I'm sorry this is so incredibly late! I was in Europe! Blame it on Iceland! :)

PART TWO: as told by Landon

I woke to the sound of voices.

Assuming they were just remnants of memories taking strange and realistic forms of dreams, I ignored them without sparing curiosity.

The voices grew louder. They were angry, female voices. The two participants of the dispute spat angrily each other with audible resentment for one another. One's voice was smooth and snide, the other impatient and frantic.

They bantered in this manner for several more minutes until I summed up the energy to see if the voices actually belonged to actual, living entities or just fragments of my imagination.

Crawling with languid motions from my small nest like ball of ragged blankets I used for a bed, I yanked down a faulty wooden shutter and peered out the window.

Not too far from the meadow which my cabin sat on were two young girls pushing at each other aggressively, red faced and furious.

They hadn't yet noticed my cabin, the suspicious location of it, desolate and isolated from civilization. That aspect alone would probe curiosity. And if they came to inspect, I couldn't guarantee that they would live to return home.

"You can't leave me here!" the light haired girl shouted, motioning with wild gestures to the woods around them.

"I can and I will," the dark haired, menacing character replied smoothly, taking a few cautionary steps back from her wild companion. I recognized her at once and gasped involuntarily. "No one gets away with pushing the treasures around; especially not new kids," she was saying.

A hot, irate emotion rose in my throat. So she still resides in the school? I certainly didn't like being reminded of the school and my short lived existence in that world, and I surely didn't like anything related to the school.

"They brought this upon themselves," I assured myself quietly as I pulled open the door of my cabin and stepped into the dim evening light.

As I approached them, I debated over which method of extermination I would use. Fire was the most fun, but they hadn't done anything particularly bothersome –yet, so it wasn't right to let them suffer.

Moments later the blonde, angelic like girl, the observant one apparently, noticed me.

She frowned, scrutinizing me with the careful vigilance one dons when approached by a stranger in a forest. Despite her features of observantness and astuteness, things I admired greatly, her expressions and movements were easy to discern and interpret, meaning she could never survive long in the world of supernatural. Smart supers understand their opponents, no matter their abilities, and presently I saw no fear in face, only apprehension, meaning her ability allowed her to escape me quickly. It takes no more than a little observing to pick up these things. Last remnants of anger had long ago left her body, deeming her considerably less vulnerable to my coming attacks. Anger makes people sloppy and careless in fights because their only endeavor is to destroy their enemy.

The dark haired girl recognized me, because both fear and recognition crossed her face when I stepped into their clearing.

"Landon," she breathed, weakly.

The blonde's eyes flickered between her companion and me: confusion, suspicion. The twitching of her pinky finger indicated anticipation, expectancy of something shocking.

One would think being isolated from civilization for so long would cause a person to not at all understand their fellow human beings, but Instead of physical company I'd chosen to watch. And I'd developed an immaculate understanding of human emotions just from watching.

"I thought you were dead." The dark haired girl only stared with such intensity I found myself avoiding her eyes.

"I can't die," I said flatly.

"But"—

"Massie," I said, deliberately raising my voice. "I can't." I had tried to. Other people had tried. It was simply impossible.

"You remember me?" she almost gasped the words.

"It's only been a few months."

"Yes, but the"—

"I'm not that weak," I answered irately, through clenched teeth. "I healed, Massie." She was referring to the school incident. After the school had deemed my abilities out of control, they had thrown me away. But then the murders started. And it wasn't my fault. My ability was the power of amalgamation, the power to copy others' powers. Once I had attained fifteen powers, I became out of control. The sole reason why human company was forbidden. I couldn't be alone with someone for an hour before accidentally killing them. The school's sick founders had hunted me relentlessly. They had shot me, thrown me off a cliff, drowned me, and injected me with mind blanking serums (intended to destroy my brain, but only had minor effects, one of which memory loss, which I had prevailed over after only months and regained my memories, this was why Massie thought I didn't remember her). I couldn't die. It was the abilities I had attained. Regeneration allowed me to heal from any wound or sickness, internal or external, the power of obduracy made my skin impenetrable, and the power of hydrolith allowed me to breathe underwater and withstand any water pressure for any amount of time. And then there were my other powers. Listing them, all with explanations, would take too long, and there were some powers I had I didn't understand or know how to use. The most frequently used power I had was pyrokenisus, the power to create and manipulate fire with my bare hands. I was prepared to use that right this moment. Massie had helped me when the schools' people hunted me, but after a while she'd given up on me. I didn't appreciate disloyalty.

She didn't deserve mercy, I decided. Nor did this strange companion of hers.

"Massie, let's…let's go…" the unfamiliar girl said. She was smart to know I wasn't good news. Though I doubted anyone at the school ever told her of me. The founders had probably forbid it.

"They think you're dead too, Landon," Massie said gravely, ignoring the light haired girl. Obviously she meant the founders of the school. And obviously I was aware of this. If they were still searching for me, then I wouldn't be sitting leisurely in my shack every day. I would be running, ducking, and flinging myself off cliffs constantly to avoid their wrath.

"Don't tell"—I started to say, but Massie interrupted me with a brisk nod.

"I know you don't think it, Lan,"—I cringed when she addressed me as that, she had no right to use stupid old nicknames—"but I still care about you, and I would never tell the founders."

"Bull sh"—

"Shut up," she said sharply, and I hadn't noticed the tears forming in her eyes before because I couldn't associate it with cruel, stoic Massie. "I helped you for as long as I could. I know you can't die, but if they knew I was helping you they'd kill me in an instant."

I would've saved you, I wanted to say, but it was completely out of context, inappropriate, and I didn't know how true it was. At one time I had feelings for Massie. At one time she would take us to a mountain top in Wyoming, or the Eiffel tower (using her ability, obviously) and we'd kiss passionately. That was before I became 'out of control'. And that connection could never be achieved again. I didn't handle betrayal well.

"Loyalty doesn't work like that." I was pacing impatiently now. "You can't switch it off when things get bad. That's not genuine loyalty."

"You would know?" tears were rolling down her cheeks. "You've been alive all these months and didn't even bother trying to contact me? This forest is only a few miles away from the school. Besides, you have my ability."

"I can't use it," I muttered, which was true. Teleporting was difficult to master. If I could teleport, I would've gone as far away from here as possible. Travelling by foot would surely get me caught.

And I liked to remain close to the school because I liked to watch. If I wandered far enough, I could see the courtyard. There I could watch for hours on end.

"What's going on?" the blonde asked suddenly. It was fear, not confusion that had probed her to ask this.

If I knew how to control my mind reading, I'd surely utilize it to understand her ability. I knew she couldn't be a danger, but I didn't at all trust her.

"You're going to kill us, aren't you?" Massie asked softly.

I hesitated. "Yes," I said.

She didn't bother teleporting. I could easily jump through the teleport scar she left behind after a teleportation and appear in the location she travelled to. That was something that came along with the ability of teleporting, even if I couldn't teleport herself.

Then the blonde did something that surprised me. She disappeared. There was no sickening, lack of air sound that accompanied a teleportation. It was invisibility. And I'd never encountered the ability before.

I wanted it.

The invisible girl was skilled with her gift. I knew she was moving around, because I could feel her presence drifting from one place to another. But her movements were soundless. I felt her eyes on me, and for once in my life I felt inferior, weak…powerless.

I didn't like it.

I needed to dispose of her, immediately.

Fire ignited in my palms. She appeared suddenly, in front of me, a weak looking Swiss army knife in her feeble grip.

"Claire, Landon, stop!" Massie cried.

Claire thrust the knife at me. I didn't bother avoiding it. I wanted to see her expression when the knife broke upon impact with my skin.

But the knife slid easily into me. I was so confused, shocked, and horrified that it took me a while to understand the pain. Blood dripped from the wound tentatively. It was a small cut inflicted by a tiny knife, but the knife protruding from my chest was an image disturbing enough to make me sick.

How was it that my skin hadn't blocked the knife? Why wasn't the wound healing? The pain was astonishing. I couldn't remember the last time I felt pain—physical, at least.

I dropped two my knees and my vision became hazy. A melodramatic reaction, considering such a small knife and such a powerful super equal no reaction at all. But it was the fact that without warning, my powers had disappeared. I looked at my hand and willed them to ignite, and they did easily.

Claire had two hands clamped over her mouth. Had she expected the knife to hurt me, or was it like a last noble act, asserting her bravery?

Why was it when Claire attacked me my power faltered? Was there something special about her?

"Claire…what did you do?" Massie asked. She was no longer frantic. Massie was smart, and she understood supers and their abilities easily.

"Nothing…I didn't know it would…" Claire trailed off.

I removed the knife from the wound and tossed it to the ground. The wound wasn't healing. I raised my head and looked at Claire. "What did you do?"

"You repressed his abilities when you made contact with him," Massie told Claire.

"But that doesn't happen with you, Massie," Claire replied, distant.

"Maybe it's just with…Landon."

Claire looked perplexedly at the small flames, still lit in one of my hands. She waved her hand at it. It disappeared instantly into a wisp of smoke.

"You can…control Landon," Massie said. "Suppress his powers."

"That's impossible," I spat, not loving the concept. The wound had healed, but it wasn't that I was worrying about.

"I've heard of supers who can suppress supers with amalgamation," Massie insisted. "It's rare, but it exists."

I found it strange how casual our conversation had become. Once it was Massie accepting death, not it was simply three teenagers discussing the basics of supernaturalism. I wanted to leave, very much, but was intimidated by this strange Claire girl, and didn't doubt she would follow. She seemed fascinated by her power over me.

There was a suspicious noise in the forest behind us. Without thinking, I turned and sprayed the general area with hungry flames.

"Ow! *$#^&! What the hell?" and from the flames emerged my least favorite super: Cam Fisher.