The figure presses me against a tree and covers my mouth. They stand in the shadow, so I am unable to see their face or whether they are a man or a woman. "So you know about our type?" I nod my head, unsure of what they are talking about. The figure looks away and sighs before stepping closer to me. Now in the light, I can see that he has black hair that are complimented by his swirling gold eyes. He lets go of me and looks around.
"My name is Derrick. What might yours be?" I brush out the pieces of bark that are stuck in my hair. "My name is Mandy, and how do you know about my..." powers"?" He starts to walk off. Not knowing what to do, I follow him.
"Hello? Derrick? I was talking to you." He looks over his shoulder at me. "I may or may not have been following you." He smiles slyly before looking forward. I roll my eyes in disgust. He stops suddenly and I run into him. I fall to the ground as he turns around and looks at me with a deadly serious stare. He snaps his fingers and a mini tornado appears on the tip of his thumb.
"I have powers, too." He shakes his hand and makes the tornado disappear. I stare at him as he comes over and helps me up."Come on. They're waiting."
He continues to walk deeper into the forest. "So wait. You're saying that there's more like us?" He nods his head as I hurry to catch up to him.
"So how many do you have?" His voice floats back to me. "What?" He looks over his shoulder at me again. "You know? Powers?"
"Um, three I think. I didn't think about counting them because I wasn't sure what was going on with me." He rolls his eyes at me before looking forward again.
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Soon, we reach a cave with a big rock blocking the entrance.
"Stop. We're here. They're in there." He stops and points at the cave. "How are we supposed to get in? The entrance is..." My voice trails off as he goes up and moves the stone with ease.
"Fake rock. Pretty convincing, right?" He smiles at me as I go into the cave after him. Once we're both inside, he moves the fake rock back over the entrance. I look around the interior. Moss hangs on the moist walls and ceiling. The floor has small stalagmites growing out of them. Derrick goes a little deeper into the cave and grabs a flashlight hidden in one of the cracks in the wall. He hits it a few times before the bulb finally decides to flicker on. The beam of light illuminates the drops of water that drip from the ceiling.
"Come on. It's not that far." The light gets smaller as he goes deeper. I run to catch up with him. I tighten my jacket and cross my arms in an attempt to keep warm. Derrick seems unaffected by the coldness as he continues walking.
The beam bounces off of the walls, casting shadows everywhere. I move closer to him, but he doesn't seem to notice.
Soon, we reach a metal door placed into the end of the cave. As we approach it, I notice that there is light glowing through the bottom of the door. He turns off the flashlight and knocks a pattern on the door.
"What's the password?" A female voice echoes from the other side of the door. Derrick sighs and rolls his eyes. "Sage, you and I both know that there is no password." I hear the lock behind the door be undone. The door creaks open and reveals the space behind it.
"Correct! Password accepted! Welcome back Derrick!" A smiling ruddy face greets us. Derrick shakes his head before grabbing my arm and pulling me closer to him. "Sage, this is Mandy. Mandy, this is Sage." Sage grabs my hand and shakes it vigorously. Her ginger hair bounces around. "Nice to meet you Mandy." She leans over and whispers into Derrick's ear.
"Does she have...you know...powers?" He nods his head as she smiles again. She lets go of my hand and goes into the room. "Come on Jarron. Get up and greet our new guest!" She stands by another man laying on a couch. His ginger hair is much darker than Sage's hair and almost looks chestnut. His eyes open slowly, revealing his deep blue eyes.
"Mandy, this is my twin brother Jarron." Jarron smiles and gives me a peace sign. "What's up Mandy?" I smile and wave back nervously. Derrick crosses the room and sits down in a chair by Jarron. I look at Derrick. "Wait! Is this everybody?" Derrick nods his head before reclining and propping his feet up on one of the chair's arms.
"Were you expecting more, Princess?" Jarron chuckles before sitting up. "Ugh. I'm sorry my brother is being a jerk Mandy." She sits down beside him. I take a moment to look around the room. To me, it looks like the room was carved out of the trunk of a giant tree. The skylights in the ceiling light up the entire room. In the room, there is two chairs, a couch, a coffee table, and a fireplace, and in the back there is your normal kitchen with a stove and refrigerator.
"So what can you do Mandy?" Sage's voice startles me. "I, um, I don't know." I look over at Derrick. He notices my discomfort. "Well, what have you done since you've discovered your powers?" I start to rub my arm nervously.
"Well, um, I've been able to levitate..."
Sage interrupts me. "You can float, too?" She smiles broadly as she begins to float it the air above where she was sitting. "Twinsies!" Jarron rolls his eyes and throws a small fire ball at her. It hits her arm and makes her fall back down onto the couch.
"Ow! Jarron! What the heck!" She hits his shoulder. "Don't get your freckles all in a bunch Sage. It could just be an illusion power." She frowns and rubs her arm where the fire ball hit her.
"Just because it turns out that you don't have levitation doesn't mean you can pick on others that do." He rolls his eyes again. Derrick interrupts them.
"Mandy, please continue." I smile shyly at Derrick.
"...I've sneezed fire and made my hair catch on fire..."
Sage cuts me off again. "You've made all of your hair catch on fire? That's so cool!" Jarron scoffs. "I can do that easily." In a flash, his hair is replaced with flames. Sage rolls her eyes and punches her brother. "Show-off..." His hair goes back to normal as he rubs his arm. "Ow! Thanks a lot Sis." "You're welcome Bro." I continue as they bicker.
"...well, it was just the tips of my hair that caught on fire... and I've also managed to make my arm invisible by rubbing it."
Sage and Jarron stop fighting and look at me as they hear the word "invisible". Sage's emerald green eyes sparkle with excitement and awe as Jarron tilts his head in surprise. Derrick stares at me.
" Wow. Nobody here can do that." I look over at Derrick. "Really?" "Yeah. I've never met..." Derrick stops mid sentence and grabs his head in pain.