Cass and Zavier were in the garage, Cass standing in the kill box. Zavier and Tess had spent a long time fighting about this the night before and it was only the presence of the healing pills that let her even consider Zavier's plan.
"He needs to learn to control his fear and the only way I know how to do that is immersion therapy."
"But you are in no way qualified to put him through something like that," she wanted to shut down this plan before it started. Zavier was definitely a 'learn by doing' type of guy. "You're going to throw him into the lake and tell him to learn to swim, which can have serious emotional consequences later."
Zavier blew a frustrated breath out of his nose. "I'm going to be right there to help him, he just won't know I'm willing to help him. This has to feel real to him, Tess."
"Like what you did with Luna?"
"And she's fine!" Zavier threw up his hands in frustration.
"She isn't fine, Z," Tess said, "she's just cheerful. What you did impacted her in a big way. She's decided she needs to be like you while also doing everything she can to protect you. And she's getting reckless - riding high off the feeling of immortality teenagers always have, after getting bit by that snake."
"But. She. Survived!" Zavier could feel himself getting hot, punctuating his words.
"But what if she doesn't next time because you've convinced her that she can survive anything?"
"What if she doesn't because we coddled her?" Zavier puffed air out of his cheeks. "We're getting off-topic here, Tess. I know you're worried but this is how we make him stronger."
"You may get his skills up but I'm worried about you tearing down his self confidence in the process."
"I wouldn't do that Tess!"
She shook her head at him. "You wouldn't do it intentionally, but you're certainly capable of doing it. Sometimes you push him too hard because you think it's good for him."
Zavier rubbed his face with his hands. "We're not getting anywhere, Tess. What do you want to do? Do you want me not to do his training? I can figure something else out if that's what you want, but I'm just sick of arguing every single damned time. We need to just make a freaking decision and run with it!"
Tess had her arms crossed over her chest and had fixed him with a glare. "Listen, Mr. 'Let's Make a Decision and Run With It,' only one of us hit level eight without any severe side effects. Only one of us has a working set of skills and abilities. Between the two of us, only ONE of us has made responsible decisions that are currently helping this family." She saw Zavier's face getting red but didn't stop. She was tired of his know-it-all attitude and how he blew off her opinions.
"I know you're trying to help the kids, and I think you should! But you rush ahead with all the confidence in the world, consequences be damned. You want to stop arguing about this? Fine! Then give me confidence that you've actually heard a single word I said and aren't just ignoring my concerns!"
"I listen to you, Tess!"
"Then prove it! Why are we arguing right now?"
"Because you're worried about the kids. You know they're at risk and you worry that we're not guiding them well enough. You worry that me pushing them too hard is going to hurt them, either emotionally or physically, and that I'm not going to realize it because I push ahead too quickly."
"But I feel those same concerns too, Tess. I know I push too hard sometimes, but it's always because I love them. I know I can't make Cass stronger by telling him to 'man up' and 'grow a pair,' that's not what I do. I want to encourage and push where he needs it, and the world we live in means I'm going to have to push them faster than we normally would."
Tess's voice was soft when she replied. "Of course those are all my concerns, but they're not my main worry Z. I know you'll always treat the kids with love and tenderness. I know you're only doing what you think is best for them. I'm not saying you're a cruel or abusive father."
"Then what ARE you saying?"
"You are the smartest man I know, Z," Tess said. "You are right so often that you're not used to being wrong. So when you are, you never realize until it's too late."
She turned to walk out of the garage but stopped, hand on the door handle. "I'll send Cass out - I think your plan is a good one. But I don't think you've really, actually heard what I'm terrified of with this situation. So please, think about it. And take care of our son."
"Okay Cass, here's the plan. You're going to set the living room as your return point and we are going to put you in situations where you're scared. The first time I want you to just let the skill take you - get a feel for how scared you are. After that I want you to start fighting that fear. The goal here is to put you in control of when it pulls you away, okay? Got it?"
Cass nodded, looking around the kill box. "I got it, but what am I doing in here?"
"This," Zavier pushed the garage door button and Cass's eyes went wide when he saw that their SUV had been backed up to the garage door, the back open and a Scamperer chewing on the seats.
"I don't have any weapons!" Cass looked around him frantically.
The Scamperer shot out of the SUV and straight at Cass. Zavier let out a relieved breath as Cass disappeared without even a pop of air.
Zavier laughed to himself when he heard Tess scream "JESUS CHRIST!" Cass must have appeared in the living room. He poked his head in the door. "Sorry, Honey!"
"Give us a little warning next time! I think I peed a little. Jesus, Z!"
He laughed again. "Sorry! This is your warning though!"
"Luna, move your stuff out of the living room. Last thing we need is you breaking your neck when your brother lands on your head."
Cass walked up to Zavier, shields on his forearms and a baseball bat gripped in his hands. "I'm ready for another round, Pops." Cass said.
"Oh Buddy, not with all of that." He met Cass's scared eyes. "You can take one of these things easy with all that. You're not here to kill it, you're here to push your fear to the limits. Besides, it was a pain in the ass catching one of those things and holding it back while I backed the car up to the garage. I don't feel like doing that again."
"Okay, so then what do I do?"
"Did you get a good feel for how it felt?"
"Not really," Cass said. "Mostly my heart jumped into my chest and then I was in the living room. No transition, nothing."
"Well then, only thing you can do is get back in there and try again," Zavier pushed the button and shut the door again. "Go get into the car and be ready to jump in when I push the button. I want you fighting that thing, and if you start to feel scared I want you to concentrate on that feeling. Ready?"
Cass nodded then left to get into the SUV.
Three hours passed and Cass was now getting more bored of the squirrel than scared. He'd jumped a lot those first few times, not even bothering to go back into the garage after each one. He just went straight back out to the car and yelled that he was ready. He had a good feel for when the fear happened but no real idea of when to overcome it. A few more then I'm going to ask dad if we can take a break.
The door opened and Cass jumped into the garage, hands up to catch it like every time before, only this time it was in the back of the garage, chewing its way into Zavier's throat.
Cass appeared in the living room and immediately ran into the garage, only to disappear again as soon as he spun around the garage and saw it savaging his dad's collarbone.
"Help," Zavier wheezed out weakly, reaching for him, and Cass was gone again. This time he grabbed the bat he'd left and rushed in, but before he could get close enough to hit it he met his dad's pained eyes and the fear erupted inside him again and he was gone.
"MOM! HELP!" Cass's voice cracked as he sprinted outside again and slipped on the blood, disappearing. He was in the house again instantaneously. Tess caught him by the shoulders.
"What, Honey??" Terror was in her voice.
"DAD!" He pointed to the garage and started running again. He sprinted outside, Tess close behind. She'd grabbed Claw as she sprinted out the door and they slid to a stop in the garage, Zavier standing alone in the kill box wiping blood off his neck and shoulder with a paper towel.
"What is going on?" Tess's voice was laced with fear and adrenaline.
"Dad was being attacked by a Scamperer!"
Zavier waved them away and tore another sheet off the roll to wipe his face away. "I'm fine. I let it bite me."
"You did WHAT?" Tess's eyes went wide. "Why in the hell would you do something like that?"
"I was fine, I had these," he held up one of the bottles of healing pills. "Cass was doing a great job controlling his fear when it was only him in danger, I had to see how his skill would react when someone else was in danger. We had to know if he'd be able to stick around or if he'd disappear if one of us got injured."
He realized how that sounded when he saw Cass's face drain of all color.
"Oh Cass, wait! You did great today, you controlled…" but Cass was already gone, this time running to his room rather than disappearing.
Tess watched him go then turned a glare on Zavier.
"We had to know, Tess. He had to experience this and it's better in our garage than out there," he waved towards the woods.
"It was still messed up, Z," she said. "You know his biggest fear is leaving us or freezing when we're in danger, and you just had him confirm his worst fear half a dozen times in a minute. You may have just undone all the improvements he's made lately. What you did was cruel."
"We had to know, Tess," but that sounded weak even to him as Tess left him alone in the garage.