Chapter One
THE sound of the heavy door sliding across the stone floor woke me from my nap. I laid curled up in the corner on my small mattress watching the new people being led into my cell with my blanket pulled around my face. With the dim light constantly on, it's the only way to get decent sleep around here.
There were a total of nine children being directed into the small room, the oldest looking like she was the same age as Jesse, my sister. They were all in pajamas and most didn't have socks on let alone shoes but at least they were given blankets as the guards herded them inside. A boy roughly the age of ten or eleven noticed me first as the door was slammed shut behind them. His round glasses reflected the little light offered in the dingy cell.
"Who are you?" He asked, tilting his head to one side. "Did they kidnap you too?"
I pushed myself up into a seated position as the rest of the children gathered in a huddle in front of me. "Hi," My voice cracked a bit from disuse. Not like I get to talk much around here anyway. "My name is Elizabeth, who are you?" I can at least try to be nice, even if I'm not a fan of people.
"I'm Artie," a small boy with a blue lizard's tongue answered first. Slowly the rest of the children went around introducing themselves.
"How did you get here?" the eldest asked. She was an asian girl with short dark hair. I already forgot her name. I forgot most of their names.
"I got taken from school," I answered. "My father runs a security company in Washington and has a lot of military veterans working for him. The school didn't question the man when he said he was sent by my father to pick me up."
A couple guards stopped in front of our cell door and slid a few metal trays through a gap in the bottom of the door. "Eat up freaks," one said before they both walked away.
I pushed myself up off the floor and walked over to the trays. Each tray held a couple bowls, small plastic bottles, and metal spoons. More cold porridge and water. Yum.
"Are you sure that's safe? They could be trying to poison us!" one of the children cried out.
"It's fine. I've been eating the same food for the past two years. They haven't done anything yet."
"Two years! That's longer than I've been at Xavier's!" the asian girl exclaimed. The other children just gathered around her in search of comfort. Or warmth, it's always cold in my cell.
I just helped pass around the bowls and waters before walking back to my corner to lay down again. I had just started drifting off when one of the children asked me another question.
"Why did they kidnap you? I mean, we all go to a school of mutants, so why did they take you?" the redhead asked as she crouched by my head.
"I'm an empath. Most of the time I stay in here but there are times when Striker orders me to 'help' a new prisoner adjust faster. I don't like it but I'd rather not die in here." I mumbled into my blanket as I pulled it back over my head and turned away from them. "I would like to sleep now so good night."
The children backed off and huddled together in the middle of the cell. I closed my eyes and tried to tune out their whispers. It would be a long while before I managed to fall asleep.
THE first thing I noticed when I woke up was the strength of the pull of the moon. It would be full in a few days. The second thing was the new scents of people. Third was the sounds of breathing from not too far away. I cracked one eye and saw the pile of children asleep in the middle of the cell. They were all curled around the oldest like ducklings around their mother.
'Right. New prisoners.' I sighed. 'As long as no one is horrendously loud, I can handle this.'
I stood up and started stretching my neck and arms, because you know how painful it is to sleep on a stone floor, even with some padding between, when one of the kids started to wake up. She started wriggling around and kicked the boy next to her. He woke up instantly with a shout and created a chain reaction. Soon, all the children were awake and trying to talk over each other. I had to cover my sensitive ears before the asian girl could calm everyone down, she seems to be their de facto leader. I really need to remember their names. Not long after, several guards came by with breakfast, more cold porridge and water. Some of the kids started complaining about the food.
"Stop your bitching and eat. It's all you'll get until they decide to bring dinner." I growled. Now I remember why the only kid I could ever stand was Jesse. They are loud, obnoxious, and whiny.
I finished my meal and went back to stretching. The children quieted down to a murmur and ate the food quickly. I was just finishing stretching my back when the girl who woke everyone up came over.
"Can I help you?" I asked, trying (and probably failing) to keep my bad mood in check.
"Why are you doing that?" She asked.
"What? Stretching?" She nodded. "There's nothing else to do and it helps me relax. What's your name again?"
"I'm Rahne. Everyone calls me Wolfsbane." She sat down next to me and started to stretch with me.
"Why?"
"I can turn into a wolf, but I'm not a werewolf like the guys on the tv. Did you know they came out like the Fae?"
"What? When?"
"The werewolves announced their existence a few months ago and everyone freaked out. Apparently no one likes the fact that there are werewolves around, like mutants and the Fae. Although, now the government is more focused on them instead of us. So far all the public werewolves are or were in the military." Rahne babbled as we stretched.
The redhead from last night joined us, "They are scary, I mean, they've killed people!"
"Who are you again?" I growled. This girl was going to annoy me, I could just tell.
"I'm Theresa but everyone calls me Siryn. I can scream really loud. Wanna see?" She was about to start when Rahne slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Siryn, small space, loud noise, not a good idea." Rahne urged.
Theresa's eyes got huge before she nodded her head in understanding, a blush spreading across her face. Rahne removed her hand and Theresa murmured an apology.
Luckily it wasn't much longer before I was taken for testing and I got to escape the noisy children for a while. I don't think I was ever more happy to leave my cell.
AFTER several hours of running on a treadmill and endurance tests, I was let back into the cell with all the children. My hair was still dripping a bit after my very short shower and as I walked back to my corner, I got several of the annoying brats wet, causing them to cry out.
I plopped down on my bedding and finished wringing out my hair onto the floor next to me. Rahne and Theresa joined me once again. They were bickering about something as they walked over and tried to draw me into the argument as well.
"Elizabeth, tell her all werewolves are scary!" Theresa demanded as she sat in front of me and pulled her blanket around her shoulders.
"How would you know? Have you met all the werewolves in the world?" Rahne interjected as she sat next to Theresa.
"No! But they kill people! They are scary and evil, like Magneto." Theresa held firm.
They both turned from each other and glared at me.
"Have you met any werewolves Theresa?" I asked as I combed through my hair with my fingers before starting to braid it back into two french braids.
"Well, I mean, no. Not that I know of. But the news says they're bad!" Theresa tried to justify herself.
"And what does the news say about mutants?" I countered.
She stayed silent though Rahne piped in, "Have you met a werewolf Elizabeth?"
"Yes, my adoptive father is a werewolf and the alpha of his pack. I've been around wolves since I was eight years old. While it is true that some werewolves kill people, not all do. Most of the time, when a werewolf kills a human, the wolf is a rogue, not part of a pack with structure. Being in a pack helps wolves stay calm and not harm people." With Theresa's reaction, I wasn't about to tell them I am a wolf. I finished my braiding hair back before wrapping my blanket around my shoulders and pulling my knees to my chest.
"Were you scared when you found out?" Theresa squeaked. "Weren't you scared that they were going to hurt you?"
"No. I knew that because of what the pack and my father are, I would always be safe when I was around them. Children are very special to werewolves because females can't have their own and if a male tried to get a human female pregnant, more times than not, the pregnancy would end in a miscarriage. Where I'm originally from in Russia, it wasn't always the safest and many families were too scared to challenge those in power. I saw it as a gift and a blessing when I got adopted."
As I talked, several of the other children began to make their way over to us by scooting on the floor, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
"Who was in charge?" one of the older boys questioned. He looked to be about twelve or thirteen.
"The mafia ran my town and the next three nearby. My father ran a store in the town and refused to stock one of their products one day. A week later our house was on fire and my brother and I were taken to Yakutsk. My brother got sick and died of pneumonia on the way and I was adopted by Adam a month later." I don't know why I was telling my life history to this group of kids but it was keeping them quiet for a change.
"Peter is from Russia!" another boy barged in, I think he introduced himself as Artie.
"Where's Yak-husk?" Jubilee asked.
"Yakutsk, it's a city towards the middle of eastern Siberia. I'm from Zhatay, not far from Yakutsk. My family's house was along the Lena River." The rest of the group joined us in my corner.
"How many siblings do you have?" Another boy asked, I never caught his name.
"In Russia, I had two sisters and a brother. When I was adopted, I gained a little sister."
Several guards came into the cell carrying dinner for us. We were lucky in the sense that we were getting a small bit of fruit each with our porridge and water tonight. The children all stood up when they caught sight of the guards but I remained where I was. I figured they wouldn't bring enough for all on purpose so I'd let the younger kids get food first. I might not like children, but I have experience going without food whereas I'm sure most of them did not.
The guards started passing out the food when the alarms went off. They took off immediately and the children began to get excited. They were all talking at once, making a great noise in the small area. Jubilee was trying to calm them down and get everyone to focus. It wasn't working.
In the guards' haste, they forgot to close the door, relying on the security system to keep us contained. Letting out a sharp whistle, I got everyone's attention.
"Follow me to get out of here. Clearly you are expecting someone. We can help them get you out by meeting them halfway. Let's go." I didn't wait for anyone, I took off running out the door and down the corridor.