Chapter 1

This is stupid. It is really late at night and I want to ask Cal out for a walk. There's no way he'd still be awake. I tip-toed up to the door and knocked. "Cal?" I called. He opened the door wearing nothing but a pair of briefs. I blushed heavily. "Sophie." He looked rumpled and sleepy and pleasantly surprised to see me. I dug my hands deep into the pocket of my capris. "I didn't mean to disturb you, I just wondered if you wanted to go for a walk." He stared at me for a moment, searching my face… "Sure. Just let me put some clothes on."

He shut the door, and after what seemed like 30 seconds, he came out wearing some jeans and a VERY well fitted t-shirt. I stared at him for a moment, and then he took my hand and said, "Shall we go?"

We strolled across the beautiful grounds, lit only by the night sky, hand in hand. "What did you ask me out here for?" The question caught me completely off guard.

"I was hoping you'd teach me more about healing."

"At night?"

"And… I rather enjoy your company…" Cal smiled.

"Okay. Healing is a delicate process that takes intense concentration." He looked around for a droopy looking flower, and settled for a pink rose. "Try healing this rose," He said, kneeling down to hold it.

"Are you sure you want to kill such a nice flower?"

"You won't kill it, Sophie."

"Alright."

I gently took the main part of the flower into my hands. 'Heal, I thought. I concentrated until I could barely hear Cal voice. "Can you feel the life energy?"

"Yes. It's wonderful, so delicate."

"I know. Try to concentrate on increasing that life energy."

To be honest, I genuinely couldn't. I remember the last time Cal and I were talking about life energy. How close he was sitting, how he held my hand in his warm, calloused palm. How he said he'd buy me dinner next time. Cal's joke…

"Sophie!"

"Yeah?" He gestured towards my hand. Where there was a single withering rose, there was now a bush.

"You created a whole bush. You should be proud."

"If I healed a person, would they start spouting extra limbs?"

"Healing is a tricky skill to learn you'll pick it up."

"Says the expert that was offered the fancy job."

"Actually, I need your help."

"You? Help?"

"Yes. Can you teach me how to teleport?"

"I don't know how I did it myself. I kind of just closed my eyes, opened them and I was there."

"I've been trying to teleport for years, and you manage it without thinking?"

"I had Elodie's power as well…"

"So… You haven't done it since?"

"No." I called my power, felt it rushing up from below, closed my eyes, and I was there. I was standing so close to Cal that if I'd gone any further, I'd have teleported inside him. I looked up into his eyes; he looked down into mine and pulled my hair back behind my ear. With his hand resting on my cheek like that, I thought he was going to kiss me.

"How did you do that?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You just have to build up your power, then go."

"Go?"

"Think about where you want to be." I took a few steps back, giving him some room to teleport. I watched him as he closed his eyes and concentrated. I blinked and he was right in front of me.

"You did it!" I yelled, excitedly.

"Yeah," he said, and then lowered his lips to mine. It was a brief kiss, almost testing the waters – just a little too long to be considered chaste, but not long enough to quite be a full blown kiss. He looked at me. Once again, I had to rescue myself from swooning.

"I thought you couldn't teleport."

"I couldn't."

"I bet you say that to all the girls."

"Sophie."

"I was joking."

"That's what you do-"

"What do you mean?"

"You joke to distance yourself from…other people."

"Cal-"

"I don't want to know." He walked away.

"What was I supposed to say? You kiss me and then what?"

He didn't turn around.

"Cal!" He used his newly found skill to teleport away. What did I do?