They arrived in a remote clearing far from where they came and the doors of the jet opened the moment they landed, revealing the lush greenery of the forest with a light breeze greeting their faces. The boys guided both the girls out into the fresh air, and Acacia looked around trying to find a route leading her away from there, but there was none. The trees towered over them, the tops had almost seemed that they were touching the sky. Acacia and Lydia obediently followed the boys and entered the base that looked like a giant metal dome made unidentified metal parts. The interior was extremely large and seemed as if it had as many doors as there were numbers. The corridors were dimly lit and long, sometimes with sofas against the pale beige walls, and the floor was layered with a red carpet. They finally arrived in a brightly lit hall with stained glass and two tables with tucked in chairs surrounding them.
"Have a seat." The guy with jet black hair said as he set himself on a table top and propped his legs onto a chair nonchalantly. Both Lydia and Acacia responded accordingly and took a seat. "What's the extra girl doing here?"
"I asked you if I could take her with me and you said I could!" The guy with blonde hair stepped defensively into the light.
"I said you could do whatever you want, but it doesn't mean you could take extra baggage." Lydia's eyes furrowed in annoyance at his passing comment as she folded her arms defensively against her chest.
"Isn't that the same thing?" The golden haired boy protested, reaching to scratch the nape of his neck. Seth sighed and turned to face the girls.
"My name is Seth. This is Hunter and that's Martin." He gestured to the blonde then the brunette. Acacia's eyes followed as they both waved. "Acacia will be staying here under our protection from he outside forces." His green eyes glinted as the rays of light reflected off them. His eyes met Acacia's for a brief moment before she quickly shifted her gaze to something else in the room.
"What about me?" Lydia asked in concern.
"Ask Hunter." Seth replied coldly. "Either way, both of you will come here tomorrow morning. Martin, start up the force fields. Hunter, give your girl a room. Acacia, follow me." Acacia hesitated, but stood obediently and followed the raven haired boy out of the hall, taking her bag with her.
Most of the journey to Acacia's room was in silence, with only the sound of shuffling feet echoing off the walls. They finally arrived at a white wooden door. Seth reached for the knob and turned it slowly, pushing the door inwards to reveal a neat bed room with a dresser and a bathroom door. The floor was layered with a white carpet and the bed had a light blue blanket with fluffy pillows. The window was covered with a black curtain with a closet next to it. The dresser was next to the white bathroom door and the room was the lightest shade of blue possible. Fairy lights were hung along the bed frame, the dresser and the bathroom door.
"You'll be staying here in the meantime." Seth strolled into the room as Acacia put her bag down on the dresser, and looked around in awe at how aesthetic it was. It was very different from the room she had spent her sixteen years in. "It has everything you could need inside." She looked into her own eyes in the reflection of the mirror wondering how she ended up with a bunch of guys and one other girl in a secret hideout so far away from civilisation.
"For how long?" Acacia turned around as soon as she saw Seth's tall built reflection in the mirror. Their eyes met and once again, but this time she didn't turn away. It was as if time had stopped in that moment, she could no longer hear her own breathing or her thoughts, just a pair of piercing green eyes that she couldn't help looking into. The clock in the room continued to tick as the time passed and suddenly, Seth took a few steps in her direction.
"There's a graze." he brushed his thumb gently over the wound Acacia had acquired on her cheek from her escape. She held her breath and waited for him to withdraw his hand before reaching up to smoothen her finger over it as well.
"I forgot it was there." she commented. "It should heal up in a few days, don't worry about it." Acacia shifted uncomfortably on her feet for a few moments before Seth turned around and headed straight for the door.
"There are clean sets of clothes in the closet. You should go get yourself cleaned up." With one swift movement he was out of the room. Acacia was left staring at the white wall behind her new bed. Her eyes ventured the room to the door, blinking a few times before she walked to the closet and opened it slowly. A fresh smell wafted out of it as soon as it opened, it travelled through her body like a disease to the tips of her fingers. She was reminded of the summers she had spent with Evonne in the fresh grass under the clear blue sky. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her hand instinctively reached up to wipe them as her memories played in her mind. The last person she would have ever expected to betray her was her mother, the person who sheltered her and cared for her for the past sixteen years. She stifled a sob, she knew no matter how much she cried, nothing would change. Grabbing a clean set of clothes, she headed straight for the bathroom to wash up.
That evening Acacia planned to escape. She had put everything in her rucksack and double knotted her laces to make sure that it was going to be successful. She turned the knob of the door and stepped out of the room into the quiet hall. It was a quarter to one and it didn't seem like anyone was awake. She closed the door behind her and ran back in the direction that Seth brought her earlier that day.
"I knew you would try and escape." a familiar voice came from the dark. Acacia turned around in the cross section of the hall to see Seth leaning against the wall and looking at her, his green eyes glowing in the badly lit corridor. Acacia swerved round and ran in a different direction, desperate to escape. She met a T-section and could hear Seth catching up on her and saw Martin and Hunter headed in her direction from the front, she had no other way to go. At the corner of her eye she saw a huge metal door that was left ajar, she dived for it, closing and locking it behind her. She kept completely still as she heard the boys run past and heaved a sigh of relief before venturing into the brightly lit room.
There were many drawers stacked on top of each other. The room was especially cold in contrast to the outside. She shivered as she strolled alongside the cold table in the room, letting her fingers dance around on the surface until they brushed past a black folder. Taking a second glance, she noticed the word "confidential" printed in bold red on the front cover. She looked around to make sure she was completely alone in the room before deciding to explore it's contents. She flipped open the cover and the first document had Seth's photo plastered on the top right hand corner of the sheet, meeting the outlines of a small rectangular box. It contained a long list of information about him that she quickly skimmed through. He was a year older than her, and she found it rather amusing seeing how mature he was for a seventeen year old boy. Aroused by curiosity she flipped to the next page and saw Hunter's profile, followed by Martin's profile on the page that followed. Hunter was two years older than her while Martin was a few months older. All their profiles had elements printed on them. Fire, speed and earth respectively. She closed the file and looked up to see a signboard behind the table of documents with many sheets pinned messily on the board, and moved closer to get a better look.
"Classified." she murmured as her fingers reached for the edge of the paper to pull open the cover page. "Acacia Tarley...wait that's me." her eyes widened with shock as she skimmed past the element section. "Psychokinesis? What's this?" she muttered to herself as she scanned through the documents pinned on the wall. "Blood type. Birthday. Age." She whispered to herself, as the boys' voices could be heard from outside the door. The doorknob began to rattle rapidly followed by someone banging on the door. With one swift movement, Acacia ripped the paper off the board and the door burst open, three guys tumbled into the room in a heap. Seth stood up and dusted himself calmly before taking a step towards Acacia. "Stay there!" Acacia commanded, raising the documents she had gathered in the air. "What is this? Do you want to explain why you have so many pages of information about me pinned on your wall?" she shook the papers vigorously in her hand, but there was no response. "Answer me!"
Seth opened his mouth to reply but Acacia cut him off, "Who am I to everyone? A lab rat? What's Psychokinesis? What are elements and why is this element printed on this paper? Please explain to me why I've been taken against my will, twice in a day." She slammed her hand on the table, "I'm sure you have a very logical explanation, because I don't have powers, I'm just me!" She was flustered, angry and confused. Before Seth could reply the drawers opened and closed violently, and documents in the room started flying everywhere as the lights flickered. Acacia trembled with her vacant hand balled into a fist as hot tears of frustration started to stream out of her eyes.
"What do we do?" Hunter shouted as the sounds of flying paper attempted to drown him out. Seth signalled for them to stand down before he stepped forward slowly, moving towards Acacia, one step at a time.
"Acacia... listen to me." Seth began.
"Stay away from me!" She stuttered. "Just give my life back to me!" Acacia screamed, wiping tears from her eyes as the papers continued to fly everywhere in the room.
"Trust me. We're here to help you." Seth continued calmly, taking another step closer and reaching out both hands to Acacia. "You can trust me." Seth's expression softened as he slowly but steadily pulled her into an embrace and the papers stopped in mid air before drifting to the ground. Acacia and Seth collapsed in a heap and tears of frustration stained his grey sweatshirt as he sat there holding her. Overwhelmed by the series of events that had taken place, she finally let out all the emotions she had stored away.
"What am I?" Acacia sobbed, her voice barely audible. Seth paused for a while and stared blankly at the board hanging from the wall.
"You are the beholder of Psychokinesis, the power to manipulate any object around you. Something everyone is after." Seth whispers in her ear. Acacia pushes herself away from his chest and stared into his eyes, hers full of fear and distress. "You're safe here." Seth reassured as he pulls her back to him. Her world became black and her body lapped with the waves of weariness, she soon slipped into a slumber. Seth took the document from her and laid it on the table. Then he proceeded to put one arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees before lifting her off the ground. He turned around and headed for the door. "I'm going to take her back to her room, she's seen enough for one night." he turned to face Hunter and Martin to say before exiting the room and walking in the direction of Acacia's room.
When Seth reached the room, he laid Acacia gently down on the bed and tucked her under the covers after removing her shoes and socks. He took one last glance at her sleeping face before leaving the room and closing the door behind him, then disappeared down the dark corridor.