Chapter 9
In the morning I wake up to the sounds of Ya’asa and Aiyamar going about their usual morning routine.
“How come no one woke me up?” I complain. Ya’asa turns around. For some reason I can’t see her clearly—it’s like her outline was blurred or something. I try to clean my glasses, but it doesn’t help any. “’Morning, Krystal. Sorry, we tried to wake you but you had your forcefield up,” she says, as if having a forcefield is the most natural thing in the world.
"Forcefield?" I question. Aiyamar stops what she’s doing and turns to look at me. “You really don’t know anything, do you?” It wasn’t an insult. Just a question. “No,” I answer. “I really don’t. I don’t even really know why I’m here.”
“Well, that’s easy. You’d think someone would notice if they woke up with a forcefield up,” Ya’asa says as she combs her hair. She’s wearing leaf green leggings and a dark green tunic, belted around the waist. It looks really cute, but really…old fashioned.
Aiyamar searches through my drawers and throws one of the white dresses at me. I catch it without thinking. “Uh, I don’t have to wear this, do I?”
“Well, what do you think it’s for?” Ya’asa points out.
“I don’t do dresses,” I say, tossing it onto the bed. I feel kind of gross, standing there in clothes that I’ve been wearing for more than 24 hours.
“Your clothes and the color will change into whatever you want once you put it on,” explains Aiyamar as she tosses me a pair of the slippers. I am momentarily blinded by a flash of light from her fingers. Literally, her fingers are shooting light.
“Sorry about that,” she apologizes. “I haven’t totally woken up yet.” As if that explains everything.
I glance over at Ya’asa. Her outline is beginning to firm up a little, but it’s still really blurry. My own fingers feel really hot. Like, uncomfortably hot. I start to smell smoke, and look down at my hands.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!” I scream. “THEY’RE ON FIRE!” The blanket on the bed is also on fire.
Pandemonium breaks out. We all scream and cram into the farthest corner of the room.
The door bursts open, and Kyle, Llare, and 2 other teenage boys rush in. All of a sudden, everything just stops. I can’t move, can’t control my muscles. A seizure…well, “seized” my body, and I collapse. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Aiyamar fall; and then I feel her fall. Right on top of me.
Llare picks me up for the second time and supports me until I can move again. The two boys I don’t know help Aiyamar and Ya’asa to their feet. A short, grumpy-looking girl waves her hand dismissively towards the fire, sending a shower of water over it, and it splutters and dies.
“What. Happened?” demands one of the new boys after helping Kelta to her feet. He’s taller than me by a full head, with long, wavy brown hair falling to barely touch the shoulders of his long, green cloak. His deep brown eyes appraise me, as if he already knows that the accident was my fault.
I guess the stress and shock of the last 24 hours have really taken a toll on me. I can’t control myself—I being to sob softly. I can feel everyone’s emotions. Kyle, Llare, and Aiyamar are concerned. Ya’asa and Kelta are surprised that I’m crying, but not judgmental. They don’t blame me for what happened. The girl who put the fire out hates my show of weakness. The boy who spoke to me is upset, though it’s not directed at me. Yet. The remaining boy I haven’t met is just waiting to find out what happened.
Kyle, ever present when I need him, puts his arms around me. He doesn’t say anything; he doesn’t need to. Everyone waits patiently until I can talk.
“You’re going to have to start paying me to hug you. It’s taking too much of my time,” he says jokingly. The tension eases a little.
I tell everyone what happened, worrying that they will think badly of me. That one girl obviously does. When I finish, everyone chuckles a little. The boy who addressed me first smiles just the tiniest bit.
“You’re new,” he says simply. “So, we’ll let it go. Nice to meet you, by the way. I’m your Captain, Wynn Darkbender.” He offers his hand, and I shake it.
“I’m Krystal,” I say, even though he probably already knows that. He nods. “I think you know everyone except for Eyrad and Ikah.” He gestures at the water-girl and the other boy.
Ikah doesn’t look like the type of person I’d want to be friends with. I already know she pretty much hates me. Now that I think about it, she was in the room last night. But I don’t think she said anything. She doesn’t say anything now, either. She only stares at me with disgust.
The boy is Eyrad. He seems really nervous and fidgety. I extend my hand to him, and he hesitates and twitches before shaking it. I think I’m going to call him “Squirrel”, at least in my head.
“So what’s your IP?” I think gently to Squirrel. I only hear his reply through his thoughts, though I think he says it out loud too. “Gravity Manipulation.” I guess that’s like levitation or something.
A bell rings. Everyone groans. We leave the room, some people stopping to grab small items. A water bottle for Ikah, sunglasses for Aiyamar, and so on.
My clothes smell like smoke, so I reluctantly pick up the dress that Aiyamar had thrown me. It’s not even singed, even though it was in the middle of the fire. It doesn’t smell, either.
I undress quickly, and throw the dress on, opting to keep my sneakers rather than the slippers.
Immediately it conforms to my body. It feels almost like I’m being vacuum-packed. The suction stops, and I find myself dressed in black leggings under shorts, and a tight black tank top. Maybe I will try the slippers.
I retrieve them from the bottom drawer of my dresser and put them on. They conform to flexible calf-high boots. Black, of course.
Wynn knocks on the door. “Come on, only five minutes before we have to be at breakfast,” he says.
I walk out of the door to find everyone waiting for me. “Sorry,” I mumble.
