Infinity Reaper by Adam Silvera (best new books to read txt) 📗

I slam down the laptop. “Uh . . .”

“You watching porn while your brother and girlfriend work?” Wesley asks.

“Not his girlfriend,” Prudencia singsongs as she smiles my way.

“And not porn,” I add. “It’s just a screwed-up video of a specter who pushed his limits.” They don’t seem convinced but I know Emil and Prudencia well enough that they would hate watching that. “Wesley, we good to train?”

Wesley smirks and dashes out of the house and down toward the beach.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Break time!”

“It’s not a break. You’re about to work some more,” Emil says.

“What’s work for you is fun for me.”

I grab my phone and chase after Wesley. He’s already lying in the sand of course and acting like he’s asleep, as if it’s taken me forever to reach him. It won’t be long until I have control over my swift-speed.

Wesley introduces me to some stretches that are not kind on me. I’ve always knocked Emil’s posture, but all the time I’ve spent editing videos on my laptop hasn’t done me any favors either. Emil records us on my phone while Prudencia exercises her power by lifting herself in a pull-up position.

“The most important rule when running with swift-speed is to always be several steps ahead of yourself,” Wesley says. “If you take off aimlessly, you’ll fly over your bed, or worse, almost straight into a moving truck. Not that I know of any thirteen-year-old who was so eager for a new video game that he almost got flattened on the highway.”

After Wesley is done lying about his past, he explains how much more aware of my surroundings I have to be than anyone running at standard speed because even though I can get away from dangers faster, I can also find myself facing them first too. My power is tricky since hydras can’t keep up momentum for longer distances like Wesley and other swift-speeded celestials can. I could lose steam right in the middle of a battle and not be able to escape.

“Let’s try it out,” I say.

I take a sprinter’s stance and focus on reaching the coastline. I expect the same jolt forward as all the roller coasters I rode on with Dad—always front row because he loved that adrenaline rush—but my running is as ordinary as ever. Wesley asks me to take deep breaths, which I do. To not think about it, but also concentrate, which I think I do. My burst of speed happened so effortlessly last night when I thought I was going to faint and I accidentally overshot my new power and ended up on the floor. But even that’s not happening right now.

I call “Time-out!” to Wesley and “Cut!” to Emil.

The sun is beating me down. I thought this was going to be easier. Instead I feel like a joke in front of Prudencia, who is telekinetically juggling pears and apples with one hand and building a mound of sand with her other. She’s going to be so powerful, and I’m going to be a one-hit wonder of a specter whose powers never surface again.

“Slow start,” Wesley says.

I wipe the sweat off my head as I realize he’s joking. “Not funny.”

“Quick pause,” Wesley says. Before I can tell him to shut up with the jokes he dashes away and returns with bottles of water for us. “Peace offering.” He sits beside me on the sand. “It’s a fun power, but it’s not always an easy one, Brighton. I grew up with mine, which you know I abused too.”

“After your parents kicked you out,” I say, remembering our Spell Walkers of New York interview.

“Before too. I wasn’t robbing anyone for my own survival yet but my parents were always so frustrated with me. They didn’t plan on having me and gave it a shot. Big regrets since they couldn’t ever keep up with me or get me to slow down. Instead of going home after school I kept exploring the city and one day my father told me that if I didn’t honor curfew he was going to change the locks. I didn’t think they’d kick me out; I was twelve. But they meant it.”

Between Ruth’s parents conceiving her to groom her into an all-powerful celestial and Wesley’s parents locking him out for asserting some independence with his powers, it’s a wonder Ruth and Wesley are so loving to their daughter. Really makes me appreciate how lucky I was to have Dad and Ma—to have Ma still. . . .

“My point is that swift-speed is a survival power. You can use it to rescue others and to save yourself.” He pats me on the shoulder. “I don’t look back that often. I pay attention to where I’m going next. And where I’m going next is inside that beautiful sea because I’m melting in this heat.”

He dashes straight toward the water and runs on top of it, which I didn’t realize he could do. I’ve followed a lot of his media hits over the years and I’m already daydreaming about running up walls like he has. But this is some advanced skill. Strong currents of water trail him like he’s a Jet Ski until all of a sudden he drops beneath the surface.

I bust out laughing and turn to Emil. “Did you record that?”

“You told me to cut,” Emil says.

“You had one job, bro.” My laugh winds down when Wesley doesn’t come back up. “Where is he?”

Prudencia runs toward the sea and is trying to part it but it’s going to take a lot more than juggling fruit before she’s strong enough to do that.

“There!” Emil points.

Wesley is not too far off, but he’s struggling to stay above the surface. I run for him and my body is thrust forward so quickly that I might have whiplash. Sand kicks up around me as I pass Prudencia. Water splashes around my ankles in a matter of seconds. I’m dashing! Dashing on water! I’m a heartbeat away from Wesley but I don’t know how to