C15 Jahni

Shrunken down by a set of very sharp, very dark eyes, Vincent waited for the silence to pass. Jahni towered in front of them, not a drop of expression on his face. He was staring. Just staring. Kailan didn't seem bothered, of course. Vincent, however, was itching to escape his unrelenting glower.

"Where's Apr—"

"Classes," Jahni interrupted, the weight of his stare growing heavy.

Vinny pressed his tongue petulantly against his inner-lip and scoffed. "We get the point. You don't like us. Can we just cut to the chase?"

"I do not like you enough to 'cut to the chase'."

"So are we just going to stand here?" Kailan asked, without even blinking. He was used to this kind of intimidation, they used it quite often in military school.

Jahni didn't say anything, but loured at Kailan—that same primal, predatory glare they'd been pressed with for ten minutes now.

Kai only smiled in return. "So what are you and April, exactly? How'd you two meet?"

"Do not waste my time with foolish questions," Jahni snapped, and Kailan's hands rose in surrender.

"Yeah, Kai," Vinny taunted, only to receive the brunt of Jahni's glaring.

"Perhaps you should just stand there." Jahni took a step closer. For once, his expression shifted. His eyes stared, emotionless, but a ghost of a smile peeled across his face. "April seems firm on bringing the both of you into our safe-haven. If you have come back, surely you are ready to show me your potential, are you not?"

"Oh." Kailan's voice fell flat. He knew the purpose of returning to the warehouse, but he'd kept it out of sight and out of mind up until this point. His troubled expression caused Jahni to narrow his eyes, the corners of his mouth turning up in satisfaction.

"Are you not ready?" Jahni asked, as if he already knew the answer.

Kailan's look soured into something irate. "What exactly do you want us to prove, grandpa?"

Jahni didn't blink at his insult; any negative feelings he held toward Kailan's words stayed hidden. "What makes a Wicked differ from a human, Kailan?" The way Jahni said his name almost felt like he was spitting out something disgusting.

Kailan practically bristled, but remained quiet.

"Let me give you a hand." Jahni looked to Vincent. "What was your name again?"

"Vincent." Vinny held a firm tone of voice, but it was laced with something weak and wary—Jahni was a terrifying man.

"Vincent," Jahni said as he took a step closer, looming in a nearly dominant fashion, "there is a lesson to be learned here. Let Kailan set an example for you. I am not one to be overlooked; do not turn a deaf ear to me."

Vinny shook his head, making little sense of his words. "What are you talking about?"

"Your friend,"—Jahni gestured with his eyes,—"you may want to help him."

Vinny paused until the words settled in, and his head snapped in Kai's direction. Confusion melted his worry down. He looked fine. What was there to help? But as objects came into his peripherals, his hair stood on end. Rocks and debris had begun lifting from the ground around his friend, the smallest pebbles and flecks of dust circling him like Saturn's ring. Then the fabric of Kailan's sweater floated up as if he'd taken a drop into a tank of water. Even his hair had become weightless, a loose tress ghosting upward, slow and graceful as it went. Time seemed to stop around him, his movements sluggish as he swung to look at Vincent with widened eyes. He took a step back, but he was treading through pure density. And then it came to him. He was not struggling through water, but standing on the moon. Gravity was lifting around him, and in the moment, he was weightless.

"What the hell are you—" His voice cut off as everything around him came crashing down. Every tiny pebble and every grain of dirt hit the ground at once. There was nothing large atop him, yet Kailan felt as if he was being crushed. The force was enough to knock him off his feet.

It felt nearly like an earthquake, how hard Kailan had met the metal flooring. Helpless, he made an inhuman noise while writhing against the invisible weights. It was unbearable, the feeling of something large laid on his chest, digging knives into his ribs. He couldn't get up, or so much as speak. He only let out a small sob as he struggled to turn on his side. His lungs beat for air, the wind in his chest having been knocked out on impact, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't retrieve it.

"What's going on?" Vinny demanded. "What are you doing to him?"

"With no brute force, a human bone can bear the weight of up to nineteen-thousand pounds," Jahni spoke, tone dull and indifferent. "I've only added five-hundred pounds of pressure. I'll go higher if I must."

"Stop!" Vinny staggered back, his breathing rapid as he watched Kailan's desperate struggle.

"Six-hundred."

"That's enough!"

"Shall I raise it to seven-hundred?"

"I said, stop!" Vincent snarled, the strain on his throat unbearable.

He wasn't sure where it came from. He couldn't recall the tingling in his palms, or the tender burn of his breath. It just happened, like a shooting star: a beam of unfurling light fled from his body. He could feel the heat whip around him, his shirt rising at the seam and the stray locks of his hair fluttering against the waves of hot air. Like a missile, the stream of flames rocketed directly toward Jahni. He was quick to step out of the way, and the fire crushed against the wall, clinging onto the ever-reddening metal before sparking out and then dying entirely.

Vinny dropped to his knees beside Kailan, breathless as he grasped him by the shoulder. "Kai, are you alright?"

"I'm going to fucking kill him," Kai gasped between breaths, rolling over as he hugged his sides.

Slowly, he pulled himself into a sitting position. His eyes locked on Jahni's—who was simply watching; observing and calculating the two, though his focus clung primarily to Vinny.

"What the fuck was that for?" Kailan shouted, his voice echoing waves off of the warehouse walls.

"How else would I get your friend to demonstrate his abilities?" Jahni asked, calm as could be.

It pissed Kai off, but he had no retort; he did have a good point. His antagonizing had worked to spark something from Vincent.

"Fucking asshole," Kai seethed anyway, wincing and scowling as he struggled to his feet. He felt as if he was going to be bruised to a black and purple pulp, yet not a single thing had touched him. It was terrifying.

Jahni was far more dangerous than Kailan had first given him credit for.

"You're alive, are you not?" Jahni let off a chest rumbling chuckle. For the first time, he actually seemed amused by something. And that something was seeing Kailan in a ripe bout of physical pain.

For once, Vinny wasn't angry. More-so, he was relieved that Kailan was okay. He sat on the ground, raking a hand through his hair and letting out a breath he'd been holding far too long. He had never used his abilities to such an extent, and he wasn't quite sure how he had even managed to separate the fire from his body, but it was a rush—and it left him more drained than any panic attack ever could.

"Uh... what's going on?" April peeked in from the warehouse doors, puzzled as she read the room for an answer. "What's wrong with Kai?"

"Your friends can stay," Jahni announced, "but they need physical and mental training. They lack restraint." He turned his thick-set build around and made his leave, his heavy footsteps leaving clanky thuds on the metal below his feet.

Once he'd disappeared into the back room, Vinny glanced up at Kailan from his resting spot on the ground. "Is anything broken?"

Kailan ignored his concern, instead lashing his spite out at April: "Your friend is a dick." His volatile tone made her cock her head in confusion.

Then his attention snapped over to Vinny: "Also, what the fuck was that? Since when could you throw fire at people?" He was annoyed, his mood somewhat dejected as he gave each of his knuckles a loud crack.

April bounced on the balls of her feet, wedging between the two with a grin. "Well, Jahni said you guys could stay, isn't that great?" She sounded so excited; so pleased that Jahni had let them into their little trust-circle. Still, Kailan didn't like him, and Vinny was far too enthralled by his little fireworks show to pay mind to the situation.

Vinny stared down at his hands. He couldn't remember any of it. All he knew was that he had created a huge flash of light and appeased whatever concerns Jahni had. Whatever it was that he'd done—whatever had left the wall blistered and blackened—he wanted to do it again.

"He said we needed training." He looked to April.

He wanted to know more about his powers. As fearful as he was of them, learning to control his curse might just be the only way out of this nightmare.

"When do we start?"