by Gracie Dix
“Come with me if you want to see your friend again,” one of them said.
Teddy had Teleported behind the scientists and held a finger to his lips, but Nick couldn’t hold back his surprise. One of the scientists turned around and blasted something at Teddy who wasn’t expecting it. Teddy went down.
“NO! Teddy!” Nick yelled. Nick threw himself at the scientists, and they both went down because of his Super Strength. Teddy shifted on the ground and opened his eyes, discovering Nick laying across the two scientists and holding them down with his arms. Teddy got up and began to walk forward when he stumbled and fell. He stuck out his hands, but when his hands reached the ground, it shook and rumbled.
The ground opened under everyone, but Teddy was miraculously floating above the hole. Nick, on the other hand, fell in with the scientists. He grabbed the side of the ground and held on for dear life. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. The scientists fell all the way down.
“That seems like it’s going to be a painful death. Pain sucks,” Nick thought. He concentrated his energy on the men to give them a painless death. “I mean, they were probably forced to do this anyway.” Using all of that energy distracted Nick, causing his hand to slip slightly. Only his fingers were keeping him up and even with his mass strength, he couldn’t hold on. His fingers slipped.
“Oliver’s Powers! You have them!” Teddy yelled as Nick fell. Using his Super Intelligence, Nick instantly got what Teddy was trying to say. He thrust his hands toward the ground, activating Oliver’s Power of Flight.
“NO! This is so hard to control!” Nick called as he bashed his shoulder into the wall, causing a huge bruise.
Teddy began to get excited as Nick started to Fly up. Sure, it sounded like the going was a little rocky, but Nick was climbing up slowly! Teddy began to feel a weakening sensation. Oh no! The crevasse!
“Nick! Hurry up! The giant crevasse thing is closing!” Teddy screamed, almost going into a panic.
The walls of the crevasse began to close around Nick.
“You’ve been with Oliver all year, watching him learn how to use his Flight, right?” Nick asked nervously.
“Well, yeah,” Teddy answered.
“Tell me this: HOW DO I GO UP FASTER?” Nick screamed, also beginning to panic. The walls were nearly touching Nick’s shoulders as he realized how far he had actually fallen. “Teddy!” He yelled.
“Uh . . . OH! Thrust your arms down again, but as if you’re trying to pop your arm out of its socket!” Teddy cried happily.
Nick thrust his arms down so hard that he felt his elbow pop, but not out of place. He sped up at a fast rate, still getting a little too close. His shoulders and arms scraped the rocky sides and he felt his impending doom. But despite the agonizing pain, he kept on pushing. He turned his body the other way and ten seconds later, he felt the cavern scraping his back.
He saw light. He made it out. Then he saw a blinding flash as pain took over his entire body. He screamed.
15.4
Oliver woke with a start. He was having some kind of horrible nightmare that he would have preferred to forget. He heard an ear-piercing scream and started to worry. Were those horrible men doing something to one of the other patients? He began to hyperventilate, not sure of what to do.
Just then, he heard a small and distant shout: “Nick, stop yelling at me!”
15.5
“Where did Teddy go?” Jessica yelled.
“He was right here! He just vanished!” Darla shouted.
“Teddy?” Will asked, panicking like there was no tomorrow.
“Guys! Let’s just chill and try to think about this. Maybe he Teleported,” Rachel yelled, sounding human.
Everyone turned to stare at her.
“What? When someone hangs out long enough with you people, that person tends to learn a few things!” Rachel exclaimed.
15.6
Teddy looked horrified. He didn’t know if Nick even knew what was currently happening to him.
“TEDDY!” Nick screamed, “FORCE OPEN THE STUPID GROUND AGAIN!”
Teddy focused as hard as he could. He laid his hand on the ground and thought, “Anger. Anger is what I felt when I opened the ground. I need to get angry! Nick is getting hurt and no one is here to do anything about it. Anger. Nick is yelling and screaming and it’s bothering me! Anger. Nick gave those stupid scientists a painless death even after EVERYTHING they’d done to us—and because of that, Nick fell! Rage!”
Teddy heard Nick still screaming. “TEDDDDYYYYY!”
“Nick, stop yelling at me!” Teddy screeched.
The ground began to open, so Teddy ran up and grasped Nick’s arm. He Teleported away from the crevasse just as it opened wide enough for Nick to have fallen through again. Nick was safe, but in excruciating pain.
SIXTEEN
In Which A Boy Is Healed And Power Is Exchanged
Maybe if I try really hard, I can Teleport Ondrea here. She’s a Healer, and Nick is hurt too badly to Heal himself,” Teddy thought as he dragged a bleeding, bruised, and horribly injured Nick away from the giant death-trap. Teddy let his energy go, and the crevasse closed instantly. Teddy was in shock from everything that had just happened.
“Wait! That was an earthquake!” Teddy exclaimed. “I created an earthquake!”
Teddy had an idea. He Teleported to Ondrea and found her with the gang. Ondrea was crying.
“Ondrea, what’s wrong?” Teddy gasped, surprised.
Ondrea turned and hugged him. “We were so scared!” she sobbed. Everyone gathered around Teddy. His expression turned grave. Everyone noticed.
“I Sense something very wrong. Are you okay, Teddy?” Jessica asked. She peered at the blood stains and sweat on his shirt and jeans.
“I . . We need Ondrea,” Teddy sighed. He collapsed onto the ground, exhausted from overusing his Powers and from all the stress of what had just happened. He struggled to get up because he had to get to Nick before he bled out.
“First you need to rest,” Rachel commanded.
“NO! I CAN’T! Ondrea, guys, you don’t understand! Nick is dying and he can’t Heal himself! We need you, Ondrea!” Teddy pleaded.
“Nick,” Jessica whispered. “GO, Ondrea, please!”
Ondrea, looking frightened, grabbed Teddy’s arm, and he Teleported them to Nick. When Teddy and Ondrea arrived, Nick looked nearly gray and his eyes were only slightly open. A large puddle of blood had formed around Nick’s ankle which looked like it had been shattered by a building. Teddy gagged. Ondrea gasped.
Ondrea sprinted to Nick and touched her hand to his bloody ankle. She began to sweat as she pushed all her Healing energy into Nick. His skin colored, eyes opened wide. His muscles and blood reentered his leg, and his skin closed up. Ondrea wiped sweat from her forehead. Nick jumped up and stumbled on his leg, so Teddy held him steady.
“Man! I feel good! There is a little pain in my ankle, but I certainly feel A LOT better than I did before. Thanks for getting Ondrea, Teddy. Ondrea, thanks for what you did!” Nick rejoiced.
He looked down at his jeans. The bottom of his right pant leg was ripped and covered in dark red blood, and the back of his jeans, too, from sitting in a puddle of his own blood. The sides of his T-shirt were almost completely shredded along with the back and front. His left shoe, which used to be white, was now dark red.
Nick took a step forward and cringed in complete disgust as the bloody shoe made a squishing sound. He quickly tossed it off, as well as his sock. His foot was also bloody from the shoe. He looked around him at all the destruction and then at the little corner where Teddy dragged him, his bloody little corner.
Nick saw a line of blood on the floor that led from where he’d injured himself to where he’d awakened. When he began walking forward, a pain shot up his ankle, but he pretended like everything was fine.
“Wow, what a mess. I wonder who did this,” Nick joked.
Teddy smiled, but Ondrea just looked around in amazement. Suddenly Teddy he
ard something that sounded like it was coming from far away. He moved toward the walls trying to discover where the sound was coming from. When he moved toward the wall with the door, he heard the sound most clearly.
“Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick,” the voice kept repeating. Teddy motioned for the others to listen, too.
“Buddy, I can’t hear a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g at all,” Nick emphasized.
“Yeah. I can’t either. Are you sure you heard something?” Ondrea questioned.
“Yes! I still hear it!” Teddy exclaimed, frustrated.
“Okay. Well, what’s it saying?” Nick asked.
The voice was saying something else now. Teddy began repeating only what the voice was saying. “Give me my Powers back. Give me my Powers back. Give me my Powers back. Give me my…” Teddy repeated.
“It that what it’s saying?” Ondrea asked, confused.
“No way!” Nick shouted excitedly. “Ondrea, use your Molecular Kinesis on this door!”
“It’s too heavy!” she yelled back.
“Why are we yelling?” Teddy wondered quietly.
“Just do it!” Nick yelled again.
Ondrea started to use her Power on the door. She began to strain, so Nick walked over and activated one of his least used Powers, Power Enhancer. He touched Ondrea’s shoulder and forced his Power into hers. The door flew off the metal hinges, and a loud slam echoed throughout both rooms.
“I can’t believe it,” Nick gasped. “It’s Oliver!”
“Oliver, are you okay?” Teddy asked happily as he ran over to him.
His eyes looked slightly glassy and his face was pale. He still spoke, though.
“Teddy, Nick! I am so happy to see you guys,” he exclaimed in a garbled voice, almost as if he’d been drugged.
Ondrea came up and slapped Oliver in the face. Color came back to his eyes a little. “Wake up!” Ondrea yelled.
“Easy, Ondrea,” Teddy mumbled.
Nick grabbed the metal bindings around Oliver’s wrists and ankles and pulled as hard as he could, but nothing happened. Nick strained and fell backwards as his hands slipped off the metal. Ondrea caught Nick before he reached the ground, but as she pulled him up, she grabbed his shoulders and studied his eyes. She frowned and looked at his ankle again.
“What was that, Ondrea?” Teddy asked, now focused on Nick.
“I saw pain flash in his eyes and I read his mind.” Ondrea explained.
“I’m good, honestly,” Nick laughed, lying.
Ondrea put her hands on his ankle and pressed more Healing energy into him. She was straining really hard, so Nick put his hand on her shoulder to give her more Power. He felt his ankle strengthen and fix itself.
“Thank you so much, but I think we should get back to Oliver,” Nick said emphatically.
Oliver groaned.
“How the heck are we going to get these bindings off of him?” Teddy asked, placing his hands on the metal. It felt warm to him.
“Hey guys, does this metal feel cold or warm to you?” Teddy questioned.
They both placed their hands on the metal. They both said it felt cold.
“Oh! Teddy, maybe because you could move the earth, you can also shape metal, because the earth has a lot of precious metals!” Nick yelled, excitedly.
“He’s right, Teddy!” Ondrea agreed, shifting in her place.
Teddy put his hands on the metal and began to picture the metal strip lifting up and peeling off. He opened his eyes to see the metal snaking away from the other connected side. With much concentration, he managed to get all the metal bindings off—and Oliver was free. Ondrea reached over to Heal Oliver, but Nick stopped her.
“I think I know how to Heal him. I need to give him his Powers back, which, in turn, would also be Healing him,” Nick said quietly.
He grabbed Oliver’s shoulders and closed his eyes as he began the painful process of giving Oliver his Powers back. From behind him, Teddy was about to lay a hand on Nick’s back to support him, but Ondrea stopped him, afraid of what would happen to the three of them if he did. For Nick, the painful process was over and then he began Healing Oliver. He could feel energy pulsing through his body. Suddenly, Oliver’s body made him sit up really fast. He looked around and spotted Ondrea, Nick, and Teddy.
“Man, am I so glad to see you guys!” he cheered.
16.2
“Gosh! Where are they?” Rachel growled.
“They’ve been gone for like two hours!” Will stressed.
“It’s just two hours, you guys. I’m certain they’re okay,” Jessica assured, silently panicking on the inside.
“Yeah, I’m sure everyone is okay!” Teddy exclaimed, appearing behind Jessica.
Rachel began to bark. She stopped, suddenly looking self-conscious.
“OLIVER!” Jessica yelled, crying tears of joy.
She raced up to him and hugged him tightly. Oliver wrapped his arms around his sister.
“I am so happy to see you, Jess!” Oliver yelled. “But please! You’re smothering me!”
Nick left the room, and no one noticed. He felt like he was intruding. Besides, Jessica probably was still mad at him. Will came out of the doorway and saw Nick, so he sat down.
“Hey, why aren’t you in there celebrating with us?” Will asked.
“Jess and everyone else are probably still mad at me,” Nick whispered, looking down as tears suddenly came to his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Will asked, “Besides the fact that you almost died—again.”
“I remembered what had happened before this. The whole Mrs. Thomas thing. I swear it wasn’t my fault, Will, I swear!” Nick cried.
Darla came out of the door. “Nick, it’s okay. We don’t blame you. Jessica panicked when she didn’t know where you went. She wants to see you now. We all do,” Darla explained, grabbing Nick’s hand and pulling him inside.
Nick began to wipe the tears from his face. As soon as he opened the door and went in, Jessica threw her arms around him. Nick was stunned for a second, then wrapped his arms around her, too. Oliver joined in from the side. Soon everyone was hugging everyone.
When they broke apart, Will grumbled, “Great! Now we’ve got cooties from each other.” Everyone laughed.
Oliver noticed how happy they really were together. A thought in the back of his mind drifted forward. He remembered the day not long ago when they were about to mention something at recess.
“Hey, Ondrea, Teddy, what did you want to tell us back during recess a few weeks ago?” Oliver asked.
Teddy and Ondrea stood there and tried to remember. “Right!” Ondrea exclaimed. “My sister is going to be joining this school.”
“Wait, you have a sister?” Teddy, Oliver, and Jessica questioned.
“Yeah. She’s in ninth-grade just like us—um, me,” Ondrea corrected. “I really miss her. Can we go back to the school? I mean, everything is done here, right?”
16.3
Somewhere far off in a strange dystopia . . .
“Boss! He escaped before we were able to inject the serum into him,” The Stranger complained.
“Why do you keep calling it ‘the serum?’ Do you know how annoying that is!” The Boss exclaimed. “I’ve got some news. Did you know the ninth-grader, Ondrea, has a sister?”
“No, sir. I didn’t,” The Stranger said happily.
“Go bring her to me. I’ve got an idea.” The Boss laughed.
The Stranger left his Boss’s old castle and gazed at the charcoal black, grassy fields swaying as he left. The red sun shone beautifully in the darkness of the sky. The sun never went down, but neither did the sky ever become bright. That was home for The Stranger. His kid and wife loved it there, and as long as he kept his job, he would be able to keep them fed.
Sure, he didn’t love harming kids—even if they did come from such a colorful world and wore colorful clothes. He kept on traveling to the Seeing Senter, the “S.S.” as people call it. The Stranger didn’t understand clothes. In his world, people didn
’t wear clothes—because the people were pure shadow. The only piece of color on him were his red eyes, over which he usually wore glasses.
When The Stranger arrived at the Seeing Senter, he went inside the gray sliding doors and entered the Girl sector. He stood in front of a door and said his name, “Damian Fletcher.”
16.4
The gang headed back to school in the flying car with Will driving.
“Why did we let Will drive?” Darla whined as Will was flying with the jerkiest steering ever.
“Will, calm down a little!” Oliver yelled.
“I can’t! What are we going to tell Mrs. Macintosh about Mrs. Thomas?” Will yelled.
“WILL! Bird!” Jessica screeched. Will pulled down and everyone flew up toward the front of the car.
“WILL! Ground!” Teddy shouted. He pulled up at lightning speed, throwing everyone back into their seats.
“WILL, POWER LINE!” Darla yelled. Will jerked the wheel left as hard as he could.
“WILL . . . ”
“OLIVER, STOP!” Will cried.
“I was just going to tell you to calm down,” Oliver murmured.
“That’s it!” Will seethed. He slammed the car into the ground, even though they weren’t back to school yet, or even close. “I can’t do this anymore! All this yelling, stress, pressure, death, kidnapping, excitement, and new people. Not to mention MORE DEATH! I’m DONE!”
“Will! You can’t be done! We’re all in this together and have been since we spent thirty minutes of our lives telling you the plan. We’ve been together since the moment you introduced yourself and we will ALL be in this together forever. We have been through too much. YOU have been through too much,” Oliver stated firmly.
“That’s the thing! I HAVE BEEN THROUGH TOO MUCH!” Will screamed as he stormed off.
“NO, WILL, YOU IDIOT! COME BACK!” Darla yelled.
“That’s it!” Nick yelled. He reached out his hand and stole Will’s Power. A ball of light shot at Will and when it hit, Will stopped and slumped, suddenly exhausted. Nick walked over to him and stood in front of Will.
