They drove for almost an hour before Terrence parked the truck. Ivy climbed out, relieved to stretch her legs, and looked around. They were in a deserted parking lot, just a short distance from the ocean. A path led through patchy grass to a worn down pier where a small motor boat waited.
The setting sun cast an orange light over the area. Ivy shuddered at the sound of waves pounding the beach. Great. She thought she might be able to handle boarding a ship, but as she stood there breathing in the salty air, she began to have second thoughts.
"Sorry for the long ride," Spencer said as he climbed out of the truck. He ran a hand through his dark curly hair. "We had to stay out of Scorpion's way."
"You guys must be exhausted," Summer added, hopping out of the vehicle behind Terrence. "Once we're on the Fortuna, you'll be able to get some rest."
Ivy swallowed and threw a nervous glance at the water. You can do this, she told herself. She needed to start somewhere if she wanted to conquer her fear, right?
"I suppose introductions are in order," Spencer said. "That's the girl in charge, Summer Lu, this is Terrence Manning, and I'm the lovable Spencer Cross. But you already knew that."
Claire giggled, and Ivy managed a quick smile. "Ivy Ackerman," she said.
"Oh, um." Claire folded her arms. "I'm Claire Foster."
Then their feet were pounding against the wood of the dock dock and Ivy's stomach was doing somersaults. Terrence climbed into the boat first.
"Well, water you guys waiting for?" Spencer asked, pointing at the boat.
Summer rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. "Spencer, please. I'm sure these girls are tired enough without your jokes."
"It's not a joke, it's a pun," Spencer replied. "Okay, I'll admit it wasn't great."
"It was terrible."
"I wouldn't say that."
"I thought it was funny," Ivy said, trying to distract herself as she prepared to climb in. She was vaguely aware of Claire nodding in agreement as she focused on moving her feet, climbing into the boat, keeping her eyes away from the water. Once everyone was in, Terrence started up the engine and backed away from the dock.
Ivy studied the others. Spencer was nice, she thought, as he said something that made Claire laugh. Summer, who was easily the tallest of the group, didn't seem so bad either. Terrence had barely spoken at all, and Ivy couldn't tell if he was shy or just a quiet kid in general. The wind rustled his dirty blonde hair as he adjusted the steering wheel.
They were approaching a massive ship. Granted, Ivy didn't have anything to compare it too, but it looked pretty big to her. She moved in her seat to get a closer look at the dark gray vessel. A deck wrapped around the side, and as they reached the ship a few people appeared by the railing.
The boat slowed down, and Ivy was hit with a spray of water. She flinched and quickly wiped the droplets off her skin.
"You all right?" Claire asked quietly.
Ivy nodded. "Not a big fan of water," she replied. "But I'm fine."
The crew on deck lowered some ropes. As the thick cords reached them, Spencer, Summer and Terrence quickly hooked up the boat. Then they were going up. When they boarded the ship, a man who looked to be in his forties was waiting for them.
"Thank goodness," he said as Ivy and the others climbed out of the boat. "I was afraid you'd be too late."
Summer stepped forward and gestured to Ivy and Claire. "Dr. Newman, this is—"
"Don't worry about that now," Dr. Newman interrupted. "I'm sure these two would like to get some rest. Spencer, take them to their rooms. There should be some empty ones in the hall by my office."
"Sure thing, doc," Spencer said. He nodded to Ivy and Claire. "Follow me."
After a few minutes of moving through a maze of hallways, they came to a stop in front of a door.
"This room and the next one are empty," Spencer said. "There are some clothes in there. Something will probably fit, but you can go to the supply room and get more if you decide to stay. Sorry, we usually try to give kids a chance to get stuff from home."
"Well, all my belongings just went up in flames," Ivy said. "So don't worry about it."
"All right then," Spencer said. "We'll come get you tomorrow morning and explain everything."
The room was small, with only a bed and a nightstand for furniture. There were two doors, leading to a closet and a bathroom, and a small window. The colors were plain too, with white walls and beige carpet.
Ivy walked over to the closet and dug around until she found a gray tee shirt and some bottoms that looked like they would fit her. She entered the bathroom and quickly showered and changed.
It was a huge relief to finally climb into bed. The sun hadn't quite disappeared yet, but Ivy was so tired that she had no trouble falling asleep, even with the gentle rocking of the ship and the vast ocean just outside her window.
~
The small alarm clock on the nightstand woke Ivy up. She sat up gasping for air, her nightmare still fresh in her mind. Her eyes rested on the clock and she remembered where she was. With a sigh, she shut off the alarm's obnoxious beeping and climbed out of bed.
The sound of waves outside her window brought back her dream. Ivy could almost feel the water filling up her lungs. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart as she searched for something to wear.
Most of the clothes were pretty plain, but something in the back of the caught Ivy's eye. A red jacket. Ivy pulled it out and examined it. She'd had one similar to it years earlier, but it was destroyed in the house fire...
There was a knocking at the door. "Hello?" someone called.
"Just a second," Ivy replied. She quickly dressed, pulled on some black boots and threw on the jacket before answering the door.
"Good morning, Ivy." It was the man who'd greeted them the night before. Dr. Newman. "Come with me, we're meeting the others on deck."
Ivy followed Dr. Newman through the halls. They passed scientists in lab coats, crew members, and a few other kids. When they reached the deck, the others were already waiting. Claire was the first to see Ivy.
"They're here," she said, pulling the others from their conversation. Summer, Spencer, and Terrence looked over.
Spencer smiled. "Hey Ivy," he called.
"Ivy, Claire, welcome to the Fortuna," Dr. Newman said as they crossed the deck to join the group. "A research ship, studying kids like you."
"Like us?" Ivy asked.
"Supers," Summer said. "Kids with powers. For example, I can control electricity. Dr. Newman calls it electrokinesis."
"Correct." Dr. Newman said.
Summer continued. "Terrence can control earth, and Spencer can control ice."
"Those aren't the only powers, of course," Dr. Newman said. "Super strength, teleportation, and various kinetic abilities are just a few of the ones we've seen. And there's Wren, who can temporarily use the powers of other Supers if she's close enough to them."
"Ivy, you can control fire, right?" Summer asked.
"Well, I don't know about control," Ivy said. "But I can create fire."
"Don't worry," Summer said. "It's hard to use your abilities at first, but we can teach you."
"What about you, Claire?" Spencer asked.
Claire tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Telekinesis and mind-reading."
"Mind-reading?" Terrence asked, taking Ivy by surprise.
"I try not to read people's minds on purpose," Claire added quickly.
"Interesting," Dr. Newman said. "I've never heard of a mind-reader before. You can read thoughts, I wonder if you could project them... well, we'll have time to explore your powers later. We should go to the lab so I can give you two a more thorough explanation. Summer, Terrence, let everyone know breakfast will be ready soon."
The two nodded and headed inside.
"Spencer," Dr. Newman continued. "Lead these two to the lab by the cafeteria. I'll meet you in there in a minute."
"Cool. Let's go," Spencer said.
The lab's walls and floors were a bright white. The room was filled with long black tables that were covered in equipment and notebooks. Ivy looked around, taking everything in. Behind her, the door opened.
"Have a seat," Dr. Newman told them as he carried a laptop to the front of the room. While Ivy and the others found chairs, he turned on a projector. The machine whirred to life and Dr. Newman's computer screen appeared on the wall.
A black background with white text popped up.
"Cladis Point," Ivy read. "What's that?"
Next to her, Claire frowned. "That sounds familiar," she said.
"Both of you lived there, nearly eleven years ago," Dr. Newman told them. He picked up a small remote. "It's a town, or at least, it was. What's left of it is in southern California."
Images materialized on the screen. Crumbling homes and cracked streets. "What happened?" Ivy asked.
"Well, the town was isolated," Dr. Newman said. "About an hour from anything else. Except for Tyche Laboratories, located just two miles from Cladis. The scientists working there were mostly doing DNA research, but there was a team in one of the buildings trying to create a new element." Dr. Newman moved to the next slide, a diagram of an atom.
"Did it work?" Ivy asked, staring at the picture.
"No one knows for sure," Dr. Newman told them. "About eleven years ago, there was an explosion that destroyed a huge chunk of the lab. It emitted off some kind of energy, and the blast killed almost everyone in a five mile radius."
Ivy's eyes widened. "Everyone in the town?"
"Almost everyone," Dr. Newman said.
"Why was the lab so close to the town?" Claire asked. "Didn't they know it was dangerous?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," Dr. Newman said. "I've looked into it. The laboratory was supposed to be built much farther from Cladis Point. It somehow ended up too close. And no one's been to the area since the accident, except for a few government agents.
"I, and many other scientists who studied the accident, believe it was this new element that caused the explosion. The moment the element was created, it could have reacted violently with another element in the air, such as oxygen or nitrogen.
"You came out alive," Dr. Newman continued. "With powers. That's why I put together this research team. We're trying to figure out exactly what happened."
"What about Scorpion?" Ivy asked. "What do they have to do with all of this?"
Dr. Newman pressed a key on his laptop, and the screen changed to an image of the black and red Scorpion logo. "Scorpion began making appearances a few years after the accident. They recruited any Supers—or Altered, as they call you—they could find. No one really noticed, because people were told there weren't any survivors. When I found out, I was only able to convince a few close co-workers.
"I suspected many children who had gone missing in the previous years were Supers. Shortly after that, I discovered that Scorpion was responsible. All we really know about them is that their leader is a woman named Claudia Montgomery, and that they use Supers as their own personal army, in addition to those soldiers you encountered."
Ivy remembered the soldiers, with their shiny red armor and dark visors. They were silent, only obeying Ash and Wren's orders.
"They're robots," Spencer piped up. "Super high tech. It'd be really cool if they weren't, you know, evil."
"They aren't human?" Claire asked. "That explains why I couldn't read their minds."
Dr. Newman nodded. "Scorpion has been attacking various facilities, mostly stealing materials," he said. "And, unfortunately, leaving a lot of bodies in their wake."
Ivy shuddered. "So all of the Supers working for them are evil."
"Evil's a strong word," Dr. Newman said with a sigh. "We don't know how they recruited so many kids, but we can't assume anything. Instead of asking what the other side thinks, ask why. Something led them to do what they do and if we try to understand what, we might learn something."
He continued. "We try to stop them on their missions, but we aren't always successful. I spent years working with engineers on the ship's engines to make them as fast as possible, but there's only so much we can do. And even when we do catch up to Scorpion, they outnumber us."
"How many Supers, or Altered or whatever, do they have working for them?" Ivy asked.
"About a hundred," Dr. Newman said, moving to shut down the projector. "And I'd guess about the same amount of soldiers. We've destroyed quite a few of them, but they've made more."
"How many Supers are here on the Fortuna?"
"Just over twenty."
"Oh." Scorpion had a huge advantage.
"We're trying to recruit more Supers, but it's hard to find them. Everyone who lived in Cladis has either had their records hidden, or been labeled as dead. We've been following Scorpion closely, which is how we found you two," Dr. Newman said. He straightened up, laptop under his arm, and continued. "I'm afraid of what Scorpion has planned. They've been getting more aggressive with their attacks. And I really hate bringing you kids into this fight.
"Unfortunately, you Supers are the only ones who stand a chance against Scorpion. If you want to stay and fight with us, we'd love to have you, but I don't expect you to stay. And you don't have to fight, if you don't want to. I'd be happy to simply provide you with a place to live."
"Well, I don't have anywhere else to go." And it was more than that, Ivy realized. All her powers had ever done was hurt people. Maybe now she could use them to help.
Ivy started to stand up when she remembered something. After the fire, the man in the suit who had approached her. What did his badge say? SCI? Maybe Dr. Newman knew something.
"Dr. Newman," Ivy said. "Have you heard of SCI?"
Dr. Newman frowned. "I don't think so. What is it?"
"I don't know," Ivy told him. "But after my last, um, fire, a man came up to me and started asking questions about the boy who saved us. Ash, I guess. His badge said SCI."
"I've never heard of them," Dr. Newman said. "I'll look into it."
"Wait," Spencer spoke up. "What do you mean 'saved you?'"
Ivy hesitated before speaking. "Well, I... I started a fire, on accident, and some other kids and I were trapped in a hallway." She paused, not sure how the others would react, but they just waited silently for her to continue. "Anyway, I would've been fine since fire doesn't hurt me, but the other kids wouldn't have made it out if Ash didn't show up. I mean, he was looking for me, but still..."
"That's weird," Spencer said. "Scorpion usually doesn't care about casualties."
"Hey, Dr. Newman?" Claire asked quietly.
"Yes, Claire?"
"The accident. Was it May twelfth?"
Dr. Newman nodded. "Yes, it was."
Claire sighed. "That's the day my mom died. I guess I know why, now. My dad never really told us what happened."
Ivy looked over at her, surprised. Claire had family? Living family?
Dr. Newman frowned. "Us?"
Claire nodded. "My dad and my twin sister. We all have powers."
"That's—amazing. I haven't heard of any families with multiple survivors. Well, except..." he trailed off and shared a look with Spencer.
"What are their powers?" Ivy asked.
"My sister can make copies of herself, and my dad has super hearing," Claire answered.
Ivy couldn't help but feel jealous. Claire would probably want to go home, she realized. There was no reason to stay on the ship if she had family waiting for her.
Ivy, on the other hand, had no choice but to stay.
"Claire," Dr. Newman said in a serious tone. "How long was Wren in the area before she took you?"
"A few days. She came in as a new student," Claire said.
"Does she know about Victoria and your father?"
Claire's eyes widened a bit. "I don't know. She might have seen me with Victoria."
"If she knows Victoria is your sister, then Scorpion will probably go back for her, and your father."
~
A/N
Thank you so much for reading. I love hearing from you guys. If you want to leave a comment or vote, that would mean so much.
New chapters are posted every Friday, but to celebrate the holidays I'll be doing a double-chapter Friday on December 23 ;)