Underground Darkness: Book 1 of the Powers Children Series

Chapter 5

My week became interesting in good and bad ways. Yellows and Oranges were restless, Pinks acting more uptight than usual. My roommates didn't question me further, but I knew they were still curious. Spade and I couldn't stop flirting to save our lives, and even Orea commented a few times at lunch on our behavior. Friday rolled around and I find myself standing in a circle on the mat in the Training Room.

"Today, you fight. You drop out only when I say so. And I will not push you yet, you are new to this, and I want to make sure you at least know what you're doing. I'll pair you up as we go," Jars instructed us very little, and pulled the first to out of the group. A fire boy and an earth girl. They start sparring, the fire boy blasting flames that the earth girl would perry with the rock that Jars gave her. She expanded it and protected herself, until he caught her off guard and left burns on her arms, being declared a winner. It went on, water usually defeating fire, earth beating air, and August the invisible winning in seconds. When Jars summoned me into the circle, he pulled a water girl into the ring. Her hair was jet black and she was my age, maybe a year younger. But Jars surprised me, summoning the electricity girl in too.

"This'll be fun. I suggest the audience back up," Jars steps several feet back. The water girl whispers something in Jade's ear and they grin, and the room is plunged into darkness. I curse under my breath, trying to adjust my eyes. The lights flicker and I have no time to register the water that almost drowns me. I choke and spit, reaching into air to find something to grab. Something trembles underneath me, and the training mat pulls itself up from the floor. I rip off a piece, flinging it into air. It smacks someone, and judging from the still pitch blackness, it hit the water girl. The lights flicker again, and Jade is right next to me. I drop, swing out a stiff leg and knock her to the floor, bringing light back. I pull one of the training devices off of the wall and place it on her to pin her down. She can still focus the lights to stay off for intervals, and I have to find the water girl who made her way back to her feet. She connects with my side, tackling me to the ground. She punches my jaw twice, and the second time I taste bitter blood. I grab blindly, finding her shoulder and pushing her off of me. By now, my eyes have adjusted to the dark, and when she gets up, I control her with as much focus as I can, holding her in the air and tossing her away. She cries out and the lights return.

"Well done, all three of you. That will conclude our matches for the day. Good job, guys," Jars says. I help Jade out from under her trap.

"That was so fun. You were so good," she high-fives me, regardless of her bruised leg. Even the water girl comes to congratulate me.

Afterwards, Spade came up to me, concerned about the blood now drying beneath my lip. He had been matched against a fire girl and won, and I was proud of him.

"Are you alright, gorgeous?" he asks worriedly. I smile, nodding, watching his worry disappear.

"Don't worry about me. I'll clean up and we'll go get some lunch," I tell him as we walk out of the training room and toward the gym. Suddenly, I hear shouting, and so does Spade, so we detour and head to the balcony overlooking the lower level of the gym. Crowded on the floor is anywhere from 650 to 700 people, shouting and screaming, untameable by the guards fending them off. Others watch from safe distance as a violent protest is heating up. I notice with a jolt they're all Oranges and Yellows, all demanding the same thing. Equality.

The scariest thing is that I recognize an all too familiar red-head leading the surge, my own roommate Ay, turned against everyone. No wonder she had been on the quieter side all week. She had been planning. The crowd surges toward the doors, intending to take their protest to the main areas. Guards are getting desperate, and my heart drops as one of them raises their assigned weapon into the air.

"No!" I scream, but he fires, my scream drowned out by the rest. I find the nearest stairwell and race to the bottom floor. More shots are fired, and I push around until I stumble upon Ay.

"What are you doing?!" I scream. She pushes me down and more shots come, making me drag her down too. Spade appears next to me, shielding us both with his body. Out of the corner of my eye, a guard levels his gun, aiming at the crowd. I flinch in anticipation.

"ENOUGH!" screams a voice, a voice that I know. I open my eyes, and Orea has created a force field around the protestors. I stand up and join her, and when a guard points his gun at me, I flick it out of his hands with a single motion. People are gasping, confused, but I don't blame them. It would get out eventually. A few other Purples join us, and Orea looks a guard straight in the eyes.

"You will not hurt these protestors. They have an emotion they wish to share, and if you agree to put away your weapons, then they will agree to send representatives to Director Halvares and they will talk this out," she commands firmly.

But the guard just laughs, "Who are you to tell me what to do?"

I step up, point at him, flick my hand and he flies into the wall. Every other guard flees. Orea smiles approvingly before turning to the protestors.

"If you organized this, step forward, we have much to discuss. The rest of you, go to lunch, and proceed with your day," she calls loudly. The gym clears out quickly, and 6 people stand with us, including Ay.

"I will escort you to Director Halvares' office where you will voice your concerns to him there. Consider carefully what you'll say, he won't be happy with this," Orea starts walking, until a short blonde boy steps forward.

"How'd you do that??" he asks curiously, swinging his arm around and displaying his orange stripe.

I interject with a smile, "We're Purples. We do what we want."