Jacob and Lydia raced into the woods using their superspeed. After ten minutes, they arrived deep within the forest and stopped at the spot where Allison had tried her wind powers.
Lydia looked at the deep crater left by Allison's giant wind arrow. "What happened here?"
"Allison happened." Jacob said. "She tried out her powers here."
Lydia whistled softly. "I didn't think she was that strong."
Jacob said. "She is, and she'll get even stronger in the future. And so will you." He then started moving away from her. "You can try your powers now."
"What are you doing?" Lydia asked.
"Getting away from you, of course." He said with a grin. "I don't want my ears to bleed."
Lydia rolled her eyes. "I won't scream your way. You'll be fine."
"I have superhearing, remember? Even if you don't scream at me, it's still going to be too loud. Anyway, go ahead. Try your powers."
Lydia nodded and turned away from Jacob. She took a deep breath and let out a scream. But there was no powerful sound wave, no destructive force—it was just a scream.
She looked back at Jacob, disappointed. "Well, nothing happened."
Jacob smiled. "Don't just scream. You need to use the power inside you. Focus. Feel it, then unleash it."
She nodded, closing her eyes. After a few moments, her hair turned white and her skin grew pale. She opened her eyes, which were now glowing white, opened her mouth, and let out a controlled note. It wasn't a scream this time, but a focused hum. The air in front of her shimmered, visible like a heat haze. A nearby sapling shuddered, its leaves vibrating violently before several tore free and whipped away.
"Good." Jacob encouraged. "Now try to add more power." He pointed to a half-rotted log. "Try to destroy that."
Lydia focused, her brow furrowed. She hummed again, a higher pitch this time. A cone of sonic force shot out, struck the log, and shattered it. The blast also gouged a chunk of earth out of the ground next to it, sending dirt flying.
Lydia jumped with excitement. "That was so cool!"
Jacob laughed. "Yeah, it was! But I want to see what your full scream can do." He pointed to a large pine tree. "Try to destroy that tree."
"Isn't that a little irresponsible?" Lydia asked. "I don't want to destroy a tree just to try my powers."
"I'll take it with us and use it as firewood if you can take it down." Jacob offered.
Lydia nodded and turned toward the towering pine. She took a deep breath, planted her feet, and screamed.
It was not a sound of fear, but of raw, destructive power. A visible wave of distorted silver energy erupted from her mouth, tearing through the air with a deafening roar. It hit the pine tree dead-on. The huge trunk didn't just break; it exploded into a cloud of splinters and sap. The force didn't stop there, ripping through the undergrowth and tearing a furrow in the forest floor for a good fifteen meters before its energy finally dissipated.
Lydia panted, her throat feeling strangely cool and thrumming with energy. She looked at the devastation with a mix of horror and awe. "I didn't think my scream would be this powerful."
Jacob walked over to her. "And it will get stronger in the future."
Lydia looked at him. "Are your ears okay?"
"Yes, the scream was loud, but it didn't hurt me." He assured her.
"By the way." Lydia added. "I can manipulate sound waves, too. It's not a strong ability yet, but maybe it will be useful, or even as strong as my scream, in the future."
"Show me." Jacob said.
She focused, manipulating the existing sounds around them. She dampened the rustle of the leaves to an eerie silence, then amplified the beat of a moth's wings until it sounded like a drum in the night.
"So you can control the volume of sounds around you." Jacob observed.
She confirmed. "Yes, I can either amplify sounds or completely silence them, creating zones of perfect silence."
"You could also try to use echolocation, like bats and dolphins." He suggested.
Lydia nodded thoughtfully. "I need to do some research about sound."
"Let's forget about sound for now." Jacob said. "Can you fly?"
Lydia focused for a couple of minutes, then sighed. "No, I can't."
"Well, you will when you get stronger. How about teleportation?"
"Let me see." Lydia said.
She focused again and this time she disappeared, reappearing two meters from her original place. She didn't celebrate; instead, she turned around and started vomiting.
Jacob rushed to her side, patting her back. After she was done, he asked. "What's wrong?"
Lydia wiped her mouth. "When I teleported, I felt the world spinning around me."
"You'll get used to it the more you teleport." He said gently.
"Then I'll try to get used to it right now." She declared.
For the next hour, Jacob sat on the fallen tree and watched her practice. She blinked in and out of existence around the clearing like a ghost until the slight nausea finally faded.
She appeared next to Jacob, exhausted, and sat in his lap. She shifted back to her normal form. "That was fun. I don't feel disoriented when I teleport anymore, but I'm really exhausted mentally."
Jacob took some chocolate from his pocket dimension and offered it to her. "Do you want some?"
She smiled, took the chocolate, and ate it. She looked at him. "I didn't thank you for giving me these cool powers, did I?"
Jacob kissed her forehead. "You don't have to. The smile on your face when you were using your powers is all the thanks I need. The more powerful you and Allison are, the happier I am, because it means you can protect yourselves when I'm not around."
Lydia smiled, kissed him, and didn't say anything. She just lay in his lap and ate the chocolate, a smile never leaving her lips.
They stayed like that for half an hour. Then Jacob asked. "Can you still use your sonic scream tonight, or do you need to wait until tomorrow?"
"I think I can still use it multiple times." Lydia said. "I was just exhausted from teleportation because it was my first time. It drains my mental strength."
Jacob nodded. "Then use your scream to attack me."
Lydia's eyes went wide. "What? No! I'm not going to scream at you! It's dangerous."
He kissed her. "I'll be fine. I'm a dragon, remember? My skin is tougher than the pine tree." He walked to the center of the clearing and turned to face her, a confident smile on his face. "Alright. Do it. Don't hold back."
She hesitated, her hands trembling. The thought of directing that destructive force at him made her feel ill.
Seeing her like that, Jacob smiled softly. "Lydia. Trust me."
Seeing the unwavering confidence in his eyes, she finally nodded. She shifted back into her banshee form, took a deep, steadying breath, and her expression hardened with fierce determination. She focused, then unleashed her sonic scream toward him.
The sound wave hit Jacob with immense force. It was far greater than he'd anticipated. It lifted him off his feet and hurled him backward through the air. He sailed ten meters before flipping in the air and landing on his feet, his boots skidding to a halt in the dirt.
He shook his head to clear the ringing. A slow trickle of blood escaped from each of his ears, tracing a path down his neck. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, a wide, genuine grin spreading across his face.
"That was strong. And annoyingly loud." He said, his ears already healing.
Lydia stared, her hand flying to her mouth in shock and guilt. "Jay! Your ears! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have listened to you! Are you..."
"Don't worry, my ears are already healed." He interrupted, still grinning.
She ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm sure." Jacob said, holding her.
Lydia sighed in relief. "Then let's go back home."
Jacob nodded. "Alright." He walked a few meters away from her and looked at the sky. A mischievous grin spread across his face. "But first, I want to try my new ability."
Lydia looked at him curiously. "What ability?"
Instead of answering, Jacob tilted his head back, took a deep breath, and unleashed a roar toward the sky. But it wasn't a normal roar; it was crackling with raw, blue-white energy that shot from his mouth like a reverse lightning bolt, vanishing into the clouds above.
For a second, nothing happened. Lydia raised an eyebrow. "Was something supposed to..."
She was cut off as the world suddenly dimmed. The moon and stars disappeared. Thick, dark clouds swirled into existence directly above them with unnatural speed. A deep, ominous rumble shook the very air, and then the sky simply opened up. Heavy, cold rain poured down, soaking them both in an instant.
"Jay! What did you do?" Lydia shrieked.
"Cool, right?!" he yelled back, his voice full of excitement as he spread his arms, embracing the chaos he had just created.
A blinding flash of light and an earth-shattering BOOM answered him. A lightning bolt struck a tall oak tree fifty feet away, splintering it into kindling with a sound like a cannon shot.
Lydia jumped, a small yelp escaping her. "Jay!"
Another bolt struck closer, twenty feet away this time, electrifying the air and leaving the smell of ozone and burnt earth. That's when Lydia felt a strange tingling across her scalp. Despite being utterly soaked, her hair began to rise slowly, each strand standing on end and waving around her head.
Her eyes went wide. She looked at Jacob, her expression a perfect mix of utter disbelief and horror.
Seeing her hair defy gravity and logic, Jacob's triumphant grin vanished, replaced by sudden panic. "Crap! I forgot it can hit my allies!" He muttered to himself.
In a flash, he lunged forward, scooped her into his arms, and broke into a sprint just as another lightning bolt scorched the earth where she had been standing.
"You idiot!" Lydia screamed, clutching his neck for dear life as the world blurred around them. "Are you trying to kill us both?!"
"I didn't think it was going to be this strong!" he yelled back, leaping over a fallen log as another bolt exploded behind them. "And..."
Lydia, still cradled in his arms, glared up at him, her electrified hair making her look even more furious. "And what?!"
"And I won't be hit! And I'm also immune to lightning!" He admitted with a wince, dodging a sizzling strike that hit a puddle they'd just run through.
"SO I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO'S GOING TO DIE, THEN?!" Lydia shrieked, her voice trembling with a mixture of terror and rage.
"No! You won't! I won't let that happen!" He said, zigzagging through the forest like a pinball. "Besides, you're super strong now! A little lightning would just give you a bad hair day and a tingle! And even if you get hurt, you'd heal in minutes!"
Another searing bolt came down, close enough that the heat washed over them. Enraged and scared, Lydia did the only thing she could think of—she leaned forward and chomped down on Jacob's chest.
"OW! OUCH! Lydia, that's my nipple! Let go! Let go!" He yelped, stumbling mid-sprint.
She released him and said. "Why is the storm following us?!"
"That's how it works!" He explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It's an attack meant to kill all the enemies around me! I just forgot that it can affect my allies too!"
Another near-miss sent a shower of dirt and grass into the air. "But it's attacking you too!" Lydia yelled.
"No, it's not! The lightning is aimed at you, not me!" He corrected, skidding around a tree. "It's just that since I'm the guy currently holding the target, I'm also a target myself!"
Then Jacob used all of his superspeed, becoming a blur as he tried to outrun the crazy storm he had created.
Lydia screamed, not in terror anymore, but in pure rage. "WHEN WE GET OUT OF THIS, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU MORON!"
"Noted!" Jacob yelled back with a laugh as he dodged another lightning strike. "But first, let's get out of here before you get zapped!"
To be continued... 😊