Nature's Spirit Chapter 25 Leo's Secret
The first thing I had noticed when I was in the car, heading to my dad's house, was the gradual lessening of my psychic link with Tom and the horrible emptiness I felt when I was too far away from him to feel his presence. Thankfully, that didn't last long, as a few minutes after I had arrived, I felt his mind suddently reach mine as he appeared in my room. "It's hard to believe that emptiness is how it always was before our link..."I nodded in agreement.
Something I had to admit I loved about being at my dad's house was that Tom liked to spend the night with me. His presence was comforting, it made me feel safe, and I admit, I really liked to stare at his tendrills. They were just so...unnatural. I wanted to work in science when I grew-up, so something as unreal as those, or pretty much all of him, facinated me. An other week went by, an other weekend came and passed. Monday after school, I was to hang-out with friends. It was really just me going to Tom's house to play video games, but my mom didn't need to know that.
As we walked into the brightly colored hall, I saw a young kid, about 8 years old walking by. I understood right away that this was Leo. He had slightly curled blonde hair and blue eyes, like his brother, though not the same sureal pale color. He looked up at me, smiling as he slurped up some apple juice. "Hey. You must be Sarah." "Yeah. I am. And I'm assuming you're Leo?" He nodded. He then smiled brightly. "You're really pretty." I straightened up and blushed. "Uh...uhm...t-t-thank you. I honestly don't know what to say to that." The little kid turned around and walked away. "You're mine, remember that." I looked up to Tom who was sending me a mock death-glare. "Always." He seemed satisfied with my answer.
We decided to skip on the FPS games this time and decided for some more lighthearted multiplayer game, more specifically, New Super Mario Bros Wii. We were breezing through the levels, neither of us dying. That is, until I, who was playing as the yellow Toad, died randomly for no reason at all, even if I had been fully powered. I looked to my side to see Tom, giving me a look of pure innocence, but I could feel it in his aura that he was purely satisfied with his little trick. "No fair! You killed me..." He laughed and extended a shadowy tendrill towards me, pulling me closer to him. After a while, I heard his stomach rumble. I looked up to him to see a light blush on his cheeks. "Hehe... I haven't eaten much." I smiled. "Well, I'm kinda hungry too. Why don't we go get something? Wait...you guys do eat normal food, right?" He chuckled. "Yes, we eat normal food. I'd think you'd know that with all the time we spent together. Now let's go."
We were about to get to the kitchen when we heard a noise. The sound of something in there. We both knew that the only other person in the house was Leo, but we still decided to be cautious. Advancing without sound, or rather him without sound and me with a very light step, we reached the doorway only to both stop in surprise. The kid stood in the kitchen, yes, but he was also pulling down a cookie jar from a high shelf with a dark tendrill, which he manuvered in a somewhat clumsy way. He stiffened and turned around slowly, paling when he saw us. The appendage swiftly retracted into his back and he hugged the cookie jar, backing up until his back was to the fridge. "Uh...I..I...Um...How long have you two been standing there?" Tom had a much more bewildered expression than I did.
"Leo?... I thought you didn't have any of your powers yet." The child lowered his head. His older brother took the cookie jar away from him and placed it on a shelf before bending down so their eyes were on the same level. "I...I've had them for a while now. I didn't tell mom and dad anything because I knew they'd go nuts and start pestering me about it..." Tom smiled lightly and nodded, but I could feel that he felt somewhat hurt by this. I got the feeling that he and his brother were very close. His moments of reminiscing ended quickly though as he resumed inquiring his brother. "But, didn't it hurt when they grew out?" Leo tilted his head downwards, his hair falling in front of his eyes and he extended his four tendrills again. They had the same general look as his brother's, only a bit lighter and a bit stiffer. "More than anything I felt before." Tom raised an brow and brought a hand to his chin. "How did you hide them long enough to get control?!" The kid flashed a devious smirk. "I have my ways." I felt so out of place in this situation. Maybe I should leave the room... "Stay." I smiled and took a step forward.
Leo eyed us both. "Just like I have my way of knowing you two share a psychic link." His devious grin was wider than ever and both me and Tom blushed, him growing pale. Tom glanced at his little brother's wavering tendrills and, speaking maybe more to himself than anyone else, simply stated. "Mom and dad are gonna need to know..." "NO! Please... give me more time!" We had both flinched when we heard the little boy shout. Tom continued calmly, in an almost fatherly way. "They have to. They can help you get control, because right now, I can see you pretty much have none. And what are you going to do when you change for the first time?" The kid's expression of fear turned to one of profound thought, followed by an other devious smirk. "You tell mom and dad about my powers, I tell them about your psychic link." Our eyes widened. Tom stood up and backed away, until he was next to me. Looking down to his little brother, he grumbled quietly and I felt the pure annoyance and humiliation from his aura. "Grrr...Fine. I'll help you control your powers. But you keep quiet!"
As we walked back to the game room, his steps actually sounding hard against the floor this time, I couldn't help but let out a laugh. "He's your brother alright! Got the same genius you have." Tom seemed conflicted between his being outsmarted by his younger brother and me calling him a genius. I think he opted for my compliment as he gave me a light peck on the lips. "I don't get why it's such a big deal wether or not your parents know about his powers." He sighed. "Oh, when will we have known each other so long that I no longer have to teach you constantly about the different aspects of my kind?" He raised his eyes to the sky and lifted an arm up dramatically. I brought my hand to my mouth, keeping in my laughter. "Hey, that's what you get for choosing a human." He smirked at me and caused a slight buzzing static to fill my mind briefly, his way of telling me to shut up.
"It's because of how my parents are...being pure blood slenders, you'd get that they're kinda...traditional." He grimaced slightly and I guessed he didn't have the best time when he got his own powers. "You see, when we first gain our powers, our tendrills grow out...Which is horribly painful, mind you. We can't retract them for about a week, which means a week locked up inside the house. My parents, well...during this one week, made me do the most useless tasks to try to get me to control my powers. I'm not joking when I tell you they made me shine and tie my shoes using only my tendrills. I WAS SIX YEARS OLD!" I raised a brow and snorted at the idea. He then pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly. "And if you think that's bad, you don't even wanna know what they made me do after I transformed for the first time." I gave him a sceptical look and he opened his eyes, looking to me before answering. "One word. Lightbulbs." I giggled. I understood why the kid wouldn't wanna tell his parents if they were gonna use this as an excuse to make him do housework.
We played a bit more, our hunger forgotten with the current situation, before Tom's mind reached mine again. "I'm telling my parents about his powers anyway." I looked to him wearily. "But what about what he said? He'll tell your parents about this." I felt a sense of concern rise from him briefly and his eyes seemed distant, but he quickly returned to his usual emotionless expression and answered me. "He's bluffing."
AN: Oh God this chapter was hard to write...not cuz of a lack of inspiration, but because I have a killer headache. Idk what's up with me... Earlier I was in a Skype call with my best friend and some dude I used to go to school with, but it ended up lagging a lot and we had to stop it. I started getting a headache sometime after when I started talking with him about Pokémon, so my best friend decided to tease me by saying it's a certain slender that's mad at me for talking to an other male xD Hey, I wouldn't mind! Don't judge me... Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! All you people in all your different countries and stuff... It's a huge world, but the Internet is pretty dang small.