Free Independence by Shelly Crane Page A

was going to live here once upon a time, remember?"
    "You still can," I interjected. Caleb nuzzled the side of my neck and grunted his disagreement of that.
    "No offense, but I'm not interested in bunking with the leader o f our race, thank you very much, " Kyle spouted and mimicked Caleb's position by wrapping his arms around Lynne from behind. He nipped her neck. "And I think we'd rather live alone anyway."
    "Kyle," Lynne complained and slapped his hand, but she leaned back into him further and slung her arm around his neck. " Oh , my gosh, you're so crass!"
    "You like it, babe, don't lie."
    She grinned. "OK." She giggled. "I like it."
    "I know," he groaned and bit into her earlobe.
    I felt my lips part in shock of their brazenness. Yes, Caleb and I could be accused of being a little clingy , and I was never afraid of PDA, but those two were going above and beyond.
    Caleb thought so, too, and said, "All right, hit the road." He shooed them with his hand. "We just got here. I want Maggie to myself."
    "But we can't stay the night?" Lynne whined. "We wanted to be away from Kyle's house tonight if we could. No offense , Mister C hampion, but your family is driving me insane."
    "What' s wrong?" I asked. I loved the Jacobsons and couldn't imagine being annoyed with them.
    "That granny won't stop making inappropriate sex talk !" Lynne spouted. Caleb, Kyle and I burst with laughter. "What?" she said, vexed. "It's true! She's so nosy and always asking me if I'm being careful. I'll have her know I'm a proud V-card carrying member."
    I laughed harder. "Oh, my gosh , Lynne ! Stop!" I gripped Caleb's arm for support. "How could you not like Gran?"
"Oh, I like her just fine, but she's a ball buster."
    Caleb and Kyle were falling all over each other laughing.
    Kyle and Lynne eventually accepted defeat and knew they couldn't stay there with B eck and Ralph already taking up the guest room. So they started to leave . Lynne hugged me hard and said we should do something seriously girly soon, like shopping and coffee. I agreed.
    But they were on their way out when Kyle reached for Lynne's hand to tow her out the door, and that's as far as they got.
    They both gasped, but Lynne was the one who spoke. "What is that? Kyle!" she screeched in fear.
    He pulled her close and smiled in adoration, taking her face in his hands. "It 's OK, babe. It's the ascension," he breathed in reverence. " Just hang on to me."
    I felt Caleb's arm pull me into his chest, but I couldn't look away from the magic of what was going on. I saw it all as it transformed and realiz ed their abilities just as they did. They had some kind of affinities. Lynne's was water and Kyle's was air. My mind immediately went back to Captain Planet, a show I used to watch when I was a kid.
    Lynne was freaked. She had no idea how to go about using it or where to even start. All Kyle could think about was all the pranks he could do with his gift. I started to speak, to think of something brave and inspiring and…leadery to say.
    Lynne's eyes met mine right before her gaze jerked to the hall and she gasped. It all happened in a rapid succession that was almost too fast to follow.
    Lynne's ability fired without her consent as she panicked , breaking the fire sprinkler above her head on the wall, and blasting Beck with a downpour of water , who had chosen the worst moment to mosey into the hall.
    I felt in Beck's mind as the water that a scared Lynne dispelled pelted her skin . She screamed and fell back into the wall dramatically, more mad than anything else . I lifted my hand to stop the water spraying out, damming it back. Beck gave me a look of disgust at my act. I started to rush over, but she screamed for me to stop. I heard her thoughts, but tried to play it off as her being freaked by what happened.
    No such lu ck.
    "Don’t touch me!" she screamed and scrambled to the room. She slammed the door. I ran after her and tapped on the door gently, but she told me to go away.
    I felt torn.