Wind Warrior (3 page)

“
I’m going to head
upstairs.” Xander kissed the man on the top of his head before
turning toward the stairs.

“
Be careful up there,” his
grandfather said cryptically.

Xander turned to ask him what he meant, but
he could already hear the repetitive breathing as his grandfather
fell back asleep.

He stood in the middle of his room and
stared at the bed and the plethora of posters that littered the
walls. As much as he wished it weren’t true, Xander still slept in
the same room he grew up in and many of the decorations hadn’t
changed since his days of listening to hardcore rap.

His covers were bunched into a ball in the
middle of the bed and dirty laundry was piled just beyond the
footboard. The rest of the room was fairly clean, though Xander
realized that was as much by accident as by design. Only his
working table was cluttered with piles of artist’s sketchpads and
loose-leaf paper. His hastily drawn charcoal sketches covered all
the exposed surfaces. Women’s faces were piled besides blueprints
for space ships. Fantasy creatures growled angrily at cartoon
characters, either hand drawn or traced from Disney cells. Though
Xander prided himself on his artistic ability, he wasn’t foolish
enough to believe he was good enough to make it more than a
hobby.

Scanning the room, his eyes fell on one of
the larger posters dominating the middle of the wall above the
headboard. Xander flexed his shoulders and waved his arms across
his body as he stretched in anticipation.

His heart was already pounding in his chest
again. His hands were closed in tight fists and he could feel the
intermixed sweatiness and pain as he dug his nails into his
palms.

“
All right,” he whispered
into the quiet room. “You can do this.”

He focused all his attention on the poster
and tried to imagine the swell of power flooding his body as it had
done in front of the school. His skin grew cold and clammy, but he
wasn’t sure if it was from an unknown power or just the adrenaline
he was intentionally pouring into his system.

“
I can do this. Ready,
go!”

He extended his arms and opened his hands,
throwing his fingers out wide. His eyes closed involuntarily as he
anticipated the violent windstorm. Slowly, he cracked one eye open
and peeked at the poster. It hung unfettered on the wall, the rap
trio still staring angrily at the awkward white man standing in the
middle of the room with his arms outstretched.

With a huff, Xander dropped his arms. His
eager anticipation turned to disappointment. The disappointment,
however, was short-lived. Instead, Xander found himself fairly
relieved. Whatever happened on College Street, it was just a
coincidence that he witnessed that man survive what should have
been a horrible car accident.

Smiling, he turned away from the poster when
a swift draft flew past him. Behind him, he heard the flutter as
the unpinned corner of the poster was caught up in the swirling
breeze.

Xander froze. Slowly he turned, first toward
his window, sure that it had been left open. When he realized it
was closed, he turned instead toward the poster.

The wind was gone and the corner of the
poster floated gently back into place against the wall.

“
Did I just do that?” he
whispered for fear of disrupting the sacred feeling in the
room.

In response, a soft breeze swirled around
his legs. The sheets that had unfurled from the ball of covers on
his bed swayed from side to side.

Xander swallowed hard and wiped away the
beading sweat forming at his hairline. He tried taking a deep
breath but his mouth quivered as he tried to inhale.

“
Okay.”

Reaching up, he ran his hands over both
sides of his face, as though it might help him wake up from what
was clearly a dream.

“
Okay, okay, okay, okay,”
he repeated like a mantra into the empty room. “Let’s… let’s try
this again.”

Xander focused on the poster. Instead of
straining as hard as he had during his first attempt, he relaxed.
If there was some other presence in the room with him—he was loathe
to use the word ‘ghost’—then it would act without his
prompting.

A soft whisper of wind caught his attention
seconds before the edge of the poster began to dance in the breeze.
Xander couldn’t decide if he should be smiling with excitement or
screaming in fear. He settled on a nervous laugh that sounded like
he was suffering from a horrible case of hiccups.

“
More,” he said and the
wind responded.

The posters beside the large one began to
flutter as the breeze spread across the wall. The centermost
poster, with its three rappers staring angrily ahead, flapped as
the wind intensified. Xander heard the screech as the tape holding
the poster to the wall tore free. The poster hung precariously to
the two strips of tape on the top of it before they gave way as
well. The poster shot to the ceiling, caught up in a miniature
cyclone.

As quickly as it appeared, the wind died
away. The poster floated back down to the floor, settling on the
carpet at Xander’s feet.

Looking around, he took in the full
destructive power of the wind that had materialized in his
otherwise secluded room. His stacks of drawings had inadvertently
been blown aside and were now strewn across the bed’s nightstand
and onto the floor. A few of the other posters drooped from where
their topmost tape had pulled free from the wall. They hung over
each other like victims. With a soft tearing noise, another poster
pulled free and fell onto his bed.

A knock on the door scared Xander horribly
and he let out a stifled scream. Clutching his chest, he turned
toward the bedroom door.

“
Who is it?” he asked
breathlessly.

“
Grandpa. Everything okay
in there?”

“
Yeah, Grandpa.
Everything’s good.”

“
Then open the door,
idiot!”

Xander turned the handle and found his
grandfather standing impatiently in the doorframe. His grandfather
looked past him at the destruction in the room beyond.

“
Working on homework, huh?
You live in squalor.”

“
What do you need,
Grandpa?” Xander asked patiently.

“
Dinner’s ready. Come on
downstairs.”

The rest of the family was already seated by
the time he and his grandfather joined them in the dining room.
Xander took his seat and ran a hand through his hair. It was
tangled from the wind and slightly matted from his sweat but it
didn’t bother him.

His parents had already put food on the
individual plates and his father stuffed pieces of a dinner roll
into his mouth without looking up. Looking at his father was like
looking in a slightly aged mirror. His dark hair and equally dark
eyes came from his paternal side. Xander had to assume that when
his grandfather was younger, he would have shared the similar
features of his son and grandson.

When his father finally did look up from his
dinner, his expression was piercing and sour. His gaze passed
quickly over Xander before settling onto his grandfather. The two
elders shared a look that left Xander feeling uncomfortable.

“
What would you like to
drink?” his mother asked suddenly, pushing away from the
table.

Xander broke his gaze away from the angry
men and looked sympathetically to his mother. “How about a
beer?”

“
How about water,” she said
matter-of-factly.

He smiled sheepishly. “Water’s fine, Mom.
Thanks.”

As his gaze fell back to the two men, he
found their irritated gaze broken and both men eating noisily. They
seemed to purposely avoid each other’s occasional looks.

Xander tried to ignore his gnawing curiosity
and began eating forkfuls of mashed potatoes. Before he could
finish the small pile of potatoes, however, his father dropped his
roll noisily onto his plate and leaned back in his chair.

“
What are you going to do
with your life?” he asked, staring intently at Xander.

Xander swallowed his
mouthful of food and wiped the corners of his mouth with his
napkin. “I’m going to college so I
can
do something with my
life.”

His father snorted derisively. “That’s not a
real college. It’s where people go when they don’t apply themselves
enough to get into any decent schools. You’re not trying on any of
your assignments. You’re coasting through with a ‘C’ average.
You’re a junior, for God’s sake, and you’ve changed your major more
times than your underwear.”

“
Where did this suddenly
come from?” Xander asked, perturbed.

“
Does anyone want any more
to drink?” his mother asked, trying to redirect an uncomfortable
conversation.

“
Stay out of this, Lily,”
his father interjected. “This is something he needs to
hear.”

“
What more do you want from
me?” Xander said. “I’m going to college so I don’t have to work
some crappy menial job like you do every day!”

“
You watch your tone. Don’t
think I haven’t noticed that you’d rather spend time with that
sorority girlfriend of yours than focus on your schoolwork. Even
Sean is living on his own and you’re still living with your
parents. When are you going to grow up?”

“
Leave him alone, Jack,”
his grandfather said as he threw his napkin onto the table. “You
need to tell him what’s really upsetting you.”

His father coughed once before scowling at
the older man. “No, we don’t.”

“
He has a right to
know—”

“
No,” his father said
adamantly.

“
It’s going to have to
happen sooner rather than—”

“
I said no!” his father
demanded, slamming his hand down on the table. The bowls and
glasses rattled from the impact.

“
Is there something going
on between the two of you?” Xander asked. “Something I need to
know?”

“
Yes,” his grandfather said
immediately.

“
No,” his father quickly
corrected.

“
Okay,” Xander said slowly.
“Is this something you’d like to share?”

“
Yes,” his grandfather
added emphatically.

“
No,” his father
said.

“
Well, at least dinner
isn’t awkward or anything,” Xander said.

His father grew disturbingly calm and set
his fork down next to his plate. “Then you’re excused.”

“
Excuse me?”

“
Take your plate with you
and go upstairs to your room.”

“
You’re sending me to my
room? You know I’m twenty, right?”

“
Go to your room and let
your grandfather and me talk in private,” his father said
sternly.

Xander sensed the danger in pushing his
father further. In a huff, he pushed back his chair and grabbed his
plate before walking out of the room. As he reached the stairs, he
could hear the two men arguing in hushed tones.