I was so very, very bored. It had been over a week since the rift break, and I was not allowed to leave the house without approval until after starting classes with the JRSTC. I had not even been allowed at school. The schools did have some provisions for remote students, so I should not fall too far behind.

Also, after I sent a card to Robin, they offered me their notes for the classes I missed. They even said they might be able to meet up to study with me while I’m stuck away from school. Robin may come to my home!

The legal fiasco was mostly over for now. True to Dusty’s words, the process had been significantly expedited. The one thing he did not tell me is that I was also mandated therapy. I had not gone to therapy since sixth grade, and that had lasted a grand total of two sessions. I was not too excited about that, but Pa had already been encouraging me to go since the incident, so I wasn’t getting out of it.

As I swung my legs out of bed, I could feel a slight weight on my left leg. Annoyingly, the black box I was being forced to wear was in the form of a locked ankle monitor. Thankfully, it was not too bulky so I could hide it beneath my sock. Standing up I winced the recent events had not done my bad knee any favours.

Today was my first day going to the JRSTC so I am forced to wear something other than pajamas for the first time this week. This would be my first time meeting the other cadets, so I did not want to look completely awful. I pulled on a pair of dark grey cargo pants and a black crop top, and I finished by grabbing my yellow jacket and combat boots before I headed out. Apart from my one keepsake necklace and a ring, I didn’t doll myself up too much. I learned to avoid makeup and most jewellery when I was an athlete. Makeup would just run and get in my eyes and uniform, and jewellery could get in the way.

Limping down the hallway, I was once again glad we only had a one-story house because all stairs had become my archnemesis. I leaned my cane against the counter and sat down on one of the barstools while Pa prepared breakfast.

“Gooie more. I’m making waffles, ” Pa says, “It’s your first day with RJSTC today. You ready?”

“Yeah Pa”

“How are you feeling, Vil?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. On the one hand, I kinda want to actually become a super, like any kid would dream of, but on the other, that's not realistic, this is a punishment for having dangerous and hard-to-control powers, and having powers doesn’t matter when I can still barely walk and would be useless.”

“Sweetie, you’re not useless. I am a bit hesitant about you becoming a super, but that’s because I care about you staying safe. However, if it’s what you really want, I’ll support you as long as you make an effort to be safe. And even though disabled supers are uncommon, I still think you could still be an amazing super despite your knee.”

“I know Pa.”

Bringing over a plate of waffles, he smiles mischievously and says, “Plus you could show off in front of that classmate of yours, Robin.”

How does he know about them? Better play dumb

“What, why?”

“Don’t play dumb with me.”

Damnit

“How did you know?” I say accusingly.

Laughing, he replies, “I mean, you aren’t the most subtle Vil. I started getting an inkling even before the rift, and now you’re sending them handmade cards!”

“I doubt they’re interested in supers. They almost never talk about supers. Unless my powers were related to music or something, I don’t think they’d care.”

“Well, you never know for sure. Anyways, what’s up on the power front?”

“The dreams keep coming, but most are irrelevant, at least to me. Often vague, short blurs about people I don’t know. The only concrete ones were you dropping that plate the other day and this morning my dream was something about a boy dropping his phone and breaking it. The weird thing is even though I don’t know who he is, the dream wasn’t vague like the others about people I don’t know. Also, I think the dreams always show something bad happening, whether that be breaking a plate or a car crash”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Huh, and the bad things aren’t related to you right?”

“Thankfully, no. I could always see the curses before, and so far none of the recent dreams have had them.”

“Hopefully, the RJSTC will know a bit more and be able to help you out with them. Most powers are pretty self-evident, but in the bit of research I’ve been doing, that doesn’t really apply to Mystic class powers like yours. However, Mystic powers are in the rarest group of classes, and you have two!”

“Having rare powers doesn’t help. First, it doesn’t mean they’re any good, and second, there’s even less information about them.”

“Come on Vil, try and look at the bright side. I know this debacle has been pretty awful for you, but it will get better.”

“I get it.”

“It’s time for us to hit the road. You ready to go?”

“What do you mean ‘us’?”

“I’m going with you. I’ll be introduced to the staff, get a bit of a tour, and will get some info for parents”

“Ugh, fine,” I say, there would be no point in arguing, “You have to drive then.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fortunately, Pa did not make too much small talk on the drive over there. The car probably helped with that. It was older than I was, and going over 40 mph made the road noise thunderous. Pa had said something about worn-out suspension bushings being the cause.

We pulled into the parking garage for the city super command. Finding a parking spot did not end up being difficult. Our city barely qualified as a city and had a rather small powered population.

When we walked into the lobby, I saw Dusty, in his super getup, standing across the room chatting with some guy holding a clipboard.

“Good morning Du- Reiver,” Pa says. In semi-public areas, like this lobby, it was common courtesy to call a super by their callsign if they were suited up.

“Good morning Hugo. Good to see you too Vilde.”

“Good morning Mr Söderberg,” says the man with the clipboard, “I’ll be the one working with you today. Would you please follow me”

“See ya Vil, I’ll probably swing by a bit later before I head out.”

“Bye Pa.”

“Come on cadet, let’s go and meet the others,” says Dusty.

“Sure.”

As Pa was led toward the offices we headed toward the training area. The place felt like a maze, but I had Dusty to guide me. According to him, there were a few gymnasiums and practice areas under the building, and the RJSTC was assigned one for themselves. Fortunately, there was an elevator to the basement so I didn’t have to take any stairs.

“Now that we’re in the private area of the facility, you can call me Dusty. We all go by our real names in here at least. And don’t worry, nobody else knows about your situation. You only have to give them your name and maybe a bit about your powers.”

“Okay.”

“It’s a pretty small and close-knit group. I hope you’ll get along with everyone. There are only four others. You know one of them too, so hopefully you’ll at least have a starting point.”

“I know one of them?”

“Yeah, her name’s Abby and she just joined us after the rift. She was signed up before, but I hadn’t met her 'till then”

Fuuuuuck… why’d it have to be Abby?

“Oh.”

“Why do you sound like you just lost whatever enthusiasm I had managed to build up.”

“Me and Abby don’t really… get along.”

“Well, maybe you’ll learn to.”

“Sure.”

“Please try and get along. I don’t want this to be a horrible experience for you”

“Fine. I’ll do my part, but I can’t change what she’ll do.”

“That’s all I ask. I really do hope you’ll enjoy this”

We finally arrived at the gym. Beside the double doors was a JRSTC placard. Dusty went ahead and pushed through the doors.

“Hey, cadets! Your new squadmate's here!”

The gym was massive. There was a section for training equipment you would find at a normal gym, a section with gymnastics equipment and various obstacles, an empty section with a thick padded mat covering the floor, and a section set up like a classroom with chairs, desks, and a projector. The perimeter was also cleared and marked to be used as a running track.

The occupants of the room immediately turned to look. Of course, there was Abby. There was also an incredibly tall boy, even taller than me, a very fit and stocky-looking guy, and a skinny boy tapping away on his phone. I suddenly did a double-take seeing the last boy. He was the one from my dream! Though his phone is still intact.

The stocky guy pipes up, “Get off your phone, the new kid’s here,” as he lightly nudges the boy. Unfortunately, the boy had not been prepared and almost lost his balance. He caught himself, but he fumbled his phone in the process. Initially, he looked like he would catch it, but he didn’t close his hand in time and accidentally smacked it down onto the floor even harder. A crack came from the device as the screen shattered.