"How are we in my house? Why are you in my bed?"
I rattled off the questions at a manic speed as I stared up at her. She looked so comfortable resting her head on her right hand as she watched me.
"Should I have left you passed out on the street? I just thought this would be nicer to wake up to."
She sat up cross-legged and folded her hand in her lap.
"Am I the first girl you've had in this bed?"
She smirked at the question. I shot to my feet.
"I didn't have you in my bed. If anything, you had me there."
She snorted out a laugh.
"You wish."
She grabbed one of my pillows and hurled it at my head. It hit my wind barrier and started to fall straight down to my feet. I tried something out to see if it would work. I nodded my head in Nix's direction and imagined the pillow flying back at her. When the pillow actually flew back in her direction. I wanted to dance with glee.
"Did you do that on purpose?"
Nix asked after snatching the pillow out of the air and tossing it back where she had picked it up from. I nodded, unable to hide the smile creeping across my face.
"So you still feel like you can take me?"
She spread her arms wide with her question? The memory of the surge of energy I felt when I said that to her came back to me. It felt great till I passed out. Wait, did she know I was going to pass out earlier? Was that what she was waiting for when she looked at her phone?
"Did you know I was going to pass out?"
She burst into a harsh laugh and nodded.
"Of course I did."
Her laughter didn't bother me. It was the way she said 'of course'. It sounded like she was an expert on this situation. Were there others like me that she had done this with? The thought of her in some other boy's bedroom disturbed me for some reason. I shook the feeling away and sat down on the other side of my bed.
"Does everyone pass out and have crazy dreams?"
I stared into her blue eyes and hoped she would tell me the dream didn't mean anything. Her laugh died, and she walked toward my window.
"Let's go for a walk."
She opened the window and nodded her head toward the outside. I hated going out at night. I glanced over at the time displayed on the digital clock on my dresser. It was 3:42 am. She was crazy if she thought I was going out this late.
"Do you see what time it is? My parents will kill me if they check on me and I'm not here."
Nix rubbed her chin and nodded thoughtfully.
"Okay, we could lay back down and talk until we both fall asleep. I'm sure they won't mind finding me in your bed. Oh, and also I'm an aggressive snuggler, so it will look worse than it is.
She stared at me with a look that dared me to test how willing she was to actually go through with her version of how things would play out. I imagined my mom's face when she opened the door and saw Nix lying beside me. I would never hear the end of it. My dad would probably punch me in the face, or he might congratulate me. It's hard to tell with him. I didn't wanna find out either way.
"What if we get attacked again?"
Nix giggled.
"How are you afraid of anything? I promise if another Greek soldier or anything else attacks you, I will personally handle it. Come on Stormy, stop stalling."
She leapt from the window. multicolored arcs of electricity carried her gently to the ground below. I stuck my left leg out the window. My filthy bare foot caught my attention and made me realize that I was still wearing the same clothes from earlier. The blue jeans were full of tiny holes and the ruined hospital gown was still clinging to me.
"Hold on."
I whispered down to Nix before I stepped back into my room. I ran over to my dresser and pulled out a navy blue hoodie. I discarded the tattered gown in my tiny garbage can and slipped the hoodie on. After slipping on a pair of sneakers, I ran and dove headfirst out the window.
"What was that show off?"
Nix asked as a tiny tornado sat me on the ground beside her.
"Sounds like jealousy to me."
I whispered as we started walking out of my backyard. Instead of responding to me, she touched her index finger to the side of my face.
Pzzt!
She zapped me. I pulled away, rubbing my fave where her electric attack had left my skin tingling.
"How does it sound now?"
She pointed her finger at me in a threatening manner, and I threw my hands up in surrender. A small bolt of blue electricity traveled out of her index finger. A bolt of red electricity came out of my palm and the two met between us. We both stopped moving and watched as the two arcs met and intermingled into a small ball of purple light. It gradually got larger until it was the size of a golf ball. Nix pulled her finger away.
Pop!
The ball of energy exploded and took out a street light above us. I ducked as sparks rained down on us.
"That was cool!"
I said, as we started walking again.
"Strange is more like it. So what do you wanna know first, the good news or the bad?"
She stuck her hands in her pockets and looked over at me as we walked along the dark, empty street. I was used to bad news, so I leaned in that direction.
"I guess I'll take the bad news first."
She nodded and chewed on the inside of her bottom lip before speaking.
"Okay, well, that dream you had wasn't just a dream."
She had completely lost me that quickly. I was never good at riddles.
"What are you talking about?"
She shook her head and sighed but continued.
"It was a dream, but what you saw in it was a real scenario. What exactly did you see?"
I recalled the dream to her as we walked into a small playground. It was kinda eerie being the only people there, but I didn't feel like we were in any danger. I told her about the enormous tornado that decimated the city. I told her about it turning into a person and asking me to join it. As I spoke, she nodded her head thoughtfully. We passed a jungle gym, and she stepped up onto a wooden platform. I stood below and watched her move across the monkey bars with an agile grace I used to envy.
"So, did the being talking to you tell you who they were?"
She threw her legs over the metal bar and swung upside down. Her hair hung below her face like a flowy drape. I had the urge to run my hands through it, but I resisted it.
"He said his name was Typhoon, I think.
She sighed and jumped down.
"Dammit Stormy, it was Typhon and I really wish you didn't tell me that."
I was confused by her statement.
"Why?"
Lightning sparked in her eyes.
"Because now I have to kill you."