The Powers

Chapter Twenty

Twenty

"Time to get up, sleepy head," someone giggled, and something soft and fluffy collided with my face. I sleepily opened my eyes and gazed up at Lillie, who had thrown a pillow, trying to get me to wake up.

     "A pillow?" I muttered drowsily, picking it up. "Really?"

     "Well, it got you up, didn't it?" Lillie responded.

     I laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." I sat up, stretching and yawning. My stomach grumbled.

     "Let's go get some food," Lillie offered, pulling me up.

     "You know I could just do this"-I snapped my fingers and a piece of toast appeared in my hand- "right?"

     Lillie stuck her tongue out at me. "Well, if you want to do it the easy way." I laughed and handed her the toast, more appearing in my hand instantly. We munched on it as we made our way to the breakfast tent-thing, still in our pajamas.

     "Is everyone who's going on the mission here?" Ashton asked as the two of us entered. He looked around at everyone, nodding before going on. "We'll leave a ten o'clock this morning, and I expect everyone to be ready." He looked at me, still standing in my pajamas. "And I mean everyone."

     "Okay," I murmured, turning and leaving the tent. "I'm working on it."

     I got ready and was standing outside of Ashton's office tent when the watch on my wrist showed that it was ten. I willed it away, not really liking watches much. I waited for Ashton to emerge.

     "Are you ready for today?" I asked him. We started walking to the breakfast tent.

     "Yeah," he said confidently. "I have a feeling it'll go well."

     I nodded. "That's good. We need it to go well."

     "Yep," Ashton agreed.

     We reached the group of other people going on the mission.

     "Okay, find your groups," Ashton called.

     I made my way to Nash, and reluctantly found Valerie as well. We stood together, waiting for further instructions from Ashton.

     "You're all very brave people," he said. "Thank you for volunteering. Now, let's go!"

     People started walking towards the entrance/exit, and Nash gripped my hand, also taking a hold of Valerie's as well. He teleported us, and then we were near the town square.

     "You guys ready?" Nash asked, letting go of our hands.

     "Definitely," Valerie replied, tossing her hair.

     "Of course," I answered.

     The three of us headed to the town square along with everyone else. I lost sight of Nash and Valerie in the crowd, but didn't bother looking for them. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack; there were too many people here, and I didn't want to make a scene.

     I stood in the crowd, standing on my tiptoes, trying to locate Nash, or Valerie, or someone else I knew. Nope. I saw no one I recognized. Sighing, I turned around and faced the front, where Phoenix would be appearing soon.

     Sure enough, there he was. He walked up to the podium, a cruel smile upon his face. He looked around at everyone in the crowd and nodded to himself. He turned to two guards behind him, whispered something, and then they disappeared. I had a sinking feeling that someone hadn't shown up, and Phoenix was sending his guards for them.