Sorry for the long time between updates. I'll hopefully have alot more up now that the holidays are on.
Disclaimer: I own all the characters that appear in this chapter. Not you. Me. Muahahahahaaha.
Sophie rolled over in her cot. It was hot, she thought to herself, too hot. She pushed the sheet off of her body, hoping to cool down a little.
She sniffed, something was burning!
She leapt up and saw red hot flames eating away at the warehouse door. Letting out a scream, she successfully alerted the room to the danger.
But it was too late, flames already surrounded the building, smoke billowing in.
Mari and Nichole started gathering the scared children into a group, away from the flames.
"Ben! Ben, where's my mum?" Ivy called, tugging at Alex's arm and dragging him to the others. Sophie glanced around.
"I can't see anything in the –"She coughed "In the smoke"
Ben looked around for a way to get out, but found nothing.
Mari was choking on the thick smoke and she held a crying Allie closer to her chest.
"Ben! What about what you showed me. Could you get some of the kids out that way?" Mari whispered frantically.
Ben chewed his lip "Maybe, I don't know!"
"Try" She urged him, pushing Allie into his arms.
He glanced at the roof, and then turned to Ivy.
"Can you make something to break through the roof?" he asked her quickly.
She hesitated for a moment, before nodding.
A huge tree suddenly sprouted from the floor, growing higher and higher until it smashed through the thin roof, it's branches making the hole even bigger.
Jacques, who'd been practicing, created a force field that stopped the debris from hitting them.
Ben concentrated hard, lifting Jacques, Allie and Alex with him through the hole in the roof.
He soon returned and took Sophie's daughter the youngest by far, and a few other children next.
Ivy and Will were the last to be lifted and Ivy refused to leave without her mother.
Will realized that they were missing four of the kids and frantically started calling for them.
Beams in the room started caving down around them, fire devouring everything in its path.
"Ivy you have to come with me now"
"But my mother…"
"Ivy" His tone was pleading, desperate.
Will morphed so he would be lighter and Ivy allowed herself to be lifted in his arms.
Once they were all safely on the ground below, the roof to their home caved in, flames bursting up and swallowing whatever was left.
All they could do was stand there, each holding one another, fear and pain coursing through them.
Ivy was screaming down curses upon all humanity, screaming out that they all would pay for what they'd done to her.
Nichole tried to calm her down but Mari secretly agreed with her.
Humans just couldn't be trusted.
The group spent the night huddle against the wall, Will had his arm around Mari's shoulder, Nichole was holding two of the children, Sophie had her daughter close to her chest and everyone else just held onto someone else.
Sophie was sleeping soundly, and Mari doubted that she'd be able to wake her up at all, considering she'd been the one to put the flames out, and it had taken so much out of her. They had limited water supplies and it took a lot of stretching on her part to douse the bigger flames.
The fire department didn't show up. Not that it really surprised any of them.
The children were scared, they'd been scared and unsafe for so long and now it was worse. Now they'd seen their home, and the closest person they had to a mother perish because people couldn't accept differences.
Ben knew that the fire was no accident, that someone had come out that night, planning to kill them all.
It made him sick, but he refused to hate them. That would make him as bad as them. He wasn't going to judge them because they were different.
Ivy stared at the wreckage. She'd lost her mother. It was almost too much to bear. No one should have to suffer through loosing a parent.
The more she thought about the angrier she was. Before the fire, she'd often spoken with Mari about the humans. Oh back then she was more then happy to defend them. Mari who'd never been one to hide the dislike she had towards them and Ivy who was compassionate to all.
She'd always told Mari she was being stupid, that it was just plain stupid to hate someone for being human. In both senses of the word.
But now, she hated all of them. Not just the ones who'd done this. Not just the ones who had killed an innocent woman and four little children, but all of them.
She wished that they would all see how hard it was to be treated this way. Didn't humans learn anything!
She didn't want to go through the wreckage, but the others had agreed that when it cooled down they would have to. Find whatever clothes, money, anything that they could use.
Mari didn't want to look at the wreckage. She'd been so scared and so stupid when she'd first erased her family's memories, and then she'd met and saved Will.
She didn't know what they had together, she loved him, the same as she loved Ben and Nichole, the same as she loved Sophie, Alex and Allie and all the children.
There wasn't many of them left now, Just the five 'adults' and then the twins, Allie and Alex, Nicolas , Danielle Sophie's daughter, Jacques and another telepath, Michaela.
That was it, of the small safe house that had saved Mari's life, the one that had cared for her and offered her a life, was in ruins. Glenda, the mother figure to them all was gone, and so many of the children had suffered painfully for it.
She wanted to hurt things, to break things, make them pay.
She wanted to shout out to the others 'You see, I told you this would happen! I told you humans would do this! You defended them and look what they've done'
But she couldn't.
So she'd sleep, with everyone else. Just close her eyes and pretend it had never happened.
Nichole watched Mari's face, the poor girl was having a mental struggle and she wished she could help. Ivy was starring out at the wreckage, broken and bruised. Not for the first time, Nichole wished her power could heal emotional pain, not just physical.
Nichole had founded this Safe House, and with Glenda around it was easy to forget that fact. Easy to forget that she'd forged it from the ground up, found the first orphans and taken them in. But she'd done it then, she'd been the first to take a step.
More then anything she was the leader, she was the one that should be taking control. She was going to do just that, the kids didn't stare at their destroyed home any longer.
They'd be fine; she'd make sure of it.
Glenda mentioned a brother, earlier that day, and he ran a martial arts complex. She'd find him and tell him the news. She didn't know if she'd be able to do that, but it was her duty.
Then she would request that her self, Mari, Ben, Will, Sophie and Ivy could partake in the already planned lessons.
She would call on favors; do anything possible to secure a place for them to stay. But they'd stay together.
Finally, with this resolve she allowed sleep to take her.
Mari was the last to wake up, and when she did she felt as though she'd been hit but a truck.
The others were in the wreckage, digging, pulling out things of use.
All of them except Ivy, Ivy was sitting in a tree.
Just sitting, not moving, and not talking.
Mari groaned and stretched, trying to keep her body from completely shutting down on her.
"Ivy?" She called timidly, brushing her hair behind her ears, and approaching the tree carefully.
Ivy didn't look up, in fact, she didn't even respond at all.
Mari climbed up the thick branches and sat beside her, swinging her legs under so that she wouldn't fall.
She didn't say anything and instead just hugged the teen, who in turn collapsed in her arms and cried.
Mari remained quiet, knowing there was hardly any words she could offer, nothing that would help take the pain away.
"What's going to happen to us now?" She whispered, her voice muffled as she had her face buried on Mari's shoulder.
"I don't know. We'll be ok. We've got the others. We'll be fine"
But the words fell flat and neither of them was sure about anything any more.
Sophie stepped over a large plank carefully, bouncing Danielle on her hip.
"Anything salvageable?"
Ben shook his head sadly "Nothing, not a single thing"
"We should go; it can't be good to have all the kids here."
Nichole wandered over to where they were both standing, soot marked on her face.
"Ben?"
He forced his eyes away from the ash and looked at her.
"Get the kids ready, Keep them together. It's going to be a long day"