Genesis | Book One, The Genesis Series

SIX

About an hour later, in the lounge, while Leo flopped down on the couch, Amber stayed standing up, pacing back and forth, which triggered a worried look from the guy. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Amber replied, "just cold."

"How the hell are you cold? It's nearly 80 degrees in this room." Leo asked, thinking that she might've just had the chills.

Normally a man of few words, he felt this strange sensation in the presence of Amber, one that he had never encountered upon meeting any other individual.

She just had a certain aura around her, an aura of comfort, optimism, and tranquility-one which he could feel. He felt like she was the only one he could truly open himself up to.

"I....I have no idea." Amber replied, not wanting to accept the possibility of her manifesting abilities like Kai's. To her, it seemed that she was living through a situation ripped straight out of a comic book, and that was too much for her to believe.

And what would happen if she did have powers? She had so much bottled up negativity inside of her for so long, that she was afraid that one day she would just snap, becoming the very thing she despised-becoming like Bianca.

A heavy percentage of that boiling rage was centered around that terrible girl. She couldn't possibly count the days she'd skipped school to avoid the girl's malicious teasing, or the late nights that she'd stayed up crying her eyes out because of Bianca's crude treatment of her.

She then realized that she had to make a choice between 2 paths. One would end with her standing up to Bianca, finally embracing her own self-worth.

The other, however, would end with Amber constantly trying to please others and yearning for their approval.

And she had to make this choice soon, because it was tearing her apart.

As Kai stood in the bathroom washing his hands, still perplexed by his astonishing new abilities, he began to wonder if this was meant to happen.

What if this is what was meant to happen to him, to all of them? Some sort of higher calling? This could be his chance to come into his own. Before, he didn't know if he believed in some sort of higher power or not.

But that was before he'd found out that his skin could stop a 22 caliber bullet with ease. He imagined how many people he could help with his new abilities. The many catastrophes he could prevent. But he had to learn how to use them first.

He was questioning his beliefs. But, to be fair, he was questioning everything at the moment.

As his thoughts flowed like a river, he jolted as he heard a boy's piercing screams coming from down the hallway.

Outside, in the lounge, Leo and Amber had heard it as well. As she peered through the foggy glass, she began to make out what was happening.

Adam, the new kid, was holding his head as if he were in immense pain, as men in white lab coats rushed from all sides. "What the hell was that?" Kai asked, briskly exiting from lounge bathroom as he softly pushed the door open, nearly taking it off the hinges.

As Adam's screams of pain traveled out of his mouth, Kai, Leo, and Amber watched in horror as the doctors lifted him up onto a stretcher, rolling him down the hallway, with him screaming all the while.

"Oh my god. Is he gonna be okay?" Amber said, trembling in horror as she slowly backed up from the foggy window.

Kai stepped forward, wondering whether he should help Adam or not, but ultimately decided against it. Adam was safe under the care of the doctors, and he knew he couldn't leave Leo and Amber in that room, defenseless. They hadn't even unlocked their powers yet, and he barely knew how to use his.