~ Before the Clock Struck One ~

Chapter 10

Alex grinned impishly.

"If you are eliminated, you can rejoin the game when your team flag is captured. If you are caught, you must stay within your captor's 'jail' until one of your own team members can reach you. Cecilia, you may not sneak out and return to free your team. Understand?"

Cecilia nodded solemnly, and then turned her face away to hide her smile.

"Lastly, if your team flag has been captured, your team must join ranks with the team that captured it. If you are stealing the flag of a team that already has several flags, you must take their personal flag last. One person can only take one flag at a time. The game ends when one team has captured all other flags."

At Technicia's signal, the five teams ran off into the forested mountain ranges to stake out their territory and battle it out.

The first thing Aaron did, once they were safe in their section of the woods, was get to know his team-mates' powers. He learned that Todd could shape-shift into any animal; Peter could create and control fire; Scott was a telepath; and Carmen could become intangible at will.

Since he was new, they decided to also warn him about the powers that some of the members of other teams had.

Ivory and Alex, he already knew; Cecilia (Todd's fiancée) could become invisible – and had therefore earned the nickname "Cece" as a pun based on "see-see"; Sophia could control the weather; Luke could shape-shift into other people; Ivy had the ability to control plant life; Technicia was basically a super genius, especially when dealing with technology; Musica could create and conduct electricity; and Lily could control water.

They went on and on and on until they had listed off the powers of each member of the Watchers. Aaron wasn't sure if he could remember it all, but he was willing to try.

At the sound of another signal from Technicia, the team split up to do what they could do best. Todd shifted into the form of a small red squirrel and – after skittering up a tree in the blink of an eye – ran off to see if he could find the location of another team's flag. Carmen sprinted off in the other direction to look for flags as well. Peter, Scott, and Aaron stuck around to guard their flag.

Cody was just in the process of getting to know his team better when the signal had come to start the game. Musica and Lily (upon hearing that Cody had only mastered being able to control one person at a time) decided that they could guard the flag much better then he could.

"Watch and learn," Musica told him when he expressed scepticism.

Once Ivy had created a large depression in the ground, Lily stabbed the short flag pole into the center of it and filled it to the brim with groundwater. Musica sat down on the edge of the shallow pool, dipped her hand into the water and sent a current of electricity flowing through it. Now the flag was nothing more than a thin tower in the center of a small electrified pond.

Musica smiled up at him from her seat by the pool. "See? Simple."

Ivy shook her head in mock disappointment at Cody's lack of faith in his female team mates, and then dashed into the woods to search for any intruders.

Luke was laughing his head off. "Come on, Cody. Let's go see if we can capture any flags to add to that booby-trapped puddle."

They jogged through the forest together for a while, until Luke informed him that they were reaching the edge of their territory. They slowed down and began to creep through the dense growth, constantly alert for any sign of their opponents.

Suddenly, it began to get very dark. Cody looked up and saw black clouds boiling above them.

"Is it going to be safe playing in these woods during a lightning storm?" he asked, worried.