Magic Chapters 1

   It was just another day, an somewhat cool late-spring morning in Kansas.  To most people, a temperature fluctuation would be confusing, but in Kansas it was normal.  Expected, even.  It could just as easily keep a constant temperature as it could drop sporadically and go from sunshine to snow in less than an hour.  It's just the way it was.  
    Life went on as normal, the kids going to school, parents and the other adults going to work or wherever else they tended to go.  There was no reason to expect anything out of the ordinary to come out of a day like this.  But to a few of us, March of 2013 was a day we'd never, ever forget.

Chapter 1- Beginnings

    I was just another kid staying home that weekend, 19 and average.  I had somewhat long, wavy hair, and blue-gray eyes.  On the surface, I really did appear normal in almost every way, but when people looked closer- even when I myself looked closer- we noticed things.  They way my eyes shifted in the light and according to my mood, that even though I was a nice dirty blonde, each strand of my hair had three or four different colors in it.  I had all hair colors, from black and blonde to red and brown and even blue sometimes- all shades.  Noone really knew why.  It showed through in my facial hair when I let it grow out, too (and I absolutely hate facial hair).
    Underneath it all, I was far from anything normal, despite how average I felt most of the time.  Typically, I regarded myself as a hopeless romantic and enjoyed analyzing people.  I was manipulative and controlling, but moral and loving at the same time.  It was just so easy, and the only way I justified working people like putty was that it ended up being to their benefit in the end.  It got me into trouble often though, sometimes assuming the wrong thing and ruining things.
    But I was outside that day, burning trash in the yard.  I personally hated it, but it needed to be done.  It was a nice, cool day though, so I didn't mind it so much as you'd think.  Nice weather does alot to make things bearable, despite how much I might complain about it.  I remember the flames being more vivid then than they probably should have been, the explosive hues staining images in my eyes.  It took effort, but I had other things I needed to do.  I left the fire to go back inside, wishing I hadn't have had to  leave it.  Why was I drawn to it so much?
    I bagged up the trash in the house in a hazy mood, for some reason painfully aware of Hannah in my bedroom on her laptop.  She was a little redhead, maybe 110 pounds, and usually nice and perky, but still respectably reasonable in how she looked at life.  She was almost perfect to me, outside of her incessant stressing over things she had no reason to.  It was a big contrast to me, who never really stressed about anything, much less things I had no reason to.  It irked me, but it was a small price to pay.  She called out to me, whining playfully as usual, and I ignored her.  "John?"
    I brought the bag back outside to the fire, and my head just would not clear out.  What was I feeling?  Whatever it was, it was pissing me off a bit.  I wasn't a huge fan of not being in absolute control of my body.  It was something I took great pride in, being able to do things with my body others couldn't.  I could induce a second wind, think in overdrive in a time limit, resist things others couldn't, and I never got sick.  That's just a few of things I'd always been able to do.
Saturday, March 2nd
    Personally, it caused some issues, too.  I often forgot that other people around me couldn't stand the same things I could, so they often got hurt.  I played too hard, or put unrealistic expectations on the people around me because I know if I were in their positions, I could get the job done on time.  I like to say I was getting better, but that day was just the tipping point to me spiraling into a mess of psychological issues.
    I felt a little burst somewhere behind me as I fed the fire slowly, having just vacantly been watching the once crisp papers curl and blacken.  I didn't know what it was, but something in me felt insulted, almost like I had been outpaced- something I certainly was not used to.  I had a long history of sitting in the background, unnoticed until a competitor arose I deemed worthy enough to step forward to.  When that happened, it was almost as if my poetic features became demonic in nature.  I would succeed, and I only became fiercer the longer I did not.  I could pull off incredible things at a moment's notice if I felt I was being outdone.  Such was the case today.
    I felt the twinge start, deep in my mind, when I sensed it.  I hurriedly dumped the remaining trash in the barrel, ignoring the familiar flames' protest, then half-hearted acceptance of its weight.  Honestly, burning trash was hardly the most important thing on my mind.  I wasn't really me at that point.
    The sliding glass door to the house opened without me really noticing I had opened it.  Hannah.  I knew it was her.  It didn't really matter how I knew; I just did.  I turned the corner completely unrestrained to see her sitting there, in a confused mess on the floor.  She obviously had no idea what had happened- even begun to realize it.  But in her defense, neither did I then.  I just knew I felt outmatched, and my mind couldn't deal with it.
   Looking back, I feel kind of silly having reacted like that, but I quickly forget about it.  I was painfully aware of Hannah at the time, but decided it would be a better use of my time to relax in the shower than to stare blankly at her until I figured it out.  I stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, looking at the mirror and leaning on the sink for a moment.  The reflection showed back to me a person with a face like glass- completely emotionless.  But I'd grown used to that greeting me.  The shoulder-length light brown hair had a gentle wave to it, slightly curling at the end, and the face was strong but refined.  The eyes were the only thing that gave it away- a burning need and unrelenting will that hid under the impassive face that stared back at me.  The changing colors wouldn't have alarmed me, but the tinges of red that began to ring my irises somewhat did.  It wasn't a color I was used to.
    I stood up with a sigh, getting under control the instinctual part of me that got through earlier.  My clothes fell from me for my shower, and I let the water just run over me for awhile.  I'm not sure when it happened for sure, but I remember the steam rising off of my body.  I turned down the heat of the shower in a haze, confused when it only got worse. I couldn't see, I couldn't think... But I could feel.  God, could I feel.
    Then everything went hot.  even with the water on solid cold (especially in winter), it felt like fire against my skin.  I couldn't stand it.  I reached down to the knob to turn off the water altogether and stopped short as my skin crinkled and bits of ice fell from it.  What was going on?
    And then it got worse.  I slipped, feeling that cheesy bit about time slowing down the closer I got to the side of the tub.  My mind rationalized what was happening a mile a minute.  I knew it was going to happen, and I knew I couldn't stop it.  I fell for what felt like an hour before my head hit the side, even though I knew it wasn't any more than perhaps a second.  The pain as my temple slammed into the tub was oddly distant.  It should have killed me.  I knew that as soon as I felt the crack.
    But instead, I fell the rest of the way down into the tub, sliding limply face down.  Time stopped.  It was eternity I lay there, face-down in the water.  Was this what it felt like to be dead?  Laying there, knowing whats going on but not being able to change it?  I knew I wasn't breathing, wasn't consciously thinking.  I knew I was dead.  The water wasn't moving, the pulse in my veins in mid-surge.  It was incredible and terrifying and horrible, all at the same time.  I can't hope to describe the feeling to someone else, regardless of how vividly I remember it.
    I remember being aware of everything around me, even though I was face-down with my eyes closed.  I could see everything as if I had eyes on every inch of my body, seeing through all of them at the same time.  It was the only thing I could feel, that it hurt taking in so much at once.
    Eventually, I could feel the water start to move.  Yes, I could feel it moving through space, finally.  My arms regained feeling and I could breathe; the water fell faster and the first few drops finally landed on me, incredibly warm and cold at the same time.  I could feel my legs again and it felt like a slow-motion movie, my actions lagging behind what my mind told them.  And as I stood up, my lungs burned.  I had to reteach myself how to breath again.
    I was having trouble with that one, ending up resorting to pushing on my diaphragm to force air in and out of my lungs a few times as I stumbled to my feet.  When I finally got the hang of it again, I could stop leaning over and stand up straight.  You'd be surprised how difficult it is to breathe when time slows down more than you do.  I stretched backwards and tensed every muscle in my body, feeling the dead cold I was used to being, but not feeling.  It was an odd sensation, but not altogether unpleasant.  In essence, I felt dead.  Or at least, like I had just been dead a moment ago.
    I looked around me and saw the water droplets somehow condensing around me, like a wall in the air around my body.  Smiling a bit to myself despite the tingling still coursing through me and the almost uncontrollable shaking, I let the stretch end and pulled in my arms.  At the same time, I pushed outward with force from my body, blowing the water into mist and filling the room with a burst of energy.
    Unfortunately, something snapped in the shower head, and the water stopped.  'Damn it,' I thought to myself.  Now I couldn't enjoy the hot water anymore.  It did show me something interesting though.  In the clearing fog that was my bathroom, I could see wisps of something clear and wispy, almost like the fog itself.  But it wouldn't mix with it either.  No, it was something different entirely.  My hand reached out to it. grasping at what turned out to be insubstantial as smoke, yet somehow I kept hold of it.  I breathed, and I could feel it entering my hand and flowing into my body everywhere else it touched me.  Whatever it was, my body wanted it like it wanted air.
    Out of curiosity and by no small extent my past (I had always had a metaphysic background), I willed all of it I could see closer, like I were trying to breathe it in through my skin.  Sure enough, it flowed toward me, and after a few minutes, came through the walls and the floor to me at an alarming rate.  It felt amazing.
    I could feel myself fill up, but I didn't get warmer like I tended to when I did it in the past.  What was this, energy?  Mana?  Life-force?  It was new and familiar at the same time.  I stopped trying this years ago because I could never actually do anything with it.  I was forced to assume I was just fooling my body into feeling what I wanted it to.  But I had an idea.
    Letting the energy well up in a small area, I tried waving my hand through the mist.  It just... disappeared where my hand slid through it, and filled back in like nothing had happened.  The skin on my hand was clammy and swollen with water like I'd hoped.  I watched it disappear into my body as I let the bundled energy flow back through it.  It was like, well, magic.
    It clicked around then, what happened to me.  As I dressed in my sopping wet clothes and stepped out of the restroom with a devious smile on my face, I knew what had happened.  But I wondered how it happened to Hannah, the one I loved.  There was an odd new tinge to my vision too.  It was like opening your eyes in a pitch-black cave, but having pinpricks of light far in the distance.  Like a night sky, but under my eyes' vision.  Think about your eyes unfocusing, and the two images you know are there but you let coexist as a single image.  That's as close as I can bring you to understanding what it looks like, even now.  Staring up at a night sky and looking around your everyday life at the same time.
    I only had to look at Hannah to understand what the pricks of light were.  She almost blinded me, but as with any other eyes, I adjusted.  Her body held incalculable power compared to anyone else, but looking down at my own hands I was satisfied.  She couldn't compare.  I was like a torch to her candle light.  
Monday, March 4th
I realized that as I stared at her through the night sky that was my vision, she stared at me the same way, unsure of what we were looking at.
    If I actually focused on the forces in her body in that swirl of light, I could make out where it seemed they coalesced into different colors at her core.  Mostly green, and only the barest tints of white and red twirled around its center like the fog I'd seen earlier, just colored.  I decided to try something, a devious smile on my face.  My hand lifted from my side, finger outstretched.  I let the flow of energy glide from my heart down my arm and to my hand, focusing it on my finger and envisioning it happening.
    Flame.  Just the tiniest of them, but it was there.  I let it surge through my body, smiling like an idiot and watching the flame engulf my hand as I laughed.  Mana.  It was mana.  I could use it!  But why?  What caused all this to happen?  My mind flashed back to my loss of consciousness and subsequent fall in the bathtub earlier.  I should be dead.  Any normal person should be dead.  I almost didn't notice the flame turn black on my hand with how distant I was, but it caught in the edge of my vision and I looked at it.
    Immediately, it flared back to the red I had started at.  I stared at it for awhile, and so did Hannah, still sitting quietly on the floor.  "What do you think love," I asked absently, still staring at the flame intently, "What is this?"  I looked down at her through the flames and waited for a reply, somewhat impatiently.  I could still see the gentle flow of mana through my hand too, a thin thread of red at its center surrounded by almost clear... something.  Essence, maybe, was the best thing I could call it.
    "I don't know John," Hannah replied just as absently as I felt, "But whatever it is, I don't really think we should be playing around with it.  If I can see you like this and all these other lights, what's to say they can't see us?  It doesn't feel right."  She seemed uneasy with the whole thing, much more so that I could understand.  How could she worry right now, with all this?  For god's sake, I HAD A FIREBALL ON MY HAND!  How could I be uneasy?
    "Really, Hannah.  I think you need to get over it," I said, somewhat harshly, "I've been wishing for this my entire life.  I've known something was missing all this time, that I should be doing something I couldn't."
    I stopped for a second or two, reasessing what I said.  "No, that isn't right.  Ah.  It wasn't that I should have and couldn't it's that I couldn't when I should have been able to.  Much better put."  I knew I was being mean, but I really couldn't give it much thought, with what was going on.  I let the flames die down and empty back into my hand as if it had never been there before.  The only indication it had even been there to begin with was the slightly too-warm feeling I had after doing it.
    She looked at me for a bit, and I wasn't sure if she was just uncertain what to say or if she was mad at me, but I didn't really care yet.  It hadn't set in that I was being an ass yet.  Hannah got to her feet quietly, and I saw what she was holding.  A little paper card.  The back was all I saw, but it was all I needed to see.  Magic, the Gathering.  She smiled almost sheepishly as recognition really caught up with me finally.  And as she looked at me, we both knew what the other suspected, and we both knew it was juvenile and stupid.  We both knew it was preposterous.
    Perhaps?  Just perhaps.  I had to try, didn't I?  My mind opened up to my command, some back recess of it activating to a thought, and it hurtled through some thick veil to another place.  What was this?  I could see somewhere I knew I had never been before like I was there walking, but my feet were planted firmly in the carpet of my floor.  I could still smell the catbox in the corner, and feel the carpet under my toes with the bits of cat litter in it.  I was never really home to vacuum, unfortunately, but that was besides the point.
    The point was that I could see a place I knew couldn't exist, and it somewhat confirmed my- no, our- ideas.  As I looked out across the dreary streets and misty skies there, I realized I already knew where I was.  Innistrad sprawled out before me for the whole hundred feet I might have been able to see down the road.  I felt it slipping though, so I let my mind snap back into where it should have been.  My eyes refocused and my other senses (which I hadn't realized died out) tuned back in to Hannah asking me a question for what I guessed was the third or fourth time.
    "John?  Hey.  You there?" she asked slightly annoyed, "What're you doing.  I can just see some weird line coming out of your forehead and leaving off into the distance.  There's some blue thing in the middle of it.  The hell are you doing?"
    It didn't really dawn on me that she might not have figured it out as well as I had until I saw the look on her face.  Did she really now know?  This was too good.  "Nothing, love.  Just trying out scrying for the first time.  Nothing too hard."
    "Trying what?" she asked, "What the hell is that supposed to mean."  Hannah obviously didn't like me lording it over her.  She sat and stared somewhat angrily at me as she got to her feet.
    "Read the card," I replied with a tinge of amusement and superiority in my voice, "I see what I want."  I tried to make a joke out of it, but it obviously didn't go too well from the look on her face.  "Okay, fine.  I thought about a place I knew shouldn't exist, and I saw it.  I just had an idea and went with it, and it worked, Hannah.  It worked!"  I tried to sound as enthused as I felt instead of sounding like a douche, but it didn't turn out well, "I saw Innistrad because I willed myself to.  It was amazing."
    "Wait, what?  You know what that means, right?" she asked with glaring doubt in her voice, "How do you know?  How can you even be sure?"
    "Love, I saw the streets, the chapels.  Try it for yourself," I added with a smirk.  I wonder if she even can, I wondered to myself smugly.  Can she?  I doubt it.
    She concentrated on something for a minute or two, thinking.  "Fine," she said as much to me as herself, "I'll try."  Her eyes closed slowly and she went still, something in her expression changing subtly.  I could see the tinges of blue slowly arcing out of her body, alot like I saw myself when I tuned back in a few minutes ago.  Something was wrong though.  It didn't keep going.  Her eyes scrunched up, and she looked like she was having problems as much as I could tell she was otherwise.  Something was really wrong.
    It finally clicked in my head that she couldn't use blue mana.  Or at least, she couldn't produce it.  The base line of it was that she just couldn't, like I could.  It kind of made me sad, but looking around me made me wonder.  If it was like the books, I should be able to see some kind of color in the mana, but there was none.  There simply was no color to it.  No white, no black, no nothing.  Just clear like chemicals refusing to mix in water.
March 8th, 2013
    So why did I have red?  Why could I use blue, when there was none around us?  My eyes went back to Hannah again, searching inside her chest for that swirl again.  The clear smoke all around us was drawn to her just as it was myself, but not as much.  I wasn't sure if it was because she just wasn't as good at it or if she just couldn't hold as much, but not nearly as much swirled down into her as rushed into me.  At the center though, looking deep into it, I could again see the swirl of colors I knew better than last time.  It changed when I actually concentrated on it, centered it in my vision.  The colors faded out, leaving only traces of green and something darker in the mix.
    Huh.  So she was normal, like the rest of them.  Why wasn't I?  If I looked at myself, I knew I'd find a massive swirl already, of every color imaginable mixing and separating out inside of me.  I had to assume two things: Not only did our planet at least (unsure of whether the other planets also did) create and exude solely colorless mana, but we, being used to it, could conform it to our own needs.  This was incredible!  It made sense how much of our world was driven by machinery and mundane labor when I looked at the mana rising from the earth.  Of course other planes evolved and progressed with magic.  They had easy access to it.
    And this was the turning point of my relationship with Hannah.  At least, for awhile.  I decided not to share what I knew.  What I had learned in only the last few seconds, watching her struggle to produce mana and use it when I knew already she couldn't.
    "John?" she asked, snapping me out of it again, "Are you going to leave?"
    That kind of scared me.  I wasn't used to the idea that Hannah would think that.  Of course I wouldn't.  "Of course not, love.  I wouldn't do that to you."  I said it as much for myself as I did her, already doubting it as the words left my mouth.
    "Okay..."  She obviously wasn't very assured by it.  I hadn't even realized she stopped trying, to be honest.  Her eyes weren't the same brown I was used to anymore, I noticed.  They was turned to a deep, deep green.  It made an incredible contrast with her red hair, and I loved it.  
    I was happy for her too, in a humble sort of way.  She could share with me in this, and I her.  I wondered to myself quietly just how long I would stay by her side before I gave in and explored the world, but I told myself I wouldn't do that.  We'd do it all together, step by step.  Again, I knew it wouldn't turn out tat way, but I had to try and make it real.  I would not give in and let that part of me take control.
    I actually spent the vast majority of my life for myself.  Fortunately, I was able to disguise it as what I thought was best for everyone else.  But I was just a greedy, self-serving kid that (happily) got what he wanted when everyone else got what they wanted.  I just ended up in a favorable situation most of the time.  It bugged me, but it's who I was.  The best I could do was hope I kept it in check enough noone else noticed.
    On a lighter note, Hannah gave me a hug.  I loved hugs.  Did I ever mention that?  They were amazing, but I hated most people too much to enjoy one.  I was always happiest (and usually only happy) when I was in the arms of my loved one.  I would have savored it more if I knew what I was going to do soon, but I didn't know then.  I should have, I know, but I didn't.  I looked down at her, smiling mischieviously, "You know what this means, right?" I asked quietly, whispering from above her ear, "We can do anything.  Anything at all.  What first?"
    "John," she said, unsure of herself, "I can't even be sure what's happening, much less what I want to do.  We should take it slowly.  Be careful, you know?"
    "No, not really.  I don't.  I think, since I'm positive at least someone has noticed already, we should get our asses moving and learn this."  I wasn't to happy she wanted to take things step by step, but I wasn't upset with it.  "But if you prefer that, I'll work ahead and teach you about it.  Just in case," I told her firmly.
    "No.  Absolutely not," she said back just as firmly, leaning back in my arms to look up at me clearly.  "You will not.  You've spent our entire relationship outshadowing me, and I refuse to stand in your shadow again.  We WILL do this together, got it?"
    "But Hannah," I tried already knowing I wasn't going to get anywhere, "If someone comes for us before we're ready, we have got to be able to get out of here."
    "No.  I can already tell noone else here is like us, so unless someone comes here specifically, I don't see why we have to worry."
    "I still don't understand why so many people know about this as it is, Hannah," I argued, "Obviously someone does, or these cards wouldn't exist.  What the hell's the deal with this?"  Someone had to be stuck here, or this wouldn't be possible.  Someone had to have traveled here, and found they couldn't leave.  This didn't bode well for us, but I was sure at least I would find a way.  And if I could find a way to get out, we'd be safe.
    I hoped, anyways.  But before anything else, I had to figure out how to move.  Through time, space, and instantly.  I had to figure out how to rip reality open.  Sounds fun, right?  I certainly thought so.



    Hannah and I decided it was best to move outside to try anything else lest I set the room on fire, or summon some odd monstrocity, or god forbid I blow up the property.  But the point was it was probably a good idea we... move outside.
    The air was still cool, and I could smell the trash smoke in the air.  It smelled alot more... unhealthy that it did a few minutes ago.  We were walking out to the back, out by the pond which dried up this part of the year.  We also had a stream bed on the property, but it was always dry unless was had so much rain that the pond over-flowed.  It was unfortunate, but unavoidable.  The previous owners of the house had rented out a tractor and broken the water table in the pond, and failed to mention it.  Otherwise, the property was very nice. We had several different types of producing fruit trees, we had blackberries and mulberries, we had samhill plums and apples... The point is that we had alot.
    The back of the property was just open field, which was great for what we decided to try.  It was safe, manageable, and we would be completely undisturbed.  Personally, I kind of wanted to do this in front of so many people, if only just to scare them.  Wait, what?  What was that about?  That wasn't like me.
    I began to wonder if these weird mood swings was because of the different mana swimming in me for the first time.  It was a weird feeling, to be honest.  I can only equate it to the feeling of anxiety, all bundled up in your chest or heart, that you can just let flow around like water with a thought.  What did it feel like to Hannah?
    I let it go.  It didn't matter, and I didn't want to intrude on something that personal.  Why was it personal?  It just felt like it was supposed to be, so I let it be.  Moving on though.  I shook my head to clear my thoughts, and I realized we had stopped walking.  Looking around showed me that we were in an acceptable area, so I tried not to lose control.  There was just so much I wanted to try.  But I agreed and was bound to stay at her pace, no matter how fast I could master this and gain power.  God, it sounded so nice.  What was wrong with me?  Was I always this power-hungry?
    I only noticed out of chance when I looked down, but it seemed the dead grass around Hannah's feet was perking up, gaining only the faintest tints of color when she stood near.  I smiled to myself.  It gave me an idea.
    I focused on the colorless fog of mana around me, drawing it into my body rapidly.  I could see Hannah's face next to me twist slightly.  Apparently she felt the draw.  Was I taking it from her too?  I stopped and turned to look at Hannah, then started to suck it in again.  Sure enough, I could see the green-tinted mana leaving her body, even if it was at a grudging pace.  That was cool and all, but I didn't like hurting her so I stopped.  I felt like I had an incredible amount of mana in me anyways, so I felt it was enough.  It just felt so... incredible and filling.
    I thought about the natural world around me as it flowed through me, and I could see it tinging green, even as it neared me.  My mind already knew it was green, so I let it flow right back out for my hands into the world around me.  The grass on the hill was incredible green and lush, and the trees grew audibly, cracking at the bark split and regrew rapidly to accomodate it.
    I promised to remember to glutton myself out later, and moved on.  "I'm sorry, Hannah.  I didn't mean to hurt you doing that," I apologized to her.  "I guess I need to work more on drawing from the earth directly."
    She looked at me with a stupid look on her face, and I felt bad again.  "That was YOU?  I felt like I was doing something wrong, but no.  You were just being a douchebag again!"  She seemed incredibly irritated, and it caught me off guard, "But of course you're already outpacing me.  Why should I have bothered thinking I could keep up."
    "Jesus, Hannah, Stop it," I replied.  "The hell is wrong with you?  I didn't do anything wrong!"  She could go blow it out her ass for all I cared.  It wasn't my fault I caught hold of this quicker than she did.  I just learned faster.  I could feel it getting out of control, and I was starting to learn why.  The red mana was physically heating my body, and exciting my emotions.
    But, I had a long history of just closing my eyes, letting my mind blank, and just... letting it go.  I could completely erase any emotion I chose almost at will.  So did I with my new-found anger.  The air had been warming up around me, but the wind took only a moment to blow away the heat and replace it with cool, fresh air from the countryside.  When I opened my eyes, Hannah was staring at my feet.
    Naturally, so did I.  It made sense too, from what I found.  The grass under my feet had grown green again (assuming from when I stole it from Hannah), and everything within a few feet of me had charred slightly, or wilted where it was still wet from the recent rainfall.  It really was a weird sight.  I figured I'd have to come out later and make it look more natural, but I really didn't want to.
    Oh well.  Who cares, right?  It's not like anyone really came back here anyways.  But seriously, where did that temper come from?  She looked almost as startled by it as I did, but I was quicker on the uptake.  I slid back into that second sight again and into her heart.  Where did all the red mana come from?  Had I really given off that much?  Because I didn't think I'd let off any of it.  Then again, I apparently had a history of radiating it according to Steven.  According to him, when he used, he could just leech off of what I gave off without knowing it and completely rejuvenate him.  He always liked to think the two of us were psychic vampires, but it sounded odd to me.
    I knew I was a little different, but still.  That's a bit extreme.  Apparently Hannah was having control issues like I did, because her body picked up all the red mana I let out.  I think her body wanted it so much because it didn't have to convert it.  Maybe.  Either way, I should be more careful.  She had temper issues to begin with (I blamed it on the red hair), so the last thing she needed was an anger-causing energy.
    "It's not your fault Hannah, and it isn't mine," I said to her, completely calm, "I just leaked a bit, and you picked up my mana, okay?  Really, it's fine.  Just relax."
    She did, and I could see all the extra mana pouring out of her.  Maybe it wasn't just the red that caused it.  Could she have already reached her limit on how much mana she could hold in?  It looked pitifully small compared to the tank I held.  But, I guess I could only have expected as much.  I was sure she'd catch up eventually, so I didn't give it much thought.
    I just ignored her blank expression and got to work.  It wasn't that she was any less intellectual that I was, it was just that she didn't pick up on things as fast.  But to the task before me.  "Hannah?"
    "What, John," she said dully, apparently fully disappointed about what happened.
    "See Kistler's from here?" I asked her, an idea of how to cheer her up.
    "Yeah, why?"
    "Wanna race?"
    "Are you insane?" she asked me, still slightly irritated, "It's almost a mile.  I'd die on the way there.  You know that."
    "Fine, fine," I replied with a smile pulling up on my face.  Then try to learn.  And for god's sake, keep up."
    I took off at a sprint like I planned, and decided to see just how fast I could go.  I urged my fee to move faster, but they could only move so fast.  I pushed for wlonger strides, for a harder push, and my body responded exactly how I expected.  It tired, and I slowed down after I peaked.  I didn't stop though. Oh no, I didn't stop.  I let the pressure build in my chest, until I couldn't bear it and I felt I was going to freeze up if I held it in any longer, and I pierced that bubble.  It surged through my body, and I took off like a rocket.  I literally overshot the gas station beyond the fences far enough I couldn't see it any more.  Where was I?
    I thought for a second, and then carefully did a 180' in place.  I took a moment to cool down after sprinting like that (which really did take alot out of my physically.  I was built for speed), the ran the other way.  I let it build again, but not near so much as I had last time, and let it go slowly through my limbs.  I could still watch the trees go by like I had, but I was almost able to count the speed of my footsteps this time.  I knew I wasn't going near as fast.  Within a few seconds, I could see the gas station, and then I was home again.
    Hannah was where I left her, but she was now sitting firmly on the ground.  I think I might have put her into shock, to be honest.  So I just sat next to her and waited for it to pass.  She was going to have to get used to this happening if she wanted to fully lay claim to this gift.
   I lay my head across her lap and just stared at the sky.  I wondered for awhile how this happened, and why so suddenly.  You'd think something like this would have happened before, from the statistics.  The books say one in a million have the spark, and that only one in a few thousand actually ascend like this.  I guess it really isn't that hard to believe after all.  I hadn't really thought it through before.  But why us? And if nothing else, why two people so close to eachother?
    It didn't make sense, and it really got to me that it didn't, but I was content enough to let it go and relax while Hannah caught up.  She'd been through alot today, and she deserved to rest.