Chapter Three : Day Two

The day after the meeting in the gym, Saoirse was eating breakfast. Cassie and Autumn had decided to keep all the food in one place and allot a certain amount to each kid every day. What they did with the food was their business. Saoirse could get behind that idea: she knew it made sense. She didn't think either Cassie or Autumn would steal the food for themselves, either: they were decent people.

Decent people! Saoirse was surprised to find herself thinking that. She usually thought in terms of ally or enemy, not about what a person was like. She shuddered and took another bite of her apple. There was a lot of fresh fruit being handed out by the two kids who had volunteered, Adria something and some insignificant ten-year-old. They'd figured out that it would rot pretty quickly.

She and Calum were still staying in Aunt Adelaide's old house, which was a pretty okay place, really. Big, and all.

Saoirse finished the apple and stood up, examining herself in the mirror. Her long, blonde hair was in the messy bun she'd slept in, but that wasn't important. What was important was that the body she saw in the mirror was very nearly fifteen.

The eighth of August. It was the twentieth of July. She and Calum had only nineteen days before-what? Who knew? She knew what had happened to that girl, Mary Terrafino, when she'd turned fifteen. Saoirse did not want that particular fate. No one did.

She decided to take a shower to clear her mind. They'd discovered that there was still power, presumably supplied by the nuclear power plant a few miles outside of Trenton. No one was complaining.

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Outside of the Sainsbury's where they'd stocked all the food, Adria Sampson rolled her eyes for the thousandth time that morning. "No, I'm not being mean. That's what you get."

The little boy in front of her said that he didn't like broccoli.

"Yeah, look, kid, I can't help that. Who's looking after you?"

"My sister. She's at home."

"You should get back to her before she starts worrying."

He nodded and ran off.

Adria sighed "All right, next."

The next person in line was a black guy a couple years older than Adria, but he didn't step forwards. He was staring off into the distance.

"Dude. Hey, dude? You okay?"

"What the hell is that?" he whispered.

Adria suddenly realised that the guy wasn't just daydreaming.

She followed his eyes and saw-

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Calum was spying on Autumn. Very discreetly, of course. Since the big speech the day before, people had twigged that Cassie and Autumn were now the go-to people for everything. They had a bit of authority as the people who'd taken charge almost immediately. They were good at it, too.

Right then, his second cousin was pointing some seven-year-old down the street. Strange, he thought, that this particular girl had been one of the ones to take charge right away. He'd had her pegged as the socially awkward overachiever type, and she was, but she was more, too. She took a gulp of coffee and, presumably having finished the mug, put it down on a bench.

Suddenly, a girl came racing towards her. He was too far away to hear much, but it sounded high-pitched and slightly hysterical.

Calum moved fast.

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Autumn didn't like having a power, but she knew that sometimes you had to do stuff you didn't like.

She'd just finished her coffee when some girl, one of the ones who'd volunteered to hand out food, Adria Sampson, had come running up and started babbling about a guy shooting electricity out of his hands.

"Okay. Calm down. Adria, calm down. Adria."

Adria finally relaxed a little. "I was just doing my job, when the next guy in line saw the lightning dude and then I saw him, and I really think we need to do something."

"All right. You saw this guy down by the Sainsbury's? How far off was he?"

"I don't know. All you could really see was the electricity and his outline."

Autumn nodded. "Right. Thanks a lot, Adria. Hey, could you go tell Quava and Thomas that they should put the little kids on lockdown? I think they're in the primary school."

Adria nodded and ran off.

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Twilight noticed the branching lightning and had something of a eureka moment.

She didn't know if she could pull it off, but maybe… She'd secretly tested her power, that of making wonderful, cosy, darkness fall on a small area for a few minutes. All she had to do was raise her hands and think.

When the electricity blasting person got near, she could blind them. Temporarily, yes, but surely other people had powers that could help? She was almost completely sure Autumn was some sort of freak after that performance the day before, and there had to be others. It was only logical.

Yep. Time to face her fears and head out in public.

Quava was out, looking after her charges at the primary school. Twilight hoped she'd seen their potential attacker and locked herself in.

People outside were mostly staring in awe or terror, but Twilight pushed through with muttered apologies and found Cassie pretty quickly.

She stopped her with a quiet "Uh, Cassie?"

"Twilight? What is it?" Cassie looked harassed.

"I have a power. I think it might be useful if that guy," here she gestured at the lightning spidering across the sky, "Is actually attacking."

"Contrary to just putting on a light show?" the other girl snapped.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Basically, I can make a small area very, very dark for… I don't know, ten minutes tops. Maybe I can cancel out his power for a minute."

Cassie nodded "You can try. Thanks, Twilight."

"No problem," Twilight answered distractedly and started moving.

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Invading Trenton had been as easy as expected. According to the scouts he'd sent before, the entire town was being run by a couple of thirteen-year-old girls.

Kingston was enjoying his little light show, when a girl came running towards him, palms outstretched, and darkness suddenly fell. He was blind.

"Who are you?"

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Woop woop it's me again with an update!

-threelittleclouds