Two men entered the room at that very moment. Luke still didn't let my wrist go, even though Hope had just shot at him. He still stood tall, pulling me away from Hope and the men. He stopped. I'd lifted my hand up. Hope and the men stopped. Another bolt of black lightning shot, but this time out of my hand. The men gasped as the bolt hit the ground in front of them. Hope smiled and stepped forth.
"Don't come any closer. I'm warning you..."I lifted my hand again, but Luke yanked me back through the open double doors, and then stopped. Two more men came up from behind us. A cage of fire built around us, we were trapped.
I was taken away from Luke, separated in to a cage of clear ice. I watched what the two men did, realising my power. I could copy other people's powers and use them as my own. Once the men were finished I lowered my still-raised hand and the fire and ice crumbled to nothing.
Luke didn't seem surprised; he already knew about my power. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me on to his back. Breaking into his inhumanly fast run, Luke told me about different powers.
"All powers can be extremely dangerous. I can run so fast and move so lithely, nobody would ever be able to see or catch me; Hope can shoot multiple lightning bolts from her hands and hurt many others. Those men can each control a different element (fire, water, earth and air); some can read minds, tell the future, move things with their minds and so forth...but you, Ali, you can do something much more powerful than any of that. You can copy any other power you've seen, heard of, or read about. Many..."Luke paused looking for the right word, "people would love to use you and your powers to destroy old families of spirituals—people like us, with special powers—and take over the world. I think Hope is one of them, so I'm getting you as far away from her as possible. I'm going to take you somewhere safe, I promise." We were silent for the rest of the journey. We stopped in the middle of the forest, far away from the temple. Luke began to walk very slowly, he continued like this for awhile, headed north-west.
A few hours later Luke stopped again. We had come to a large cottage made of four trees twisted together to make a shelter, then differently coloured plants, rocks and minerals to make patterned walls. A telekinetic?
Luke set me on the ground—still gripping my wrist—and led me inside the cottage. It was brightly lit by glowing crystals and bigger than the outside would've given away. A girl, about my age, stood, facing away from us. She wore a dress that seemed to be made of large freesia petals, with red hair that flowed down to her ankles, even when tied up in a log ponytail. She didn't seem to realise that we were there, until she turned round, her expression pained.
"I saw her... so young, too young..."she whispered. I recognised the words Luke had spoke in my bedroom.
"I know. You said you saw her...did you see her..." Luke trailed off, not needing to say the word for everybody to understand what he meant. But who were they talking about?
"Yes, she was." The girl sighed, "You must be Ali. I'm Lottie, I can see the future. I already know about your power...but then again, who doesn't?" she trilled a tinkling laugh. What did she mean 'who doesn't'? Luke shot Lottie a dark look.
"She doesn't know! Luke!" Lottie laughed again "Ali there is a prophecy—not like my ones, one from an oracle—that speaks of a spiritual with your power, and each power is utterly unique. I think it goes like this:
'On the blue-mooned midsummer night,
the copying one will arise,
Her powers fully developed,
as the Earth's saviour or demise.'
"It has to be you. Powers take a few weeks or months to fully develop, depending on how extreme the power is. Yours would take a few months, three to be precise, on 21st of June."