The kiss was earth shattering. Literally. We broke apart, the quakes startling us. But then he wrapped his arms tighter around me, protectively.
"Lance?" I narrowed my eyes, starting to pull out of his grip.
"This isn't me, Kitty," his eyes darted around the room before falling on mine. "I swear!"
"An earthquake? In Northbrook?" I burrowed in closer to him. "What do we do?"
"We need to get in the doorway," he commanded.
"LANCE!" I pointed to the large desk that was being sent our way. We both looked left and right for a way to go, but the bookcase and office chair had us boxed in on one side and the windows were shattering on the other, leaving us with no good escape option.
"Can you phase us through it?" he looked quickly between me and the desk.
"I can't just turn it on and off!" I followed his eyes darting for any possible way out of this. I could feel him move around me, wrapping himself as best as he could to form a shield. This was bad.
"Yes you can. Concentrate," his voice was surprisingly steady and gentle, which helped to calm me down. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and willing myself to become intangible. I wrapped my arms tighter around Lance, resting my forehead against his and focusing on keeping contact with him. After several minutes had gone by, I felt the ground still. I opened my eyes to find Lance and I still standing, our bodies pressed tightly together. He was smiling at me, letting out a sigh of relief before I looked to see the desk slammed against the wall behind us. Before I could stop myself, I was crying again, soaking Lance's t-shirt.
"It's okay, Kitten," he squeezed me to him, pressing a kiss on my forehead. "It's okay. We're okay."
"It's over?" I sniffled.
"Yeah," he rubbed my back. "How do you feel?"
"Tingly," I mumbled into his chest. "Both scared and relieved."
"You were amazing," he smiled weakly. "You know that?"
"I wasn't," I shook my head. "I was freaked."
"But you did it anyways," he tipped my chin up with his finger, forcing me to look at him. "That's what matters Pretty Kitty."
"You think?" I watched as a worried expression settled on his brow. "What?"
"I've called you two nicknames and you haven't yelled at me," his eyes danced with laughter while his hands smoothed the hair back from my face. "That really shook you up, huh?"
"We don't' exactly have earthquakes in Northbrook, Lance. Of course I was freaked!" I rolled my eyes and pulled back a little. We had gone from practically strangers, to yelling, to… what is this. I tilted my head back to ask him, but stopped when I saw his sad eyes on mine and a frown across his face."What? What is it?"
"I didn't know how much it scared you," his whisper was so soft I could barely make it out. "How much I scared you."
"Lance," I finally released his shirt from my fists. He pulled back before I could react. He thought I was scared of him? Scared of the guy that had been prepared to use his body as human bubble wrap? Scared of the guy that helped me not feel quite so on edge about this whole powers thing? Scared of the guy that believed in me, the real me, not some perfect illusion?
"I should go. Maybe you should go to that special school. Get the help you need," his jaw was set, making him looked determined, but his eyes gave him away. They fluttered around the ground, like he was trying so hard not to look at me.
"But," I started to grab him and yank him back, explain that I wasn't scared of him, that if anything he made me feel safe. But I never got a chance.
"Katherine!" the door flung open and there were my parents with Jean.
"Dad? Mom?" I wasn't sure what was more shocking, that they were here or that they were here with Jean.
"Are you okay, honey?" I focused on my mom's face, the dark circles under her eyes, as she spoke. Mom was all about appearances, so for her to leave the house so obviously frazzled meant things were really bad.
"I'm fine," I shot a look at Lance from the corner of my eyes, but he was busy shuffling his feet, trying to look invisible.
"Good. Let's go discuss… things… at home," My dad paused, though I wasn't sure if it was because he didn't know what word to use to describe my newfound skill or because he was studying Lance.
"But I," again I was cut off, but this time by quakes. I automatically reached out, tightly gripping Lance's arm, as I watched my parents cling to each other.
"I swear it's not me," Lance finally turned to look at me as his arm snaked around my waist and pulled me towards him. I wanted to tell him I knew, but other voices chimed in, reminding me we weren't alone.
"What does he mean? Who is this?" My dad's frown dug deeper into his skin, his wrinkles becoming more pronounced.
"Katherine?" My mother's voice sounded so small compared to his. It felt odd seeing such a role reversal in my parents. Usually my dad was the quiet one who I got along with easily while my mom was boisterous and demanding.
"Aftershock," Jean nodded, as if she was conferring with someone. "Come to the door frame!"
"Kitty," Lance pointed up to the ceiling, a large crack tearing the wall between where my parents stood with Jean by the door frame and Lance I stood closer to the wall we had slipped through minutes earlier before the earth had begun to move below us.
"Can you make it stop?" I followed the lines of the crevasse that was forming, noticing that it was almost circular, like if the ceiling completely broke apart, the walls around us would cave in.
"I don't know. I've always just started them and they stop on their own," his eyes darted around. "But I'll try."
"It's working!" After a couple of seconds, the quakes seemed to soften a bit.
"I can't hold it," he groaned.
"Just a little longer?" I looked at his gritted teeth, his eyes clenched shut, his knuckles turning white as he bore his nails into his skin. His whole body was shaking as if he was pulling the movement from the earth into him. I did my best to cling to him as his body jerked around like a jack hammer against me.
"We're going to need another way out. I think if I work with the quakes I can make a hole in the wall for us to get out through," his eyes popped open rapidly and focused on the exact spot in the wall we had slipped through earlier.
"But my parents," I looked back to the doorframe. I noticed Jean also had her eyes closed, and she seemed to be focusing with great difficulty. My parents huddled together near her, watching the cracks in the walls and ceilings spread.
"They have to hurry. We have to hurry," Lance held a palm out towards the wall, focusing the energy at it to break through and leave a gap wide enough for us all to slip through.
"Mom! Dad! Hurry!" I called, pointing out the escape route.
"Katherine, come here!" My father yelled. He was leaning against the door frame, my mother curled up into him.
"Maybe we should just go to the doorway?" I offered weakly.
"I don't think so, Kitten. We need to get out of here," Lance grunted. I threw my body tighter around him, willing my strength into him.
"He's right. We need to move," Jean nodded as her lips staid firmly shut.
"I can't hold this much longer," Lance moaned, his body shaking even faster. "Come on!"
"Dad!" I screamed as the giant bookcase fell towards him. Suddenly the earth surged in just the right way and the bookcase fell back against the wall.
"Let's go!" Lance called out and I reminded myself to ask if he had caused that once we were all safely out of here. Jean herded my parents over, an odd bubble encompassing the three of them from the bits of plaster falling all around us. I moved away from Lance and joined them through the hole he had made to outside. My parents collapsed to the ground while Jean mumbled something about contacting the professor. I turned back to see Lance moving to crawl out of the school just as the wall collapsed in front of him.