The Forgotten

We Have Power, Yes We Do

I wake up, get dressed, all that stuff. I eat breakfast, relax, just normal stuff. But out of instinct, I look over my shoulder every now and then. Watching for the Nerd Squad. For a lunitic who knows more than he should. For anything. Are we really safe here? Can I live, grow old, and die here? I don't think so. Ray's creepy appearance yesterday is still unsettling. I still remember his words. Yeah, Shawn is fun. But somehow I don't think the madman was saying," Oh, I would love to spend the afternoon with this lovely boy." And why does Shawn suddenly "need" Fred? I mean, Fred's a twig. He- er, it can't be important... right?

I've been trying to figure out what Ray was talking about when he studied me. He said I'm more than meets the eye. He must have been talking about my "dark" side. How he knew about it is beyond me. He said I could, but I won't. Maybe I'm going to do something... or maybe I won't? It makes no sense. And lastly, he pitys me. That's just him being crazy and creepy. I think.

And then there's Allen. Ray is happy because Allen is going to make a decision... or did he already make the decision? It's all too confusing. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that Ray knew what he was saying. But how did he know this stuff? To clear everything up, I feel that I must consult the techie. Seeing as I'm in the kitchen helping wipe the dishes, I'm going to have to find him first. After I'm done, of course. Scrub, scrub, scrub.

First place I'm going to check is our room. And sure enough, Rolly is here.
"Hey Rolly, can we talk?" I ask.
"About what?" he says without looking at me. I peer over his shoulder. He's tinkering with some wires and metal.
"Just stuff." I say stupidly. "I've got questions about... well, a few things."
"Alright." Rolly turns his chair to face me. "Fire away."
"Has Ray ever done his creepy psychic soul reading before?" Rolly frowns at my question.
"Yeah. A couple months after we were all settled in, he did the weird thingy." It feels weird, hearing the big brain say "thingy".
"Do you know how he does it?" I ask.
"Yup. It's his power. He's one of the few people who get way too much power. These people are called Overkills. Overkills usually go insane. Having killing sprees or just being crazy is what they do. Ray tried to fight back. He pushed his power away, tried to crush it. He ended up getting rid of his power... for a while. His power eventually overthrew him. Now he won't ever be in control again. That's the theory, at least." I take this in. I guess Ray's a prisoner in his own mind.

"What dark secrets did he get out of you?" I joke, trying to lighten the mood. Oddly, Rolly turns defensive.
"Hey, I didn't press you for answers. Don't pressure me." he snaps.
"Jeez, I wass just kidding around. Sorry." I say, surprised at Rolly's secrecy.
"Oh, sorry." Rolly apologizes, still sounding defensive. But now I'm curious. Maybe I'm not the only one with secrets at The Hideout.

"By the way, what's your power?" I ask. "I completely forgot to ask earlier." Rolly sighs.
"Nothing useful." He holds up his hands. Nothing happens.
"Mmm-hmm." I say with a nod. "Handy." Rolly groans.
"Oh yeah, you can't see it. I forgot. I just sent out a electronic signal." he explains.
"Here, watch this." Rolly holds up his hands once more. This time, the clock in our room starts to move backwards!
"Very... neat." I say, thinking that it's a pretty useless power.
"You mean very geeky." he replies unhappily.
"No, more of... techy." I correct him.
"Same thing." Rolly grumbles while setting the clock back to the real time, once again using his geeky- er, techy power. As I leave, Rolly's suspicious snapping come back to me. I want to know more, but he obviously won't tell me. I don't want to pry, either. So I guuess I'll just find out what the others' powers are . I decide that Shiran is next. Might as well get it over with.

I spy Shiran outside, fencing with a pretend enemy. I notice how well he handles his sword. I couldn't hit a thing with Mareth. Fending off Tarna the first time we met had just been begginer's luck. Not wanting to get close to a jerk with a pointy object, I think I should start this conversation from a distance.
"Hey Shiran!" I call out. He turns, obviously grumpy that I've interrupted his practice.
"What do you want, Wrive?" He stretches out my name for some reason.
"A million dollars." I almost laugh, seeing his face.
"But I didn't come here because I wanted to. I figured I should know everyone's power. So just tell me yours, and I'll be on my merry way." Shiran studies me for a moment.
"Fine. You wanted to know." he says. And then my opinion of him gets even worse.

Shiran starts to change. His arms shrink until they disappear. His legs shrink, but don't leave. His chest ( which is growing extremely hairy along with the rest of his body ) sprouts some strange limbs. His head is growing in places and shrinking in others. I'm not sure were his clothes went, but it doesn't matter. He has too much... fur? to see any skin. His hands become larger and he grows claws. His body is moving, his torso getting lower while his four legs support his crazy frame. And all this happens in about fifteen seconds. Before me now stands Shiran the tiger.

The animal looks at me, as if expecting something.
"Uh... sorry, I just didn't see that coming." I say. Shiran the tiger appears to think for a moment before nodding.
"You can understand me still?" I ask the animal. Once again it pauses, then nods.
"That was terrifying. Can you change into other animals too?" Pause. Nod.
"You wanna change back?" Pause. Vigorous nodding.
"Go ahead." I say. Pause. Shake of the head.
"You don't want to?" I ask. Pause. Then the Shiran tiger comes forward and paws my pants.
"What? My pants?" I ask, confused. Pause. Head shakes.
"Oh! You need clothes as a human!" I understand. Pause. Nod.
"One second." I run to fetch Shiran some clothes.

Now, a few minutes later, Shiran is a normal human. The first thing he did once he was human was vomit. Then he charged back to The Hideout and vomited again. That's the last I saw of him today. I think I should visit Cassie next. Hopefully she can distract me from thinking about Shiran's shifting, morphing ugliness. As a tiger, not a human. I get to Cassie's room. I notice the details of this room for the first time. The walls are painted green, pink, light blue, yellow, and some other colors. It looks like someone took buckets of paint and splashed the walls. Maybe Cassie did. A bed ( rainbow colored sheets ) is to the left of the door. Near the wall farthest from me stand some shelves, about three feet high. And Cassie is seated on the shelves.

"Uh, hi Cassie." I greet her.
"Oh, hi Fred!" she says, looking down at me.
"My name's Wrive." I remind her.
"Really? So are you Fred's twin or something?"
"No, Fred is a twig."
"Hey, that's not very nice!" she scolds. "I'm sure Fred is a lovely person." I give up.
"Yeah, okay. Anyways, I just came by because I wanted to know what your power is." I tell her.
"Ooh, goody! I never get to show off my power!" she squeals.
Then she stands up ( on the shelf ), jumps up ( still on the shelf ), touches the ceiling... and sicks there. Cassie swings her legs forward and attatches them to the ceiling.
"Ta-da!" she exclaims happily, crawling around on the ceiling liked it's completely natural. I just stare. Cassie falls from the ceiling, twists in midair, and lands on her feet.
"That's so cool!" I say, recovering from my shock.
"Thanks. I do it by flipping my center of gravity." she explains.
"Instead of down, though, I make it go up!" she says.
"Cool. Well, I'm gonna go now." I tell her. I need a moment to recollect myself.

So Tarna can use the ground to defend herself, Rolly can send electric signals, Shiran can turn into animals, and Cassie can climb up walls and ceilings. Very neat. If for some reason someone ever attacks The Hideout, we'll be well protected. I change into my pajamas.
"Good night, Tech Guy." I say to Rolly, who is above me in our bunk bed.
"Good night, Shadow Boy."