A/N: Hey guys! If any of you guys want to send me a cover for my book, I am excepting covers! (I have no idea how you send them to me, please message me if you do.) It's great working with all of you and remember to like any share this with your friends! The more feedback I get, the more I am inspired to write!
"Tell me everything."
I look across the round wooden table, and I am faced with the punk rock girl who leads us here. Thal carefully places her glass down on the table, and it doesn't make a sound. Thal slowly lowers her open hand to lay flat on the table. Her fascination shines through her eyes that fixate one me.
"Well," I say gingerly, "You know a couple of years ago when they locked us all away."
"W-wait," Thal kindly interrupts me, "Why did they lock you up..?"
"Um... Well..." I start, but Ember gracefully steps in.
She puts her hand in the air, "Think of something complicated."
"Um, okay. That's random. Are you going to read my mind or something?" Thal laughs, clearly thinking it's a joke.
Everyone stares at Ember and Ember gives a deadpan look to Thal.
"That's not complicated. That's basic algebra. Think of something a little more complicated. Or maybe something no one else knows," Ember throws a bored sigh, and props herself up on her right elbow. Thal, who is taken aback by Ember's crude comment, then shifts her eyes to the ceiling.
"That's a bit better," Ember reads her mind and smirks at the gaping Thal.
"What was it?" Naomi asks, who crosses her arms on the table.
"Just a little bit of music theory. You like music, huh?" Ember says with the most relaxed casual voice I've heard since we got off the truck, "Oh, and there go the frantic freaking out thoughts... Oh please don't scream... That hurts my ears..."
All the kids laugh at Ember's comment while Thal looks so shocked she's frozen, and Grandma holds a steady serious face.
"Anyway, apparently there were chemicals in the water when we were like three or four-years-old, and that changed the development of our brains. So now we've got these wacky powers, and everyone's is different. It's because there were different variations of the same chemicals in different places that gave us different abilities. So we're all from different places, and by seeing what ability someone has, you can tell from whereabouts the came from. Except for kids like me. They organized us by colors, and the kids like me got Gray... Hence the gray shirt. And there are six colors. Reds, Oranges, Yellows, Greens, Blues, and Grays."
"Oh!" Thal exclaims, "So you have one person for each color! That's cool! Like you each have different abilities!"
I look at Maddie, who's head drops slightly, and I feel the punch of Thal's words in my stomach, "Don't," Maddie looks at me with a pleading gaze.
"Yeah," I say to Thal, "One of each color... Right... Um... Continuing on, Reds read minds as demonstrated by Ember."
I watch Thal open her mouth slightly to make a comment about Ember's name and how her color is red like embers from a fire.
"Don't you dare say anything regarding my name and the color I got," Ember snarls and Thal closes her mouth.
"Oranges," My voice cracks in the middle of the word, as grief tries to cut off my vocal chords, "They have the power of telepathy. Oranges are known to move objects purely with their minds. Yellows have the power of mental manipulation. So, to break it down, they have mind control powers.
"Greens and Blues are a little confusing, so tell me if you need me to clarify something. I'm not the best at explaining all of this. There are two types of Greens. Strong Greens and Regular Greens. Regular Greens can speak any language, but when the scientists were asking them about it, they said the didn't speak any other language than their original one. Strong Greens had that same thing, but they were just a lot smarter than the Regular Greens. To tell them apart, the scientists gave them two different colored shirts. Strong Greens got a dark color, like Maddie, has. Regular Greens got a sort of grass green color.
"The same thing happened with the Blues with the Strong and Regular colors. Blue can talk to animals, and push images into someone's head. So one person could essentially see what the other person sees. Blues can, like, share memories with people. Regular Blues can just do the image thing, while Strong Blues can do that as well as talk to animals."
Cole raises his hand, "So to just to make this a little bit clearer, Maddie and I are the only 'Strong' colors here." Thal nods slowly, and I look at Grandma, who is following, but she looks like she's heard this all before.
"I'm a Gray. Now, with the chemicals in the water and stuff, everyone in a different place got a different power. Since Kayla is my sister, we grew up together, so I thought I was just like her, but it turns out that Grays pop up randomly when something gets really messed up. I don't know what. Neither do the scientists. Being a Gray, I can destroy things with my mind..."
Thal gapes, I don't think her jaw could drop any lower than it currently is. I scratch the back of my head and smile sadly because she doesn't even know the worst part about all of this.
"And, I avoid you touching me earlier, because, well... If I come in any physical contact with anyone, I'm forced to go through one of their memories. I know that sounds cool and all, but it's actually really painful. It makes my head all cloudy and stuff, and it really hurts."
Thal stops staring at me and closes her mouth. I can see from my side of the table, opposite her, that she begins to shake violently.
"Wait," Thal's voice shakes with her, "So you could kill me... By just thinking about it..?!"
I shift my eyes up for a moment, and bite my lower lip, "No, not exactly. You see, when you destroy something, if it's not alive, it's not much of an issue. But if it is alive, when you start to harm it, you begin to establish a mental connection with that thing. So if I were to try to beat someone up with my power, I would end up hurting myself just as badly. If I killed someone with my power, I would end up killing myself. So that's not something we tend to do... Like, ever."
Thal stops shaking, and relaxes a little, "Wait- Besides Ember, have any of you used your powers on me?!"
I think back a little ways, Ember, yes. Kayla used her charm, but that's not something that was about the chemicals.
"The only other person that could, without you knowing, you be Naomi... But it's fairly easy to tell when she uses her powers because people will randomly do something. With that information, I don't think so."
Kayla looks at me, and the nods like she wants me to continue to say something. I learn forward, and slightly turn my head to the left, indicating I don't understand what she wants me to do.
"Tell Thal about the rooms they put Grays in!" Kayla eagerly eggs me on from her spot next to Grandma.
"Oh, right," I mutter, "Grays can only destroy what we see, so they put us in mirrored rooms. The ceiling was mirrored, the floor, the door, all the walls. That's enough to make a normal person go crazy, let alone a kid. Most Grays were put through constant extreme isolation, which made them lose their sanity quickly. I was a lucky exception."
"And how come I've never heard of this before? How come I'm not affected by this?" Thal continues to ask questions, and the whole groups sighs because it feels weird to explain it when we all know exactly what the deal is.
I extend my arms to lay on the cool table, "You probably didn't know because the government tried to keep it on the down low, and the reason you're not affected is because once the scientists figured out that it was the chemicals in the water, they removed them. Simple. The mothers who gave their kids bottled water instead of tap and whatever were unaffected. But the kids who are affect are between the ages of nine and fifteen. So a six-year time gap, which is a lot of time to find out, lock the kids up, treat them inhumanely, and allow a few of them to escape."
Thal suddenly slams her hands down on the table, and she stands up violently, everyone except Cole and Ember flinched from the loud unexpected noise, "Who gave them the power to lock you up?! Who gave them the right to treat you like that?!"
I shrug carelessly because I don't really care, I've excepted it, "The government."
Thal releases a shrill of sudden hatred, and slams her hand against the table again, "Okay! That's it! Girls! Go wash up! We're going shopping!"
The four girls at the table all chatter excitedly, as they push away their chairs as they retreat to the bathroom, as Kayla leads them. I'm amazed she remembered so much, I don't remember anything at all about what my life was before I went to the lab and got locked away...
"Boys!" Thal calls in the same demanding voice, "Uh... Go... Hang out or something... I don't know... Wash up after the girls, I'm taking you two shopping next."
Thal looks at Grandma, "Linda? Is it alright if I pay? I have the savings for it."
Grandma shakes her head, "Fine, Thal. You can pay, but at least, bring me the receipt and let me pay half of it back to you. Fair?"
"Fair," Thal smiles and bolts off to go help the girls. Cole and I look at each other awkwardly.
"What do?" Cole asks as he looks around at the kitchen cabinets. I think I remember something now.
"Hey, Grandma," Grandma looks my way, "Do you still have the Wii and the Xbox?"
"Of course, Andrew! There in the same place as before. Just set the TV to Input 3 for Wii and Input 4 for Xbox," Grandma then pulls out a large book and begins to read it.
Cole and I get up, and I grab my glass as we leave. Grandma's house still looks the same. It's one of those things that when you see it you remember what it looks like and stuff. I walk over to the cabinet, and I hear Cole flop onto the couch.
"Holy cow!" Cole says, and I turn to see him halfway devoured by the brown couch, "I didn't think I was going to sink this far into the couch! Andrew, as soon as you get me a control come try this!"
I grab a black Wii control, and a white on, and slide 'Mario Kart Wii' into the game slot. I run toward the couch and twist and flop on it, and shortly after I feel myself inclosed with a mammoth memory foam couch.
After about two and a half hours, Thal and the crew wander back, but each girl wears the same clothes, "Alright, girls! Go change so we can see!" Grandma calls, and the two youngest girls go bouncing off to change, and the two oldest girls saunter that way.
"Come on, Bowser! GO! WAIT NO. STOP. NOT OFF THE EDGE!" I scream at the TV, and Cole's eyes are glued to the TV.
"Haha! Sucker! I told yah Toad was better!" Cole engages in my banter.
"I hate Rainbow Road. Officially," I growl at the track we've been trying to master for the last fifteen minutes.
"Dude, Rainbow Road is by far the best one!" Cole sneers back at me, and he jerks his controller upwards before the first girl comes out from getting changed.
Ironically, it was Kayla who got changed first. Apparently she had bought a light gray jacket, (Stop laughing. It's not funny anymore... Seriously.) and she got a green shirt with the faded green earth smiling. She has blue jeans and black converse with white laces, "Okay, not bad," I comment on Kayla's choice. I'm fashionable for a teenage boy. No, really. I am.
Naturally, Naomi was the next to bound out. This time, Naomi was in a white shirt, with some great big tower in France, that I can't remember the name of. It's been a long time, okay? She has light, light, faded blue jeans that hug her legs tightly, and white shoes.
"White shoes?" I raise an eyebrow at her, "Really?"
Naomi gasps and puts a hand in the center of her chest, "But they go perfectly with it! How could you say something like that?!"
I roll my eyes to the ceiling, and think about all the running we do regularly, and how they're gonna get dirty (and probably bloody) really quickly. Then she's gonna be upset about it, and then here we are again.
"No! You go first! But, I really don't want- Ugh, fine," Ember's voice drifts down the hall, and I look at Cole with a 'girls,' look.
Ember stomps down the hall, in combat boots much like Thal's. The first thing that catches my eye is the jean jacket, and I begin to nod in approval, "Black shirt," I note, and I give Cole a dangerously sly look, "Called it."
"Okay, okay, we get it," Ember spits, and I look at her jeans. Wait- that's not jeans... Oh God. Leather?! Seriously?! Leather? Come on.
"Are you kidding me, Ember? Leather pants?" I gape at her stupidity. We'll be on the move. After all, we are lab escapees, does she not think we're not going to be sought after?
"Calm down, nimrod," Ember rolls her eyes and put a hand on the hip of her leather pants, "I got normal jeans, too."
I roll my eyes, and lean back into the couch that gladly swallows me whole again. Maddie listens for the end of the conversation before attempting to come out.
She comes into my line of sight, and I notice unlike everyone else, Maddie has two jackets. One is a army green and the other is underneath, in a clean beige color. Her t-shirt underneath is such a light shade of gray it could be considered white in the right light. She's got fresh dark, dark blue jeans that hug her legs like Naomi's. And she actually got her hair down. I think that's the first time I've ever seen her with her hair down.
I look at her choice of footwear, as it's just as important as the rest of the clothes. Solid black Vans, good choice.
I nod, "I like it," I look over all the girls, and they don't look bad at all.
"You all look very lovely," Grandma says from behind them, and Maddie scratches the back of her neck nervously.
Thal looks more than pleased with herself, "Alright, boys. You're next."
Cole and I looked at each other, knowing this is the most dangerous and scariest we've done yet.
"I'm not ready for this," Cole says to me.
"I'm not either," I admit, "Oh crap. Here goes my dignity..."
A/N: I don't own any of the pictures, I stole them from the internet. I dont have any of the rights to any of the pictures or sneaky little references or companies I use here. ;)
Oh hey! We have a winner from the contest!!! @--BooksAreLife-- ! Congrats! The contest is now closed, and thank you to everyone who took part in the contest!!!