I started to turn to look at the space the voice came from, but before I could, screens I hadn't noticed started playing videos… of us.
They replayed a few moments, all of them being where we put our abilities to good use.
"How did I not notice cameras?" Casey wondered aloud.
"Because we didn't use electricity to power them, darling." The woman said again.
We all turned our heads, looking at the woman. I had to strain my eyes to see her, as it was pretty dim in the room, the only thing lighting it was the screens.
She had dark purple hair tucked into a messy bun and fair skin, with eyes the color of silver.
She moved her arm to flick a switch behind her, and the room was washed in bright white light. It hurt my eyes, and I squeezed them shut. When my eyelids were no longer stained with green, I opened them.
The woman was still standing in the corner, watching us with narrowed eyes. I looked back at my friends and saw that they were looking at each other too. Casey and I met eyes, and though she was trying to hide it, I could tell she was scared.
I turned back to the woman and said, "Who are you? What do you want?"
She raised an eyebrow at me, as if questioning my tone, but finally opened her mouth and said:
"I am Selene, and you are here because we want your help. But before we could accept your help, we had to test you. To see how you would react in unlikely situations and hopefully" she put an emphasis on 'hopefully' "test the limits of your skills."
I looked back, and saw that everyone was looking either at the woman, or at the floor, probably questioning everything they just heard.
"What… exactly... do you want our help with?" Casey asked.
"Why, to help save Earth of course." She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. How the hell would we 'save Earth'? It's huge and we are four people.
I started to say as much, but Selene swiped her hand through the air and said "No more questions. We've wasted enough time. Put these on." She proceeded to reach into a box a few feet away from her and pulled out four robes, each in a deep purple.
She handed one to each of us, a simple pullover that we all put on immediately, happy to have clothes again.
"Now you, come with me." She pointed to Alex.
He looked at Jason, then at Casey, then at me, asking us with his eyes for help.
"I didn't mean next month, Mister Aerlin. Now."
He looked back at Jason, squeezed the hand he was holding, then let go. He followed Selene out a door, and she shut it behind them.
Casey, Jason, and I were too shocked to say anything to each other. We just stood there, grim looks on our faces and every bad scenario running through our minds.
About fifteen minutes later Selene came back through the door and demanded Jason follow her. He cleared his face of any emotion, and went through the door.
Casey and I were left alone. She sat down on the floor once the door shut again, and even though her face showed nothing, I could see her holding back tears.
I sat down next to her and took her hand in mine. I kissed the back of it, and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. She leaned into me, and let a few tears escape. I felt a few of my own fall, and Casey asked, "What do you think is gonna happen?"
I didn't have an answer to that question, so I said, "I don't know."
"How do we know they're not taking us to the slaughter?!" Casey exclaimed, her breathing getting heavier.
"Hey hey hey it'll be okay, Cas it'll be okay. We just have to have hope."
She looked at me, a mixture of shock and anger on her face. "How can you say that? We've been kidnapped, probably experimented on to give us superpowers, tested, and now there's a weird woman leading us through a door one. by. one. Tell me, does that not sound problematic to you?"
It did sound problematic, but it's not like we had any other choices. There's no button to go back through the first door, and I doubt we would get very far anyway.
I shrugged and said, "I'm sorry Cas, but I don't think we have much of a choice."
"We could-" she began, but then the door opened again. Selene gestured for Casey to follow, and she did, biting her tongue and crossing her arms.
I was left alone, sitting on the hard metal floor. I didn't want to think about what might be happening to Casey right now, so I put my hand flat on the floor and reached for the path that allowed me to manipulate Earth.
I wanted to see if I could take a piece of the metal, and I did. I came up with a palm full of pure steel. I inspected the amount in my palm, then let my eyes wander again. I found the spot I had taken the steel from, but there wasn't a divet in the floor. It looked just as it had. Did… did I pull metal out of thin air?
The door opened again, startling me out of my thoughts. I jumped up immediately, cupping my hands behind my back, hiding the piece of steel.
Selene led me through a little hallway, also lined with pure steel. Was everything in here made of steel?
She stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to face me.
"Now, before we go in, there are some rules to follow: stay where I tell you, don't talk unless spoken to, and when spoken to, tell the truth. We'll know if you lie."
Her last statement scared me, but I kept my face blank and nodded in agreement.
Selene turned back to the wall, and opened what looked to be a thermostat hatch, entered a six-digit code, and the wall spread open, like the rock behind the waterfall. What's with these people and their wall-doors?
Behind the door, there was what appeared to be a small auditorium, filled to the brim with others who looked like Selene. Pale skin, silver eyes, and purple hair. A couple people even had fiery red hair.
We came out at the side of the stage, a podium at the center front, and Selene whispered to me to stand on the small white dot a little behind her to her right.
"Now, for our fourth and final subject, named 'Luna Albert,'" she called in a loud, confident voice. "I believe she is what we've been looking for. She is an elemental, however not like others we have encountered." She grabbed a little remote from the podium and turned around. I followed her gaze, seeing a big T.V. that the whole auditorium would be able to see. She clicked a few buttons, replaying some moments involving me.
"Now you might be thinking, 'we've seen other elementals do this' or 'why exactly does that make her special?' Well, the answer to those questions is right here." She pressed a button again, this time replaying when I was left alone in the first room.
The audience gasped, many gaped, and I heard multiple 'how's' and 'impossible's'. I cocked my head, not understanding why this was gaining such a reaction.
Selene started again. "We have encountered other elementals, yes, however never have we encountered one that could pull pure elements out of oblivion." She turned her gaze back to me. "Luna, tell us, how did you pull the steel out of the floor and how did you put it back exactly as it was?"
I wasn't sure how to answer that question, so I shrugged and pulled my hands back in front of me, looking at the steel in them. "I dunno… I just… did?"
Selene didn't look satisfied, but she turned back around and pulled out a box from under the podium. She reached her hand into the box and handed a rock to me.
"Now tell me, can you identify what rock that is?"
I didn't know how I knew, I just did, and I said without hesitation, "granite."
Selene nodded her head, and I handed her back the rock. She pulled another out, and asked what it was again. "Limestone." I answered again.
She did this with five more rocks; fossilized coral, marble, obsidian, compressed dirt, and basalt. Then she pulled out a little gray rock, an expectant look on her face.
I didn't immediately answer, and slowly, her face fell. But I didn't immediately answer because something had clicked in my head, an itching feeling I couldn't quite scratch, and I was rendered speechless.
"It's Anorthosite…" I said, and Selene's face lightened. "Are… are we on the moon?" I asked reluctantly.
Selene looked impressed, and answered "Yes."
I just gawked at her, my mind boggled beyond conscious thought. I heard murmurs of approval from the audience as well.
"Now, how about we test her ability to manipulate water." Selene said.
Internally, I started to panic, while Selene pulled a small clear plastic cup out of the box.
"Miss Albert, fill this cup with water please."
I blinked, not sure if I heard her correctly. But she raised her eyebrows and wiggled the cup in front of me, silently conveying her point again.
I took the cup, clenching my teeth in frustration at her demands. But I did them anyway, afraid of the potential consequences.
I focused my eyes on the cup, willing for it to fill with water. Condensation grew on the sides, and I closed my eyes, following the path that allowed me to manipulate water.
I heard applause and hollers of approval.
I opened my eyes and saw that the cup was full of water. Yay me?
Selene also joined in on the applause, slow, melodic claps.
"Alright, now for testing her fire abilities." She called to the audience.
She pulled a candle out of the box this time. A plain white stick candle, like the kind you'd see in Renaissance paintings.
She held it out to me, and this time I took it without hesitation. I hadn't been able to test my ability over fire, so I didn't have a known path to anchor onto. But I searched anyway, picturing the candle lit and burning the wick and wax away.
The wick started to burn in front of me, like I had held a match to it. More applause and sounds of approval. "Nicely done." Selene said, taking the candle back and blowing out the flame, putting it back into the box. "Now for air."
"A breeze ought to do, Miss Albert." Selene told me.
Again, I closed my eyes and imagined a breeze, my brain getting caught on the air molecules around me. I reached an imaginary hand out to them, picturing them going across the room.
I'm guessing they did, seeing as I heard more approval from the audience. Selene joined in the clapping again. "Very nicely done, that's it for the tests."
Thank GOD.
Selene led me off the stage, to the left this time, and through a regular wooden door.
On the other side, was everyone else. Casey Jason, and Alex. I immediately ran into Casey's arms, getting swarmed by Jason and Alex too.
"AAAAA you guys!" I exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement. They jumped with me, and Casey planted a kiss on my cheek when I stopped jumping.
"Yes yes, the gang's back together, now come along I'll show you to your rooms." Selene said impatiently. God, does this woman have any patience?
She led us down more long hallways, passing up many doors, which I assumed were people's rooms, since a lot of them were decorated with posters, painted, or had decorations around the molding.
We finally stopped in front of four plain doors, all of us except Selene working to catch our breath.
"Now, these are your rooms, you can choose whichever one you like, and down that hallway," she pointed to an entryway a few doors down, "is the common area. There you'll get your meals and meet others like yourselves. Now get rest, and meet me back here in front of your doors at seven A.M. sharp."
Then she turned and left. She didn't look to make sure that we went into our rooms. I doubt she cared. She seemed most concerned with getting a reaction out of the audience in the auditorium. I did really want to go to bed, though.
"I guess I'm gonna crash," I said to the group.
"Same." Alex replied.
"Right there with you." Jason agreed.
"Yeah. Bedtime!" Casey said.
I went and hugged Casey, telling her goodnight, and bid the same to Jason and Alex before turning the knob to my new room and stepping inside.
It was pretty plain, it had the basics: a bed with plain black linens, a brick fireplace across from it with a white couch in front of it, and an open door leading to a pure white bathroom with a tub and shower combo and a sink. There was a wardrobe next to the bed, but it was empty. Maybe we had to go get stuff from the common area.
I checked the bathroom, wondering if that was empty too, but it was stocked. The cabinet under the sink was full with bathroom supplies. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrush, hair ties, headbands, and there was a box full of shampoo, conditioner, and bodywash as well.
I took the liberty of taking a steaming hot shower, basking in the feeling of it.
As I was showering, I wondered how I got these powers, when it felt 'as natural as breathing', as Casey had said. Casey thought we had been subject to experiments, but I had a feeling that they had always been there. But if they had always been there, then why couldn't I use them until now? Could I only use them on the moon?
These questions followed me as I finished my shower, dried myself off, and walked out of the bathroom, wrapped up in my towel like a burrito. There still weren't any clothes in the wardrobe, but I had an idea to fix that.
Plenty of clothes were made of cotton, and cotton is a plant, which I can manipulate, thanks to my newfound powers. So I should be able to make clothes, right?
The towel that was hanging on a rack in the bathroom was made of cotton, so I had a good anchor.
I pictured my favorite nightgown from home; a plain black cotton one, and imagined it on me again.
I stood straight and put my arms out, like I was being measured. I felt the now-familiar feeling of my powers being used in my head, and I opened my eyes to see that I had done it. I made clothes out of nothing!
I hopped in bed, ecstatic at my newfound ability to make clothes, and drifted off into the warm embrace of sleep.
Author's Note: to anyone who has made it this far, thank you for reading! Im glad you enjoyed the story! If you have any suggestions or want to see more of anything, feel free to let me know!