Resilient

Chapter 1 Amber

Amber looked around her cold barrack, metal bunk beds were piled on top of each other all over the room. All of them but a few were unused. Dust trickled from the ceiling into the enclosure. There were no windows for natural light on the peeling grey walls, instead there was a flickering lightbulb in the middle of the ceiling covering the room with a dim glow, and cobwebs were strung in the corners of the room. Amber walked to her bed leaving a dusty trail of footprints behind her, she adjusted her covers and slipped into them, the bed creaked loudly as it became accustomed to her weight.

She rubbed her head to ease the dull pounding behind her eye. Headaches were common for her because she was born with two elements under her control. Meaning that her body was constantly battling for which element she should use. Elements were a gift that was passed down in her family, her ancestors were born with supernatural powers that they could use for good or evil, and they talent down to their kids and so forth. Eventually it reached their parents, and then to her and her sister. But before they were born, something had occurred that had not happened for centuries. Two elemental families were brought together by love or fate, no one seemed to know. Her mother and father were born in two different elemental groups. Ambers dad's side of the family was water, and her mom's side was air. Together their children would be super powerful, and Sky was powerful indeed, but their second child was an irregularity, instead of having one super powerful element, she had two under her control.

She was jealous of her sister Sky, who only had one element, which was air, but Sky didn't have to deal with constant headaches, additional she was good at her element, while Amber was just the pain that got in the way, who didn't know how to control one of her elements, much less two. Amber silently scolded herself. She shouldn't blame Sky for her predicament, it was just so easy to be jealous of Sky who had family members adoring her from all sides.

But it wasn't like no one payed attention Amber, they always told her that it was so cool that she had two elements, but their look always suggested that they didn't know what to do with her.

Amber turned her thoughts somewhere else not wanting to dwell on how lousy she was. Instead she focused on her life working for the C.I.A. Her family had traded her and her sister to the government to repay the family debt. She had been on several missions for the C.I.A. most of them involving her being the decoy. Because of her powerful aura she was able to shut down camera systems and people were more likely to come after her. She didn't get how either of those things worked, but they did.

She held open her hand, and watched as a water bubble appeared, swirling around to stay in form, she concentrated a little harder and a miniature hurricane appeared. Hurricanes, the one thing she was good at, yet nobody needed them. She only told Sky about this power, she didn't tell the C.I.A. because she didn't want them to have any more leverage on her than they already did.

She reached for the light switch next to her bed. She didn't have to wait for Sky to get back because she was on a late night mission. Sky went on twice as many missions as her. Which suited her just fine, she didn't want to be a decoy anyways. Amber shifted into a more comfortable position on her bed, and drifted into a deep sleep. Immediately she dreamed she was back at the house the night she and her sister were sent away.

...

The wind rustled through the trees and a crow cawed from somewhere outside the Aaron dwelling. Amber and Sky sat together on the couch watching the sun go down through the window. The sky was bright orange and beautiful. And the girls were in awe of it.

Both of their parents were sitting uncomfortably at the table tapping their feet and looking nervous, they quietly stole quick glances at their daughters before immediately looking away. But Amber and Sky were too busy looking at the magnificent sunset to notice that something was wrong. Amber was just about to point out the deep red color the sky had become when there was a knock on the door.

Both of their parents got up abruptly like they were expecting this. Amber and Sky turned themselves around from their spot on the sofa to face the doorway.

"Coming." Amber's dad said gruffly. He opened the door slowly and cautiously as if holding a motion bomb. Two uniformed men stood outside the door looking very odd with their backs facing the calm background of the girls neighborhood. One was very tall and thin with a straight mustache, and the other was short and grubby looking holding a stack of folded paperwork.

"May we come in?" The taller one asked.

"No." Replied Amber's mother shortly glaring at the two men. Both men were apparently not expecting this response and were briefly a loss for words. The taller one quickly recovered and cleared his throat.

"I assume you know why we are here then," he asked crisply, his voice oozing authority. When neither of Amber and Sky's parents responded he filled the silence by taking more papers from the shorter man and handing them to the girl's parents, "you have failed to pay your taxes and bills for around two years and we can no longer extend your time to fix your mistakes, and because of your failing to do so, by order of government you must be removed of your current location, and your two daughters will be moved to a foster home. And if no legal guardian picks them up in six weeks, they will be brought in to work for the government." He continued to smile sickly. "We will pick them up at dawn tomorrow."