Lost in the Echo(Open)

[Lani Hunter]

Lani was beginning to think that if he curled up on his bed in his dorm room to read he would inevitably be called or texted. So he was trying to something new. He had been keeping an eye on the library and he finally had the time to go visit. He walked from the school sneaking out through the back. For some reason he was eighteen and they still had issues letting him out the front door. Imagine that. He wanted nothing more than to break away form the world and get lost in a book. He had a drawstring bag over his shoulders holding the copy of one of the ones he had been trying to get through. It wasn't that whenever he got called or texted he didn't want to talk to the person. It was completely the opposite, it was always a friend someone that made him smile when he answered.

But if was at the Pilot Ridge Library he was detached from that. Lani smiled as he walked in and the scent of old books soothed his stressed mind. He still couldn't believe that he and Odion hadn't been caught for the fireworks. When they died down they simply faded back into the background of the dance. Lani had a fairly good idea that at least someone knew that it was the two of them that had done it but no one was saying anything. Which was all well and fine with Lani. He smiled at the memory. The only thing about that night he would have changed was being able to see Odion's face when they pulled it off. He traced his hands over the bindings of the books and thrilled by the presence of so many words he let himself get lost in the shelves. Looking here and there for directions he found his way to science fiction.

His eyes trailed over the authors until he found his favorite ones. He made a note of which ones they had and who was missing, which books were absent. He found a window with a beanbag chair under it and decided this would be his nest for the day. He'd have to remember to get a library card on his way out but for now he nudged the chair closer to the wall in the beam of sunlight from the window. He slopped ungracefully into the bean bag chair and felt rather childish but also terribly comfortable. He placed his bag under his head and dug out his book. He stretched out in the sun feeling the weight of his worries melt away. He was rather tall and his legs stretched out across the small walkway and he propped them up on the side of a shelf. The sun was comfortable and started to drain his energy and his eyes laced along the lines of text and his body lost all responsiveness to the outside world. He was lost in the book.

[Cara Hayes]

When Cara wasn't outside, she could almost always be found in the library, sitting quietly, absorbed in a book. Today was no exception. She had just finished reading a novel and was in a hurry to find another one just as exciting to get absorbed in. Cara was humming silently - almost inaudibly - as she browsed in the fiction section. Suddenly, her eyes spotted a book that she had meant to read a long time ago. The problem was, it was much too high for her to reach. Sighing, Cara stood on her tiptoes, stretching as far as she would go. She smiled victoriously as her fingers touched the book she was eyeing. Swaying slightly on her tiptoes as she tried to pull out the book, Cara finally managed to do so - but several other books came crashing down along with it. It made a terrible racket in the silence of the library as the books clattered to the ground, one particularly heavy book even hitting her head with a painful thud. "Ouch.." she moaned, a little too loudly.

[Lani Hunter]

It was a good book and Lani had decided that this was a good idea. He was going to have to keep doing this. It was too easy to get distracted in his room, this was peaceful and quiet. Lani’s eyes slid across the page then up to the girl as she passed by humming. He shifted a little in his sunny spot and went back to his book. Humming was something Lani did when he thought but he had no idea, that absentminded sound in the back of a person’s throat. It was a pleasant happy sound, which could be deceptive to the untrained ear. Lani easily fell back into his book but didn’t get very far when the crash startled him out of his skin. He was on his feet before he even knew what was going on. That was a mess. Lani just saw the books cluttered all over the place and initially he smiled a little bit at her clumsiness but his smile was quickly washed away. “Are you alright?” He asked his brow creasing in concern.

He paced toward her and looked up to where they had come from. It was a spot that he probably could have reached with no problem. From where he was standing he probably would have only had to reach a little above his head to get to it. The girl was much shorter than he was. He could have gotten it for her and kept the rain of books from happening at all. He looked at her with a little bit of sympathy in his eyes. “Did you get hit?” He asked his eyes soft and his smile kind. “What were you trying to get?” He asked as he bent to gather some of the fallen books. He bit his tongue to keep himself from asking her why she hadn’t asked for help. Lani would have been more than happy, especially if it would have saved her a knock on the head. He looked at a few covers as he piled them into his arms. She had good taste in books from what Lani could tell.

[Cara Hayes]

Cara rubbed at her head where the book had struck her, chuckling softly at her clumsiness. As she knelt to pick up the books, a boy came rushing to help her. "I'm alright," she said. "I'm too small, I should have asked you to help me," Cara added sheepishly, her cheeks flushing. He smiled kindly to her and he seemed so friendly, she couldn't help but flash him a big smile. "Thanks for helping."

When he asked what book she was going for, she showed him the one in her hands: The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan. "I've always heard fantasy lovers saying he was good," she whispered almost inaudibly, her eyes averted. "I always meant to read it. I love fantasy." Cara worried the boy would think her a nerd and stop being nice to her; she glanced up at him uncertainly to gauge his reaction.

As they both picked up the books together, she accidentally placed her hand on his. Terribly embarassed, little puffs of smoke could be seen coming out of her red, hot cheeks. "Oh no.." she blurted nervously. "Sorry..I'm really shy.."

[Lani Hunter]

Lani shook his head a little and smiled at her. “It happens,” he said then, “But yeah you should have asked me for help.” He teased his voice devolving into laughter. He could understand the desire to do things for themselves. But he really wouldn’t have minded at all, especially if it would have saved her from getting knocked on the head. She was cute and the way her face was reddening made him smile. She seemed like she was really shy but nervous talking. Lani did that sometimes, when he did a spectacular job of ignoring the voice in his head that was screaming at him to stop talking. “It’s no problem,” Lani said his eyes going to the books in his arms. “Anytime.” He smiled brightly at her. He wondered absently if Odion would ask him to reach something he couldn’t. They were close in height but Lani definitely had the advantage of height.

Tilting his head a little Lani squinted at it remembering the name and the author. He had never heard of it. He looked up at her and nodded. “Hmmm,” He uttered a little as he leaned closer to hear her. She spoke so quietly. He said with a nod and some part of him was rejoicing. He had found another fantasy lover! “I do too,” he said with a smile. Lani was a closet nerd, not a lot of his fantasy obsession ever came out in public. “Who’s your favorite author?” He asked. It wasn’t often that he met a fellow reader, perhaps they had read some of the same things, or even better they could exchange books that they thought were good. That was half of the fun of reading was meeting people who had also read the books and being able to exchange opinions and thoughts about it.

Lani reached for the book and her hand fell over his. He looked up at her startled and met her eyes. “Sorry,” he said at the same time she said ‘oh no’. Lani blinked a little taken aback. His cheeks colored and for a moment he stared at her. Why would she say ‘oh no’? That was going to drive him nuts. Then she explained herself. Shy. Well she was certainly not the first shy person he had met. “It’s no…” Lani paused as his eyes caught something fogging the air between them. Was that smoke? “Oh my God!” He cried unable to stop himself, “You’re smoking! Are you ok? Do you need water or something?” He asked genuinely worried. He had never met someone with pyrokinesis, but he had met a girl who could explode and he really didn’t want her to explode.

[Cara Hayes]

"Oh! Really?!" Cara squeaked, clapping her hands together in her enthusiasm. "My first love with fantasy is with Harry Potter books," she said, her eyes twinkling excitedly to be talking to a fellow fantasy-lover. "What about you? What's your favorite author?" she asked, smiling radiantly at him. "Wait!!" she exclaimed suddenly. "I forgot to ask your name! I'm Cara," she said happily.

But when her cheeks started smoking, Cara shaked her head, hoping to reassure him. "No I don't think.. I'm ok," she said in a whisper, although more smoke was filling the air around them. She tried to wave the smoke away, as she was starting to find it hard to see him. The truth was, she was horribly embarassed about the situation, which was only making matters worse. "Oh..uh.. maybe I do need water.. I actually don't know what to do," she said nervously, almost on the brink of tears from embarassment. She placed her hands on her cheeks, closing her eyes, focusing hard to make them to cool down.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani nodded a smile growing on his face. He nodded, he had read them but what had really gotten him into fantasy had been Eragon. “I think my gateway drug was Eragon,” he said sheepishly. He shrugged. “My favorite…. That would have to be Mercedes Lackey. She does the Heralds of Valdemar and…” Stop rambling Lani, stop it now, he told himself. She had a beautiful smile. But for reasons he was trying to avoid Odion’s smile popped into his head. “What about you?” He asked. He stuck his hand out toward her. “Lani.” He smiled, she was certainly all over the place. Not in a bad way, just in a seemingly eternally distracted way.

Lani backed up a little, he didn’t want to be insulting but he couldn’t breathe. The fire alarm was going to go off soon if they didn’t do something to stop the smoke. But that still didn’t tell why she was smoking. Lani looked at her skeptically. Normally people who were smoking generally weren’t ok. “I’ll be back,” he promised and was gone in a flash. Water… water, where would he find water. There was a water fountain not too far away but how would he transport it? He looked around quickly and he decided that the break room was probably the best bet. He slipped and out in a matter of seconds and soon had a coffee mug full of water. He returned to Cara and looked at her with concern. He knelt down next to her and held out the water. He didn’t know what to do with it. He was half tempted to just splash it into her face but he highly doubted that that would end well.

He grabbed a book and started to fan the air with it to disperse the smoke. He opened the window with his mind and beat the smoke toward the window. They did not want the fire alarm going off now. “Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked worry seeping into his voice as he went toward her again.

[Cara Hayes]

"Oh Eragon! Yes, I love Eragon too!" Cara said, her eyes glinting like little stars of excitement. "My favorite authors are Robin Hobbs and Lynn Flewelling. They have really lovely characters!" Cara added happily. "I have never read Mercedes Lackey yet, although I definitely will now! What is a good book to start by that author?" Looking through the books still on the floor, she found one by the author he mentioned, and her mouth formed an "O" in her pleasant surprise. "Well, I guess I'll start with this one! Arrows of the Queen!" Their conversation was cut short, however, by her smoking cheeks dilemma.

She watched as Lani left her, terrified he wouldn't come back. Cara looked around herself frantically, wondering what to do as the smoke around her thickened. But before she had a chance to completely lose herself in panic, Lani was back with a cup of water. "Oooh!" she squeaked happily, ever so grateful for his kindness. She took the cup and, dipping her fingers in it, applied a little water to her face. She did this several times, until finally, the smoke stopped completely.

Cara relaxed, sighing in relief. The water helped greatly: besides physically cooling her cheeks, just having the water had calmed her emotions down. She took a sip, smiling happily, as she sat on the floor in the aisle of the library. "Thank you so so much," she said softly. "So you can do telekinesis," Cara said, pointing to the window. Smiling at him warmly, she added: "You are very nice, Lani."

[Lani Hunter]

Lani cocked his head in interest and made a mental note of the authors, he’d have to pick up some of their books before he left. Lani’s eyes matched her brightness. “I’ve never read anything of theirs, I’ll have to pick something up, do you recommend anything?” Lani opened his mouth to answer her when she pick up the book. He laughed and nodded. “That is a great one.” He agreed a good choice. He had started with her Brightly Burning and that had gotten him hooked. They would have to keep talking about this, as soon as they stopped her cheeks from smoking. Lani decided that they definitely needed to exchange authors. Lani had been burning through her books recently like fire and he was looking for a new and different author.

Sitting back on his heels Lani watched her apply the water to her cheeks. How interesting, what power would possibly cause her to smoke like that? He smiled encouragingly at her. It must be terribly embarrassing. Lani again took a moment to count his luck with having a power that was relatively easy to hide. Well, when he was emotionally stable that was. The water seemed to be helping, Lani smiled with relief at least it seemed like everything was going to be alright. No exploding in the library today. What a relief, if she were going to damage anything in the library Lani would definitely encourage it being in the literarily lacking teenage section. It was an unfair assumption that everything in that section was a shallow love story but Lani had pretty much lost all faith in those types of books.

Lani shrugged. “Don’t worry about it,” he replied. Anyone else would have done the same thing. And it wasn’t like Lani could just leave here there smoking. Lani rocked back a little farther and folded his legs under him. Lani glanced back at the window and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah…” He glanced back at her trying to judge her reaction to the news. People seemed to all have the same general reaction of ‘that’s awesome’ but it wasn’t. It was painful and it was frustrating. “Huh,” Lani uttered oh so eloquently. He flushed and his eyes widened in shock. “Nah, I’m just… I mean…” He shook his head. He scratched is head again unable to come up with an excuse that wouldn’t get him into extreme trouble. He gestured a little toward her. “You were saying something about Robin Flewelling?” He asked inadvertently mixing the two names she had given him.