged on her hand, leading her through the back door of his house. The narrow hallway was littered with cardboard boxes and bubble wrap. He led her around a corner, calling out at the same time.
“Mom?” He winked at Cori, who was frantically shaking her head, trying to retreat back out the door.
“What is it, honey?” A woman’s voice sounded from somewhere ahead of them.
“I have a friend for you to meet!”
“A friend? Already? We just moved in yesterday! Nathaniel David Myron, if you are playing another prank on me, so help me God-”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Nate laughed, pulling Cori into his kitchen. “She’s real. Her name is Cori. See?”

Cori stood in Nate’s bright kitchen, blushing furiously, wishing she had never left her room, and dying to swat Nate on the back of his head. But just then Nate’s mom turned, so Cori forced a smile.
Nate was obviously the spitting image of his mom. They both had light skin, jet black hair, crisp, apple green eyes, the same bone structure, and the same wide smile, which was currently being flashed her way from two directions.
“Well, hello there, Cori! It’s so nice to meet you!” Before Cori knew what was happening, she was swept into a warm, motherly hug, so unfamiliar that she caught her breath in surprise. Cori’s mother had died giving birth to Elli and Eli, and Cori and Gary had only been nine when she died. Cori could barely remember her mother, and she’d almost forgotten what a mom’s hug felt like.
Nate’s mom smells like cinnamon, Cori noted, breathing the spicy scent in. Upon release, Cori looked up at her, smiling shyly.
“Hello, ma‘am.”
Nate’s mom shook her head, smiling.
“Oh no no no, honey, you just call me Elaine. There’s no need for formality here. So, Nate,” Elaine said, turning to Nate, “How did you manage to drag Cori over here? I’m sure she can’t know you very well, especially since you’ve only been here for a day…and judging by the confused and embarrassed look on her face, I’m sure this wasn’t where she expected to end up today.”
Nate smiled easily. “Well, she trespassed on our property, so I thought it only fit to bring her in to see you. And she thinks I’m devilishly handsome, of course.”
Really, Cori thought, this is all too much. “I did NOT. YOU stalked me and then asked me over, and I came, which I know now was a MISTAKE, and then DRAGGED me in here without telling me anything at all! And I still owe you this!” With that, she walloped him over the head with her hand, turned, and stalked out, banging the back door behind her. Nate stood in the middle of his kitchen, grinning sheepishly as his mother rounded on him.
“Notice how she didn’t deny that she thinks I’m handsome.” He murmured to himself right before Elaine burst into speech.
“Nathaniel! What am I going to do with you? You know what you do to people! Don’t get me wrong, honey, I love you the way you are, but you have an overwhelming personality. You have to be less exuberant, less alarming. People can’t handle your craziness.” Elaine sighed and shook her head. “ You know, I really don’t know where you get your blitheness from. Certainly not from me, and definitely not your father. He was such a sourpuss.” Elaine made a face as she mentioned her ex-husband. “But moving on, you need to go apologize to Cori. Where did you really meet her?”
Nate gave a one-sided shrug, eyes sparkling. “Well, I might have heard her from inside her house next door. She was singing. And playing guitar. She’s quite good, actually. So I might have yelled up at her. And maybe I asked her if she wanted to hang out. And she did. So, clearly, this is not my fault. If she thought I was some weirdo, she never would have left her room.”
Elaine rolled her eyes. No normal boy would be able to hear that far. But since when had Nate been normal? “Go upstairs for awhile, Nate. You can apologize to Cori later. I need some time without a mischievous boy sneaking around.”
“Awww, come on, Mom!”
“No! Go on! Get out of here!” She whacked him with a dishcloth, shooing him out of the kitchen and upstairs. Nate sighed dramatically before trudging up the stairs, complaining good-naturedly the whole way.
“It wasn’t my fault. Cori needs to get used to me if we’re going to be friends. This is how I am, so just take me! You can’t change me! Sending me to my room won’t do anything! I am independent! Ugh. I am so abused…”
His joking voice trailed off into nothing as he entered his room and closed the door. Elaine slowly shook her head, going back to unpacking the china.
Upstairs, Nate went straight to his window and looked out. He pumped his fist in excitement when he found an earlier suspicion to be absolutely right! Cori’s bedroom window was directly across from his, partially owing to the fact that all the houses in this neighborhood were built basically the same.
Grinning, Nate observed the room. He could see light green walls, dark wood floorboards, and white curtains. He could just see the ends of two beds that were situated on opposite sides of the room. Obviously, Gary and Cori shared a room. Cori’s side was definitely the messy side, with clothes and books strewn all over, and a guitar leaning against the bed with a purple blanket on it. Gary’s side was most likely the side plastered with basketball posters, bed neatly made and tons of basketball trophies displayed on a long shelf.
As Nate stood watching, Cori entered her room, looking furious, and threw herself on her bed, accidentally kicking her guitar over. Nate could barely see her two feet, wearing white socks with green and blue polka dots. He smiled. Her feet were cute.
He grinned like a cat when her long, tan legs appeared as Cori slipped off her bed to retrieve her guitar. She sat on the edge of her bed, perfectly framed by the window. Her long, slim fingers strummed expertly over the strings, and soon her powerful, full voice joined in with the sweet tunes the guitar made. Her cork-screw copper curls cascaded over her brown shoulders and her light blue eyes stared off into the distance. She didn’t even seem to think about playing or singing.
As Nate listened, he felt his heart beating faster and his brain flicking through thoughts and memories so fast he could barely keep up. Something about this music…it strongly reminded him of the amazing music only his people could create. Others…normal humans…their music just really couldn’t compare…but Cori’s music was different…or maybe it was just the way Cori’s fingers tripped lightly over the shiny steel strings, dancing a quick, complicated dance, or the way her voice rose and fell, weaving itself through the guitar’s bass sound…as he sat there, listening to Cori, he felt his mind slowly loosening, billowing forward, as if something was about to burst forth from him. Nate felt a moment of panic…no…this didn’t feel right…what was happening to him? Before he could react, his mind exploded in a rush of scalding green light, and he no longer knew what was going on, or where he was. Everything was just blinding light and beautiful music. He felt what was occurring in his body, but only vaguely, like his brain was disconnected…his pulse was jumping in his neck…skin burning up…muscles straining as he reached for something…anything…
And then it was all over.
Nate lay flat on his back, spread-eagled and gasping for air. Sweat covered every inch of his body. He slowly got up, feeling the soreness in his muscles and the aches in his joints. What had just happened? Nate looked around him, but nothing looked different. Annoyingly ordinary. But then he looked down at himself.
A green glow was emanating from underneath his black t-shirt. He quickly pulled it up to find a mark just below his collarbone pulsing with light. Nate stared at it in disbelief, tentatively touching a finger to the swirling rune and jumping in fright when an electric shock went through his body at the contact. What the hell? Nate jumped again when he caught sight of himself in the mirror. More bright green light was shining-but this time from his eyes! He couldn’t even see his pupils or the whites, just green, like he had little light bulbs in there instead of eyeballs. The light reflected off the mirror, almost blinding him, and Nate looked away quickly, breathing slowly and deeply…trying to calm down. After his heart stopped racing and his mind stopped freaking out, Nate noticed that the light from the strange mark was fading fast…he chanced a look in the mirror and saw only his normal, scared-looking green eyes.
But still, there was something different. A new energy coursing through his body, like electric currents, making him feel incredibly strong. Nate looked down at his hands and rubbed his fingers together. Green sparks flickered out from his index fingers, and he gasped at the feeling of power surging through him. The sparks hung in the air before slowly fading, and Nate closed his eyes in disbelief. However, that only intensified the feeling of power, and he quickly opened them again.
And yet still, something was off. Something besides the power inside him. Nate stared at himself in the mirror, trying to figure it out. Just a few little things were different about the way he looked, and Nate moved closer, scrutinizing his face.
And then he saw it.
They were just minute things, things that no one would consciously notice. His hair was almost an inch longer, wisps hanging over his eyes, and his face was more…angular, adult. Aged. And he was taller. Only by a few inches, but still, he was definitely higher up than before.
Looking down at himself, Nate noticed something else, and he almost laughed out loud.
He had muscles!
Nate grinned as he flexed his arms. Sure they weren’t huge, but better than the nothing he’d had before. Nate stood there grinning like an idiot and poking his brand new abs for a moment, but then…
Then Nate remembered Cori, and he turned quickly to look back out the window.
His heart skittered, missed a beat, and all the blood drained from his face as his body went numb.
Cori was standing at her window, blue eyes wide, hands clenching the windowsill, staring…
…at him.
Nate stared back for a few seconds before slowly reaching up a hand and yanking shut the curtains. Then he dashed downstairs, his only thoughts to FIND OUT WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO HIM…and…oh no…Cori saw that…

Cori’s mind was racing furiously, temple pounding as she tried to come to terms with what she had just seen. Nate. Eyes shining…unnaturally. Like flashlights. Like nothing she’d ever seen before. And then his chest, glowing, a strange shape. What was it? What did it mean? Was she going crazy? Seeing things?
Cori paced her room, kneading her aching head as she thought furiously.
Was it some kind of trick? Was Nate just playing a stupid TRICK on her? Or was it real? Surely she hadn’t mistaken the panicked look on Nate’s face when he had seen her. Surely. But then what was the explanation? What could possible explain the light? Was it an illusion? Or was it…real?
Just who-or what-WAS Nate? She had to know.
Cori, for the second time that day, ran out of her room. She flew down the stairs, waving as she went past the den when her dad looked away from his football game on TV. Then she was out the back door and heading over to Nate’s backyard. She awkwardly climbed over the fence, then strode to Nate’s back door and knocked, trying to look calm. Elaine opened the door, looking curious. Right away she sensed something wrong with Cori, an underlying panic. But Elaine just smiled innocently.
“Well, hello Cori! I wasn’t expecting to see you over here. I’m sorry about Nate. He’s a hard person to get used to.” She smiled apologetically.
Tell me about it, thought Cori.
“Oh, it’s okay. Actually, I wanted to apologize to Nate. Is he around?”
Elaine hesitated. Nate was actually sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands, having described to her in detail what had just happened to him, and about Cori seeing it all. Elaine had been trying to think where to begin, how to explain what he’d gone through, when they’d heard the frantic sounding knock at the door.
“Um…yes, he’s just in here…come on in.”
“Thanks,” Cori followed her to the kitchen. Nate was sitting at the table with his shoulders hunched, staring blankly at wooden surface. Cori started to get worried. What was wrong with him? Just then Nate looked up, and catching sight of Cori, he let out a horrified gasp.
“Oh, no. Mom!” Nate stood, striding towards Cori. Cori backed away, starting to get a little scared.
“I know, Nate.” Elaine said, turning to face her. Cori stumbled back a few more steps, staring wildly at Elaine.
“Elaine? What-?” Cori felt her fear increase, and she turned to escape out the back door, only knowing that she wanted to get away, now. But she only made it a few feet before a strong, warm hand caught her wrist and yanked her back. Cori thudded into a warm body, and Nate’s arms locked around her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. Cori could feel his hot breath on her neck. She tried to twist around and look at him, to ask him why he was doing this, what was going on, but Elaine appeared in front of her, and her cool hands pulled Cori’s face around to look at her. Her light green eyes fixed on Cori’s, and Cori felt her mind cloud, her struggling cease, as Elaine rested her fingertips on Cori’s temples. Elaine spoke to her in a soothing voice, and soon she felt herself slipping away, falling gently down into darkness…

Nate felt Cori go limp in his arms, and he looked down regretfully at her lolling head, face smooth in unconsciousness. He lifted her up into his arms more fully, trying not to notice the way her silky curls felt against his arm, or how warm and soft she was. He turned and walked slowly up the stairs to his room, where he set her down on his bed, threw a blanket over her, and brushed an errant curl out of her face. Then he turned to Elaine, who had followed him upstairs.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” He said, referring to the whole knock-her-out-with-your-mind thing.
“You don’t know a lot of things about me, Nate. And you don’t know a lot about yourself, either. I mean…well…” Elaine hesitated, wondering just where to start. Nate simply looked at her, thinking furiously. He knew so little about where he came from, his people, this magic that he could supposedly do (not that he’d ever managed much). Elaine had refused to tell him much of anything. She always said that when he was ready, she would explain everything to him. And now it seemed that, finally, that time had come.
Elaine pulled in a deep breath and started talking.
“What happened to you earlier means that you’ve finally reached your full potential. You are at the point where you can start using your powers in earnest. I guess you could call it magical puberty.” Elaine half smiled, then frowned slightly. “It’s usually something extremely powerful or traumatizing that causes it…I’m not sure what happened to you up in your room, Nate, but I’m guessing it had something to do with this girl. Am I right?” She raised her eyebrows at him.
Nate blushed a little bit. “Uh…yeah.”
“That’s what I thought. Anyway, you must have been having some pretty interesting thoughts about her to trigger that kind of reaction.” Elaine glared slightly, and Nate blushed deeper.
“No, Mom! They weren’t those kind of thoughts! Jeez…She was just playing her guitar and singing, and it reminded me a lot of the music you sometimes play, somehow better than anything I hear on TV or the radio…more special. You know what I mean?”
“Well, I understand what you mean about our music being better, but that Cori produced it? I don’t think it’s possible. She’s just a normal human, not like us, and I doubt she’d be able to make the kind of sounds we do. I think it’s just the attraction she holds for you…which I can’t honestly figure out, anyway. I mean she’s a nice girl and all, but…what’s so special about her, Nate?”
Nate bit his lip and looked away, looked at Cori. “I really don’t know, Mom. It’s just something…I mean, it can’t be nothing, if she caused me to hit ‘magical puberty’.” Nate snorted. Elaine just furrowed her brow and stared at Cori too. Then she blinked and shook her head.
“But we’re way off subject. The point I wanted to come to is-now that you have your powers, you can wipe her memory.”
“What?!” Nate yelped, jumping back. “Wipe her memory! Why do we need to do that?”
“Think, Nate! She saw with your Lythria and your eyes glowing like lanterns! She’s not going to keep that a secret!”
“Lythria?” Nate looked confused.
“The rune on your chest. But we’ll get to that later. The thing is, I’m not really gifted in that sort of thing. My power is more of the herbs and healing kind of stuff. I can read minds fairly well, but I’m sure you’ll be able to do that much better than me. Anyway, I’ll guide you through the process, but you’re the one who has to actually do it.”
Nate felt sickened. “But it sounds so wrong. Invasive. I don’t want to mess around with someone else’s memories.”
“Well, you have to! No one is supposed to know about us, Nate. So get over it and come here.” Elaine gave him a stern look and walked over to stand beside the bed. Nate stood rooted to the spot, his stomach roiling, jaw clenched. To take away someone’s memory, especially Cori’s, felt so untrustworthy. Dirty. And it made him feel slightly scared of his power. If he could delve into someone’s mind and take thoughts and feelings and memories away, what else could he do? And did he want to? Once again, Nate felt the power, the electricity in his veins, the way it seemed to crackle over his skin. It felt like almost too much to contain. Was this normal?
But there was no more time for thinking when his mom gave him the Look. Nate forced himself to go and stand beside her. He looked down at Cori’s peaceful face and felt guilt stab at him when he remembered just how she came to be in this situation. And now he had to wipe her memory of the incident! Nate almost shook with disgust.
“Nate, pay attention.” Elaine’s stern voice broke through his guilt-ridden thoughts. “Place your hands lightly on her forehead-yes, just like that. Now, with your powers so new, they might overwhelm you when you try to use them, so listen carefully.”
Nate nodded reluctantly and did as she said.
“Okay, now you need to sort of…reach out with your mind, and touch Cori’s. Do you understand? Open up your thoughts, imagine them as a hand, reaching out to grab something from a bowl, or a bucket. Try it now. Close your eyes. Concentrate.”
Feeling even more sick at that description, Nate never-the-less closed his eyes and did exactly what she ordered.
He felt the outer membrane of her mind, like a soap bubble, and he gently nudged through it without breaking it. As soon as he was through, thoughts and memories that didn’t belong to him started flashing in his mind’s eye. Random faces and places came to the surface, where they hung for a moment before slowly sinking back down, to be replaced with others almost instantaneously.
Nate felt a shock run through him when his own smiling face looked up at him, accompanied by a wobbly, happy, blushing feeling. He felt confused for a moment, first because he almost didn’t recognize his own face-but then he realized that this was how he looked to other people, a backwards reflection of himself. Second, what was with the weird giggly feeling that he’d never experienced in his entire life? Of course it dawned on him that this was how Cori felt when she saw him.
That made him smile.
Nate noticed that some of the images seemed brighter, more defined than others, and he took that to mean that those were recent memories. All the ones with him and Elaine were lit up, new looking.
Nate sifted through them, looking for the right ones-the ones he had to take away. Finally it floated up to him, almost blinding him with the clarity and brightness of it.
It was a strong memory, and Nate was sucked into it before he even knew what was happening, and then he was Cori. He saw what she saw, felt what she felt. It was as if they were the same person. And it was weird.
First, they look up as one when they hear an eerie ringing sound, and immediately see out the window to Nate’s house, where bright green light is pouring out of the window directly across from their room. They jump up, the guitar falls, their heart is pounding and shock is flooding their mind.
Then it is a blur of shock and excitement until they see Nate sitting so dejectedly at the table. They feel worried. Then they are scared when Nate and Elaine start acting strangely, they try to escape but Nate won’t let go of them. Fear, fear, fear. Then Elaine touches them on their face, and everything goes dark.
Abruptly the memory ended, and Nate was gasping, his head whirling now that he was himself again, instead of Cori. That had been the strangest experience of his life, and he wasn’t eager to do it again.
Nate held on to the memory so it didn’t get away, but delicately, so he didn’t get sucked in again.
“What do I do now?” He asked his mom, still concentrating so he wouldn’t lose the memory.
“Now pretend that you’re slowly pulling it back with your hand clenched tightly around it.”
Nate opened his eyes as he did so, and was amazed at what he saw.
Glistening strands of silver started to flow from Cori’s temples, lighting her face with an unearthly glow. The strands containing the memory Nate needed slid like a liquid up his fingers, still placed on her forehead, up his arm, and entered his mind through the temples. His eyes lit up silver for a second, sending a flash around the room before they dimmed back to their normal green. He gasped as he felt the memory lodge itself firmly into his brain. The rest of Cori’s memories retreated back to where they came from, and Nate slumped against the bed, tired for a second. He now had Cori’s memory in his own mind, as if it was his…not hers.
He sighed and looked up. Elaine was gone. Nate looked around, but she wasn’t anywhere. She must’ve left. Even though his body was still buzzing with power and energy, his mind was weary. Exhausted. He could barely keep his eyes open, and he slid to the floor, pillowing his head on his arm. Maybe he could sleep…just for a little while.
He was out in less than thirty seconds.


Cori woke up slowly, grudgingly, feeling very disoriented. She was warm and sleepy; there was a very pleasant smell in her nose…and her mind was a little jumbled. Where was she? What was going on? The last thing she remembered was sitting in her bedroom, playing her guitar, upset after Nate had taken her into his house. When had she fallen asleep?
Reluctantly, Cori forced her eyes open. She blinked.
She was in an unfamiliar room, lying in an unfamiliar bed. It was a very clean room, with cream colored walls and hardwood floors. There was a desk with a sleek-looking laptop whirring softly, along with thirty or more composition notebooks, lined up neatly. A flat screen TV hung on the wall, and a very expensive looking stereo system stood by the window. And the room smelled like guy. A very clean, good-smelling guy, but a guy none-the-less. Cori had dated enough guys to know that they all smelled basically the same.
Whoever lives here is seriously rich, Cori thought. Then she caught sight of a dresser, the mirror plastered with pictures, pictures of…
“Nate!” She exclaimed. She shot up, looking wildly around the room. For a moment, something flickered in the back of her head, and a vague memory seemed to pass before her eyes, but she couldn’t get a hold on it, and the moment passed.
Shaking her head, Cori furrowed her brow, trying to figure out what was going on. Why was she in Nate’s room? And why had she been sleeping? Nothing made sense.
Determined to get some answers, Cori threw off the blanket, blinking when the yummy spice and cologne smell blew past her. She swung her feet over the edge of the bed and jumped off, starting to stride towards the door. But before she could take two steps, she tripped on something soft and warm.
It was so unexpected that Cori didn’t even have time to react(even if she’d had good reflexes) before she was falling, hard, landing right on her left wrist. All her weight landed on that poor, fragile wrist, and there was no way it could handle the abuse.
It snapped
Cori let out a cry of agony as pain jolted through her wrist and up her arm. She curled up in a ball, clutching at her wrist, trying not to cry, biting her lip to stifle her whimpers of pain.
Suddenly warm hands touched her back.
“Cori!” Nate’s voice, heavy with sleep. “Oh, god, what happened? Did you trip on me? Where does it hurt, Cori?”
“Ow, ow, ow. Oh gosh, I’ve never broken a bone. I didn’t think it would hurt this much! Oh, ow! It’s my wrist! Please, Nate, make it stop,” Cori pleaded in a tearful voice.
Nate felt terrible. This was all his fault. He was starting to have the feeling that he’d made a dreadful mistake when he’d called Cori down from her room, what, two hours ago? It seemed like years!
“Shh, shh Cori, it’ll be okay. Come on, get up, we have to take you to the hospital.”
“No, no, no. I’m not moving. Then it’ll hurt more!” She whimpered.
“Well it’s not going to get any better. Come on. Do you want me to carry you?”
“No! I can walk!” She tried to get up, but that jostled her wrist, and her whole face turned white, even her tightly pressed together lips.
“Okay,” she said in a choked voice. “You can carry me.”
Nate furrowed his brow worriedly, leaning down to scoop Cori up effortlessly into his arms. She moaned a little bit when her wrist moved, then bit her lip.
Stop being such a baby, she told herself. It doesn’t hurt that bad.
Nate strode from his room, his heart beating hard with worry and guilt as he tried to walk down the stairs without moving Cori at all. Every time he stepped down she gasped a little bit, and Nate’s face twisted with anguish.
“I’m sorry, Cori. This is all my fault.”
“Yeah,” she agreed immediately. “Which reminds me.” She was trying to take her mind off of her wrist. “Why was I asleep…in YOUR room? The last thing I remember is playing my guitar in my room, thinking very violent thoughts about a certain annoying boy. How did I end up here?”
Nate had decided that ignorance was the way to go. He tried to act surprised. “You mean you don’t remember?”
Cori looked startled. “No. Why would I?”
“Because you came over here of your own free will. Mom said you wanted to apologize, and then you came into the kitchen, and you said sorry and everything, but then you said you didn’t feel well, so we sat you down at the table, and then you passed out on me! So we put you in my room to sleep it off. You really don’t remember?” Nate did his best to look scared and astonished.
Cori was just scared. Why couldn’t she remember?
Elaine heard Nate talking as he came down the stairs, and thought with a chuckle that he was a very convincing actor. Cori would suspect nothing.
Then she noticed Nate carrying Cori.
“Oh dear! What in the world happened?”
Cori squeezed her eyes shut as a particularly nasty zing went through her wrist.
“She tripped and did something to her wrist. I’m pretty sure it’s broken pretty badly…oh, God!” Nate had only just noticed that Cori was bleeding. The bone had jolted out of place and stretched the skin, until it broke through. Nate could see a little bit of bone, and for a moment he felt sick.
“What?” Cori started to look down from where she had been pressing her face into Nate’s shoulder, but before she could he grabbed her head and forced her face away.
“Don’t look! Don’t look at it, Cori.”
Cori didn’t say anything, shutting her eyes and shielding her face in the safety of his shoulder. She could feel how much it hurt. She didn’t want to see it, too. That would probably make it worse.
“Can we just go to the hospital?” She asked tremulously.
Elaine rushed to get her purse and car keys, and they were on their way.