Brian's Game

Brian and Keita, the main couple from Keita's Wings, meet for the first time in this prequel to The Spectra Unearthed. 

Brian could have sensed the three girls’ emotions even without his abilities. They fidgeted, kicked at the ankle-deep meadow grass, looked anywhere but at him. Their brothers, who had come to the annual meeting in the previous years, called the Summit the dullest place on earth, even after Brian told them that boredom was a sign of a dull mind. The girls were not bored. They were uneasy, angry, even scared, but not bored.

 

Brian grabbed a coin from his pocket and flung it into the grass between them. The nearest girl, Keita Sage, leapt backward. Her bright green eyes fastened on his face, and for a moment she looked like she might attack—or just bolt into the grass and never be seen again. But the look faded, and she quickly turned away again.

 

“Would you like to play a game?” Brian asked.

 

Zuri, who he’d met last year, met his gaze. “I’m willing to try,” she said.

 

He pointed to the coin. “The person who best lifts that into the air and holds it steady wins.”

 

The new girl Carli, who had been staring wistfully at the surrounding walls, turned toward him. Her expression was still dangerously angry, but a hint of a competitive smile haunted the corners of her mouth. She raised her arms, and the tops of the grass began swirling, pointing this way and that. A sudden wind broke off blades and sent them swirling in circles, faster and faster, until the coin was swept upward. It rose to shoulder height, tumbled about by the wind. Carli gave a satisfied smile. The winds dispersed, and the coin dropped.

 

“Does that count as steady?” Zuri asked.

 

Carli scowled. “You do it then.”

 

“I didn’t mean to criticize,” Zuri said, but she stepped forward. Like Carli, she raised her arms before she began, but instead of rushing wind, a stream of water shot from the ground, launching the coin into the air. Brian didn’t flinch as droplets sprinkled his legs and arms—he’d seen her brothers do the same. The coin floated for a moment, held up by the water, and then it fell.

 

Brian looked at Keita. “Want a turn?”

 

Her eyes narrowed. “You go first.”

 

He hesitated, but saw no way out of it. He bent down, picked up the coin, and held it flat in his palm.

For a moment the girls stared. Than Zuri began to laugh. “That doesn’t count!” Carli cried.

 

“Why not?”

 

She sputtered but couldn’t seem to come up with an answer.

 

“So, Brian wins?” Zuri asked.

“Not yet.”

 

Keita’s expression was as hard to read as all Sprites, but something in her eyes was twinkling. She dug her bare toes into the earth. For a moment nothing happened. Then the grass stems began to change. Brian stepped back as they thickened, stretching toward the pale mountain sunshine. Keita stepped forward, took the coin from his hand, and set it on top of the hardened grass stalks. It stayed, unmoving.

 

“All right,” he said. “You win.”