2

Back at my home on Skyward Avenue, I had just gotten used to my newly renovated room. Besides a bed, a dresser, and a desk, it had light blue walls, and a bluish-green carpet. It was no longer as messy as it used to be; there were no books and papers on the floor, or clothes all over the bed. And yet that hadn't prepared me for what Ryan showed me. After walking down a few hallways, we arrived at where I'd be staying. I couldn't help, but stare, shocked.

It was just like a room you'd see at a hotel. From the entrance, I could see a small living room and a kitchen area, complete with a microwave and a polished counter in the middle. A table with two chairs sat next to a large flat screen TV hooked up to one of the gray walls, opposite a large couch. Walking in, there was a hallway that connected with three doors, which Ryan told me were for the bedroom, bathroom, and storage. Like the walls, the ceiling was gray, but the carpet was creamy white.

"I can definitely get used to this," I said, taking in how much space there was, unlike the crowded corridors.

"Thought you'd like it," Ryan replied. "Just a few pointers before I go, you can eat anything in the fridge; they refill it every week. There's free Wi-Fi, the TV has all the streaming services, including the newly released one SkyCinema, and laundry is picked up every day to be washed and returned. If you need anything, just call me. You have my number."

"Thanks, Ryan," I said over my shoulder, walking down the hallway and opening the door to the bedroom. "Wait, why are there two beds?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention, someone else lives here. Don't worry, it shouldn't be a problem." Voices I couldn't make out shouted something from down the hall. "Oops, sorry. I have to go. See you tomorrow."

"Ok. Hold on, who else lives-?" The door closed. I shrugged, then turned on the light to check out the bedroom.

The foundation was the same in here as well, with the gray walls and white carpet. Along with the beds, there were two white dressers, a closet directly across from me, and a ceiling fan. I took off the backpack I'd been wearing the entire time and looked at the beds, wondering which I should take. After a moment, I chose the one on the right and layed my backpack on it. I opened one of the drawers on my dresser, and found there were clothes in it already. One check on the tags told me they were all my size.

No wonder they needed all my information. I unzipped my backpack and took out the clothes I'd brought. It all consisted of two pairs of shirts, pants, socks, and underwear. I put them in one of the drawers, then dropped my backpack on the floor. I wasn't in the mood to do any more unpacking. After closing the drawer, I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. As I finished washing up, I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. And that's when I noticed that there were towels within reach.

I looked down at my wet hands with disdain. There were probably more in the storage room, but I didn't feel like going in there like this. I sighed, wishing there was one hanging around. I shook my head as I opened the door to leave. But then, a warm tingling sensation enveloped my body, and a slight whooshing sound filled my ears. I stopped, went rigid, and slowly turned around, feeling my heart pounding. But nothing had changed. The tingling and whooshing had stopped.

Then, on a closer look, I realized this wasn't true. A silver ring hung behind me, with a tan colored towel hanging on it. I also noticed that the washcloth, that'd been previously sitting on the sink, had seemingly disappeared. My eyes widened. The cloth and the ring had both passed through my line of sight, so what if that meant…

I released the breath I was holding and left the bathroom. I was determined that I wouldn't go crazy in a place like this. My mind could've been playing tricks on me. I walked into the bedroom, turned off the lights, and climbed into bed carefully; it was dark and I could barely see. I immediately noticed that the comforter and blankets were actually softer than they looked. I lay still, staring up at the pitch darkness, trying to shake my head from what I had just experienced. But several minutes later, I felt my eyes droop, and fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of a door closing. My eyes widened and I looked over at the bed next to mine. The covers and the blanket had clearly been moved. I remembered what Ryan had said earlier, and figured my roommate had gone to training early. I rolled back over and found myself looking up at the ceiling fan lights. There was no point in going back to sleep. I sat up, stretching, and grabbed my phone from the nightstand to check the time. 8:16 AM, Tuesday, March 4, 2109. I gave a slight groan of annoyance. I had to be at training in 45 minutes.

I got out of bed, put on deodorant and new clothes, and went to the kitchen area. Opening the refrigerator, I found some fruit, and made a quick bowl. Doing a practice session with a bunch of people I didn't know left me feeling a little jittery, and I wasn't in that much of a mood to eat. However, 30 minutes later, I was ready to go. Leaving my room, I closed the door and walked down the hall, seeing other people emerge, looking a little groggy.

I made a right, and then a left, before realizing I had no idea where I was going. I turned around, trying to get back to where I had been, but I just got even more lost. All the corridors looked the same. I almost started to panic, because by that point, it was already 8:50, and I didn't want to be late a second time. So, I walked up to the first guy I saw to ask for help.

"Yo, dude, are you going to the training session in the gym?"

He looked at me. His hair was thick and brown, and he was about two inches shorter than me. All his clothes were gray, including his shoes. "Yeah, why?"

I felt an immense relief. "Oh, good. Because I am too and I have no idea where it is."

He smiled. "Well, you can follow me, then. I'll take you there."

"Thanks," I replied.

"No problem."

And so we went down one hallway, trying to get around people as the corridors continued to fill up.

"So, what's your name?" He asks me.

"Jason. You?"

"I'm Jam."

I can't help but chuckle a little. "Jam as in strawberry jam?"

He stops and turns to me with fake bewilderment. No, jam as in radio jamming."

I pause. "I wasn't aware that was still a thing."

"It's not," he replied, continuing to walk. "My friends just call me that."

We press on through the corridor until we reach a door that leads to a staircase.

"Wait, what?" I wonder aloud. "The gym is above ground?"

"Yeah," Jam said. "There's a high school that went out of business a while back near the subway. It still has electricity and water and stuff, so we use it to train.

"But, if it's abandoned, then why did Ryan say that it was free? I thought that would've been a given."

"Other people use it too, you know," he explained, as we got to the top and came to a set of double doors. "Of course, we can't use it at the same time they do, though, considering what we do."

The thought of how these guys train never occurred to me. "What do you do?"

But my question was lost to the chatter of other teenagers, as we walked into yet another hallway. Jam led me to the right and, finally, we arrived. The gym was probably as big as three quarters of a football field, and had a high ceiling. Large windows near the top let in the glaring sun, creating rays that looked like something out of a picture next to cream colored walls. The whole place was packed.

"Wow," I breathed.

"Yeah," Jam replied. "We don't get this all the time, so enjoy it while it lasts." He began to disappear into the crowd.

"Hey, whoa!" Where are you going?" I asked.

He turned around. "To my class. We all got assigned one. Weren't you at the meeting last night?"

I look down sheepishly. "No."

"Well, I'm not sure who you're with, so I think you should try to find Ryan. He'll tell you. I'll see you later." He walked away.

Helplessness enveloped me. Find Ryan in a crowd like this? It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I glanced at my phone, which said 8:58 AM. My heart raced again. Even in the little time I had, it was worth a try. I went around the throng of people, searching for the familiar face, at first with no luck. But then, with relief, I spotted him at the far left of the room near the bleachers. The tension evaporated as I ran toward him.

"Ryan!" I called out.

He looked up at me. "Hey, Jason, what's going on?"

"I'm a little confused on what to do here."

He looked confused for a second, but then his eyes lit with recognition. "That's right. I forgot to tell you who's training you. Actually, wait here. I'll tell him to come to you when he gets here." He turned to go.

"Hold on, who's training me?"

Ryan looked back. "Aiden Pastcov. I've known him for a while, and he's really good at doing this." He went to leave.

"Wait! Good at wha-?" But he was already gone. I sighed with frustration, then leaned against the wall, feeling anxious to get started.

Which didn't take very long. In a few minutes, the gym had cleared out considerably, with groups of people leaving to go do whatever work they had to do. Which made it odd that they came here in the first place. I figured that only the beginners were using the gym today. But the area was empty enough that I could see a person coming toward me.

He had fire colored eyes, a reddish gold color, which pierced right through mine, that stood out against his pale face. His short, brown hair added something to them, since they were the only bright colors he had. He wore a black sweatshirt, dark jeans, and black boots that glinted slightly in the light. His stride made him look confident and strong. There was a peculiar aurora around him that seemed familiar.

"Hey man, what's up?" He said as he came up to me. His voice was rather deep and heavy. He extended a hand. "I'm Aiden, and I'll be training you for the Defenders." That's what this team was called.

"My name's Jason," I reply, shaking his hand, which was surprisingly soft. "I have a quick question, though. What will I be doing here? I mean, a couple of the guys made it seem like I'd be doing more than using guns or whatever."

Aiden smiled slightly. "To answer that, I need to ask you a question." I cocked my head to the side. "Do you know why you're here?"

That was the second time someone had asked me that and it felt unnerving. "I thought I knew, but now I'm not so sure anymore. It must be something that I don't understand."

He nodded slowly. Then he gestured to a pile of balls in the corner. "I'll show you. See that basketball over there?"
I looked at the brown sphere with black stripes. "Yeah."

"I want you to think of it looking like something else."

Of all the things I expected, that wasn't. "What do you mean?"

He shifted uncomfortably, then tried again. "Imagine the basketball being something other than a basketball. Just don't make it too big. Wouldn't want it to destroy the gym."

I looked at him weirdly, then focused on the ball. If this was part of the training then it was a little ridiculous. I brought it into my mind, then allowed the image of a soccer ball to join it. To my surprise, the warm, tingling sensation began again, and the basketball dispersed into a million little orbs of light, then a second later, they combined, but not back into a basketball. They now formed a soccer ball. The tingling stopped.

I turned back to him, my heart racing, feeling the urge to scream, but fighting against it. Convinced that I had gone completely insane, I was ready to just bail out on the idea of continuing with the Defenders and returning back to the life that I knew was real. I could tell Aiden didn't like my disturbed expression, because he took a step closer and placed a warm hand on my shoulder, attempting to calm me down. But I didn't want any of it.

"What...why...how was I able to do that?" I managed to get out, my voice cracking with shock and fear.

He gazed at me with sympathy in his eyes. "That's why you're here, Jason. Just like every other Defender, you have the power to turn objects into other objects."

"You mean like shape shifting?"

"Exactly, though we just call it shifting. Which makes you a Shifter."

I nodded silently. I was beginning to calm down, but I was still freaked out. "But, how does it even work? Things can't just do that on their own."

"You're right, they don't." He replied vaguely.

"So...how do they?" I pushed further.

He looked down. "Well, it has a lot of science to it…"

"I'm good with that. I love science." I exclaim, which is true. Ever since I learned Earth science in sixth grade, I had taken a liking to the subject. There was just something about the environment, the rock cycle, the water cycle, anything to do with nature that I had admired. I was even more interested in Biology and Physics, because learning about the body and mind were a couple of the things that just clicked with me. I never really like mixing chemicals, so Chemistry wasn't my strong suit.

He grinned. "That's awesome. Makes my job easier. Since most people don't care about this stuff."

I raise an eyebrow. "How many other...Shifters have you taught?"

"Not important right now," he said offhandedly. "But, since you should find out at some point, objects can be shifted by communicating with the Particles inside them."

"Particles?"

"They're microscopic organisms that make up the world around us, such as those bleachers, the windows, even you. They give objects their shape and color."

"Then what do cells and atoms do?" I asked.

"Well, as you may know, atoms determine if something is a solid, liquid, or gas and cells create life in living things. But the Particles can change the way atoms and cells are formed to make different objects."

I take it all in and start to feel more confident and sure about my newfound ability. But, the only thing was…

"Why haven't I heard of this before?"

"It's only known to certain people," Aiden replied. "Like the Defenders. Very few people are born with the powers to change objects."

I look at him incredulously. "Really? This gym was packed a few minutes ago. That doesn't seem like a few people."

"Out of everyone in the entire world?" He said with a smile. My eyes widen. "Yes, as far as we know, everybody in this vicinity are the only known Shifters on earth. That's why you all got that text. It's important for us to band together and increase the strength of our powers."

There was an awkward pause, before I was anxious to move on. "So, what are you going to teach me?"

"Now we have to work on building our way up," he replied, as he led me over to the opposite side of the gym. "We'll start out with shifting the balls and a few pieces of equipment, and then we'll work on bigger objects that are more complex."

For the rest of the morning, I practiced changing objects like doors, soccer nets, and basketball hoops, into ones that he instructed me to think of. They actually weren't too hard to shift; I could think of anything at all, and their image could stay clear in my head until the transformation was complete. But, after several tries, the sensation that had felt comfortably warm, now became an almost burning feeling. After attempting to turn an entire bench press and barbells into two sneakers, the pain from it finally took over my body, and I felt convinced to find out what was happening.

"So why do I feel my body heat up every time I shift?" I asked, rubbing my fried arms. Although they looked completely fine, I could feel them burning under my touch. "It's beginning to hurt."

"Remember when I said that people are made of Particles?" He asked. I nodded. "Well, when you shift objects, the Particles in you communicate, so to speak, with the Particles in the objects. They tell those Particles what to turn in to. And don't worry about the pain. That's something that happens naturally with beginners. Though, it happens because the Particles in you are working when you shift things. They move around, longer and faster, bigger objects. But, the more they do, the warmer your body will feel."

"However," he continued, after a deep breath. "Having more physical strength can allow the Particles to do less work, which leads to the next thing we do here."

"Work out?"

Aiden nodded. "Not too much, just for a little while about once a week. We use the weight room on the other side of the gym. It's good, because there aren't any windows in there."

"Ok," I replied, bringing all the information into my head. "But you really know your stuff, man. That's incredible."

He looked down, seemingly embarrassed, but I could see he was still smiling. "Well, it's something that you have to do, being a Shifter leader and all."

I was about to ask what he meant, but, as if he knew what I would ask, said, "Another time. But, your training is over for the day, so there's a cafeteria back downstairs you can go to for lunch."

"Thanks," I said, turning to leave. I walked a few steps, then stopped and went back to him.

"Where is the cafeteria?"

He looked at me, confused. "They handed out maps of the entire facility last night. Weren't you at the meeting?"
I slapped my forehead. "No."

"Don't worry. I have an extra." He fished into his back jeans pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and gave it to me.

"Thank you," I said in relief, taking it.

"Anytime, buddy. Talk to me if you ever need anything."

I nodded with a smile, then began walking out of the gym. I was beginning to like this guy, even though we've only known each other for a few hours. As I opened the door, I turned to look back at him, only to find out that he'd vanished.