My alarm gets me up just in time to make it to today’s meeting. Rolling out of bed, my mind endlessly wanders through the complex situation our meeting had laid out. I message Dylan and Sarah that I’ll be biking to the school building alone today. They replied that they’d meet me there.

After getting ready for the day, I walk downstairs following a familiar smell.

“Good morning Allen! Are you hungry?”

“Eggs?”

“Yes, indeed!”

Mom hardly makes anything else, not that she doesn’t know how to. Still, they’re quick, easy, and delicious. I’m just thankful she cooks for me in the first place.

“Alright, thanks.”

I took my time to eat. There’s still some hesitation in me because of how real the last meeting was.

“Something wrong, sweetie?”

“No, but these eggs sure are delicious!”

“I’m glad. Take as many as you want.”

I take my time with breakfast and leave the house casually, hopping onto my bike.

Biking is great. It’s fun and healthy. The feeling of the breeze in my hair is amazing. Riding my bike is one of the few things I truly enjoy doing. Still, the cardio parches my throat.

Just before arriving at the abandoned school building, I stop at a nearby gas station. Ice cold soda is best after a nice bike ride.

Though I guess the school isn’t ‘abandoned’ anymore. We occupy it now.

What should I get… maybe a root beer? I’ll go with that. I don’t want to be late.

Picking up my drink, I head to the cashier and check out.

“Come again!”

The bell on the door chimes as I leave.

With a crack of the aluminum tab followed by the soft sound of compressed air escaping the can, a gulp of the fizzy soda slides right down my throat.

Refreshing.

“Don’t move,” A threatening voice calmly demands from behind me.

I stop abruptly. It takes a few moments before my brain has a chance to allow the fear to set in. A freezing cold sharply chills the back of my neck making me jump a bit. It feels like a blade made of ice. The chill of metal is distinctly different from whatever is on my neck, this knife feels almost wet. Warm blood trickles down the back of my neck with a sting.

“Good. Now hand over your gem. Reach into your pocket and slowly reveal it.”

This man. He camped by our meeting place where he knew we’d show up, waiting for a single straggler to appear by themselves.

Having no alternative, I cautiously remove my gem from my pocket.

What a horrible person. I hope he gets what’s coming to him. The world would be better off without scum like him.

He should just die already.

No… I can’t wait around for someone else to punish him. I need to do it myself. That’s right. He’s a villain. He’s evil. So I have to do something. No God will punish him for his actions. I’ll erase him from this world so he can’t hurt anyone else.

I’ll kill him.

Adrenaline surges through me as my grip tightens on my glittering yellow gem.

“Hey, Allen!” Dylan calls out to me from a car pulling into the gas station.

The attacker, not willing to take on more than one person, pulls the weapon away and takes off. He escapes through the trees behind the station before I can catch his face.

“That was Luke, right? What was he doing?” On the other hand, Dylan recognizes him immediately, he couldn’t have seen his face either.

“That bastard tried to mug me for my gem!”

“What? You’re messing, right? Luke did?”

Furious and frustrated, my mind loses focus on the conversation.

“Damn! He got away! We need to tell the others about this.”

I get on my bike and speed off. Dylan says something but it’s too late. I’m already gone. I’m way too pissed off to participate in a civil conversation right now. If we kept talking, I’d likely just take out my anger on him.

Gritting my teeth, I stomp into the meeting room. Dylan and Sarah try to catch up close behind.

“Luke attacked me.”

Kyle looks up nonchalantly, completely unsurprised.

Simon, Kyle, and Christina are sitting at the table. Rachel and Luke skipped.

“Where’s Rachel?”

“She said she had something important to do, “Kyle responds. “Anyway, what was that about Luke?”

“He put a freezing knife to my neck and demanded my gem. Dylan called out to me and scared him off.”

“I see… this fell apart faster than anticipated. Maybe it’s better we never hold another meeting. At the very least, Luke is already hostile towards us, but if another person secretly wanted to steal our gems, it would be far too easy grouped up like this. While I just recommended that we never hold another, it’s still important to keep in touch. I’ll give you all of each other’s contact information before we part ways.” he looks up curiously. “A freezing knife, though? That’s probably something to do with his ability.”

“Thanks, Kyle.”

Simon looks horrified at the news, “You were attacked? That’s horrible! Are you hurt?”

“Oh, now that you mention it,” I turn around to show him the shallow cut on the back of my neck.

Simon’s hand touches my cut. It stings for a moment, but then the pain fades away entirely, along with the cut itself.

The fact that something so unnatural is really happening makes our situation sink in that much more. With genuine appreciation, “That’s amazing. Thanks.”

His lips curl with the most genuine smile I’ve ever seen.

“I’m glad I could help!”

Once again, I notice the wrap on his wrist.

“What happened to your hand? Can’t you heal it?”

“Oh, that. I fell on it and it got sprained. It looks like my power can’t heal me, only others.”

“That’s inconvenient…”

…

That’s also his biggest weakness!? Does he really feel comfortable telling me that? If I ask him why he told me it would only hurt our trust, so I keep the thought to myself.

“You better not get any wise ideas now that you know how his power works. Not like that idiot, Luke,” Christina is as tactless as always. Although, I suppose that could be seen as cute with her standing up for Simon.

“Of course not. I just got attacked, myself.”

Kyle’s impatience runs thin, “At any rate… we need to notify Rachel and decide what to do about Luke. It’s not really Simon or Christina’s problem though.”

“Why not? We’re in this together!” I retort.

“Well Luke goes to North East too. Now that he failed his first attempt, he’ll have to assume we won’t be meeting here anymore. If he wants to take someone’s gem, it’ll be the people right at his doorstep. The only ones here who go to North East are you three and Rachel. In other words, you’re his targets. Not us. I suggest forming a group with Rachel and sticking together for now. As long as you remain close, he can’t attack. It would also be wise not to let him know where you live. I don’t believe he’d go as far as to attack your relatives, but caution is always wise.”

Kyle seems to have been prepared for a scenario like this. From his word choice, he’s been expecting it. You’d think that something that he himself openly calls “paranoia” would be less helpful and on the dot.

“You’re right,” I concede. There’s no use in endangering Simon and Christina. “Can you help arrange a meeting with the three of us and Rachel tomorrow at school? I don’t have her contact yet and I’m sure she knows you better.”

“Of course. I’ll mediate between you and notify you when the plans are set up.”

Kyle is surprisingly reliable. Well, maybe it isn’t surprising. He did find seven ability users in the time it took me to find two… and I happened to run into them by accident. Now that I find myself admiring Kyle’s diligence so much, it’s starting to feel impossible that he missed any ability users. We may be the only ones. At least in the city.

“I know Luke pretty well,” Dylan speaks slowly and carefully, his face somberly determined despite usually being upbeat and loud all the time. “We used to be good friends. I’m sure that I can solve this peacefully. So… I’ll talk with him,”

Luke and Dylan used to be friends? Having an old friend attack someone like that… he must be confused. When they were friends, I bet Dylan wouldn’t have thought of him as the type of person who would stoop to such low actions.

Kyle shakes his head in disapproval, “You know him better than me, but I don’t think talking is an option. If it were, he wouldn’t have jumped Allen. He’s not the talkative sort anyway. I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t talk to him, but I don’t think you should. Still, no matter what, I’ll be assisting you wherever I can.”

“Thank you, but I’m going to solve this peacefully.”

Dylan won’t budge.

When it’s time for us all to leave, Dylan, Sarah, and I are the first ones to go.

“Stay safe you three!” Simon waves us off.

“Be careful, I wouldn’t want you to make Simon cry,” Christina joins in teasingly.

Having brought my bike to the building, I’m forced to ride it back on my own. I wave goodbye to Dylan and Sarah as I depart.

Quickly chugging the rest of my root beer, I pedal as fast as I can.

The next day, Monday, I receive a group message from Kyle that also went to Dylan, Sarah, and Rachel. It has the time for our meeting at school today.

I scarf down my eggs and leave for school.

Worries fill my mind about the thing with Luke. I still don’t know how to use my ability, or even what it is. If Luke singles me out again, I’ll definitely lose my gem. Dylan will be fine against him with his combat experience, especially because his power of heat and flames should be able to counter the cold blade he used on my neck.

Lunch rolls around at school and I meet with Sarah and the others on the roof.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Hello again,” Rachel greets me with a smile.

Looks like I arrived last. Dylan and Sarah were already here too.

“Hey. I assume you heard the news about Luke? It seems pretty dangerous right now.”

“Yes, I heard. Thank you for allowing me to have protection in your group. I hope I can be of assistance.”

Rachel’s polite speech seems to make everyone a little nervous. To try to loosen up the atmosphere, we sit in a circle on the floor.

“Tell us about yourself, Rachel.” Dylan starts the conversation.

“Well, I like cooking and playing sports. I’m on the track team. Do you guys play anything?”

“I don’t,” I’ve never liked sports.

“I used to play on the basketball team. I quit last year, though,” Dylan said.

Sarah speaks up, “I play on the softball team.”

“That’s fun. I played softball when I was little, but my favorite part was the running, so I switched to track. I know the rules so maybe we could gather teams and play sometime?”

“Sure!” Sarah smiles. It’s probably nice to already have something in common with her.

“Actually, I always feel like I’ve seen you around, Rachel, but I still can’t really remember much about you. Did you just transfer in or something?” It’s been bothering me for a while.

“No. I’ve been going here my whole life. We’ve even shared a home room a few times.”

“Urk-” Yikes. She has a forgettable essence to her, even more so than Sarah.

“Don’t feel bad. I don’t talk much.”

“Well, a-anyway,” I try to change the subject awkwardly. “When Luke attacked me, it felt like he had a knife made of ice. His ability has something to do with that.”

“That’ll make him a good match for me!” Dylan says. “It'll be even safer for me to negotiate with him.”

“You still don’t know how to use yours though,” Sarah points out.

“Oh, right.”

“Me either.” A sigh leaks from my chest. “Can you use yours, Rachel? If not, then we only have one ability to use against Luke, and it isn’t even offensive.”

“Well… I don’t feel comfortable talking about my ability, but I can use it on command.”

“If we tell you all of our abilities, will you tell us yours?” I barter.

“… Maybe. I suppose we need to know each other's abilities so that we can work together. Now’s not a good time to be skeptical.”

“Are you two good with sharing?” I glance at Dylan and Sarah.

Dylan cheers, “Of course!”

Sarah on the other hand, is much more reluctant. She pauses for a few seconds, considering every possibility, then she responds, “I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Then it’s settled,” I smile at Rachel. “My ability is unknown, even to me. I suspect it might be super speed based off of my dream, but I can’t activate it. There’s probably a trigger we don’t know.”

“Same for me, although we’ve seen mine a little and can guess that it’s the power to create fire. The only time I used it I was fighting some punks. I burnt one’s chin.”

Sarah is still hesitant.

After another careful moment of consideration, she mutters, “I can turn invisible,” followed by a quick demonstration by disappearing and reappearing soon after.

Rachel stops to process the new information, “I see. That’s a very useful ability. I guess I’ll uphold my end of the bargain. I can… transform to look like different people. It’s a little weird, but I’ll demonstrate.”

Her face starts shifting. Each feature on her face melts and slides around like putty. The changes are very small, but to the human eye which is so skilled at recognizing people, each subtle change makes her look like a whole new person. It takes a couple of seconds before the process is complete.

Slowly opening her eyes, the once beautiful blue hue has changed to brown, like my own. Actually, she looks completely identical to me. It’s impossible to shake the feeling that I’m staring into a mirror. Still, my features aren’t flipped like they would be in a mirror, making it even more uncanny. The rest of her body remains the same which only adds to the weirdness.

“I can change the rest of my body too, but I’d have to see the target in more detail first,” My- her eyes fall down to my chest before she’s frozen still. Her face, my face, turns bright red. “W-wait. That sounded a bit weird. I didn’t mean to suggest anything- Never mind…”

Her face shifted back but remained red.

Creepy.

Up until now her polite speech sounded like she was reading a script, but with that embarrassing slip up she began to reveal herself a little more. Still gross though.

“That’s incredible,” I try to keep the unease out of my voice.

Dylan points out, “Yeah, don’t know if it’ll be useful against Luke, though.”

Rachel breaks eye contact and looks off to the side. Her ability is pretty disgusting, so I see why she’s embarrassed. I guess that’s why she was so hesitant.

If Rachel was hesitating because she was embarrassed about her ability, not because she didn’t trust us, then why did Sarah hesitate so much? I wonder if she’s scared because of the Luke fiasco.

Clearing my throat, I attempt to start the conversation back up, “So that leaves us with zero offensive abilities to rely on. We don’t even know the extent of Luke’s ability yet. If worst comes to worst, the only one who can protect themselves is Dylan, because of his hand-to-hand fighting skills.”

“We shouldn’t worry about fighting too much,” Sarah suggests. “Dylan is planning on talking him down anyway. We should just message him and ask if he wants to meet up later today.”

“I don’t think we can get through to him. He attacked me without any warning, but I guess I’ll believe in Dylan for now. I’ll message him and see if he wants to meet after school.”

“Deal.”

The serious talk ends there.

“So, what’d you guys bring for lunch?” I try to lighten the mood with a smile.

Dylan brought a simple sandwich, Rachel has a thermos of soup, and Sarah has what looks like a whole feast! She brought some sandwiches, salad, and cookies. Here I just bought a school lunch. It’s simple mac and cheese today. I don’t have time to bring my own food with how much I sleep in. If I had Mom make it for me it would just be eggs. This is probably the better alternative.

Dylan devours his food without delay. He finishes his sandwich before I even get a chance to eat much of my food at all. He still looks starved. For a person his size, he needs to eat more than one sandwich for lunch.

His eyes fall on Sarah’s food enviously, “You’re going to eat all of that?”

Sarah takes her lunch box and spins her back to Dylan, hunching over to protect her food.

“It’s mine. I made it all by myself.”

Does that mean she made the cookies too? She must be quite the chef.

“Aw, come on! You know you can’t eat all of that yourself. You’re like a third of my size. You’re even short for a girl! Can I please have some?”

Sarah silently scoots farther away.

“No! Wait, come back! Is it money you want? I don’t have much of that but I can provide anything else! I can even give you…” Dylan looks around desperately. “My undying loyalty?”

“Does that taste good?”

“Well-”

“Then no deal.”

Sarah takes another bite of one of her sandwiches.

“Well, it was worth a shot.”

Rachel watches in amusement. You’d expect the contrast in personalities between Sarah and Dylan to make them dislike each other, but they get along really well.

Ding-Dong Dong-Ding

Before we knew it, the bell rang and it was time for the next class. Surprisingly, Sarah managed to eat her entire meal. She’s got quite the stomach for someone of her small stature.

We walk down the hall together and Rachel is the first to split off. She joins a group of the most popular girls in school and starts chatting like it’s nothing.

Doesn’t talk much my ass! She’s a popular girl! No wonder she was familiar looking.

I split off with Sarah and Dylan and went back to my class.

The rest of the classes are boring as always and I simply bide my time until the end of the day.

We all decided to meet at the exit after school. The best time for Luke to attack would be as we leave, so we’ll have to stick together. If we see him, we’ll let Dylan talk it out.

I group up with everyone and get ready to leave. But, Dylan’s missing.

“Have you two seen him!?” I struggle to keep from shouting.

Sarah shakes her head and looks very nervous herself.

Rachel keeps her cool, “I haven’t. Something is definitely wrong. He wouldn’t be late for anything due to the circumstances. Given his personality, is it possible that he left to meet Luke on his own? I don’t know him well, but he seems like the type of person who thinks that it’s heroic to do something of that sort.”

She’s absolutely right. He has a short temper and he probably feels really betrayed by Luke. If I were in his position, if Dylan had betrayed me, I’m sure I’d do something similar. It would feel like it was my responsibility to set him straight. It might even feel like my fault that he caused trouble.

“You’re probably right. Thank you, Rachel.”

She looks a little surprised, “No need to thank me. What is it that you’re thankful for?”

I wouldn’t have been able to think straight, not without her level head to keep me grounded. She’s already a nice addition to our team.

I slowly shake my head, unable to express my thoughts properly.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go look for Dylan. We might still have time to stop him.”

“Well, I’m not opposed to looking for him, but it may be dangerous. If things look hairy, we’ll all need to run. We shouldn’t take unnecessary risks. Where do you think he went?”

That… is a good question.

Sarah spoke up giving her silent insight, “He doesn’t have a car or a bike so he can’t have gone far. I doubt that even he is stupid enough to get in a vehicle with a potentially violent thief. They had to have met somewhere near the school that’s hard to view from the road. His main goal in choosing the meeting place wouldn’t be keeping us away, but uninvolved people. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was meeting at the forest-ish place beside the school. The one where he fought those thugs. It would fit all the criteria well.”

Sarah is the brains of this operation. She always has the best ideas, despite her visible nerves.

“Thank you too, Sarah. That’s perfect,” I place my hand on her shoulder and look as thankful as I can.

She shrinks back, “N-no problem.”

“I think it’s worth checking out! Are you all in?”

They both look confident.

“Sweet. Let’s go find him.”

We stick close together and hug the school wall. I lead in the front while Sarah stays in the back.

We get to the corner where the forest starts and stop walking.

I haven’t added much to this group yet. All I’ve done is worry and tangle my thoughts. I’ll try playing the lead this time.

“Sarah, can you go invisible to check around the forest close to the wall? Make sure the road is clear, or rather, let’s hope it’s not.”

She gave her simple nod before vanishing.

Me and Rachel sit back nervously for around ten seconds but it feels like several minutes.

Suddenly, Sarah appears in front of me out of nowhere. My lungs involuntarily gasp in shock.

Covering up my startle with a cough, “Did you see them?”

“No, they weren’t close. They may still be back there, but they aren’t where Dylan fought last time.”

We turn the corner and are met with the overgrown foliage and trees. We split up and glance around. Even though we’re searching for large people, it still feels safer to scan every inch of the forest.

I hear a faint voice coming from deeper in the woods. The voices come from a direction that is away from the school. The farther from the school the forest gets, the denser the trees and more plants there are. The voices lead both away from the school and road. A place where your voice can’t escape from and where eyes cannot peak. It feels like the place where a murder would go down.

“Sarah, do you hear those voices over there? Can you go investigate them?”

“Of course.”

Sarah fades away once again.

She pops back in a minute later. I manage to keep calm this time.

“That’s them. Luke and Dylan. They’re in a heated argument. From what I picked up, Luke wants someone else’s gem for some reason and won’t let it go. Dylan is trying to tell him that it isn’t right to forcefully take something but Luke won’t listen.”

“Come on guys, let's calm them down.”

“Wait,” Rachel interrupts me. “Let’s not. I suggest that we watch from a distance to see what happens. If we trust Dylan, we should trust that he can handle it without our help.”

“You’re right. Thanks again, Rachel. You really help me think straight. I for one definitely trust him so we should wait close by.”

We all walk through the woods until they’re both in sight but we’re still hidden by bushes. Silently we crouch down and watch.

Dylan yells with a growl, “Luke! You can’t assault someone like that, my friend like that, and expect me not to care. I’ll give you a pass because we’re friends too, but you can’t do anything like that again!”

“No. That isn’t how this works. You can’t expect to convince me like that, not so easily. We aren’t friends anyway. We may have been long ago, but this is now.”

“Don’t say that! You can’t cast aside our friendship like that! We were in it together, for the long haul!”

“Grow up, Dylan! It doesn’t matter now. If you want me to stop trying to steal someone’s gem, then give me your own. If you believe in our friendship so much, then prove it to me.”

Dylan looks furious at that remark.

“You cast my friendship aside then demand that I hand you my gem which may even kill me? You’re saying that our friendship only exists if I give you something!? You’re crossing a line, now! Swear that you won’t hurt anyone else again!”

The air heats up and a sudden warm wind blows past my face.

“No. I refuse. I need a gem. I need to test the hypothesis. If it’s to make my dreams come true, I must be willing to sacrifice anything. So Dylan, give me your gem, or I’ll be forced to take it.”

The gloomy figure of Luke faces the intimidating Dylan. They’re both much larger than the average person. The scene in front of us was beginning to feel extremely dangerous.

Embers begin to form around Dylan and he wears a pained expression of betrayal and fury.

Noticing the change, Luke activates his own ability. Small particles of ice float around the air, reflecting light, glittering.

Luke’s face stays cold and unforgiving. He isn’t mad, he looks the same gloomy way he always does, staring down Dylan with eyes like ice.

Winds of both cold and hot begin to swirl around. Trees rustle frantically as they both prepare themselves.

“Fine then! If you won’t submit, then I’ll take your gem by force!”

“I’m sorry, old friend, but you’ve never beaten me in a fight. Even though you’re no match for me, just for you, I’ll go all out!”