Page 23 of Savage Love
“Astra. Baby, stop. Breathe, Astra. You’re doing it. Look at yourself,” he encourages.
His calm demeanor relaxes me, and I realize that I am, in fact, not drowning. I am treading water with minimal effort. “I’m doing it,” I say. “Zev, I’m doing it!”
“You are,” he smiles. “Doesn’t prove ability, though. Do you feel any different?”
“Uh. No,” I say.
“Okay. Let’s get out of the water and try something. It’s fucking cold,” he says.
“No, it’s not,” I say.
“Astra, I’d like to think I’m a strong man, but I am nearly shivering. Are you not cold?” Zev asks, pulling me back toward the dock. When we get close, Ren pulls me out of the water with ease and offers me a towel.
“She’s warm,” he says as Zev pulls himself out of the water. He gives me a strange look before standing and walking over to put his hands on my face.
“That’s it,” Zev smiles. “Hydrokinesis.”
“Astra. Heads up,” Ren says. When I turn toward him, he immediately tosses the water from his bottle at me.
“Why the fuck would you do that? Shouldn’t you warn someone before doing shit like that?” I snap at him. He grins, and I frown at him.
“Look, Astra. Look at what you are doing,” he says softly, pointing to a blob of water in mid-air. It’s shifting and swirling but stays floating.
“What the… How do I get it down?” I ask.
“Think about where you want it to go,” Zev says.
I smile mischievously and picture the blob of water separating and hitting both of them. The water responds immediately and separates into two even spheres before launching directly at Zev and Ren. When it hits them in the face, I burst out laughing.
“You little shit,” Ren laughs and wipes the water off his face.
“That was fun to watch,” Marta laughs as she walks over to us. I thought I could hear other thoughts, but they were distant until now.
“Hey,” I say with a smile.
“Hi,” she beams. “Hydrokenisis? Pretty funny, considering you never even touched the water until a few days ago.”
“Yeah,” I laugh.
“She can also communicate telepathically now,” Zev says. “That was the first thing to emerge this morning.”
“Oh, wonderful!” she says.
“It’s freaky,” I say.
“Well, if you ever need someone to talk to other than these two boneheads, you can reach out to me, no matter where I am,” Marta says to me. “Zev cannot read my mind, so we can shit-talk him.”
“Okay,” I laugh. I needed advice, but I had no idea how to ask for it. Would she tell Zev that I betrayed him by thinking about getting fucked by her other brother? The thoughts are intrusive, but it still feels like I’m doing something wrong. “Can I rest now?”
“Yeah,” Zev says. “Let’s get something to eat. Want to join us, Marta?”
“Sure,” she says.
“Want to try something new, Astra?” Ren asks me.
“You? Absolutely…”I think to myself. Down, girl. What the fuck is wrong with you?
“Sure,” I say. “What is it?”
