A/N: In the past three days, I've read both The Awakening and The Reckoning. This is from The Awakening. :)
Word count: 1,225
No one else was at the dinner table that night. No Chloe. No Tori. Just me.
I heard the click-clack of heels pounding down the shiny tiles in the hallway outside of the dining room. "Mrs. Enright?" I called loudly, my fork clattering to the plate where my untouched food was. The sharp clicks slowed down and then stopped completely, before backing up. Tori's mother peered in, her eyes narrowing into suspicious slits.
Mrs. Enright let out an impatient sigh. "What is it, Rachelle? Are you done?" Her gaze flickered from my face to my plate and back. "I guess not. What do you need?" she snapped.
"Um, well...where are Tori and Chloe? Aren't they supposed to be here?" I gulped when she let out a hiss.
"Miss Rogers, that might not be the best question to ask right now. Why don't you finish your food and then go to your room?" It came out more like a command than a friendly suggestion. "Dr. Davidoff will attend to you later, check up on you, but right now, the thing for you to do would be to eat," Mrs. Enright snarled. In a flash of blonde hair, she whisked out of the room. Her stilettos echoed down the hall as she retreated.
I prodded the disgusting green lump situated in front of me, cringing when it fell on its side. "Ugh," I said in unconcealed distaste, "I don't think so. Nobody in their right mind would swallow that." I thought back to last night, when Chloe and Tori were here with me. "At least yesterday I didn't have to digest unknown things."
Standing up from the table, I pushed in my chair and pressed a little button, signaling that I was done. Within a few seconds, a nurse entered with a perky smile. "Now, Rachelle, it's time for you to be escorted back to your room."
We walked back to my room. I gave a slight grin at how much better this was than the Lyle House. What I didn't understand was how Chloe didn't think it was. Wouldn't she rather be in a safe place where people wouldn't force lies down your throat in the form of pills? The door shut behind me, the nurse beaming as she reminded me, "Don't forget that the lights go off at ten o'clock. Dr. Davidoff will be in shortly to ask you a couple questions."
I fiddled with a game controller in the middle of the carpet. I plopped down on a green beanbag, ruffling my hair, and waited patiently for news of my fellow teenage supernaturals, who were supposed to be settling in further down the hall.
It was too predictable that Chloe would have tried to run away, but Tori? Tori had gone shopping. Did she get lost in the mall? I snorted at the image of her hiding from her mother behind a display at Victoria's Secret. Or maybe she hooked up with a guy and they ran away together. I rather liked the former.
I jumped when the door creaked open, but I relaxed when Dr. Davidoff came in. "Hello, Rachelle," he greeted, holding up a clipboard. Two guards shuffled in behind him. I saw one finger his gun, concealed in his belt, but ignored it. They were only here to make sure I didn't get mad. I was told that it would help me get better if I recognized that I couldn't lose my temper.
"Rae," I corrected.
He laughed heartily. "Oh, of course, my apologies." He sat down on a sofa in the corner. The guards followed suit. "Now Rae," he said, "I'm sure you've heard about your friends' disappearances. Chloe Saunders and Victoria Enright seem to have slipped our radar last night. No worries, though, because soon we'll have them and they'll be under our protective wing again."
"I'm not worried," I scoffed. "They're the dumb ones, running away. They don't get it, how this place is so much better for them! It's stupid, and you're right to have them here, so they can return to a healthy state of mind." I surprised myself with the words coming out of my mouth. I couldn't help remembering what Chloe told me, and that's what prompted it. "I mean, Chloe especially. I want her to get better and for you to clear up any misconceptions she has about you. I mean, for Pete's sake, she thinks you murdered Liz and Brady!" I chuckled at the insanity. The Edison Group was here to help us supernaturals. Chloe had to be blind to see that!
Yet I didn't miss the way that Davidoff looked away from a moment, lapsing into a short, silent conversation with one of the guards. He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to me. "I thank you for sharing that with us, Rae. Now I have some questions for you, if you wouldn't mind answering them."
"Of course not!" I snuggled deeper into my beanbag. I glanced up at the scientist.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine, thanks."
He checked the papers on his clipboard, probably a questionnaire. "What about your temper? How is that faring?" A guard shifted nervously in his seat, and his hand twitched toward his belt.
I frowned. "It's okay. However, I wish that people would stop staring at me like I'm some freak, 'cause I'm not, I'm a normal girl for the most part. I'm practically the stereotypical teenager except that I'm a half-demon!" I exclaimed. The guard flinched. "Oh, stop it!" I spat. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just upset."
Davidoff looked at me with sympathy. "Don't get worked up about it, Rae. Pretty soon, you'll be back with your friends. You're well on the way to rehabilitation. Now, doesn't that cheer you up?" he asked when he saw my beaming face. "Yes. If I could have a peek at your powers, please..."
My eyes widened. "My p-powers? Why? Didn't you already prove I'm an Exustio half-demon? I can make something turn to ashes. I think that's a good description."
"Yes, well, if we could simply see it." He folded his hands as he pleasantly waited.
Sweat started collecting on my forehead. "O-okay. Lemme get ready."
"If you will, please stand over in that corner." He pointed to the left side of my room. I stood up and jogged over.
I closed my eyes and thought of Chloe, leaving me behind, leaving me alone, abandoned, scared. That lit something inside me, more violent than anything I'd ever experienced. It was a flaming rage. My vision became tinted red while blood bubbled under my skin. Davidoff waited for me to demonstrate. My fingers prickled, longing to hurt something.
Letting out a sound having some semblance to roar, I lashed out at the wall.
My temples throbbed as the guards gasped. When I saw Davidoff, he wore a satisfied smirk. "Thank you, Rae. We'll let you rest now. Come," he ordered his bodyguards.
Only when they had left did I see the damage I'd left. A large, gaping hole had been burned out, the drywall singed at the edges. I gawked when I poked my head inside. A pile of ash was at the bottom. I stumbled back, shocked, but also feeling proud at my power. I flexed my hands.
That was for Chloe.
A/N: There's a theory that Davidoff had bluffed and that Rae was just an Igneus half-demon, but I thought it would cool if she was actually an Exustio. I was a little ticked off at her for betraying the others, yet how would she have felt? That's something to ponder.
Ahh, I love this series.
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