Argentina is my new home. It's a busy place and full of people but I do not go out much anymore. My depression is the biggest it's ever been but this time, you add terrifying nightmares. I have dreams of June trying to talk to me, she is unable to do so and suddenly she grows into the terrifying figure in the dream I had on the plane. Her face is stretched and disoriented as the figure sprouts up in her place. His eyes are still red and the purple scar continues to pulsate harder every time I see him. The pendants on his chest continue to glow brighter as I approach the figure. I know he wants me for something but I pull myself from the nightmares before he can speak. Every time I awake, my pendent glows ominously on my neck and I'm covered in a cold sweat. I keep the nightmares from Annie, knowing it would only worry her more.
I keep myself busy at home with my latest legacy, telekinesis. It showed up just I was beginning to adapt to regular routine in our tiny apartment. I wanted to grab some milk but the glass slipped from my hand. I reached out and the glass froze in mid-air. I was petrified and amazed as I concentrated and brought the glass up to eye level. I twirled my hand and the glass spun before I lost concentration and broke it anyways. Annie heard the crash and came running only to see me cleaning up the shards without touching them. She smiled and said we should start training as soon as possible.
She began throwing things my way so I could catch them in mid-air. Fortunately, they were plastic and didn't break if I lost focus. Annie told me that all the Garde share a similar ability and we needed to keep training to allow it to become stronger. Pretty soon it would only take a fraction of my concentration to keep things in the air. I continued to practice and at the same time I began to think about the Garde more and more. With Number Three dead, I'm sure the others are on guard and hopefully training as hard as I am. The faces I had memorized were outdated and I tried to picture what they would look like now. I wondered what legacies they would have. Could one of them fly? Could one them run at the speed of light? All the possibilities boiled in my mind as I practice day in and out.
It wasn't long before I was showing off with my telekinesis. I'd fry an egg in the pan while I stirred the pancake batter in mid-air. I could tell Annie was jealous of being able to do two things at once. She'd always scoff and call me a show-off; I'd give her a smug smile and then float a cup of coffee to her.
"Maybe you should work in a kitchen. A one man chef kind of deal" she said one morning pulling out the daily paper.
"Anything interesting?" I ask pouring milk over our cereal bowls.
"Nothing really, some kid claims to be the Messiah and another kid fell from a four storey building and walked off without a scratch."
"Could it be one of the others?" I ask sipping my own cup of coffee, reading the comics.
"Doubt it, there's no way they would put their powers on display or be that careless to fall out a window in the first place."
I go back to my cereal for a moment and I decide to just come out and say it.
"Do you think we should try and find the others instead of hiding?"
Annie practically chokes on her coffee and spews it out on the table. I grab a dishrag from the counter and clean it up as I put my bowl in the sink.
"Why are you asking all of a sudden?" she asks.
"I'm just wondering, with three dead, I'm sure the others are getting their legacies too, shouldn't we try and find them."
"That's a very bad idea" she says hurriedly.
"Why?" I ask.
"B-Because none of you are remotely ready to fight against the Mogs…"
"And…?" I inquire knowing she's not telling me the whole truth. Her thoughts are jumbled and I know she's not happy with this conversation.
"A-And if you join up…the charm that protects you guys would be broken."
"But aren't we getting to the point that we won't need the charm anymore."
"No...No…no…just not yet"
"What does the charm do anyways?"
"It keeps you alive of course; it's protecting you from the Mogadorians?"
"How?!" I inquire, getting extremely impatient.
"You…you can't be tracked and… you can only be killed in a certain order. You know this; I explained it to you…"
"When I was six years old,' I protest. "I was in tears and you only said it to calm me down; I wasn't exactly listening to you."
"Well you should have because…"
"What number am I?" I ask.
"What do you mean?"
"What number am I, you said we can only be killed in sequence and one through three are dead… what number am I? Am I number eight? Seven? Or am I number four?"
"You are certainly not Number Four…"
"Then what am I?!" I practically scream. "You're not being honest with me…"
"I can't tell you…" she says, bursting into tears.
"Why?!" I yell, practically in tears. "Why are you lying to me?!"
"For your safety Sofia… it's all to protect you."
"Don't call me my Earth name, I want to know who I am and why?!"
Annie can barely speak over her tears. I storm past her and walk out the door, making sure it slams behind me.
Now I'm crying. She can't be honest with me. Who am I? Am I even part of this race or was I just lucky to get away from our planet? Why was I saved? Why not Anali? This was not pure chance…that much I know…was it planned? I storm out of our apartment building into the bright sunlight. I pick a direction and just start walking. I don't care where I end up, I just need sometime alone. I kick a can on my way and I turn into the nearby park.
This is the first time in a while that I've been out beyond the boundaries of our building. It feels nice to stretch my legs from being cooped up so long. I find a rusty old swing set and sit down. I stare at the clear blue sky and take in the sun to dry my face. Why do I need to be protected so much? How am I different from the others? Do I know something that they don't? Some big secret that the Mogadorians and the figure in my dreams want? That'd explain a few things if that was the reason why.
I kick the dirt under my sneakers and pull my head up to see a couple of kids coming into the park. They carry a soccer ball and a couple tin cans. I watch them set up their field and divide into teams. I want so badly to join them but remembered I would stay aloof this time. I watch the kids begin kicking the ball around, dribbling and shooting on each other. I watch a younger boy run up to the ball and attempt to kick really hard. He trips over his own feet and ends up in the dirt. The others laugh and even I stifle a giggle. The boy picks himself up and then kicks the ball. It doesn't go far at first but I use my telekinesis to make it go further and into the net. The little boy cheers and begins dancing around. I smile to myself and continue to watch the game until a girl with little pigtails kicks it with her toe and the ball comes rolling toward me instead. I stop it with my feet and pick it up. The girl comes toward me and speaks Spanish to me. I give the ball to her and I ask if I could join them. At first the girl cowers away from me, but I speak to her again in Spanish and she looks at me with those big brown eyes. I smile at her and hold my hand out to shake hers. The girl continuously twirls her pigtail into a knot and continues to cower. I ask to see the ball and she drops it at my feet. I pick it up with my foot and begin kicking it into the air. I bop it off my head and catch it in my hands. I offer the ball again and she avoids my eyes. I place it on the ground and aim and kick the ball. I kicked it a little too hard and the ball goes flying, nailing one of the kids in the stomach. I immediately run to him and ask if he's okay. He stands up and looks at me. I apologize and he's amazed at my kick. I hear the little girl laughing and she runs up saying she wants me on her team. I laugh and hand the ball to the kid I hit. He smiles, giving me a toothy grin with his top teeth missing. He tosses the ball and tries to dribble around me.
We play until late afternoon and the others have to head in for supper. The little girl's name is Hanalei and the kid I hit is Jonobi. They ask me if I will come and play again and ask my name. I tell them it's Sofia and they run off with their friends as the sun begins to set. I feel better now that I could cut loose a bit and forget the burden of protecting our race. I feel almost normal again but then I remembered I promised to stay aloof. I decide that a few neighborhood kids won't blow my cover and I head home. I walk up the stairs and use my key to get in.
The room is dark and cool but I turn a corner and see Annie at her computer. She spies my head and opens her mouth. I hold my hand up and tell her to relax. I just needed to cool off. For whatever reason she gives, I know it's for my protection and I understand. I go for the refrigerator and open a can of Coke. I chug it down and I see Annie watching me. I hit the showers and head to bed not long after. As I curl up, I feel Annie in my doorway. I turn to her and she smiles at me.
"You are Number Five" she says softly. "And the only reason I wouldn't tell you is because I didn't want to worry you."
"Okay," I say but I still sense something is off about her statement. "Thank you." I feel that Annie is still not ready to say everything so I accept it. I shut my eyes and cling to my pendent tightly, ready to face the figure with a name and identity.
