Max walked through the forest, the early morning sun barely illuminating the area. He called out for his students while using his abilities to scan the foliage for any sign of them. “Tony! Jordan!”
It wasn’t just him looking, it was a group of teachers who had agreed to join his search party. They walked around the school grounds, looking for any sign of where his students could be being kept. They searched in the forest they disappeared, the buildings in the school, again, and have started branching cautiously into the city.
It’s been a week since they disappeared and there’s been no progress in finding them. Nothing to lead to their location, no bystanders to question, not even a single scream or sign of fight.
An alarm went off on his phone, telling him that he needed to go back to the school. He texted the other teachers helping and made his way back.
He went into the gym area and looked at his student’s solemn faces. Each adolescent tired and depressed. “Good morning.” He said flatly. He was greeted with a few mumbled greetings. “We’ll work on defensive training today.”
The bolder students groaned and a few made small whines, rolling their eyes. Max was very aware of their opinions, many of them begging him throughout the week to let them join the search for their fellow classmates, but it was still too dangerous in his opinion for them to help.
“I know how you all feel. I’m worried too. I would search for them all day and night if I could, but I still need to teach you and train your powers. That way, if any of you fall into a similar situation we won’t have to do everything we are doing now, again.”
Mia raised her hand, “Did you find anything yet?”
Max felt his heart weigh down. “No, nothing yet.”
Frankie raised her hand, “Would you be willing to let us help yet?” Max could recognize the attitude in her tone.
“Not yet. Feel free to give suggestions to make the search more efficient, but non of you are permitted to be involved yet.” Frankie slouched against the wall, frowning at him with her mismatched eyes.
He proceeded to pair them up and had them spar with each other, focusing on defensive strategies. Due to the missing students, Julia had to be put with Melissa, usually being with Vess and Melissa with Zach.
Max stood back against the wall, each pair taking a spot in the gym, and watched them. Watching them was something he hasn’t gotten to do in a long time. After Zach joined, Max had an odd number, so he started taking them individually to train their weakest skills.
While watching, he noticed a few of them made great pairs. Like Jay and Jamien, not only because they have opposite abilities. Jay was often distracted and gets frustrated easily. Jamien’s fear manipulation and shadows forced him to focus more and take more control over his emotions. Jamien is weak with quick movement, which is the majority of Jay’s skill set.
It was nice to watch them help each other improve. They were always understanding to each other and helped when things were getting difficult.
Brady and May worked with each other on May’s selective shielding and Brady’s precision fire control. Max turned away for a second to watch another pair when he heard May cry out in pain.
He looked over to see singes on her right sleeve. She started healing it quickly as her brother ran over to her. It didn’t look too serious, and Max trusted them to tell him if it needed attention.
If Max had to guess, May probably got distracted and forgot to move her barrier. ‘She’s probably thinking about Nya’.
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Melissa dodged a lightning bolt and hid herself. She was paired with Julia, another person with light abilities. Melissa was trying to go a little easier on her, not because she was younger, but because of Vess.
Melissa couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the younger, especially after having no contact with her mother. She knew how hard it could be not knowing if someone you care about is safe, or even alive for that matter.
Julia’s movements seemed slower and she was unfocused, not having too much power behind her lightning. Melissa stuck to mostly dodging, rather than attacking using her dream abilities.
She showed herself again, behind Julia this time. She whipped her head around and stuck her arms out at Melissa. She made herself translucent and Julia fell through her missing body, landing with her forearms on the floor. Melissa quickly moved behind Julia and held her hands close to the younger’s head.
She carefully reveled herself again and felt her energy flow through her veins. Melissa started to whisper under her breath, “Calm down. Sleep.”
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Julia’s body started relaxing at her suggestions. While using her abilities, Melissa saw some of her memories. She tried not to intrude too much, only seeing a couple flashes of moments with Vess, before a scream broke her focus.
She looked away from Julia for a moment and saw May patting down her sleeve. Brady quickly stopped some of the fire and rushed over to her. Melissa figured that Julia wasn’t the only one distracted today.
Julia turned around fast and latched herself around Melissa’s waist. Melissa didn’t have time to react as a sudden, stunning pain that shot from her hips to her arms and body. Her muscles contracted, making her stiff and numb as she fell over, crashing to the floor.
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Melissa felt warm.
She opened her eyes to see herself surrounded by soft, long grass. The world around her seemed saturated and covered in warm colors. She sat up and took a look around. The landscape stretched out infinity before her. “Am I dead?” She wondered out loud.
She felt panic start to rise in her chest, forcing her heart to beat faster. ‘You’re okay. Stay calm. There’s no reason you would be dead.’ She forced herself to stand up, trying to get better bearings of her new setting. There wasn’t much around to see. “Oh, Julia. Where have you sent me now?”
“Melissa!”
Melissa whipped her head around at the small, scared voice, spotting a small figure in the distance. “Who are you?” She called back. She carefully took a few test steps towards the body.
“Melissa!” The small figure yelled again, this time more panicked and desperate. It suddenly started running towards her, seemingly as fast as it could possibly go.
Something twisted in Melissa’s gut sending all kinds of alarms to her mind. This was wrong. They shouldn’t get closer. Her chest got tight as she screamed out, “Stop! Don’t come any closer! Please!”
They froze and looked back at Melissa with wide eyes. They were close enough for her to make out who they were.
Before her stood Vess, shaking like a leaf despite the warm temperature. Her curly hair was a mess and her clothes were covered in dust and dark spots, worryingly looking a lot like dried blood. ‘Please let me be wrong.’
“Vess?” Melissa asked softly, “Is that really you? Not just a vision?”
Vess nodded and started to shake more. From her voice, Melissa could tell she was crying. “Melissa, we’re scared. Not just me this time, Tony’s scared too.”
Melissa took another careful step forward on instinct, “Vess, do you know where you are? Not this place, but where your physical body is.” She tried to keep her voice gentle, seeing as the younger’s tear tracks have started to clean her face of dirt.
“We’re in a cave. I don’t know where the cave is.” The color from the landscape started to fade. Melissa could tell that she was losing time to get information.
“Vess, are you hurt? Are any of you hurt?”
Vess slowly nodded. “I’ve bled a few times, but I’m okay. He shocks us in turns, That hurts a lot more.”
Melissa felt chills travel down her body, causing bumps on her arms. “Shocks you? Who is shocking you, Vess?” The other started talking, but Melissa couldn’t hear her. The world around her started turning grey, telling her that time was up. “Vess, it’s okay. We will find you. The teachers are searching all over. I’ll tell them about the cave, they’ll find you.”
Vess only nodded.
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“Melissa? Melissa are you okay?”
Her head hurt, badly. She still felt her muscles being stiff and sore. She moved slowly, opening her eyes to find herself on one of the cots next to the training rooms. The lights were a little bright, but it wasn’t too bad.
Max was next to her and May’s hands were hovering over her head. She followed them with her eyes, trying to distract herself from the mild buzzing in her ears.
“Melissa? Are you awake now?” It was Max’s voice traveling through the thinning fog in her head.
“Y-yeah.” She croaked out. She closed her eyes tightly again, trying to remember what exactly happened.
There was May screaming, Julia shocking her, the grass and colors.
Vess. The field. The wounds. Shocking.
The cave.
Melissa’s eyes shot open and she sat up straight, ignoring the sudden dizziness. “Max! I saw them! In a field! But they’re not in a field, they’re-”
“Woah, slow down.” Max cut her off, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her swaying body steady. “Calm down. Who did you see exactly?”
“Vess! I saw Vess!” Melissa tried to explain. Max’s eyes widened and he looked up to May, who was now frozen in place.
“May, could you give us some privacy?” She didn’t even seen to flinch. “You know that I’ll let you all know if anything important comes up.” May looked at him and nodded. She left the room quietly.
“Okay, Melissa, take a deep breath and tell me what you saw. Don’t leave out anything.”
She did as she was told, breathing in and started explaining. “I was in a field, full of all different colors. It was warm, and Vess was there too, across the field by a long ways. She tried to get closer, but I told her to stop, it didn’t feel right.”
“She looked like a mess, her hair was everywhere and she had dirt and possible blood on her clothes. When she recognized me, she started crying rivers. She looked so tired and scared.”
“Okay, were you able to talk to her?” Max asked, leaning back. He pulled out his phone and opened up something.
“Yes, I was. She said they were scared. Everyone. She said that they were in a cave, but she doesn’t know where the cave is. They’re being hurt down there. Tortured.”
“Why do you say that?” Max looked at her intensely, suddenly looking up from where he was typing on his phone.
Melissa took another breath, trying to steady her voice. She felt tears starting to push into her eyes. “She said she had been bleeding a little and her clothing was torn. She also said… um…” Melissa started to choke on her tears. They spilled out of her eyes, dripping onto her shirt.
“What else did she say Melissa?” Max seemed to be trying to be gentle, but was failing.
Melissa tried her best to explain through her shaking voice and tears, “She said they were being shocked. In turns. I don’t know who is doing this to them, I couldn’t hear her after that.”
Max had a stone like face, but she could tell that he was hiding a look of horror behind his eyes. He cleared his throat and spoke slowly. “That you Melissa. I’ll let all of the other teachers know. We will find them.”