After a few minutes of things being sorted in the observation room, and then them making sure the scanners that measured my ability were working, we began. Randson started with Austin, as his ability was easier to assess.
"Subject 3, cloak Subject 2 with your ability."
I was standing just a couple feet away from my friend. He looked over at me, then back at Randson, and did his thing.
"Good. Stop. Now, Subject 2, go to the far end of the hall."
I did as I was told, I walked to the end and turned to face them again. I was feeling more uneasy, being further away from Austin.
"Subject 3, cloak her again."
Austin looked at me, and we met eyes. I gave him a small smile, and he returned it. Once again he turned to look at Randson to cloak me from his sight. From the man's reaction, I think it was a bit delayed. He hummed and then muttered something to be written down.
"Wall up," the man ordered. I look to my right as a wall slowly came up from the floor. It didn't block me off completely, it just blocked Austin's view of me and my view of him. The adults still had full view of both of us. I took a deep breath.
"Again."
A few seconds passed. And then a few more. Silence reigned for a moment, before I heard a sigh from the other side of the wall.
"I uh, I can't. Sorry," I heard Austin's voice say.
"Hm," Randson hummed. "So, can't cloak someone he doesn't have direct line of sight to.." He muttered, probably for someone else in the room to take note of. "Wall down."
The wall lowered again, and I turned to see Austin looking disappointed. I frowned slightly.
"Subject 2 you can go back over to Subject 3." I tried my best to not run back over to Austin's side. When I was a few feet away, Austin glanced over to me and smiled slightly. I smiled back.
"Face this way," Randson ordered. We did as we were told. "Now. Subject 3, cloak both yourself and Subject 2 simultaneously."
Austin quickly glanced between me and the window.
"Um.. I uh..." he sounded unsure of himself. He swallowed. "O-okay..."
He took a deep breath. I watched as he focused hard, staring at Randson, concentrating on trying to expand his ability so that he could cloak both of us. I couldn't tell if it was working, of course, since I wasn't affected by his ability and I wasn't even the one he was focusing on.
After about 2 minutes, Austin was interrupted.
"Stop. It's not working. It's just quickly and randomly flickering between the two of you. We're just wasting time," Randson said, rubbing his face like he was tired. "Subject 3 cannot cloak more that one person at a time," he muttered to be taken down in notes.
"Right. We're going to test Subject 2's ability now."
I looked back at Austin and motioned for him to follow me, before walking over to the spot I normally stay in when they test my ability. We waited for a few minutes as they got things ready, standing close to each other.
The door opened and a woman walked in, carrying a blindfold and a set of ear muffs. I glanced at Austin. He looked slightly confused. I then realised that he mustn't have ever used any equipment when testing his ability.
While the woman was still walking over, I decided to tell Austin what they were for.
"Oh, it's so that my senses of sight and hearing don't interfere with my warning signal. If I could see or hear something happen, it would defeat the purpose of the test," I explained.
The woman now stood in front of us. I turned to face the window side of the hall and stood still as she put the blindfold and ear muffs on me. Those two senses were now completely cut off, I was essentially blind and deaf.
Austin watched as Zina had a blindfold and set of ear muffs put on. He stood uncomfortably beside her. After the woman finished putting on the equipment, she walked back out of the room.
Austin then looked at his friend again. Zina quickly adjusted the things on her head, then gave a quick thumbs up, keeping a straight face. He couldn't help himself, and leant over to wave a hand in front of her face. When there was no reaction, he frowned slightly, and stood straight again to face the window, wondering what was going to happen.
He saw that Jaquelin was no longer at the window. A few seconds later, the door opened, and she entered the hall. She continued to walk towards them. She stopped behind Zina. She looked... slightly uncomfortable. Austin looked up at the window to see the Randson was still watching them, and every now and then glancing at a monitor to the side.
"Subject 3, move away from Subject 2 for a moment," the man told him. The boy glanced at his friend and her teacher then complied, but did so slowly, as he was suspicious as to what was going on. Jaquelin seemed to hesitate in whatever she was supposed to be doing.
"Do it, Mrs Matthews. Why do we always have a problem with this?" Randson questioned.
Austin watched wide eyed as the woman lifted her hand- and as it came down towards Zina-
For Zina to dodge right before the hit landed.
"Successful dodge, but later than previous tests..." Austin heard Randson say. He then spoke into a different microphone, probably connected to the headphones Zina was wearing. "Description."
Zina let out a shaky sigh. Austin could tell that she was upset. Then it made sense. Jaquelin is one of the only people Zina was close to, and probably still hasn't gotten used to Randson trying to trick her by using her tutor against her.
"U-uhm.." she began, sounding slightly nervous. "It was Jaquelin. I didn't feel the warning kick in until she was really close. No short build up, just a sudden burst alerting me to duck."
"Interesting..."
Austin wasn't sure if he saw Ranson glance at him or not. From when Zina told him earlier, it would make sense that he was the reason things were different...
"Mrs Matthews you can leave now." Jaquelin did just that, walking rather briskly. "Subject 3. Stay where you are."
Austin watched as Randson walked away from the window, which he guessed meant he was coming down to them. He knew Randson was going to attempt to hit Zina. But after what he saw with Jaquelin, he was at least slightly reassured that Zina would be fine.
He looked at the girl. She held a straight face, though he could see she was uneasy. He wanted to comfort her, but if he moved from where he was standing, who knew how he'd be punished. He couldn't take that chance... she could get hurt.
The door at the side of the room opened. Zina immediately and visibly tensed up. Randson continued to stroll over calmly, knowing how anxious the girl was. Austin saw how she was trying to control her breathing, taking slow deep breaths that occasionally shuddered, trying to stay calm herself.
Randson was behind her. As he raised his hand, Zina took in a breath, and held it, trembling slightly.
His hand came down, and she ducked like last time, only quicker. She let out the breath she'd been holding. She slowly stood again.
Without another word, Randson turned and left. Austin saw him reappear at the observation window a few moments later, and spoke into the second microphone again.
"Subject 2. Describe."
"It was you," she said, definite in her answer, steadying her voice. "The feeling was just, slightly off. But not by much. It still alerted me quicker than with Jaquelin. It alerted me when you entered the room as well."
The man nodded, closed down the communication with Zina, then turned his attention to Austin.
"Subject 3. You try it."
Austin paused for a second. "Er- what?"
"You heard me: try to hit Subject 2."
Thoughts raced through Austin's head. Randson would punish him if he didn't listen. But Zina told him that it didn't seem as if her ability worked on him. Yet- he hadn't tried to harm her before, and it worked when Jaquelin had to do it, and Zina trusted her...
Austin sighed. He was going to have to do it.
He went in front of Zina, who seemed to be calm. He closed his eyes, raised his hand-
And when it came down-
It made contact with her cheek.
Austin froze.
I suddenly felt a hand slap my face.
I stumbled slightly, bringing my own hand up to hold my cheek.
My brain couldn't process what just happened.
I was hit by someone- my warning signal didn't go off- I wasn't wearing a collar-
Austin.
I was shaking. My lip quivered. Randson had gotten Austin to hit me. He- he....
I felt arms wrap around my body. I felt the shaking of someone else's body.
"Subject 2. Describe."
I gulped to try and not let it sound like I was about to cry. "Nothing. No warning. It was Austin... wasn't it?"
"...Correct. You can remove your blindfold and ear muffs now."
I shuffled in Austin's arms and he let go, and I took off the equipment, setting it on the floor. I looked up at my friend, who straight away hugged me again.
"I'm so sorry Zina he made me do it I thought you'd notice before-"
"Austin, it's fine.." I told him calmly, cupping his face in my hands. He felt really bad about it... "I know you didn't mean it..."
"Tests complete." We both hear Randson say. I felt Austin let out a sigh of relief.
While Austin is hugging me, I look up at the observation room to see Jaquelin and Alex talking to the other man. After a long pause, he talks into the comms again.
"You have an hour together in here. No one will be observing. No recordings. But we will know if you try anything. Got it?"
We both nodded.
And they left, and the window was covered.
Leaving me and Austin alone, together.