Gone

I stayed sitting on the couch staring at the gun that I turned over and over in my hand. Thoughts rolled through my mind. What if I was too late? What if Riley was already dead? what if he wasn't and when I save him I get killed? After all, it was now possible. What if somebody else I knew and loved died? What if Jack couldn't recruit any more people? What if I can't get my powers? I pushed back every single question having this faith in my self that I could do anything. I believed it too. I had accomplished so much as a protector that maybe I could use that power and use it as a human. That would be great.

Edward came into the living room with the others behind him. They all stood behind the couch and I. I didn't look up at them. Justin and Eve walked in front of me. I looked up at Justin who was no longer wearing the white robe. He was now wearing a white t shirt that had a black design on it. The design was circles and scribbles. He wore a pair of well fitted jeans and a pair of gray Nike shoes. The clothes were no doubt Riley's. I wasn't surprised, both Justin and Riley were tall and built well. I set the gun on my lap with my hand still on it. I looked up at Justin's dark face and into his deep brown eyes. He smiled. Eve gave a faint grin. I looked at her.

"Did you here what you have to do or do I have to repeat it?" I asked.

She nodded. "I heard. What about passports?"

I smiled. My hand that wasn't on the gun reached into my pocket and pulled out a couple of one hundred dollar bills. I handed them out to her. She reached out to me and took them. I leaned back in the couch. I looked at her. My eyes drifted back to Justin. I tossed the gun in my hand to him. He caught it reflexively and he looked at it.

"Have you ever shot a gun before, Justin?" I asked.

He nodded. "I've had to do so several times. After all, I can only temporarily take people's powers away."

I nodded thoughtfully. "If I should fall or if anybody else in this room does, you're going to have to use that. Otherwise, we will protect you as you will protect us."

Justin creased his forehead. "I have a question, Alyssa. How are the people in this room suppose to use their powers if I am taking them away as well as the people that attack them?"

I smiled considering I have been wondering the same thing. "Justin, your power can be controlled. I want you to try something," I said as I leaned forward. "Try to focus your power on one person in this room and ignore the other people with powers."

He grunted. "I've never actually tried to even control my power. I've never known how."

I smiled. "Well, here's your chance."

Justin frowned. "Alyssa, I don't thi-"

"Don't think, just do." I interrupted him.

He stared at me and then looked away and his eyes drew to Sam. I leaned back in my seat. I stared at Justin. This was going to be interesting to see what a sixteen year old boy can do. I hadn't even been able to use my powers at sixteen. I wanted to know if he could do more than stop people's powers without trying. I wanted to know if he could stop a certain person's.

Justin stared into Sam's eyes. Everybody else's eyes went from Sam and back to Justin. I watched Justin the entire time. If this worked, everyone except for Sam, Edward, and I would have their powers again. Of course Edward and I wouldn't, but if Justin could focus on Sam and stop his powers and let the others still have their powers, we could have a bigger chance of winning.

I smiled as Justin's eyes stayed one hundred percent focused on Sam. I glanced at Sam and saw him wearing a worried look. I looked back at Justin.

Through the corner of my eye I saw Eve jerk. I looked at her.

"Woah," she said.

"What is it, Eve?" I asked concerned.

She closed her eyes and in a second she was gone and then reappeared on the other side of the room. I looked at her. She had teleported to the other side of the room. I smiled. I turned around and looked at Cassidy. She nodded. Meredith and Tobey nodded too.

It had worked. Justin was able to stop Sam's powers and not bother the others. I looked at Justin. He blinked hard and then blinked a few more times. I smiled and looked at him. He gasped and smiled at me.

"That was so weird. I felt...in control."

Cassidy sighed. "Powerless again."

I ignored her and just smiled at Justin. "Justin, you just may have given us an opportunity of winning. If you can do that then maybe you can just stay behind the rest of us and focus on one person at a time during battle. That way the rest of us can use our powers against people that you are focused on, leaving the attackers without powers and us with powers. Well, of course not Edward and I, but the rest of the people in this room."

He smiled. "I think I can do that. It seemed easy to focus on just Sam. I hardly had to do anything. All I did was look at him and think about stopping only his powers."

I nodded and leaned forward. "All you have to do is be quicker with that and try to do it on two or more people." He smiled. "I'm giving you permission to test it on Eve and Meredith while they fly you over to California. I know that you could possibly teleport with us, but I need you three to just give us time." I looked at Eve. "Call me every once in a while with updates on Justin. Meredith has a phone."

I stood up from the couch and faced the others. They all had only one or two guns except for Edward who, like me, would be needing more weaponry considering our humanness. Even now with the advantage of Justin we would still not be able to kill people without a gun. Well, I could, but I wanted to save the fight in me for Peter.

Edward smiled at me. "Is that it then?"

I looked at him with a blank expression. "For now." I walked around the end of the couch and stood across from Edward. "As soon as we get more information on the whereabouts of Peter, I'll tell you what we'll have to do. For now you all are just going to have to trust me."

Cassidy looked at me. "Well, shall we go to Sacramento."

I turned my head and looked at Eve. She walked over to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. The others moved around me and Eve and placed their hands on Eve's back. I looked up at Justin.

"Justin, do you think you can focus on Meredith while Eve teleports us?" I asked.

He nodded. Justin's eyes turned to Meredith who was still behind the couch and away from me and the others. Meredith didn't look at him. Justin didn't blink. I looked at him.

"Go," he muttered still without blinking.

I nodded to Eve. She closed her eyes and tightened them quickly. In an instance my living room disappeared and I looked around the new place where we were. I looked up at the large casino hotel that was across the highway. The palm trees on the sign and the shiny building sides gleamed at me. I quickly read the sign the big neon sign. Fredericksburg Casino. My mouth opened. Everybody's hand dropped to their sides as they looked at it. I turned and looked at Eve.

"Where are we?" I asked sternly.

She shrugged. "I don't know. All I did was think about Sacramento."

"I know," Cassidy said.

We all looked at her. I creased my forehead. The heat from the sun beat on my forehead as we stood on the bike path on the other side of the highway. I looked at Cassidy.

"How?" I asked.

She stared at the casino without blinking. "Peter."

That one name made my blood boil. I shifted my weight. "Peter made us come here?"

"Peter is Los Angeles."

I creased my forehead more. "Where are we?"

She smiled. "Los Angeles."

I raised my eyebrows. "You're meant to say that Peter did something to Eve to make her come here?"

My sister snapped out of her trance. "Yes. He's not in the casino, but he's here in Los Angeles. He wants us to know where he is."

I nodded. "Yes, alright. If something else happens to any of you that involves what may seem to be Peter, tell me."

They all nodded. Cars behind me zoomed down the highway, blowing my hair every which way. I looked at Eve.

"Can you teleport us to the entrance so I don't sacrifice my life to a car while trying to cross?"

She smiled. "Yes."

She put her hand on my shoulder again and everybody rested their hands quickly on Eve's back. Eve closed her eyes and in an instant we were in front of the automatic glass door. The door opened and we all turned and looked at it. Our hands dropped once more to our sides. I smiled.

I quickly fixed my hair and brushed my clothes down. I cleared my throat and moved through the door. Everyone followed behind me.

I moved quickly and swiftly towards the shiny black front desk and the towards the young woman behind it who was about our age. She had a black vest over a red long sleeved shirt with the casino's logo on it. Her hair was a brown and pulled up into a classy bun at the back of her head. I stopped in front of her. She smiled at me. I smiled back. I rested my arm on the desk.

"Hello," she said. "What can I do for you?"

"Hello," I said. "How many beds is in the luxury room?" I said looking at the room chart that was next to the flat screen computer.

Her smile faded and turned into a small grin. "The luxury room has four beds and two couches."

I turned around quickly to see how many people I had with me. There were five of us. I looked back at the lady. "I'll take the luxury room then."

She nodded and turned to her computer. "And how many nights?"

I took in a breath and sighed. "Can I say that I'll stay for two nights and change it if i need to?"

She nodded again. "Yes, you can. But you're still going to have to pay for every night."

I raised my eyebrows. "How much is it for a night?"

"$750 per night."

I sighed again and reached into my pocket. I pulled out my wade of cash and counted out $1,700. I handed the perfectly straight money to her and she looked shocked. I raised an eyebrow.

"Keep the change."

She raised her eyebrows and took the money. She reached under the desk and pulled out a card which was the key to the room. I took the key.

"Room 345, third floor." She said still shocked.

I smiled and quickly started walking towards the escalator that was across the room. I didn't bother to look around. I could hear the people cheering and the machines buzzing from the other room. I didn't need superpowers to hear the ruckus.

Sam came up to my side trying to keep up with me. "How much money do you take with you?"

I didn't look at him. I came to the escalator and stepped on the moving stairs. he came on behind me. The others followed behind us. I turned my head partially sideways.

"I've learned a few things from being an Alpha. One, the world doesn't always take you for who you are," I said as I came to the top of the second floor. I stepped off of the escalator. I turned around and faced Sam. "Two, humans are so stupid that you can pull any illusion on them."

He creased his forehead and it crinkled into many lines. "What?"

I smiled. "Reach into my pocket."

"What?" He asked completely confused.

I lifted my arms. "Just, reach into my pocket that I pulled the money out of."

He shook his head and reached his hand into my left pocket. The others watched intently. I just smiled. Sam's hand groped around in my pocket. He slowly released his hand and looked at me. I smiled.

"There's nothing in their."

I stayed smiling. "Try the other pocket."

He looked at me as if I was the oddest thing on the planet. Sam's hand went to my other pocket. He groped around in my right pocket. His hand stopped and came out of my pocket. He held out a wad of money. Everybody just stared at it. I let my arms fall down.

I smiled and looked into Sam's eyes. "Count it." I said. He glanced at me and then started to count the money. It was a thin wad, but it really wasn't. I leaned over the money watching him count it. Bill after bill he folded, counting the hundreds. I smiled when he was done.

He looked at me. "There's over 5,000 dollars here."

I smiled with a toothy grin. I slowly leaned away from him still smiling. "Sam, have you ever heard the little tall tale where you can't fold money or any paper more than six times?" Sam nodded. "Well, it turns out I can. It always turns out that I can make people see what I want them to see. You could say I was doing magic, but people say there isn't magic. Well, I proved them wrong. I guess you could say I am a mastermind."

Sam raised his eyebrows. I slowly took the money from his hand and placed it back in my pocket. I smiled and looked at Edward.

"Remember when you robbed me that day?"

Edward rolled his eyes. His face became serious as he realized what I was talking about. "Yes, you took out over $500 and when I searched you, you had nothing."

I nodded with a crooked smile. "To be honest, I don't even know how I do it. It's like, I think about it and then it just happens. It's kind of like I am teleporting other objects. Like Eve, although she doesn't teleport herself."

Cassidy nodded. "Uh huh." She looked at me. "Alyssa, you told me earlier that you still felt powerful."

I shrugged. "Yeah, why?"

She smiled. "Alyssa, this could mean that Peter didn't take all of your powers." She looked at Edward. "When did you come in?"

"After he punched her, why?" Edward said.

Tobey sighed. "This is too much for an old man like me."

I pursed my lips and looked at Cassidy. She continued smiling. "This could mean that Peter didn't get the chance to take all of your powers."

I nodded. "Or maybe he didn't want the ones that I could still possibly have."

Cassidy nodded and pointed at me. She shook her hand. "That's more reasonable. If he wanted all of your powers, he could've just taken them when you were hugging."

I nodded again. "Alright, so I have useless powers that...wait...that pretty much sums it up. I have useless powers."

Tobey looked at me. "Well, if you use them for your whole money situation then they're not that useless."

I looked at him. "I guess, but having the ability to make money look thin and to move it from pocket to pocket without touching it really won't do me that good." I thought for a moment. "But I can only move the money because Peter took my telekinesis power. So, this is most likely a side effect of not having telekinesis but being able to still move things with my mind."

Sam nodded. "It makes sense."

I sighed. "Alright, well lets not stand here any longer."

I turned around and moved towards the fancy silver elevator. I pushed the button on the wall. It blinked green and the elevator door opened. We slid in being the only people in the elevator. I pushed the button that had a '3' on it. The numbers went all the way up to five. This was a large casino/hotel. I was surprised I didn't hear about it. Or maybe I did and my half human brain couldn't process it. The possibilities were unlimited now.

The door closed and we began moving. Edward stood next to me and he turned to me.

"Alyssa, I hope you know that this means I am the only human now."

I nodded. "Yes, but just keep in mind that I can't do much with none of my powers that I could use in battle. I am just as useless as you are."

We both smiled. His dark brown eyes gleamed. "Thanks."