Ivan likes to be up when the sun is rising. He loves walking out into the backyard in the darkness of the early morning, birds chirping, and watching the day slowly creep over everything.
In the early morning, Ivan likes to meditate. He starts in the grass with his legs crossed, and over the course of emptying his mind, his body ignites in the green flame and he levitates a foot off the ground. The more at peace he becomes, the more in tune he becomes with the green power, and his ability to wield it comes as naturally as breathing.
When he closes his eyes and pushes out distraction, a new view of the world comes into focus. He can map what he feels, the energies of the world around him, and unbeknownst to him, this view includes energies of the Quinspace. With concentration, Ivan can see the Quinspace in his everyday, but that will only come as he becomes more accustomed to the view of the energies the world.
He spends a lot of time levitating and exercising his abilities. He learns to quickly pinpoint everyone that he loves by identifying their distinct energy signatures. While he practices, Clay exercises his body and they achieve a type of synergy that amplifies Ivan’s tracking abilities. He can pinpoint his grandfather in Mexico and he focuses on clarifying the view of his life in his modest home.
The day that Clay met the sister of the man Jamar, who insists on being called the girl, Clay waited for Ivan on the front porch. He had gone to the store and Clay hoped that he could use his sharpened skills to locate Jamar.
The man had committed an atrocity at the end of their ordeal that saw Ivan and Clay locked up and then fugitives of the law. Jamar had murdered his son. The mother, Laura, was still hysterical at the loss of her son and the woman who called herself the girl had asked Clay to end Jamar.
“It won’t bring that boy back,” she said, “but he don’t deserve to live. I know we did some fucked up stuff to you, Laura shot you, but that was a little boy. Jamar don’t deserve to live.”
When Ivan walks into the driveway, Clay leads him to the back and fills him in on the situation. Ivan cries for the little boy.
“It’s one of them spiders that Anes made,” Clay says, “it gotta be. I’m gonna knock it out of him and take him to jail.”
Ivan crosses his legs without touching the ground and he ignites in the green flame. Clay’s eye illuminate, a sign of their mental connection, and soon Clay is off in the direction that Ivan finds Jamar.
It should be mentioned that while Ivan was practicing his ability to track energy signatures, Clay was also testing his abilities, notably, the mental connection that he shared with Ivan. He was curious if it happened spontaneously or if they both needed to engage the skill for it to work. He learned that if he wanted privacy in his own mind, he could easily block Ivan, and he did so playfully many times when they had petty arguments.
He blocked his intentions for this knowledge from Ivan, and created a separate self inside of his mind. Clay did not want Ivan to know that he was planning to kill Jamar, and anyone else like him who threatened the life that the two of them had made for themselves. If he had to have powers and be a magnet for crazy stuff, Clay decided that he would rid the world of that crazy stuff so it couldn’t come back later to pester him or someone else. Ivan wouldn’t be ok with killing anyone, not even Desperation who had been a constant thorn in their side, and who was out there somewhere. So Clay would do it in secret. He relishes the day when he meets Desperation again. And he eagerly jumps toward Jamar in a seedy hotel outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. He will be Clay’s first kill.
When Clay makes it back home, he finds Ivan standing in the backyard with his arms crossed.
“What happened?” he yells at Clay.
Ivan’s tone shocks Clay, it isn’t often that he yells.
“Why couldn’t I hear you?” Ivan asks. “What did you do?”
Clay is very scared. Ivan’s anger feels like a tangible thing between them.
“You lied to me. And I saw you kill him. You tried to hide it from me.”
Clay is speechless. It hadn’t occurred to him that Ivan could find a way to watch his interaction with Jamar even if he blocked their connection.
“You can’t kill people Clay. Not even bad people like Jamar. That’s not who you are. Is it? Say something, please!”
Clay stammers, and then he manages to say, “I’m sorry I lied to you. Forgive me.”
“Forgive you? For what Clay? For lying? You killed a man. Was it the first time?”
“Yes, it was…”
“How do I know that…”
“He drove me to it, he tortured us for so long. And you saw what he did to other people too. I won’t do it again, Ivan, I hate that I upset you, but I did what I thought was right. I can admit that I was wrong.”
Ivan shakes his head. “Can I trust you? We don’t have to be in each other’s heads, that shit’s not natural, but we should be honest with each other. We were fighting Jamar together and you told me you were going to lock him up. Can I trust you to do what you say in the future?”
“Of course, Ivan. I’m sorry.”
Ivan walks toward the house. He is done speaking and Clay watches him walk away.
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