Chapter 12-Getting an Upgrade

Callum awoke with a massive headache.

Alice was sitting with her feet resting on his coffee table.

"Hey." Callum said the first thing that popped into his brain. "Get your feet off the coffee table."

As he spoke, he realized something was wrong. Looking around, he saw everything in slow motion.

Alice was slowly taking her feet off the table and Stardust was slowly padding towards him.

He then heard Alice speak at an excruciatingly slow pace.

"This.....Is.....A.....Side.....Effect.....Of.....Absorbing.....A.....Mind.....Crystal.....With.....A...Green.....Soul." She said, maddeningly slowly. "It'll.....Wear.....Off.....In.....About.....Five.....Seconds."

Callum waited for five seconds. Nothing changed. 'Maybe she meant her time.' He thought to himself.

He waited for almost three minutes before it wore off.

"What was that?" He asked.

"It's a side effect of absorbing a mind crystal with a green soul." She responded. "It temporarily gives you a massively increased perception, and permanently gives you a smaller increase in perception."

Callum looked at her curiously.

"Why aren't you interrupting me?" He asked.

"After you absorbed the crystal, it's become difficult to predict what you're going to do or say." She replied. "It's odd how you have managed to twist fate so much that I can't easily read it." She seemed concerned about this.

"Why didn't you tell me about the pain?'' Callum asked, feeling echoes of the horrible sensations when he thought about it.

He shuddered.

"I genuinely forgot." Alice said innocently. "But it strengthened your ability, so couldn't you just say 'thanks'?"

"I won't thank you because you didn't prepare me for it." Callum said angrily.

She pouted but didn't reply.

"I should not have even trusted you." Callum reprimanded himself.

Callum went to get a drink of water and pointedly ignored Alice. Angrily reaching in, he clenched his hand slightly and was shocked to see the glass shatter.

Callum sighed. 'My body was forced to keep up with my mind.' He was just done with her and everything right then. 'So I'm stronger now.'

He wasn't pleased by his jump in power, but what could he do?

Leaving the glass shards that had gotten everywhere, he got another glass and held it like a delicate flower.

'It's going to take a while to get used to this strength.' He thought, annoyed. 'This is going to be a hassle.'

"When are you leaving?" Callum asked so abruptly that Alice flinched.

"Can't I stay for a while?" She asked.

Callum set his glass down gently, strode up to her, and bent down to look her in the face. "I can't afford another mouth to feed." He hissed.

Alice shrank as far back into the couch as she could.

"How did you feed Salem then?" She asked tremblingly.

"His full ride scholarship included food." Callum's anger evaporated and was replaced by sorrow.

Alice felt guilty for bringing up Salem. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Callum.

"Just go, please." He put his face in his hands. "I don't want to deal with you right now."

Alice looked hurt, but was wise enough not to try and wake the sleeping dragon within Callum.

So, she quietly got up and slipped out the door.

"I'm starting to doubt my vision now." She muttered to herself, walking to her home.

"I really hope I was right."