Over the next few days, Erick and Nomad got out of the habit of guarding their minds from one another and much of their conversations transitioned into their minds rather than out loud.

“It’s a good thing we don’t have neighbors.” Erick commented as Nomad’s shield exploded for the third time that day.

They were outside in the inner courtyard of the apartment complex because, like most of Nomad’s powers before he learned to control it, his shield tended to explode. All through his training he’d noticed many small differences between his and Erick’s powers. Aside from the strength difference, the most noticeable variance had to be the color of their powers. Erick’s powers, the one’s you could see, were all blue whereas Nomad’s were black or white. Nomad’s shield, for instance, glowed a semi translucent white, and at that particular point in time, was beginning to hum angrily.

“Get ready for it Erick.” Nomad braced for the explosion.

“You better contain it yourself” Erick replied. “I’m tapped out until I can recharge.” The calm in his voice would have been more appropriate had he been telling me it would rain later today and to wear a coat.

Nomad doubted Erick’s words but he took refuge from blast all the same. No energy flowed around Erick even when Nomad’s shield gave a great heave and a groan. Erick, it seemed, was leaving Nomad to either sink or swim on this one. In most of the other instances where Nomad had lost control, Erick had caught the majority of the expanding energy and contained it, or redirected it to minimize any damage it would otherwise cause.

With effort, Nomad began to siphon off the energy of his shield, directing it back inside of himself. He’d seen Erick do it a dozen times but Nomad had only managed it a handful of times. The strain in the shield lessened somewhat, and then all at once it melted away. Erick peaked his head back out but Nomad held up his hand in warning.

“There’s still a lot of energy around me,” Nomad said, “but I don’t know what it’s doing.”

“Hmmm.” Erick inched a little closer.

“What am I doing wrong?” Nomad asked.

Energy still flowed from him but there was nothing to show for it. Erick tossed a stone at Nomad. It bounced back a couple inches away from hitting Nomad and the area pulsed white for a moment before fading back to nothing.

“Looks like you figured it out.” Erick said, tossing another stone, harder this time.

The second stone shattered against Nomad’s shield. With some concentration, Nomad was able to make his shield visible again, revealing the white shell around himself. It was more contoured to his body than Erick’s bubble but with further testing he was able to expand it outward or even pull it back until it was lying directly above his skin.

“Why is it so different than yours?” Nomad asked.

“Besides the power difference?” Erick said, “No idea. There’s only one group of people that I know of who could potentially answer that question and they’re not people either of us want to interact with. Unless being a science project and losing all your freedom sounds like a fun idea.”

After a while, Nomad grew tired and he stopped experimenting with his shield and other powers.

“That’s enough.” He said. “I’m done for today.”

Erick became uncharacteristically quiet while Nomad walked over to the stairs that led up to the second floor apartments and sat down .

“You know Nomad,” Erick said, breaking the momentary peace, “I can teach you how to absorb energy from other people so that you’re not so worn out each day.”

Erick’s excitement increased with each new power he taught me but now his trepidation became palpable.

“Yeah?” Nomad replied, massaging his head. Headaches were a common experience for Nomad and they were made worse whenever he used his powers for a prolonged amount of time.

“Yeah, only,” Erick paused prompting Nomad to look up at him from between my fingers. Erick looked truly worried now. “Only you’ll have to be very careful that you don’t over do it. If you do, you could hurt, or even kill whoever you’re absorbing the energy from.”

“I’ll be careful.” Nomad assured him, although he also felt a pang of concern as he thought about it. Where so many of his powers tended to explode until he figured them out, what might a failure here do?

“And never take more than half their energy.”

“Okay.”

“And—”

“Should I try it or not?”

Erick hesitated before leading him back inside the apartment and over to the window that overlooked the park. The playground wasn’t that far away and there were kids playing while their parents sat on the benches, watching. Erick pointed out a baby in a stroller that was asleep.

“Imagine you’re drawing the energy out of him like drinking through a straw.” Erick said as he demonstrated how to do it.

Nomad felt the power more than saw it, but understood just the same.

“Now you try.” Erick said. “Only taking the least amount of energy you can, as slowly as you can.”

“Am I really testing this on a baby?” Nomad looked around the park, but there were no other sleeping children in sight.

“Do they have to be asleep?” He asked.

“Well, for me they do,” Erick answered, “But you don’t exactly followed the same rules that I do, so who knows.”

Nomad looked back out the window and found a group of moms sitting on a blanket not far from the playground. Their energy flowed in every direction, all of it moving and changing to keep everything working. Nomad tugged on it as gently as he could and the mom swayed. Her heart skipped a few beats and her vision began to close in as though she was about to black out.

“I don’t think that’s working.” Erick said.

“Nope.” Nomad agreed and let go of her energy. “It would probably kill her.”

“Well,” Erick said after a moment of thought. “You could make them go to sleep.”

“You can do that?” Nomad asked.

“It’s a bit tricky for me,” Erick shrugged, “but maybe not so hard for you.”

Nomad turned back to the group of moms and slid into their minds.

You’re so tired. He told them.

One by one they started to yawn but the concern they had about keeping an eye on their children made them resist Nomad’s influence.

They’ll be fine, Nomad assured them. You’re so tired, just close your eyes for a minute.

To Nomad’s surprise it worked. They spread out on their blankets and one by one they fell asleep. At once their energy slowed down and was much easier to manipulate. Ever so slowly, Nomad began to tug at it, siphoning it off bit by bit.

“No more than half.” Erick reminded him before he could go too far.

Nomad finished and withdrew his mind. He still felt weak, but not nearly as tired as he had been before. Nomad continued through the park, going from person to person, making them fall asleep and absorbing their extra energy, until he felt reinvigorated. It wasn’t until after he was done that Nomad took in the scene he’d created. Parents were sprawled all over the place, along with a few of the children. Those who weren’t asleep were starting to look a bit worried until Erick reached out and woke up all the sleeping people. They were clearly exhausted and could have easily slept for several more hours but at least they were awake. Pretty soon, the tired parents had loaded their kids into their cars and driven away. The few who had walked to the park took their time and a few of them just went back to sleep with their child, opting for an outdoor nap.

Erick made dinner and they enjoyed a silent meal of peanut butter sandwiches. Throughout the meal, Nomad closed his mind. He’d been getting so used to leaving his defenses down but was that really what he should be doing? He’d been told to run, to hide, by whoever had left him the Bible and the note within and it seemed like a betrayal to all of that to let Erick get too close. It wasn’t as though Erick was constantly poking at Nomad’s mind, so he likely hadn’t even noticed that Nomad had closed him out again.

If only Nomad could know for certain who Erick was and why he was here helping him. It was probably a bad idea but Nomad began to press against Erick’s mind. His general defenses were lowered but the deeper Nomad pressed the more resistance he encountered.

Who are you?

Erick looked up and met Nomad’s eyes but didn’t speak. Nomad ignored him and kept eating as though he weren’t doing anything.

Who killed Sarah?

Erick let out a heavy sigh and put his dinner aside but still he didn’t speak. Nomad kept eating but it was obvious Erick knew he’d been prodding at his mind.

“What is it?” Erick asked.

“It’s nothing.” Nomad lied..

“You’re poking around in here for something.” Erick tapped his head.

Nomad wouldn’t make eye contact and focused on blocking Erick from his mind.

“Come on, what are you looking for?”

“You still haven’t told me what happened to you and Sarah,” Nomad finally stated. “Why are you still hiding?”

A shadow crossed Erick’s face and Nomad thought he would never answer.

“I told you about my past, what I remember of it, now it’s your turn.” Nomad prompted him.

Erick turned away to face the wall, and then began. He told Nomad of the foggy night at the theater, how he’d used his powers by accident, not knowing what he was doing. Sarah insisted that they go back to his home and tell his parents, and that was where Erick had first met them, the people who had hunted him and forced him into hiding. Erick’s voice brightened as he went into great detail about learning his powers with Sarah encouraging him. Then the shock at learning the truth that Sarah had been passing information about him to those who were hunting him. Sarah had been conflicted but Erick fled from her. He hid alone for a few days before they tracked him back down, sending Sarah in to talk to him.

Erick’s mind opened and Nomad saw that day. Sarah tried to help Erick but ultimately was killed when the soldiers opened fire.

“They were aiming for me,” Erick said more for himself than for Nomad. “They hit her instead.”

Erick finished his tale about saving his family and hiding them away.

“I stay in hiding out of fear that their technology might someday become too much for me. So far I haven’t had any trouble from them, but I don’t trust them to truly leave me alone.”

The sun set as Erick finished his account. He cleared his throat and faced Nomad. “I’m going flying. Don’t wait up.” Erick raised himself into the air, opened the window with a slight gesture of his hand, and flew outside.

“Wait.” Nomad called after him. “Take me with you, teach me how to fly.”

Erick didn’t turn back. “Not tonight.” He said in Nomad’s mind. “Maybe tomorrow.”

Nomad watched him fly off and become enveloped in the night sky. Nomad longed to be able to join him. Of all the powers he wanted to learn, he looked forward to flying the most. Eventually, Nomad turned from the window and walked to where the Erick’s blanket had been Nomad had destroyed it. Now he understood. It had belonged to Sarah. As Nomad sat there on the floor musing about Erick’s story, energy began to seep out of him, searching, filling the gaps in the floorboards and across every surface before returning to that spot in front of Nomad.

The room was pitch black by the time the energy fully coalesced into an object and Nomad’s energy retracted. He raised his hands into the air and made a small fire inside each of them to illuminate the room. The firelight cast shadows all around, playing tricks on the eyes until Nomad could adjust to the flicker. A small, blue, worn blanket lay crumpled in a heap before me. He’d assumed this was what his powers were doing, though he didn’t fully understand how or why it had happened.

“Well done, Nomad.” he said to himself. “Not sure how you did it, but well done.”

He left the blanket there for Erick to discover and went to his corner to sleep.