

### Aqua

### Haley Winn

### eBooks are not transferable. This book may not be sold, shared or given away. Doing so would be an infringement of the copyright.

### This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places, and events are products of the author's imagination and are in no way real. Any resemblance to real events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

### Aqua

### Copyright 2012 Haley Winn

### Cover Design by Mallory Wheeler

### Published by Dylan Ross at Smashwords

### All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Chapter 1

Haley

You see a lot of things in the little city where I live. For example, right now, seated on a bench in front of my favorite taffy shop, here are a few of the things I've seen in the last thirty seconds: A little boy running by with his dad jogging after him screaming, "Get back here!" Dancing across the crosswalk was one of my friends' moms. Yes, that's right, I said dancing. About twenty thousand cars were racing down the road, and a girl who looked about seven dropping her ice cream. Three high school kids walked by me and four little kids were ambling after them like ducklings with their mother. A teenager gripped his mom's hand and cried, " Mom!! That car almost hit me!!" By the way that car was probably about half a block away.

I sighed and crammed a piece of taffy into my mouth. Without my realizing it, a hand had silently moved towards me and now rested on my shoulder. I screeched and hopped nearly a foot in the air.

The person started laughing like a madman and I swung my head around to see my friend Dylan. "You ass!" I screamed and smacked him on the back of his head.

"I...that ...so funny!" He gasped through laughs, fighting for the right words, and clearly choosing the wrong ones. I stood and offered him a piece of Texas Pecan taffy, knowing that would make him shut up. He took a square and raised an eyebrow at me suspiciously, "Haley, what did you do to it...?" he asked.

I shook my head. He shrugged and handed me the wrapper after devouring the piece of candy. Dylan's mom walked up (The one who was dancing). Behind her, about two blocks away, I saw my best friend Mallory running toward me. I grinned and waved.

Dylan's mom LOVED taking pictures of Emily, his other "friend" who was a girl and I. She snapped a picture of me when I was turning back to her. "Mom, enough pictures." Dylan groaned.

"It is OK Emo." I'd called Dylan Emo since the fifth grade when he...well...went emo, I suppose. He had soft brown hair that was usually dyed black, the same color as his clothes. He was average height with pitch black eyes that seemed to go on forever, like two small black holes.

"SORRY TO INTERUPT." Mallory breathed as she caught up. Dylan's mom snapped a shot of her, and I really couldn't blame her. I wanted to scream "For the love of Christ, Mal, what is wrong with your clothes?" Here is why: Her shirt was neon chartreuse and she was wearing a pair of dark denim skinny jeans. Not so bad huh? Alright, here's the accessories: a tie-dye scarf that hung loosely from her neck, purple converse, and a light brown throw bag with a peace sign on it.

Imagine that on a girl who was thirteen and NOT thirteen in the seventies.

"Umm..." I began.

A smoldering glare erupted from her violet eyes, and she hissed a "Shut up." under her breath.

A crowd of my friends, including Emily, Brooke, Jessie, Ethan, and Mikey Poul, rushed down the sidewalk in a fit of laughter. Mikey Bruno had been chasing them half a block. His dirty blond hair flying behind him, and his brown jacket on, even in the middle of summer.

My jaw dropped, and I pointed my finger at them. Dylan and Mallory whirled around. Mallory gasped and took three steps backward. Dylan and I stared, but I managed to run with him about two steps behind.

Mallory was right behind him, and then his mom, who was looking a little confused.

Emily's ex-boyfriend Tristan was soon right in front of me, whom I guess had been in a shop and seen us run by.

Four blocks away, Ethan scurried up a tree and hung by the top branch with one arm. About two minutes later, our groups met up and Ethan jumped on Bruno's back from behind. Dylan and Tristan held him back while us girls and Poulé (The nickname we made up for Mikey Poul) ran like crazy.

Dylan's mom had already left, seeing it was taken care of. I didn't stop running until I was in front of our apartment building, which, for the record, was seventeen blocks away.

We all entered panting and breathless, except Poulé, because guys weren't allowed in my apartment unless my grandpa was there. He had a room down the hall, however. And he, my mom, and my grandma were at work, so it was just us.

I plopped down on my bed and Mallory sprawled out across from me. Emily perched in a black leather office chair and Brooke and Jessie shared the beanbag chair. I grabbed the remote and flipped the switch.

"Comedy Central or Teen Nick? " I asked.

"Comedy Central." Jessie answered. Emily nodded in agreement.

"Science Channel." Argued the forever Mythbusters-Geek Mallory, while we all rolled our knowing eyes at her. I counted her as Teen Nick, since she hated Comedy Central with a passion.

"Teen Nick!" yelled Brooke, surprising us all. I waved a hand to shush her, and she blushed.

"Nick it is." I grinned and flipped it to that station. Mallory grimaced and crawled under my covers, sounding like she mumbled 'I'm gonna read my book.' I heard the doorbell, and Brooke wandered off to answer it, returning moments later with my grandma next to her. "Hey girls." The older woman smiled warmly at us.

"Hey." We greeted in unison, Mallory almost yelling with a spastic wave.

"Do you girls have money?" My grandma asked. We were all planning to go eat.

We headed down stairs to the apartment restaurant and asked for a table for six. A waitress named Samantha led us to our table and took our orders, which, for most of us, was a bacon cheeseburger, except for Brooke, the vegetarian. She had a salad, awkwardly flushing red as we all smiled at her.

My mother walked in the restaurant and pulled a chair up to our table. "Hey, y`all should probably let your moms know that you are alright."

My friends all pulled out their cell phones, (except Mallory, who's phone was almost always lost and she used mine instead) and dialed their numbers. Most of them stayed on for only about twenty seconds, but Jessie took two minutes, because her mom wasn't at home and she had to call a number of different cell phone numbers to get in touch.

It was so normal for my friends to come over that we usually forgot to call their parents. The good thing is that we all lived in close proximity to each other, Jessie living a couple doors down, Emily and Brooke residing in a duplex down the road, and Mallory's little house a few miles north.

Our food arrived. I picked up my fork and began devouring my meal.
Chapter 2

I walked into the hallway and headed toward my grandpa's apartment. When I walked past Room C7 I knew Jessie was about to be home alone with her devil of a big sister Amber. She was screaming and begging her mom to let her stay the day in town. "Jessie..." Her mother warned.

"PLEASE!" Jessie pleaded, but I knew she would get what she wanted. Jessie had such persuading abilities it could have driven you insane.

"Alright! But see if one of your friends will go with you first." I heard her mom mutter. I kept walking, knowing Jessie would find us eventually. I pushed the elevator button with my thumb and waited to see Jessica's door fly open. Nothing. I stood there for a few seconds. Oh, there it is. She shot out her front door.

She turned in the direction of my apartment and ran. "Jessie! Over here!" I called and hoped that wasn't too loud. The guy next to the elevator always screamed at me for being too loud, well, me and every other person who breathes.

Jessie Garrett turned around and walked calmly to the elevator. It arrived and an old couple that I think live in C2 got out. Jess and I got in and I hit the D button. "So umm...were you going to my place?" I asked. I didn't really want Jessie to know she had been so loud I could hear her from the hall.

"Yup." She nodded and rummaged through her backpack. She pulled out a brush and a hair clip. Jessie was like that. She couldn't remember if she put her homework in her backpack or in her binder, but she sure could be prepared if a clothes crisis happened.

" You need to borrow something?" I asked trying to get her to ask me. I needed some girlfriend time.

"Oh, right! You want to spend the day in town with me?" She asked, while brushing her dirty blond, almost brown hair. She put a pink hairclip in and stared at me like if I said no, she'd curl up and die.

"Yeah sure! Just me and you?" I asked hoping so. I loved spending time with Jessie. Mallory too, but I'm with her WAY too much. In the middle of last semester I even started making the weird faces she does.

"That sounds nice." She answered and smiled. Jessie put her brush back in her bag and took out a pack of gum. "Strawberry or Extra?"

"Strawberry." I answered and popped a piece in my mouth. My small tote bag only had my cell phone, a pack of gum, fifty bucks, a comb, two hair clips, and a stick of eyeliner, lip-gloss, and my membership cards for the shops. Jessie's had that, a hair brush, a change of clothes, blush and eye shadow, a Percy Jackson book, a bag of Fruit Loops, an additional pack of gum, and some nail polish.

So basically she was ready for anything. If anything had anything to do with looks. She was wearing every type of makeup, where as I was only wearing lip-gloss and eyeliner.

The elevator sank down to the lobby and we exited the building. "Haley's?" I asked which ironically was the name of our ice cream shop. One of I should say.

"Later ok? I want to go to the jewelry shop in 42nd street." She answered, heading in that direction. I nodded and followed her. We had to walk across a crosswalk, and down two blocks, but we made it there in one piece. That was when I realized Jessie might have been the prettiest Powera ever.

She was a Firea. They could touch you and set you aflame. Or give you burns, their choice. Their favorite color was automatically red. And yes, Jessie's one of them, but I'm not. I'm called an Aqua.

An Aqua has the ability to not drown in water. We can breathe in real water, meaning salt water. Our favorite color is blue, because it's the color of the water. I forgot to mention this before, but our eyes are the color of our favorite color. Because red is un-natural Jessie has to wear contacts. Anyway, we can drown other people with a flick of our fingers.

I'll inform you of the rest later.

"Umm Jess?" I asked as we walked over to the rings.

"Yes?" She answered, eyeing a red one. "So pretty," she murmured.

"You brought money right? I know you're prone to forgetting, but...." I asked her cautiously, wandering if she would chew me out.

"Oh, yeah I brought a few extra. Mom said to spend the day in town." Jessica replied turning back to the ring.

I looked at a light blue ring with wave looking design on it. I grabbed it from the shelf and walked to the counter. I placed it gently on the glass and gave the lady a five. She handed me back three ones and gave me the ring.

I walked back over to Jessie as I put my new ring on. I smiled at her and looked at a bracelet she had started looking at. She picked it up and put it on, testing the size.

The room burst into flames.

The fire spread around the room. I screamed so loud I could have sworn people in China could have heard it. I felt some one's hands on me.

A right hand was on my right arm right below my shoulder, along with the same on my left arm. The man I barely knew picked me up and carried me out of the store, with me screaming the whole time. Dylan's dad was Strength. He could have put an arm around me and carried me, but that would be a bit awkward. I'm not going to say I was expecting him to rescue me, because I wasn't. I looked through the shop window as I was carried down the street.

Jessie was standing right in the middle of the flames. Not caring that if she were human she would have third degree burns, or if she were I she would be dead as soon as the flames touched her. I tried to reach for my necklace. If you call a blue rock on a ribbon a necklace. If I wasn't wearing that thing at all times then I would be in mortal danger.

Jessie's red and my friends the color of their power. I reached for my necklace again, and Mr. Ross shook his head and tightened the grip on my arms. I didn't blame him for thinking I was trying to yank it off. I closed my eyes.

Mr. Ross nodded and murmured, "Yes, yes." I tried to make water shoot from my necklace, but that would just choke me. I remembered that there were water fountains in the shop, and visualized them in my mind. I commanded the water to put out the fire and then opened my eyes. I quieted as Mr. Ross toted me to Dylan's house.

He sat me down on Dylan's couch. I stopped screaming and clutched my necklace. Dylan walked in the room and jumped backward. Mr. Ross looked at his son and burst out laughing. "Son, I'm sure this is the one young lady that could scare you out of your socks." He laughed again and went in the kitchen.

"So, you're in my house, no scratch that, you're sitting on my couch why?" Dylan asked setting down his iPad and taking a seat on the other end of the couch.

"Jessie and I were buying some jewelry. I know, weird. But anyway, Jessie put on a bracelet and the room...kind of burst into flames. So um... when your Dad got there, I was screaming my lungs out. And he ca-" I started.

"And he carried you here." Dylan finished for me. I nodded and smiled. My hand left my necklace and rested on my lap. "You want root beer or Coke?" Dylan asked and walked toward the kitchen. I shot up and followed him.

"A&W. " I answered and leaned against the counter. "And then I'm going. I want to see if the fire went out." I informed him.

"Alright. Here's your root beer. It okay if I come with you? I want to know if Jessie is mad enough to burn you," he told me.

"Dylan!" I protested and hit him on the back of the head. He did that half laugh/half grin and sipped on some A&W. I drank about half of mine and got to wonder. "So are you really going? Cause I don't think your dad is going to let me go alone," I told Dylan.

"Dang right I'm not." Mr. Ross said, walking into the kitchen. I laughed and looked up at him.

"So, umm it OK if Emo comes?" I asked and almost choked on my drink.

"Yes it's Ok if Emo goes," His dad said and chuckled. I waved and made my way out the door, turning towards Dylan." You still drink?" I joked.

"Yeah." He grinned. "You?"

"NO! I don't." I replied, laughing. I shoved his shoulder and walked next to him around the corner. "Hey, we're almost there." I pointed at the ashen building.

We strolled over and saw Jessie wandering out of the store. I broke into a run. "Jessie!" we screamed. She turned with a flip of her flaxen tresses as I neared her.

" Yes?" She asked.

"Did you kill anyone?" I demanded.

"Nah, just burned a few people.... by getting mad when the fire was going out." She replied.

"Jessie! You could have killed them!" I half whispered.

"Come on relax! To the people nearby it just looked like the fire growing in a spot. You can't blame me!" She cried, the fiery red of her eyes burning through her contacts.

Dylan motioned for us to go in one of the empty stores nearby. I nodded and followed him. "You are going to get caught one day, Jessie. And I don't want to hear any bitching." He said as soon as we were near the building.

"We should get out of here. People are noticing." I replied and pushed them through the door.

Chapter 3

I took out my phone and sent Mallory a quick text: Jessie set flame to a store.

My phone vibrated when she texted back: Get your trouble-making asses at my house NOW. She's on the news!

I muttered "Crap." and explained to them. Dylan shook his head and Jessie shrugged.

"If I get caught at her house-" Dylan warned, but I cut him off. He and Mallory were sworn enemies since fifth grade. I had no clue why, but she enjoyed kicking him in the ass and he liked turning everything she said into something perverted.

"You won't." I fixed him with a stern look and walked towards Mallory's street. She was one of the only ones of us with her own house, though it was small. Plus, her parents weren't divorced and were much older than all of ours. The house next to her held her brother Collin's family; her brother, his wife Heather, his stepson Cameron, and two-year-old Cainen (Collin and Heather's son together) who was probably Mallory's favorite little person in the world. The toddler was just starting to talk and had already started calling her 'Mal' and me 'Hay', since I often visited him whenever at her house.

Mallory was an Electress, which meant she controlled all types of electricity, from small static shocks to lethal lightning strikes. Her species was the second most powerful, second only to Darkness because of her ability to instantly kill mortals, though she would never ever consider that. Her eyes glowed an intense violet, with green contacts covering them. Her skin was milky pale, with freckles dotted across her cheeks, and reddish-brown curls trailed to her shoulder blades. Her opposite Powera was Ice.

Dylan was a Darkness. He had dominion over the night and held control over this black, smoke-like mist that could suffocate or pick up things. He could also see in the dark. His opposite was Light, a rare type.

My friend Brooke is what you humans would call a grass type. In reality, she was an Earth Protector, who took care of the environment and had control over all plants. Pollution affected her greatly, and sooner or later she would need to take a journey to the Powera headquarters to be cleansed of it all. Her color was green and she had no opposite Powera.

Emily was an Eartheen, also called a Geo. She could bend rocks or solid metal with just a flick of her hand. Though it took a lot of her concentration, she could also summon lava from places where the plates of the earth were very thin.

Poulé was an Ice type. His powers were the ability to freeze anything, and also to paralyze with just a touch of water. His weakness Powera was an Electrician/Electress, which was one of the reasons why Mal hated him so much.

And last but not least was Ethan. His Powera was an Animalia. He could summon animals, from elephants to little worms. His color was gray, and he also thirsted for blood, mainly because of his tiny little wolf gene.

As we approached Mallory's driveway, I smelled that she must have contacted them all. We all had a different smell that only other Poweras could smell. Being around so many others made the smell of smoke and burnt wood next to me stronger. I was sure I smelled like the ocean, but there was no time to ask.

I sprinted up the driveway, quickly waving to Cainen who was seated on his front porch with a huge box of Legos in his lap.

~~~~

Chapter 4

I pushed open the door and stepped inside. Mallory led us all to her living room, which had a chaise, a huge couch, a loveseat, and many fluff pillows on the floor. I clutched my necklace and pulled it to my face. The smells I loved flooded my nose; rain and salt-water.

I looked around the crowded living room. I inhaled another breath of necklace and let it fall to my chest. A tear dripped down my cheek when I looked at Brooke. The weak look in her eyes told me we would need to leave soon to cleanse her.

Mallory gave Jessie a sharp look. Then she ran to me. "Are you alright?" She demanded looking me over from head to toe. In most ways, I was more maternal than Mallory, except she was fiercely protective over me, like a mama bear.

I nodded and looked at Brooke again. She was changing like this every day. At times she was so life-like and her beautiful, normal self. Other times she was like this, so energy drained.

"Guys we need to leave soon. No parents, so we need a plan." I glanced at everyone one by one, and they all nodded in agreement.

We let Brooke head home as soon as she was feeling better. We told her to be awake at midnight; that someone would be there soon after.

After we all talked it over we decided it would be best to bring a bag of stuff with us. It took a lot of convincing, but we talked Jessie into not putting make up on for an escape.

I grabbed my gray Aeropostle bag and went to my closet. I packed a two pairs of jeans and a pair of shorts, and three shirts, along with a blue one-piece bathing suit. Then I changed out of my PJs and in to a clean outfit. I headed to the kitchen next. I grabbed a Zip Lock bag and went back into my room.

I put some blue jewelry in just in case I needed extra power. I put that in my bag and headed to my personal bathroom. I shoved in a stick of deodorant, my toothbrush, a hairbrush, a comb, perfume, eyeliner, and lip-gloss. Again I entered my room and grabbed my fifty dollars.

I put that in my pocket, along with my cell phone. I glanced at the clock; 11:30. I still had half an hour, so I went through all my old purses and found another twenty-five. I put on a watch so I would be sure what time it was while we were gone.

I slipped on a hoodie on top of all my other stuff. It was 11: 45 now. I went over a checklist in my head and added some hair bows, and blue hair dye. 11:50 now. Time to go. I kissed my mom's, my grandpa's, my grandma's, Will's, and Breanna`s (my other little cousin) foreheads God knows how many times. I left a note explaining about Brooke and the fact we were going to the leader of all Powers. My hands were shaking, so I made many mistakes;

"Nanny, Pop, Will, Momma, Breanna,

Brooke as you know is an Earth Protector. The firrst first part of her life where she must free her body of polllutien pollution is here. We are all going to take her to Powera head qurtars headquarters. I love you all so much.

Love,

Haley"

Then I walked out the door, bag in hand. I stumbled down the stairs and texted everyone that I was ready. We met in front of Brooke and Emily's duplex and whistled five times. She slipped out and joined us. Emily had gone to her house earlier and helped her pack. So we left her in charge of snacks. She was carrying a bag of Oreos, a mini bag of Cheetos, and a box of graham crackers. We made each of them fit in our bags and headed for the back door.

We journeyed for what seemed like an eternity, though it was only an hour and a half. Mallory was playing dance songs from her iPod to pump us all up. Dylan groaned as she played Florence and the Machine, but the rest of us honestly didn't care.

We had made it out of town safely and were in the middle of a little farmhouse (Which happened to be our friend Kyle's house). We stopped and ate some snacks and then made our way to a barn. Ethan talked some horses into letting us hitch a ride.

I was riding one with Mallory sitting behind me. Jessie was leaning over the neck of one with Brooke riding with her. Ethan had his own. Mikey rode by himself too. Emily sat passenger to Dylan's horse.

Dylan's cell phone rang and he looked down at it. He muttered some words that shouldn't have been said and hit Ignore. "Who was that?" I whispered.

"My dad." he replied.

"Oh..." I said, realizing how hard this was going to be on us. He nodded and we continued riding.

We rode toward the place that you could call "Powera Headquarters", which was in Los Angeles, California. Once we got there we could restore Brooke's power, and then it would be another twenty years before she needed it again. Living in Georgia it was going to take a while to get there, and with many obstacles...

We got off of our horses about a two hours later and started walking again, but letting Brooke stay on the back of hers.

At about three in the morning we wandered into a big city. The guys sort of surrounded us, Ethan and Mikey in the back, and Dylan in front of us.

Three goons jumped in front of us in the middle of the sidewalk, obviously some of the guys who disliked thirteen year olds trying to live on their own. One took off his glasses, which set off a harsh orange glare on the sidewalk. Emily smirked and started to pull off her glasses too. I grabbed her arm and squeezed tightly. She let go of her lenses and put them back on.

Dylan jumped forward and smoke shot from every hole in his head, even his eyes. It was a bit frightening, but sooner than later we got over it. We heard footsteps behind us and whirled around to see two women and one guy behind us. Water shot from the blue in my eye and into the mouth of a Firea girl. She dropped to her knees, the water drowning her. Once the woman was unconscious I looked over at Jessie.

Fire shot from her toes in all directions, but the flames swerved around us.

Mallory's pearly white hand flashed, and a burst of purple electricity arced from her fingertips and onto the chest of a man, who twitched twice and crumpled to the ground.

Ethan looked at the sky and whispered some words in Greek. Pigeons rained down and started pecking at one man like he was a target.

Brooke, who was strong at the moment, covered the fourth with vines.

Mikey paralyzed the last person in the back, and Dylan blasted smoke in his lungs.

We all moved to the sidelines and Emily faced off with the Eartheen man. Rocks flew and chunks of concrete zoomed by us. One brick hit Mallory in the back of the head, which made her stagger before painstakingly regaining her composure. I ripped off a piece of my shirt and soaked it, handing it to her. She smiled gratefully and pressed it to the wound.

After about fifteen minutes Emily came back in our direction. She grabbed Dylan's hand and he kissed her forehead. Two years ago I would have gagged. But after that time I think my stomach had just decided to let it go, though I did still feel disgusted. Mallory groaned and turned away, something that happened often.

"Are you missing your parents?" I asked after about twenty minutes.

"No." he muttered.

"Oh come on Dylan. You're heartless." I joked.

"Screw you." he said and walked away to Emily.

"Hey! Douche bag! Get back here!" I said and trudged over to both of them. "Stop saying that!" I repeated for about the millionth time in my life.

"Bitch." he threw the word at me AGAIN. Salt-water foam started bubbling out of the middle of my hand.

"Dylan...hey!" Emily started yelling. The water was starting to flood out now with extreme speed. I could feel water beginning to seep out of my toes and fingers. Dylan was refusing to look at me, mouthing the word 'Fuck.'

I reached out and touched Dylan's shoulder, and he finally turned around. "Oh My God! Holy shit!" I smiled, but it was turned horrid by the salt water seeping through my teeth. I tried to stop the rage, but it wouldn't leave, just go down a bit.

The water was going down to a stream when Dylan turned around to me again. "Why are you so obsessed with making me mad and annoyed?" He screamed.

"Hey, leave her the fuck alone you little whore!" Mallory cried, balling her fists and glaring bullets at the black-haired boy. Emily started to walk over, her glasses gone and her eyes glowing an extremely bright orange. Her fingernails were starting to turn to stone.

"NO!" Ethan screeched and jumped on top of her. She popped her back and shoved him off, but he was able to grab her wrists.

"Get your hands off of my girlfriend!" Dylan protested loudly.

"She'll kill someone!" Ethan shot back, fighting to keep his hold on the struggling Eartheen's hands.

"Alright! You're not a bitch! You aren't one Haley!" Dylan was screaming now. Emily broke free and ran for us. Rocks were flying everywhere.

The water backed off, but we all knew it would be moments before Emily could control herself enough to stop. I leapt for her glasses and shoved them on her head. I ducked as HUGE chunks of stone rained down on us. I cried out in pain as one hit my kneecap and bounced back, hit it again, and landed on the ground. Mikey crawled over and let me lean on him. The rocks flew for fifteen minutes, so nobody noticed that I was weeping. When it was over Dylan walked to me and helped to get me up.

"Umm... I'm sorry." He mumbled half-heartedly, saying the last word so quietly I thought for a while that I had completely imagined it. I glared mildly at him, before grabbing his forearm and leading him off into the shadowy woods.

I stared at the leaves on the forest floor, and at the night sky above the treetops. I could hear a little stream, and if I listened closely enough I could hear my other friends talking and enjoying themselves. "I just can't believe that I'm traveling the length of the country for a girl that I barely know." Dylan admitted. "You always allowed me let my anger out. But Emily just tells me to calm down. That doesn't help me at all, but you know that." I nodded and looked over at him.

He had jet-black hair with blonde layers at the moment, cut in an emo style. He was wearing a very gory band t-shirt, and black, ripped skinnies. His tennis shoes were black Converse, and he had about three cut marks on his wrist. I grabbed his arm and ran my finger on one of the scars. "You've got to stop...never mind." I murmured. I looked up a few inches into his black eyes.

"Whatever." Dylan said, putting it bluntly. He looked away, and I just sat there. I looked down at my Converse, loving the fact that they had all of my friend's signatures. I looked at the blank spot where Dylan should have signed two years ago. I tapped his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow questioningly at me.

I pointed at the spot next to Emily's name. "You never signed it." I answered his unspoken question of 'what's that supposed to mean?' He sighed and took a Sharpie from his pocket. I scooted sideways and held out my foot. He wrote Dylan and threw the pen to the ground. "Come on, they're going to notice we are gone soon." I realized and stood. I put my hand on the tree and waited impatiently while he grabbed his backpack and stood.

We wandered back to the clearing in silence. Dawn was breaking. Our parents would know we were gone soon, and then we would have to be extra careful. As we approached our friends I spotted Mikey in a little clump on the ground, his clothes fried and his hair a toasted color. My jaw dropped and I ran forward. When I got to him he was groaning and trying to freeze himself to stay cool. I pressed my necklace to his so that he would have something to freeze. I glanced around frantically, and saw Mallory with this proud smirk on her face.

I bounded towards her and knocked her to the ground, a mistake because I got a small shock from the sparks coming from her body. When she got her breath back, and I stopped shaking and she stood. "Why did you do that to him? You could have killed him!" I yelled, feeling my eyes turn that neon shade of blue. Seawater shot from my hands and ears. I aimed my hand at her.
Chapter 5

Mallory

Oh my god. I hate Dylan and Mikey. I was seriously on the verge of roasting Dylan on a rotating spit when he caused Haley to get hurt. I had started forward, a lightning strike ready for my usage, until Emi grabbed my wrist. The look in her eyes turned my decision. My temper flaring, I folded my arms and clenched my fists. And Mikey did something as dangerous and reckless as lighting a match next to a bomb.

"Gee, Mallory, getting a little bit of a temper there, huh?"

I whirled around, my mental concrete casing exploding off my bubbling temper. A loud crack of thunder echoed around, and with a flash of light, Mikey was on the ground, burned to a crisp.

"MALLORY!" Brooke screamed, horrified. With a satisfied smile, I casually hummed the rhythm to Sunday, Bloody Sunday by Paramore.

That was when Haley ran in and thwarted my plans. She darted over to Mikey and pressed her necklace to his, her long black hair swaying. Then she attacked me.

In defense mode, I shocked her. Then I stopped, absolutely disgusted with myself. How could I hurt my gentle, sweet friend? My compassion was not shared.

"Why did you do that to him? You could have killed him!" Haley shouted. She aimed her hand at me and I closed my eyes. I fluttered my eyelashes to try and stop the tears. I shocked Mikey, and now Haley was going to kill me. Wow, way to be a great friend. I caught Jessie, Emily, and Brooke's horrified looks and let out a soft sob. So this was it.

The water crashed into my chest, instantly knocking the breath out of me. I attempted to fight it off, but it only resulted in a chemical reaction. I felt the cool liquid take on a quality like acid, and I tried to scream, but all it resulted in was a low groan.

My anger took over as I staggered to my feet, with a quiet whimper. I directed a bolt at Haley, and she fell back with a cry of pain. My body slumped forwards, and I sank to my knees.

What had I done?

I'd hurt sweet Haley, the first girl who gave me a chance at getting friends. The girl I had hung out with every day since fourth grade. Haley, whose smile could cheer me up on a daily basis? My best friend who I could not live without? What was wrong with me?

My reddish curls shivered in front of me. Tears began to overflow. I could see my arms shaking, from their place holding me upright, my pale palms pressed into the ground. I was a monster, an absolute monster. That was my only thought as my arm support failed and I collapsed onto the forest floor, dark spots dancing in front of my vision.

I don't know when I woke up, but when I did I saw everyone clustered around the limp body of Haley. I curled painfully into a ball and began to silently cry. Through my tears I felt warm arms around me and looked blearily into the eyes of sweet Brooke. I tried to smile, but instead I buried my face into her shoulder and sobbed. She hugged me knowingly, like she understood.

Haley

"Haley, are you okay?"

I woke up lying on the ground; Dylan and Jessie were standing above me. I sat up and smacked the former in the shoulder. "I don't want you to EVER be the first thing I see when I wake up!"

Dylan rolled his eyes and walked over to Emily. "She's awake."

Emily walked over, her glasses missing. I looked around and saw MORE rocks on the ground. Emily hugged me.

"You two could have killed yourselves." she insisted. I flinched at a sudden pain in my forehead and noticed Mallory had stood and walked over.

"Um...I'm sorry." she muttered. I rolled my eyes and let her join the hug. We hugged for a moment but all of the people around us started interrupting us.

I looked toward Mikey. "What did you do?" I asked. He threw his hands in the air and I raised an eyebrow.

Mikey glanced at Mallory. "Just forget it OK?" she insisted. I rolled my eyes and looked at everyone else, who was just staring at my forehead.

"What? What are you staring at?" I demanded them. Could they not just forget that had just happened? Ethan pointed at my forehead, even at the age of thirteen he still acted like he was a crazy seven year old. I reached up and touched my forehead where his finger had skimmed. When MY finger made contact with that bit of skin it burned. "Ouch..." I muttered and looked at my slightly burnt finger.

"Jessie, give me a mirror." I said, because everyone else was taking action. She handed me a very purple mirror and I grabbed it. When I looked at myself there was a small, but very noticeable lightning bolt on my forehead. "Oh My God!" I screamed. I looked at Mallory, realizing why she had refused to look at my face. "Come here." I grabbed Mallory's wrist and pulled her with me to the now familiar forest. "Pull up your shirt" I told her.

"What?" Mallory asked, having trouble keeping her temper down.

"Just do it." I demanded again. She lifted it up and there, right above her bellybutton where I blasted her was a blue mark in the shape of a raindrop. My mouth dropped AGAIN. Mallory looked at me confusedly but then followed my gaze.

"OH MY GOD!" she cried. "See I'm not the only evil one." she muttered. I turned around and stomped off, realizing I needed Dylan's scissors. I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. He whirled around. Then he realized who it was.

"Yes?" he asked, calming down a bit.

"Give me a pair of scissors." I said, reaching for his backpack.

"What makes you think I have scissors?" Dylan asked, and took his bag off of his shoulder.

"Because you're emo, now give them before I kill you in your sleep." I answered, locking eyes with him. His gaze shifted to my forehead, and I think he understood this time. He pulled out a pair of scissors and Jessie handed me a mirror.

I walked into the woods again; walking past Mallory. I hung the mirror on a tree and started cutting my hair. I first cut the length until it was just past my shoulders. I cut the bangs to swing over my eyes, and then styled it to hide Mallory's little mark.

"Haley!" Mallory cried out behind me. I spun around to see her standing there. "Oh my god..." she murmured and walked over to get a better look.

"What? You made the mark." I grumbled. I looked in the mirror, realizing I had done a pretty good job. I stood from the tree stump and yanked Jessie's mirror off the tree. I picked up Dylan's scissors and headed back towards the rest of my friends. When I got to the clearing everyone stared, well all but Dylan.

I shoved Dylan's scissors in his hand, the blade cutting into his skin. He looked at me in anger and I realized what I had done. Ethan flung himself at Dylan and they landed on the ground with a loud thump. My hand went to my mouth as Ethan's leg landed on the blade of the scissors. Ethan was still on top of Dylan, the wolf part of him wanting Dylan's blood. As much as Dylan had done to me over the years, I didn't want him to be killed by one of his best friends. I couldn't believe I was doing this but I ran over and threw Ethan off of Dylan.

Ethan snarled at me and jumped for me. I stepped to the side, a mere inch from where he landed. I realized I had just made him angrier. He was infuriated now, spitting slobber like a dog would; yet standing, as a cat would stalk its prey. Behind Ethan I saw Dylan stand, blood covering his face and scratches everywhere. Lightning flashed behind us and I screamed as Mallory electrocuted Ethan.

While Ethan collapsed his hand reached over and grabbed at Dylan and I. Mallory cried out in anguish and dragged him backwards while he drooled like a dog. She dropped him a little ways away and rushed to me. But it was too late.

I woke up to see Dylan still unconscious a few feet away, and glanced around. I saw Mallory and Ethan and caught their "conversation". "You worthless piece of shit!" Mallory screamed, punching Ethan in the face. "Dylan I don't care about, but you know that could have killed her you little faggot!" I sat up and glared at Ethan, wanting to jack slap him. Mallory noticed I woke up, threw Ethan the word bitch again, and stepped over to me "Are you OK?" she asked, crouching down beside me.

Her long curls brushed my face and I nodded. Dylan groaned and I looked over. His hair was covered in blood, and so was his hand where I had stabbed him. I suddenly noticed that I had started all of this by stabbing him. I crawled over and pushed his bloody hair out of his face. "Emily!" I yelled. She ran over, her eyes a bright orange and her nails little pebbles. She bent down to him and looked over at me.

"Can you find somewhere for us to wash his hand?" She asked, rubbing his hand.

"Yeah I can try, but you do realize I have a major headache." I answered and pressed my head to the ground. I could hear a stream, but with my headache it could have been Niagara Falls. I rubbed my temples and groaned at how much it hurt. I suddenly remembered Dylan and I had walked past a creek. I stood up and locked eyes with Emily. "It has minerals and..." I closed my eyes "It's clean enough to wash him off." I finished.

Mikey and Ethan, who was scared of Mallory enough to control himself, managed to carry Dylan to the creek. Dylan opened his eyes, and looked up at Emily, who was starting to clean his hand. "Where are we?" he asked, looking at his surroundings. He recognized the stream I guess and sat up a little bit, grimacing when Emily continued to wash his hand.

I could hear male laughing and glanced around suspiciously. There were only three boys with us and they were all nearby. Jessie stood and raked her crimson across the clearing.

"I'll go check it out." Ethan muttered, making a large circle away from Mallory. He easily leaped from one stone to another and stepped on the other side. He walked away through the trees. Dylan rolled his eyes and tried to pull his hand away from Emily. She looked up at me, a pleading look in her eyes. I walked over, wondering what kind of a cut could make her look so upset.

When I reached her I grabbed Dylan's wrist, and uncurled his fingers. My mouth gaped at how deep and wide the cut was. Had I really done that? I ran my thumb over the mark, flinching at how bad it made him wince. I let go of his hand and as my finger was sliding away there was a rustle in the bushes behind me. I turned around to see Ethan riding an elk, and following him were two boys, one with a smug smile on his face and the other looking nervously around with his hands in the pockets of his black jacket.

The smiling one was tall, probably about as tall as Dylan. His shaggy hair was a soft dark blond, and his eyes were liquid brown. The other was about an inch shorter, just a tad taller than Mallory, the second tallest of all of us. His hair was mahogany colored and kept short, though the front part nearly reached his chin, and his eyes were bright blue.

Ethan hopped off of his elk and started the introductions. "I'm Ethan. Who are you?" he asked bluntly. I looked at the brown-haired boy as he spoke.

"Skye Estes." He mumbled, glancing at Mallory. She raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. She leaned over and whispered in my air, "Best not frighten him. Looks skittish." I giggled. It seemed this one made another guy she hated.

The other boy smiled a little, but not a real smile, a smile I'd give Dylan, one that means nothing. "My name's Austin Silvers. Who are you guys?" Where had I heard that last name before?

"I'm Haley Winn. An Aqua." I murmured, knowing he was some form of Powera solely by the way his brown eyes appeared like molten chocolate, the same liquid tendency as Dylan's dad's eyes had.

"Dylan Ross, Darkness." Dylan said, flexing his cut hand.

"Brooke Gaddis. I am an Earth Protector." Brooke announced, looking like she was straining to keep up a smile.

"My name is Jessica Garrett, but most people call me Jessie. Uh, Firea." Jessie placed a hand on her hip and eyed Austin suspiciously.

"Mikey Poul. An Ice." Mikey muttered, looking at the ground for some reason.

"Emily Woodall is my name. I'm an Eartheen." Emily explained. She was holding Dylan's uninjured hand with one hand and holding a rock with another.

"Name's Wheeler; Mallory Wheeler. But many call me the Weirdo. You'll find out why soon enough, and I'm an Electress." Mal introduced herself, staring mockingly at nervous Skye.

"Sorry, we forgot to mention our powers. I'm a Strength, and Skye here -my best friend- is an Air." Austin replied. "Nice to meet you all. I see you have an Earth Protector. Are you guys heading to Powera Central, because if so I could help you along your way? I've been there many times!"

"Thank you," us girls said at once, knowing we needed help. The boys nodded their thanks, and so Skye and Austin walked over. Skye inched over to Mallory, who instantly began interrogating if he was a serial rapist. Austin sat down next to me, judging me intently.

"We don't exactly have time for sitting, let's just get going." Dylan said, rising from his place beside Emily. Austin stood, and surprisingly held out his hand to help me up. I grabbed it and almost flinched at how he didn't even budge.

We all walked in silence for a bit, but then Austin caught up to me, and we started talking. "So are you emo?" Austin asked, looking at my hair.

"What?" I asked, a bit confused. I remembered my hair and reached up, feeling the shape that could be mistaken as scene hair. "No. It's just that uh," I pushed a little bit of my hair away from my forehead, showing him the 'scar'. "This happened." I finished. He reached up and ran the flat of his thumb across Mallory's lightning bolt. I flinched; I didn't trust people that quickly.

"Wow." he murmured. Noticing I was feeling touchy, he dropped his hand and his gaze.

"No, its fine." I said, feeling a bit guilty. He raised his gaze and smiled, not another fake smile but a real smile, a smile I enjoyed seeing. I felt the corners of my mouth pulling upward, my lips revealing my teeth. It was the first time I had smiled in a really long time, since I was twelve when my childish smile left me.

We approached a small town, one that reminded me of home. My heart ached with homesickness. We walked into a cheap restaurant with a server that looked like a crack head. We all managed to cram into one very long table. To my left was Austin, and to my right was Mallory. Across from me was Emily. Next to Emily was Dylan on one side and Jessie on her right. On Jessie's other side was Brooke. On Mallory's other side there was Skye, who she was arguing to. On Austin's other side sat Mikey, and across from him (next to Dylan) was Ethan.

At this point, Mallory was yelling at Skye, something that had to do with astronomy.

"No, you dip-shit! Charon is Pluto's moon! Not fucking Saturn's!" Mallory hissed.

"Yes it is! It's weird looking! Looks like a rock!"

"THAT'S FUCKING PHOEBE!"

"No, it's not! Wait, isn't Phoebe a star?"

"Yeah, it's one of the Pleiades..."

"Oh. Ok."

"You changed the subject."

"You lie."

Mallory thought for a long moment. "You are confusing." She finally said. "You make my brain explode."

I chuckled under my breath, while Austin rolled his eyes.

We all ordered different things. Most of us agreed that what we got was delicious. Ethan was the only one who didn't like it and he had one reason: there was no milk. We sat there eating for a while and talking. I took a sip of my Mountain Dew and sat it down. Emily gave me a grin, pointing at Dylan. I looked over and he was listening to his iPad. I rolled my eyes and reached across the table. I yanked out the earpieces and sat down again, feeling like he got the message.

He almost flicked me off, but he turned it off and stuck it in his pocket. I looked over at Mallory, seeing that she had stopped speaking long enough to finish her Philly Cheese Steak. I felt my eyes starting to droop and realized that the last time we had sleep was the night before we left. Brooke yawned and tried to get hyped up by drinking the rest of her Coke and a whole refill.

When it was time to leave the restaurant we all paid for what we ate, so that nobody was cheated out of his or her money. We exited out into the crisp night air, and followed Austin and Skye. Dylan, Emily, and I were standing just behind them. Mallory and Mikey were arguing in hushed tones behind us, and following them was Jessie, Brooke, and Ethan. Ethan was looking at the sky, muttering Greek as we walked. I looked over at a shop that looked to be like an Old Navy or Kohl's. Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around to see that Austin had let Skye take the lead.

We stopped and let Emily and Dylan go on ahead. We walked between them and everyone else, because Mikey had dropped back to talk to Ethan, Jessie, and Brooke, and Mallory had ran up ahead to (to more than likely argue with) Skye. I looked up at the sky, wondering why it looked so dark. I had been knocked out twice, but had I really "slept" that long? I looked down at the watch on my wrist, but it hadn't made it through the lightning bolt and landing with Ethan and Dylan. I looked up into Austin's eyes. "What time is it?" I asked, very quietly.

He looked at his watch and squinted. "Seven thirty. How long have you been traveling?" he asked, looking up at the dark blue sky.

"Midnight last night." I answered. He looked at me like I had said we hadn't eaten in three years.

"Where did you guys come from?" Austin asked, and turned away, looking at his watch again.

"Georgia. Where are we now?" I answered, and asked a question I hadn't been able to ask in a very long time, well, what felt like a very long time.

"Georgia?" he exclaimed, like I didn't know what state I lived in. "You're in Colorado! How'd you get here in one night and day on foot?" he exclaimed.

I shrugged and glanced at his watch. I wasn't the talkative type with people I barely knew, but he kept following me like that, acting like we were lifelong friends, and to be honest he was creeping me out. At this age I was only used to friends and family. I shut the rest of the world out, acted like they weren't there. It was getting extremely dark now. I walked faster than him, picking up my pace until I was in the front. I was a girl who took charge when it was needed, and most listened to me. Dylan, though, didn't take orders from anyone unless he was at such a miserable point it was absolutely needed.

I looked at Skye and Mallory, who were yelling at each other pretty darn loud. I stepped back a little until I was with Dylan and Emily, who were still holding hands. "Don't you think it's getting pretty dark?" I asked. Dylan nodded. I ran to the front and noticed Austin had been right behind me. I walked towards a patch of woods, feeling a bit uncertain. Everyone followed me though. I sat down on a rock next to an extremely narrow stream. We all just sat there for a while, not knowing what to do. I did get pieces of Mallory and Skies conversation though: "No! Percy Jackson is NOT cool! He's ugly and stupid!" and, "You lie!" As it got darker the boys built a fire.

I leaned against a rock, then a tree. I grabbed my bag and laid it on the forest floor. I rested my head on it, and most everyone else did the same. I lay there for a while, listening to the crackling fire. I couldn't fall asleep, even though I knew I needed to. I was pretty sure everyone was asleep so I sat up and stared at the fire. I looked over at where Austin was supposedly sleeping and saw him sit up too.

He smiled and scooted over. I looked up into his deep brown eyes. That was when Austin leaned down and kissed me.
Chapter 6

As our lips touched I gave Austin's shoulders a hard shove. I had just met him! He gave me a confused and hurt look. I felt like slapping him, and if he tried that again it would happen! I stood up, as did he. I marched off into the woods, ignoring the fact that that damn stalker was following me. I let out a huge puff of air as we left ear shot distance of the others. "Look. I don't know what the heck made you think we were like that, but we aren't!" I yelled. I could barely see the brightly lit fire, so I was hoping the others couldn't hear us.

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He replied, "I'm sorry... I just thought you liked me too, and it's not like we're little kids or anything!"

"Little kids? No. No Austin we aren't. And I don't know about you, but I'm only thirteen!" I flared, the control of my temper hanging on by a thread.

Austin looked at me like I was crazy. "Thirteen! You guys are only thirteen? Holy shit!" he exclaimed.

"If that surprises you so much then how about you tell me how old you guys are?" I yelled. Thirteen is a young age, but he was acting like we were three!

"Fifteen. Yeah. I'm fifteen and I just kissed a thirteen year old. Dammit!" he hissed.

"He is a fifteen year old? He looked our age!" I thought to myself.

"I have friends back there that would gladly break your back. So I wouldn't push it if I were you." I stated. I started to walk past him but he reached out and grabbed my shoulder. I tried to get loose, but when I did it felt like I was just making his grip firmer, which, at this point felt impossible. Dylan, the son of a Strength was one thing, but an actual Strength -a young one at that- was about ten times worse. "Will you just let me go? God you're a stalker!" I yelled, letting loose of my temper. No water or suds came surprisingly.

"Break _my_ back?" Austin chuckled. He let go of my shoulder, but blocked my path so that I couldn't go back to my friends. "I'd LOVE to see them try!" he grinned. Now he had done it. Water started foaming out of my palm. He saw this and stepped aside. Shockingly he didn't follow me, just turned off in another direction.

I pulled my jacket tightly around me. I was slightly disturbed. A boy that I had met just this morning had tried to kiss me, a fifteen-year-old boy at that. As I was walking back to where my friends were enjoying a deep slumber I began to cry. I bit my lip, trying to control the noise and tears. I had it almost completely managed when I made it back to them, but there sat Emily trying to control a miserable looking Brooke Gaddis. I looked at Brooke and my tears just erupted. I couldn't stand it anymore. I had been fighting my emotions since we left home over twenty-four hours ago. I was a girl who cried easily. When my tears exploded I tried to control the noise, not wanting the guys to see me. Emily rushed over and pulled me into a fierce hug. She shed a few tears, but not as many as I did.

When my tears began to subside Emily held me out at shoulder's length. "Where were you?" she asked. I knew she must be curious with two people missing.

I sat down next to the fire and patted a spot on the ground next to me. She sat down too, and stared patiently into the fire as I found my words. "You can't tell anyone. Not even Jessie." I told her. I watched Brooke fall back to sleep as I let out the words.

"OK. Please just tell me." Emily replied, her last word almost swallowed by a yawn. When she stopped yawning I started to explain,

"I couldn't fall asleep and I thought everyone else was asleep so I sat up. But when I did so did Austin. He scooted over to me and. and. and he-" I stopped mid-sentence not knowing how to put this into words. Emily looked over at me, her expression urging me on.

I took a deep breath, "He tried to kiss me Emily. I shoved him off and headed into the woods, but he followed me. We fought a little and he's fifteen. Both of them are." I finished. There was no point in telling her the details, mostly because she probably didn't want to hear them any way. I wiped off my soaked face with my jacket sleeve. Emily looked over at me, shocked. I nodded my head and sighed. Emily is the only person in the world I would have told that to. I loved my other friends too, but Emily was different.

Emily hugged my shoulders and I reached up my arms and hugged back. When she went to the other side of the fire and lay down again I relaxed back against my "pillow". The last thing I saw before I drifted to sleep was Austin walking back to our little camp and laying down.

I woke to the sunlight pouring through the tree branches overhead. The birds in the trees had already begun their song, and the stream was making a beautiful sound (to my ears) as the water splashed up against the dirt bank. I propped up on my elbows and looked around. Jessie was already awake, and so were Mallory, Dylan, Ethan, and that boy Skye. Jessie noticed I was awake and walked over. I stood up and gave her a small "Good morning." She nodded and walked over to the stream, looking curiously into the crystal clear water. I walked over, seeing that the fire was already out. I patted her back.

"What's it like to love such a thing as water?" she murmured. I almost laughed, but I knew it was a real question.

"I've asked the exact same thing about fire, electricity, and all the others." I answered, a smile creeping across my face, "But if you really want to know..."

"No. It's fine," she answered. I stared down at her. Jessie was a good four inches shorter than me, and had been for as long as I've known her. Jessie was a good friend, someone that you go to when you need laughs, or to go to when you need to be reminded of the rules. Jessica Garrett was my conscience. The one I came to for many things. I loved Jessie, as I did with all of my other friends. All of my friends are different, and Jessie just happened to be one of them.

Jessie had rules about hugs. She didn't liked to be touched, as I didn't like to be touched by people I didn't know. Jessie was different though. Hugs had to be one arm around the shoulder, and it had to be a short little squeeze. Jessie had done a lot for me over the years. As Emily was my friend for her own reasons, so was Jessie.

Mallory walked by and I grabbed her arm. "Hey Mal you not gonna speak?" I asked, smiling

"Hey. Haven't talked to you ever since yesterday." She replied. I let go of her arm. Mallory, Mallory, Mallory, my crazy friend, the prankster, and the one who didn't care how much trouble she got in or how crazy she looked. After all, weird was a good thing. I knew all her secrets, and she knew most of mine. I loved the girl to death; I loved her dearly, not queerly, as we always said to each other to ward off comments of 'Lesbian!'

I gave another smile and walked back to my bag. I got out a blue ring and put it on. I didn't trust anyone anymore, not after last night. I leaned against a tree, my thoughts swirling around in my head. I took my MP3 player out of my bag and turned it on. I put the headphones in and just listened to music, the way I escaped the craziness of this world. When I was eleven, twelve, and most of being thirteen I would have a laptop on my lap, and my IMs would be full, and sometimes ignored.

I looked around our little camp. My eyes rested on Austin, wondering if he would stalk me again. He hadn't exactly stalked me, but he was close enough for me to beat the crap out of him with no regret at all. Except maybe just a little part of me liked him, just a little part. He saw me looking and I quickly glanced away. My hands were in my pockets, my bag sloppily thrown over my shoulder. My black hair was a tousled mess. I was wearing my collage Converse with my friends' signatures on the toes. I had on black jeans and a gray shirt that had the definition of Love. Over my shirt was a white Aeropostle jacket that I wore almost 24/7. It was hot weather out, yet here I was with a jacket, Converse, and a pair of pants. I didn't care though.

I was too into my music to notice Austin had walked over. I didn't realize he was there until I felt a tap on my shoulder. A glance over proved he was there, his blond hair covering his brown eyes. I turned my MP3 player off and put it in my bag. "Yes?" I asked a flash of an escaping temper in my voice. I could probably control it now, however. Maybe.

He brushed his hair aside, so I could see his eyes. "Look I'm sorry about last night. I didn't realize I was jumping ahead, but I was. And I'm really truly sorry." he apologized. I wanted to scream at him, wanted to slap him again, or beat the living crap out of him. I didn't care, but I preferred the third.

"Sorry?" I asked, fighting to keep my voice to a whisper, "You don't get it. Like I said before, I'm thirteen, and you're fifteen. There's a bit of an age difference. And it wouldn't have been too bad if you had waited more than one day." I said, letting go of the thoughts I hadn't told him last night.

He seemed to get the hint that this would go a whole lot easier if we stopped talking about it. He nodded and walked away. I walked over to Dylan. "So when do you guys think we'll leave again?" I asked. He shrugged, his black shirt rippling a bit. Dylan was my emo friend. Always wore black, cut himself, and had been my friend ever since the first grade. I used to be so mean to him in fifth grade. I think I was a bully, but near the end and afterward our friendship returned to normal. There was only one problem with that though, and it was that people looked at me weird when I told them to stop being so mean to him.

He came up with an answer I suppose, because he answered; "Now I guess. What state are we in again?"

"Colorado." I answered and nodded at his very shocked expression.

"Damn." He said, "That could explain why everything looks SO different." I nodded and shoved my hands in my pockets. I walked over to the still sleeping Emily and shook her shoulder.

"Wake up Emmy. It's time to go." I said. She opened her eyes and sat up. She felt around for her glasses and her hand landed on my arm. "I got it." I handed her her glasses and helped her pack up the things she had spilled from rolling around in her sleep. We stood up again and I walked over to the little stream. I dropped down to my knees and the water rose from its spot, following the commands in my head.

It swirled around me. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I had no purpose; I was just playing with what I loved. I threw my bag to the ground as the water soaked me. I let most of it sink back into the stream and grabbed my bag. I stood and walked over to the others. I felt so glad to just be wet. Mikey was looking down at the water as it froze. Jessie and Dylan were using their elements to stop it from freezing, and before we knew it we were all playing with our elements. All but Austin who was standing next to me, watching us play. I shot water from the creek straight at Jessie and felt quite satisfied when she screamed in disgust. Or was that pain?

I ran over, Austin right behind me. She must have been playing, because flames erupted just beside my feet. I screamed and ran back over to Mikey. He too, looked terrified. Jessie stopped and exploded with laughter. We all started along our walk then, and I was surprised when Austin left me alone for the better part of the morning.

When he did walk over though, I let him because I knew he realized the ground rules. He just walked with me for a bit, not saying anything. We walked in that uncomfortable silence for a while. I looked over at his dirty blonde hair. Maybe we would be good friends, or maybe his wish of falling in love with me would happen, but I really, really doubted that. "So, umm why don't you...." I began but my voice trailed off as I realized I didn't hate him as badly as I thought.

"Why don't I what Haley?" Austin asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" I answered. I glanced up at the tall buildings of the large city.

"One thing OK?" he asked, but continued without waiting for an answer, "I haven't seen my mom since I was seven. She left me with my dad, and when she came back for me he wouldn't let her take me."

"I'm sorry." I said softly. I patted his shoulder, as I did when I was trying to reassure boys. "Can I ask why?" I asked.

"Let's just say she hated my dad's career choice, and thought he was very mean and rude." He answered. I guessed that this was painful for him, so I didn't ask for more. I nodded and said no more, just looked around at the city. I looked at my friends and noticed Mallory, Mikey, and Skye having a small argument. I started listening to them intently. They were quite interesting.

"No Mallory, all I was saying is that you have a bit of a temper!" Mikey said indignantly.

"He was about to break her dang arm Poulé! I would have fried him instead if Emmy hadn't stepped in!" Mallory hissed at him. I glanced down at my bruised arm and realized it had been hurting. I rubbed the bruise with my thumb. It went completely around my wrist.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Can you guys dumb it down a bit? I'm still at the part where Mikey said you had a bit of a temper!" Skye objected. I smiled; at least Mallory was bothering to not scream at him now. I really wouldn't care, but Mallory is very mean to all boys that breathe.

"So then I..." Mallory continued telling the tale and I listened, wondering what had caused Mallory to fry Mikey crispy enough to eat. I walked along listening to them for a while, but then Mikey walked away, the story was told and Skye was still deciding a side.

I stepped up beside Skye and Mallory and glanced over at them. "It was nice of you to try to stand up for your friend like that." Skye told Mallory. I looked at Mallory, noting that that was the first compliment he had ever given her. Her cheeks flushed a deep rose and she punched his arm, muttering a half-hearted 'Shut up,' while Skye responded with a roll of his blue eyes.

I winked at Mallory playfully, and she flapped a hand in the air nonchalantly, trying to calm her racing emotions back into her even, pale skin. On the inside though, I knew I felt the exact same way about Austin. I slowed my pace until I was walking in the back alone. I looked at the back of Austin's head. He was really cute, and if he tried to kiss me again tonight, I just might let him.
Chapter 7

We stopped to rest for the night in a hotel this time. It was twenty bucks apiece. I shared a room with Mallory and Emily. Brooke and Jessie shared a room. Dylan, Ethan, and Mikey shared a room, and Skye and Austin shared a room. We were all on the same floor. Before I went to bed I put on my jeans and stepped into the fancy hotel lobby. There were three couches, tons of chairs, and a flat screen TV. There was a pool next to the lobby, and I figured why not. Everyone said that they would come down in a few minutes after they found something to swim in. I checked that no humans were around, and stepped into the poolroom.

The smell of Chlorine flooded my nose and I reached up to hold my necklace. Still no humans were around, so I dove into the ten-foot area. I loved the water all around me. The feeling of being wet was incredible to me. I swam from the ten-foot end to the three foot in a mere thirty seconds. I lifted my head from the water, even though I had no need to breath. I looked around the pool. Still nobody was there. I plummeted back into the water and swam about half way across the wonderful pool.

Skye

I stared at the copper-haired girl standing in front of me with a petulant pout on her face. "For the love of Christ, Mallory, you're not freaking obese."

She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at me. She wore a neon chartreuse swimming top with purple spatters all over them that tied at the back of her neck, and a matching pair of shorts. But an oversized McCluskey Tennis Center t-shirt obstructed her body, which nearly went to her mid-thigh. I knew she was modest, but not to this magnitude.

"Who are you to talk? You don't even have a belly!" She walked over and smacked my flat stomach with the back of her hand. Mallory narrowed her eyes and looked me over critically, while I shrank under her gaze. "Put on a little weight, you make me feel like a pregnant cow."

"Oh come on."

"Shut up and go." She shoved me in the back and followed as I jogged down the hall and into the elevator. The younger girl caught up with me and shoved the button for 'Ground Floor.' Some strange eighties music began to play, and Mallory began squealing in delight.

"Oh my God! I love this song! My parents play it all the time!" She waited a few moments for the intro, and began mouthing the lyrics while dancing enthusiastically. "Why waste your time? You know you're gonna be mine. You know you're gonna be mine. You know you're gonna be mine. I'm gonna get you baby! I'M GONNA GET YOU, YES I AM! I'm gonna get you baby, I'M GONNA GE-"

I slapped a hand over her mouth as we entered the lobby. She glared at me as I led her gently into the empty atrium leading to the pool. I led her to the empty atrium.

"Why did you bring me here?" She asked curiously, judging her surroundings.

"I need to talk to you."

"Bout what?"

I had no answer to that so I changed the subject. "Your eyes are pretty." I said in that creeper-way, just to get a smartass comment from her.

She laughed half-heartedly, and then blinked up at me through her hair timidly. I was shocked; that was the first time I had ever seen her that nervous. "Really?" She whispered.

"Uh, y-yeah." I shoved my hands into the pockets of my swim trunks.

"Aw, thank you."

"Y-you're welcome. You know, I was trying to tease you, but they really are. They flash white sometimes. Like lightni-" I was rambling, but Mallory stopped me. And I sure as hell liked the way she did.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and smashed her lips to mine. I was still for a moment, but my hands inched to her hips, pulling her closer. I could feel her fingers gripping tufts of my hair. At last we stopped kissing, our foreheads pressed together and the both of us gasping for air.

God, that girl was strange. But, hell, I liked strange.

Haley

I surfaced and saw a blurry figure. My eyes adjusted and I saw that it was Austin. I swam over to where he was sitting on the side of the pool. His long legs were swaying and making ripples in the cyan water. I grabbed the concrete and held myself there. He offered me a hand and I pulled myself up beside him. I sat only inches away. He smiled, "You're a really great swimmer." He said.

"Thanks. You know the reason for that." I replied. I glanced down at my bare feet. My Converse were now sitting beside a twin size bed that I had declared was mine for the night. Austin laughed and nodded. He was wearing shorts, which I guess for now were his swimming trunks. He leaned over towards me slowly. My heart stopped for a few moments, but I said nothing. I sat perfectly still, in other words, I just let him kiss me. I kissed back this time, but it was quick.

"Hey you two!" Mallory started laughing and Skye did too. I laughed nervously and glanced over at Austin. I could tell he was embarrassed. I nervously rubbed the back of my neck.

"How much did you two see?" I asked. My feet were making splashes in the deep water. I was going to jump in soon. Mallory grinned, as if she had caught us doing a crime.

"Enough Haley. Enough." she answered. My eyes widened miles wide. I was about to slip into the pool to escape the embarrassment. I looked down at their linked hands. Austin and I weren't the only ones with a secret around here! Skye looked between us and sighed.

"It's okay guys. It's not like we're going to tell anyone." He said. My patience was growing, little bit by little bit. I smiled and started staring at them. I felt a shove from behind me and screeched when I plunged into the depths. I was going down, sinking almost at incredibly slow speed. I opened my eyes and gazed up at the pool above me. The person who had shoved me was Ethan. I rolled my eyes. Of course it was somebody utterly stupid. I sat on the bottom of the pool and watched as Austin stood and walked over to Ethan. I fought to keep myself from swimming to the surface.

My senses were perfect underwater; they just took a few moments to come to me completely. All senses were good. Now my hearing was coming to me. Austin was muttering something to Ethan, the look on his face. I looked over at Mallory. She had her hand covering her mouth. She was staring intently at Ethan and Austin. Skye was just standing there glancing at everyone. He caught my eye and smiled. I turned away and listened to them again.

"What made you think you should do that?" Austin asked Ethan. Tears were flowing from my eyes. I didn't want Austin to hurt Ethan. A simple shove into a pool was no reason to kill him, which I knew he was very capable of. I managed to get up enough strength to rise to the surface. When I ran out of the pool Austin had Ethan by the shoulder, about to throw him into the glass wall.

"Austin no!" I screamed. Austin spun around, and seeing that it was I, he just held Ethan there. "It's okay!" I insisted. Austin had a crazed look in his eyes, but it was starting to soften. "Austin just... just let him go." I murmured as his grip tightened on Ethan's shoulder. I could feel the tears pouring out of my eyes now. He glanced at my tear soaked face and released Ethan.

I ran to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He hugged me back. Behind me I could hear Ethan's bare feet slapping the pavement as he ran away from Austin. I released him and turned in the direction of the pool. I dove in with deep satisfaction.

I pushed open the door to our room and walked to the bed that was declared as mine. Across the room was Emily, and the bed next to mine was Mallory's. I pulled back the covers and lay down in my clean, dry clothes. Emily was already asleep, but Mallory was sitting in bed with the lights off, the volume up loud on the radio. Paramore's "Ignorance" was playing. Mallory was quietly singing along. I wondered how Emily was getting any sleep at all, but as soon as my head hit the pillow I was gone.

I blinked open my sleep heavy eyes. Nobody else was awake yet, but Paramore was still blaring. I walked over to the radio and turned it down just a bit and got in the shower.

I stepped out of the bathroom to see that Mallory was still asleep, but Emily was awake and ready to use the shower. I gave her a brisk hug and let her get on with her morning. I turned up the radio and gave a satisfied smirk when Mallory flipped over in bed groaning. I poked her shoulder, but she continued to keep her eyes closed. Well, I supposed she could sleep until it was her turn in the shower. I walked over to my bed and sat down, staring out the window. There were lush forests and a full parking lot. Over the trees, though, I could see a large hill, and a sign that said Los Angeles. I screamed and Mallory jumped out of bed, her hands and hair a bright purple, as if she were about to electrocute someone. She walked over to the window, and when she saw what I was screaming about she jumped up and down. "Tape dance!" she screamed.

I grabbed her elbows and she grabbed mine and we jumped up and down yelling "TAPE!" Emily stepped out of the bathroom, "What in the world are you doing??" she asked. I released Mallory's elbows and grabbed Emi's arm. I led her over to the huge glass window and smiled in satisfaction when her orange eyes widened. She said "Oh my god! Do you think the guys know?" she asked.

I shrugged. When Mallory got in the shower we locked the door and ran down the hall. I pounded my fist on Dylan, Mikey and Ethan's door. Dylan pulled open the door, and seeing us he stepped aside. We walked into their room with excited faces. "Dylan, come here." I ordered. He looked at me in a way that sometimes made me feel guilty, but this time it didn't. I grabbed his wrist and lugged him to their window. "Look right there." I said. I pointed towards the hill and smiled when he did. "Almost there bro." I murmured.

He nodded and ran off to tell Ethan and Mikey. "We're going to go check on Mallory." Emily told them. I closed the door shut behind us and followed Emi down the long hallway. We unlocked our door and stepped inside. Mallory was wringing her hair out with a white towel and packing up her things into her black Florence and the Machine bag. I walked over to my bed and grabbed up my gray tote bag.

I put it on one shoulder and walked over to the radio. It was playing Fences, also by Paramore. I wished I was an eleven year old again, back when I thought I was human, and all I had to do to find happiness was turn on a laptop.

I sighed and plopped down on the silk sheets of the hotel bed. We would reach L.A. soon, and then Austin and Skye would take us to the head Poweras. I was happy that Rolega wasn't a head Powera any longer. He had turned on us all, wishing to enslave humans and control all Poweras except himself and his son like dummies.

His son was supposedly tall, and hung around L.A., but you never knew if he was short, fat, and had a mustache. He could be anybody, and he, or his father would supposedly kill any Powera that came in contact with him. It was scary to be so close to Las Angeles, knowing he could be anywhere. He could be swimming in the pool downstairs, or even in the room next to us. Either of them could be. It was a lot to take in, especially because we were technically on the outskirts of L.A.

Mallory tapped my shoulder and I glanced at her. She laughed "Come on. We're going into L.A.!" She said excitedly. I grabbed my bag that was lying on the floor and walked over to where she and Emily were standing by the door. I smiled at both of them and we walked out the door and into the hallway. We waited rather impatiently for all the guys and Jessie and Brooke. Jessie and Brooke ran out of their room and down the corridor to us.

We all whispered excitedly about how far we had come. Brooke was leaned against the yellow wall, staring blankly into space. She looked pitiful and helpless, which, by the way made me want to scream at the guys for being so slow. Ethan came running, and I mean running, from their room. Following him were Mikey and Dylan, and a few doors down Skye and Austin were walking from their suite. When I saw Austin my heart stopped, and I stared at him blankly. I loved Austin, even if it was a little early to be saying that.

When all of the boys caught up with us we headed for the exit of the hotel. We were in a huge group and everyone was bumping into each other. However, somehow during the entire ruckus Austin grabbed my hand. I looked over at him in pure surprise. He gave me a reassuring grin. I continued to stare, but after a few moments he started to pull away. I grabbed his hand before it could get out of my reach. Austin smiled down to me and I glanced away.

We were walking safely down the streets of Las Angeles, California when Austin came to an abrupt halt. "Are you guys ready to meet him?" he asked.
Chapter 8

When we looked at him in shock he nodded. "Where's headquarters?" I asked. I realized that we actually had no idea where it even was. We were lucky they found us.

"In the A at the beginning of Angeles." Skye answered for Austin. "Well, that's what Austin told me. I've never been." Austin nodded and let go of my hand.

"You guys ready for some climbing?" He joked. We started our trek up the hillside.

As we approached the huge A my heart almost stopped again. I looked up at the giant letter. Austin stepped over to the wall and hit a small crack seven times. "Powera!" he yelled. A hidden door popped open and we all took a look inside. It looked more like an evil layer than the way I had imagined it.

A man in a dark cloak stepped out of the shadows. I jumped back, and almost tumbled off of the bluff. Austin grabbed my arm and steadied me. "Austin. Welcome. I see you have brought them to me." The man in the cloak said to Austin. The man's stare gave me the chills. My hand groped around blindly for Austin's. His hand found mine and we healed them. I looked over to see that Emily and Dylan were doing the same, and on the other side of them so were Skye and Mallory. Jessie, Brooke, Ethan, and Mikey were in a small huddle a few feet from Mallory.

"Austin. Uh. Are you sure this is Powera central? I mean I've seen pictures of the leader, and I can't see him from here." Skye asked Austin.

"Skye?" Austin asked.

"Yes?"

"This is Rolega." Austin answered. I looked over at Austin with a deep fear in my eyes. He stared at me blankly. Then his eyes widened. "Dad I don't think you should do this." Austin said to Rolega. Dad? Rolega was Austin's dad? He _was_ a tall fifteen-year-old boy. I gulped.

"Oh really son? You want me to spare these idiots? I told you I might make an exception with Skye, but the rest have to come with me." Rolega replied to Austin. I almost cried at that moment. I slung his hand away from mine. I ignored him when he tried to grab my hand again. I also ignored the searing pain in my shoulder as he jerked my hand.

"Okay Dad. OK. But not her." Austin said to his father. Austin pointed at me as he said her. My jaw dropped once more, but it quickly closed.

"Not my friends either. Look Austin. It's them and me, we're a package deal, and you can't do anything to change that." I told him. What was he thinking? Did he think that I would abandon my friends for him? Well he was wrong.

"Haley it can't be a package deal. You'll die if you don't stay with me!" He objected.

"Then I guess I'll die."

Austin turned to Rolega. "Dad we need some time to talk." Rolega nodded and he flung my friends in the building. I cried out for them, but the door was already closing. Skye was still standing there, his mouth wide open. He walked over to us.

"Haley, I'm sorry. I had no idea my friend was such an ass." Skye said to me. He turned to Austin. "Come on bro! My girlfriend's in there! And so are our friends. "Look man," Skye grabbed Austin's shoulders and began to shake them. "You have to make your dad stop. You said he was a cool guy who loved you!" Austin looked away.

"Skye. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak to Austin." I said. Skye nodded and followed our friends into the A. I could hear Mallory screaming at him, and my other friends were making no noise. I turned to Austin. I took a deep breath. "Austin those are my friends in there! You have to let them go!"

"Look Haley, my dad's a really caring person. He loves me and he would love you, if you would just let him take your friends." Austin said to me.

"NO! You look Austin! He doesn't love you! He uses you Austin!" I screamed at him. "The only person he's EVER loved was your mom, and she could have stopped his madness but she didn't. Now it's your turn. Are you going to make the same foolish mistake as your mom?" I continued to scream. Austin shrugged and muttered something about how all I had to do was let his dad torture and kill my friends.

I reached up and slapped him as hard as I possibly could. "Good bye Austin, I'm going to go tell my friends we're leaving to find help for Brooke. Oh, and you could still stop your dad." I told him. He just stared at me and watched me go. He was an idiot; a complete idiot. How stupid does a person have to be to think an evil guy loved them? Very. I marched into the room and screamed when Rolega flung me against a brick wall next to my friends. I looked up at Mallory and Skye.

I was eyeing Austin as he fussed with his father. I couldn't believe Austin would do something like this. My Austin. I loved him even now. Was I the monster? I was so unhappy. So confused. I continued to let the tears flow.

I sat with my arms crossed and watched Austin. I couldn't keep my eyes off of him, even though he was a traitor. I watched as they fussed, and watched Rolega spit a few cusswords. Everyone around me was whispering about who knows what. I admit my brain wasn't working quite right at the moment, after affect of Austin.

When Rolega finally walked over to us I sat when he commanded us to stand. My friends looked at me like I was crazy, but I just sat there and looked up at them with a blank face. "Wait Dad." Austin ran over to Rolega, and pulled him aside. He motioned with his hand for us to run. Mikey, Jessie, Ethan and Brooke ran immediately. I noted with a smile that Ethan and Brooke were standing really close together. Emily and Dylan followed no more than two feet behind them. I watched them go, and then turned and watched Mallory and Skye`s exit, though the former glanced back at me worriedly. Skye pulled her out the door, though she was reluctant.

I, however, leaned against a wall and watched Austin and his father. They were murmuring in low voices, and when Austin saw me he paused. "Hey dad can you go get me a glass of Coke?" he asked. Rolega walked away, muttering something about lazy teenagers.

He turned to me. "Come on we have to get out of here, Haley!" he muttered. He stood no more than a foot away from me, so close I could feel his breath. I took a cautious step back, and didn't like that he took a step and a half closer to me.

"I'm not going anywhere with you! You can stay right here with your precious daddy dearest. I have a friend to help. Was it part of your disgusting plan to kiss me and then have your dad torture me?" I hissed, my frustration seeping through.

He seemed to take that in like a bullet to his heart. "No! I would never do that to you on purpose. I swear." he tried to assure me. He grabbed my arm "Come on!"

"You don't touch me." I jerked my arm away from his strong grasp. "Fuck off Austin, just fuck off." I said as casually as you'd tell someone your favorite color. He stopped speaking then, his eyes wide. I smirked and stomped off toward the door after my friends. I could hear him following me, but he didn't say anything.

I stepped into the wide hall, my face heavy with the smirk that Austin had just received. One of my hands was in my pocket, but my other one was covering my gaping mouth. No more than two feet in front of me stood Mallory making out with Skye, his hands looped around her waist and her fingers knitted in his hair.

I cleared my throat loudly and stood with my smirk still on display. I watched as Mallory jumped backwards, but smoothly regained her composure.

Skye calmly put his arm around her shoulders and said, "You knew we were together, so what's the big deal?" I could feel nothing put happiness for her, but I heard my stalker behind me. With tear filled eyes I stepped forward and hugged Mallory briefly. I shrugged an answer to Skye`s question; I knew my voice would crack if I tried to use it. I walked over to Skye and gave him a pat on the shoulder as an apology for my rudeness and stepped around them.

I fled out the front door as my many tears erupted. I began to follow the rest of my friends down the steep hill. On my way down Austin stopped and handed me a piece of paper. He left. While I was going down the hill I read it:

Haley,

I'm sorry for what I put you through. I hope you can forgive me, because I don't think my life will be whole without you in it. You can always come and find me, please don't forget that. I will try to stop my father, but you should know what a father-child connection feels like. Haley, I truly am sorry! Please remember that I love you very much, and I'm sure I'll miss you. Once again, I love you.

With lots of Love,

Austin ♥

I thought about how his handwriting was so beautiful. After all he had out me through, I had to fight against my instincts to turn around and stay with him.
Chapter 9

The trek down the mountain was intense and annoying. We were now about half way down, and there was a cliff next to us. I was walking in the back, trying to cope with my thoughts. Dylan was walking alone directly in front of me. There were a few feet in front of him, but then there was Mallory and Skye. In front of them was Emily, Jessie and Mikey, who were laughing and talking as if I wasn't fighting back tears just yards behind them. Brooke and Ethan were walking in the front, holding hands. This surprised me.

I was too busy watching them to realize there was a rock just in front of Dylan. Evidently he didn't realize either because he tripped, rolled three times, and landed on the edge of the cliff.

"Dammit." he muttered. He rolled over, I guess trying to get up, but in the wrong direction.

His feet went off first, which was a major plus. He somehow managed to get some footing on a small mound of dirt a few feet below the cliff edge. There was nothing for him to grab, though, so he was leaning forward, and grabbing at the rocks so he didn't topple off. I ran over to him and held out both of my arms. He grabbed each of my wrists and I did the same for him.

"Come on Haley pull me up," he said. I was looking at the one thousand foot drop below him. I gulped, happy that he hadn't fallen. Us Poweras could go through a lot, like when I was little I would climb the tree in front of my house until I was at the highest point, and then I would jump. I would land on my feet without a scratch on me. Then I would do it again, but I didn't think this was anywhere near the same thing.

I gripped his arms even harder and began to pull him up. He was trying to put his feet on whatever was possible. "Dylan fell!" I yelled. We were making very little process. Nobody heard me yelling, they were already too far. "Hey! Emily! Mikey! Skye!" I shouted, while trying to pull him up. Dylan slipped and began to fall backwards, to plunge to his death. I held on tight and pulled as best that I could. "Holy shit!" I screamed when he had no more footing and I felt all of his weight. I could feel a scar on the palm of his hand where it was pressed to my wrist. The scissors.

Dylan started scrambling with his feet, trying to regain what little footing there was. His fingernails were deep in my skin, and I was holding on so tight his hands were turning blue. If Dylan went down, I was going down too. I saw with satisfaction that his left foot had found the dirt pile again. His right foot was swinging through the air. "Haley..." he murmured.

"Yes?" I asked, trying hard not to let go from the pain his grip brought. I jerked his wrists, trying to help him.

"We're going to die," he answered, giving up. "Just let go. I'll be fine. I've wanted to die remember?" he asked. I wanted to slap the stupid out of him.

"Are you kidding?" I asked, not believing what I had just heard. "It's going to be alright Dylan. We just have to get you up here." I replied. I knew from the look on his face my eyes were bright blue.

He smiled and tried his foot again. His nails were sinking even farther into my arms. Blood was oozing out of the spot where his thumb was. I felt some of the weight go away. I glanced down. His right foot was on a small rock. That was better than nothing. I jerked on his arms as hard as I could manage. His left pinkie broke the skin too and blood was coming out. I tried hard to focus on the fact that if I let go there wouldn't be a Dylan Ross anymore.

"On three." he commanded. He glanced up at my piercing eyes. I nodded, seeing that his pupil was blended with his iris to a point where there was no difference. "One..." he took a big breath of air. "Two... THREE!!" he screamed. I pulled with all my might and he jumped for it.

We landed on the ground with a great THUMP! I groaned. I had landed on a rock the size of my leg. I looked over at Dylan. He was lying on the ground with a cut up knee, and a chunk missing from his jeans, but we were both living. I sat up and looked down at my arms. His fingernails had left little holes, and where his right thumb and left pinky were was blood.

He sat up as well. "Thank you," he muttered. I nodded, not wanting to drag out the embarrassment. I rose to my feet with a deep sigh. "You'd think they would've noticed we were gone by now." Dylan said.

"Yah that's what I was thinking when we were on our way to death." I agreed. He stood up and we began walking in silence down the mountain. There were foot prints here and there from our friends, and us when we had walked up the mountain to find- well I didn't want to think about that.

"Sorry about your arms by the way..." Dylan apologized. He didn't glance my way, so I guessed he hated apologies too.

"Its fine, as long as you didn't end up as a pile of bones." I replied. He grinned slightly. I smiled and looked down at my feet. "Watch for rocks." I laughed. He merely nodded. I couldn't bring myself to trip him, or hit him. When would we find the others?

We walked on for about ten minutes in silence, neither one of us saying a single word. I started to say something, anything to break the silence, but I saw seven teenagers running at us. We both jumped away from the edge.

"Where have you been?" Mallory greeted me with a huge hug. Emily patted my shoulder, and then grabbed Dylan's hand. When Mallory was hugging me Skye saw the blood on my arm. I saw him eyeing it. When Mallory released me he grabbed my arm. I looked up at him, biting my lip. He rubbed a thumb over the bruises that were starting to form from them. I flinched slightly when he rubbed the one from Dylan's thumb. He looked up at me in confusion.

"We were walking and Dylan tripped..." I began the story, and skipped over the part where he said he wanted to die for Emily's sake. They all listened intently until the very last word. Dylan nodded and added things I left out from time to time. Neither of us mentioned his suicide attempt. Skye continued to stare at my arms, which scared me a bit.

I glanced at him about every twenty seconds while I explained. Once that was over we began walking again. Dylan and Emily were walking in front this time, and Dylan was watching where he placed his feet. Brooke and Ethan were behind them, and then Mikey and Jessie. Following them was Skye, Mallory, and I. Skye stared at my arms for about two minutes longer, but after that I couldn't take it anymore. "What?" I asked.

Skye glanced up at my face for about half a second. "Huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "What? Why do you keep staring at my arms?" I asked.

He sighed. "My mom was an Animalia like Ethan." he paused, making sure he said the right name. Then he continued "And when she saw even the tiniest drop of blood the wolf part of her kicked in." I remembered with a shiver what had happened when I shoved those scissors in Dylan's hand. "She would suck a body completely dry, and then she would run away into hiding, and because of who she was. I feel like blood would be nice." he finished, regret in his blue eyes.

I jerked my hand away from him with a gasp. "I'm sorry- I mean I wouldn't actually-," he stammered. I grinned and hugged him quickly.

"I know..." I murmured, laughing. "You don't scare me Skye. What does scare me is skydiving. The only time you should be rushing down like that is in water, no offense." I explained.

Skye laughed "None taken." Mallory was quiet for once, holding on to Skye`s left hand. I was on his right. I hadn't noticed that Ethan had drifted behind us. "Hi Ethan." Skye said, without looking behind him. I whipped my head around to see Ethan walking along behind us.

"Hey." Ethan replied. He was kicking stones around and staring at the back of Brooke's head. Austin had almost tried to kill Ethan. Why did I keep thinking about Austin? I sighed and reached up to rub my pointer finger on the lightning bolt on my forehead. I jumped a few inches from how bad it hurt to touch my skin to it; water and electricity just don't mix.

Ethan was still walking behind us when the light suddenly brightened. I glanced around me, uncomfortable from the harsh sunlight. Every one of us was looking around, trying to fine the Light. Light Poweras control the glare of sunlight, how intense it is, the heat, and other things that had to do with the sun. That's when I saw her.

She had platinum blond hair that was nearly; it went just past her elbows. Her eyes were a scary shade of gold. She wore a pretty violet colored sundress over black tights. She was wearing violet shoes that perfectly matched the shade of her dress. She was a very pretty girl. She stepped toward us cautiously. Her eyes landed on Skye and she walked over.

Mallory stared with an angry look on her face when the girl hugged him and he hugged her back. "Umm..." Mallory said, crossing her arms.

Skye looked around "Oh, yeah. This is Stella, my sister. She's a Light. I haven't seen her in over a year... she's a messenger, she uses rays of sunlight to get from place to place." Stella smiled and nodded. Then she walked over to Mallory. She handed her a letter, and then came to me. She handed me an envelope as well and walked in the direction of the big yellow sun.

"I'm sorry Skye, but I must go. I will see you if you assist these people to Powera Central. I love you. Maybe I can see you before another year passes." Stella's voice was beautiful! It was how I imagined Alice Cullen's was. Little bells. Skye was about to reply, but she was swept away by a beam of light. With shaking hands I opened the letter. We began walking so I had to read the message while walking. I unfolded it and gasped when I saw his handwriting again;

Haley,

I think about you every moment. My father swears that he will catch you someday. I tell him he should let you go. I tell him it is stupid to obsess over one group of Poweras that have no direct meaning to him. He just won't understand when I murder him. Even if it isn't murder, I'll see you again soon. I know you may not want me there at your side, but I'll be there. One way or another, I'll get away from the Hell my father built for me.

When I do get away, I'll find you. I promise! I will see your beautiful face again. I know you don't believe that I love you. It's true though. I love you with all of my heart. Yes, yes I know who my father is, and I know that this will take time.

One time a Light came to my house. She was Skye`s sister (did you meet her?). Lights can see the future you know. Stella saw whom I would grow up to fall in love with, and whom Skye would. I asked her to give me a name and she said that she didn't know names, but this girl had black hair, and electric blue eyes. She said she was an Aqua. I now know she is you.

Now I believe in telling others the future, Haley. I am still trying to figure out how any other boy could look at you and not want to love you like I do. Love is a very strong four-letter word. Yet I feel love for you like I've never felt for anyone, not even my mother, wherever she may be in this world. This has been a long letter, and I'm dialing Stella's number right now.

Haley, you can never forget how much I love you. Never. I love you, please, please write me back.

Love,

Austin

I read the letter over and over again, as Mallory seemed to be doing with her letter. I didn't know what Mallory's said, or who it was from. Skye was standing only feet away from her, so why would he write her a letter? I then remembered that there was more to our lives than just a journey across the country, that when we flew back to Georgia on the first plane there would be a family I had been missing. Hugs, kisses, happy tears. I looked forward to it all.

Austin was another thing. What would I do when I saw his beautiful face again? I had no idea. It sickened me in a way to think about how I might react, because knowing me there was no telling. I sighed and folded the letter twice. I then put it in my back pocket. Skye was watching Mallory as she reread hers. I began to watch her, noticing how her eyes would fly across the page, and how they were always wide. Her eyes were bright purple. I wondered what that letter could say, but I had no idea at the slightest. I didn't even know who had written it to her.

I walked calmly with my friends, even though I was panicking a little. Mallory had gotten a letter, a letter that she continued to reread for another ten minutes. She began to fold the paper in half, but I grabbed her arm. She looked down from the two inches taller than me. She frowned, but nodded.

I unfolded the letter and read the first paragraph:

Dear Mallory,

This is Cameron. Mallory I miss you. Your dad keeps on coming over and printing out 'Have you seen this girl?' flyers with Collin. Cainen keeps on saying 'Mal-Mal' whenever your parents come over, because he expects you to come in. I think he misses you too. Your mom is always crying and Merritt is writing songs on his guitar about you. Collin is so protective of me; he won't even let me put this in the mailbox. Mallory, I'm scared. I don't know where you are. Will you ever teach me how to play Monopoly like you promised? COME BACK MALLORY!!!

Cameron was one of Mallory's nephews, well, step-nephews. Cameron was her brother Collin's stepson, her sister-in-law's child from a previous marriage. Mallory shook her head and grabbed my arm. She flipped it to the back, where a beautiful note was written. It was more of a note than a letter:

As a Light I can see into the future. I looked into Skye`s future and saw you and Skye married, and adults. Being almost fourteen, you have a long way to go. As with all relationships there are bound to be tough times. Mallory, no matter what you might come to believe over the years, Skye loves you very much. I look forward to getting to know you better.

Stella

I gasped and looked up from the letter. I reached out to hug her and she hugged me back. I could feel a smile tugging at her cheeks through our hug. "I love him Haley," she whispered in my ear. This time yesterday I would have said the same about Austin, but I wasn't sure if I could say that truthfully.

We pulled away from our quick hug. Skye was staring at us, not with the same white eyes as before, but a natural blue. For a very quick moment I thought I might've seen what Mallory saw in him, but it was gone almost instantly. I sighed, knowing I missed Austin. Nobody looked over to see what was wrong. We were nearing the bottom of the hill, where we would walk from to the main part of the city.

I sighed once again as I jumped the last twenty feet to the bottom.
Chapter 10

Jessie was the last to jump down the twenty feet. She had merely peered over the edge for a good three minutes before jumping. She landed safely next to me. We all just stood around, not quite knowing where to go from here. "So does anyone have any idea at all what building it's in?" I asked. Jessie nodded slightly "Well?" I asked, when she didn't say anything.

"It's supposed to be in the center of L.A., so I was thinking that we go to the middle of the city." Jessie answered, a little embarrassed. I nodded and smiled

"And then we could narrow down to a few possibilities." I added. Jessie nodded. I looked around the rest of the group. Mallory was smiling, knowing how close we were. Emily and Dylan were smiling as if they agreed. Mikey simply nodded his agreement. Skye said nothing, but didn't object. Ethan was looking anxiously at Brooke. She was pale, paler than Mallory was when she had Strep Throat one time a few years before. That scared me.

We began to walk, keeping Brooke in the center so we could watch her. We were all in a big huddle. Jessie was standing next to me. I looked over and began to talk. "When was the last time you thought about how far away home is?" I asked. Her cheeks flushed.

"Every two seconds." she murmured. As we walked Jessie looked straight ahead.

"Me too." I replied. The silence had returned. I said nothing when we entered the large city. The crowd around us was very massive, and it was hard to act like regular teenagers. We started losing each other in the sea of humans, and, every few minutes, there would be a Powera or two. They would look at us intently, but then just walk away.

A family of about four walked past me and I was jumbled farther away from my friends. I could only get glimpses of them, but most of us were separated now. Five teenage boys shoved their way through the crowd as if there were nobody in their path. As they got closer I realized they were Strengths. Just like Austin. When they were a few feet away from me they stopped. I continued to walk, but I was forced to walk toward them. One reached out and grabbed my arm. His grip erased any doubt that they were human.

"Are you one of them?" The guy holding my arm asked.

"One of whom?" I asked stupidly.

"One of...one of.." he leaned down to my ear, even though humans walking by couldn't have heard through the noise. "One of us. A Powera." he finished. Surely he could smell the Aqua scent on me right?

"Yes." I answered, nodding. The boy stood up strait again.

"Guys go get her friends and meet me back there." he told the other four. They nodded and then I lost their faces in the crowd. "I'm Jake. Come on," he told me.

I didn't object, I wouldn't dare refuse an order from any Strength but Austin. Dylan too, but he didn't count because he just inherited some extra strength from his dad. I was willing to push my luck though, "Where are you taking me?" I asked Jake.

He answered as we pushed through the impossible crowd. "Powera Central. Also known as The Place. That's where you were going right? "

"Yeah, but is this what you do? Go through L.A. and help random Poweras?" I asked. I ask to many questions as it is, but we were about to meet the leading Poweras.

"No, only the ones She sees coming." He answered. That wasn't exactly an answer. I had no idea who 'She' was.

"Who's She?" I asked another question. When we walked past Skye, Jake grabbed his elbow and dragged him along with us.

"Her." he answered. He sighed seeing my confused expression " You know who I'm talking about. The leading female." I nodded, getting it now. We stopped outside of a large closed door. There was a touch pad on the door.

He entered about a twenty-digit number and then six letters "P-O-W-E-R-A" then enter. The door demanded a fingerprint. He touched his pointer finger to the pad lightly. Then it began to open. The door slid open, then another slid down. One went to the left. After about twenty seconds the final door slid to the right. He stepped inside and held out his hand so it would stay open. Mallory, Jessie, and another one of those guys stepped inside. I lightly hugged each of them. Dylan, Emily and another guy soon followed. Brooke and Ethan walked in with another about ten seconds later.

After waiting for about two and a half minutes Mikey and the final guy stepped inside the doors. We all looked around nervously. It was then that I took in our surroundings. On many different tables were magical, glowing spheres that each contained an element. I looked at each one for a few moments.

I looked up at the middle of the room. There were two thrones, each holding an extremely important-looking Powera. They were over two thousand years old, but they were immortal. One was a very beautiful woman named Ranae with a flowing dress down to her ankles. Her hair was brown, but with streaks of the color of the elements. Her eyes were all the colors, swirling together and always moving across her iris. Her dress looked like it was made of silk, and it was an array of colors.

The man, whose name was Solace, had on pants and a shirt that had the same look to them as the woman's dress. His eyes were the same as hers, and his hair was almost like hers, just shorter and blond. They both smiled at us from their thrones. She rose from her throne, as did he. They both walked down to us, smiles still on their faces. "Hello, young Poweras." the man said. The woman nodded her greeting.

"Hi." We muttered stupidly. I was looking from the elements on the tables to the two Powera leaders standing before me. I wanted to walk up to one of the element bubbles and touch it, just to see what would happen. I also wanted to look at Ranae and Solace, because I knew how large their value was to all Poweras, and I knew that if they got annoyed with me they could easily kill me. They say that if you do make one of them mad enough to kill you then they would kill you with your own Powera so that you would feel what others feel when you use it. I didn't want to drown to death. I looked up at them.

"So you are here to help your friend?" She asked, looking at Brooke. "Brooke Gaddis. An Earth Protector. Fourteen years of age, favorite color is green." She recited some facts about Brooke.

"Yes." Brooke nodded a bit and stepped forward. "How do you know all of that about me?" she asked. I was curious as well so I waited rather impatiently for the answer.

The man spoke this time, "We know everything there is to know about all Poweras" he explained "For example. " He pointed at Jessie with his head "Jessica Garrett. A Firea. Fourteen years of age, favorite color is red. Nicknames are Jessie, Jess, and Jessiepooh." He came close to laughing when he said 'Jessiepooh'. That's what I call her sometimes. Jessie smiled and her cheeks flushed. The woman nodded in agreement.

I found it hard to believe that I could use my voice around these god-like creators, but I did. "How does it work?" I asked weakly, then added, "Taking Brooke's pollution away I mean."

Ranae clearly expected us to ask that "You see these element orbs children?" she asked, waving her hand toward the element bubbles. We nodded. "Well all she must do is touch the Earth Protector element and she will be cured."

Solace beckoned Brooke forward and she slowly stepped toward the green bubble he was standing beside. She reached out with a pale, shaking hand and touched it with her fingertips. Green mist started creeping from her arm until it was covering her entire body. I gasped again when she began to look more like the old Brooke I had known. I wondered if we would get to touch our own elements.

Her skin wasn't as pale anymore, and her eyes were no longer a dull green, but a bright green that made me smile with happiness. He reached out and gently pulled her hand away from the element thing. She smiled. I ran, hoping it wasn't considered rude, and hugged Brooke. Jessie, Emily, and Mallory soon joined me. Ethan walked over and patted her back. She pulled him into the group hug and we all laughed.

The rest of our friends were standing back, watching. The man and woman were silent. I pulled away from the hug, because the man was eyeing us like we had done something wrong. In my mind I scrolled down a long list of laws that I could've broken. None seemed to pop out. I watched him curiously as he smiled. I looked behind me, making sure Mallory was behaving herself. She was merely looking at Brooke and smiling. "Would you all like to spend the remainder of the day with us, in our home?" He asked. I snapped my head back around while he was looking around our group.

Some of us nodded, others murmured yes, and some were just too shocked to say or do anything. But Mallory beamed and pumped a fist in the air. "HELL YEAH!" She yelled, but I clamped a hand over her mouth and smiled apologetically at the leaders. I nodded my head once as his gaze filtered in our direction. "So you're all in agreement?" he asked. We nodded. "Then my wife and I will escort you to our guest rooms." he explained. I watched, and when the woman walked over to us I looked up at her. "And Haley?" my head jerked in his direction as he spoke my name.

"Yes sir?" I asked in a frail voice. I wondered what he could possibly want with me.

"You may ask one of us about your element question, we don't bite." he smiled, and turned to lead the guys off through a door to the left. I gasped. Had he read my mind?

"Don't mind him, girls, he is little strange." The woman said through a laugh " after all, he is Rolega brother." she added. "Come. This way." She walked toward a hall on the right. I followed closely with my friends.

We stepped into a grand bedroom with three twin size beds and about five sets of bunk beds. The covers felt like silk, and they had beautiful designs and colors. Slowly, I walked over to the bed that had light blue pillowcases and a blue bubble design on the comforter. I ran my fingers down the side of the twin size bed. I looked back at my friends, who were still looking at all of the beds. I sat on my bed for the night and looked around the rest of the elegant room.

The curtains were splashes of different colors that resembled the elements. Next to each bed there was a nightstand. On each bedside table there were an iPod, a set of headphones, a glass of soda, and a box of makeup. The carpets were like the curtains, but even more colorful and neon.

I glanced back at Emily, Brooke, Jessie, and Mallory, and watched them select a bed. Mallory's bed was next to mine, and it had neon yellow pillowcases with a purple lightning design on the covers. She plopped down on the bed with a smile; she must have admired the room as much as I did. I cast my gaze at Emily.

She was staring at an orange top bunk with smiling eyes. She sat her bag on the bed and climbed up the ladder. She grinned and lay back to see a Gerard Way poster on the ceiling. She sat up to admire that she thought was the hottest man alive. Her eyes were orange, but a warm, dull, happy orange. It wasn't like the neon color they got when she became angry.

I smiled and looked at Brooke, who had chosen the twin size on the other side of Mallory's bed. Everything was neon green, including the iPod and headphones. Brooke looked over at me and gave a short little wave. I couldn't help but laugh and wave back. This time yesterday, she was near death from the pollution.

I looked over at Jessie, who was on a bunk bed that had flames on the covers and pillows. She was smiling and admiring every little detail on the pillow she had picked up.

"Do you girls like it?" The woman asked, still smiling. I wondered if it hurt to keep your face so stiff. We all nodded or whispered a yes. The woman nodded, "Dinner will be ready in approximately ten minutes, so you can rest or talk or do whatever you like until then." she explained. She then stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

As soon as the door shut I began talking, "Ohmigod this is awesome!" I said and reached for the Mountain Dew on my nightstand.

"I know." Brooke smiled and walked over to my bed. I took a sip and sat it back on the table.

"Would it bother you if I hugged you again?" I asked. She shook her head, frowning as if it was a stupid question. I hugged her again. "Are you and Ethan a couple?" I whispered in her ear.

"Yes." she answered as we pulled away. She walked back to her bed.

I knew everyone else would spend the ten minutes talking, but I wanted to lose myself in music. I picked the iPod up and discovered it was a touch screen. I plugged the headphones into the iPod. I put the headphones in my ears and scrolled through a list of every song ever written. My thumb tapped Paramore`s song called Decode. I leaned against the wall and began to think about all we had accomplished over the past few days.

I remembered leaving, and having no idea I was going to meet Austin, and that we would meet Rolega. Then I remembered the first time I saw Austin. I remembered the way I had stared at him, and then I remembered what happened that night.

I recalled watching, from the bottom of a hotel pool, Austin almost kill Ethan. I sighed; why did I keep thinking about Austin? This journey was about something more than him, yet he was all I wanted to think about. I sighed and pulled out my headphones, knowing I was just going to keep thinking about him. I sat straight up and sat the music player on the nightstand.

Mallory was leaning back against her pillow listening to her iPod. Brooke and Emily were talking from almost complete opposite ends of the room about some rock bands. I smiled again, happy that Brooke was happy. Jessie was sitting with her hands in her lap, listening to Brooke and Emi.

I stood up and walked over to Jessie's bed. I climbed the ladder and sat next to her. "Isn't this amazing?" I asked.

Jessie nodded, and said "Yeah it is, I just miss home. I thought that when we got Brooke healed we would take the next flight back to Georgia and go home. "

I nodded "Yeah, but we do need food and rest before we see everyone again. I mean, do you want to see your mom for the first time in almost a week looking like you're starved and beaten?" I asked with a laugh.

Jessie smiled, and was about to say something, but the door to our room swung open and Dylan, Mikey, Ethan, and Skye stepped inside. "They said to tell you dinner's ready." Dylan informed us. I jumped from Jessie's bunk without thinking and landed flat on my feet.

I followed my buddies out of the room. We walked in silence after Him, who had been waiting in the hallway. He led us to a large deck that had the illusion to me of being on a boat in the middle of the ocean. I leaned over to Mallory, "What do you see?" I asked.

She looked around with her purple eyes. "A lightning storm and it looks like we are on a cloud," she answered. I nodded, overjoyed that I saw water, and not electric death. "You?" she asked me.

"I see us on a boat deck, in the middle of the ocean. Water as far as I can see, no land at all" I answered. She shivered, as if the idea made her cold. She walked over to us.

"Where would you like to sit?" She asked our large group. I cast my eyes around the large space. All of the tables were long, long enough to fit our group if we all wanted to sit together. Most people gave shrugs. "I'll give you a minute to choose, and then I shall send a waitress." the woman said and walked out of the room.

Emily and Dylan went over to a shortest table by themselves. I looked over at Mallory and saw that she and Skye were holding hands and going to a table near the railing of the ship. Brooke and Ethan had scattered to a nearby booth, which left Jessie, Mikey, and me. I wished Austin were there.

Jessie grabbed my arm, so I grabbed Mikey's as I was tugged along. We sat down in the middle of the boat type room. I watched the waves as we waited. I sighed. Jessie looked at me. "I wish..." I began, but I never finished, just averted my gaze because Mallory and Skye had walked over.

Mallory pulled out the chair next to me, so I looked up. "We'll sit with you guys," she said.

I smiled, thankful for good friends. Skye gave me an awkward nod, and sat next to Mallory. I looked over at Emily and Dylan as they walked over. Emily sat on the other side of me, with Dylan on her other side. I grinned as Brooke lugged Ethan over to our table. Across from me was Jessie, and Brooke sat on her right. Ethan sat on Brooke's right, and Mikey remained on Jessie's left. I wished Austin were there.

A pretty woman, and a man walked over. The man's shirt said, "Tacos are the best!" I looked up; making sure it wasn't our human friend Brayden. It wasn't. I pointed at the man and Mallory laughed for a few seconds. The man frowned slightly, but grabbed his pen and paper to take our orders. I glanced around for a menu.

"There is no menu, we shall serve whatever you want," The man said with a Mexican accent. I looked at his nametag: Mario. Could Mario read minds too?

"I'll take a lobster with extra butter, and I'll take a Mountain Dew" I said and leaned back in my chair. I listened to everyone order, and realized we were all eating big. Mallory ordered some Sesame Chicken, Jessie ordered a pizza; an entire pizza for one person. Wow. I realized we hadn't eaten since the afternoon before in the hotel lobby. My stomach growled at the thought of a lobster.

As we waited for out food Mallory tapped her fingers on the table, while rambling on about how incredible Twilight was to Skye. Jessie, Brooke and Emily talked about what they saw and stuff like that. The guys and I sat silently, waiting for our food. The man and woman came out from the kitchen with our plates. I grabbed a piece of lobster, dipped it in butter, and shoved it in my watering mouth.
Chapter 11

I stepped into the guest room, sleepy yet hyped up at the same time. I burped, said excuse me, and drank some more Mountain Dew. I plopped down on my bed and popped right back up. As all of the other girls came in the room I started wandering around the highly decorated room. There was a window, but you could only look out, not in. I smiled and watched the humans walk by. Being a human - well, thinking I was a human- had been so simple!

I silently wished I were still about eleven when my main concern was if I would get paid for babysitting Breanna and Will. Such a simple time that had been... I remembered when we all turned twelve and we started loving the elements. We had all moved to our apartment building except Dylan, Ethan, Brooke, Emily, and Mal. My seventh grade year had been such a hectic one, on which I had tragically had only one class with Mallory, but I backed up a bit and thought about sixth grade.

I remembered running around the middle school gym during our Halloween dance being chased by Dylan. I still remember now that I had wished to be a vampire, or maybe a werewolf. Dang, I was so foolish. Opening my locker for the first successful time had seemed like a dream. I sighed. My life seemed like a dream now.

I began thinking about seventh grade, but I felt someone behind me. I turned ever so slightly to see Solace standing behind me. I looked up, strangely not dazed anymore and smiled. "Yes?" I asked. My voice was strong, but I felt squeamish at how close to me he stood.

"You had a question?" He asked. He smiled, and I could see the smile reflect in his eyes. I smiled back.

"Yes, yes I did." I answered slowly. He whirled around with a muttered 'Come'. I followed him and tried to hurry after his large strides. My friends were following me. I could feel it. I glanced backwards once to see that they were trying to keep up as well. I sighed and ran. He stopped abruptly in the element room. He gestured with his arm to the glowing ball of water.

I walked forward until I was barely an inch from it and reached out a shaking hand. My fingers had barely touched the floating liquid, but already I could feel the presence of water. It was surging through my body, flowing in my veins. It was overwhelmingly cold, yet boiling warm. I smiled and shoved my hand to the middle of the water and held it there with a shriek. It was amazing! All the cuts and bruises from the journey here were disappearing. My free hand surged up and ran along my lightning bolt. It didn't hurt anymore, but its presence was still there.

It was slightly sizzling from all the H2O in my body. I smiled with pleasure when the water actually started making me wet. It had been simply making me feel it before, but now it was making me physically soaked. My hair was splattered against my wet face. Through it all I was laughing and crying with joy. This was simply amazing. Something was in this water that was truly wonderful. Water dripped down in my open mouth, and it tasted just as well as it felt.

I screamed, though, when the water touched the bolt and made me fall onto the dry floor. The bolt continued to sizzle and spark. It hurt, it hurt too much for words. I screamed as loudly as I could manage through the pain. I had always looked to water for help, so I instinctively reached for it. I cried out in agony when all the water began slipping to my forehead. My vision was blurring, as my brain was being shocked. I couldn't hear anything, and the pain was giving way to numbness.

As I was slipping away into the dark depths of unconsciousness, I felt a strong hand pull me away from the water. Through the blur I could only see blonde hair and brown eyes. Who had just saved me? My eyes closed and I could feel nothing anymore.

Mallory

I was wondering absently where exactly we were, when I felt overwhelming pressure on my wrist.

"Mallory."

I blinked at Skye through my reddish-brown hair.

"What happened to Haley?" I asked slowly.

"She went someplace with that Solace guy. I don't know where's they're going." Skye looked right at me, concern glowing in his blue eyes. I intertwined my fingers with his, and began running.

Dylan, Ethan, Brooke, Emily, Jessie and, *shudder* Mikey were behind us. I was wearing ripped skinny jeans with light purple tank top; over that was a darker violet see-through shirt with most of one sleeve torn off, so it hung down so that the strap of my tank top could be seen. It wasn't the best outfit to be running in. Jessie caught up to me. I was about two inches taller than Haley, so Jessie was five inches shorter than me. I looked down at her questioningly, about to ask why she looked so freaked out, but Haley's screaming shocked us all. "YOU! YOU FUCKING DILDO!" I yelled when I saw him. Austin whirled around. I thought of how he broke Haley's heart, the lost look in her eyes as she left him, and the anger I felt as the doors closed on me. He obviously cared little for me, but I cared a lot for him. Cared a lot about him dying soon. Austin whirled around while I dove towards him, knocking him to the ground. I was digging my fingers into his skin in fury, letting the electricity that coursed through my veins slowly shock him, but he was beating me. Blood covered my face from where he had probably broken my nose, but that was nothing compared to the next. He took out a fucking knife and stabbed me in the shoulder. The blade buried into my skin, and I let out a shriek of pain. I cradled my arm to my chest, but he delivered a blunt strike with the butt of his knife to my head and I fell back onto the cold floor. A gust of wind reared back and crashed into Austin's gut, knocking him backward and into a glass wall. I saw a flash of gray and dark brown and Skye appeared next to me. The world swung and blurred sickeningly, so I closed my eyes to clear my aching head. "Mallory, oh god, do you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can." I smiled inwardly at Skye's worry and tried. But I was unable. "Mallory! No. Wake up!" Skye's voice faded slowly as I drifted along the line of consciousness. And then, even the sticky blood pooling around my hand was gone.

Haley

I opened my eyes to see I had been moved during my 'slumber'. I was in another room of the elegant building. I knew this because everything was a different element color, and only a place like this could make the dull colors like brown and gray look beautiful. I tried to sit up, but a hand kindly, but firmly, pushed me down on the pillow. I looked over and almost shouted with glee when I saw Austin was the one holding me down. I grinned; I actually felt fine, just tired.

"You were away for only days, and you hurt yourself in the presence of my loving uncle!" Austin chuckled with a bright smile. My Austin was back! I opened my mouth to laugh but he put his hand over my mouth and shook his head. "Rest, Haley. Hell you nearly killed yourself!"

I nodded slowly and let myself sink into sleep, knowing the guy I loved would be the first thing I saw when I woke.

I fluttered open my blue eyes to see Austin was still sitting where he was when I closed them. I smiled when he let me sit up. I leaned forward, unaware of the doctor in the room and kissed him for quite a long time. I pulled away when the doctor walked over and asked, "Miss Winn, are you aware of what danger you were in?"

I looked up at the handsome man. "Uh, not really. I only know that I was killing myself." I answered. Austin held my shaking hand.

"You could have died." He answered. Then continued, "You're very lucky you didn't lose a sense. Your brain was frying, actually frying from all the electricity. If he-" He pointed at my boyfriend "hadn't pulled you away, you would be dead right now. I considered making you immortal so that the procedure wouldn't be so dangerous." I frowned. I did not want in any way to be locked at thirteen my entire life.

The doctor chuckled for a moment, but stopped when my frown stayed solid. "He told me that that wasn't the best way to go so I just began doing what I could." he said, referring to Austin again.

I nodded, but bit my lip. "Can you give us a second?" I asked. Austin's hair was burned a little, and I had been too tired earlier to realize that he was looking pretty mad, but worn out at the same time. The doctor nodded and left the room.

I turned to Austin, a worried look on my face. "What happened?" I asked. He frowned and leaned toward me. I shook my head and shoved on him a little. "No, you are going to tell me." He sighed.

"Haley, don't be mad at me," he said.

"No promises." I said plainly. He had to have done something really bad if he thought I could be mad at him. When I said nothing more he continued.

"When I got there, Mallory shot me with a lightning bolt-" he started, but I interrupted him.

"She did what?" I asked. I mean, Mallory had tons of reasons to be mad at him, but still...

"Just, just wait Haley." He said, looking a tad guilty. I nodded, sat up, and faced him. "So I... I kind of started beating her up..." His voice dropped at the end.

"Au-" I began, but this time he cut me off.

"No. You said you'd wait." I sighed, but nodded. "And we, I guess started battling. But I had a knife so I beat her." He had to cover my mouth to stifle my screaming. He said the rest in a rush. "While everyone else was trying to wake her up I rushed out with you, and I went to the only place I knew I wouldn't be found. Haley, we're at my dad's place." He uncovered my mouth, and I knew he was finished.

"We're at your fucking dad's place?" I screamed. "Austin Silvers!" My hand made contact with his face with a sickening smack. "I can't believe you did that to her! Austin, she's my best friend!" I yelled.

"What was I supposed to do? Let her kill me?" He huffed, clenching his fists. For someone with a short temper he sure could control himself around me... that made me all the angrier.

"If you can watch yourself around me, why can't you do that with everyone else?" I screamed again. "You're such an asshole." I said through clenched teeth. I jumped from the hospital type bed and ran as fast as I possibly could out of the room. I could hear his footsteps behind me as I ran.

I ran until I found the exit to the huge letter and shoved open the door with a cry. Austin had caught up with me and grabbed my shoulder. I spun around and tried to control the tears threatening to overflow. "Can't we just talk about this?" He asked calmly. I shook my head and continued to run. I ran until I was going without oxygen.

I could still hear his footsteps behind me, but he needed oxygen. I was an Aqua, so I didn't need it as much. His footsteps stopped abruptly after a few more feet. I didn't look back, just kept running. When I was approaching the cliff Dylan had almost fallen off of I stopped and walked over. Suicide. I took tiny steps until my feet were less than an inch away from the edge.

I began crying then and let my tears just escape. I began thinking about how I should probably make sure Mallory was okay, and how I'd like to see my mom again. I continued to cry. I closed my eyes, and, with shaking legs, jumped.

On the way down I regretted my suicide attempt. It was like nothing else to see my death coming, but once gravity claimed me there was nothing I could do. I could only scream and wish I hadn't done this. I definitely was screaming, but there was a scream that wasn't mine. The voice was low, and it was above me. I glanced up and saw Austin running down the mountain. I knew he wouldn't make it, but I silently prayed he would.

I shut my eyes and landed in Austin's waiting arms.

We rolled quite a few feet. He was holding me very tightly. Man, his arms were going to be messed up. I screamed with I felt my leg break and heard the sickening crack. I was covered in my blood. I cried into Austin's shoulder. He was screaming just as loud as I was! I heard more cracks and some of them weren't from me. I groaned when we came to a stop. I could hear Skye telling me everything was all right, and Mallory's crying. I whimpered when Skye moved me. The pain was worse than anything I'd ever felt in my life.

Mallory

I watched as Haley landed in his arms. I was crying, crying for many reasons. The first reason being that Skye was upset. The second, and most important, was that my sweet best friend was about to die in his arms. Another was that the fractured and stabbed shoulder, broken nose, bruises, and other injuries were all throbbing. Skye's arm tightened around me. "How are you?" He whispered, looking upwards in fear. "I am in something close to agony but let's not talk about that right now."

Sure, Haley was blinded by love, but I would have given up as soon as he admitted who his father was.

When my very best friend landed I guess the faggot-face did sort of break her fall. They went rolling as soon as he caught her. Austin was holding her close to him. I remembered the rumor in sixth grade that said if you touched a person for more than eighteen seconds it was considered...well, rape. They were touching for longer than that. I would have laughed, or shot Austin in the ass with a lightning bolt, but I had more important issues.

Skye scooped me up in his arms and ran to Haley. Even my boyfriend's gentle touch was too much.

I didn't know it then, but Austin had driven that knife between the sockets in my shoulder and screwed it to hell, given me a concussion with his goddamn knife, and broken my nose and a rib. I was only defending Haley and trying to get back at Austin for all he had done. My side throbbed where my broken rib bone was pressed against my side, and I flinched, almost tripping Skye.

My Skye sat me next to them and rushed over to Haley. As far as I was concerned Austin could die then and there, but my bestie must be saved. I hadn't seen her jump, but I suspected she hadn't made the same mistake as Dylan.

Haley whimpered sort of like a puppy when Skye untangled her from Austin's unconscious grip. "Haley it's alright. It's Skye, and Mallory is over there." My boyfriend said as he observed her wounds. I watched her roll her head towards me.

"I love you, Mallory; dearly, but not queerly. Don't forget that." She whispered. I burst into a new set of tears when Haley said the words we always used to prove we weren't gay. Even Haley thought she really was dying.

Haley

I closed my eyes when Mallory started crying again, but through her tears I heard a small "I love you too." but that was the last thing I heard that made sense. Now there were many voices. I heard a squeal by Brooke and a shout that was probably from Jessie. I just let somebody -I wasn't sure who- pick me up. I leaned my head against their arm when they ran at the speed only a Powera could travel by. I opened my eyes a crack and saw a black sleeve in my face. I closed my eyes again, knowing Dylan was faster than my other friends. I heard Austin grunt and then the world went black.
Chapter 12

I was awake, but the pain meds made me groggy. I didn't open my eyes, but simply listened. I was in some sort of hospital. I could hear the monitor beside me beeping in tune to my heart rate and some people talking. There was another monitor to my left that seemed to be for someone else.

I opened my left eye a tiny crack and saw I wasn't in slings. Must be a Powera hospital if they had magically healed my bones. Cool, these people knew what they were doing. I opened both eyes all the way. The room was full of people. A lot of my friends were sitting in chairs between my bed and another. I looked over to my left and saw Mallory, who was still sleeping.

In the chairs were Ethan, Skye, Emily, and Jessie. I realized there was somebody standing between Mallory and I. I looked up at Brooke who was crying. Brooke truly was a sensitive person. I then realized I was crying as well. I looked down at my body. Streaked with blood. Realizing I was awake, Brooke turned to me and grabbed my hand. Nobody else had noticed yet. Brooke was being quiet, just stroking my bloody hand.

Mikey and Dylan walked in the room. Mikey tossed Ethan a carton of milk, saying, "There wasn't chocolate milk." He went and sat beside Jessie, not noticing my being awake.

Dylan, on the other hand, ripped open a bag of Doritos and shoved one in his mouth. I would have rolled my eyes, but that would've hurt too much. He looked at Mallory, then my friends in their chairs, and then me. "Oh, hey, she's awake." He muttered. I knew that was his way of being relieved, so I didn't pay much mind to his lack of attention.

Everyone looked at me and was instantly by my side. I ignored their fretting and looked at Mallory. It was Austin's fault she looked so bad. Magic couldn't heal scars, and we both had a good many. Where are we? Was Mallory okay? Did my friends know it had been a suicide attempt? Where was.... where was Austin? "Shit! I really need to stop thinking about him!".

"Who?" Ethan asked. I hadn't realized I'd said that out loud. I simply ignored his question. He did look concerned though.

"Where are we?" I asked quickly. Emily smiled. She knew what I was really talking about. She bit her lip and answered.

"He's gone. No idea where, he just took off when he knew you weren't gonna die." She answered my unspoken question. Everybody but me looked at her like she was crazy. I tried to smile, but it ended up looking more like a smirk.

"Thanks. Where are we?" I repeated.

Jessie answered this time. Her sweet voice always calmed me down, "Almost home. We ran to the nearest hospital," she looked at Dylan to see if he would note who had carried me. When he didn't she continued "And they sent you in a helicopter to Atlanta. We had to take a separate plane that took like, eight hours?"

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"`Bout three days." Brooke answered. I looked up at her in shock. "And we're gonna go as soon as you and Mal are up to it." I nodded. Home sounded good. When the Powera leader had taken me to the element room he probably didn't know it would lead to this.

"Mallory! Mallory!" I yelled when her heartbeat started speeding up on the monitor. Ethan clamped my mouth shut with his palm.

"It's just because she's waking up." I nodded and looked down at his hand with a raised eyebrow. "Right, sorry." He jerked it away. I watched Mallory until she opened her eyes. I pointed at her with the arm that did not have an IV attached to it.

The crowd was between the two of us now. Brooke started to let go of my hand, but I grabbed her wrist. "Please don't be mad at me. Not just you, but everybody." She nodded and leaned down to hug me. I let her do so. When all attention was finally on Mallory, I looked out the window. I felt like crying again, but I think I'd cried all of my tears three days ago.

The doctor walked in just then. "Hello, I was notified both patients are awake.". He was watching Mallory and I with quite an interested gaze. I watched as he checked the monitors and nodded to himself. When he got to me he said "Feeling better?"

I nodded my response. "Well, you two should be able to leave soon. Just be happy you're Poweras." He took the IV out of my arm and judged the huge scar on Mallory's shoulder blade. "Your arm if probably going to be numb for the next few days, due to the drastic surgery we had to perform on it to save it from amputation, so try to not abuse it." He told Mallory, and then turned to me. "And you should be very happy a Strength broke your fall. He your boyfriend?" The man chuckled.

"That isn't any of your business now is it?" I growled. He merely nodded and finished looking at stuff. "Did he ever show up here or did he let Dylan do all that work?" I lay back against the pillow. I couldn't help but notice he never answered.

"You two may leave now." He announced. I sat up and moved the covers. This truly was a Powera hospital, you could tell from how they had let me wear my clothes instead of a hospital gown. I was wearing neon green Converse, jeans, and a black tee. The t-shirt was ripped several times in straight lines across the front. That's how it had come. I had on a neon green tank top under it. I had a green, blue, and purple bracelet and a black ring on my right hand. I was wearing my favorite colors.

Jessie grabbed my elbow to steady me when I stood up. I smiled and walked with my friends out of the hospital. I took a steady step away from Jessie's hand with a smile. I could stand on my own.

"Are we going home?" I asked. I was still a little groggy; therefore my thoughts weren't very clear.

"Yup." Emily answered. I smiled a little. Home was so close, yet so, so far.

We found a couple cabs soon and climbed inside them. I was in a cab with Jessie and Mikey. On the way home I thought about Austin. I said nothing about him to anyone, but they seemed to know what I was thinking, because Jessie patted my leg and whispered, "You'll figure this out." I turned to her.

"Do you know how I 'fell'?" I asked, putting air quotes around 'fell'.

"My guess is you jumped. It's alright Haley, everybody attempts it at some point." I pretended I didn't know what she meant.

"What? Jumping` off a cliff and landing in your sorta-boyfriend`s arms?" I asked. She rolled her eyes. "I know..." I said. I closed my eyes and lay back in the seat. I slept the rest of the cab ride home.

I handed the man my cut of the cab bill. I gave him a five for tips. "Thanks." He said and collected Jessie and Mikey's money as well. I walked over to Mallory quickly.

"I'm so sorry." I said simply. She rolled her purple eyes and nodded. "S'okay. I'd try to kill myself too if the guy I loved was a total dildo." I laughed and hugged her tightly. Together, we walked into the parking lot of our apartment building. I reached up and felt my scar. I was getting used to the jolt I felt form it. I wondered if it would ever go away, but then I saw my mom.

I ran into my mother's open arms when she came into view. "Momma!" I yelled and hugged her as hard as I could. I more than likely looked like a big baby but my friends were doing it too! I smiled and closed my crystal blue eyes.

"I've missed you!" She said. She held me out at arm's length and examined all of my scars. She raised a brow. "Alright now where'd all these scars come from?" I sighed.

"Long story short, I fell off a cliff." I answered. "And this," I pushed my hair out of the way, "Is when me and Mallory battled. Looks cool, though, huh?"

"Uh, sure, Harry Potter. How did you survive falling off a cliff?" She asked. I bit my lip, how would I answer that? Luckily Mallory ran over, hand in hand with Skye with Cainen balanced on her hip and the toddler's head nestled into her neck. She looked perfectly content with Skye gently holding her bad arm and her beloved little nephew clinging to her neck. As soon as Cainen spotted me he laughed and yelled, "Hay!" I waved and smiled at him.

I looked at Skye with a grin; he had been the first one to reach me when I landed. "Hey Haley." He greeted. "Not sure if the Wheelers like me very much. Well, 'cept the baby." He rubbed Mallory's nephew's swarthy little head. I put my hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter. "This your mom?" He asked.

"Yup. Mom this is Skye. Skye, this is my mom. I'm not good with this." Skye nodded at my mom. "Oh, and don't feel bad about Mal's family. They're a little hard to get to know at first." He nodded and shrugged it off.

"And hello to you Skye, don't really remember you though." My mom said in greeting.

"Oh they uh, met me and Austin along the way." He answered. I smacked his arm. He turned to me "What?" Then he realized "Oh sorry, you hadn't got there yet I'm-" He was cut off by Mallory.

"We came over here because of two things. One is that queer is back." she said. I quickly looked the parking lot over and saw Austin sitting in a tree. "Second reason is that my parents said to ask if anyone wants to go to Dairy Queen with us." She finished, eyeing me and adjusting Cainen awkwardly with her good arm. At last she put him down and let him hug my leg, then took his little hand.

"Yeah I'm up for it. There's something I need to do first." I answered. My mom gave a nod and went back in the apartment building to grab her purse. I turned back to Mallory. "I know what he did, and I truly am sorry, but I can't... I can't... Just imagine if Skye was the bad guy." I turned to Skye "Which you aren't." I just kept babbling.

"Haley, just go." Mallory said with a wink. I nodded and walked toward him. I had noticed the immediate anger that hit her eyes when she looked in his direction. It wasn't until I was at the tree did I realize Skye was punishing him. His breath was being taken away, and the wind ripping around him was almost blinding.

I turned around and pleaded with Skye "Stop." I held out my hand to an exhausted looking Austin. He grabbed it like a life preserver. "Please stop!" I cried. Skye`s eyes widened. He must not have noticed he was still torturing Austin. The wind stopped abruptly. I rolled my eyes and climbed up next to him.

We said nothing for a minute, just stared at each other. "Thank you." I said to end the silence.

"Umm no problem. Haley, you did it because you were scared to love me, weren't you?" He asked. I looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. I nodded when the tears escaped. "Come here, I got you." He reached toward me, but I smacked his hands. I pulled myself together and leaned against the trunk of the tree.

"We have things to talk about, but before we do you have an apology to give." I said, crossing my arms. He froze. The seconds ticked by until he finally talked.

"Yeah, yeah I guess I do." He said. He started to jump from the tree. I grabbed his arm.

"At Dairy Queen. You have money right?" I asked. He nodded and sat back on the branch. "Then..." I trailed off when I leaned forward and kissed him smack on the lips. He pulled me really close to him and I broke the kiss. "Why do I love you?" I whispered.

"I'm not sure." Austin whispered back. "But, I know I love you." He said.

"Austin?" I asked.

"Yup?"

"Let's go." I grabbed his hand and jumped from the tree. We walked over to Mallory and Skye. "Hiya." I said.

"Sup?" Skye grinned at me, but avoided Austin. I could tell he was still mad.

"Hey Haley, How are you punishing Uglynuts?" Mallory asked impatiently.

"I was thinking you could do that when I'm not around." I answered. Mallory gave me a huge grin and thumbs up. I turned to my kinda-boyfriend. "Austin? You were gonna say something?" I asked.

"Yes." Austin looked at Mallory, "I'm sorry. Really, really sorry." The hand that wasn't holding mine extended to her. "Truce?" He asked.

"Hell no. Once I get payback we'll call a truce." Mallory answered. Austin nodded, sighed, and let his hand fall back to his side. Our other friends and our parents started coming over then.

I leaned against Austin and smiled. I was home again, and Austin was here with me this time. We could worry about Rolega later, now we were just going to enjoy life like a bunch of normal teenagers.
Epilogue

I sat up in bed with a smile on my face. I could finally be like a normal teenager again. I got ready for school and went into the kitchen. I was dressed in denim pants, gray flats, and an orange T-shirt that said "Samuel Park, Colorado". I was wearing a pink and orange necklace that dangled all the way down to my belly button and a white ring in the shape of a heart. My mom, grandma, and grandpa were already gone for work, but I didn't care.

I grabbed my key and went into the hall. I locked the door behind me and went to the elevator. I pushed the lobby button. Now I had to go back to school, which sucked, but at least I wasn't on the other side of the country jumping off a cliff.

Austin had enrolled himself in our school, so now we had school together as well. When the elevator doors opened I saw him talking to Skye near the door. They were obviously waiting for Mallory and I, because when I walked up Skye said "Now just Mal.". I grabbed Austin's hand while we waited.

"Skye are you enrolled at our school too?" I asked. He nodded and smiled. "Here she comes." I said when Mallory stepped out of the elevator, dressed in a white transparent tee with a black tank top on under it. She also had a black vest on, and black leggings. Her shoes were white and gold flip-flops.

When we got to school there was a lot of stares. I ignored them and walked with my boyfriend, my best friend, and her boyfriend through the halls. Our other friends soon joined us with smiles. Jessie walked up holding the hand of her human boyfriend. We all walked into our first class, and boy was our teacher surprised to see so many kids with smiles.

I ignored her as well as the other kids, and sat next to Austin and all of my friends. Home truly was a wonderful place to be. I looked up as the door flew open with a loud CLACK! A man dressed in all black came in. He looked straight at my friends and I, saying, "I need Haley, Mallory, Brooke, Ethan, Emily, Austin, Skye, Dylan, Jessie, and Mikey."

My heart seemed to stop as Rolega strolled into the room, holding Austin's requested Coke.

###

### About the Author

### Well, my name is Haley Winn. I've been writing for about two years now, mostly about the Living In Oblivion series. I'm a teen in the US

### Connect With Me Online

Facebook: <https://www.facebook.com/HaleeeyBop>
