Chương 20: The Garden Answered

Nadia had already spent the night wrapped around me after getting her power back. We had kissed, touched, and slept snuggled together without anything going wrong. But I didn't think the truth of it really hit her until breakfast.

"Adrian, look!" she said, little stars in her eyes.

"He's not running away!" She was talking about Nero, who was happily leaning into her scritches without being aware of the emotional commotion he'd caused. She kept stroking him even as little tears appeared in her eyes. Her smile was so wide.

"He's not," I said.

"Why would he?"

"I don't…" she began, then paused.

"I guess a little part of me was scared that once I got my power back, the problems would be back too."

"And now?" I asked her. Her smile grew even wider.

"I can't wait to try it out. Think we can skip breakfast and go outside? I wanna play with it. Feel that it's real." She could feel it inside herself, in the same way powered people seemed able to tell they weren't quite normal anymore. Having gotten her power back after time without it, she felt that sensation anew, no longer hidden under a dusting of having gotten used to it. But seeing her power in action was something else, of course, and I agreed quickly. I followed her into the garden, catching up with her.

In her enthusiasm, she had run all the way to the far side, near the slope that descended from the hill, where the garden was more like a wild field but was still mine. She had dug a trail through the snow with her shoes, little footprints betraying her mad dash to the first plants she thought could be test subjects. Her hands glowed violet. I leaned forward, not to see the result of her power but her eyes. There they were again, glowing violet like gemstones lit from within.

I'd missed them, I realized, even though I had only seen them for a fleeting, time-frozen moment when we met. As she used her power, they were just the eyes I remembered. Splendid and mesmerizing.

"Wheew," Nadia whistled.

"Look!" Before her stood a gnarled, stunted little tree that looked simultaneously older than time and far too young. Barely a couple of feet tall, it had been a dormant sapling before her ministrations. Now it was an abomination. But it was alive and healthy, if misshapen.

"You did it!" I exclaimed with a grin. She turned to face me and kissed me hard, touching my face with hands that glowed for one tiny moment. I felt a tingle, like refreshing electricity, like an energy drink. Then she saw what she had done and retreated so quickly she fell on her butt.

"Here." I offered her my hand, and she stared at her own with wide eyes.

"I used my ability on you," she muttered, panting from panic and exertion.

"I—""It felt nice. Tingly. I feel energized," I said. She visibly sagged in relief.

"Thank God it wasn't on drain mode. This is so embarrassing. It's like peeing your pants because you laughed too hard, except worse. A random power discharge? What am I, a teenager?"

"You are cute when you are flustered," I told her with a grin. She sputtered, caught unaware.

"Adrian, my prince, are you making fun of me?" Her tone was dangerous. My grin remained.

"Just saying things as they are. You are cute and precious, and I love you, my princess." She shook her head, but not without a smile, and took my hand. She jolted me again, and I felt reverberating vibrations of energy in my body, like a miniature benign spark.

"That's what you get for teasing me," she said with a pout. Since last night, our little interactions had changed. Just the undertone, and only when we both felt at ease and in the mood, but I loved it. Given the blush on her cheeks, she did too.

"It's the cold," she said.

"And effort. Feels like I've just run a sprint up the stairs."

"Do you want to test the drain?" I asked her.

"Sure," she said.

"I don't feel like killing little tree here, though." I looked at it. She looked at it.

"Okay," she agreed.

"Maybe it's mercy." The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Her hands glowed. She frowned. She touched the tree, and her hands and eyes glowed again. This time it wilted and kept withering until the wood was brittle and dry.

"Interesting," she said.

"Drain only works when I touch things. Wasn't like this before."

"Not my fault," I said, hands raised in defense.

"Perhaps you are holding back subconsciously?"

"Well, then, more tests are needed! Come, let's see if we have some seeds. If we can make plants grow rapid-fire, then fuck groceries, we've got ourselves an unlimited supply!" The experiments started small. A patch of brambles became thick and impassable under her touch. Then we found the seeds we were looking for, and Nadia could touch the soil they were planted in to make them sprout quickly enough for us to follow their growth with the naked eye. They were strange at first.

Misshapen fruit that tasted watery and dull. Vegetables that would never sell at a store and tasted bland, but were perfectly edible. Over the following days, the produce improved. The plants looked more appealing, and Nadia no longer needed to touch them to make them grow. There were more failures here and there. Sometimes Nadia forgot herself while trying to shape a plant into the perfect shade tree, then almost fainted when she tried to get up.

Making all that stuff grow wasn't easy on the body or the mind, and she retired to bed with a throbbing headache after eating a whole week's worth of fast-grown supplies, plus meat we'd paid for. A week was an exaggeration, but she did eat a lot. We tried the drain too, but no matter what, she couldn't get past her mental blocks. It remained confined to touch, and she couldn't control it well. Sometimes she managed to stop after some light withering.

Other times she went all the way and completely killed her targets.

"Poor trees, sacrificed in the name of superhero science," she said solemnly, and we shared a laugh. They weren't wasted, at least. I chopped them up and stacked the wood for later seasoning. The more we experimented, the more it hit us that what we had was special. Nadia was so happy she had not only her life back but her power too. She smiled every day. She demanded cuddles and special attention and always gave me so much love I thought I would overflow.

We made love every night, and every time she let me in a little more, letting me take care of her. Letting someone else be there for her while she enjoyed the moment and let her playful self out.

"And this is just the beginning, Adrian!" she ranted at lunch one day. We had watched a news clip about a new Supe back in Central City. A girl who could shape solid light quite spectacularly had wrapped herself in a radiant mantle that carried her through the air and lent its force to every movement. During the day, she was like a walking nova, a corona she could shape into shields, wings, hands, and solid objects. At night, she became an aurora of moonlight and starlight.

It was hard to stay jealous when she was that awe-inspiring.

"And why be jealous?" Nadia asked.

"With your power, you could have that and more. So much more." We had discussed how to get new powers, of course. Not from good guys was our provisional idea, and we hadn't gotten much further than that. It was still early, while I secretly knew that unless I got rid of Nadia's elf mutation, I wasn't going to get new powers anytime soon. But she didn't need to know that.

"And you know this isn't the first time I've been right," she said.

"Perhaps you're always right, my Nadia."

"Say that again." I understood the need beneath the literal request and drew her against me.

"You are mine, my Nadia." She purred against my chest and melted into my arms. It took a couple of weeks before our experiments with Nadia's power escalated. By then, the roof was half-fixed and our money was tight. We had half a mind to take another bounty. We knew we would have to, and soon. But it wasn't urgency that allowed us to take the next step. Trust did it. Nadia finally trusted herself and her own power.

"Ha!" she laughed.

"They didn't stand a chance!" The weeds growing between the porch stones were all withered.

"You did it," I said with a grin.

"Death aura is back!" She glared at me.

"Don't call it that, please." I hugged her from behind and kissed her ear, hoping she'd accept my apology.

"I won't. That was insensitive of me. Let me make it up to you." More kisses, and then more tests. She never touched me with the draining side of her power, but we did experiment with the healing one. On people, it turned out, it still needed touch. The healing was minor but useful, able to close a nick on my thumb after a wooden pallet gave me a splinter. It left her exhausted, but, well, practice, practice, practice.

"Please don't get hurt just to let me practice," she pleaded.

"And you don't hurt yourself just so you can practice." She looked at me sheepishly, caught in the act of thinking treasonous thoughts. And then, finally, we were ready.

"I think this is it," Nadia said as she showed me the bounty she had selected." A rural livestock predator lurking near an abandoned vineyard. Extermination needed at the request of the farmer. Think we can take it?"

"I really do," Nadia said with certainty.

"We have your time-stop, my death touch, my healing touch, and my plant-manipulation aura. We are much better equipped than we were when we dealt with the boar."

"But the target looks more dangerous," I said. It wasn't the blurred images of what could only be described as a dark blob with silvery highlights that worried me. It was the pictures of what it had done to the sheep and cows.

"We'll be careful," Nadia offered.

"And by dealing with this, we're going to make good money and help a farmer stay in the countryside instead of being kicked into the city. God knows we need good people to farm, or we'll all be forced to buy hydroponic fast-grown food and printed meat."

"Don't we already eat fast-grown food?" I asked her. We were still in the early stages, so most of our food came from the store, but we had plans to till part of the garden and even build a greenhouse. Then Nadia would grow our own groceries.

"Yeah, but we know what power makes it grow. Do you trust corporations to use sane, humane powers? I sure don't."

"Fair. All right. Let's do this hunt."

"Not so fast, mister charmer," she said.

"Today, you and I are going to get cozy, and you're going to do that thing to my tits you did last night. With your tongue. Remember?"

"Mmmh," I said noncommittally.

"Maybe." She stepped close and curled her fingers into my shirt.

"Then let me remind you. I want your mouth on me until I can't think, and then I want you to fuck me like I'm yours forever." I caught her around the waist and lifted her into my arms.

"You are mine forever." Her eyes flashed violet, and her lips were tingly against my mouth.

"Then prove it." I kissed her and carried her upstairs.