Chapter Nine: The Intensity

"Malorn...? Malorn...? Wake up..." I heard my name before feeling a softness on my cheek. I opened my eyes, seeing Nicole sitting up in bed next to me.

She looked so beautiful in her night time attire... but it was light out.

"Shit." I rolled over to face the wall, covering my face with the blanket. It was early. And we had to get up.

"Good morning to you too, Mr. Grumpy." Nicole giggled and gave me a small shove. "Come on, you have to take me to lessons in an hour."

I groaned. Then I heard Nicole whisper to Chester. My eyes popped open.

Chester landed on my head above the blanket and gripped edge where my head was. He flew forward and over the bed, taking the blanket with him. I was laying in bed, curled up in my boxers, freezing my freakin' ass off. I glared daggers at Chester.

"Don't be mad at him; I told him to," Nicole said, happily. "Now up you get!"

And here's the thing about Fire School kids. They're morning people.

"I hate you..." I grumbled.

"Love you too!" she said cheerily.

"I know," I said with a wink.

*Later that morning...*

"Ready to leave yet?" I called up to Nicole. I was waiting at the bottom of the steps.

"Ready!" she called. I turned around.

She was dressed in a long, red gown that went straight to her feet. She glided down the stairs. I believe it was called, "Bellow's Robe of Courtesy." And her hat remained "Brady's Solar Cowl" designed.

I was so stunned, I didn't even comment at first. "You look great."

"Thank you... Aren't you going to change?"

"Uh... why?"

"Well, we kind of need to blend in here, so I brought clothes from every world, just in case."

"Oh..." Crap.

"That's alright my boy," Mr. Coleman said, calling me from the top of the stairs. "I have something for you as well."

When I came back downstairs, I was dressed in, "Marvelous Shroud." I had to change my signature hat to "Feline's Somber Hat."

"Not bad," Nicole said with a judging look. I blushed. "Come on, I'm gonna be late!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door.

Nicole carried her staff in one hand, and looped her free arm in mine. We walked together swiftly but calmly through the streets of the city. I could tell Nicole loved it by the way she beamed.

"And here we are," I told her. The guards opened the gate and led her inside. I turned to leave with a smile on my face.

"Wait!" Nicole came running back out and kissed my cheek. She winked at me and ran back inside.

My head spun.

When I got back to the apartment, I greeted Mr. Coleman and started heading up the stairs.

"Forgetting something?" he mused. I came back down the stairs and felt like punching myself. He was holding a bag of envelopes. "First day on the job!" he said cheerily.

"Right..."

"Every day I'll give you a bag like this big one here. Once you deliver all of them for the day, you're done. Do them at your own pace."

"That's it?"

"Well there's quite a lot of letters in there. And it's about quarter to ten now. I expect you'll be done by around one thirty. Nicole's lessons end at two, so best to hurry up!"

Well, he didn't know my secret weapon.

I stepped outside and whistled for Kalohae. He appeared in a mist of skulls. "Alright, man. Let's get through these letters."

*Four hours later...*

"Oh my god..." Kalohae and I sat down on a park bench. "How many more?" I dug through the bag. There were about 20 left. "What time is it?" I looked at Big Ben. It was quarter to two. "Shit! Shit-shit-shit!" I jumped on Kalohae and flew as fast as I could to Barkingham Palace. When I got there, Nicole was waiting for me.

"I'm sorry! How long were you standing there?"

"About ten seconds. Right on time." She smiled at me. I wiped my forehead. Then I held out my hand to her and helped her onto Kalohae. He protested with a grunt out of sheer exhaustion. "Quiet you," I hissed. "So how were your lessons?" I asked, leading Kalohae back to the apartment.

"Great..."

"Doesn't sound like it."

"Well, the thing is, my instructor taught me a new fire spell... But she also asked me about the vision I had."

"How did she know?"

"She said she talked to Professor Ambrose about me. And she knows that I have other powers I can unlock." She put air-quotes around "other."

I squinted my eyes. I wasn't so sure if I liked this. I knew I had other powers too. But I didn't know if unlocking them was the best idea in the Spiral.

"Do you trust her?" I asked.

"She knows Professor Ambrose. I have to."

"Then do what she thinks is best. If unlocking these powers means protecting yourself from my father, then do it."

Then it hit me. She has powers to unlock. So do I.

My dad probably fought hers….

I shook it off. I didn't want to scare her.

"Thanks Malorn." She hugged me tighter. I kissed her head.

When we got back to the apartment, she was ready to head upstairs.

"Coming?" she asked.

"Yeah," I was about to follow when Andy eyed me. "Actually, I'll meet you up there in a bit. I promised Mr. Coleman I'd get some groceries for him at the market."

Nicole smiled at me. "Okay, see you soon."

I heaved a sigh.

And so, out we went... again.

*The next morning...*

Nicole and I were riding Kalohae to Barkingham Palace, and I wanted to ask her about our dads. Maybe there was a connection to our powers.

But then she smiled at me. I knew I couldn't do anything to let that smile go. So I smiled back and dropped her off. She kissed me on her way and away she went.

Four months had now gone by, and finally, I was learning a better way with going about the mail route. Before I'd leave, I'd sort all the damn letters and deliver them according to where people lived and I'd be done by one.

As for Nicole, she learned more and more about her visions, and her instructor told her to force herself to have a vision once every lesson. She was now at the point where she could have them at will. She'd always tell me immediately after the lesson.

"It happened again," she told me, getting onto Kalohae.

The vision was the same every time. Only in the beginning it was just voices. Now there were some blurry images.

The two of us would scream, and have to run as fast as we could. She'd hear me yelling to her, "Don't look back!" And then it would end.

"I figured that." I said.

But as dark as these times were, it was relaxing for us.

Since we were finished so early in the day, we did so much together.

Some nights we'd go to the park again and lay in the grass, watching the stars. Sometimes we went to the theater to see a play. Other times we went to the museum. A lot of the time we'd go out to dinner. And the other times we'd eat dinner with the Colemans.

And no matter where we were, who we were with, or how late it was, she'd always make me smile.

She came up with this poking game, so whenever she wanted to tell me she was having a good time, or wanted a kiss, she'd poke me. Then I started doing it to her.

But every night, we'd always lay in bed next to each other, watching each other to see who fell asleep first.

I loved watching her sleep. She always looked so peaceful... so happy... so beautiful. I loved every minute of it.

But then, there was a very different night.

It was a mid-winter evening with snow on the ground and flurries in the air. We strolled through the park together holding hands. We kissed in the snow and had a great time. When we got back, the Colemans and Chester were asleep, so I made some hot chocolate for us and we snuggled by the fireplace.

When it was time for bed, we got dressed and I was surprised that Nicole wasn't wearing a sweatshirt because it was so cold out. She caught me eyeing her. "I wanted to get cozy with you."

"That's fine by me."

We crawled into bed together and I pulled her close to me. I laid on my side with her on her side with her back against my bare chest. She was still wearing a t-shirt.

"I love you." She had said it to me before, but the intensity of that moment between us felt different.

"I love you too," I replied softly.

What I didn't expect is what happened next.

She turned over, and started kissing me. But this time, it was different. It was rougher and fiercer... with a new kind of fire. I pulled her closer, holding her around her waist as she kissed my lips harder and traced her hands all along my face. I felt one of her hands tug at her own shirt at the bottom, but I stopped her with my hand.

I pulled away for a second and looked into her eyes.

"It's just a shirt," she said, quietly. "And I'm not taking it off." I let her move it just a small bit out of the way, to reveal her mid-drift. "Just a little... step up?" she said it so meekly that I almost had to laugh.

"If that's what you want, then that's what you'll get," I replied. "I just want you to tell me what you want." She looked up at me through her hair. Then I realized what was wrong. "You have a beautiful body." I felt her relax in my arms as she smiled and then we stopped kissing, but I pulled her close.

We stayed like that, wrapped in each other's arms the whole night.