Previously on Nothing Stays the Same:
I had been there about a week. Still sore from flying from that cave to Germany with only two food breaks and one break to sleep. I was in a café, sipping coffee or whatever, when the bell above the door rang and a very important person to this story walked in.
And now:
I didn't pay the person too much attention. I was busy working on blending in. I had bought new clothes, taken a shower, and even bought a camera and a map to make it look like I was a tourist.
And if I say so myself I was doing a pretty good job at it too.
I was watching the steam from my coffee when the chair across from my slid across the floor and someone sat into the chair.
"Is anyone sitting here?" The girl asked. She was pretty with short black hair and blue stripes, with a tight top that cut off below her ribs, black skinny jeans, and a pair of boots. Her eyes were green, her skin was tan, her clothes were tight and revealing but her smile was sincere.
"No, go ahead."
"Thank you." She put her hands in her lap and stared at the menu on the wall behind me. "What do you recommend?"
I shrugged. "Eh, I just pointed to something since I could read anything."
"Interesting tactic." She said. "Though most tourists have a dictionary with them if they don't actually know the language."
I didn't like where this was going. "Left it at my hotel. I had to get up at 6; I am not a morning person."
"I understand. My brother's the same way."
"So are you a dictionary user or a do you speak German?"
"I speak it. I had to learn ever since my study abroad program started. It's actually pretty fun."
"So you're from America?"
She nodded. "Yup, but high school is boring so I asked my parents if I could do study abroad for 6 months and BAM here I am."
"Fun."
"Anyway, my name is Regen. It's German for my real name which is Rain. I probably should have started with that, but whatever."
"I'm—"
"Maximum Ride. I know exactly who you are. And you're the reason I took this trip. I'm here to help."
Isn't she just so subtle? I probably sat there just staring at her for five minutes. I wasn't sure what to think, what to say, or what to do. I knew the obvious facts: she knew who I was, she knew I was coming, and I'm assuming she knew what I was planning on doing.
Eventually she got up and bought some chocolate, and then stared at me, eating it, while I figured out what to do.
"Are you—?" I gestured to my back.
"Nope. I'm a hundred percent human. Itex experimented on me in a different way. They started when I was two years old and it was before they started trying to recreate avian American hybrids. You and your Flock were the only successful experiments, if you didn't know that. If it weren't for the original experiments, the ones who weren't injected with animal DNA, then your Flock would only have wings and no powers."
"So we're thankful for you why?"
She rolled her eyes at me, all hints of previous politeness gone. "I wouldn't say thankful. I simple meant that the scientist started the experiment on us to get it perfect for you. Think of it like: the injected us with different solutions. Those who died obviously failed and those who passed had samples taken. Those samples were injected into other experiments or they froze them to save it."
"What kind of solutions?"
"Like telekinesis, teleportation, weather control, precognition, invisibility, flight, healing, etc."
"So we were injected with powers…all of us?"
"Eh, how would I know? I was two when you guys were born. But I would assume so. Most powers stay dormant until they're needed."
"Okay. You said you had a family, do they know?"
"No." She said. "I was at Itex until I was 8, and then they decided to see how I would do in a normal environment. They threw me into an adoption center, but I ran. Eventually I ended up in another orphanage, but I knew that Itex couldn't keep tabs on me in this one. I was adopted sometime later, but I never told them. To keep them safe and all."
"Uhhuh."
Rain leaned forward. "Max. I really am on your side."
Rain and I were very different. In everything we did. The music she liked, I hated. The clothes she wore reminded me of a towel I would wrap around myself after a hot shower, and I would still be more covered up. Any plan I made, she had to tweak it. Everything I said went in through one ear and never made to her brain. She was just as independent as me, a little bit more rebellious, but somehow we complimented each other perfectly.
So now I'm going to skip forward. To a week later, at my hotel room, where Rain and I were looking over the Itex layout like there was no tomorrow.
"If that room service doesn't hustle, imma beat their ass." I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Charming. When it comes to food, you're worse than me."
She shrugged and buried her head in the map. "Why couldn't we just go out to eat?"
"Because your class is sightseeing today, and you're hard to miss."
"They'd get over it."
There was a knock on the door and Rain bolted before I had time to sit up. She grabbed the cart and pushed the server away, slamming the door in her face. She looked at the food greedily and pulled it back to my bed.
"Foooood. Yummy food. Sweet glorious food." She moaned as she took a bite. I laughed at her before I dug into my own food. It was pretty amazing. And definitely moan worthy.
"So," I said in between bites. "I never got to ask. What can you do?"
She swallowed. "I control the weather and I give people gifts."
"You what?"
"Think of it like a miracle worker. If someone's shot in the heart, I give them their life back sort of thing. I can't bring people back from the dead or anything, but I can pretty much do the impossible."
"Creepy."
"Careful what you say to me Maxie. What about you?"
"I just fly really fast, and I can run faster than everyone else."
She looked at me. "Boring."
It was boring. But I was a little bit thankful I didn't have lots of powers. They seem like such a big deal, making you crazy for more power. I didn't want the burden of having to always keep them in control, and always having to worry about them.
I liked the simpleness of my speed.
A/N
Okay, so chapter two is complete. Hope everyone liked it. I'll update as soon as I can.
Thanks,
BlackTales