Quintet
I sat at my kitchen table tired, lazy, and dull. I was going to fall asleep at any moment. It was only September, yet assignments and tests were coming at me nonstop. Yes, I went to school now. Now, I lived on earth, and I lived my life like a normal person.
My life, present day, was never something I would’ve never imagined that day when I was running on the Syncros Mountains. Earth was very different from Mysteria, and it took a long time getting used to.
The house, in which I lived, was owned by the family of my best friend. His parents also owned the house next to it. They were very wealthy, but were also rarely ever home. They were usually out of the country, so he never really got to see them.
This house was originally a guest house, and their maid lived in it. Now that it was basically only my friend who lived in the house neighbouring mine, they let me live here. I moved in here a couple of years ago. Before then, I stayed with Zack and his family. They didn’t want to sell the other house anyway, saying they wanted to keep it in the family.
In school, today was awful, but that was very typical.
“Vaelon? Hello? Are you still there?” Zack said, waving his hand up and down my face, trying to get my attention.
Zack and I had been friends since I was eleven. He was a year younger than I—so, seventeen.
Zack had dark brown hair and brown eyes, and was around the same height as me.
“Yeah.” I said, snapping back to life. “I’m here.” That was a lie.
I still wasn’t entirely focused. I always had a hard time getting into the zone when it came to doing homework.
“You have a lot of work to do.” he reminded me, as if I didn’t already know. Believe me, I knew. That’s why I couldn’t get focused—because of the amount of stuff I had to do. “Your family history essay is due in two days. You don’t even know what you’re going to write about.”
“I’ll probably just wing it.” I told him.
Zack didn’t know about my old life yet. There were moments when I could’ve told him, but I never made the decision to. I think it’s a little difficult to tell someone you’re from another world. That’s why, whenever I had the opportunity, I shoved it aside. For the same reason, I had to make up my family history project. Telling my whole life story, starting from being neglected at a young age, would probably raise some red flags.
I mean, it’s not like my teacher would care anyway. She hated me. My English teacher, Ms. Glandita, was constantly harping on me for no reason. Like I said, I always got my work done, and I got good grades.
“Whatever, it’s your assignment, not mine.” Zack replied.
“At least if I fail English, I won’t have to graduate this year.” Graduation is also something I dreaded talking about. You’d think living here for eight years would get me thinking like a human that lives here. You’re supposed to go to school, go to college, go to more school, depending on the job you want, and then, you need to find that job and work. It would’ve been nice to have an idea of what I wanted to do with my life, but I didn’t.
I was the only person that I knew of, that lived on earth, and was from Mysteria. I could do things that other people couldn’t do, and things other people couldn’t explain. I was anything but normal, so it was just difficult to pretend to be. No matter how long I stayed in this world, I didn’t think it would ever be where I belonged. But I didn’t think I belonged in Mysteria either, at least, not in Plesmatiinge.
“You have to graduate, Vaelon. The future comes with change. It’s unavoidable, and something that you have to accept.” The irony was, I couldn’t picture this world being accepting of changes and differences, such as my own. I’d read up on recent society on earth, and it wasn’t pretty.
If I exposed myself, I’d be taken by some scientists, legally or illegally, into a lab to be tested on.
“You’re right, I better start my heritage essay.” I said, opening my laptop. I logged in, made a document to type on, and began typing some bullshit information about my family’s immigration to this country, years and years ago.
My gaze idly shifted around the room—I still wasn’t fully focused. It was around six in the evening, and I was getting hungry. Not knowing how to cook, I offered to order a pizza.
“No, don’t worry about it. It’s getting late, and I have to read a couple chapters of a book that was assigned in class. I should get home.” Zack said.
I opened a new tab on my laptop because I was still ordering that pizza. Maybe that was what was stopping me from getting concentrated. Or, maybe I was making a nice excuse. Either way, I wanted a pizza.
Zack collected his things, putting them into his schoolbag. He headed to the front door, and I stayed at the table, ordering my food. I heard the front door open.
“Bye, Zack.” I said, not lifting my face from the screen. But he didn’t answer, and I didn’t hear the door close either.
“Vaelon…” Zack struggled to speak.
“Yes?” I questioned, looking up. I was lost for words, as well. Four people stood at the door. They wore ski masks on, and held baseball bats in their hands. They were trying to rob us, no doubt. One of them swung the bat at Zack’s head, like it was a baseball, but luckily, he ducked, right on time—screaming.
I quickly ran to him, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to follow me. I nearly tripped up the stairs, but didn’t let myself fall. We ran to my room, and I closed and locked the door behind us.
“What the hell was that?” Zack yelled, flustered.
“I bet it’s just a burglary.” I stated.
“And that makes you feel more at ease?” Zack questioned, wide eyed and perplexed. “The door isn’t going to hold them off.”
“If they’re just trying to rob us, they won’t even come here.”
“But they can’t get away. There are valuable things in this house.” Zack pleaded. “There are family heirlooms that have been passed through the Bolt family for generations.”
“They don’t fit in your house?” I raised an eyebrow.
“That’s not the point.”
I sighed. “Fine.”
I left the room, and walked through the hallway of the upper level.
“Where are you going?” Zack whisper-yelled.
“You just have to trust me.” I said. This wasn’t how I pictured I’d be exposing myself to Zack, but I guess it was better sooner, rather than later.
I began to concentrate, as my hands started to glow purple. I’d gotten much better at using my powers, since coming to earth. I trained at least once a week, in a warehouse a little far that was from here. Sparks didn’t fly from my hands anymore because I was better well-trained.
Zack gasped, upon seeing my hands. “You too?” I thought I heard him say. You too?
I yelled at the man on the first floor. He was guarding the front door, as well as keeping an eye on the second level of this house, where Zack and I were. I grabbed his attention when I called out to him. He began walking up the stairs, cradling the bat in one hand.
I noticed something strange about him. Although he was wearing a ski mask, meaning his face was covered, his eyes were visible. And his eyes were violet. They could’ve been contacts, but contact lenses still didn’t look that realistic.
“What’s up with your eyes?” I tried asking. He didn’t make a sound. He didn’t even wear any expression in his eyes. If I could’ve seen his face, it seemed like it would look blank.
He continued walking up the stairs, closer and closer. I pointed my hands at him, getting ready to fire.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” I said. Again, he didn’t so much as make a noise.
I let my power flow through me, feeling it surge through my veins. The magic tickled my arms as it moved through them. My palms tightened and flexed, and my hands let out a blast of purple plasma. I aimed it at the man’s chest, and when it hit, he was knocked off balance.
The man stumbled down the stairs robotically. No, he wasn’t a robot, but he looked like he was in a trance the entire time. He hit the ground… on his neck. Dead.
Part of me felt horrible; I felt disgusting.
I had killed before. It was a while ago. I was on earth, in my third year here. It was an accident, but that person was still dead. I didn’t know them, but that didn’t matter.
A life is still a life.
The other three burglars saw what I had done to their friend. They looked at him, and, just like him, showed no emotion in their eyes. Just like him, their eyes were purple. Just like him, they seemed mindless.
I ran down the stairs, and they walked toward me, trying to intimidate me. I’d say it was stupid that they were trying to fight me, after what they saw. But, I didn’t think they cared. Looking at them, it felt like they had no regard for their own lives—it was just a gut feeling that I had.
One of the three swung the bat for my head, but I ducked in time, sweeping them off of their feet. Another tried to bash the top of my head. I put my hands up to cover me, shooting the bat with a plasmatic blast before it hit me. I kicked the woman in the stomach, shoving her out of the door.
Looking forward, I couldn’t see anyone in front of me. But from behind, I was whacked in my ribs. I coughed and wretched violently, with strings of blood pouring from my mouth. It was hard to breathe. Every exhale was more like a wheeze.
I clutched my side, sore and throbbing. The person behind continued with the assault. I felt the bat crash against my back, and one more across my head. It was a miracle that I was still standing, but that miracle didn’t last for too long. My body surrendered onto my knees, before I collapsed entirely.
I laid on the ground, too weak to lift a finger. The person that I had swept off of their feet, as well as the person that I kicked out of the door, got back up. They took turns kicking me. If it wasn’t for the thin line of vision that I mustered, I wouldn’t have known. I was numb to any physical feeling.
Groans and soft, quiet pleas to stop, slipped through my lips. I grunted and begged, but wasn’t listened to in the slightest. I felt useless, and I was worried about Zack—what they’d do to him, after they were done with me.
I didn’t know why they were here, what they wanted, or even who they were.
My eyelids grew heavier. The thin tunnel of vision that I held before was starting to dim. The hallway narrowed as my eyes came to a complete shut. I knew my mind wanted to do the same—just shut off.
The attacking stopped. I only knew because the internal throbbing was lessening. I reopened one eye. The air was a tint of green—a green gas. I gently turned my head to face the other way.
The gas wasn’t necessarily around us yet. Instead, it tumbled down the stairs in a thick cloud. The burglars were stunned. It looked like something that would be poisonous, but I couldn’t move out of the way, even if it was.
As the gas crept closer, the people’s eyes began to turn red and watery, like they had been chopping onions. They rubbed them softly at first, but as the gas continued to advance, their rubbing turned violent. It looked like they were trying to gouge their eyes out.
Not a noise came from any of them. They clawed at their eyes in pain, and even began rubbing their arms when burning rashes started to appear on them. One of the men ripped off layers of skin, in an effort to stop the pain.
But they all remained silent.
Those rashes worsened into holes in their uncovered skin.
But they remained silent.
One by one, they collapsed to the ground, just as I did earlier.
They were silent.
My eyes once again fought to shut, so I obeyed, letting them rest. Before I knew it, my mind was fast asleep, too.
…
I woke up in a bright white room. I laid on a hospital bed, and I was covered in wires. I looked at the clock that hung on the wall in front of me. It was two o’clock but broad daylight shone through the window. It was the next day.
I didn’t feel much of the pain that I felt yesterday. I healed quickly—a sub-power of sorts from the berries, back in Mysteria. I was sore, but that was about it.
I could hear monitors beeping, and Zack talking to the secretary at the front desk. Two doctors were in my room, having a discussion about me. They were both dark skinned, one was tall and slim, while the other was short and more plump.
They were both confused about this whole situation—I could tell by how they were talking. I’m sure they were in awe about how fast I recovered.
“He should at least have a few broken ribs.” one of them said.
“And some sort of head injury.” the other continued.
They pondered explanations, but none of their ideas were right. I watched and listened to them, not alerting them that I was awake.
They must’ve felt prying eyes because they both turned to look at me. The shorter doctor left the room, and the taller one came to my bedside to talk to me.
“Hello, Mr. Stone. I’m Dr. Wardock.” she said.
I responded with a simple, “Hi.”
“I know you might be confused about what happened. Based on an explanation from your friend, out in the front, you experienced a lot of physical trauma. Honestly, your injuries should be more severe. After experiencing a beating like that, you should need a couple weeks to recover. With that being said, you are having a great and speedy recovery.” She looked at a piece of paper on the clipboard she held. Her eyes held a confused look as they scanned across, reading it. “Do you mind sharing with me what exactly happened to you, if you remember? I’d like to see if it matches up with your friend’s explanation.”
I hesitated.
“It’s totally fine if you don’t remember, but if that, we’d like your permission to do a few brain scans and blood tests.” Dr. Wardock requested.
“No, I remember.” I said. I couldn’t let them run any blood tests, for they might see the magic flowing through me. I gathered my thoughts before stating, “I was doing homework at my kitchen table, when my friend opened my front door to go back home. He had opened the door to people in ski masks, holding baseball bats. All of them had purple eyes, but I’m guessing they were fake.”
“Do you have any idea what they may have wanted?”
“It’s a rich neighbourhood. I’m guessing it was a robbery.” I shrugged.
The doctor nodded. “You said they wore purple contact lenses?”
“They didn’t look like lenses. They looked too real. But, yes, they had purple eyes.”
Dr. Wardock scribbled whatever information I told her on a different piece of paper on her clipboard. “Okay, do you mind sharing the details of their attack?”
“Well, I ran down the stairs to try and fend them off. I instigated their attack. They beat me with their baseball bats, as well as kicking me continuously while I was on the floor.”
Dr. Wardock’s hand continued to move as she jotted stuff into her notes. “And that’s when you blacked out?”
“Yes.” I replied.
“Well, when paramedics got to your house, only your friend was there with you.”
I’m sure the confusion was apparent on my face, as I asked, “What do you mean?”
“The explanation is rather gruesome. Are you sure you want to hear it?”
I answered with the slight bob of my head.
“There were four bodies on the floor, but the people that invaded your house were… chemically burnt beyond recognition. Their teeth were gone, but there was no sign of them being pulled out. A strange residue filled their eye sockets, and all body hair was gone. Fingernails had also melted off.”
“I remember seeing them screaming in pain, before I blacked out.”
Dr. Wardock said, “The bodies have been taken to be investigated. There was no trace of any chemicals anywhere in your house, except for on their bodies.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have any answers for you.”
“I know.” she replied. “I can go get some release papers for you to sign, if you’d like to be discharged now.”
“That’d be great.”
The doctor left the room, and Zack came in.
“Vaelon, are you alright?” he asked, concerned. I was totally fine, just confused. What the doctor said had made me remember the green gas that I saw.
“Yeah, I’m good.” I said.
“Why’d you go put yourself in that situation?” Zack asked me.
“I’m fine now, aren’t I?”
Zack sighed. “I don’t understand. I saw what they were doing to you. How could you be fine?” “Zack, you know by now that I’m not exactly normal.” I said. “I heal quickly, too.”
“What was it that you did back there?”
“It’s plasma.” I told him. “I developed it a while ago, as a result of some berries that I ate some time ago. I’m not going to get into what exactly happened, but now I can do this.” I let my hands glow purple, before insulating my power again.
“Berries?” Zack asked.
“Yes, some red berries that I found in a forest near my old home.” I brushed it off, like it wasn’t anything important. It wasn’t really.
“When did it all happen?”
“A long time ago. It doesn’t matter.”
“Why won’t you talk to me about this, Vaelon?” Zack pried.
I answered, “Why do you need to know?” “Because I’ve never had someone to talk about this with.” he said.
“Obviously.” I mumbled, half wanting him to hear it.
Zack sighed. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
“Zack?” I called out. I blinked once more. In front of my eyes, there was the green gas—the same as last night’s.
“Vaelon, I was hoping that you knew more about it than I do.”
My eyes blinked again, and Zack appeared in front of me.
“Because, I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“You did that to those people.” I said.
“And I feel horrible, but I thought they were going to kill you.”
“Why didn’t the poisonous gas affect me at all?”
“I can control it, to an extent.”
“How didn’t I know this about you?”
“I guess we’re both just good at hiding things.” Now that Zack mentioned his powers, I could feel it. I could feel tingles of magic in the air—a strong, empowering sense of being.
“When did you first notice that you had powers?” I questioned.
Zack had to think about it, before saying, “About six years ago. Remember when I went on that camping trip—alone because my parents bailed? It was then. I recall waking up in the middle of the night, leaving my tent, and finding this bush of red berries. I ate them, for some reason. I wasn’t hungry or anything, I just… ate them.”
“The trillyrium berry.” I said.
“The what?” asked Zack.
“It’s a berry that grows in the country of Mysteria. It’s in another world, full of magic and enchantment. It’s where I used to live.” I told him. “The berry is of Mysterian origin, but I don’t know much more about it. Just, when I came to earth, via meteorite transportation, a voice infiltrated my mind. It shared with me a little story about the berries.”
“Care to explain?”
I started, “So, the berries are called trillyrium berries because they grow in bundles of three—hence the prefix, tri. They’ve always grown in Mysteria, mostly in the autumn colonies of Telithiryn and Dotchemetalos. They’re just a fruit, high in magical concentration, that never manifest into abilities or anything. They’re mostly looked to as a natural medicine for most common illnesses. However, the voice told me that it chose me to have these powers, in order to carry on its duty. Whatever that meant, I’m still not sure.”
Zack was hesitant about believing me. “I think you were hallucinating.”
“You have superpowers—as a result of some magical berries. And, you think me hearing some enchanting voice in the forest is weird.”
“It’s just a little suspicious.” Zack declared. “What did you mean earlier, when you said, ‘via meteorite transportation’?”
I sighed, before explaining, “It’s a long, unnecessary story, so I’d rather just skip to the end. A meteorite was headed toward the country, and I decided to try and use the powers that I had discovered minutes prior. I had no idea what I was doing, but I still tried. According to the voice, the intense concentration that I displayed resembled supernaturalism of the mind. Because that’s what drove my power, when it came into contact with the magic of the meteorite, I ended up here.”
“And this so-called voice didn’t care to explain why?” Zack questioned.
“I didn’t really get to ask questions, Zack. I was slipping into unconsciousness.”
“Ah, okay.” he smiled.
“What?” I said.
He merely stated, “Hallucination.” .
“Whatever, believe what you want.” I replied.
Zack moved on from accusing me of hallucinating everything. “Does anyone else have powers?” he inquired.
“I have no idea. The voice told me that, with the berries, it chose me to carry on its duty. Since you have abilities from the same berries, I assume you were chosen, as well.”
“You said the berries are from Mysteria though. How’d they get here?”
“I’m going to take a guess and say that the magic from the meteorite jump-started their growth.”
“Then I’m sure other people must’ve found and eaten the berries.” Zack answered.
“Yes, but like I said, the magic in the berries rarely ever manifests into abilities.”
“Well, how do we find out?” he asked
I shut down the idea. “We don’t.” We didn’t have to involve ourselves in a hunt for supernaturals. It would be a waste of time.
“Come on, don’t you think it would be cool to find others with abilities?”
“No.” I reiterated.
“Okay, fine.” Zack sighed disappointedly. “I’ll leave it alone.”
“Sorry, we just can’t afford anyone knowing about us. We don’t know how people will react, and I really don’t think they’ll be okay with it. We should only be using our powers out of the public eye, or emergencies and training.”
“Training?” Zack asked.
“I practice my powers in an abandoned warehouse across the city. I’ll take you there, eventually. It’s in the middle of a forest, a few hours away.” I told him.
Dr. Wardock re-entered the room, a stack of papers in her hands. She handed them to me, telling me to sign them, give them to the secretary at the front desk, and then I could leave. I did as I was instructed.
Zack and I called a cab to drive us back to my house.
…
I woke up late for school. I didn’t even remember falling asleep last night, and I sure as hell didn’t finish the family history assignment, so I was screwed. I rushed out of bed, and headed to school, to first period English class. My alarm clock decided not to work this morning—that’s what I’d tell Ms. Glandita.
“Just in time, Mr. Stone.” she said. I forced a small and awkward laugh, being the last one to walk into the class. “Everybody, please have a seat.” she continued.
Ms. Glandita looked at me strangely—menacingly. I couldn’t figure out why she didn’t like me. It was only September, and honestly, I’d given up with trying to get her to feel different about me.
“Before we begin class today,” she announced, “I would like to collect everybody’s family history essay.” I was prepared to be unprepared because I knew that she was going to harp on me for not getting it done. I was in the hospital for most of yesterday, but what excuse could I really make? She wouldn’t believe me if I said that I was taken to the hospital for some serious injury, and there was no sign of injury on me. I just had to take the consequences.
Row by row, she went to everybody’s desk to collect the assignment.
Ms. Glandita held out her hand, opening and closing it for effect. “Vaelon, your work please.”
“I didn’t do it.” I said.
“Shocker.” she replied sarcastically. It should’ve been a ‘shocker’ because that was the first assignment of the year.
I didn’t bother with an explanation. She wouldn’t believe it, nor would she care. I chose not to waste my breath to plead for her to forgive me for not doing the work.
“See me in detention.” she snarled.
I rolled my eyes. “It’ll be a pleasure.”
The rest of the day went by, and I walked from the gym to the English classroom to serve detention.
I heard Ms. Glandita let out a small chuckle as I walked into the room. As embarrassing as it was, it was a nice stress reliever. No one was allowed to talk, which meant no noise. And surprisingly, she didn’t hand us a book to read.
While all was going well in the silent room, my phone sounded through the class. Someone had texted me.
“Who didn’t hand their phone into the bin?” Ms. Glandita asked. No one raised their hand—not even me. I was curious as to who was trying to reach me. It was probably just Zack, even though I’d told him I had detention after school.
I quickly checked the message, while Ms. Glandita wasn’t looking. Just like I had guessed, it was Zack.
The message read, “How fast can you get to the library? There’s something in one of these books, and I think you’ll want to see it.”
I looked around the class once more, making sure I had no prying eyes on me. I texted back, “In detention.”
Zack replied, and my phone chimed again.
Ms. Glandita stood up from her desk, scanning the room like a hawk. “Whose phone is that?”
Zack’s test said, “Figure out a way to leave. Hurry up.”
That was much easier said than done.
I tried just asking Ms. Glandita, “Miss, there’s something really important that I have to tend to right now. May I please be excused from this detention?”
“No.” she yelled in my face. “In my detention, you leave when I tell you to—not the other way around.”
I slowly backed away from her, and went back to my seat.
I hid my two hands under my desk, while I let my power flow. When it reached my hands, I felt them tingle. I lifted them, my purple palms facing my teacher.
Ms. Glandita stared at me, wide eyed. “What the hel—”
I swung my hand through the air, throwing a ball of plasma at her, like a baseball. She fell back, onto the floor.
I was able to make my plasma extremely forceful, burning hot, or both. Right now, I just used force. Ms. Glandita would be knocked out long enough for me to leave, and she probably wouldn’t remember she ever put me in detention.
I texted Zack, “I’ll be there soon.”
I ran through the school hallways, before anyone could realize what I had done. There weren’t any cameras in the classrooms, so no one would be able to pin her unconsciousness on me. Yes, there were other people in detention with me, but they weren’t paying attention, and I didn’t think they really cared.
Zack was waiting for me just inside the library’s doors when I arrived. It wasn’t a far walk from my highschool, and I cut the time in half by running.
“What’s up?” I asked. “Why was this so urgent that I had to knock out my teacher?”
Zack looked at me, half scared and half confused.
“That’s nice.” he said. “So, you know how you told me to just drop everything to do with our powers and other worlds?”
“Mmhmm.” I mumbled
“Well, I didn’t listen. I couldn’t stop thinking about all of it, so I came here. Since school finished, I’ve been skimming through most of the non-fiction books about legends and stuff. I don’t even know what I was expecting to find, but I think it’s safe to say, I found it.”
“Found what?”
“It.” he said.
“Okay then.” I took a seat in the designated reading area of the library. Zack slammed a book on my lap, and I bit my lip to avoid crying out. “Why?”
“Sorry.” he apologized. “Skip to the last chapter of the book.”
I flipped through the pages of the massive book, reaching the final chapter, entitled, ‘The Supernatural Quintet’.
“Don’t you get it? Scandinavian legend tells of another world, where magic exists, and is plentiful. It flows through the land, distributed by an almighty spirit.” Zack explained.
I continued his thought, reading a sentence from the book, “When the time comes to abandon her duty of goodhearted heroism for the people of her country, entrusted to her by the stars above, she will pass it on to a group of youths. She would never let one person be as powerful as her, so among five, she grants abilities, sewn in magic.”
“It’s literally you and me.” Zack exclaimed quietly.
I argued, “This is a legend. It’s fake.”
“Are you that foolish to deny what’s right in front of you? It’s written in ink, right here.” Zack emphasized his point by pointing to the passage. “The voice you heard, maybe it was her.”
“The spirit?” I questioned, dubiously.
“Don’t tell me you were all on board with it being a voice in your head, but now that there’s some sort of an explanation, you’re denying it. Why?”
“Because I’m nervous, Zack.” I groaned. “I’m not okay with a sacred spirit in another world telling me that it’s now our job to protect the people of Mysteria. We’re not even in Mysteria.”
“There’s a reason that she was a hero to them, and there’s a reason why it’s now our job. Something evil is in Mysteria.” Zack insisted.
“I lived there for ten years. There’s nothing evil there. The spirit, Sullynatha, is who Mysterians worship. She’s, in a way, a God, and she exists, but she doesn’t rid evil like some demon slayer.” I said.
Zack begged, “Vaelon, if there are other people like us, we have to find them.”
I shook my head. “We can’t just go to Mysteria, and we’re not about to be some teenage superheroes on earth.”
“I don’t care about the whole fighting evil part. I just want to meet people with abilities, like us.”
I raised an eyebrow in question. “And how do you expect to find them? You think they’re all just going to be waiting around in Autumnsville?”
“Well, I wouldn’t expect the magic from the meteorite to reach the other side of the country, so, yes, I think they’ll all be somewhere in and around Autumnsville.”
I sighed, “Fine.”
Zack smiled at me, and went to put the book away. We left the library, and walked to his house.
“How do you suppose we find these three other people? We don’t know anything about them. It’s not like everyone we meet is going to be supernatural.” I inquired.
“I thought about that when I finished reading the chapter, too. There’s no actual way to find them. We’re just going to have to use the power of the internet.” Zack admitted.
“Of course!” I exclaimed, sarcastically. “Because we’re totally going to find what we’re looking for by searching ‘supernaturals near me’. I’m being sarcastic, in case you couldn’t tell.” We needed a much better plan if we were going to do this.
“Have some faith in me.” Zack said. “If you think of a better idea, be my guest. But for now, this is all we got, so we’re doing this my way.”
I didn’t have much faith that his plan would work. I didn’t even care to do this, but Zack was practically guilting me into it.
…
It had been a week.
We spent a week looking through news stories, and watching fake online videos of people with superpowers.
Today, however, Zack finally found a piece of information that might—just might—be useful. I was aware that we shouldn’t believe everything we read on the internet, but we had to treat every clue like it was the one that was going to bring us closer to our—Zack’s—goal.
In a nutshell, it was a video of a boy flying through the air. We didn’t get a good look of him through the video, but there was a split second where we were able to see his face. I hoped that it wasn’t fake because then, we’d be back to square one.
“How do we know where to find him? Who even is he?” Zack asked me.
“You’re the one with all the plans, last time I checked.” I had an idea of what his face looked like, but Zack was right, we had no idea who he was, let alone where to find him.
“The archive room in the police station.” Zack decided. “It has a computer with a facial recognition tool. If I can pause the video at the exact moment we see the boy’s face, we can figure out some basic information about him.”
“Like his name and his address?” I questioned.
“There’s only one problem.” he stated.
“What?”
“The archive room is always locked, and the glass windows have metal bars behind them.”
I raised my eyebrows at him, as if to say ‘really?’. “You can literally turn into gas, and you’re telling me you won’t be able to squeeze through the crack under the door?”
We left the house, and began to walk to the station.
“How’re we going to find out if he has powers, once we find him?” Zack asked.
“We need to make him use them—put him in a situation where he can’t refuse to show us.”
Zack questioned fearfully, “What do you mean?”
“We knock him unconscious, and take him on a plane. Then when he wakes up, we push him out.” I said.
“You’re psychotic.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“That seems a little extreme.” Zack sighed, and kept a heavy look of contemplation spread across his face. I could tell it was something he had a lot of reservations about.
“Oh, relax.” I told him. “He’ll have a parachute—we’re just hoping he doesn’t use it.”
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Zack warned. I sort of did, too. Even I could see that the whole ‘pushing the boy out of a plane’ thing might be extreme, and if it wasn’t my only idea, maybe we could have planned something else.
The police station was empty, save for a few people at the front desk. Now, it wasn’t like we didn’t expect them to prohibit us from entering the workers-only hall.
“Excuse me, children, no one of the public is allowed past this point.” said the lady at the front desk.
The two of us kept walking toward the door, with me blasting each of the people in the room with plasma; enough to knock them out, like Ms. Glandita.
Through the door, the hallway was alive and busy with police. They zipped by, room to room. Zack and I dipped into the first room to the left. No one was in there, for now. I shut the door and turned the lock, jamming it with a wedge of plasma.
We both had to think about where to go. We couldn’t walk down the hallway like nothing was up. We needed to think—fast. The moment someone realized that the door was jammed, they’d go tell someone.
We kept quiet though, having to be sure that no one heard us in here.
The room, windowless and spacious, was a breakroom. There was a small, old fridge, as well as a couch and wooden table. The walls were somewhat beige, but it was hard to tell with the dim light shining mediocrely.
I removed the plasma from the lock on the door, opening it a crack to peep out of. I didn’t quite see anyone, so I motioned for Zack to follow me out. I jammed the lock of the door that led back into the front of the station, to make sure no one would come from behind us.
We studied the doors along the hallway. Only a couple were open, but they were of no use to use. Near the end of the hallway, a black painted wooden door was covered only by a small sign that read, ‘Archives’.
I reached for the knob; it wouldn’t twist. There was, in fact, a window peeking into the room, but like Zack had said before, on the other side of the double paned glass, there were steel bars.
I peered up and down the hallway, examining a clear opportunity for Zack to evaporate his body and slip under the door. When I looked back at him, his only remnant was the shrinking trail of green gas, leading into the room.
With the click of a lock, and the turn of a knob, the door opened. Fast-paced, I turned in, and secured the door shut behind me.
Zack lifted a hand and the green gas escaped it, corroding one of the cameras in the room. He flicked on the light, unveiling rows upon rows of filing cabinets, positioned alphabetically by the type of file, and who the file pertained to. There were a few tables lining one of the walls, but the computer we were looking for was in the back of the room.
Along the way, both of us used our abilities to destroy the spying cameras. We made our way past the cabinets, to another desk. It was lower to the ground, and small in surface area. The computer rested on top. It was unlocked, and the monitor was still on. Someone had just been using it.
I searched for the video that we’d seen today, pausing it on the single frame that displayed the boy’s face. I screenshotted it. The computer automatically readjusted the screen, focusing and unblurring the photo.
I cropped the image, so that only his face was showing, and I went into the facial recognition program. Anyone who legally resided in the country was available to be found by the facial recognition program. In less than a few seconds, we knew who this boy was.
“Jordan Vooke.” Zack read aloud. “He lives at fifty three Oren Street
“Does it say what school he currently goes to?” “Why?”
“It might be easier to abduct him from school, as opposed to his house.” I clarified.
“You saying that sentence makes this feel really wrong. We’re abducting an innocent boy, and pushing him out of a plane.”
“If he has powers, he’ll make sure that no harm comes his way.”
“And what if he doesn’t?” Zack questioned me, an eyebrow raised.
“Then we’re going to have to make damn sure he doesn’t go splat on the ground.” I told him. “Everything will be fine. We’ll do this in the forest that my warehouse is in.”
“People are going to notice he’s gone, Vaelon. There are going to be alerts sent out.”
“He’ll be home before ten, and I’ll knock him out, so that he doesn’t remember any of it.” I couldn’t cause long term memory loss, but short term was manageable.
Zack complied, answering, “He goes to Birch Highschool.”
“It’s only noon.” I said. “We have plenty of time to get there.”
I followed the same precautions as when the two of us left the first room we went in. The hallway was still empty, and we left through the back entrance of the station.
Zack followed me as we walked to the school. I was confident that I knew where it was, and if not, then we’d have to go to Jordan’s house instead.
It was a nice September day outside. The air held a slight chill to it, but the sun was bright and beaming. My skin was touched with the warmth of golden bands of sunlight, so the chill was actually lovely.
We arrived at Birch High by two o’clock. It was like a ghost town in the neighbourhood. Not a single car drove by for half an hour, while we waited for the school to let out. That was good for us, but odd, nonetheless.
“We can’t make this look suspicious.” Zack declared.
I replied, rather obviously, “Yes, I know.”
When two thirty arrived, the bell chimed, signalling the end of the school day. Multitudes of students exited from the main entrance of Birch High. We looked for the boy that we saw in the video, keeping in mind that he could have looked very different now.
“There he is.” I declared, giving a motion to the general direction I looked at. His appearance wasn’t too off from what we’d gathered of him.
Surrounded by a group of friends, Jordan walked to the lane of empty buses, waiting to be filled.
Zack followed me to the bus at the back of the lane. I inspected the route, seeing that the bus would pass Jordan’s house. Zack sat in the front row, while I sat in the driver’s seat. The bus driver must’ve stepped out for a minute because the keys were in the ignition. I mean, who’d expect someone to steal a bus?
Several little groups of students walked our way, with Jordan and his friend group at the front of the crowd.
“I feel bad.” Zack’s voice faltered.
“Why? Because he has no idea he’s about to be kidnapped?”
“Yeah, that about sums it up.” he responded.
“We can’t hesitate. That’ll only make things worse.” I told Zack, before redirecting my attention to the crowds nearing the bus. “Jordan? Jordan Vooke? Is there a Jordan Vooke?” I called out.
Jordan raised his hand, separating from his friends and coming forth.
“There was just a small change in the bus route,” I kept a hand on the side of my face, and I looked down at the bus route. The last thing I needed was to be seen by witnesses. Zack ducked down in his seat, and I continued, “I’m the new bus driver, and I wanted to make sure this route is still okay for you.”
Jordan stepped up the stairs, peering over my shoulder at the route. Luckily, there was also a list beside it, claiming who should be on this bus and what their stop was. He was the only one at his stop, so me having only called him didn’t seem unusual.
All of the buses in front of this one started to leave. My bus was the only one that wasn’t filled yet. People got closer, so I shut the door.
Jordan raised an eyebrow with confusion. “What’s going on?”
I stepped on the gas pedal, beginning to drive out of the school’s parking lot. Stopped in a line of buses that waited to turn onto the road, I stood up and put a hand on Jordan’s head. A small blast of plasma surged through my arm and into him. Zack caught Jordan, before he hit the floor.
I turned onto the road, finding my way back onto roads that I recognized. I started my route to the forest.
“We’ll get there at around five or six.” I voiced to Zack. While we were waiting by the school, I had called a man—someone I’d met in that forest before. He was the only neighbour that I had. Well, he wasn’t much of a neighbour, he just lived in the same forest. He had a light aircraft plane, and he’d said he’d lend it to me for an hour, for a small fee.
“Where are we going?” Zack asked.
“I already told you. I know of one person who lives in the forest that my warehouse is in. Their house is off of Arrowin Road, secluded deep in the heart of the forest. The owner is lending me his plane.”
“Do you know this person?”
“I’ve met him once before, when I was on a jog. I’d stopped to help him gather firewood.”
“Why would he lend you his plane? You don’t know how to fly a plane.” Zack worried.
“How hard could it be? If worst comes to worst, we jump.” I shrugged.
I could see the colour drain from his face. “We can’t abandon another dude’s plane.”
“I don’t think he’d want back a crashed plane with three dead bodies in it, so I’m sure it’s fine.”
“Does he know why you want the plane?” Zack inquired. “He didn’t ask.” I left it at that.
I could tell that we were approaching the place when I saw one of the only side roads leading into the huge forested area. It was half past five.
I turned onto the road. It was made of loose gravel and dirt; unpaved. The bus trailed over potholes, bouncing and trembling on the uneven road.
“It’s not too far from here.” I babbled to Zack, turning to look over my shoulder.
“Watch out.” he shouted, frantically pointing beyond me. I immediately returned my vision to the road ahead, right about to miss the turn, and crash into a tree. I sharply spun the steering wheel, rushing to redirect the wheel on the bus. We turned, but I lost control of the bus.
The large vehicle crashed into something, and whatever it was, the front right wheel turned over it…
I slammed on the brakes, and the bus halted. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but when I looked at the expression that Zack carried on his face—mortified, nauseous, stunned—it looked like he did.
I opened the bus door, and Zack sprinted out. The man, who was going to lend us his plane, was walking across the road with what looked like fire wood, when I lost control of the bus.
“Check his pulse.” I stammered, my heart racing.
Zack knelt down, placing two fingers on where the man’s pulse should’ve been. “He’s dead.” Zack concluded, his voice ridden with guilt. It was my fault…
We heard a girl in the distance when she asked, “Dad, are you almost back with the logs for the fire?” She walked out of her house, a little farther down the road, with someone I assumed was her brother.
He shared the same look as her—struck with disbelief. She let out a high-pitched gasp and started to run toward her dad, but her brother restrained her. His face was blank.
“I’ll take care of this.” I heard him say.
“Let me go.” she struggled against his force, tears filling her eyes. He pushed her inside the house, and held the door shut. Soon after, he made his way to us. I could see the sadness infiltrate his two eyes.
As he walked closer, glass spewed out of the house, where there used to be a window. The girl had jumped out from the second floor, onto the lower part of the double pitched roof. She slid off, unphased that it was high off the ground.
She landed with an axe in her hands, and she walked over to us, dragging that axe along the ground. The metal scraping echoed through the forest, like something out of a horror movie.
The girl looked a year or two younger than Zack. Her face was frozen in a slight frown, though something I noticed in her eyes was the almost lack of sadness in them. She locked them on me, with frustration and annoyance, but I could see a glimmer of relief.
“We should go…” I said to Zack, to which he nodded frightenedly.
The plane was parked in a large clearing beside their house. We ran to it, while I carried Jordan’s unconscious body.
I’d just killed an innocent man, and it looked like I was carrying another dead body in my arms.
I threw Jordan onto a seat, and sat down. “How do I start this thing?” I panicked, pressing random buttons. I hit something, and the plane started. Zack took a seat.
I pushed some more buttons, and we began to drive forward. I pulled back a lever, and the plane lifted off of the ground.
“We’re so sorry.” I called out when we started taking off. I knew it wasn’t nearly enough of an apology, but I was nervous about what the girl with the axe was trying to do. She threw it at the plane, and it lodged itself into the metal door, barely missing Zack’s leg. His eyes lit up in fear. The girl turned around, walking into the forest. We couldn’t see her anymore.
Jordan woke up, screaming with demand to know where we were, and what was going on.
“Don’t worry.” I assured him. When we were high enough in the air, Zack strapped a parachute to him. “Now listen closely,” I said, “In a few seconds, you will either jump, or be pushed out of this plane. I’ve seen the video of you flying on the internet, and we think you could be of use to us. I want to make sure it wasn’t edited though. Please fly, instead of using your parachute. It’s only for emergency purposes.” I explained.
I found it strangely hilarious that he was going along with everything.
I counted down from three, before pushing Jordan out, giving him no time to rethink his decision. His voice was slowly growing hoarse from his intense screaming. I sighed when I realized that this had all been a bust.
When I realized that Jordan wasn’t flying.
I was pretty sure that the video he posted online was some sort of joke. It wasn’t funny, nor was it cool, so I didn’t understand his purpose for posting it. All it did was get him free falling out of a plane.
Jordan remembered about the parachute I gave him, and pulled the cord.
The cord ripped off. No parachute. His screaming worsened.
I groaned, “Why is it that whenever I try to do something clever, something else always messes it up?” I stood up in the moving plane, instructing Zack, “Take the controls.”
He anxiously yelled at me about how he didn’t know how to fly a plane, to which I answered, “Neither did I. Good luck.”
I jumped out, head first, positioning my body like an arrow, so that I could cut through the air and fall faster. I was catching up to Jordan, but we were also catching up to the ground. While passing him, I grabbed his arm, and pulled my parachute cord.
We were only a few meters off the ground, and it looked like we were in the clear. However, we didn’t quite stick the landing, and when Jordan stumbled over himself, he tripped and hit his head on a rock. I slapped his face, but he wasn’t waking up.
Beside me, the still air picked up a small wind. I saw the tint of green drifting down from the sky. Zack materialized into his body, hit face shot with horror.
“He’s not dead.” I clarified. “I don’t think he’s dead.”
Zack’s look toward me told me to step out of the way. He checked Jordan’s pulse. “He’s alive.”
“Then, let’s hope it’s a concussion.” I said.
“How about we hope he’s completely fine?”
“Unlikely. I pulled the parachute, but he tripped and banged his head—hard.”
I searched Jordan’s pockets, finding his phone. Emergency calls didn’t require a passcode, and when I called, I solely spoke our location, disgusting my voice as best as possible. Then, I hung up, and we left.
Eventually, we found our way out of the forest. Though, I must say, it took quite some time. By the time we called a cab and reached our houses, it was past three in the morning. I watched to make sure Zack got inside, before I entered my own home.
I pushed my door open, flicking on the lights to the entrance room of my house. I took off my shoes, placing them neatly to the side, and hung up my light sweater. I walked a bit down the hall, and turned left, into the kitchen.
The fridge light illuminated my face, even though the light in the kitchen was on. I grabbed a glass bottle of water from the fridge, pouring myself some. When I closed its door, I was met with a piece of paper that I pinned to it with a magnet.
It was a list—a list of possible supernaturals. There was one person on that list. I grabbed a red pen from the counter behind me, gliding it across the name Jordan Vooke. Our only candidate had turned out to be no one special, but I wasn’t ready to give up.
Zack had gotten me invested in the idea of creating some superhuman team of supernaturals. I mean, it wasn’t like our team would do anything much, but the thought of it sparked my attention. It seemed like it would be a fun pass-time. I had no hobbies anyway.
The research and assembly of the
team
was going to be hell to get through, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it just might be worth it.
