[Eight]
Aralyn's POV
My eyes adjusted to the dark a couple of minutes after I had woken up. My hands were bound behind my back and my feet were roped all the way up to my knees. I wasn't going anywhere. I could only make out the outline of the door since a few streaks of light shone through the space at the bottom, but the light was no help to see what else was in this room. Water grew in my eyes as I came to terms with what had just happened. I had been snatched. Taken from the only place I ever called home. And nobody even tried to help me. I was on my own. Completely alone.
I wiggled in my restraints, but the rope was wrapped round my body so tight it was useless me even trying. Where was I?
"I'm dead" I sighed to myself and breathed out heavily.
"Me too" A voice came from the corner of the room and my head whipped round, cricking my neck in the process. I couldn't see anything and I shuffled uneasily away from where the voice had come from.
"Who are you?" I managed to whisper over my pure terror of the whole situation.
"Who are you?" the stubborn voice came back a few seconds later "I share my room with no one" she said like I had intervened on her privacy knowingly. It wasn't my fault I was taken, and it wasn't my fault I had been drugged and dumped in her room.
"It's not my fault I'm here. I can't exactly help the fact I'm tied up and can hardly move" I pulled at my ropes again, but they were never going to come lose under the pressure of my weak fingers. To be honest I was still knackered from the journey here and I could barely lift my head, let alone untie myself from this pile of cord holding me together.
"You're tied up?" The girl, who sounded about my age, said, and then went into a rapid coughing fit, making the room echo loudly. "You must be a newbie"
"Huh? Are there other people here?"
"Sure, loads. I've been here a couple of weeks"
"You have? What do the scientists do to you?"
"Test you, question you, starve you" she said, obviously starving. That made me think about my own hunger. I hadn't eaten anything in what seemed like ages and my stomach was beginning to rumble unhealthily, making my head spin dizzily. I was obviously seriously dehydrated as well.
"Test you? Like how?" I said. The voice had gradually edged its way closer to me and even though I desperately wanted to move away, vanish in a corner, and not speak again to prevent her from coming any closer, I started to edge towards the voice.
"They attach wires to your head and make you answer weird questions, they hook you up to a machine and make you recite the alphabet or numbers, and a whole lot more crazy stuff. I hate it here you know? I wanna go home" The girl was now sitting with me against a cold wall and a shiver went up my spine as I felt her breath on my cheek. I found myself shaking with fear, obviously terrified about being in this terrible establishment, and obviously frightened to death about the tests.
"When your time here comes to an end, they take you to a small room and..." the girl trailed off.
"The ultimate test" I whispered.
"They cut you up" the girl wacked her head against the wall, sobs coming from her mouth and her breaths more rapid. I could see the outline of her face slightly with the little light from the door. Her eyes were tired and her cheeks were slumped on her face. Her lips were cracked; dried blood showed at the edges, and her face was pale. I could see that even though it was dark.
"My times nearly up. They're gonna kill me"
"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god" I said under my breath.
"They're gonna kill me" the girl kept repeating and I realised my fears. This was the worst place in the world. A place where they test your brain for abnormal activity, a place where they try to find the secret of mind readers, and a place of slaughter. This was hell, and I was in it.
"I'm Aralyn" I said once the girl had calmed down a bit. It was lighter now, even though there was no reason why it should be. The girls face was white and her cheeks were wet with the salty tears that were slowly escaping from her lids. She was pretty, but tired, and it took her a while to reply with her name. She seemed weary of me, like I was a spy put here to try and get information out of her. I assured her I was no spy.
"I'm Kristen" she said, her voice shaky from worry.
"Why are you here Kristen? I know you aren't from the academy"
"Huh, The academy? I'm from no academy. I'm from an institute..." she began "I was taken less than two weeks ago, but no one has come to get me. No one seems to care"
"I'm sure they do care Kristen. You must be a mind reader too" I only assumed because I couldn't read her thoughts, but the way her face turned made me think otherwise. She looked at me like I had gone crazy. Maybe I had.
"A mind reader? You're a mind reader?" she said and I nodded slowly, now not sure about why she was here.
"What are you?" I said.
"I'm a coercionist. I can't believe you're a mind reader. I've only met one in my life, but she wasn't very good"
"What's a coercionist?" I said and she leaned in closer to me and stared into my eyes. I felt dizzy almost and I found my eyes were following hers. She moved her head slightly and I felt my head moving with it, but it wasn't me moving it. She broke eye contact and my mind was my own again.
"I'm not very good, but I'm getting better. A couple of months ago I couldn't even do that. I can control people" she hesitated "Sorta. But my best friend, Denni, can make people fall over and other stuff like that. It's very funny to watch. He's amazing. Level 7"
"Why can't I read your thoughts if you're not a mind reader?" I said and she shrugged. She seemed almost excited that I was here and was able to use her 'power' on me. It was a weird sensation, and it didn't feel like I was able to control myself. Maybe all people with 'power' couldn't be read. The academy never told us there were other powers.
"I'm a level 7 mind reader. I can do stuff like this" I looked into Kristen's eyes and she looked into mine, very weary of what I was about to do.
/SCREEEEECCHHHHHHHHH/
"HOLY SHIT" Kristen held her head in pain and rolled on the floor. My head was ringing also and I felt like toppling over with her. I couldn't do that, that hard, before. Maybe I was getting better. Kristen held her head painfully still, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Whoa, I thought, was I that powerful?
"Whoa, that hurt. I wouldn't want to piss you off" she said, sitting up again.
A door opened strongly from outside the room and Kristen jumped. Tears started to grow in her eyes again and she rapidly crawled back to her corner, furthest away from the door.
"Get me out of here Aralyn. I don't wanna die" she said. What did she expect me to do? I was trapped here the same as she was, and in a couple of weeks I would die too. The door to the room opened slowly and rather dramatically. Light poured in and I had to cover my eyes for a second, and when I finally removed them the light stung them and made tears form. There was a man who stood in the doorway. He was wearing a light blue jacket that came all the way down to his knees and a pair of see-through goggles over his sharp eyes. That's a scientist alright.
"Aralyn, time to come with me" he reached out for me, a soft smile on his face. I backed up and kicked his hand away with my tied up legs. His soft smile immediately changed into a sickening grin, his features wrinkled up into a scowl, and he grabbed me from the floor, lifting me up high into the air, and then dropped me.
My back hit the floor awkwardly and I let out a screech of pain. I rolled over to face Kristen. She was huddled up in the corner, not even watching what was happening to me. She really was terrified of these people, and now, so was I.
I rolled over again to look at the man. He was just standing there, waiting for me to sit up again. My eyes met his and I didn't break the contact, instead I used it.
/SCHRRREREEEEEEEEECHHHH/
I could hear the noise leaving my head and I felt dizzy with power. I looked at the man, but he was still standing there, untouched. My understanding of this situation had completely flown out the window and now I knew there was nothing I could do to defend myself against these people.
/I have a weapon of my own. I have a weapon of my own/
with each thought that I could hear, he stepped closer to me. I thought about kicking him again, but if he could survive level 7 mind reading skills, then I doubt he would fall a victim to my tied up legs.
/I have a weapon of my own/
what weapon? He leaped at me and pushed my head to the floor with his hand. A felt a sharp stick poke into my skin for a second, and then I felt it come back out. Oh shit, I thought, he's drugged me with something. Probably something illegal.
"Oh" I heard the man say, even though it was slightly muffled "Kristen, you'll be shipping out tomorrow. Be ready" He laughed after that and Kristen moaned in the corner of the room. That was the last thing I heard before being dragged out of the room by my feet.
Oh God, kill me now.
Shae's POV
"It is the right way" Rio snapped "I know where I'm going"
"We've been walking for ages" Clyde said, dawdling along behind the rest of us. He was right; this tunnel had gone on for about an hour and a half now and it didn't look like it was going to end soon.
"The Illegal market..." Rio said, putting a lot of emphasis on the word 'Illegal' "...Won't just be placed right under our noses will it? That way anybody would be able to find it, even the government, and that wouldn't be too convenient for the people there, would it?"
"Suppose" Clyde said "But how long will it take?"
"I don't know. Whenever you see the Black market logo, tell me okay?" Rio said and we all mumbled an 'OK' and plodded onwards.
The tunnel was dark, but luckily we all had fully charged torches to light up the dank, wet, and grimy walls. Rio stayed out in front, most of the time, and the rest of us followed his lead, fully aware that the place we were heading was very dangerous and life threatening. To be perfectly honest, I was scared, but I didn't show it like everybody else did, except for Rio, whose face was cold and dark and fearless.
Dog stood still and growled viciously down the tunnel, his hair standing on end and his thoughts tearing widely at my mind.
/SHAE. Careful, SHAE/
everybody stopped, including Rio, and we all stood against the tunnel walls.
"Turn the flashlights off" Clyde said. Without any hesitation we all did it and held our breath. The silence flowed over us and soon I was able to hear two people talking. Their voices were coming our way, quickly.
"Can you hear a growling sound?" one of the men said, his voice harsh and rugged. There was silence for a second and I bent down and pushed my hand over Dog's head.
/Shae. Shae. Shae. Cat/
Dog stopped growling, but I kept my hand on his head anyway. Probably to calm myself down.
"No" The other man said, and they began to walk again, their footsteps echoing off the walls and travelling down the tunnel. An odd sound entered my ears. It sounded like something sharp and metal was being dragged along the floor behind the quickly approaching men.
"Get behind me, Shae" a whisper came from in front of me. It was Rio's voice and I stepped into his shadow. Out of everybody, I was the gladdest that Rio was here. He'd been here before, many times, and so he would know a way out, if there was one. The men were on top of us now and one false move would compromise out whereabouts.
"Woof" Dog said. My heart sank.
I tightened my grip on Dog's head, but it was too late, the men had already started their way back to where we were stood.
"Who's there?" one of them said. We were all silent. He laughed, his sharp tone echoing into our ears "When I turn my torch on, I will be able to see you. And then" he paused "I'm going to kill you"
"Don't worry, Shae" It was Rio again, this time a little to my left "I got this" What did that mean? How did he have this? A light shone in all of our faces suddenly and I saw the two men for the first time. One of them was tall, about 6 feet at least, and wore a brown leather jacket, which looked like it was ripped in some places. There was a long, sharp, metal sword thing in his belt, which dragged along the floor behind him. His face was battered, hardly any teeth, bloody scares over his cheeks, and a dodgy nose. He looked truly horrifying. Not the sort of person you'd want to meet in a dark, claustrophobic, dingy, tunnel under ground. The other was smaller; his face wasn't as battered, but his choice of weaponry was a lot worse. He carried a shot gun in his jacket pocket. Shit, I thought.
The first man laughed "Kids? You gotta be freaking kidding me! What are you doing down here? I knows for sure you won't be heading for Church cross station, and the only other place is the Black market. Now, what do you want in the black market, huh?" He leaned in, bearing all of his broken teeth.
"None of your business" Rio said, his voice sounded confident and fearless. This dude had issues. He was underground in a very small, dark, damp, grimy, tunnel, with two men and their very dangerous weapons, and he wasn't scared. Odd boy.
"Well, if you want to keep your life, it is my business" The man took out his sword from the belt and laid it on Rio's neck. Chloe shuffled uneasily behind me. Dog's thoughts were going wild again.
/SHAE. SHAE. SHAE. SHADOW/
"What?" I said down to Dog "Why did you think that?" When I looked up again the two men were looking at me.
"Ah, I get it" the second man said, removing his gun from his pocket "You're freak kids, aren't you? The ones who can read people's minds? Well, I can tell you now, no such freaks are wanted in the market" He lifted up the gun to us and I froze.
/SHADOW/
one word flew into the man's forehead, and before he could pull the trigger, he was flat on his back, unconscious. Rio turned to me and grinned, which was the first time I'd seen him smile, ever.
"That's why we were introduced into the top level mind reading class" He said "We are the shadows, and we are powerful. Very powerful"
"Holy Shit, Rio" Yao said from behind us "I didn't know Shadows could do that"
"Neither did I, until I'd visited the market. Some of those books are awesome you know"
The first man had lowered the sword from Rio's neck and had leant down to check the other man.
"You try it, Shae" Rio said.
"How?" I whispered, hardly believing what had just happened.
"One thought, into his head. That's all"
I thought.
/Shadow. Shadow. Shadow. Shadow/
"I can't..."
/SHADOW/
the noise left my head and left me dizzy, almost dizzy enough to fall. The man fell almost instantly. I breathed in hard.
"Whoa" Louise said.
Rio smiled at me "Good one" we just stood there for a second, silent.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"You didn't ask" was his reply. The two men lay silently on the floor, motionless. I felt powerful, and I understood a few things better as well. Like, why all the professors were always slightly weary of me, and why me and Rio were in the top class mind reading, but I still failed to see why 'Shadows' were bad omen, like Aralyn had said.
"When do you think they'll come back around" I said, eager to move on.
"Shae" Rio started, his voice stuttered "Those men are dead"
And then I realised. That's why we were bad omens.