*POV: Oaklyn*
It was 9am in the morning and I had heard some sort of music from down the hall, wanting to sleep more I just ignored it. Next thing I know, Nico is knocking on our bedroom door. Chase groaned as he slammed his face into a pillow.
There was another set of knocks.
I sighed and got up from my side of the bed, sulking as I walked over to the set of double doors and opened them. I stood there in front of Nico as I rubbed my eyes, thinking of something to say but all I could think of at the moment was sleep.
"Long night with Chase?" Nico asked me with a smirk.
"No." I said defensively, "I just really hate mornings."
"Mhm, sure." She told me as she pushed passed me, yelling at Chase to get out of bed.
"Isn't the whole point of not going to school is so we don't have to wake up on time anymore?" He asked her as he laid in bed, half awake.
"Mm. School just started. Let's go." She told us as she left the room, shutting the door behind her. I let out another sigh as I flopped back onto the bed for a few moments before actually getting up for the day.
(see outfit above)
While Chase was in the bathroom, I walked over to the very few clothes I owned, skimming for something to wear. I then decided on a white cropped sweater, some black jean shorts and some dirty black vans
I changed into the outfit before throwing on the beanie that Chase had gotten me, before grabbing my blade and heading down to the foyer so that Chase could get changed. When I made it to the bottom of the stairs I was met with an inpatient Gert and a tired Karolina, and within a few more moments there was now a what seemed to be pissed of Nico and a relaxed Chase.
I stood off the the side with my weapon in hand while we waited for Molly to join us.
"Does anyone want to explain Molly? We haven't even done anything yet." Gert said as she paced the floor.
"Maybe she, like the rest of us, didn't get enough sleep." Chase said as he laid his head on his knee.
"I mean it could just be puberty." I chimed in with.
"You said it yourself Gert, adolescents need more sleep." Nico said to the purple haired girl as she pulled up on Chase's jacket collar, forcing him to stand.
"Anyways, she can skip this one." Nico said as she made her way to the side. "She's further along than the rest of us."
"Speak for yourself." Karolina said with confidence as she made her way to the middle of the floor. "I've been practicing."
She then started to lift her arms slightly causing her to start glowing and floating high into the air, and moving backwards towards the top of the staircase. Once she reached the top, she started to lower herself until her feet touched the ground and he skin color returned to normal.
"Um, how much practice?!" Nico said in disbelief.
"Enough that you're suddenly nervous you're not the best anymore."
Wait, I thought I was the best-" Chase started with before he was shut down by Karolina.
"Oh you wanna make this a competition." Nico said towards the overly confident boy.
"I think I already did." He sassed back as he took the floor and faced a target dummy. He charged up his Fistagons and shot a large beam of energy at the dummy, blowing him back and over, leaving Chase standing there with pride.
"Yeah that's right! That's how you do it." As soon as he finished his statement, the dummy seemed to catch on fire.
"Shit!" Chase exclaimed as he and Karolina started to dig around for a fire extinguisher, while I stood in the back laughing.
"I got it." Nico said to them as she held up her staff towards the fire and yelled 'extinguish' which sent some sort of purple wave towards the fire, putting it out instantly.
"Okay, your definitely better." Chase said to her.
I stood there awkwardly as I held the blade in my hand before Nico pulled me over to the side
"Hey Oaklyn, I just wanted to give you these to see if you wanted these." The dark haired girl said as she pulled a set of throwing knives out of her back pocket. "I made them." She started with again. "I figured if your gonna have a blade as a weapon, why not master throwing knives on the side." She said with a smile as she gestured them towards me. I stared down at them in awe, taking the set out of her hand.
"Thank you so much Nico You have got to teach me how to make them." I said with a big smile as we pulled each other into a small hug. She assured me I would learn how to make them before re-grouping with everyone.
"I assume it's my turn to show off my 'power'" I said with air quotes as I put the throwing knives to the side and made my way towards the center of the room. Nico had volunteered earlier to help me show off what I had learned so I had tossed her a long wooden stick to use. I gripped onto the blade before lunging towards her, hitting the blade against the rod back and forth a few times before I had swooped the weapon down towards her feet. Nico jumped over the sharp piece of metal. She then swung the wooden rod towards my head, forcing me to duck down low. I decided I would add in some of my moves for karate classes I had taken before everything happened so I then roundhouse kicked the stick out of her hand, leaving her defenseless.
I turned to face the rest of the group who were shocked to see what had just taken place.
"Remind me not to make you mad." Chase said with a chuckle. I just smiled and skipped over to where I had placed the knives and sat down, wiping the sweat from my forehead.
"Guess that makes it our turn." Gert said timidly as she and Old Lace made their way towards the middle of the foyer. She then stopped in her tracks and yelled in pain, holding onto her forehead, panting as the dinosaur squealed.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked Gert and I stood from where I was seated and made my way towards her.
"Yeah, yeah. Just a little- Ow! No, no! I'm not." Gert exclaimed as she clutched her forehead again, causing everyone to move closer towards her.
"What happened?" Karolina asked her.
"It's um.. it's called 'brain lighting' it happens when I go off my Sertraline too quickly." She said as she adjusted her glasses. Gert has explained it to me once before when she had run out and couldn't get the prescription refilled for a week.
"English, Gert. This is new to some of us." Chase said to her not wanting to feel like the only dumb one.
She then explained to us what 'brain lightning' is like. This included dizziness, blindness and ringing ears, but she didn't want to bore us with that. When she was done with explaining we heard Old Lace roar our yet again.
"Old Lace can feel it, too." Gert said as she rubbed her temples.
"How do we fix it?" Karolina asked her.
Chase tried suggesting a breathing technique that his lacrosse coach had taught him, which caused Gert to become enraged at the brown-haired boy.
"Why don't you guys just watch from up here?" I suggested, leading Gert towards the top of the stairs.
"Chase." Nico called out, causing all of our heads to turn. "Punch me."
"Nico, no!" Karolina said with concern towards her. But she was ignored because next thing I know, I hear Chase's footsteps and the charged energy from his Fistigons being fired.
'Block'
Next thing we know there is a blue and purple energy wall in front of the petite girl, causing the Fistigon blast to fizzle away into nothingness.
"Damn" Chase said, impressed by the staff's capabilities
"Again." Nico demanded.
"Nico!" Karolina exclaimed before looking back at Chase, who had a tiny smirk on his face before charging up the Fistigons and firing yet another wave of energy towards Nico.
'Block'
Only this time, when Nico shouted the command at the staff. Instead, nothing happened. Instead, Nico was hit by the blast and was flung into a set of large, wooden double doors that opened, sending Nico even farther back.
"Double Shit." Chase panicked as he ran towards her as she groaned and coughed on the ground, but before he could check on her, she stood up, enraged at the boy, aiming the growling staff in his direction
"What the hell, man?!" Nico screamed at him while Karolina and I ran towards them, forcefully removing the staff from amici's grasp .
"Hey, hey, hey! I did what you said! The Staff didn't work." Chase exclaimed.
"Not the only thing that doesn't work." Nico said as she walked towards a chair, panting and with tears in her eyes.
"I assume you mean us." Gert said as she walked towards us from her spot on the stairs.
~
We decided to take a small break from training to get Nico some ice, and to give ourselves a small break. I sat with my back against the wall, eating a random granola bar as Chase began to speak.
"Do you know why Atlas won the D1 lacrosse championship three years in a row?"
"I actually pride myself on not knowing." Gert said as she took her leather jacket off of a mannequin.
"Or caring." Nico said in a monotone voice as she adjusted the ice pack that she had.
"It wasn't just about talent." Chase continued on with, not listening to the girls comments. "Or speed, or natural physical ability. Although.. it didn't hurt. But Coach Alphona always made sure that we had a great game plan. That's what we need."
"Making a plan has always been Alex's job." Molly said to him. Molly has joined us soon after Chase blasted Nico through the double doors.
"Yeah? Well, Alex isn't here." Nico said as she displayed a sarcastic smile.
"Maybe that's why we suck." Gert said to her.
"We don't completely suck." I said to the group
"Yeah, and there's zero correlation between Alex and us sucking, actually. So, there." Nico said as Karolina moved the ice pack from her head to her shoulder.
"He might not have had any superpowers, but he brought something to the table."
"Ouch." I murmured, soft enough so that no one heard me but was left getting apologetic looks shot at me from Chase.
"A nerd brain?" Nico said towards the younger teen.
"A nerd brain could help you figure out that Staff." Chase told her.
"I don't need his help, I- or anything else from him." There was a slight pause. "He chose to be off the team."
"Maybe we're more than a team." Karolina chimed in with.
"Karolina's right." I responded with, standing up from where I sat. "We're a family, and without one of us, we're not whole."
"Okay. Let's dial it down with the Gibb-jib, aka bullshit." Gert started with before she was interrupted by Chase.
"Hey. Hey, hey. Come on, you don't need to bring her religion into this."
"You guys don't need to take her side and gang up on me." Gert retaliated with.
I assumed she was acting defensive because of stress, but I could be wrong.
"No, w- we weren't."
"Oh, okay, so then, I'm just crazy?"
It went on like this for a few more moments before it was interrupted by a large growl from Old Lace from the balcony.
"I'm gonna go check on Old Lace." Gert muttered before speed-walking up the large staircase.
"I'm gonna go do something." Chase said, walking in the opposite direction.
"Welp, if we're all doing stuff, I'm gonna go practice some more." I said, grabbing the gift Nico had been given earlier and making my way to a separate room, practicing with my brand new throwing knives.
~
Time had passed and I had been practicing with my new knives for who knows how long. I had gotten pretty good and getting them to actually land in the wall and my accuracy was getting somewhat better. I went to the wall to retrieve the knives before I was thrown off-guard by an announcement from Nico.
"They're kidnapping Alex."
That's all I needed to hear before grabbing my blade and heading out to the main foyer where everyone was meeting.
"Again?" I questioned, bringing up the time he was taken from 'Timely Coffee.'
"Is it really kidnapping if they're his parents?" Chase questioned as he carried his backpack that carried the Fistigons.
"Well, seeing as they are teen-murdering sociopaths, I'd say yes." Gert said in response.
"We've got to stop them." Nico said, throwing the staff around her body as I did the same with my machete- like weapon.
"What's with the 180? You were just leading the charge on Team Alex Sucks Ass." Chase said to her.
"He does, but he needs our help."
"It's okay to admit that you care about him. I do." Karolina said with a chuckle.
"I kinda miss his square head and chicken legs." Chase joked which made me crack a smile.
"His bad pitches for mission titles." Gert said.
"Don't forget codenames." I added on.
"And even though he thinks he's smarter than everyone, he really is smart. And I miss him, too." Molly finished with, leaving us all in silence with our eyes slowly landing on Nico, who seemed very uncomfortable.
"What? I got issues. About talking about my feelings. Or just generally having them." Nico said as she looked down towards her feet, before looking back up towards us again, getting back on track.
"But for now, actions speak louder than words, and I say we head to Van Nuys and get Alex back."
We all nodded in agreement before Karolina brought up something we haven't thought of.
"How are we even getting to Van Nuys?"
Chase then let out a small smirk before revealing to us that we have a car. We all followed his lead in to a back room that he turned into a makeshift 'garage'. He walked over to where the car sat, pulling off the cover to reveal an old navy colored vehicle.
"Without a key, it won't start." He said as he threw the tarp to the side.
"Maybe Nicos staff can help?" I suggested
"No, the Staff can't control a car. Just seems to work with the elements. Earth, air, water.." Nico started with before Chase finished her sentence with a whisper.
"Fire."
That is the one word he said before running to the drivers side door, unlocking it and getting in. We all followed his lead and stood by the back seat doors, observing and waiting to get in.
Chase reached down towards his feet, pulling up two wires.
"If I hold these together, all I need is a-"
"Spark." Nico finished his sentence with before taking a step away from the vehicle and holding the Staff in front of the two loose wires that Chase held. The glowing staff instantly made a spark between the two wires which jump-stared the car.
"Come on, we have to hurry." Nico said as we all filed into the backseats of the car, leaving little to no room.
"Alex put this in motion. It's up to us to bring him home."
~
After we went over the plan, we arrived to where Alex said he was being taken, got into positions, and waited for them to arrive.
As soon as the two were close enough, Karolina began to glow and float from behind the plane, blinding Geoffrey, Alex's dad.
Chase emerged from a luggage cart and screamed towards the needy boy.
"Alex, get down!"
Alex dove out of the way which was Karolina's sign to stop, which gave Chase the opening to blast the ground in front of Alex's dad, causing him to tumble back and land on the ground.
Molly then emerged from inside of the small jet before running over towards Alex and picking him up with her powers.
"Molly, I'm pretty sure I can walk." Alex shouted as Molly ran with him over her shoulder.
"We don't have time. I got this." Molly reassured him as the four ran to the car that Gert, Nico, and I were waiting at.
We all yelled reassuring words at them as they arrived at the vehicle. Gert sat in the drivers seat while Karolina sat in the passenger seat with Nico standing by the door, struggling to get the car to start while the rest of us piled into the back.
"Go!" Karolina exclaimed.
"I'm trying." Gert responding with as she held the two wires in her hand.
"Why'd you turn the car off?" Molly franticlly asked.
"I didn't. It's stalled." Gert said, panic filling the air.
"Use the key!" Alex chimed in with as he looked behind us, seeing his dad slowly get up from where he laid.
"We don't have a key!" I interjected with to keep Gert from losing it.
"The spell must have worn off!"
Nico continuously tried to use the command 'spark' on the two loose wires as we all yelled words of encouragement, but with no luck.
"I don't get it." Nico said as fear consumed her voice. "It's like I can only do each spell one time."
"You do get it. That's how it works!" I exclaimed from the backseat squeezed in between the two boys. "It won't use the same command twice."
"Hurry, think of something. He's coming." Molly warned them
Nico began frantically searched her brain for the right word to command the Staff with.
"Forget a spell book, I need a thesaurus." She said stressed out.
"Just say something!" Gert yelled at her.
"Uh, hot-wire!" Nico said as she aimed her Staff at the red wires. Miraculously, the command worked as the engine reved.
I looked back behind us to see Geoffrey running back towards his own car, throwing himself into the drivers seat and starting the engine.
"Uh, guys!" I yelled to the others. "He's catching up to us!"
Nico climbed into the passengers seat where Karolina was and stood up through the sunroof of the vehicle.
"I got this." She said as she aimed the Staff straight out in front of her.
"Wall." She commanded.
Suddenly, the ground that was behind us started to crack and break before the pieces of rock diagonally formed into a wall, making it impossible to Mr. Wilder to get over to us.
We all stared behind us in astounded by what had just happened, and just like that, Nico rushed down into the seat she shared with Karolina and Gert drove off, leaving Geoffrey standing all alone in the dust that we had left behind.
~
Chase and I had made our way upstairs to wind down for the night after our successful rescue mission. I was about to get changed when I heard Gert screaming about god knows what. We gave each other looks of confusion and concern before running down to the foyer.
"Tell me the truth now! Where were you?" Gert screamed at Molly as we all formed a large semi-circle around them, but before Molly could give an answer, a new, unfamiliar voice joined the conversation.
"Ah, man, she wrecked a pimp's car." The man said casually as he emerged through the door Molly had left open. It was too dark so we couldn't see his face, so he just stood there in the shadows without a care in the world.
"You wrecked a car? Belonging to a pimp?" Gert whisper-yelled to her as she and Molly took a step back, joining the semi-circle that soon turned into a line that faced the mystery man.
Yeah, and it was freaking awesome." The stranger said to the purple haired girl as he walked towards us more, slowly stepping into the light so that we could see his face
He was a man that couldn't have been more than his early twenties, he had tanned skin and an deep-ish voice. He had dark hair and brown eyes. He continued to walk towards us, observing the place we had been living in.
"Almost as awesome as this place." He said, adjusting the backpack he had thrown on his shoulder.
"Damn. This sure beats staying in a hostel, huh?"
Chase started to take a few steps towards the stranger, the main held his hands level to his chest.
"It's cool. I'm cool." He said casually as she slowly lowered his hands, taking one last look around the abandoned mansion before turning his attention back at us
"I'm Topher."
Hey guys!! Sorry I haven't updated in like a month. School has been stressful but I'm going to update when I can. I have been thinking about adding a twist that may not make complete sense but just let me know in the comments if you would be interested in the little twist I'm thinking of throwing in. Also make sure to let me know what you think of the book so far and I'll see you guys next time, Byee <3