Chapter 3: Ivy

Burning, burning, burning! I awoke, lying in my bed, still dressed from the night before. My hands burned, and my head hurt really bad… I looked over to my alarm clock; it read 9:45 A.M. I went to grab my phone, and internally screamed at the pain I felt in my hands. I wanted to cry, and when I looked at my hands I realized why I was in such pain, my hands were burned. I heard running, and saw Eli slam through my bedroom door.

"What's wrong? Why were you screaming?" He gasped for breath, concern covering his face.

"I didn't scream." I looked at him puzzled.

"Yes you did! You screamed and you kept saying that your hands burned!"

"Eli, I said that all in my head."

"No you didn't I could hear that from my room!" He rolled his eyes and went to turn back.

"Where are you going?"

"Don't you hear Lance singing? I'm gonna tell him to shut up…" Eli was aggravated, and his little brothers singing never brought his mood up, especially since the only song Lancer knew was Yellow Submarine.

"Lancers isn't singing Eli, are you ok?" He walked over and sat on my bed.

"You don't hear Yellow Submarine?"

"No…" He looked straight ahead, obviously confused and scared. I put my arm around him, and whispered its ok… not sure what to think myself. His cell phone started to ring in his pocket, his ever-famous ring tone of "Nice Guys" echoing in my bedroom.

"Hey beautiful, you're on speaker with Ivy." He pressed the speaker button so I could listen to Terry.

"Eli!" She was hysterically crying.

"Terry what's wrong?"

"I… I was in a f-f-fight with Emma… A-and... And…"

"Terry what happened?" Eli sat up straight trying to hear what she was saying through the sobs.

"The curtains caught on fire when I yelled! And the more I yelled the fiercer the fire got! When I stopped yelling, the fire went away. And now all the sprinklers in my house are going off, and our parents aren't home. But Emma got picked up to go to the beach…" She sobbed in between each word.

"We'll be right over." Eli pressed the hang up button, and got up.

"Get dressed. We're going…" I shook my head yes, and scrambled to get up as he closed the door. My hands burned as I grabbed different pieces of clothes to throw on, a simple tank top, and sweatshirt with an old pair of jeans. I grabbed my cell phone, feeling a throbbing sensation in my palms, but ignored it as we left.

We pulled up to Terry's within five minutes, and she was sitting on her front steps, in the same clothes from last night as well… Whatever happened last night?

"Terry, come here." Terry looked up, and when she saw Eli she got up and gave him a great big hug. He held her while I stood awkwardly near by… I tried to text Eric, but my hands hurt too much. Terry hopped into the car and we drove back to Eli's house to try and calm her down. I finally was able to text Eric, using one finger at a time, the message sending as we pulled into the driveway. Once inside we went into my room, since it was larger then Eli's.

"What happened Terry?" Eli asked.

"I don't know. I was yelling at my sister for taking my boots again without asking, and when I yelled the curtains behind her caught fire. It seemed to get worse the angrier I got, but when we realized it was a real fire, I got scared, and the fire went away. I started crying and that's when the sprinklers went off." He kissed her forehead, and Eli's phone starting singing again.

"Can you get that Ivy?" I shook my ehad yes, and fumbled with his phone. It was Connor.

"Hi Con its Ivy, you're on speaker with Eli and Terry as well."

"Ivy I'm freaking out!" He sounded out of breath.

"What happened?"

"I don't even know, I was taking a freaking shower when all of a sudden I was in my neighbors pool. Sudsy and everything." Eli got up and grabbed the phone.

"Pick up Abigail and Eric and get over here."

"Gotcha." The phone disconnected. Something was going on, something bad.

"What happened last night Eli?" I asked, shaking slightly.

"I don't remember, I remember that rock and then falling backwards when it crumbled. The rest is black.

"Who remembers what exactly happened?" Eli took control standing near my window; Terry sat in the window seat directly behind him, the rest of us crowded around my bed.

"I do." Abigail pronounced.

"Explain what happened."

"Well after the rock crumbled Ivy and Terry immediately passed out, " I felt Eric put his hand on mine, sending goose bumps up my arms, "You and Eric fell back. You hit your head, and Eric must have passed out as well. Connor and I were far enough away that we weren't knocked over. I ran outside to find help, and this really nice guy came over and helped Connor and I get you guys into the cars. We drove you guys home, and the guy said if we ever needed help to give him a call. He gave us his number and everything. We told your parents that you all fell asleep, so they don't suspect a thing."

"But what's with the strange affects you all have." Eric asked.

"It's weird cause I don't have any, and neither does Abigail, right?" She shook her head yes to my question.

"Eli, you can hear all of our thoughts, and Connor you pop into new places. Terry's emotions seem to trigger different things… It's all so odd, and none of it seems the related. The only thing that could explain them is that rock…"

"The rock was pretty crazy, but wouldn't we have been effected as well then?" Eric questioned.

"I don't know… you and I were as close as Terry and Eli… I don't know this is all so strange."

"Can we go outside?" Terry mumbled, begin outside always made her feel better. It helped to calm her down in these situations. We all decided to go outside. I sat under the oak tree while everyone else sat on the patio.

"This is so stupid! I mean we were all there why weren't we all affected?" Abigail started to rant, and she got up to pace. I got nervous, whenever she started to pace she started to point out everything that bothered her. It was a habit of hers that she had had since we met…

"This whole situation is stupid! I mean come on, you can hear voices, and Terry's like a human flame-thrower and sprinkler system in one! And Connor's a teleporter!"

"Calm down Abigail." Connor asked.

"I wont calm down," she looked up at the tree, "that stupid bird is still pecking at that stupid tree!" She looked up and held her arm out, without warning a yellow beam came out from her hand and amputated the branch the bird was on from the tree. The branch was right over my head. I started to scream, and covered my head, kowing I wouldn't be able to move in time. I waited, and the branch didn't hit me. I opened my eyes to see a faint object above me, holding the branch up over my head.

"Go." Eric said calmly, holding his arm out. He was projecting a force field over my head that had saved me from getting hit… I scrambled to move, and no sooner then I was out form underneath did the branch crash to the ground.

"So I guess Ivy's the odd ball out?" Abigail asked.

"It would seem so…" Eli responded.

After an hour of discussion we decided it wasn't safe to stay at home. With some of the 'powers' as we decided to call them, people could get hurt. Eli would be ble to hear the thoughts of the world, and Terry could possibly light everybody on fire, not to mention that Abigail could cut more branches of trees, and possibly squish someone like me…

"We should all leave then," Terry took Eli's hand as he talked, "I know its tough, we all have people at home." He looked at me, and I stayed quiet, "The six of us are going to leave tomorrow morning at eight.

"Why is Ivy coming? She's not a harm to your family Eli."

"Because we are all she has!" Eric bursted out, talking for the first time since the he had saved me from the tree.

"Shush! She is coming with us; I'm not leaving her here to explain to everyone where we all disappeared. Write notes to your families, tell them your ok, and that you just need time to think. I know it's going to be hard..." He looked at everyone, and they all remained quiet. Everyone left, to go home for the last time.