Chapter Ten - Mind Tricks Part 1

Renee and I were both on the floor sitting cross legged facing each other.  There was about three feet between us and I was feeling a little self conscious.  Not because he was a guy, but because I was wearing the same clothes I did yesterday.  I was also glad that nobody else was there though.  We were in what Gin called the ‘training room’.  It was large and white, just like the rest of the house.  But here there were wooden boards running up the walls every so often.  Covering the rest of the room were axes, swords and other various pointy things hanging from the walls.  There was a balance board like a gymnast would use along with punching bags and an honest to God boxing ring.  The room was big enough to hold it all and then have a large open space for Renee and me to sit on.  Just like my ‘hospital’ room, it had no windows but the light of the room said something different.  Light shone into the room as if it was sunlight, warm and bright.  It felt odd sitting there in the ‘sunlight’ with him alone, knowing he could read my every thought if he wished to.
         Gin had wanted to come because he knew I did not want to really be alone with Renee, seeing as I had just met him.  But Renee insisted that he leave because he was annoying me with his constant puppy dog eyes.  I already told him I forgave him, but he did not seem to think that I did.  I guess I could understand why though; I was gone for quite a while.
         I stared at Renee, wondering what he was doing.  His suit jacket lay over the bottom of three wires on the boxing ring and he breathed quietly.  He sat as if he were meditating, with his legs crossed in an awkward position and his hands resting on his knees.  I had tried to sit like him, but utterly failed; falling over when I did try.  So I stuck with what was comfortable.  Renee opened his green eyes a looked at me.  I never noticed how pale he was.  He was like a ghost.  His skin was darker than his hair, but not by much.  Being so white made his eyes look very intense.  I feared what would happen if he decided to where eye-liner.  After a minute I began to feel nervous about him not saying anything.
         “What?”
         “Nothing,” he smiled, revealing perfect teeth, “I just wanted to see how long it would take you to say ‘what’.”  I scowled and stuck my tongue out at him.  Take that Renee.
         “Oh, now, now,” he smiled at me, “I assure you, I take no offence in that.”  He was answering my thoughts.  Stupid thoughts, existing and what not.  I wondered if there was a way to block him out, since I had the same power and all.
         “There could be,” Renee said answering my thought question, “I’ve never really met anybody else with the same power as me.  At least not one that’s human like you and I.”
         “Well, why’s that?  I mean, why doesn’t anyone else have this power?”  I tried mirroring his position on the floor.  I still could not get my legs to cross properly and nearly fell over trying.
         “Others do have this power Sapphire,” he explained, “just not humans.  There are demons though, that have the ability to read minds.  That’s who taught me all I know.”  He touched his chest lightly, as if feeling for something.  I knew it was a necklace the second I realized I did the same thing with my own jewellery.  I felt for my necklace underneath Hunter’s sweater and felt the familiar design of a lizard encrusted with jewels.
         “So what are you going to teach me?” I asked as I set my hand down on my knee and yawned.  It was nine in the morning and I could have slept longer if I tried.  When I realized that Renee had been there since about seven in the morning I felt bad for sleeping so late.  He assured me that it was no problem.  I think that was because Kami was there in her white lab coat.  I never noticed how often she wore that.  Actually, whenever I saw her she was wearing it.  Did she ever take it off?
         “I think she does when she’s at home,” Renee smirked at me.  Stupid thoughts.
         “Please stop it,” I was telling him more than requesting.
         “Not until you learn to control your own power Sapphire,” he leaned back on his hands and looked up at the ceiling closing his eyes again, “And to answer your question, I’m going to first teach you how to not kill anybody when you feel emotional.”  He smiled as I scowled at him once more.
         “And how do you plan on doing that?”
         “By pissing you off, making you cry, that sort of thing.”  My mouth dropped open.  Was he serious?  He was going to try and make me cry?
         “How?” Was all I could say.  And it was all I wanted to know.
         “I’ve got no idea,” he admitted, “normally I would ask friends and relatives, but you have neither of those.  So I need a moment to think.” He sat up and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows.  I was beginning to lose the feeling in my legs so I decided to change positions.  After all, he had never actually told me to copy him.  I just kind of assumed.  I stretched my legs for a moment and then folded them against my body, enabling me to hug them and rest my head at the same time.  Renee and I stared at each other for a while before he got up and said, “That’s it, we’re going into the backyard.  You’re really freaking me out with your eyes.”  He brushed off his knees and walked towards the wall behind me.  I followed him and wondered where he was going.  There was no door there, just wall and an odd sunlight thing.
         Renee laughed and I knew it was because of my thoughts.  When he reached the wall he stopped and waited for me to catch up.  Once I was there I asked, “What are you doing?  It’s a wall.”
         “Only to the untrained eye,” he held up his index finger and then reached down as if to touch a doorknob, “and to the ones who haven’t been told about where the door is.”  He gripped an invisible handle and pulled open the wall.  I peered through the doorway and could not believe what I saw.
         There was a cobble stone pathway leading from the training room to a breath taking garden.  There were flowers of all colours, shapes and sizes on either side of the path.  Renee began walking and I continued to stare in awe.  When he saw that I was not following him he turned and gestured for me to hurry up.
         I walked towards him, unable to take my eyes away from the flowers and plants surrounding me.  I looked up expecting to see the sky, but only found the tall canopy’s of the trees around me.  Light filtered through the tops though, so I knew we were outside; or at least in a green house.
         Renee stepped into what I thought was a patch of sunlight, but turned out to be the end of the garden.  I continued on but had to stop once I saw the rest of the garden.  It was not as magnificent as the beginning, but it was still beautiful.  There were flowers there, but not quite as tall.  A bench sat ahead of me and to my right and then the ground was covered in grass for a while before sloping down.
         I ran to catch up with Renee; who was still walking without me.  When I got far enough I could see that the house was actually on the edge of a forest.  The trees looked a lot like the ones in the cemetery forest and I wondered if they were connected somehow.
         “Here’s a good spot,” Renee informed me as he sat down again on the grass.  I was not sure of where I should sit so I just walked three feet away from him and sat down.
         “So do you know how you’re going to annoy me yet?” I questioned.
         “Well, last time you blacked out your crush was getting hurt.  So I considered hurting Damien, but you don’t like him anymore because the spell is no longer in effect.  I really don’t know what to do…Unless…” He placed one colourless finger to his chin in thought.
         “Unless,” I prodded.
         “Would you let me see into your mind?  I won’t do it if you say no.”
         “What do you mean?”
         “I’ll use my power to search for something that would annoy you, even if you don’t remember it.  It should still get on your nerves.”
         “Will it hurt?”
         “Oh my yes,” he said, “I mean no!  It won’t hurt at all.” Renee coughed into his hand.
         “Fine, just get it over with,” I wondered how much it would hurt.
         “Close your eyes then Sapphire,” and I did as he said.  I sat there for a moment but did not feel anything.  Another minute passed before I felt Renee in my mind.
         It’s a strange feeling, having somebody inside your head.  Was this how Schizophrenics felt?  Like you were two people inside one body.  Like you were on the edge of a cliff and at any moment, somebody would push you off.  Then the feeling was gone.
         “Okay,” Renee said clapping his hands together, “let’s get started!”  I opened my eyes to look at him.
         “That’s it?”
         “That’s it.  And I know what you’re most afraid of now.  Kinda girly if you ask me.”  Renee got up and walked over to the flowers.  He stood there for a moment before picking something out of the garden and started towards me.  I did not like how he was cupping his hands together so I got up as well.  When he finally was a foot away from me he smiled.  I did not like that smile; it chilled me to the bone actually.
         “I don’t like this training,” I told him.  What could he be holding?  Then Renee opened his hands to show me.
         Inside his hands was a small—or actually large—black spider.  It stood there frozen, just like I did.  Then it lifted one of its hairy legs and started to advance towards me.  I let out a shriek and  ran to my right, towards the forest.  Sadly, Renee followed me.
         “Wait,” he called, still holding the spider, “we need to see if your control will hold!  Get back here!”
         “NO!  Stay away from me you psycho!  Keep that thing away from me!” I sounded more like I was pleading than anything.
         When I was near the forest I turned a sharp left, leading me back to the house.  I seemed to be faster than Renee and he began to fall behind.  I reached the beginning of the larger garden and kept running.  Luckily the door to the training room was still open.
         I started to run faster and was just about to run through the doorway when it slammed in my face.  I stumbled a couple feet back, holding my nose.  It felt like I was hit with the kitchen door again.  Fun.
         “You…are not…getting…away…that easy,” Renee panted from behind me.  I whipped around to see that he was only at the edge of the tall garden.  His hands were in fists at his sides and I wondered what happened to the spider.
         “It’s still here,” he told me, “just not in my hands.” A small black spider floated into the air in front of him.  Damn, he was moving it with his mind.  I leaned back onto the door, my hands searching for the invisible handle.
         “Heh,” I tried to smile, “can’t we talk about this Renee?  Isn’t there some other way to get me to control my power?  How the hell is this helping me anyway?”  He smiled an evil smile at me and the spider began to fly in my direction.  Damn.
         I felt something cold under my hand.  The doorknob.  I pushed it open and then slammed it shut.  Hearing Renee’s muffled curse about my escape gave me a satisfying feeling.
         I pushed my back against the door as if it would open if I did not.  In a matter of seconds I heard Renee talking to my through the door.
         “It’s for your own good Sapphire,” yeah, right, “just open the door.  I promise the spider is gone.  Really.”
         “Oh, I’m sure you’re telling the truth Renee,” I shouted at him, “you’re lying and I know it!”  I was not going to open this door for anything.
         I could feel the door begin to move.  That was not good, he was opening it!  I pushed as hard as I could to shut the door and it worked.
“Fine, if that’s what you want.  I’ll tackle it down myself!  You have three seconds to open that door!” I heard him walk away and then begin counting down from three.  I decided my best chance was to make a run for it.  I pulled on the door to the house a few times before realizing it wasn’t going to open. The door was locked; it was my only escape route.  I heard Renee shout two from behind the garden door.  Boy, he was a slow counter.
I gave up.  There was no exit, so I went to open the door for Renee.  After all, maybe he was not lying about the spider?  Yeah, right.
I was able to reach the door by the time Renee reached the end of his countdown.
“Here I come!” He yelled and I could hear him running for the door.  I swung it open and he flew through into the training room, his right foot out to kick the door that I had moved.  Whoops.  He travelled for about five feet before falling to the ground, swearing all the way.  He was on his back for a minute trying to catch his breath before he rolled onto his stomach to look at me.  Renee rested his head on his hand and gave me a very bored and annoyed expression.
“Little warning next time, hmm?”
“Sorry,” I was not sure if I really felt sorry though.  Renee stood up and brushed off his white dress shirt.
“Well, I guess it’s good that nothing came flying at me,” he looked around at the pointed objects in relief, “I have an idea though, for if you feel you’re losing control.”
         “What’s that?” I closed the garden door and walked over to him.
         “When you think things are going to start flying, just imagine a circle in your head, and—“ I interrupted him.
         “Can’t I imagine a star?”
         “Why a star?”
         “I like them…they’re pretty.” Boy that was a genius line.
         “Fine, star, circle, pentagram, I don’t care.  Imagine a shape.  And put all your concentration into that shape.  It helped me when I was little.”
         “What if the shape explodes in my head or something?”  I thought that would hurt.
         “Why would it explode?”
         “Because I told it to?”
         “Don’t tell it to then.  And it won’t hurt if it does.  It’ll just make things around you become very dangerous and tornado like.”  Renee patted me on the shoulder and smiled.  That smile did not send shivers down my spine.  It was just an ordinary smile.
         “Now what?” I asked.  Was he going to teach me anything else?
         “We’re done for the day,” he declared happily, “now let’s go out to get something to eat.  I’m starving.”
         “Where are we going?” I was hoping it was not going to be The Café.  They would think I lived there if I showed up again.
         “The Café,” Renee smiled his evil smile then.  I knew the only reason he said The Café was because I had thought about not going there.  Stupid thoughts, they would be my downfall with Renee around.  But then again, maybe that was what other people thought about me?


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