Chapter One; The Beginning

The sense of the ground rushing below me is exhilarating, the mixing of a hundred colors whizzing by me at incredible speeds, and the cool air rushing into my mouth, filling my lungs. It all feels so real! But then, I remember, it's all a dream. Suddenly, I'm flying in a different direction… down. The ground quickly rushes up to meet me. Thud.The impact feels real, but I know, from past experience, that it's only an illusion. As I lay there thinking about the detail of the dream, I can feel something that's not quite right. When did I put feathers on my bed? I look over the edge to see the reminisce of, what looks like black wings, disappearing in to my bed… No… not my bed, into me.

Point Of View: Ashton Hayes

Age: 16

Power: Molecular Reconstruction

Bang Bang Bang.

"Ashton? It's time to go! What are you doing in there?!? I heard something fall!" Alee screams from the kitchen.

"Sorry! My alarm clock didn't go off. I'll be out in about three seconds!" I say as I put on my coolest outfit.

"Hurry!! If we're late, were going to get detention."

"Okay, okay." I almost hit her as I run out the door. In the kitchen there are Pop-Tarts in the freezer, almost rock hard. I grab one and bite in to the crunchy frosting on the top and the ice cold filling stings my teeth. The car keys are on the ring as I run out the door. I shove the keys in the ignition and the car springs to life.

. . .

At school the brakes whine with old age and every one turns to stare. Liz breaks from the on looking crowd.

"ASHTON!!" Liz screams at me running at near to full speed. She once told me about a time from before we were friends. She said that when she was five, she was playing in her room and all of a sudden she wanted to play with a toy what was across the room. She thought about it, and how much she wanted it, that it lifted it self up and then it floated to her.

"Hi Liz..." I say to her. Then in an anxious voice, "Liz? Can I talk to you… alone?"

The car door swings with a sharp grown, and slams with a rusty metal clang.

"What's on your mind? You seem… distracted." She says in a very sympathetic tone.

"Well… it happened again."

"Again?! This is the fifth time! Have you found out what triggers it?"

"No! And, it's really bugging me! I really want to know. The wings look really cool."

"I want to see them! You need to find out how to… uh… transform? Wow! That sounds so gay!" She says.

Unlike Liz, I sill don't know what triggers the transformation. It was easy for her… all she has to do is think about an object, like a car for example, and think about what she wants it to do, like fly across the parking lot. (She's done that with the Preppy Kids' cars for practice.)

"Well you need to find out how to grow the wings!!" she says again.

"LIZ!! Cut it out!! I know! I just want to figure out how to grow those wings!" I yell at her.

"Well don't take it out on me! I'm just trying to help."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I'm just angry that you get to use your telekinesis before I can fly! Wow. Your right… that does sound gay."

"LIZ! GET YOUR BUTT BACK OVER HERE!!" Becky yells from out regular group.

Liz garbs my arm and pulls me to them. Allison brought a book that apparently reads what your dreams mean. Right now she's looking at Becky's.

"It says: The presence of wings means that there will be an important change in your life. And the angel signifies a decision between light and dark. Wow you have an odd set of readings."

The electronic bell sounds and we all head inside.

"Great, we have to sit through an assembly today! It's hotter then heck in the auditorium." Liz says to us.

"Yeah! What is it about anyway? I don't think they ever told us." Karen says.

"I think it's some guy from Africa." Liz gowns.

At the top of the stairs a rush of hot a humid air, that just adds to the misery. The morning is unbearable enough. But, not that the air conditioners are stuck on the "heat" setting, just makes it… well like nothing I've felt before. But, the major heat makes me wish I could just fly to Wal-Mart and just stand under the fans. I never knew if it was my mind, or my power, but my back started to give off a weird sensation.

"I know it's hot, but you need to put your stuff in your locker, and get to your homeroom." Mrs. Ogden yells to the team.

At my locker, I take all my daily books and put my backpack in the locker. Trying to striating them out, I don't look where I'm going. All of a sudden I ram into something and drop everything. One book skids across the floor; the person I ran into picked up his stuff and ran to homeroom. So, I'm left to gather my books alone.

"Ashton, you dropped this." I hear a sympathetic voice say. I whip around to see Taylor Meade holding my book on human mutation. "Human mutation huh? Like three arms and 50 toes? Or like super powers?"

"Uhh, super powers… like cell regeneration, molecular reconstruction, telekinesis, teleportation. You know, stuff like that."

"Oh… that's… cool." She says.

'Great, not she thinks that I'm a total loser!'

Taylor looks around freaked out. "Uhh, did you say something?"

"No, I didn't. Are you ok?" I ask her.

"Well, I've been hearing voices all day… I'm kind of scared." She says with fright in her eyes.

"It's probably the heat! It's way to hot in here."

"Maybe…" she says as she walks to homeroom.

As I walk into the sweltering room, I slide into my usual seat at the back of the classroom, and lay my head down for a quick nap. My dream is as vivid as the one this morning. The details are sharper then before. But, this time is different some how. I look behind me, at my wings, and they're not the black angel wings from the dream this morning, but cold, leathery, bat wings. All of a sudden, the sensation in my back starts up again, but with a new-found intensity. I wake from my dream to find that my shirt was bulging out at an enormous rate. I raise my hand in a flash. "Can I go to the bathroom?" I ask a little too fast.

"Sure, are you ok?" Mrs. Ogden asks, concerned.

"I'm fine, I just need to go." I say as I back out of the classroom. I run around the corner and slip into the bathroom quietly.

"Hey Ashton, do you finally have proof of your quote, unquote, wings?" Corry says as back against the wall. Corry was one of the first people who I told about my transformations. He also has a power. He can turn invisible. He's the first person I saw use his power, and study it. I trust him completely.

"Actually, yes." I say as I rip of my shirt. The wings, now free of restraint, burst out like rubber bands. Each wing looked about 10' long.

"Holy sh--" he starts to say, only to be blown back by the gust of my wings flapping.

"DUDE! THAT IS REALLY COOL! BUT, YOU CAN STOP ANY TIME NOW!" he yells over the wind.

Then slowly but surely, the wings shrank into my back, getting smaller with each second.

. . .

POV: Rebecca Place

Age: 16

Power: Sees power and has the ability to take it, control of all elements

Sitting in this wretched concrete cube in unbearable! Looking over to Ashton, seeing the glowing substance coursing throughout his body makes want to get up and stab him right in the center of it. Wait, you can't do that! He's your cousin, he cares about you! Yes, but it'll be one more power for me! But at what cost, the death of a family member? No I will not allow it! It doesn't matter what you want, it's my body! We both control this body! And, I will not allow you to kill him!

I am interrupted from my internal battle by the sound of kids noisily exiting the room. Ashton is the first one to leave, thinking about telling Liz about finally controlling his power. It's about time; I've been waiting too long for this to happen. I tail him to Elizabeth's locker.

"Ok, so this weekend you'll come over and we'll both test the extent of out powers." I hear Liz say to Ashton.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow though, and we'll talk more about it." He says as he walks away.

"Ok, see you tomorrow."

I slowly follow him and the glowing orb inside him is pulsing, slowly, almost taunting me. All of a sudden the orb flashes a bright yellow, blinding me for a moment, but when I see him, he's flying away using, what looks like, black angel wings. The dagger of flame in my hand disappears as he files further and further away from me. Oh well, I'll get him next time.

Peter sneaks up on me saying, "Becky, are you ok-"I pick him up by the throat, pinning him up on the wall with an ice blade at his neck. It takes me a second to realize who it is, and the blade melts as I let him down.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry Peter. You know you shouldn't sneak up on me." I say as I hug my almost dead boyfriend.

"It's ok, I should've known, you still don't have control of your other powers yet." He says, talking about my "super hearing" (for lack of a better description).

"Ha ha, it's not that I was just angry because the good side of me held me back from

taking more powers."

"Babe, you need to learn to control the ones you have before you get new ones."

"I know, I know. But, I'm just dawn to the energy now."

He lets me go and we start walking to my house. On the way off the school grounds I see Alee, Ashton's little sister. Her body has a dull purple pulse going throughout her body. Ha, I guess that runs in the family. Don't even think about it.

By the time I get home, I'm at my wit's end with arguing about what to do about Ashton. My mind is running through a million different plans I could use. Most of them are successful, some are not. All I have to do is wait for this weekend, then they'll both be sitting ducks for the taking.