Author's Note: Thank you guys. You are all really nice, even though some of you sounded a little offended by my strange request in the last chapter. Tell me who your favorite OC of mine is or any friendships and romances you can think of between them. Or tell me if you hate them all. I may use some ideas. By the way, what do you think of Gavin and Lexish together? Cinnabun, my friend, loves that pairing.
Danny woke up to a buzz from outside his door. He considered rolling over and going back to sleep, but the fact he didn't recognize the ceiling bothered him. Yesterday's events hit him soon enough. He climbed out of bed, gathered his clothes and headed to the bathroom at the end of the hall to get changed.
Maria and Ethan were talking in the hall about the Inheritance trilogy, apparently a common interest between the two. They looked up and greeted Danny before resuming their thrilling conversation. Didn't see that coming. Danny thought.
After changing, he headed off to breakfast. It was about eight fifteen and everybody was sitting down, chatting before breakfast was served and the Commander came. Well, almost everybody. "Hey Hillary." Danny said.
Hillary looked up from her conversation with Lexish, apparently about the weird hat Lexish was wearing. "Yeah, Danny?"
"Where's Sam?"
Hillary shrugged. "She was asleep when I left."
Danny headed back to the hallway. He knocked on the door and leaned an ear against it. All he could here was the sound of a breeze. They must have left the window open. "Sam… Sam, are you in there?" He heard a small groan from inside the room. Danny opened the door slowly. "Sam…" He poked his head through the crack in the door. His jaw dropped as he saw what was inside.
Sam was curled up in a ball, like a cat. She was sleeping peacefully, but frowning a little.
The thing that really astonished Danny was the fact that Sam was floating in midair. She was to the left of her bed, and placed as if she had rolled off but instead of falling just hung there. Wind seemed to be keeping her up, wrapping itself around her and encasing her in a weird cocoon of breezes. Sam's hair was whipping everywhere, but she didn't seem to notice it at all.
Danny inched into the room, spellbound. This was even cooler than the water-doll last night. He had seen ghosts flying before, but this looked a lot more natural. It was also cool watching someone fly who didn't want to kick his butt. He slowly approached her and reached out a hand to touch the encasing of winds.
As he did Sam's eyes shot open and she groaned. She was slowly lowered to the floor by the winds.
Sam stretched and yawned. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. When she caught sight of Danny she asked, "Danny? What are you looking at me like that?"
Danny's eyes were extremely wide. "You were floating in midair. How do you do that? It was like the wind was wrapped around you."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Danny, I thin you're seeing things. I told you already. I can't control wind."
Danny shook his head. "Whatever. Sam, you need to get dressed. Breakfast is in ten minutes."
Sam looked at her watch and groaned. "Oh, god. Is the Commander up yet?"
"No."
She got up from the floor. "Okay, then." She pushed Danny out of the room and shut the door. "See you in a minute."
Danny leaned against the wall next to her door, thinking. How can she do that while she's asleep? Is it just that she can't control her powers, or is that a side effect? Do I do that? He shuddered at that thought. No, Mom and dad would have figured out a lot sooner if I did. So why does she?
Sam burst out of the room and grabbed Danny's arm. "Come on! I'm so hungry I could eat a horse! And I'm vegetarian!" She started running down the hall, dragging Danny with her. Danny laughed and tried to regain his balance. They stumbled into the dining hall, still laughing where they were met by a grim-faced Commander. They quieted down immediately.
"Sit and eat." He said in a growl. His head was almost buried in his bowl of so-healthy-it's-gross cornflakes. Clearly the Commander was not a morning person. Lucky them.
Sam and Danny blushed bright red and sat down. Anna, Ethan and Mitchell already took their seats from last night. They seemed to be laughing hysterically over a joke. Danny took a seat next to Tucker and Sam took a seat across the table from them. She grinned when she saw the hot chocolate mix on the table, next to a milk carton.
Danny followed her gaze. "You like hot chocolate?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her evil expression.
"In a way." Sam dumped a whole packet of chocolate powder into her glass. She then added cold milk and downed the mixture in fewer than three gulps. She licked her lips and sighed. Sam leaned back in her chair with an extremely contented look. "My mom's banned that ever since Gram died." Sam remarked.
Danny and Tucker's mouths and eyes were wide open. Tucker recovered quickly. "That's nasty." He stated. "How can you stand drinking that much milk that quickly?"
Sam gave them a cat-like grin. "It's soy milk. Much lighter than regular."
"Don't you know you're supposed to mix that with hot water?"
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Why?"
Tucker just shoo his head, beyond words. "That's just so gross."
"Look who's talking." Sam looked pointedly at his plate. On it was a ham, bacon, sausage and a weird beef meal.
Tucker glared at her. "I'm a meat-eater. I need my strength."
Sam snorted. "You do not need meat. I can probably run laps around you on my all vegetarian diet." She took a bite of her tofu omelet.
Danny just shook his head at the two. He turned to his plate, bacon and blueberry waffles.
Sam looked around. "How do you think they found out all of our favorite foods?" Tucker and Danny looked around. Everyone was devouring his or her breakfast. No two meals were alike. "Do you think they have a psychic chef or something? Not that I'm complaining…"
Danny and Tucker shrugged. "Maybe they had our parents fill out a form or something." Danny said. Tucker's face fell and he toyed with his food. "What's the matter, Tuck?"
"My parent actually just died. I was sent here from a temporary foster home. And they certainly don't now what my favorite food is." Tucker gave a dry laugh and turned back to his food.
"How did they die?" Sam asked quietly.
"There was a car crash. A guy came barreling out of nowhere and totaled the car." Tucker laughed again. "I guess that's how they figured out I had the chip in my head. I came out of the car totally unharmed, whereas my parents were crushed. Before that, everyone just thought I was good with computers. Silver lining, I guess."
The trio sat silently for a while. "I'm sorry." Sam whispered. He smiled at her and nodded. They sat silently. Everybody pitied Tuck, but didn't know how to go about comforting him. It was just too awkward.
The Commander broke the silence. "I assume everybody is done by now." He said briskly. It was the third cup of coffee that had done it. "We will now head to the fields. Follow me." He headed out the door. Everybody instinctively followed him in a straight line, with perfect posture. They walked through a few hallways; all identical to the dormitory hallway and the one leading from the room they had met in to the dining hall.
"Well, at least it's a good thing we can't get lost." Sam whispered from her spot behind Danny and in front of Tucker. Both boys snorted and tried to control their facial features. The Commander stopped and turned to glare at them before continuing down the set of hallways, which was feeling more and more like a maze every second. They suddenly came to a set of huge wooden doors.
The Commander turned around. "I would like to say now that these doors lead to our classroom. It is outside and it is surrounded by a forest, so if you're going to run, when I open the doors is the time to do it."
Lexish rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Commander Ghizima, I don't think anybody's going to run. We don't have any other options, as you said already and where would we go. I know my parent wouldn't be thrilled to see me back. Before they sent me off, I had a whole airplane sobbing because I was listening to the 'Rent' soundtrack. They sent me here so I can get control and that's what I plan to do." The kids laughed. Lexish smiled slightly.
The Commander gave an empty smile. "Fine, Miss Depp. As I was saying before I was interrupted, we have extremely skilled teachers and equipment to further your training in your specific field of talent. Today, you will be split up into different group due to your specific area of interest. For example, you, Miss Depp will probably be in the Psyche group, or those whose powers deal with control of the mind. All of the groups will be training, getting into shape and learning control. It may not be fully enjoyable, but we hope you learn more here than anywhere else." With that, Commander opened the doors. Everybody blinked in the greasy sunlight, adjusting to the change.
Outside was an empty field, surrounded by a stonewall. Boulders and trees were randomly placed throughout the field. Beyond the stonewall lay deep forest. The kids headed out into the field, getting a fell for their surroundings. The Commander walked in front of them, leaving the door open. "They should be here." He muttered, checking the Rolex on his wrist. From out of a tree came a man who walked towards the group, closely followed by a woman. They were clad in exercise shorts and loose white shirts. They looked a lot like camp counselors.
The woman introduced herself first. "Hi, I'm Emily. I'm actually a graduate of the academy. I'm telekinetic. She demonstrated by lifting a boulder a few feet behind her off the ground and lowering it back down. It didn't appear to tax her at all, in fact she didn't look lie she had done anything at all. The ids eyes were wide.
"I'm Zach. I don't have a super cool power, but I wish I did. I'm a psychologist/trainer." He smiled hesitantly at the group before him. He seemed to be greeted more warmly than Emily. Maybe because he didn't flaunt sheer power in front of them.
"Hi Zach. Hi Emily." The group chorused.
The Commander marched to the front of the group. "Zach and Emily are to be your teachers. I want you to respect them and to put up with whatever they tell you to do. Got it?"
"Yes sir." The group chorused again, looking a little scared. The Commander then left, his job done.
"Okay. Does everybody know what kind of powers they have?" Emily looked up and down the line to see nodding faces and a few yawns. "Very good. Now, people who mess with other people's minds, go over to Zach. People who have physical power come over to me." Hesitantly the group split up. Ethan, Maria, Gavin and Lexish walked over to Zach, who then lead them off to the far side of the field, which was actually a mile of two away. Emily turned to the rest of them. "Okay. Who are you and what do you do, starting with short and Goth?"
Sam fumed at being called short. "I'm Sam Manson and I'm Environmental." She spat, crossing her arms. "And I'm not short."
Emily's eyes widened. "Your not related to-?"
Sam interrupted before she could finish the sentence. "Ariadne Gaela, yes I am. She was my grandmother but she died right before I came here."
Emily stiffened. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-."
Sam cut her off, again. "It's okay."
"Moving on…" Emily said, shaken from her encounter with the untouchable girl. Tucker, Danny, Mitchell, Hillary and Anna all introduced themselves. (If you can't remember what they do, check in the last chapter. I don't want out write it out again.) "Okay, then." Emily said, surveying the group. They all looked tired and bored, as teenagers often do. "To test your skills, I am going to attack you. I'll be standing over there." Emily pointed a few yards away. "All you have to do is walk towards me when I call your name and defend yourself when I attack you. Got it?" The group nodded a little more awake. Sam raised her hand. Emily ignored it, a little miffed about before. She just headed to her position.
Sam muttered to Danny. "She's a jerk."
Danny tried to be optimistic. "I'm sure she's great once you get to know her." Sam gave him a look. "Or not." He added hastily.
Emily called out. "Hillary!" Hillary took a deep breath and walked towards Emily. She was shaking slightly, but then again, who wouldn't? She was going to be physically hurt if she didn't keep her guard up. The others felt themselves tense up with anticipation. When Hillary was only a yard away from Emily a boulder flew up into the air and came crashing down toward Hillary. Out of instinct, Hillary put up her hands to stop the boulder from hitting her head. Instead of crushing her, the boulder melted and flowed into an arch with and intricate twisting pattern above Hillary's head. Hillary opened her eyes when she felt no impact and took a step back to look at the arch she had created. Hillary then let out a huge sigh and ran to stand next to Emily. Emily smiled at her. "You need to be faster, but I give you full credit for style." Hillary blushed and fiddled with the edge of her shirt.
"Mitchell!" Emily yelled. Mitchell strode forward, on guard. He looked up and down, making sure no rocks were flying at him. When he took his second step, at tree leaned over and hit him. Or at least tried to. When Mitchell saw it coming, he turned into a mosquito, which flew through the branches of the oncoming tree. He then transformed back and went to stand next to Hillary, who gave him a high five. Emily nodded at him. "Good vigilance, but next time, lighter steps." Mitchell grinned.
"Danny!" Danny was very confident of his abilities to dodge anything this girl threw at him. He walked forward casually, with his hands in his pockets. He looked out of the corners of his eyes for any trees or rocks, but didn't see anything. He walked until he was right in front of Emily and just stood there.
"That was it?" He exclaimed.
Emily gave him an evil smile. "I don't like show-offs." Danny's vision then went dark and buzzing filled his ears. When he was stung on his ear he realized what had happened.
"GET IT OFF!" Danny ran around blindly, a bee's nest jammed over his head. He couldn't think, he was just trying to escape the pain.
He heard Sam yell from her spot. "DAMN IT, DANNY! PHASE OUT OF IT!"
Danny could have kicked himself. He immediately phased out of the nest and flew away from the bees. He reappeared next to Mitchell and Hillary who gave him sympathetic glances. Emily merely said, "You've got to learn to think on your feet. Your girlfriend won't always be there to instruct you." Danny was to busy nursing his wounds to listen.
"Sam!" Sam walked as calmly as she could. She was thinking Please work! Please work! She closed her eyes and too deep breaths to try to calm her down. That was when she heard a whooshing sound. Sam whipped around to her right to see a huge boulder flying over the ground towards her at lightning speed. Sam willed something to happen, but nothing did and the boulder just got closer and closer. She finally screamed and through her hands up in front of her face.
"Whoa…" She heard somebody say from Emily's side. Other than that, there was shocked silence. Sam looked through her fingers. She dropped her hands in amazement at what she'd done.
A huge, thick wall of dirt stood between her and the now still boulder. Another look told her she was about fifteen feet up in the air. With this realization, Sam came crashing to the ground next to her newly made wall. "Ouch." Sam said, rubbing the back of her head.
"Are you alright?" Anna ran over to her and helped her up. She turned to the wall and said, "That's incredible."
Sam stood next to her, a bit shakily. She laughed, a little scared. "Yeah. I just wish I knew how I did that." Anna and Sam headed to their opposite sides of the field.
Emily glared at Sam and didn't say a word. She does not like me. Sam realized. Shoot. Danny grinned at Sam and mouthed, That was awesome! Sam grinned and nudged him with her elbow.
"Anna!" Anna darted onto the field at stopped in the middle. She kept looking all around, just like Mitchell. Suddenly she, and the ground underneath her was lifted up about twenty feet and dropped. Anna, who was apparently skilled in gymnastics, managed to land on her feet in a crouched position. She brushed herself off and went to stand next to the others. Emily smiled at her. "Very good."
Sam looked at Danny rolled her eyes in disgust. She mouthed Favorite. He laughed, but covered his mouth quickly with his hand. Emily shot them a look before calling the last contestant.
"Tucker!" Tucker, the last person on the other side of the field, walked forward. He simply walked over to Emily, not looking anywhere, but not acting as cocky as Danny either. He just walked forward, facing Emily, smiling slightly. A boulder slammed into him from his right, but he ignored it. The boulder should have smashed him, but it just stopped on impact, as if Tucker was made of stone. Tucker walked to stand next to Sam, who smiled at him before turning back to Emily.
Emily nodded at him and said, "Okay, then. I'm going to go talk to Zach to consider the different talents in our separate groups. Just, stay over here."