Are you guys curious about how Angel's doing? You find out in this chapter.
Chapter Sixteen
Told by Angel
I close my eyes in concentration. I have to win. To beat my opponent. Destroy them. It's the only way to win. The only way to survive. And that's all I care about. This battle should be easy.
My opponents and my minds grapple for awhile, trying to gain the upper hand. Trying to seize the others mind. I surround my opponents mind, then break in.
~`Stop. Now. Good.`~ My opponent stops everything but breathing. I have my opponents mind in my grasp. I don't allow myself to smile, else the Strangers will know. They can't know. I can't allow myself any emotion.
This is what the Strangers did to me.
I take a deep breath. Every breath get's harder as they suck the oxygen from the room. Another part in testing us. I am struck with an idea, to surely win, and quicker too. I use my telepathy to suck the air out of my opponents lungs. They struggle for air, fall to the floor. Up until then, they had been grappling with my mind. On a roll, I suck the oxygen out of that side of the room, and deposit it into my side.
I quickly sift through their mind, gathering and taking information before finishing them off. My opponent stops moving, and the door to the room slides open. Five Strangers walk to me, tall hooded figures with hunched backs. They tower over me, surround me. I see four pick up the body of my opponent as one snaps a cuff onto my wrist that blocks off my mind from anything else.
They escort me through the hallways, pressing in on all sides so that I can't see. They move behind me after we enter a room. The leader sits, hooded, in a huge chair before me.
"Very well done. You will be my greatest pupil yet."
*.*.*. MAX .*.*.*
"Max. Maaaaaaaaaxxxxx. MAX!"
I wake up to Nudge standing over me, yelling my name. "What?"
"Kai said that she wanted to meet with all of us. Something about training. I wonder what the training will be like. Aren't they those rooms on the second floor that we aren't allowed to go in? I ask them why, but they always answer that they don't trust me with any of the weapons and so I ask-"
"Nudge! Not this early in the morning!" I say, then roll out of bed. I grab a brush.
The room is huge. Big enough for me to fly in. It even has a balcony type thing over half of it. I fly up to that and sit down, my feet hanging over the edge. Once there I start attempting to brush the snarls out of my mess of hair. I hear commotion outside of my room, so I jump down from the balcony and run outside.
"Iggy! Give it back, right this instant!" I hear Kai shout, chasing after Iggy.
Only here a month, and already she's like the older sister of the flock.
The next thing I know Iggy stops abruptly. He twists around, looking at something that doesn't seem to be there. Kai plucks the necklace from his hand, then puts it on. That second Iggy is freed from whatever it was he was seeing.
"What was that?" He demands.
"Do you know why this necklace is important to me?"
"I don't know. You're boyfriend gave it to you?" Iggy guesses.
"No. It keeps my from being able to create my illusions. That's what you were just in." Kai says, then starts to walk away.
"Why would you need something that stops you from creating illusions?" I ask, recalling the Voice telling me that is one of her powers. Iggy looks confused.
"You can create illusions?" He mumbles.
"Because... People tend not to trust me because of them. And I sometimes have problems controlling them." Kai turns and walks away.
Now that I think about it, she always has that necklace on. The metal black choker necklace has an old skeleton key on it. But could that really hold the power to stop a power?
Maybe it's just the paranoid part of me asking that, though.
*.*.*.Nudge.*.*.*
Excited, I continue to the room Kai told us to meet in. Just off the courtyard. I step inside.
It's a large circular room with a small waterfall curving along with the back wall. There is a circular table in the center of the room, several chairs around it. Kai is sitting at the head of the table, the center of the waterfall directly behind her.
"Choose whatever seat you want." She says, her hands settle on the table.
I look at the seats carefully before sitting in the seat one to the right of the one across from Kai. Max sits in the one across from her. Gazzy sits on the other side of her, Iggy beside Gazzy. Then Fang's gang comes in. Star sits beside me, then Kate, the Maya. Holden sits beside Iggy, then Ratchet, then Fang. The four seats on either side of Kai are empty.
"Well don't I feel loved." She mutters sarcastically.
Shard walks in. She takes her place on the right of Kai. Then Eden on the right of Shard. Ryder sits at Kai's left, and someone I don't know yet sits to Ryder's left.
"I'm sure we already know most of each other, but this is Rese." Kai points to the one I don't know.
Rese offers a small smile. She has long brunette hair that is gathered into ponytails at her shoulder on either side. Her eyes are a really dark shade of green- almost black.
"If you have any technology or explosion related questions, talk to her." Kai says.
I raise my hand. "I though Jethro was the bomb expert?"
"Oh, please. He couldn't make a bomb without setting it, while in the middle of creating it, to save his life." Rese exclaims.
"I'm guessing you're still mad about having to clean up the bomb lab." Eden says.
Rese just crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, scowl on her face.
"Anyway." Kai says, then clears her throat. "Tomorrow you will start training." Kai smiles. "There are classrooms to learn normal things. Then there are training rooms. You will learn combat with weapons, a few more survival skills, not that there's much to teach you guys. This is optional, but if you would like to have the training, meet in room 205 on the second floor tomorrow. If not, stay in your room. Everyone will have a personal trainer for each class. If you ever have any questions, you can ask your main trainer. Everyone got it?"
Everyone nods with varying degrees of enthusiasm. I can't wait! Kai dismisses us and we all leave.
"I can't wait! This is going to be so fun! I wonder who our trainers will be? I hope mine will be-" Gazzy slaps a hand over my mouth. There is still so much going through my head. How can I get it all out?
"Okay guys. I think this might be a good idea."
Everyone looks at Max with incredulous looks on our faces. "Are you serious?" I ask.
"I thought that I was the only Max clone." Maya says.
Max rolls her eyes. "I'm serious, guys. I'm tired of sitting around in my room and running out every time someone makes Kai mad. Though it is pretty funny, it get's boring. Besides, it will be good for us to learn something."