Chapter 2

Something Wicked this way comes

A long youth stood underneath the cool shade of an oak tree in the park. He had sunglasses on and a newspaper in hand. His clothes were all white, his hair was blonde and his skin was pale and ghostly.

He wasn't reading. He was watching as a man came running down the street, dressed in white with a woman's purse in hand. The boy dropped his newspaper and disappeared in a flash. A second later, an ominous looking dog appeared. Its eyes glowed white and its fur was a creepy black and red.

The dog began to bark and run towards the fleeing man.

"Whoa dog! Hold up!" The man shouted as it began to bite his shin. The dog then went limp as a misty figure emerged from the body of the dog like a butterfly from a chrysalis.

"You're going to give me the purse… now!" A booming voice came from nowhere, and as it resonated the sky turned black and cloudy, producing thundering clouds above.

The mist that appeared to resemble a frail boy faded away and in its place, the boy stood.

The man's leg had begun to bleed, the body of the dog still had not let go.

"What are you?" The man asked; he'd started to shake.

"They call me a ghost around the orphanage… and I happen to think they're right." The boy's eyes glowed bright yellow and suddenly the dog came back to life and began to viciously attack the man's leg again.

Thunder began to boom. Lightning struck the ground. "I can do more then smoke and mirrors you know!" The boy roared over the commotion. "Give back the purse!"

The man screamed as the dog began to bite down harder. And then, the man took a hand and slapped the boy across the face.

He clutched his face. He felt he must be going crazy. He couldn't hear a thing anymore. Everything was silent. He could still see it going on around him, but it made no sound.

The boy disappeared and the man had his chance to escape.

The Wiz, Ly and Sebastian, an older boy with very warm, kind features, all sat at the table discussing their role as the new defenders of the town as a whole. Ly confessed all her past experiences and all about her life. The Wiz was particularly interested.

A shrill beeping filled the air just as Ly finished, almost as if on cue. "What's that?" Ly asked, alarmed."

"There's trouble in the city, we should head out." The Wiz said, studying the TV which had a large map of the city with a flashing dot on it. Sebastian nodded and turned off a few lights before running to the door.

"Come one. We need to get downtown quick. That's a class three mutant."

"Mutant?" Ly asked, confused.

"Sebastian will explain on the way. I'll be in constant communication through this." He thrust a phone-like object into her hands. "Go! Now!"

"Aren't you coming with…?"

"No! Go!"

On their way out, Ly felt rushed into a world so different to her, but she knew… somehow in her heart, that it was right.

"How are we supposed to stop a mutant by ourselves?" Ly asked, as they dodged people walking down the street. They certainly looked like an odd pair. "What can you do?"

"I'm a class-two regenerative healer." Ly's jaw dropped in confusion.

"What?"

"I can heal all wounds to the point of perfection. The only thing I can't do is bring people back from the dead."

Ly laughed. "Who is able to do that?"

"A class-one." Sebastian said coolly as they approached a large park in the center of the city. It had massive destruction done to, oddly by lightning.

"Where's the mutant?" Ly asked, looking around as if looking for a thirty foot green giant.

"He's right there," Sebastian said, pointing to a frail boy who was wearing all white.

Dogs and cats with oddly colored fur were running around, creating a ruckus. Their eyes were glowing white, and they appeared to be vicious.

"So what can he do?"

"He's classified as a class-three phantasm… a ghost boy." Sebastian said once he'd realized technical talk was a bit above Ly's level.

"So… you can't fight… and I'm the only other…… YOU WANT ME TO DO IT?" She cried.

"Well, duh!"

Ly sighed and began running towards the ghost boy. Winds had created a small cyclone like thing around him and she knew she wouldn't be able to approach. "Hey," she called. The boy seemed to be out of control.

He turned his head towards her and Ly came upon a horrifying revelation. He was controlling the wild animals. His eyes were glowing in the same color as the animals; his control over them was the only explanation. "What?" The voice came from all around her, as if encasing her in its tone.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" The boy replied, telekinetically.

"Destroying the park!"

The winds began to die down slightly. "Am I doing this?" Fear was now present in his voice.

"Yes! You're a level-three fantasia… thing… or something… the point is, you have to stop!"

"How?"

"I don't know! What do you think I am, a mutantologist?"

It took at least ten minutes before the cyclone had disappeared and all the animals were back to normal. The boy was unconscious; Ly was talking to Sebastian who was intrigued by her impressive verbal skills. Ly just wanted to go see if the boy was all right.

A dark figure stood, leaning against the very tree the phantasm had been leaning on earlier. A sour frown rested on his partially masked face…