*2 weeks later*
"Joel, get up. Wake up!" Damon says.
"Ok ok. I'm up" I reply.
When I roll over, I see Damon staring down at me. It's nice that he's back, but he's just not the same. He's gloomy and depressed. He just got back yesterday, and since yesterday was a Sunday, he hasn't got much time in that class he likes so much. I get ready quickly and met Damon in the hall.
"Well, I'll see you later" He says to me before turning and walking down the hallway, disappearing out of my sight when he turns the corner.
I feel so bad for him. It had to be so hard on him. He almost didn't get to come back to the academy, and like me, this school is a huge part of his life. I'm sure he'll be better in no time. He will be his happy, crazy, and hilarious self.
The day goes by pretty quick as usual. The day never felt so fast at my old school. The days there seemed to last forever. Damon was better in 7th hour though. Clearly that class is good for him. Speaking of the class, does he know what happened? The thing I had to tell the class. Maybe I should tell him, or maybe I shouldn't. Should I really give him anymore to stress about? Now that I think of it, there is so much we have to tell him. He still doesn't know Kal is under the school, confined in a super villain prison. I don't think he could handle that right now. I still have trouble grasping onto it.
I walk into my room and find Kaitlyn and Damon sitting on his bed and holding hands. They must've heard me come in because they both turned around pretty quickly.
"Hey Joel. What're you doing here?" Kaitlyn asks.
"Uh. I live here. This is my room" I reply back.
"Oh. Yeah. Well, I gotta go. Damon, I'll see ya later" She says as she places a kiss on his head and walks quickly out of the room.
"Sorry. We were just hanging out" Damon says, standing up and walking towards the bathroom.
"No need to explain. It's all good" I say.
Damon closes the door behind him when he goes into the bathroom. I find myself gazing out the window at the forest. The forest is so odd. There is something about it that leads me to believe that no matter how many mysteries we solve involving the forest, there will always be more. It seems like there are so many secrets hidden there. Just as I finish my thoughts, they flood back in when I see a group of people heading into the woods. Mr. Hall and 4 other staff members. I open the window and carefully remove the screen. Just as my feet touch the grass, I hear a door open.
"Joel? Where are you? And why is the window open?" Damon asks.
Damon's head pokes out the window and I try to hide, but he notices me up against the building.
"What are you doing?!" He asks loudly.
"Shhh, and I'm following them" I say, pointing at the group that is just entering the forest.
"Then I'm going with you" he says.
"Damon no. Last ti-" I try to say.
"Listen to me. I am going. Now hurry up" He says as he jumps out of the window, putting the screen back up and closing it behind him.
We run to the woods, but remain alert in case anyone is watching. When we come to the entrance, we notice footprints. It won't be hard to follow them. We follow the tracks for about 15 minutes when all of a sudden, they split up. Only 2 paths now, but Damon and I agree we can't separate. We head down the left path. Luckily, we were right about that. The group from before stands in the middle of the clearing. A hatch on the ground opens up and they walk in. The hatch door begins to close when I get the idea. I use my power and move a small rock just under the corner of the hatch door.
"Nice, but how are we gonna open it now? We can't fit through that little slit" Damon says, making his way over to the door.
Focusing on the door, I finally get that feeling. The feeling that I am holding onto the door but I'm really not. It's so peculiar how this power works and it's hard to explain. I start to raise the door, but it's really heavy. When I get the door up high enough, Damon reaches under and helps pull the door up. After heaving for awhile, the door clicks a couple times and seems to be locked in place. We'll get caught if they see the door like that. We can just try to get back before they see. Damon and I creep into the weird underground cavern. It's pitch black until Damon creates a ball of fire and holds it in his hand. There isn't much light, but it'll do. There's this annoying sound. It sounds like buzzing, but not bee buzzing. More like machine buzzing. We come to a large door. The sound seems to be coming from the other side.
"Damon, what if they're in there?" I ask.
"Use your telepathy. Just focus on what's on the other side of the door, then listen for anything. Maybe you can get into their thoughts" he says.
I do as he suggests. After a minute or two of silence, we decide it's safe to go in. That's a lot of trust in my power of you ask me. Damon pushes the door open. The room is empty, except for a large machine in the middle of the room. That's where the sound is coming from. Damon walks up to the machinery.
"It says it's a heating and cooling system, but I don-" I start to say.
"I know why. We should've told you. The school has a prison down here, and it's full of super villains" I explain nervously.
"You mean Kal is in here?" He asks with anger filling his eyes.
"Yeah he is, but c'mon. Let's just stay calm about this" I reply back very panicky.
Damon rushes out of the room and down a path we had not taken yet. I chase after him trying to stay quiet. I finally catch up to him as he stops in front of a flight of stairs. He turns to me and glances, then dashes down the stairs. I follow him again. We come upon one of the most horrifying things I have ever seen. A large room, prison cells everywhere. The screaming is painfully loud. How did we not hear that until we got here. Then I realize, they are screaming at us. They see us. I turn to Damon.
"Let's go. We need to leave, now" I say.
"No! I'm finding Kal" he states.
A door on the other side of the huge room opens. The group walks out and Damon and I hide just in time.
"Now can we get outta here?" I ask quietly.
"Fine" he finally agrees.
The staff is distracted by something and we take the chance to run. We finally make it back to the school, out of breath, but still full of adrenaline. We gather all our friends into our room. Just as we sit down, the intercom comes on.
"Students and staff, please meet in the cafeteria for an important announcement" says a voice that sounds much like Mr. Hall.
Our group walks to the cafeteria. Did I mention Kylee has kind of joined the group? Everyone's okay with it, so no problem there. Anyways, we sit at our regular table. Mr. Hall stands at the front with a microphone to his mouth.
"The announcement today is about the tournament. It's been rescheduled and will now be held next week. I hope you are all prepared. We have had extra training time, but so have they. Remember, they will kill. We do not purposely kill unless we have to. Keep up the training. I'm sure we will win once again. Enjoy the rest of your day" he finishes with a sigh and leaves the room.
"I still don't think we should approach this normally" Damon says.
"How should we approach it then?" Kylee asks.
"I think we should get into their ranks. I don't know, but that way we aren't walking into what could be a suicide mission" Damon suggests.
"Oh. Guys, I like the idea. Anyone else?" Adam says.
The group looks amongst each other, then they all nod their heads.
"So we have an agreement?" Adam asks for confirmation.
"Yeah" the whole group says together.
After a little more discussion, the group breaks off. Let's do this.
--------------------------------------------------------
If anyone got to a part that said "the forest is so" and ended there, that's because I accidentally published the story and didn't realize until someone asked me about it, but anyways, hope you enjoy the story and please leave comments on any ideas or mistakes, because clearly, I make a lot of those. Byee!!!