When I awoke, there were blurry colors all over the ceiling.
Then I put my glasses on.
I screamed when I saw a ton of different colored mini animals floating around my room. They're shining and shimmering and don't look quite real. I look down at my tattoo, which is glowing white, and watch as a yellow lion manifests around my hand, then jumps off. I just want them to go away.
They vanish. Out of thin air. They're just gone.
Now I'm really scared. The tattoo starts to glow red, and a larger crimson red dragon is soon floating above my arm. Its about twelve inches long and has four inches width, where as all the others were maybe four inches long with a two inch width. I scream again, and soon enough, my parents are running down the stairs. They stare at the dragon and my arm open mouthed, and I jump out of the bed, and land on-the dragon. It came under me, and is holding me in mid air. What the hell?!
It feels so real. I feel as if I'm standing on sharp scales that are moving, rippling over the dragons skin. But it's not real! I'm hallucinating!
When I wanted them to vanish-they vanished.. So if I want it to put me down.. Will it?
Put me down
I think simply. They dragon floats down to the floor, and I step off slowly. "It's energy projection." My father says slowly and quietly. "What?!" "It's energy projection and manipulation," He repeats again. "Your energy-this is just a wild guess-but I'm thinking last night your energy was fused with your thinking and your emotions. The color is the emotion.. And the animal, I'm not really sure. But if I'm correct, you're controlling that with your thoughts, right?" I shrug, still terrified and not understanding half of what he's saying. "Are you mad?" He asks quietly. "I freaking terrified!" I screech. "Maybe when she's afraid, it'll project the opposite, because dragons didn't feel fear." My mother says thoughtfully. "Right now is not the time to be discussing our legends!" I say impatiently. "Kaori, listen, you've been marked. Twice. When our people develop their own ability themselves, you get marked. That, is our clans symbol." My father says, pointing to my arm. "And we never told you this, but the three silver marks on your ankle are not normal, sweetie. And the lion.. Would explain the animals... But no ones sure if it means you'll develop another ability or not because of the extra marking." "No! I don't want a other one, it'll make me more of a freak! My friends are probably scared of me!" I yell. "If you're talking about who we think, no they're not. They're not afraid of much." My father says matter-of-factly. "That's not the point! Just tell me how to control these things!" I screech. My fathers phone rings, and he answers it quickly. When he hangs up, he turns to me, "Go get dressed. We're going to the airport." "Who are we going to pick up?" My parents glance a each other, "Your cousin, aunt, uncle, and brother." My mother says. "My brother?!" I yell. "What?!" "He started showing his abilities early, so we let your grandmother raise him. He is very gifted. But he has not been marked." "You guys are really powerful and you're not marked." I say quietly. "Exactly. Can you imagine how powerful you and your brother could be together?"
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I get dressed in a simple yellow hoodie and blue jeans. Then I put on black converse and leave my hair down after combing it. Before I go upstairs, I roll up my right sleeve, and think of.. A penguin. A green penguin soon appears, waddling across the table.
Dance.
The penguin starts to slap his feet against the table, flapping his flippers. I laugh quiety, and he slowly changes from green to pink.
Change colors.
He seems to glow for a minute, and then the pink light is absorbed in him, and he starts to shine and sparkle, turning various shades of blue and purple, waddling across the counter. I put my hand out and he slowly waddles into it. I lift my hand up to my face. He looks so see through. But it's a solid thing-penguin-it even has some weight. I put it in my pocket and it makes and actual bulge, and sticks it's flippers on the outside, sticking his head out.
It makes me feel happier, this little penguin. If my dad was right, and these are my emotions, maybe they can change them too. Maybe it depends on the animal.
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So we drive to the airport with me playing with the penguin, trying to figure out how to work it. My father was right, they are controlled by my thoughts. And they grow larger the stronger the emotion-and with each emotion, they change color. So far, I've learned that red is anger, gray is sadness, pink and yellow are happiness and when I'm afraid, a darker shade of red shows up, it's courage or something.
We go into the terminal, and I think about what my brother could look like. What he's actually like, you know, his personality. Whether he likes me or whether he hates me. The penguin is dark red now. And I find if I'm afraid, and it's dark red, it doesn't make me feel afraid anymore. The first people I see are my aunt and uncle, my aunt tall and willowy and my uncle short and beefy. Yeah; perfect match. My cousin is in my aunts arms, as usual. She like changes ages or something. Then I see him. He's got crystal blue eyes, and long hair pulled into a ponytail. His jaw is strong, and my god-he stole my face. Well of course he looks more like a guy-but he stole my face! He's tall and muscular, and on his arm is the distinct blue marking of someone who has found their other half. Which explains the blue eyes. In our clan, finding your other half changes everything about you.
A girl that's taller then me is by his side, holding his hand. She has jet black hair and crystal blue eyes-did I mention it changes their eye color too? And they get the mark? He smiles when he sees me, and waves. I wave back half heartedly.
He has my face.
When they're standing in front of us, we study each other carefully. "Kaori, this is your twin brother, Kaoru." My mother says. "Hi." I say quietly. "Hey! Mom-she's more adorable then you said!" He exclaims, and pulls me into a bone breaking hug. Okay; he acts just like me. I hug him back, smiling. Yup it all makes since now.
Not really.
"Ow! What the hell?!" He exclaims suddenly. I watch as the same crimson red tattoo on my arm is formed on his. My ankle starts to throb, and I squeeze my eyes shut as the mark starts to reform itself. My feet were already not touching the ground, but when Kaoru's feet lift off the ground, I panic. My arm glows white though the sweater, and a red dragon appears.
Get us down!
It starts to change form, and soon it's a bear, and pushes our shoulders down until my feet are touching the ground. I release myself from my brothers arms, and look around. I scream, covering my mouth when I see things floating in the air. "KAORU!" I yell, terrified. The bear grows in size, and Kaoru opens his eyes. The things drop halfway to the ground, but are still floating. He looks at me, "Its you too. Let go of my hand Kaori." He says firmly. I didn't realize I was holding it. As I drop his hand, everything falls to the ground, and the bear is practically sucked back into my arm. "We need to get out of here." My father says. "I can help." The girl next to Kaoru says. "Everyone hold hands." I very-what I think is wise-choose not to hold Kaoru's hand. We blur out of the terminal, and less than a second later, we're by our car. I glance at Kaoru, and then we all get into the car, and my father drives home very quickly.
I take the penguin out of my pocket, looking down at it.
Calm me the hell down.
It grows about two inches, and turns olive green. I feel peace wash over me, and breath in deeply. "My name is Akari." The girl says, sticking her hand out. "Kaori." I say quietly. "Can.. Can I see that?" "I have a better idea, what's your favorite animal?" I ask, trying to lighten my mood. "Um.. A hummingbird I guess." She says slowly. I roll my sleeve up, and concentrate on my energy, drawing it in. My arm starts to glow white and I can feel everyone watching. When I open my eyes, there's a orange hummingbird floating in front of me, with a wingspan of maybe six inches. I raise my eyebrow,
Change.
It becomes smaller, and changes to pink. "Just.. Reach out and take it I guess." I say quietly. She stares at me, "That was amazing." I shrug, "Its creepy as hell." She gently takes him in his hands, and I flinch, "Ow!" She glances at me and, readjusts him, and I hiss as my whole body throbs in pain. "Akari, please release it." My father says sternly. "It's an extension of Kaori and it's limits have not been fully tested yet. And apparently, the animal cannot be in another's hands." She releases it, and it flies, by itself, back into the flames on my shoulder. I sigh shakily. "Kaori, I'm so sorry, I didn't know-" "it's fine Akari, no one did." I interrupt her.
When we get home, they decide to hold a whole freaking meeting about what happened at the airport. All I know is it completely drained me of energy, and I wasn't able to form anymore animals. I fell asleep at the dining room table.
I wake up with a small vine tickling my face. I sit up quickly, and Kaoru laughs from below me. I sigh, and lay back down. "Nope, get up, time for school." He says. "Idontwannago." I say into the pillow.
Then, I really think about it. And I reaaaallllyyy don't wanna go. The Cullen's were there when I spazzed, the tattoo thing at the beach, and when Seth tried to stop me from leaving and I did anyway. They have to hate me for that. And Seth; what does Seth think of me? That I'm a freak? I mean that would be completely true and everything, but it would still hurt. I really shouldn't care about what a boy thinks of me; that's what my mom would tell me. But I do and I don't know why. What if-what if I like him?! That's so wrong! I'm not allowed to do that! But they're my emotions... Why does it matter anyway?! He probably wouldn't ever like me. He was probably just being nice because I'm the new girl. Extremely nice and complementing.
"KAORI! GET UP!" My cousin yells, coming down the stairs. At the moment, she looks about my age. But that could change within the second. Her name is Kiki, and no matter the age, her hair is always long and her eyes the brightest green. I sit up, and put my glasses on, glaring at her. "I'm up." "So have you discovered boys yet?" She asks, wiggling her eyebrows, and sitting down on my couch. "W-what?" I sputter. She rolls her eyes, "Come on, Kaori! Don't act like you haven't fallen head over heels for some boy." I frown at her and get out of my bed, "Stay out of my head, Kiki." "Kaori, you like someone?! As in a boy?! As in like like?!" My brother hisses from the lower bunk. "No. I do not." "She's lying." "And if I do I have no recollection of it." I say, and go into the bathroom. "LIAR!"
I take a long shower, waiting till I'm sure that Kiki's gone, and then getting out. My brother is still in the lower bunk, except he's completely dressed and playing with a rock. Sounds boring, but really, he's making it float; everywhere. Up, down, left, right. With a small hand movement, I take it from his grasp and put it on the counter. He frowns at me, and the rock starts floating in the air again. I wave my hand down, and down goes the rock. "Party pooper." He mutters, and sits back. "Not in my room." "Our room." I roll my eyes, "Whatever." I go into my closet, and frown when I see Kaoru's bags on the floor, clothes falling out.
Messy boy.
I pick up a pair of red and black vertical striped pants, a tight black v-neck t-shirt and a jean vest.
"You're wearing that?" Kaoru says scornfully.
"Yes?"
"Those pants are tiny."
"They're skinny jeans. Just like Akari wears."
"That's different. You're my sister."
"Does Akari have a brother?"
"Thats different too."
I roll my eyes and go back into the bathroom. "And that's cut too deep!" He yells after me. I put on the clothes anyway, laughing quietly. When I come out of the bathroom again, he's standing up, his arms crossed. And he towers over me. I glance up at him, "What?" "I'm just worried. Do you know how to control those things yet?" He says, tilting his head towards my arm. "Well if the emotion isn't too strong, I should be alright." I say. "What if that doesn't work?" "I can get rid of it the moment it appears." He frowns slightly, "The thing that happened last night... I developed telepathy. But only after we were re-united or whatever. All of my abilities are stronger when I'm with you." "So?" I ask quietly. "You strengthen people's abilities, Kaori. That's what the ankle thing is about. And you're telepathic too. But only if you're touching me. It's your other gift; the ankle thing. While you're strengthening that persons gift, you can use it too. But only if you're touching them." I shake my head, "No, that's never happened before." "It just developed last night, Kaori. When you touched me. You activated my gift and I activated yours. You're one of the strongest in our clan." He says seriously. "So are you." He sighs, rolling his eyes, "Thats not the point. But thank you. And yes, yes I am. The point is, you're constantly strengthening people's abilities now, and if you're touching that person, you can use that ability." "Can you?" He shakes his head, "No." "What can you do?" He rolls his eyes again, "Do you know how to have a one topic conversation?!" But he tells me anyway, "I can control earth; I guess. You know, rocks, plants, some metals, sand, rocks." "I can't do the plant thing." I interrupt him. He grins, "I know. It's uniquely mine. I can change and see people's personalities, and I can change my appearance to anyone else's. And my abilities controlled by emotions are teleporting and telepathy. That's what I was trying to tell you; your new ability is also controlled by emotion." "Okay, okay, can we talk about this later? I have a headache." I say, pouting. He raises an eyebrow, doubt written all over his face. "No, really, it's making me think too much." I say, sticking my lip out further. He rolls his eyes, "We're gonna be late, come on."
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When we get to the school, I feel as if everyone knows about my spazztastic-Saturday, and clutch Kaoru's hand tightly. He frowns down at me, and I roll my eyes. If he doesn't concentrate then nothing will start floating around. And we might not disappear, or plants won't spazz and he won't change a million faces in, like, two seconds.
Akari is holding his other hand, and Kiki is rolling her eyes, and chewing gum very loudly. I swear she wants to be a mean girl soooooo bad. She acts just like them; it's sorta pathetic since she has so much more potential. She has an accelerated IQ and everything. But, you would think she's more concerned about getting a baby by the time she's seventeen then using that potential.
Maybe it's just a coincidence that were all fifteen and some of the strongest in our clan, and maybe it's not. Our parents were some of the strongest out of their generation. And I know there are many others who are just like us; their abilities new and unheard of. But they are all where they should be; with the whole of their family in our homelands. They're considered the lucky ones and my parents were considered the dumb ones for leaving.
When I see my friends, I put my head down and try to shrink into Kaoru's side, which if course, fails. The weird thing is, they don't even look mad. Just concerned. And Seth looks absolutely miserable. I really, really don't like that. Kiki glances between Seth and I, then laughs, throwing her head back. "Really? You think you have a shot with him Kaori? That's so pathetically adorable!" Kaoru scowls at her, and I frown. "No. Happy? Stay out of my head, Kiki." I hiss at her, and pull Kaoru away. We walk to the office with Akari, who is being extremely quiet. Which is sorta weird; she didn't seem like the quiet type yesterday. I get their schedules for them, and somehow, my parents have arranged it for all of us to be in be same classes all the time. And I know exactly what they would say; "You need to stick with Kiki, Akari, and Kaoru. They are family. And when no one else treats you right, who will? Family." And I know they're right. But the only problem I have with that is the obvious fact that they don't believe in having friends that are like family. Or maybe I just don't know.
Kaoru and Akari go to find their lockers, and I go towards my first period class. I groan when I remember that Kim is in this class, because she'll most likely want answers. Answers that I, under any circumstance cannot give. When I get there, all of them are there. Seth, Jared, Jacob, Paul, Quil, Embry and Kim. I sigh, and stop in front of them. They stare at the tattoo, and I feel it start to glow. I slap my hand over it, "Please stop." I whisper quietly. "Kaori, are you okay?" Seth asks. I nod, avoiding eye contact, "Yeah, can I go into the room now?" "Kaori, what is that?" Jacob asks. I look up, a little peeved with the questions, "You guys aren't the only one with tribal tats, alright? Now let me in!" I say angrily. They look surprised, their eyebrows raised; but they move out of the way. Kaoru and Akari join me as I walk in, desperately trying to hide the glowing tattoo. Kim appears, and forces her gray hoodie into my hands, and walks away. I sigh sadly, closing my eyes tight.
I really hate being a freak.
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Lunch
When we go to lunch, we sit down in a secluded corner, near a window. Then, we go to get food. When we come back, Seth, Kim, Jared.. And the rest of them are sitting down. I sigh, and roll down my sleeves. "Why are you following my sister around?!" Kaoru asks angrily after sitting his tray down. "Kaoru, stop, alright? It's not like I don't know how to talk." I say, then force him into a sitting position. I sit down next to him, and frown when Kiki sits next to Seth, grinning up at me. Seth scoots over, and she raises and eyebrow and scoots with him he glances at me, and I groan. "Kiki, you're freaking him out." She grins, and scoots impossibly closer, "In a good way?"
I know I am not supposed to do this; but she is really pissing me off! I wave my hand to the right, and the air in between Seth and Kiki blows and shes pushed off the edge of the bench. She stands up, furious, "KAORI!" She screams. My eyes widen, "omigosh, Kiki, are you alright? Did you have another spasm?" I ask, trying to look as innocent as possible. She turns to Seth, "She likes you!" I shrug, "She's delusional." Kiki straightens her skirt, and then stomps off.
Kaoru and I watch her go, laughing. Then Kaoru shoots me a warning look and I room my eyes and sit down. "Kaori, what. The. Fuck. Was that?" Paul asks slowly. "My cousin Kiki is special Ed. She has seizures and stuff." I say, without looking up. "Kaori.. Are you sure you're okay?" Seth asks quietly. I look up at him, and he look super serious and concerned. I force a smile onto my face, "No, no I'm not. But in order to get you guys to get off my case; I'll say yes. If you'll excuse me." I say quietly, and go to the bathroom.
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Kim sat next to me silently all of eighth period, doodling on a notebook. "Kim you don't have to sit by me." I say quietly. "Kaori, why won't you tell us what's going on? We're really worried about you." She says quietly. "Kim, I can't." I say, staring at my hands. "Kaori, please just listen, ok? I don't know what happened Saturday, and you don't have to tell me. Trust me when I say we didn't think you were weird; we didn't even tell anyone. We were just worried. And then there's Seth. He didn't sleep for two days, and we didn't know what to do because he was absolutely paranoid. And I didn't have your number, so that's how he spent his weekend. We wouldn't mind if you abandoned us; just don't abandon Seth, alright?" I shake my head,
"I have to. I'm sorry ok?"
Please review! ((By the way I made an Instagram account for pictures of my face claims and outfits and so forth. check it out if you want to. The username is elauriejadie.))
