Wind Warrior (2 page)

“
Hey Xander,” a heavyset
student said, pushing his way up beside the pair.

“
Hi Sean,” Jessica said
flatly as she looked at the man with disdain.

Sean wore a big smile, which matched the
large Captain America T-shirt he wore proudly beneath his thin
windbreaker. Xander found the smile infectious and, despite the
cold, found himself smiling in return.

“
How’s it going, Sean?” he
asked.

Sean shrugged. “I didn’t think I’d catch you
when you came out of class. I had to run the whole way here.”

“
Color me impressed,”
Jessica said sarcastically.

Xander shot her a sour look but let the
smile return before he looked back at Sean.

“
I’m glad you did. You park
in the gravel lot?”

Jessica placed a hand on Xander’s arm,
getting his attention. “I’m going to go ahead and take off. Call me
and let me know if you can go.”

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
With a light wave, she turned and walked away.

“
Go where?” Sean
asked.

Xander sighed as he watched her walk away.
“She wants me to go to the formal with her.”

“
Is it possible for you two
to go together and not have her talk all night? She’s hot, but
really annoying.”

Xander laughed despite immediately feeling
guilty. “You be nice too. Anyway, anything new with you?”

Sean stroked his chin. “I’m still struggling
with my freshman fifteen three years later, so no, not really.”

Xander laughed again. Sean and Xander looked
odd, standing side by side. Xander had been blessed with good
metabolism and had always been athletic. No matter the horrible
college food he ate—and he had eaten his fair share of pizza and
microwave macaroni and cheese—he stayed thin. Sean, however, wasn’t
nearly as lucky. He’d been struggling with his weight since they
met in middle school but college seemed to give him a chance to
stop worrying about impressing people and be happy. It was food
that made Sean happy.

“
How are your folks?” Sean
asked.

“
Folk-y,” Xander replied
with a shrug. “It’s hard enough to be in college without having to
live with your parents. I’m pretty sure I’m drifting further and
further away from ‘cool’.”

“
Don’t forget your
grandfather lives there too,” Sean chided.

“
Thanks,” Xander said
flatly.

Sean beamed another smile. “No problem. You
doing anything fun this weekend? If not, come over to the
apartment.”

“
I don’t know if I’ll be
able to fit it in. I’ve got Yahtzee with the family, and then I
might mix it up and try a game of—”

Xander stopped in midsentence as a man
rudely pushed his way past, talking loudly on his cell phone. As
the man pushed past, he knocked Xander’s backpack free from his
shoulder. The swinging weight of the book-laden bag nearly knocked
him from his feet.

“
Excuse you!” Xander said
as he righted himself.

The man ignored Xander and kept pushing his
way toward the front of the throng of students. The front students
parted as the man approached, cued into his presence by the
grumbling of all the other students behind them.

“
What a jerk,” Sean
grumbled.

“
Yeah,” Xander
replied.

He watched the man reach the edge of the
curb and step out into the street, despite the light still glaring
an angry red “Don’t Walk” hand. Xander quickly glanced down the
street and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw one of the city
buses hurtling toward the intersection.

“
Watch out!” Xander yelled
but the man didn’t hear him.

The man stepped into the street, oblivious
to the danger. The bus driver saw the suited man and stepped on the
brakes. The tires on the bus locked and screeched loudly but the
momentum drove it forward. It wasn’t going to be able to stop in
time to avoid hitting the man.

Xander heard a whisper in the air, a
haunting melody that seemed to speak to him. The gentle breeze
around him grew stronger as the wind seemed to pass through his
body. In an instant, he felt an incredible surge pour through him,
roaring from his abdomen to his extremities. The wind around him
seemed to respond to the surge and his hair whipped chaotically as
he stood in the center of the maelstrom. Involuntarily, he threw up
his hands and the surge of energy rushed from him in a violent gust
of wind that ripped through the crowd. The funnel of wind roared
through the students and into the street, just as the bus collided
with the man on his phone.

The man was thrown from his feet and crashed
onto the street, his cell phone shattering as it skidded into the
intersection. The bus came to a sudden stop with a hiss of
decompressing air brakes. For a moment, everyone stared in stunned
disbelief until finally the first of the girls in the front of the
crowd screamed.

Some of the students rushed to help the
collapsed man as the bus driver opened the door and hurried down
the bus’ steps.

“
Oh my God,” the bus driver
moaned as he rushed to the man’s side. “He stepped right out in
front of me. There wasn’t anything I could do! Is he—?”

“
He’s okay,” someone said
with obvious surprise.

In the center of the encircled students, the
man stood up and brushed off the grime that had collected on his
suit.

“
There’s not a scratch on
you,” one of the sorority sisters said. “How is that
possible?”

“
I didn’t even feel a
thing,” the man said, stupefied. “It was like I was hit with a
pillow. That’s it!”

Sean and Xander stared in disbelief.
Xander’s hands shook as he lowered his arms and the strong wind
suddenly died away. He felt drained, as though he just spent hours
in the gym.

“
That was awesome,” Sean
gushed. “Did you see that?”

Xander nodded weakly and pulled his pea coat
tighter around his body.

“
You feeling
okay?”

“
Yeah, just suddenly
tired.”

Sean pointed at the crosswalk light, which
suddenly glowed with a bright white “Walk” symbol. “The guy looks
fine. Let’s get out of here.”

They walked in silence down College Street,
stepping gingerly over the uneven pavement. They rode the crests
and falls of the cracked sidewalk like the cars of a
rollercoaster.

When they were out of earshot, Sean laughed
with nervous excitement. “That was so cool, man. He just walked
away after getting hit by a bus. He should have been
flattened!”

Xander looked over his shoulder to make sure
no one could hear their conversation.

“
I think I—” he began
before deciding better.

“
You what?” Sean
asked.

Xander shook his head. “You know what, it’s
crazy. Never mind.”

“
Consider it never
minded.”

They strolled into the gravel parking lot
and weaved through the lines of cars until they reached their
equally pathetic vehicles.

“
You still want to come
over this weekend?” Sean asked.

“
Yeah, sure,” Xander said
distractedly.

“
Awesome. Take care. I’ll
see you then.”

Xander waved as Sean climbed into his car
and drove off. The smile hung on his face until he slid behind the
wheel of his car. For a long moment, Xander just held on tightly to
the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. His heart
thundered in his chest and a cold sweat broke out on his brow. He
couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so scared. He bounced his
knee nervously as he thought about the strange sensation of the
wind pouring through his body. He had trouble believing he had been
responsible for saving that man’s life, but he couldn’t explain the
surge of power he felt or the crazy winds that suddenly sprang
up.

He slapped the steering wheel angrily,
wiping away his crazy thoughts. “It couldn’t have been me,” he
muttered.

Turning the key, his car started with a loud
cough of black smoke out of the exhaust pipe. Dropping it into
drive, he pulled out of the parking lot and turned toward his
parent’s house.

Xander opened the front door to the house
and hurried inside, hoping to avoid running into his family. He
tossed his jacket onto the coat rack and shouldered his bag as he
walked toward the stairs. As his foot struck the first step, he
heard the creak of the hardwood floors behind him.

“
Welcome home,” his mother
said. “Did you have a good day at school?”

“
It was school,” Xander
shrugged. “It’s pretty boring. I’ve got a lot to do so I’m probably
just going to go upstairs and get caught up on some
homework.”

“
Are you feeling okay?
You’re acting a little squirrely.”

Xander arched an eyebrow in surprise. “No,
I’m fine. Why would you say that?”

His mother placed her hands on her hips
defiantly. “You just told me you’re going upstairs at four in the
afternoon to catch up on homework. You haven’t been that devoted to
homework since you were in grade school. What’s going on?”

“
Nothing,” Xander sighed.
“Does something have to be going on for me to want to do the right
thing and catch up on homework?”

“
I guess not,” she replied
in a voice that clearly showed she didn’t believe him.

His mother walked over, placed her hand on
his, and gave him an affectionate squeeze. “All right. You go have
fun upstairs. Dinner will be ready in an hour and a half.”

“
Thanks, Mom,” Xander said
as he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

As she started walking toward the kitchen,
Xander took the opportunity to start rushing upstairs.

“
Don’t forget to say hi to
your grandfather,” his mother called after him before he could
escape.

Xander froze, his foot hovering over the top
step. With a groan, he spun in place, started stomping back down
the stairs, and walked into the living room. The sound of Jeopardy
blared on the television, far louder than what should have been
healthy for anyone sitting in the assorted chairs.

The high-backed recliner was turned away
from Xander as he approached. He could see the small tuffs of his
grandfather’s white hair sticking up over the back of the chair and
a soothing rhythm of deep breathing let him know that his
grandfather had fallen asleep again watching TV. Xander looked up
at the screen as they asked one of the questions in Double
Jeopardy.

“
What is the Battle of
Chickamauga,” Xander said softly, seconds before the first
contestant buzzed in with the answer.

“
See, I knew you were
smarter than you let on,” his grandfather muttered from his
seat.

Xander jumped, caught unaware that the elder
man was even awake. “God, Grandpa! I thought you were asleep.”

“
I was, but I still heard
you coming.”

Xander smiled and walked around to the side
of the chair. “You’re so weird. You know that, don’t you?”

His grandfather arched his head up to meet
Xander’s gaze. “At least now you know where you get it from.”

Xander smiled at the old man. Though he
loved his parents, he had always shared a very special connection
with his grandfather. Despite the man’s advanced years, his mind
was incredibly sharp and he was surprisingly spry. When he wasn’t
napping, Xander realized with a smirk.

“
Did your mom send you in
here to check on me?” his grandfather asked.

“
Not to check on you. Just
to make sure I told you hello before I went upstairs.”

“
She can church it up
however she likes, but she still wanted you to make sure I hadn’t
croaked while watching Jeopardy.”

Xander laughed at the old man. He wasn’t
entirely sure where his grandfather had grown up but he had a
litany of odd sayings that kept conversation entertaining.

“
So what are you up to?”
the elder man asked.

“
I was going to go upstairs
and work on homework,” Xander lied again.

“
Rubbish. That’s the worst
excuse I’ve ever heard. If you were going to work on homework, you
should have just stayed at school. Or at least found a pretty girl
to tutor in a class, if you get my drift.”

“
I get the drift, Grandpa.
You’re a dirty old man.”

His grandfather laughed. The sound reminded
Xander of an odd mix of mirth and a hacking cough.