Page 41 of Infinity Chronicles 1
“She told me Dante.” I can’t believe I’m actually still kinda mad about it. He stands when I roll my eyes and his mouth drops open like he’s going to argue. “Milo, he was nice to me at first, but now he’s a jerk most of the time. I mean, I might have flirted with Ollie a little bit,” I push my fingers close together, “but that was before I knew they were boyfriends. And to be honest, I didn’t even realize I was doing it, until he started getting mad.”
Ares’s eyes go wide, and he covers his smile with his hand. I chance a look in Milo’s direction. His phone is in his lap, like he might have dropped it. His face a little pale. “And Ollie flirts with me all the time, right in front of Milo.” Getting the courage, I slant my eyes in his direction. “You shouldn’t do that Ollie, it’s not fair to Milo.” Next, I meet Dante’s stare. “And you… Delaney is not nice, she’s like every mean girl rolled into one, but you shouldn’t treat her like you do either. You act like she’s your stalker, not your girlfriend.”
Ares leans his head back and shakes it slowly, his eyes still blown wide. “What in the actual fuck have you guys been doing here?” His tone is edged with humor, and a little incredulousness.
“Ares shut up,” Dante barks, taking a few steps in my direction. His face is hard as he points a finger in my direction. I sink back into the couch. Ares reaches up and puts his palm over Dante’s chest, stopping his approach. Dante looks down at his brother, then his eyes dart back to me. His shoulders drop slightly. “Delaney is not my girlfriend. I’m doing the artwork for the school yearbook. She’s the head of the committee. I have to work on it after school to get the extra credit.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I just thought… wait, she told me she was your girlfriend!” I begin to apologize, then remember her confronting me in the hallway.
“Well that was obviously a load of bullshit. I didn’t tell her Mr. Adams asked me to help you either.” Dante huffs before dropping back onto the sofa. Is he mad at me? He’s not looking in my direction, so I can’t see his face.
Across from me Milo clears his throat. “Oliver and I… we…” He turns to look over at Ollie, his shoulders rise as his eyes widen. “We… um…” Milo continues to stammer, running his hand through his hair.
“We’re really close, in a lot of ways. But we aren’t together in that sense really,” Ollie interjects. He never even bothers to look up; he’s still completely relaxed. Milo nods his head to confirm Ollie’s statement. He looks the opposite of relaxed. His hands are jerky as he brushes imaginary lint from his shirt.
My face heats, I’ve obviously made a rash judgment, and I’ve embarrassed myself and Milo. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth as I try to form an apology. Ares drops his palm heavily on my thigh, above my knee. I look over at him, my eyes search his for the right words. He winks at me, the only sign of encouragement I get.
I stand, feeling all kinds of awkward. Tangling my fingers together I approach Milo, “I’m sorry for making an assumption.” Ollie deserves an apology too, but this one is for him. “I’ve never really had very many friends. I’m not trying to use my ignorance as an excuse, I shouldn’t have done that, sorry.” Milo looks up, his lips in a thin line as he attempts a false smile.
Ollie swings his legs over to the floor and leans into Milo’s side, wrapping his arm over his neck. “He’s not mad at you Laura. He’s mad that through all of this, none of us have made our intentions clear.” My brow furrows.
“What intentions?” I question as Milo jabs his elbow into Ollie’s side, causing him to fold back and grunt.
“Easy bro,” Ollie pants through his teeth.
Milo’s eyes go wide. “Shit, man I’m sorry.” He stands, backing away from me and the couch. “I wasn’t trying to exert. Are you okay?”
Ollie unfolds on a slight wince. “I’m good, we all probably need to focus on not using our abilities for a little while, a least until we get a handle on the extra boost.”
“That was my fault. You hurt him because I was standing close to you?” I’m the one backing away now. I don’t think I truly believe I’m somehow enhancing their abilities, but I can’t stand the thought I might be the catalyst for them hurting each other either. First Ollie with the fire, now Milo. “I think you guys need to tell me what’s happening. If I’m the one causing this then I need to figure out how to make it stop.”
Ares sits forward on the sofa, resting his elbows on his knees, his eyes tracking my movement. “That’s the last thing we want to do.” My mouth pops open to argue with him and Ares raises his hand. “I just mean the making it stop part, we will explain what’s going on.” I deflate, the fight leaving me. He pats the spot I was sitting in, inviting me to return. I look at Milo who is standing near the fireplace shaking out his hands.
Slowly, I make my way back. Keeping as much distance between Ollie and myself as possible. I feel like he might catch fire if I get too close, it’s not reasonable because we were sitting together on the floor earlier, but still I do it.
Ares places his hand on my thigh again, his fingers curl slightly above my knee with a gentle squeeze. Like he knows I’m afraid of triggering them. I narrow my eyes at him. “Can you read my thoughts?” It’s not the first time I’ve questioned their uncanny sense of me. Ares doesn’t answer me, but he does have a dark grin curling his lips.
Knowing that’s the only answer I’m going to get, I push on. “So, tell me about the Infinity, whatexactlyis it? And how am I involved?”
Fifteen
My question is met with silence. I look at all four of them, wondering if they ever plan on telling me anything. Ares sighs. “Can’t expect boys to do a man’s job.” The others ignore the little dig as he continues. “I’ll start with the basics, considering these guys’ track record with you involving information. An Infinity is usually made up of two men, and one woman. There are a very few that have three men and one woman, we however have four to one.”
“How do you know?” I interrupt.
“Know what?” Ares drops his head back on the sofa, he’s already exacerbated and it’s just my first question.
“Know that there is only one girl, woman. I mean there are four of you, so could that mean there is more than one woman?”
Ares tilts his head, studying my face. “No, I’m confident there is only one.”
“How?”
Dante scrubs his hand over his face. I feel a slight pang of exclusion. They already have these answers, they grew up knowing their lives would change irrevocably at some point. I know nothing. Hell, I still don’t know if I believe them. I pinch my lips together and look down.
I feel the couch shift. “I’m confident there is only you, because I feel it. I know you won’t understand it yet, but I think at some point you will.” Ares tilts my face up, so I can see the patience in his eyes. I nod and wait for him to continue. “Where was I?” he mumbles under his breath. “Ah yes, so we,” he makes a circle with his hands encompassing Milo, Dante, and Ollie, “are like the reactants, and you are the catalyst, or Synergist as we call it. We each have an ability as you’ve witnessed a little of. When you were introduced into the equation our abilities are amplified. Hence Ollie sparking up. When you first came into contact with one, or all of us, there was a reaction. Tingling you said, if I remember.” Ares pauses, waiting for my reaction. I nod my head, biting my lip. How much of our earlier conversation did he hear?
“That tingling is like a warning system. It’s a way for us to know we’ve encountered a match.”
