Six Percent

The Talk {Shadeye}

They were upset with us. I mean, I knew they'd be. We just decided that COE is more important to us than our own parents.

My dad's large, dark hands looked ready to strangle the life out of me the moment I was allowed to see my them. My mom, however, had tears dripping off her pale skin. My parents were exact opposites, so at least the atmosphere was neutral.

But even then, my brother and I were scared to death by the emotions rolling off them. I felt so bad, and I was upset too, but, I honestly didn't want to leave.

Mom had managed to bring Silhouette his knife collection, which was probably the biggest mistake in the world, considering what happened earlier that day with Moses and Evelyn. He was grateful, and stole our mom away to talk with her while I was left to suffer the wrath of my dad.

Emrya has been apologizing to her brother like her life depended on it, and hugging him so tight I was sure he was gonna explode.

Sapphire ended up getting into a heated argument with her father. In fact, it got so out of hand, that we were told to leave the area and let them have a private conversation.

I don't really know about everyone else, but it was hard telling Emily 'goodbye'. We made sure that she knew she wasn't going to remember a thing once she left, and Evelyn had gotten especially mad when Emily already knew.

"You're really that willing to just throw away the memories we made here?"

"I was willing to leave the moment Shadeye and Sapphire ended up in the hospital."

It hurt, really. And when I woke up the next morning and went to Cafeteria One, I felt anxious to see her face again. But now that I knew I was staying here for the rest of my life, I wanted to find out more about this place.

Were there more species of dragons? Or was it just the Gonons? How come they haven't left Kansas to spread their population? Why haven't I seen or ever heard of them?

Why were there so few adults here? I've barely met anyone above the age of twenty— why is that? Are people allowed to leave after a few years of being here?

And how is it that Lily can use more than one element? Is it because she's older than most other people I've met? Did you have to be a certain age? Meet a list of requirements?

Breakfast was quiet in the cafeteria, for once, and it felt really, really awkward. In fact, the atmosphere felt a lot more tense than yesterday's. Not even I could break this, even if I teamed up with Sil.

So my friends and I left early, wandering through the Center of Earth with nothing to do. We made small talk, and I was ridiculed for not shaving. 'Not the type of guy to grow a beard,' they said. Screw them, too. Geez.

"We should have a contest," Emrya suggested.

"Like what?"

"I dunno. See who's strongest?" She responds.

Evelyn grumbles, "It's against the rules to use our power on each other."

"Yeah, I doubt that's still a rule." I mumble right back, grasping my scarred ear.

"I wouldn't really want to fight anyways," Evelyn sighs, "and I don't want any of you guys getting hurt."

Aw, Evelyn. Always had a heart for others. But I had to admit, fighting right now doesn't seem like the best option right now after the whole thing from yesterday. A couple of us were still slightly shaken.

We eventually got into a conversation about Emrya and Calvin, and how disappointed she was that her boyfriend would never be able to meet her parents. Evelyn reassured her though, admitting that Moses managed to avoid meeting her parents as well. Just mentioning that fact, however, seemed to enrage my brother. He immediately grabs onto her wrist and starts marching off in the opposite direction, making the rest of the group stop and stare after them in shock.