[ 7:21 AM ]
"have either of you shot a gun before?" i ask, unzipping the duffels on the bed in front of juniper and her girlfriend as gray drives us toward washington.
the two eye me attentively watching my hands as i fiddle with each gun pulling them out of the bag.
apple sits in the front seat next to gray while matt sits in the three seater.
it's a different atmosphere in the van. an almost readiness of sorts. maybe not all the way truthful with their confidence, but i admire the determination.
"with my daddy when i was younger," juniper tells me, "nothing recent though."
"i'm more recent. i used to frequent the gun range," junipers girl says.
"sorry, i never got your name," i bring up.
"persephone."
"bringer of destruction," i smile, nodding.
"that i do," she smiles back.
"that's what i want to hear!" i praise.
"so what is going on exactly?" juniper asks. "i just want answers."
"from my perspective, the government decided to blame dominic and i for the virus."
"right. dom explained that to us. he said he knew patient zero," persephone tells me.
"yeah, but what they don't know is that we have powers," i say.
"i'm sorry what?" persephone questions.
"i should've been more clear. juniper, dominic, apple and i have powers," i say.
"alex has powers too," apple speaks up from the front.
"what? how do you know that?" i ask, turning toward her.
"when she visited me..." juniper trails.
"i saw him in my happy place! dommy too. he didn't recognize me though. he yelled at me," apple explains.
"happy place? you spoke to dominic?!" i question. "when?"
"mmm i'm not sure. i told him we were coming for him. i tried to get him to remember but he didn't let me help him!"
"apple why didn't you say anything?"
"i-i don't know..."
"dominic knows we're on the way," i realize. "this changes everything."
"what is happening?!" juniper questions. "i'm so confused!"
"same here," persephone adds on.
"when dominic and i met we were "normal". when we touched, i think that's how our powers "activated". this is just my opinion because dominic touched apple and her powers appeared, same with me to you," i point to juniper.
"so i-i have powers? what- what can i do?" juniper asks.
"i don't know. i don't even know all that i can do. apple is the only one that's just understanding hers. i think they come out in survival mode situations."
"that sounds promising," she unevenly says.
"it's... i know that it's not much to go off on or even where to begin with what you've found out anyway. i don't know much about myself or where they even came from. everything was happening so fast," i tell her. "i just need to get to dominic. i'm sorry for dragging all of you into this."
"don't," juniper states, shaking her head.
i grab two .45s and pass them to her. i grab another two and pass them to persephone.
her thumb lands on top of my hand.
i gasp as flashes of her life- from birth until this very moment- play out in segments and pieces. all of her happiness, her hurt, ambition, love, hatred, it courses throughout me.
when it ends, i come to; my body on the floor of the van.
"what the fuck just happened?!" persephone questions, untangling herself from juniper on the side of the van.
i look around and see matt picking himself up off the van floor as well.
"ray! give me a warning next time!" grayson yells.
"hey!" persephone yells grabbing my attention, "what the hell did you just do to me!"
"it's- i call it Pure Soul Finder- still working on the name. it happened with grayson the first time we touched too," i explain, standing.
"what about him?" she asks, pointing to matt.
i roll my eyes.
"he's a special case."
"what- what did you do to me?"
"i didn't do anything. i just... read your soul? i'm not sure!"
"you're not sure?! you could've given me something!"
"i did it to both grayson and matt and nothing happened. i can just feel things- everything."
"that's so cool!" juniper whispers. "can i do that?"
"maybe, i don't know," i shrug.
"what can you do already?" she asks, looking at me with admiration or something.
i take a seat on the edge of the bed facing them.
"i can shoot red electric balls from my hands, and they do damage. turn to ashes damage. i have telekinesis, and some type of electric blast," i tell her. "OH! and-"
hello.
juniper screams and plants a hand over her mouth.
i try not to laugh at her reaction.
"what? what?" persephone questions.
"she spoke to me in my mind!" juniper exclaims, looking at me wide eyed.
"telepathy?!" persephone asks, looking at me.
"what about apple and dominic?"
"apple has invisibility, heal nature, super hear, and somehow communicate with you through dreaming," i say.
"astral projection?" juniper questions.
"yeah... yeah! she can astral project! that's exactly it!" i realize.
"and dominic?"
"force field and can control electricity currents."
"oh my god," she smiles, "we're cool!"
"kind of. we don't know how we're this way, why or even how much we're capable of," i tell her.
"that doesn't matter. i mean it does but we can do extraordinary things. have you explored more?"
"not as much as i should've with the government on my back."
"that's the perfect time!"
"they did come in handy the moments that i needed them. wingin' it seems to be the running theme here so whatever happens, happens," i say.
"this is our leader?" persephone questions.
"that's what i've been saying!" matt interjects.
"i've warned you about what could go down. i've apologized for it."
"stop!" juniper groans. "meeting you guys feels... right. helping you feels right. if i may speak for everyone, we don't have much left and you're giving us hope and fight. dominic needs help. he helped seph and i when he didn't need to, so we owe him. and to be frank, i think we owe it to ourselves to prove how far we can push ourselves."
i nod at her.
"this is going to be heavy shit we're going to walk into."
"do you have a plan?" persephone asks.
"some ideas but it would be very helpful for someone to assist in a solid proof plan," i throw out, hoping they don't throw the responsibility on me just like gray and matt have been doing.
"i think..." persephone starts.
"i think i have something," the couple states in unison.
"you two do that often?" i ask.