9: Adapting
"Rachel, you in there?" A voice called out.
In her room Rachel slowly awoke. She waved her hand over the wall next to her bed making a clock appear reading '11:37'. She waved again making it disappear. 'Missed breakfast' she thought as the voice called out again. She sat up in her bed and stretched before getting out and going to answer the door. Opening the door it was the same person from Monday. He looked down at her and gave a smile. "You feeing all right, saw the log had you signing back in late."
"Yea, I just had gone into the park to get some work done and fell asleep there" She replied shyly not wanting to tell what really happened, mostly as the need for secrecy had been told. "Sorry sir, I will try not to do it again."
He looked over her. Due to her non-human side he couldn't use her eyes to tell if she was truthful or lying, let alone see if she really was sleepy. For her it was just use body language and she clearly was tired, the park was a good 30 minute walk from the orphanage, and even if she slept for a bit in the park it wouldn't have been too comfortable, plus this was the first thing she had ever done out of line, providing she didn't actually get in trouble there was nothing to do he thought. "Look if you need something or want a chat you can always say" he softly told her "tho I am glad you are spending free time away from your room and in the open world."
"James, situation at room 230!" A female voice came from a little radio he had on the back of his trousers.
"Just don't do anything silly" He smiled to Rachel as she gently rubbed his right hand against her hair, he then turned around and walked off grabbing the radio in his left hand and speaking into it "Margret I am on the way."
Rachel closed her room door and leaned back against it and sighed. She really thought she hadn't gotten away with it, but what could she say 'oh by the way I have been chosen to have powers and fight evil'. She knew that A: she wouldn't be believed and B: probably sent to a orphanage with a mental care department. She decided to get dressed into a dark orange halter top and matching trousers before putting her trainers and heading out. She signed out and made her way across the city to the abandoned area they had taken up as a practice area.
"Looks like I get company" Emma happily called to Rachel as she came into view. Emma was on the pipe she likes to use as a perch, she had also dressed similarly with black instead. "So you get away easily then?"
"Almost" She shyly replied as she then nodded towards Amy who was arriving in the distance. "What about yourself?"
"Mum was awake, she hasn't slept much since she had the egg out of her. But I managed to talk my way out of being out late" Emma replied.
"You having a sibling?, so your dad the human side then?" Rachel asked curiously.
"Yea, be a few weeks till the egg hatches, and no mum is human, just the effect of dad being a Verlinger means any child will come as an egg first" She explained before turning to Amy "So how did getting back late go for you? Oh and Rachel is curious as to which side of the family our human side come from."
"Nightmare, my parents thought I had taken a beating after getting in a fight, which I guess we kind of did, but I just told them I was out stargazing, which they know I do if not in a fight" Amy told them, she had on a knee-length grey dress with her normal boots. "But now Holly knows how to do that astral drop thing, we should be able to do this guardian thing and not draw too much attention from our families. And as to Rachel's thing both my parents are half human, with both their fathers being human."
"Yea I am glad she now knows that, but why couldn't that Will person teach her how to have done it before taking us the Kandrakar." Emma complained a little as Rachel was rummaging around in the rubble again.
"That is because she probably wanted to teach us how hard this would be" Terri's voice was heard as she and Holly came around from behind one of the rubble piles. She had on a dark blue zip-up hoodie, jeans and white trainers while Holly had on a dull white tank top and black leggings with her trainers.
"How did getting home last night go?" Amy quickly called to them.
"Plus Rachel wants to know human side part of you" Emma called, with Rachel now looking a little embarrassed but still curious.
"Dad read me the riot act, we are lucky he didn't ground me" Terri giggled out. "My biological father is human, he disappeared after I was born, the one I call dad is a pure-breed like my mother, when they married he properly adopted me to be his daughter."
"Aunt Sophie was at work so she doesn't know, I hope, as for me I also had human father." Holly said as she then looked around. "So this is the area you chosen to use as practice"
"Not bad is it" Smiled Amy as she picked up a small rock and juggled it around in her hands.
"Has all we need, privacy away from everyone and there is a river nearby so if Terri wants water it is there" Emma informed her as she jumped off her perch.
"Well guess we better get to practicing then" Holly said as she pulled the heart out from under her top.
"Actually I think it better to start with our weaker elemental powers when we not changed" Terri quickly spoke up. "Because without practice with low powers we could cause a incident."
"I agree, plus there are those other abilities Will mentioned to us" Emma added.
Holly looked across to Amy and Rachel who both nodded in agreement with Terri's suggestion. Despite being the leader she had wanted to make sure that on simple things like this they had a majority agreement. She put the heart away as she spoke to them "Ok, so I guess lets set up some targets and shoot them, but maybe later on we should use guardian form because we should get some flying practice in."
"Forgot we could do that" Amy commented surprised because of that bit of info she had forgotten. "So yea power practice un-transformed then flying."
The girls spent most of the afternoon practicing using their powers on bits of rubble they set up as targets, with mixed results. After going off for some food they came back and then transformed to try flying. For Holly, Terri, Amy and Rachel they found getting their wings to flap took some getting used to wanting to happen but it didn't require much effort to keep off the ground once they were airborne. They also tried moving around which steering was the problem, they found it hard to do while wanting to focus on other things (because they wanted to be sure they could keep moving around in the air when fighting). For Emma she could get her guardian wings flapping away, but every time she got into the air she would just fall victim to her fears and fall back to the ground, but as time went on she found herself able to get higher off the ground and start moving around slowly, she also would use her own wings for help steering.
The evening rolled in and the girls all went their separate ways for the night. They did the same on Sunday, using the afternoon to practice with powers untransformed and then change for flight, all going their different directions for the night, agreeing Monday after school they would practice with their powers transformed. They also used Sunday to try for any other extra powers that they were told about but found they didn't have them.
On Sunday night while the city slept Demal teleported before a flat in north west Heatherfield. Upon arriving he looked towards the brick and metal building with a smile. Suddenly all the lights in the area went out as something teleported in next to him wearing a dark blue hooded robe and un the darkness under the hood red eyes could be seen. The both walked up to the building, opening the glass door and then heading up the stairs to level 4. Once there they went to flat 19, he waved his hand at the wooden door causing it to open. Walking into the flat they went down a short corridor with coats hanging on the walls to the left and a door to a toilet. At the end of the corridor was a lounge, a large beige sofa with 2 people asleep on it was facing the wall where a holo screen would have been if the power was working. They crossed the room and went down another corridor to a door on the left, once there he smiles from under his hood, black smoke appeared from under his cloak and engulfed him and the figure with him.
On the other side of the door was a reasonably sized room with large bed covered in navy blue bedding next to a window with a ledge for sitting on. Opposite the bed there was a small desk with a leather chair, and next to those the wall was bear as behind that was the wardrobe. This room hadn't had its power cut as the light orb on the ceiling was lighting the room and over the walls were holo posters of male actors. Sitting in the chair was Jessica, she was dressed for bed in pale blue pyjama's. She was leaning against her desk looking at a holo display before her as she was typing away on a keyboard that was displayed on the top of the desk.
"Who cares about this alchemy stuff anyway?" She moaned as she leaned back in her chair. She had been trying to do this homework about the alchemy and different elements. "Magic in any form is just superstition."
"Is that what you really think little one?" Demal's voice echoed through the room as suddenly all of her holo's went off.
She looked around trying to see where the voice came from before she called out a little unsettled "Who's there, what do you want?"
Suddenly black smoke filled the area of her room around the door and before her Demal appeared in it, standing with his hood up so his face was hidden, a darker shadow stood in the smoke just behind him to the left but the eyes could be seen in the darkness. "Magic is very real little one."
He held his right hand out and from it shot back lightning around the room, causing Jessica to duck in her chair before looking back up seeing some marks on the wall and floor from where the bolts hit. "What do you want from me?" she called to him terrified.
"My dear, it is more what I can do for you" He informed her calmly. "I understand you have a dislike of non-pure humans, and I am here to offer you the chance to do that."
Something inside a part of her mind jumped at the idea, with another part screamed out that something was off, but the side of her that hated non-pure drown it. "You can help me?" she nervously asked as she slowly stood up.
"I can give you the power to destroy anyone who you want, and all I need in return is some loyalty from you for destroying some pests" he could feel her darkness inside her. He waved his right hand a little and some the black smoke around him expanded to surround her up to the knees.
"The power to destroy those that shouldn't be" She muttered to herself as the voice in her head that told her this was a bad idea got quieter. Once the smoke touched her she could feel a strange energy surge over her body, it made her feel like she could do anything, and she knew she had to have it. It was in that moment she decided she wanted it, new thoughts entered her mind that silenced any thought different to what Demal wanted from her. She then kneeled on her right knee, lowered her head and closed her eyes before speaking again "I am ready to serve, master." She opened her eyes, the colour of them had changed from blue to red.
Demal gave a dark smile as the smoke then engulfed Jessica. "There's a good girl." Then all 3 of them teleported away leaving no trace of the smoke. Moments later the power returned, and her parents wouldn't know she was gone as they now had a spell placed on them, to think she was there.
"Wake-up, wake-up" A electronic voice called out.
Holly was curled up in her bed, but hearing the voice she quickly woke up, taking an aggressive stance on all fours as her tail kept low. She looked up over the edge of her bed, looking around to see who was talking to her. She was under a red blanket as she stood up wearing just her underwear. Stepping out of her bed she sniffed around trying to see if she could smell an intruder, she even checked under her desk. Not finding anyone she whispered not wanting to draw attention from her aunt. "Whoever is in this room better show themselves or else I am not responsible to what I can do with my claws."
"Well that won't help you turn in homework miss Davis" the voice teased her. She looked round and on her desk one of her holo tiles was generating what looked like a smiley face that was taking to her. She jumped back a little and covered herself with her blanket as it talked again. "Now you are up late, and you aunt took a call to get into work this morning, she did call out as she left your food is in the kitchen ready. And with you it isn't like any machine in this room hasn't seen you like that before."
She felt a little embarrassed as she then spoke back to it while grabbing cloths out. "Who are you, because I know that tile was disconnected from the internet last night."
"I am holo unit E486Q228UA555T-003E. I am still disconnected from the internet" It replied.
"Well I will call you Equate then, and for now remain silent until I know what has happened" Holly growled at it before leaving her room to go to the bathroom to wash and dress, returning to her bedroom in a light green tank top with a dark green jacket over the top of it and some jeans on. She grabbed her medical monitoring band placing it on from a draw in her desk and grabbing Equate shoving him in a black satchel with some other holo tiles. She ran into the main living area, had her breakfast (the usual fruit and vegetables), took some tablets before putting on some trainers and running out the front door.
The day passed at school without incident, all 5 girls went through the day as normal, even with Holly trying to keep her taking holo under control, yet no-one else could hear it talking or see it displaying the face. At the end of the day when the girls all rallied up in what they now called the training dump, Holly told them about Equate and the fact others can't see or hear him (thinking they may think her going crazy), only for them to be able to see and hear him.
"When I next take a test can I borrow him?" Amy asked, she was all practical type stuff, never likening the theory stuff.
"No, because cheating will help no-one, one of the many things my aunt has taught me in being a good person" Holly scolded her back a little.
"Besides I think they would notice you talking as tests are quiet environments" Amy laughed.
"So just do the revision. You always complain about me knowing more then you, so if you revise and study you will do fine." Terri also giggled out knowing Amy wasn't bothering to listen.
Rachel was staring at the face curious as to how it happened, she then spoke out quietly "So then Terri, how did this happen then, making a machine come to life?"
"Holly's power" Terri replied. "Remember quintessence with life energy, and in the lecture about the powers Will did say that machines are affected by it without the user knowing, as the one who has quintessence does build up a lot of static on them and mechanical things they touch can come to life."
"You ever tire of remembering all that stuff?" Amy teased her.
"Nope, she doesn't" Holly giggles as she jumped to hug Terri from behind. "So that would explain why I found the hand-drier at school talking to me too, this will take some getting used to, and possibly ending up with a houseful of stuff talking to me, but so long as aunt Sophie can't see or hear them that is fine."
They spent time practicing, all getting better with flying (except Emma who still would only fly just off the ground and at slow speeds), before heading home for the night. Tuesday went the same way: wake up, go to school, practice and then home for the night. Wednesday started off the same bit things were to quickly change. They had got through till the end of school without problems and on their way to practice they decided to walk through the park having gotten some snacks from a little corner shop on route.
"So, how long do you think it will be till we end up dealing with that Demal guy?" Any asked between sucking on a ice-lolly. "Because I really want to give him another good beating."
"Well I personally hope that he crawled back into whatever hole he was hiding in for 500 years" Emma joked as she finished off a bar of chocolate.
As they walked along the park they began to notice something was off, it was a nice afternoon, they then noticed ahead of them a black cloak with a hood hiding the head standing there, it stood before a open fold. A right hand came out from under it when they were only a few meters away and signalled them to follow before walking through the fold.
"That one of Kandrakar's?" Rachel nervously asked.
"Don't know, cos everyone there was wearing white, even Will was in white when she was dressed like that." Terri replied as they walked up to the fold. "So do we go after?"
"Yea, but as we don't know who our visitor is" Holly spoke as she looked around seeing no-one else around, she then reached inside her bag taking out the heart and holding it before her as it started to glow brighter and hover before her. "We shall go prepared in case it a trap...Guardians Unite!"
The 5 orbs left the heart and each absorbed there matching guardian, the silhouettes of then curled up inside could be seen as after a few seconds they then uncurled shattering the orbs and landed on the ground in their guardian forms. After taking a deep breath they each went through, not certain what was waiting for them on the other side.
Next Time: Friend or Foe?