"And now it is time to start the tournament! We now welcome the West Eastmen High School Cats and a team we have rarely seen here in the championships that we are pleasured to have with us, the Yalington High School Tigers!"
"Rawr," Adrianna make a tiger sound behind us, giving some girls the giggles as we went out on the court to take our places.
"Alleah Johnston, we love your freaking guts!" a group of guys hollered from the crowd. It was none other then my best friends, William and Oliver, with another group of some of my friends. I quickly waved at them and Ollie went completely nuts.
"Oliver is slightly excited to see you," Jessica hinted the obvious. I let out a chuckle.
"Only because my mom will stop bothering him now. Or he can only hope," I laughed. I didn't have to ask anyone to know that Ollie was being pestered by my adopted mother.
"You have no idea," she whispered right as the whistle went off to start the game.
The game was definitely intense and challenging, but somehow we still managed to keep a small lead on them through the first half. They were a great team indeed and Coach Taylor feared greatly for what they would do to us in the second half, especially being so close in score.
"Now I want you ladies to remember what I've tried to teach you through each season of volleyball you've ever been in. Teamwork is the key. Make sure you call the ball when you know you can hit it and make sure you keep it off the ground as best as possible. Let's show those Cats who the real champions are, alright?"
"Let's do this!" Genevieve shouted, throwing a fist in the middle as the buzzer beeped to start the second half. We all bumped fists before raising them in the air and shouting, "Go Tigers!"
Taking our places, it was our team's turn to serve first and I was up to serve. As soon as the whistle blew, I placed the volleyball in my palm and tossed it over my head before running up to it, jumping, and giving the volleyball a punch to launch it over the medium net that stood between our teams.
"Megan, get it!" a Cat hollered at her teammate, who dove for the ball and bumped it so another Cat could spike it. Adrianna was barely able to dive and save it, much to our great relief and with the help of Genevieve and Sammy, a junior on our team, we were able to make it over to the other side.
The ball kept traveling back and forth as the beloved point was still in a war. If they got it, we would be tied. If we got it, we would be even more ahead, which was exactly what we needed. We ended up getting the point, putting us four ahead and I was up to serve again.
Number 24, Alleah Smith, is up to serve again," the announcer spoke to the crowd, the fans from Yalington going completely bonkers with excitement.
I held the volleyball once more in my palm, awaiting the time to serve it, but the whistle didn't blow. Looking up, I saw people turned and looking outside of the gym with curious eyes and my father suddenly got a disturbed look on his face. I noticed him looking at Barry and Phil, who shrugged their shoulders and kept looking like the rest of the crowd.
"There seems to be a delay in the game," the announcer quickly said into the microphone. "An unusual noise is occurring and it seems to be getting closer to the building."
"It's probably just an airplane flying low," someone in the crowd groaned. "Let's just continue the game."
"That is a weird noise. Can you even hear that?" Jess asked me. I shook my head, but that's when I heard it. A high pitched squealing noise started deafening my ears and I clutched them, holding the volleyball in my hand protectively.
And then it hit.
It was like a piece of metal being dropped on a hard wood floor, just with an enormous ship of silver and beeping lights. Bricks from the gym ceiling suddenly began to fly in all different directions speedily and the whole room became a large cloud of dust.
Before I had time to even think of escaping out the back, I felt a textured piece of tan brick hit me in the forehead, making me fall back on the hard gym floor. I clutched it tightly as I felt the blood start to trickle out of my forehead and I grabbed it where the pain was taking over my concentration. It felt like I had been hit by a baseball bat and slammed with a crowbar.
I couldn't see anything, but the screams told me that something was incredibly wrong, especially when I heard my father scream, "NO!!! ALLEAH!!!"
I opened my eyes a crack to see people shuffling out of the benches desperately, looking to help those who were injured, but the girls that had been playing volleyball were not in good shape and I could see Jessica sprawled out on the floor with a blood trickling out of her gashed cheek.
"Jess, no," I gasped, attempting to scoot over and help her, but I couldn't move. Remembering my powers long enough to heal her, I rescued her by sealing up the gash and giving her a spark of my own energy right before I laid back on the ground in my own pain and couldn't think anymore.
The sound of moving mental and machinery was suddenly heard from close to me, but the lights were suddenly too bright and I couldn't even stand to look to see who it was, though I didn't have to guess hard. Especially when I heard the sound of boots on the hard wood floor. All I could do was hold the wound and breath heavily as I kept losing blood.
"Hello, beautiful," a scratchy masculine voice sounded from above me.
"Father, what happened to that girl right there? She's bleeding," a teenage voice came from the side of the man, and suddenly I got a spark of adrenaline. Could it be him?
"Andrew, that girl right there is your sister Alleah," the man told my brother, who I could hear sucking in a huge breath.
"Alleah? You mean we finally found her?" an excited voice came from my brother. I couldn't help but wonder what he looked like, but my head was still throbbing like a beast and I couldn't take it. Especially when I felt strong arms wrap around my legs and neck, lifting me into some careful arms and comforting me like a little child.
"Yes, son. Now we need to take her home where she belongs and take care of her wounds that these awful people gave her."
"The people gave it to her?" Andrew gasped, making me extremely irritated that he could be so gullable. "How could they be so careless and rude to my sister? They should pay!"
"They should, but we'll take care of them la-"
"Zemlicka, you stop right there and don't you move another muscle," my father's strong voice growled and I felt Zemlicka's head fly up from admiring me as my own eyes flew open to see how bad everything was. In the crowd I could see Ollie and William staring with their mouths gaping open like idiots. I could only imagine what they were thinking.
"Again we meet, Brent," Zemlicka hissed, holding me out to Andrew, who took me and held me tightly like a good big brother. "What brings you here? Trying to disrupt my family again?"
"Zemlicka, you and I both know darn well that you flipped reality with fantasy. Fantasy is that you are their father, but in reality, I am their rightful father. Now give me back my children," my father growled fiercely, making me shiver into Andrew without even thinking about it.
"It's okay, little sister," Andrew whispered to me, slowly swaying as I I were a little baby in his arms. "Father will win this and we'll take you away from this hell and back to where we truly belong."
"Andrew," I finally managed to speak while Zemlicka and my father bickered about who was the rightful father of Andrew and me. "You've got it all wrong."
"Alleah? What are you saying? How could you believe such nonsense?" he asked in astonishment and I felt my heart sink in my body. What had this beast done to my brother?
"It's not nonsense, Andrew," I growled angrily. "It's the truth. That beast has corrupted your mind!"
"Hush, Alleah. You hit your head and you need to rest," he said, petting my hair softly to help me relax.
"No," I refused. I could suddenly feel a sleepy feeling go through my body like a river running though the land and I knew he was using his power against me. I quickly started to fight back, knowing what he was trying to do. "Please listen to me!"
"Alleah!" my father cried out sadly. "I need you and I love you!" Watching his face distort painfully made me realize exactly what I was missing. I began to build up an energy force because I was certainly going to need it in just a second.
"Wow, yelling for her is really going to help," Zemlicka rolled his eyes and held his hands out to take me again. Andrew pouted, but handed me over and started to head for the ship.
"Jeez," Andrew muttered, heading up the steps of the enormous metal ship that took up nearly the whole entire gym.
"Let's get our little Leah home," Zemlicka cooed, making me hate him more.
"No, please!" I heard my father plead, getting down on his knees. "Don't you think you've ruined my life enough? Please, just let me keep my daughter."
"She's not yours, Brent. She never has been. Now go bother someone else's children," Zemlicka shrieked at my dad, who looked like he was ready to cry a river. Now was the time to release.
3...2...1....0.
Pushing Andrew away from me, I released the energy blow, knocking both Andrew and Zemlicka down on the ground and setting me free.
"Run to the car, Dad!" I screamed as I started to run away myself. It didn't take long before I felt a similar force pulling me back, making it nearly impossible to move.
"Stop her, Andrew! Her mind has been corrupted and we need to show her the true way!" Zemlicka yelled at my brother, even though Andrew was already fighting back. I put a force field around to make a bit more progress toward the door, but i had only taken a few steps when I felt a bulb of energy fly into my torso, knocking me clear back into the wall.
"Stop fighting, Andrew!" I growled at my twin, building up an explosion of energy. "Zemlicka is not your father! You don't even look like him! Please just trust me!"
"I can't trust you when you've been with that monster!" Andrew snarled, looking so angry that his face was turning shades of purple like a crazed disco ball. "He's lying to you!"
"No he is NOT!" I hollered back, beginning to tremble from the anger I was feeling. This would be great for my energy source.
"All I want is to be with my little sister and to see her safe," Andrew said calmly, trying to gather himself together. "Is that really too much to ask?"
"My dear daughter, can we please just be a happy family together? Please just forget that lying son of a-"
"DON'T talk about my father like that," I hissed. The pressure from the energy was beginning to give me a migraine. I needed to release.
"I wasn't mocking myself, sweet Alleah," Zemlicka cooed, giving me a calm grin. He grinned almost exactly when I felt myself being tugged toward them again, like two enormous, but baby soft hands holding my waist and pulling me toward the two boys.
"I wasn't talking about you, Zemlicka," I rolled my eyes and started to push the hands off my waist. I watched Andrew tense up and try again, but I simply just pushed it off. "I've had it with your lies!"
"Alleah for the last time," Andrew growled, "we are not lying!"
Putting my hands out in front of me, I began to grow a bubble of energy in front of their faces, slowly growing it up to be a beast. By the time I was almost done, it was the size of a horse, just with rounder dimensions.
"Andrew, whatever that thing is, destroy it," Zemlicka whispered to Andrew. Just as he was agreeing, I held it like a volleyball in my palm and threw it up, preparing to spike it. Throwing it up in the air, I slammed a hit on it just as I felt a gust of wind plunge into my gut, throwing me back against the wall. I felt the concrete slam into my skull, a wave a throbbing following.
As soon as I could force my eyes open, I noticed Andrew and Zemlicka lying on the ground looking completely unconscious. Barely able to get up, I stumbled my way out to the parking lot where my father sat with the Camaro in the emergency lane. As soon as he saw me, he jumped out of the car and helped me to the passenger seat as fast as he could, speed walking to the drivers seat before zooming away.
I rubbed my head in both the spots I had gotten hit while my dad slammed the speedometer over one-hundred miles per hour.
"What happened, Alleah?" he asked, looking at me, panicked. "What's wrong?"
"My head," I whined, grasping it as I leaned my head against the back of the seat.
"Brent, I think we need to take her to a hospital," Barry said, concern on his tone. "She looks terrible."
"We can't!" my father snapped, speeding even faster. "We need to get as far away from here as we possibly can."
"But Brent, your daughter needs help. Something bad could happen if you don't take her to the hospital."
"What about Zemlicka and my son?" my father's voice began to gain volume. "What if they find us again?"
"Dad, please," I whimpered. The high frequency of his raising voice was making the throbbing unbearable.
"Brent, please just pull into the nearest hospital. It's better for all of us," Phil said quietly. My dad let out an exasperated sigh and I felt a change in the speed. The car slowly began to decelerate and we took many sharp turns before the car skidded to a stop.
I kept my eyes closed as I heard my door being thrown open, a bunch of men calling to eachother. I could make out my father's voice amongst them as I felt arms pull me out of the Camaro and place me on a stretcher, rolling me into the emergency room. Finally too exhausted to keep grasping reality, I let my mind slip into its own depths tiredly. It was happier there anyway.
A/N: Sorry for the late update! It's been pretty hectic around here. I hope you enjoy! :D