Status: Finished; working on the sequel
In The Dark
Chapter Fifteen
“Shut up! Everyone listen!”
We all turn to look back at Robert and his staff of trainers. We’re in the central training room. Everyone meaning that every kid that was brought here the other day is now in this room. However, thanks to the size of this room, nobody is cramped. [Thank goodness] Nick, Ryan and I, are on a platform several feet above the ground, and, hence, several feet above everyone else. Why?
… That’s exactly what I want to know.
Ryan is smiling and winking at some of the older girls below us, and it’s all I can do not to push him off this thing.
“All of this talking is not acceptable. We will forgive you this time for it is your first lesson. However, from now on you must be quiet and pay attention during lessons; you could miss something that might save your life later on. Understand?”
“Yes sir,” everyone mumbles under his or her breath.
Robert nods and walks to stand right underneath our platform.
“Above me on the platform, if you don’t know already, stand Kyra, Nick, and Ryan. Their powers are more advanced than all of you put together, even if they haven’t figured out how to use them all yet.”
A quiet murmuring rises in the room, sounding like a dull roar. Robert raises a hand and the murmurs stop.
“Please do not be offended. That is not to say that you are inferior to them in any way. I just meant that you should look to them for guidance during your training sessions. They will have much to offer you, and will be happy to help.”
“Dibs on Ryan,” shouts one girl.
“No, Nick is better, I pick him,” shouts another.
“I pick the tall, hot chick in the middle,” shouts a guy who looks a couple years older than me.
Suddenly the room is roaring with people calling dibs on us. I look over at Nick and Ryan, unsure of what to do. They’re both smiling, avoiding my eyes.
“Guys? What are we gonna do about this?”
They still don’t answer me. What is their problem? I turn back to the crowd of kids. I spot Lana in the middle of the crowd being pushed around, and that gets me mad.
“QUIET!”
Everyone jerks to attention. Robert and Ryan look plain shocked.
“What is wrong with you guys? Can’t you ever just be calm and polite? Why does everything have to get aggressive? Just shut up and listen so we can get this over with!” I look down at Robert. “Please continue.”
Robert clears his throat, and then looks at Nick. “Nicholas, if you would.”
Nick gives a brief nod, stepping forward to look down at the kids below.
“Ryan and I will give a brief demonstration, showing some of you how to master fire techniques. Those of you with fire abilities, please step forward.”
A group of about twelve kids step out of the crowd, each wearing a different styled red suits. How appropriate.
“What about me?”
Nick looks at me, his eyebrows raised. “You want to learn now? You won’t be able to if you’re still not sure about all this.”
“I am sure now. I want to learn. Teach me.” I stare him down until he laughs.
“Fine I’ll teach you.” he pauses, looking thoughtful, then changes his mind. “No, Ryan will teach you.”
Ryan looks startled by this. “What? No, you can teach her.”
“But I said you should teach her. She’ll be more comfortable with you. She thinks I’m a murderer, so I’m out of the question.” However, he says this with a smile.
Now I’m confused. “Wait. I thought you didn’t know how to use your powers yet, Ryan.”
Ryan goes pale, looking down at his boots as if they’re just so fascinating.
I decide not to push him about it. He was probably told before not to tell me. Why? Who knows… but I can’t worry about that right now. I just want to learn these things.
I smile at him, and he relaxes. Nick nods and jumps down off the platform. The kids move back as a group, shocked. Why shouldn’t they be? We’re over twenty feet off the ground, and normal people don’t like to jump down from high places like that.
However, they should notice by now that we’re not normal people. None of us.
Ryan jumps down after him, and then looks up at me, seeming to want me to follow.
I am not jumping down there. “I’ll just walk down, thanks.”
Ryan shakes his head no. “Come on, jump. Nothing will happen to you; I promise.”
“Will you catch me?”
“No. Just trust your instincts.”
I take a step back. “Every time I trust my instincts, I end up either unconscious, or so tired I can’t hold myself up.”
He throws up his hands. “Fine! Walk then.”
I blink, surprised that he didn’t push me further. Fine then. Taking a deep breath, I jump down, landing with my knees almost touching the ground because of how low I am forced to crouch down.
I straighten up slowly, wincing from the slight pain in my knees. Nobody even saw though, they are all watching Nick. I walk around and go up to him. He looks surprised.
“You jumped?”
“I did.”
“Good job.”
I glow with his complement a little bit.
He turns back to what he was doing.
Note: Do NOT try this at home folks
He takes a match out of his pocket and lights it, then simply throws it on the square of carpet in front of him. The carpet ignites, the flames enveloping it completely. Nick steps right into the fire before him, and some of the girls squeal with fright.
Ryan looks excited. So do all of the kids in the red suits. What is it? What is about to happen?
The flames quickly spread form he carpet, onto Nick, and everyone watches silently as Nick is covered from the feet up. Then, to my surprise, Ryan reaches out and puts a hand on him, and then all of the kids do, until their hands catch fire. Then they remove them.
They let the fire creep slowly up their bodies until they to are living bonfires it seems. All of the other kids back up, safely positioning themselves away from the flames.
Nick looks over at me and holds out an arm. I start to reach out with a hand, hesitate for only a second, and then place my hand on his arm. The fire is very, very hot [your probably like duh right?] but it doesn’t burn or anything. When my hand is covered, I remove it and stare in fascination.
By complete accident, I light my hair on fire, and actually panic a little bit, hitting my hair over and over to put it out, and only succeed in setting the rest of me on fire. Ryan and the others burst out laughing, and I laugh with them, actually having fun.
“Okay people,” Nick breaks in, when he’s done laughing, “who has burnt up something before? Be it a wall, a house, or maybe a computer…?”
One boy in the back, who looks to be only six, raises his hand. “I blew up my dad’s computer! It was by accident though. I got mad when they weren’t home, and the fire from the candle just floated over to me and I caught on fire. Then I tripped and fell on the computer and exploded. But I didn’t get hurt.”
Nick nods approvingly, and the boy beams proudly.
“Nice Jake. Anyone else?”
An older girl raises her hand shyly. “I was angry at my boyfriend and the fire was suddenly just… there. I set the curtains on fire, but I put them out in time.” Her face falls. “My parents were furious.”
Nick goes puts a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
“Don’t worry Amy. That’s expected from normal folks. That will never happen here okay? Not only is everything here fireproof, but we’ll have you trained to use your powers right soon. There won’t be any more accidents.”
After this, one by one, more and more people raise their hands to confess their mistakes, and I get more and more bored as the seconds tick by.
At one point, one of the older guys yells out, “What in the world?”
Everyone looks over in my direction. What?
“Kyra,” Nick says slowly, “I need you to back up very slowly. Just ease back and keep your mind blank.”
I don’t know what he’s talking about, but I back up just the same. Then I look down at myself. Why didn’t I see this coming?
I don’t even look human anymore. My suit isn’t visible, and my body is covered in some sort of… I can’t even think of what to call it other than hot slime.
Nick steps forward, making sure to block the others. His eyes go over me. He seems baffled.
“How in the world were you able to convert the fire into magma… without even trying? I don‘t even know how to do that.” He reaches out and touches my shoulder, then jerks his hand away with a hiss of pain.
“You’re too hot. I can’t even touch you.”
I smile slightly. “Thanks.”
He just stares, and then shakes his head, smiling. “I didn’t mean it like that and you know it. This is serious.”
I nod curtly, saluting. “Yes sir!”
Nick runs a hand down his face, exasperated, and then turns to Nick.
“Please take over. You guys are about the same power level I think. You were closer together on the shuttle…”
Ryan nods and comes over.
“Be careful,” I warn him.
He nods and reaches out, touching the same spot Nick had, and holds his hand there. Nothing happens at first, bit then the spot he’s touching flares and a wave of light travels down his arm. The lava is instantly gone from both of us.
He retracts his hand slowly, and our eyes meet. What the…?
Everything is dead quiet in the room.
“Did you do that on purpose,” I ask.
He nods, looking somewhat dazed. I flick his forehead and he jumps. “Sorry. I don’t know what just happened.”
Nick looks pissed. “What is going on?”
“If we knew, do you think we’d be standing here like this?”
He throws up his hands in frustration. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s take a lunch break people. You’re allowed to do whatever. Just keep your androids with you. Dismissed.”
Almost immediately, a group of excited kids over to me.
“That was so cool,” one of them says.
“How can I learn ho to do that?”
“You are so hot. Do you have a boyfriend?”
At this remark, I think I see Ryan’s face go stony, but I’m not sure. I turn back to the boy who said it. He’s, like, eighteen or nineteen. I narrow my eyes at him.
“No I don’t, but I’m not looking for one either. Especially not one who’s almost five years older than me.”
He backtracks. “Wait, how old are you?”
“Fourteen years old. How old are you, Twenty?” I turn on my heel and walk away, leaving him and his friends to hit on somebody else. Ugh!
They shouldn’t even let guys like that in here. Powers or no powers.
Ryan steps up beside me and puts a hand on my shoulder. I look at him in question.
He leans over to my ear. “I have some things to tell you. Can we go somewhere private? Like, now?”
I nod. “Should the others come too? You know who I mean.”
He shrugs. “Okay. You find the girls, and I’ll get the guys. Hopefully they haven’t left yet.”
We split up, going in opposite directions. I find Zoë first, talking to a group of squealing girls her age, then Jenna, sitting by herself at a table, then Lana, looking for me.
We meet the guys at the elevator and step inside together. The elevator is quite big, compared to regular elevators. Looking around at the overwhelming number of buttons, each of us lost. I press the button that’s labeled CONFERENCE ROOM. Nobody talk during the ride, but when the door slides open, we all gasp.
Straight ahead of us, is complete darkness. I reach my hand out, but feel nothing. Dropping to my knees, I stick my hand out again, but I don’t even feel a floor.
“Go ahead Loli, just trust your-”
{Yeah yeah yeah. I know Voice. Just rust your instincts. You don’t have to tell me again. But one little problem: My instincts are telling me to jump down there, and I wont listen. Who do you think you are anyway? Telling me what to do like you’re my mom or something? Who are you, and why are you in my head?}
The voice sighs a little. “You can call me… Mondi. As for your last questions, I cannot tell you. It is to complicated. All I can say is that I’m not the bad guy. I’m here to help you. I am here to keep you from hurting yourself, and others from hurting you. But to do that, you have to trust that I wouldn’t do anything that would result if you getting hurt if I can help it.”
Mondi? That name sounds familiar… Oh well.
I turn to the others. “I’m going to jump down. You guys wait here until I give the clear okay? If you don’t hear anything in 60 seconds, go get help.”
They all start to laugh, then they realize that I’m serious, at which their laughing stops abruptly.
I take a deep breath, put one foot over the edge, and jump. My back hits something hard, and I realize that I’m in a big tube going down. It seems to go on without end, but then I’m back in the air. I’m about to get seriously frightened, when I hit something unexpected.
The force of the impact feels hard enough to break every bone in my body, but I’m abruptly thrown back into the air, then I hit the thing again, softer this time.
I bounce softly for a few more seconds, and then go still. I stand slowly, ready for another unexpected toss, but instead, find myself in a dimly lit office conference room.
There’s a table that’s long enough to fit at least 100 hundred people. I get down, and turn. Oh! A trampoline! No wonder I was bouncing.
I walk over to a panel on the wall and let it scan my prints. Almost immediately, the lights brighten blindingly, and then dull to a reasonable brightness. Okay then!
Going back over to the trampoline, I call up to the others, “Okay guys! It’s safe! You can come down now.”
I hear them jump, and then they all hit the tube in a mass. Oh no! I forgot to tell them to come down one at a time!
A few seconds pass, and then they all fall out of the tube onto the trampoline, then bounce right off onto the floor in sync.
I burst out laughing unable to stop myself. They all laugh too; even though I can tell they’re hurting a little bit.
“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry guys! I forgot to tell you to come down one by one, and then…” I can’t finish because I explode into laughter again. Lana comes over and bops me in the head, only making me laugh harder.
“Yeah that would have been nice to know, Kyra,” Leon scolds, but there’s a smile on his face.
Their androids come next, one by one, landing on the trampoline and bouncing off in one jump.
Jaiden comes over to me. There’s a strand of hair hanging in his eyes and I brush it away. He smiles. Treyvon looks appalled. “What was that?”
I look up at him innocently. “What was what?”
“You just moved hair out of his eyes. Why?”
I put my hands on my hips. “Do I need your permission to wipe some hair off his face? I don’t think so.”
“You’re treating him like a person. He’s a thing.”
I step over to him, angry. “Maybe he’s not a flesh and blood human like us, but his feelings are for real, and I plan to treat him as a friend. Do you have a problem with that?”
Treyvon step back, looking disgusted. “I do. It’s wrong.”
I’m about to pounce, but Ryan steps between us, towering over Treyvon.
“I think she’s amazing. She’ll be nice to anyone, whether they’re breathing or not, because she is a good person. Unlike you.”
Treyvon takes a step forward, and I can tell there’s about to be a fight, but to my surprise, Jaiden steps between them, and pushes them apart.
“What do you think you’re doing, Droid? Get out of my way.” Treyvon is furious.
Jaiden meets his eyes squarely. “No. You will not insult Kyra. She’s been nothing but kind to me, and I wont let anyone hurt her.”
Treyvon stares at him menacingly, and then nods. “Fine. I guess you have your own bodyguard now Kyra. Congrats. I don’t have a problem with you, I have a problem with the way you treat your robot. But whatever, it’s none of my business.”
Everyone goes to sit down. Lana sits next to me, and Jaiden stands behind me, still as a statue. I pull out the mirror that Nick gave me and stare at my crystals. They’re all glowing a steady blue.
I look at Ryan. “So you had something to tell me? Or all of us?”
He nods. “Just you.” He shifts in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable. “Um, well… just to catch the rest of you up, I met Kyra when I helped her and her brother one night. That was the night she and I first used our powers. Not on purpose though.”
He faces me again. “But I never told you what had really happened that night.”
I nod slowly, tensing up, waiting for the bomb.
“Okay well… I was just out for a walk, and I heard a scream. I ran to turn the corner, and I saw you and Michael, fighting off these guys in long white coats. Michael defended you and almost got stabbed, but you jumped in front of him and the guy got you in the arm instead. Which was actually a good thing, because Michael probably would have lost his arm if the knife had hit him. You fell back on Michael, and he hit his head on the ground and didn’t move.
“You passed out too, probably from fright. The guys were about to put you in their car, but then they saw me, and they panicked and drove off as fast as possible.” He shrugs. “That’s when I helped you. You woke up kind of fast.”
I shake my head solemnly. “Why don’t I remember any of this? It makes no sense at all.”
“Well you were unconscious. You hit your head.”
“But I remember everything that happened before that. So why can’t I remember that one thing?” I’m frustrated now, but I shake it off, something coming to mind.
“Were they the same guys who were in the forest? The ones who grabbed that little girl?”
He thinks for a minute, then nods. “Yeah, it was.”
I jump up, causing Jaiden to stumble a little, and start pacing around the room back and forth. I feel so close to discovering something. So close!
“That makes three times then! Three times that they attacked me. I’ll bet that the only reason they grabbed that girl was to lure me out.”
My head jerks up, and I stop pacing.
“They know! They know about my powers and want to use me for something. Something bad! They’re willing to hurt anyone to get o me. That’s it right? It all makes sense now!”
Everyone looks very afraid now. I quickly back up.
“Not like they could get to use or anything. We’re hundreds of feet underground. They’d have to be, like, super spies or something.”
This calms them down, if only a little. I turn to Jaiden. “Where’s the exit? Not back up that tunnel I hope.” I want him to laugh, to tell me a joke or something, but his face has gone strangely blank, but he doesn’t.
He walks over to a blank wall, and I follow him. I watch as he places the tips of his fingers on a part of the wall, and then turn his hand to the right, exposing a ring of numbers around the perimeter of his hand. Instead of turning it, he punches the center with a fist. Instantly, a door opens next to it. He steps back, letting me pass.
I walk through with the others in tow. We find ourselves back in the park. Somehow… I don’t know how.
I’m confused as I turn to Jaiden. “Didn’t we have to come down a couple of floors to get to the conference room?”
He nods.
“Then how are we back in the same park, without going back up?”
“This is another group’s park. There are several parks for each different group. We use this elevator to get back to the main hangar.”
On the way over to the elevator, Ryan grabs my hand, stopping me. I turn to him and his eyes search mine desperately. “You’re not mad at me are you Kyra? I really didn’t mean to keep this from you for so long but… I- I just didn’t want you to freak out or anything.”
I shake my head no.
“I’m not mad at you Ryan. However, I think that all of this could have maybe been avoided if you would’ve told me when I asked. Next time, just tell me straight okay? There are very few things I can’t take. Okay?”
A smile breaks out on his face and he hugs me hard, then lets go. “Okay. As soon as I know something, I’ll tell you.”
After riding back to the main hangar, I split away from the others to go to the main conference room and meet the adults for some things with Jaiden.
We all turn to look back at Robert and his staff of trainers. We’re in the central training room. Everyone meaning that every kid that was brought here the other day is now in this room. However, thanks to the size of this room, nobody is cramped. [Thank goodness] Nick, Ryan and I, are on a platform several feet above the ground, and, hence, several feet above everyone else. Why?
… That’s exactly what I want to know.
Ryan is smiling and winking at some of the older girls below us, and it’s all I can do not to push him off this thing.
“All of this talking is not acceptable. We will forgive you this time for it is your first lesson. However, from now on you must be quiet and pay attention during lessons; you could miss something that might save your life later on. Understand?”
“Yes sir,” everyone mumbles under his or her breath.
Robert nods and walks to stand right underneath our platform.
“Above me on the platform, if you don’t know already, stand Kyra, Nick, and Ryan. Their powers are more advanced than all of you put together, even if they haven’t figured out how to use them all yet.”
A quiet murmuring rises in the room, sounding like a dull roar. Robert raises a hand and the murmurs stop.
“Please do not be offended. That is not to say that you are inferior to them in any way. I just meant that you should look to them for guidance during your training sessions. They will have much to offer you, and will be happy to help.”
“Dibs on Ryan,” shouts one girl.
“No, Nick is better, I pick him,” shouts another.
“I pick the tall, hot chick in the middle,” shouts a guy who looks a couple years older than me.
Suddenly the room is roaring with people calling dibs on us. I look over at Nick and Ryan, unsure of what to do. They’re both smiling, avoiding my eyes.
“Guys? What are we gonna do about this?”
They still don’t answer me. What is their problem? I turn back to the crowd of kids. I spot Lana in the middle of the crowd being pushed around, and that gets me mad.
“QUIET!”
Everyone jerks to attention. Robert and Ryan look plain shocked.
“What is wrong with you guys? Can’t you ever just be calm and polite? Why does everything have to get aggressive? Just shut up and listen so we can get this over with!” I look down at Robert. “Please continue.”
Robert clears his throat, and then looks at Nick. “Nicholas, if you would.”
Nick gives a brief nod, stepping forward to look down at the kids below.
“Ryan and I will give a brief demonstration, showing some of you how to master fire techniques. Those of you with fire abilities, please step forward.”
A group of about twelve kids step out of the crowd, each wearing a different styled red suits. How appropriate.
“What about me?”
Nick looks at me, his eyebrows raised. “You want to learn now? You won’t be able to if you’re still not sure about all this.”
“I am sure now. I want to learn. Teach me.” I stare him down until he laughs.
“Fine I’ll teach you.” he pauses, looking thoughtful, then changes his mind. “No, Ryan will teach you.”
Ryan looks startled by this. “What? No, you can teach her.”
“But I said you should teach her. She’ll be more comfortable with you. She thinks I’m a murderer, so I’m out of the question.” However, he says this with a smile.
Now I’m confused. “Wait. I thought you didn’t know how to use your powers yet, Ryan.”
Ryan goes pale, looking down at his boots as if they’re just so fascinating.
I decide not to push him about it. He was probably told before not to tell me. Why? Who knows… but I can’t worry about that right now. I just want to learn these things.
I smile at him, and he relaxes. Nick nods and jumps down off the platform. The kids move back as a group, shocked. Why shouldn’t they be? We’re over twenty feet off the ground, and normal people don’t like to jump down from high places like that.
However, they should notice by now that we’re not normal people. None of us.
Ryan jumps down after him, and then looks up at me, seeming to want me to follow.
I am not jumping down there. “I’ll just walk down, thanks.”
Ryan shakes his head no. “Come on, jump. Nothing will happen to you; I promise.”
“Will you catch me?”
“No. Just trust your instincts.”
I take a step back. “Every time I trust my instincts, I end up either unconscious, or so tired I can’t hold myself up.”
He throws up his hands. “Fine! Walk then.”
I blink, surprised that he didn’t push me further. Fine then. Taking a deep breath, I jump down, landing with my knees almost touching the ground because of how low I am forced to crouch down.
I straighten up slowly, wincing from the slight pain in my knees. Nobody even saw though, they are all watching Nick. I walk around and go up to him. He looks surprised.
“You jumped?”
“I did.”
“Good job.”
I glow with his complement a little bit.
He turns back to what he was doing.
Note: Do NOT try this at home folks
He takes a match out of his pocket and lights it, then simply throws it on the square of carpet in front of him. The carpet ignites, the flames enveloping it completely. Nick steps right into the fire before him, and some of the girls squeal with fright.
Ryan looks excited. So do all of the kids in the red suits. What is it? What is about to happen?
The flames quickly spread form he carpet, onto Nick, and everyone watches silently as Nick is covered from the feet up. Then, to my surprise, Ryan reaches out and puts a hand on him, and then all of the kids do, until their hands catch fire. Then they remove them.
They let the fire creep slowly up their bodies until they to are living bonfires it seems. All of the other kids back up, safely positioning themselves away from the flames.
Nick looks over at me and holds out an arm. I start to reach out with a hand, hesitate for only a second, and then place my hand on his arm. The fire is very, very hot [your probably like duh right?] but it doesn’t burn or anything. When my hand is covered, I remove it and stare in fascination.
By complete accident, I light my hair on fire, and actually panic a little bit, hitting my hair over and over to put it out, and only succeed in setting the rest of me on fire. Ryan and the others burst out laughing, and I laugh with them, actually having fun.
“Okay people,” Nick breaks in, when he’s done laughing, “who has burnt up something before? Be it a wall, a house, or maybe a computer…?”
One boy in the back, who looks to be only six, raises his hand. “I blew up my dad’s computer! It was by accident though. I got mad when they weren’t home, and the fire from the candle just floated over to me and I caught on fire. Then I tripped and fell on the computer and exploded. But I didn’t get hurt.”
Nick nods approvingly, and the boy beams proudly.
“Nice Jake. Anyone else?”
An older girl raises her hand shyly. “I was angry at my boyfriend and the fire was suddenly just… there. I set the curtains on fire, but I put them out in time.” Her face falls. “My parents were furious.”
Nick goes puts a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
“Don’t worry Amy. That’s expected from normal folks. That will never happen here okay? Not only is everything here fireproof, but we’ll have you trained to use your powers right soon. There won’t be any more accidents.”
After this, one by one, more and more people raise their hands to confess their mistakes, and I get more and more bored as the seconds tick by.
At one point, one of the older guys yells out, “What in the world?”
Everyone looks over in my direction. What?
“Kyra,” Nick says slowly, “I need you to back up very slowly. Just ease back and keep your mind blank.”
I don’t know what he’s talking about, but I back up just the same. Then I look down at myself. Why didn’t I see this coming?
I don’t even look human anymore. My suit isn’t visible, and my body is covered in some sort of… I can’t even think of what to call it other than hot slime.
Nick steps forward, making sure to block the others. His eyes go over me. He seems baffled.
“How in the world were you able to convert the fire into magma… without even trying? I don‘t even know how to do that.” He reaches out and touches my shoulder, then jerks his hand away with a hiss of pain.
“You’re too hot. I can’t even touch you.”
I smile slightly. “Thanks.”
He just stares, and then shakes his head, smiling. “I didn’t mean it like that and you know it. This is serious.”
I nod curtly, saluting. “Yes sir!”
Nick runs a hand down his face, exasperated, and then turns to Nick.
“Please take over. You guys are about the same power level I think. You were closer together on the shuttle…”
Ryan nods and comes over.
“Be careful,” I warn him.
He nods and reaches out, touching the same spot Nick had, and holds his hand there. Nothing happens at first, bit then the spot he’s touching flares and a wave of light travels down his arm. The lava is instantly gone from both of us.
He retracts his hand slowly, and our eyes meet. What the…?
Everything is dead quiet in the room.
“Did you do that on purpose,” I ask.
He nods, looking somewhat dazed. I flick his forehead and he jumps. “Sorry. I don’t know what just happened.”
Nick looks pissed. “What is going on?”
“If we knew, do you think we’d be standing here like this?”
He throws up his hands in frustration. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s take a lunch break people. You’re allowed to do whatever. Just keep your androids with you. Dismissed.”
Almost immediately, a group of excited kids over to me.
“That was so cool,” one of them says.
“How can I learn ho to do that?”
“You are so hot. Do you have a boyfriend?”
At this remark, I think I see Ryan’s face go stony, but I’m not sure. I turn back to the boy who said it. He’s, like, eighteen or nineteen. I narrow my eyes at him.
“No I don’t, but I’m not looking for one either. Especially not one who’s almost five years older than me.”
He backtracks. “Wait, how old are you?”
“Fourteen years old. How old are you, Twenty?” I turn on my heel and walk away, leaving him and his friends to hit on somebody else. Ugh!
They shouldn’t even let guys like that in here. Powers or no powers.
Ryan steps up beside me and puts a hand on my shoulder. I look at him in question.
He leans over to my ear. “I have some things to tell you. Can we go somewhere private? Like, now?”
I nod. “Should the others come too? You know who I mean.”
He shrugs. “Okay. You find the girls, and I’ll get the guys. Hopefully they haven’t left yet.”
We split up, going in opposite directions. I find Zoë first, talking to a group of squealing girls her age, then Jenna, sitting by herself at a table, then Lana, looking for me.
We meet the guys at the elevator and step inside together. The elevator is quite big, compared to regular elevators. Looking around at the overwhelming number of buttons, each of us lost. I press the button that’s labeled CONFERENCE ROOM. Nobody talk during the ride, but when the door slides open, we all gasp.
Straight ahead of us, is complete darkness. I reach my hand out, but feel nothing. Dropping to my knees, I stick my hand out again, but I don’t even feel a floor.
“Go ahead Loli, just trust your-”
{Yeah yeah yeah. I know Voice. Just rust your instincts. You don’t have to tell me again. But one little problem: My instincts are telling me to jump down there, and I wont listen. Who do you think you are anyway? Telling me what to do like you’re my mom or something? Who are you, and why are you in my head?}
The voice sighs a little. “You can call me… Mondi. As for your last questions, I cannot tell you. It is to complicated. All I can say is that I’m not the bad guy. I’m here to help you. I am here to keep you from hurting yourself, and others from hurting you. But to do that, you have to trust that I wouldn’t do anything that would result if you getting hurt if I can help it.”
Mondi? That name sounds familiar… Oh well.
I turn to the others. “I’m going to jump down. You guys wait here until I give the clear okay? If you don’t hear anything in 60 seconds, go get help.”
They all start to laugh, then they realize that I’m serious, at which their laughing stops abruptly.
I take a deep breath, put one foot over the edge, and jump. My back hits something hard, and I realize that I’m in a big tube going down. It seems to go on without end, but then I’m back in the air. I’m about to get seriously frightened, when I hit something unexpected.
The force of the impact feels hard enough to break every bone in my body, but I’m abruptly thrown back into the air, then I hit the thing again, softer this time.
I bounce softly for a few more seconds, and then go still. I stand slowly, ready for another unexpected toss, but instead, find myself in a dimly lit office conference room.
There’s a table that’s long enough to fit at least 100 hundred people. I get down, and turn. Oh! A trampoline! No wonder I was bouncing.
I walk over to a panel on the wall and let it scan my prints. Almost immediately, the lights brighten blindingly, and then dull to a reasonable brightness. Okay then!
Going back over to the trampoline, I call up to the others, “Okay guys! It’s safe! You can come down now.”
I hear them jump, and then they all hit the tube in a mass. Oh no! I forgot to tell them to come down one at a time!
A few seconds pass, and then they all fall out of the tube onto the trampoline, then bounce right off onto the floor in sync.
I burst out laughing unable to stop myself. They all laugh too; even though I can tell they’re hurting a little bit.
“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry guys! I forgot to tell you to come down one by one, and then…” I can’t finish because I explode into laughter again. Lana comes over and bops me in the head, only making me laugh harder.
“Yeah that would have been nice to know, Kyra,” Leon scolds, but there’s a smile on his face.
Their androids come next, one by one, landing on the trampoline and bouncing off in one jump.
Jaiden comes over to me. There’s a strand of hair hanging in his eyes and I brush it away. He smiles. Treyvon looks appalled. “What was that?”
I look up at him innocently. “What was what?”
“You just moved hair out of his eyes. Why?”
I put my hands on my hips. “Do I need your permission to wipe some hair off his face? I don’t think so.”
“You’re treating him like a person. He’s a thing.”
I step over to him, angry. “Maybe he’s not a flesh and blood human like us, but his feelings are for real, and I plan to treat him as a friend. Do you have a problem with that?”
Treyvon step back, looking disgusted. “I do. It’s wrong.”
I’m about to pounce, but Ryan steps between us, towering over Treyvon.
“I think she’s amazing. She’ll be nice to anyone, whether they’re breathing or not, because she is a good person. Unlike you.”
Treyvon takes a step forward, and I can tell there’s about to be a fight, but to my surprise, Jaiden steps between them, and pushes them apart.
“What do you think you’re doing, Droid? Get out of my way.” Treyvon is furious.
Jaiden meets his eyes squarely. “No. You will not insult Kyra. She’s been nothing but kind to me, and I wont let anyone hurt her.”
Treyvon stares at him menacingly, and then nods. “Fine. I guess you have your own bodyguard now Kyra. Congrats. I don’t have a problem with you, I have a problem with the way you treat your robot. But whatever, it’s none of my business.”
Everyone goes to sit down. Lana sits next to me, and Jaiden stands behind me, still as a statue. I pull out the mirror that Nick gave me and stare at my crystals. They’re all glowing a steady blue.
I look at Ryan. “So you had something to tell me? Or all of us?”
He nods. “Just you.” He shifts in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable. “Um, well… just to catch the rest of you up, I met Kyra when I helped her and her brother one night. That was the night she and I first used our powers. Not on purpose though.”
He faces me again. “But I never told you what had really happened that night.”
I nod slowly, tensing up, waiting for the bomb.
“Okay well… I was just out for a walk, and I heard a scream. I ran to turn the corner, and I saw you and Michael, fighting off these guys in long white coats. Michael defended you and almost got stabbed, but you jumped in front of him and the guy got you in the arm instead. Which was actually a good thing, because Michael probably would have lost his arm if the knife had hit him. You fell back on Michael, and he hit his head on the ground and didn’t move.
“You passed out too, probably from fright. The guys were about to put you in their car, but then they saw me, and they panicked and drove off as fast as possible.” He shrugs. “That’s when I helped you. You woke up kind of fast.”
I shake my head solemnly. “Why don’t I remember any of this? It makes no sense at all.”
“Well you were unconscious. You hit your head.”
“But I remember everything that happened before that. So why can’t I remember that one thing?” I’m frustrated now, but I shake it off, something coming to mind.
“Were they the same guys who were in the forest? The ones who grabbed that little girl?”
He thinks for a minute, then nods. “Yeah, it was.”
I jump up, causing Jaiden to stumble a little, and start pacing around the room back and forth. I feel so close to discovering something. So close!
“That makes three times then! Three times that they attacked me. I’ll bet that the only reason they grabbed that girl was to lure me out.”
My head jerks up, and I stop pacing.
“They know! They know about my powers and want to use me for something. Something bad! They’re willing to hurt anyone to get o me. That’s it right? It all makes sense now!”
Everyone looks very afraid now. I quickly back up.
“Not like they could get to use or anything. We’re hundreds of feet underground. They’d have to be, like, super spies or something.”
This calms them down, if only a little. I turn to Jaiden. “Where’s the exit? Not back up that tunnel I hope.” I want him to laugh, to tell me a joke or something, but his face has gone strangely blank, but he doesn’t.
He walks over to a blank wall, and I follow him. I watch as he places the tips of his fingers on a part of the wall, and then turn his hand to the right, exposing a ring of numbers around the perimeter of his hand. Instead of turning it, he punches the center with a fist. Instantly, a door opens next to it. He steps back, letting me pass.
I walk through with the others in tow. We find ourselves back in the park. Somehow… I don’t know how.
I’m confused as I turn to Jaiden. “Didn’t we have to come down a couple of floors to get to the conference room?”
He nods.
“Then how are we back in the same park, without going back up?”
“This is another group’s park. There are several parks for each different group. We use this elevator to get back to the main hangar.”
On the way over to the elevator, Ryan grabs my hand, stopping me. I turn to him and his eyes search mine desperately. “You’re not mad at me are you Kyra? I really didn’t mean to keep this from you for so long but… I- I just didn’t want you to freak out or anything.”
I shake my head no.
“I’m not mad at you Ryan. However, I think that all of this could have maybe been avoided if you would’ve told me when I asked. Next time, just tell me straight okay? There are very few things I can’t take. Okay?”
A smile breaks out on his face and he hugs me hard, then lets go. “Okay. As soon as I know something, I’ll tell you.”
After riding back to the main hangar, I split away from the others to go to the main conference room and meet the adults for some things with Jaiden.
♠ ♠ ♠
last chapter is next