The Experiment

Chapter I

"We have a problem," Katrina heard. She opened her eyes, ready to punch the police and find a way to escape, but the police's attention was drifting away from her.

As she took in the scene around her, she found that all the police were focusing on a boy her age next to her. He was sweating profusely and was being handcuffed by a police. Was he a Deviant, too?

The boy tried to kick and punch the police, but to no avail. Within moments, he had been apprehended and unceremoniously carried towards the police hovercar.

Underneath Katrina, her board jerked. The police had gotten ahold of their criminal, and everyone else, including her, was being released. She knew that she should get out of there before the police find out that she was a Deviant, too, but Katrina faltered.

There was a mutual agreement amongst Deviants to help each other out, especially when one gets arrested. Katrina knew that it was well within her capabilities to help the boy escape but was hesitant to risk her own life to help someone she didn't know. For all she knew, the boy wasn't even a Deviant, but instead a ruthless murderer. However, didn't the police say that they thought there was a Deviant in the area? Chances are, the boy was a Deviant.

Within a moment, Katrina's mind was made. She would help the boy.

"Fire!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. With a flick of her wrist, she created an illusion of a nearby skyscraper catching on fire. Smoke billowed into the sky, the flames roared and reached towards the sky, and despite the fact that it was an illusion, some people were already coughing from the smoke and sweating from the heat of the fire.

The police stopped, mouth agape at the sudden appearance of the fire. Their grip on the boy's arms loosened for a moment, but that was all Katrina needed.

She yanked the boy away and rendered both of them invisible. A clone appeared where the boy was. Every detail was perfect, down to the ragged edges of the boy's jeans and the pattern on his hoverboard. The clone appeared to be flying away, trying to escape in the confusion of the fire.

The police snapped their heads back, quickly starting a chase. They turned a corner and were gone.

Katrina could feel her head swimming. Black dots were appearing in her vision, and she knew that she couldn't hold the illusion for much longer. She hadn't made an illusion this big in ages and it was taking its toll. Katrina let go of the illusion of the fire and the clone, so that the only illusion she was holding was the invisibility one on her and the boy.

"Get out of here," she hissed at the boy. "Before they come back."

She could feel her invisibility illusion falling; nearby people were gasping and pointing at their flickering bodies. Their position was revealed. Katrina saw the police coming back, angrily flying towards them.

Karina urged her hoverboard to move, but it stayed still. She muttered a curse at her old, broken hoverboard as her illusion fell, leaving her and the boy in full view.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. "Get out of here, they're coming!"

"My hoverboard isn't moving," the boy replied hastily, running a hand through his messy blond hair. "Can't you do one of those fancy illusion things again?"

Katrina tried to pull together the last of her energy and create another illusion, but her energy was spent. She shook her head.

Although she was mentally exhausted from creating that illusion, her body was humming with energy. She glanced around her. They were still too high to jump to the ground, but there was a building under them, only about seven meters away.