Power (Book 1)

Chapter 37

Chills crawled up my spine.

"The camera went back to the reporter. "Ooh, I'm glad I'm not the culprit. I almost wet my pants just listening to that," she said with an awkward smile. "Back to you, John."

I didn't pay attention after that. I expected Sage to bust in the door at any second screaming for me to get on the ground. The fact that she was with the police didn't surprise me very much. As long as she was working for the Master, anything was possible. The only thing stopping her from coming in here was the fact that she had no proof. She probably knew I had caused this. Seriously, not many people can run fast enough to create a black hole, and to make matters worse, everyone at school had suddenly found out that a kid randomly got speed powers and the ability to turn into diamond. Life was not on my side right now.

I should've just kept my powers on the down low like my parents asked me too. But no, I had to go out and be like everybody else. All of this didn't even start until I began to use them.

I fell asleep wondering what life would've been like if I had never gotten powers. Mom and Dad would still be here, safe and sound. I would never have known about Sage, but I might've been better off like that. She was a crazy bitch. She tried to kill me twice.

That night, I dreamed about Cassie. We were sitting under a tree, the sun glinting off the leaves and tiny patches reaching us through the branches. She was sitting in my arms, her head tilted upward. She was smiling.

I was smiling, too. I was just glad to be there. All of my worries were gone. There was just...us. Me and Cassie. Nothing else mattered.

*****

I woke up longing for the dream to come back to me. I wanted it so bad. I wanted her.

I shook the feeling off and got ready for school. I put my watch back on as well.

I opened the door carefully. I expected someone to be waiting on the other side, but surprisingly, there wasn't. Jake didn't...actually, where was Jake? I hoped he didn't come to school. Assuming he was back in his right mind, that would be a long conversation that I didn't want to have with him.

Once at school, I kept an eye out for Cassie and Jake. Somehow, I expected Cassie to be there, but she wasn't. In fact, she didn't show up for the whole day, which worried me. Neither did Jake.

In Phys-Ed we practiced stretching and form exercises for running. I really paid close attention, because I didn't want to pull a muscle going at 100 miles an hour and end up killing myself.

After school, I headed over to Afterlight and asked around about Que or Blink. Everyone shook their heads or said that they saw them yesterday.

I was beginning to worry. Blink and Que were missing, and Jake could be anywhere as long as he was out of it. Cassie didn't come to school today.

The most logical thing to do would be to go to Cassie's house and ask her mom if she was alright.

It took me a few minutes to get to Cassie's house. I knocked on the door. No one answered, so I rang the doorbell. Again, no one answered.

I knocked harder, hoping someone could hear me. Then, the door swung inward.

I debated whether or not I should go inside or stay out and wait, but it was obvious that someone wasn't coming to get the door. I took a chance and went inside.

Everything was the way I remembered it. There were no overturned chairs, broken china or glass. The house was in perfect condition. But I guess it would've fixed itself again after anyone was done wasting it.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" No response.
I went upstairs to Cassie's room, but no one was in there.

I started to panic. Not Cassie, too.

I was starting to see a pattern here. First, my family got attacked. My mom went missing, and my dad was put in a coma. Then, Afterlight. Mckenzie, a girl who I had barely known, was killed, which put Adam in a depression. After that, Cassie's family. Her dad tried to kill me, and he went missing. Sage 'died,' and I came really close to death- I would've died, if not for the nanobots' help in saving me. What happened at the gym, too. I had created a black hole that almost killed me and Que. Cassie saved us, but at the expense of her health. Lastly, the fight with Jake, which probably cost me our friendship. I mean, how could I mercilessly punch my best friend like that and not even look back when it was over?

The only thing in common with all of those events was me. Wherever I went, bad things happened.

I trudged out of Cassie's house angry at myself for letting her get hurt. If I had never met her, she wouldn't have to deal with this right now.

I looked up. Something fluttered into my vision a few feet away and glided onto the ground. I approached it. It was a piece of paper.

On it were two words. "It's time," it said.

Suddenly, a blur of white lightning streaked by.

No, I thought. She wasn't getting away from me this time.

I starting running.