**Hey, guys! Time for chapter nineteen… It's crazy how far this story has gone (in my opinion, lol). The story is beginning to close, so hopefully you guys can sense that in the coming chapters. Anyway, thanks for the continued support, it's truly amazing what you've helped me to do. I hope you enjoy!
The Time for Ten - Chapter 19
John
Nine and I have been in Jackie's base for a week now, but so many things have happened. Since Jackie and Tania were positioned as Loric Hunters, they've met three Garde and helped two of them thrive. Seventeen and Twenty, who goes by Grace, have been training alongside Jackie's army for a month now. Eighteen, known as Andy, was partnered with Seventeen when they landed on Earth, but died saving Grace from a Mogadorian attack. Andy and Seventeen's Cepans were killed when attempting to save me from the school in Paradise. Grace had been traveling with Sixteen, who was known as Owen, when they were ambushed and separated. Three months after their separation, Grace found Owen's body and his vial, which she prominently drank. Seventeen drank Andy's vial, giving both of these Garde extra legacies.
Grace is a very calm girl; she enjoys her down time and likes studying up on the current human trends.
I walk into Grace's room to find her belly-up on her bed, deeply engulfed in her phone. Buzz, buzz, buzz; almost constant buzzing that is beginning to become annoying.
"What's so important that you need to be on that thing all the time?'' I ask.
"News, music, people; everybody that is anybody needs to know this shit, dude. It's the future of our knowledge!" Grace says.
"Knowing what Jennifer Lawrence wore to the Grammys is the future? Dear god, humans are doomed."
"C'mon, it helps keep my mind off the war."
"Nothing can keep my mind off of that- especially since I am who I am."
"Pittacus' reincarnation? Has that even been confirmed yet? Don't fret over it; stress can kill your nerves, ya know."
"How long did you live in Canada?"
"Two years, why?"
"It shows," I respond and step across her pile of clothes.
Luckily for her, Jackie's group does the laundry, cooks, cleans; pretty much anything you can think of for Grace, and now Nine and me too. Grace's walls are littered with posters of boys, and her calendar shows all the months at once with one large picture of the Loric number twenty on the top; obviously custom designed. A makeup table with a mirror rests in the middle of the front wall. Lipsticks, mascaras and various combs with brunette hairs sticking out of them. Even with an impending doom set over us, she can still manage to act like a normal human teenager .
A tall guy then walks into the room without a knock to see me and stop awkwardly.
"Uh, hey. I'm Aaron, Grace's friend. I work at the agency; and you are…?"
"John. Number Four, if you want," I say.
"Ah, so you would've been the next to die if you hadn't grouped up?"
"Yeah, I'm guessing all the agents are still learning about our pasts."
"They question me way too often about it. Like I would know anything," Grace butts in.
"Don't be down on yourself," Aaron says to Grace.
I sense a tension between these two, but decide to let it go. Grace does not have my full trust, and I certainly am not close enough with Aaron to bring it up.
Grace scowls at Aaron and stands up next to me. "You wanna go train or what?"
I shrug as she pulls me out of the room, leaving Aaron behind just to prove a point.
xxxxx
Jackie's agents knew exactly what we'd need in a training center, most likely thanks to Grace's help .
The room is the size of a basketball court, in fact, it practically is one. Where the giant four-sided screen would be is a large control panel with glass walls for the trainer to sit in. The buttons, levers and computers send signals to the obstacles in all the sides of the room, floor, walls, and roof. There are no windows, and the walls are painted light blue. The floor is made of a very smooth wood, and has lines marking foot stances for athletic training.
"So, what're your strengths?" Grace asks me.
"Before we start on all that, where's Nine? I thought he was meeting up with us."
"Who do you think I am, the owner of this place? He's probably hitting on some girls in the break room."
"That's probably true. All right, yeah, let's get started."
I begin by showing Grace my legacies. I see a set of weights by the door. I focus my mind on a one-hundred pound barbell. It slowly rises into the air and then back down into its designated slot. Then I shift focus to Grace and summon a burst of air which knocks her skyward, but I carefully catch her and place her on the ground. Once she is on the ground, I burst into flames, purposefully of course, and shoot fireballs across the room and into the indestructible wall.
"I can heal and and speak to animals, also," I add.
Grace appears particularly interested in my wind legacy, saying it is rare among the Garde's range of abilities.
"If you want to practice your wind legacy, press this button. It launches aerial attacks. This purple button here, it's for telekinesis. You know, sharp objects and shit. Kind of similar to the wind one. Fire attacks are the red button over there, and that's really all you need to know. Just talk to Jackie or Chris if you want combat training; they know martial arts and all that stuff you see in the movies," Grace explains.
"Alright, cool. And I don't know if you remembered, but I don't really see movies and all the other human things, I didn't have time for that stuff."
Grace gives me a look of confusion.
I open my mouth to explain myself, but Grace cuts me off.
"Whatever. I'll be in my room if you need me."
I stand still for a minute or so, looking around the room. It's unfair that one Garde can practically be born into a full training center, while another has to live off the land for fifteen years before coming into a real-life situation.
I walk to the wall with specified buttons and press the telekinetic one; I haven't practiced telekinesis in a while and I surely need it.
I look around myself with a feeling of apprehension, but there's just a barren room. I take a cautious step forward, afraid of setting off a barrage of arrows or venomous snakes or whatever this place has in stock. Just as I thought, three bows with robotic hands appear from the wall to my left, all with a notched arrow. When the first shoots, I use my telekinesis to deflect the arrow backward into the robotic hand, causing it to malfunction and break. The smell of burning metal erupts, and I gag. The second bow shoots quickly after, followed by the third bow. Sweat trickles down my neck as I knock both arrows to the ground, and then a searing pain roars through my back. I spin around to see a Mog holding a Mogadorian dagger standing behind me, a smirk on his face. Regardless of the pain, I perform a backroll slice ; I whip out my own dagger and roll on the ground around the feet of the Mog and stab him straight through the spine, causing him to crumble to dust. There are no others, but this Mog was not a Scout, he was a Warrior. There must be more.
I am about to rush out to find Nine and Grace and make a run for it when a fickle laugh erupts from behind me.
"Nice job, Four. I guess you are pretty quick with thinking on your feet," the person says; it's Grace.
The pain surging through me disappears, and my focus levels drop.
"What kind of a joke did you think that was? I nearly had a heart attack!"
"That's not good. The Garde of P rophecy should not be having heart attacks."
"C'mon, Grace, stop being a douche ."
"A douche? Do you know how long I've been penned up in this stupid corporation?"
"I'm pretty sure only a month."
"A month is a fucking eternity for a teenager! You wouldn't understand, you're too Loric."
"Do you even care what happens to our planet? Don't you want vengeance for what the Mogs did to our race?" I ask, causing an awkward silence.
Grace isn't facing me, but I know that question hit her hard ; I can tell by the way her eyes darken and her shoulders sag. It's a weak spot of hers.
"You don't know what I've been through. That's all I'm willing to say."
"Well I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong!"
"I don't trust-"
Grace is interrupted by a scream from the direction of the front desk.
"Shit… Follow me, quietly," Grace says.
"I'm not two, you know."
"Shut up," she says, but I'm not sure whether her tone was playful or serious.
At least I'm getting somewhere.
xxxxx
Marina
"Why do you keep on insisting I stay alive? Like, I would rather die than be with the rotting bastards who killed and kidnapped me," Five says , tied to a chair in the cheapest hotel room we could find. His face is worn down and bruised from the frequent scuffles he causes.
"Shut up, at least you're alive. I'm sure you're at least somewhat happy about that," I say flatly.
He's been very talkative since I brought him back two days ago . For some reason he keeps talking about the same topics over and over, as if that's all he remembers. I usually get him quiet by threatening to kill him again or to take his other eye. I hope that's not too harsh.
Eight and Two are out buying groceries. We decided to stay in England a bit, mainly to give us healing time, but also because the group will be pissed at us for leaving suddenly. The two are slogging around in the gloomy weather, which I'm fine with because I hate the rain. Yes, I know I have ice and water powers, but the rain is just another showing of how sad the world can be.
While Five is sleeping, I practice my newer legacies. I look at the wall to my right, and I allow a twist in my stomach to occur. My gut clenches, and then I am on the wall, once a three-dimensional girl is now a two-dimensional figure. I merge off the wall and think of having another one of myself sitting in the chair across the table from myself, and bam. Presto. A second Marina appears in the exact spot I wanted. Some sweat trickles down my forehead, but I continue practicing. A third, fourth, and even fifth Marina appear on the chairs around the table, the only empty chair being the one with Five strapped to it. I am covered in sweat, but I want to see how far I can take my new legacies. I reach forward and pass my hand through the table, telling my copies to do the same. Once they all push their hands through the table, my vision begins to darken, and the next thing I remember is lying on the ground.
xxxxx
The wind rushes through my hair, howling and screaming through the night air.
Wait, why am I moving?
The memories of just before I passed out flashback through my head, and I jolt upright, causing myself to fall off whatever was carrying me, and now I am plummeting toward Earth at who-knows-what speed while I am half-awake. Fantastic.
I'm quickly slowed when I land with a thump on a flying object.
"Glad you're awake. It's time I take you to see what I've been through," Five says from under me.
"How did you escape the straps?"
"You learn a lot in Mog training. I was just waiting till the right time to leave."
My mind flashes to James and Kal's vials which were hooked onto my belt. I feel the spot they were to find they aren't there.
"The vials… Where are they?" I demand from Five.
"You mean those things with the blue stuff in them? I left them back in England."
"Back in England… Wait, where the hell are we?" I ask in realization t hat the ground I was falling to earlier was water.
"Somewhere over the Mid-Atlantic. We are heading to Miami."
"Florida? Why?"
"There's someone I want you to meet."
"It better not be the fucking Mogs, I wasn't kidding about taking your other eye."
"Don't worry, it's not the Mogs. She's the person who originally pulled me out of a state of confusion after my Cepan died… She... you know what? I'll let her explain it for you," Five says, a faint smirk on his face. Or was that sorrow? I couldn't quite catch it.
The rest of the flight was made in silence. Five is flying steadily while I stare out into the night sky. After about another hour, a coastline begins to appear. Five slows a bit and turns to his left, most likely south. We skirt the coast until the air begins to get warmer. We land in a corn field where nobody will question a couple of flying kids.
"At least we're back in the US," I say.
"C'mon, the highway is in this direction. We can hitch a ride to Miami in a pickup or something."
Something is different about Five. He seems to be being…nice? That can't be. He joined the Mogs and killed the love of my life . He can't be nice after all that he's done.
When we get to the highway, we stick up our thumbs and wait for a car. Hundreds of tourists and locals pass by when finally a young lady in a blue four-door soft-top jeep pulls over to us.
"Need a ride?" she asks.
"You going by Miami?" Five asks her.
"Yeah, to the suburbs to visit my family. Hop in."
Five and I hop into the backseat to find a small lap-dog and some luggage bags.
"Oh, sorry about that. I always forget to warn hitch-hikers about the damn dog."
The lady shuffles through the clothes and trash on the floor mats and throws them in the trunk, as well as scooping up the dog and placing it in the passenger's seat.
"The name's Medoly. And this dog here is Spike," Medoly says.
"I'm Marina, and this is-" I stop before saying Five, knowing that would be a mistake.
"Cody, I'm Cody," Five says with a wince. That name seems to mean a lot to him.
"Hmmm… Marina and Cody? I ship it."
I gag a little, and so does Five. Medoly notices.
"Oh, sorry, not dating? I probably should've asked that first."
Medoly seems like a very talkative girl. Great, the one type of person we totally need to talk to when we are secretly aliens with superpowers trying to save the Earth and our kind.
"Yeah, um, we aren't dating. Marina and I are step-siblings. Her mom died and my dad died, and then her dad and my mom got married. Ta-da," Five tells Medoly.
"Oh, okay, I see. Yeah, my parents died too. I visit Miami to see my niece and nephew once a month. Do you guys live here normally?"
"No, we live outside Tallahassee," I say.
"Tallahassee? That far? Why are you here?"
Five and I look at each other, neither of us were prepared to have a cover-story.
"Um, we are visiting my old friend. Before my dad died, we lived in Miami and I had a really good friend named Emma. We did everything together, but then my dad died and my attitude supposedly changed, and so I convinced my mom to move out. We did just that and then she met Marina's dad, and bam, here we are," Five says smoothly.
"I dare you two to kiss," Medoly says out of the blue .
"Pardon?" I respond.
"I want you two to kiss, or you have to get out."
"Is this some kind of joke, or-" Five starts.
"Nope, do it!" Medoly says and slows the jeep down and onto the breakdown lane.
I look at Five, my eyes wide. We could get out and find another car ride, but we are still a whiles out of Miami and Medoly is a fast driver. Five and I make the decision silently in our heads.
Five yanks Medoly's hands from the wheel using telekinesis, and I knock her out with my fist, using the techniques I learned from Six.
Five picks up and places Medoly on the back-seats while he and I take the driver's and passenger's seats. I handcuff Medoly's hands and ankles together using my ice legacy.
I hole out my fist to Five, and he fist bumps me back.
We make a pretty good team. Hopefully I can convince him the Mogs were wrong before he convinces me otherwise.
xxxxx
Eight
"Should we go to Roche Brothers or Shaws?" I ask.
"How about this local marketplace, it has fresh everything," Two responds.
We've been walking around the London streets for twenty minutes now before finally finding some groceries. There is a slight drizzle but the temperature is in the mid-sixties, so the rain feels very refreshing on contact. YO LOSER IN THE HOUSE
Two and I walk through the small tents scattered around the common. We've been England for three days now, and we plan to stay the full week. Two heads off for the vegetables section while I head toward the fruits. I pick up bananas, pears, and apples, which are Marina's three favorites. I also make sure to pick up a jar of peanut butter for the apples; peanut butter and apples is a great snack or breakfast.
My gut suddenly clenches as I reach for the jam. Something is wrong.
I drop my basket and rush to the vegetable section in search of Two. I find her deciding whether to get basil or parsley. Difficult choice.
"Two! Something isn't right, we need to go back to the room."
She nods and we take off, the two baskets left on the ground with food of all sorts spilled around them. We duck into an alley and I grab Two's hand, teleporting us away and to the room. We reappear inside our hotel suite to find a broken chair and bonds, along with a note and two vials on the table in the dining room.
I walk over to the table and roll the vials off the note, which I then pick up and read.
Dear Fellow Garde,
I have unfinished business back in Miami, but I need a healing legacy to do it. I knew it was either John or Marina, and when you two left and Marina went unconscious after over-using her new legacies, I took my chance and, well, took off! In five days I will meet you under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco at eleven A.M. I will give you back Marina in return for giving me back my chest. Yeah, I know you had it all along, Two. Anyway, See you in Cali.
Sincerely, Five
I let Two read the note, and then she begins to explain herself.
"Yesterday, in our down time, I went back in time to when Five was living in Florida to see if I could find out why he became a traitor. I learned he made friends with some girl named Emma, and then lived with a guy named Ethan for a while. Five made a quick escape at one point, and I took his chest when he left," Two says as she pulls out Five's Loric chest.
"Damn. You really should put this stealth stuff to our advantage."
"I only do it when I find very necessary."
"You're too kind to be a Garde," I say jokingly.
Two laughs. "Yeah, says the guy who died."
"Hey, you did too!"
"Fine, touché."
Two walks into the bedroom and packs what little supplies she has.
"Anyway, let's get to California. I kind of want to see the touristy things before we get back to the serious shit," she says.
"Agreed, c'mon," I say, my stuff already have been packed.
Two grabs my hand and we teleport out of the room and to the west coast of North America, totally forgetting about the vials and the note we left on the counter of the hotel room.
xxxxx
Unknown POV
"How are those banana pancakes? Perfectly cooked or what?" Mom asks me.
"Yeah, they're great," I say enthusiastically.
Ever since I started studying the universe and space I've become more anti-social. That's what my mom says at least, but I look at it more like I don't want to make any friends. After all, they are just going to cause us pain in the end, right?
I stand and walk out of the hotel kitchen. It's a Saturday morning and therefore I have no school. There are only three rooms booked this weekend. Rooms seven, twelve, and fourteen; room fourteen is a suite. Three teenagers rented room fourteen; paid cash upright with no questions asked.
My job to start the day is to ask the three customers if they need anything, kind of like a refill maid.
I knock on the door for room seven. "Anybody home?" I ask after a short wait.
Finally, the door creaks open and I see a skinny guy in what looks like his mid-twenties holding a baseball bat. He's been here for a while and it looks like he's going crazy, but he pays regularly so we don't question him.
"Oh, it's just you. What do you want?" The crazy guy asks.
Just me. That stings a little.
"I came to ask you the same thing," I say.
"Oh, I don't need anything, thank-you-very-much."
He slams the door in my face, leaving me there with an annoyed look.
"Nobody likes a recluse!" I yell through the door, then race around the corner before Mr. Crazy can do anything.
On to the next room.
Room twelve is housing three Canadians; all male, single, and ready to party. I knock on the door.
A tall blond guy opens the door, his hair down to his eyebrows and very shaggy. He has blue eyes and very defined facial muscles. If I was in my mid-twenties, I would definitely be interested.
He begins to speak and his accent startles me, I'm too used to my own country's. "Hey, cutie. Finally broken down to come hang around with us? I have always had a soft-spot for brunettes."
"Finn's favorite color is light brown, like your eyes," Finn's black-haired friend says.
"And I don't suppose you two have any interest?" I say slyly.
"I have a girlfriend back in Manitoba, and Jake is only off you right now cause Finn called dibs," the brown-haired dude in the corner says. He is on his iPhone.
"Well, anyway, do you guys need anything?"
"Just you with me," Finn says.
"In your dreams, asshole," I say and slam the door in his face.
Two down, one to go. People can be huge idiots sometimes.
I walk around the second corner and into the hall with suites. The three teens rented out suite fourteen; I'll never understand where they got the money from. I knock on the door, but nobody answers. I knock again, but not a sound stirs inside.
"Hey, you guys in there?" I yell through the door, but there is no response.
I take out my key-card and unlock the door manually. Inside I find a wreck. Chairs are flipped and wood is scratched, Food and clothing are strewn across the table. The only thing left in order is a note on the dining table placed under two small vials filled with some sort of blue liquid. I pick it up curiously, and then read the note.
Dear Fellow Garde,
I have unfinished business back in Miami, but I need a healing legacy to do it. I knew it was either John or Marina, and when you two left and Marina went unconscious after over-using her new legacies, I took my chance and, well, took off! In five days I will meet you under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco at eleven A.M. I will give you back Marina in return for giving me back my chest. Yeah, I know you had it all along, Two. Anyway, See you in Cali.
Sincerely, Five
After reading the letter, a realization hits me. I'm going to be in San Francisco in five days. My school is taking a few students to learn about American culture, and I'm one of the students. This letter is more than just a blackmail, there's something suspicious about it. Garde? Legacies? Apparently this Marina girl overused her new power, but why do the other people refer to themselves as numbers? And why does this Two person have Five's chest?
I place the letter back down and am holding the two vials in my hand when my mother walks in through the door.
"Oh my goodness gracious! What happened here?" My mother exclaims, and I take the distraction as an opportunity to hide the letter and vials in my pocket.
"Um, I have no idea… It was like this when I got here," I say.
"Oh no, now we have to pay for new furniture and everything. Come help me put this back together-"
"Actually, Mum, I'm meeting up with Nina at the library to study."
My mom lets out a disgusted sigh. "You can go, only because it's studying though. No tricks?" she asks and holds out her pinky finger.
My mom and I only keep promises if they're pinky promises, so this means I actually have to go to the library at the least.
But I'm not actually meeting with Nina, or studying for that matter.
I take the awkward silence as a chance to slip out of the room. Back in my mom's office, I grab my one-strap backpack and a bottle of water, and then head out for the library.
The weather outside is chilly, considering it's only August. I'm wearing my favorite red sweatshirt; it's made of a thin organic cotton, just enough to keep me from being chilled. A slight drizzle has started since I woke up, leaving small puddles on the sidewalk. My sneakers slosh through and gain more stains, but I like them, they are almost like little memories.
The library door creaks as I open it, the almost constant rain here causing the hinges to be rusty. I take off my sneakers and lay them by the door. I come here often enough for them to not care whether I have shoes on or not. I turn right and head up the spiral staircase to the loft where they keep their non-fiction books. I search for the numbers that Extraterrestrials and Space range across, and pull out a newer book.
Aliens are my favorite space subject. Supposedly there are hundreds of other planets that can support life, but it's just a matter of finding them. Aliens could be just like us, or they could be huge or tiny, or maybe even have super-powers… That would be awesome. I'd give anything to meet aliens with super-powers.
I continue reading till a familiar voice calls out from behind me.
"Rose? You're here again? You should really find some friends or something."
I turn to face Austin Alexander, the biggest dickhead in my school.
"What do you want, Austin?" I ask.
"Oh, nothing. Just… You know that contest in school?"
"The one with for the writing center? Yeah, why?"
"I need your help. The winner gets sixty pounds in reward, and I'd give you thirty if you help me out."
"Depends on what you're having me do."
"I want you to do the research. I'm writing about aliens and how they might look and live. I know you're a geek on this stuff, so I'd hope you will help?"
"Why should I help you?"
"Cause you're a good person?"
"I'd have to think on it."
"Well maybe during the America Trip we can talk about it."
I nearly do a spit-take with the water I am drinking.
"I thought you weren't going," I say.
"I wasn't, but my parents think I need the exposure, so now I am!"
I curse under my breath. This trip just got twelve times worse.
**I hope you enjoyed! Like I said before, I prefer quality over quantity, and I hope you guys can understand that :). I love you all so much for what you've helped me do, it's truly awesome! Anyway, please review and thank the editor of this chapter ;)
Editor (Jane) - I trust that you all recycle… I feel like being adultlike but I know you guys will think I'm studious… PARTAYYYY XD