I was sitting on a bench outside Gare’s office, dressed in my uniform again. It had been an hour since the incident had occurred and I was still crying. Frank’s words stung. The class’s reaction stung. This sucked. My life sucked. Everything that I did always ended horribly. Was it ever going to get better for me? I’d only been aware of the past month, and pretty much everything I did always had something bad happen. When I went to the mall with Lacey, I broke down. When I went to the library, I overused my abilities, fell asleep on a toilet, and got to go to the dark place. When I finally cooked a tasty meal for myself, I puked it up.

“I don’t give a shit about what that asshole Frank said, I witnessed it and she had nothing to do with it.” I watched as the old lady yelled at a cop, Gare, and Frank.

“Watch your mouth. My grandson was only doing what he felt was best and it wasn’t wrong!” Frank screamed.

“Shut that filthy pie hole of yours, Frank. I know exactly what I saw,” the old lady fired back. Despite my mood, I felt happiness that the old lady was supporting me.

“It doesn’t matter what you think you saw, Nancy. That girl hurt a student…” Gare fired back. I knew by now that Gare hated me.

“And whose fault is that, Gare? Yes, it's clear that she is technically on par with a level 4, but she has no control. Why do you think she is even HERE?!?!” the old lady screamed at both Gare and Frank. A level 4? Was I a level 4?

“ENOUGH!” the smaller, older man yelled, scaring me off the bench. He glanced at me, then back at the old lady, Frank and Gare, “Enough is enough. Gare, I will talk with you alone in your office. Nancy, why don’t you talk to Bu… Claire.” Turning to the officer that had remained silent throughout this, he said, “Officer Laughlin, under Article 16 of the War Declaration Act, as well as the authority granted by the Superhuman Act of 1965, I’m placing this under Agency jurisdiction.” The police officer quickly agreed and left, clearly not wanting to get involved in whatever had happened.

“Oh, so you are going let her get off like that, Galen? You are going to let get away with it, just like before!?” Frank yelled at the old man, whose name was apparently Galen.

Galen looked at me for a bit, studying me, noting that I was still very upset at what had happened before turning his attention back to Frank, “Shut up, Frank. I know what I saw. Now, if I’m not mistaken, you have a grandson to attend to at the hospital. Get your ass out of here before I overrule Gare’s authority and fire you.”

Frank grumbled, but he left. Apparently, not even Frank wanted to tangle with Galen. Quietly, Galen motioned for Gare to follow him, which he did. Seems like Gare was afraid of Galen more than me. The old lady came up to me and said, “Come on, Bug; while they talk, we can go somewhere quieter and you can tell me what has going on here.” We ended up going to the cafeteria, only at this time of day, it was empty and dark. Taking a seat at one of the tables, she reached into her bag and pulled out a water bottle. I wasn’t thirsty, but I accepted it and quietly thanked her. “My son told me about what happened this morning, how you puked in his car?” I thought she would be upset, but she was smiling, as if she found the incident amusing. “Are you okay?” I shrugged, which the old lady accepted as an answer. “Uh huh, well, why don’t you tell me what happened today?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I responded.

The old lady took my hand, “Of course it does. Please tell me.”

Fine. Taking a deep breath, I dove right in, “Every damn class I go to, I’m treated like dirt. No, worse than dirt. Every student, well, every student except the test runners, treat me like shit. I’m a reject to them. Sure I don’t have my telepathy under control, but I still heard it, every word, every fucking thought.” I suddenly cringed, having cursed, but the old lady remained quiet, wanting me to continue. “And then the teachers, they too hated me. They called me a reject. And Gare, well, fuck his ass. He tried to kick me out school just because we were late. It wasn’t my fault. But that wasn’t the worst. Gare and that fucking ASSHOLE FRANK yelled at me, calling me a worthless piece of shit.”

The old lady narrowed her eyes, her face contorting with mixed emotions, “What about gym class? I saw it happen…”

“Oh, you mean that bastard Greg? Frank’s grandson, the same asshole that body slammed me when I first woke up on that damn farm.” I stood up and started pacing. “Of all the places, why did I have to end up on that farm? Why couldn’t I have the fortunate luck of waking up in a zoo? Anyways, Greg has been the worst. On my first day here, he showed everybody my scars,” I gently rubbed my arms, “And today, well, it was set up. I showed him. I said no, I defended myself, maybe a bit too much, but he totally deserved it.” Turning to face the old lady, “It was trap set up to injure me. But I stopped it.” A sudden thought came to me. “How… how did I stop it?”

The old lady motioned me to sit. When I did, she took my hands. “Bug, I don’t know how you blocked his power. Look, the truth is, we don’t know how your abilities work. We’ve never seen such a wide variety in one person. But what we do know is your level. You are a level 4, one of very few left in world.”

That did explain a lot, but I was confused about something. “Is that why everybody is mean to me? Is that why I’m treated so badly?”

The old lady paused, closing her eyes and sighing, almost like she was going to tell me some bad news. “No, Bug. That’s not why.”

“Then why?” The old lady hesitated. “Please, ma’am, do you know why?” The look on her face, the emotions that I could read in her head told that she knew why. “Tell me. Please, I need to know.” I practically begged her. I needed to know. “Is it because of whatever happened at Lhasa?” I asked, recalling what Dhruv told me about hope dying with Lhasa.

The old lady looked me right in the eyes. “Yes, it's because of Lhasa.”

“How?”

The old lady shook her head. “It happened a while ago, and the event itself really doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It matters to me,” I told her. It did. I needed to know. Was I that worthless?

The old lady looked at me, deciding on whether or not to tell me. It must have been painful for her to remember whatever it was for her to be acting this way. Letting go of my hands, she looked away. “Thirteen years ago, something happened. Someone that the Agency had captured in the early months of the war gave us a warning. He said to us that ‘The war is still young, and we are oblivious to what is to come.’ He died after that, so we were unable to find out what he meant. Didn’t matter though.” She looked at me, “It’s too painful for me to tell exactly what happened, but the Fall of Lhasa is the reason why the level 4s are on the verge of extinction, with the other levels not far behind. You do remember what extinction means?”

Surprisingly, I did. “But what does have to do with me being bullied? I’m a superhuman, just like everybody else here.”

“It's because of what you look like. The world holds a great deal amount of hate towards those responsible for Lhasa. To be honest, Bug, you look somewhat Japanese, if you know what means, but unfortunately, you somewhat look like those responsible, and Gare seems to allow people here to take their anger out on you.”

I looked Japanese? While I had no idea who or what the Japanese were, I’d never showed much concern with what I looked like facial wise. To me, I looked like myself and that was okay. “But why would they be angry at me? Unlike whoever caused the problem at Lhasa, I didn’t do anything, at least I think I didn’t do anything.”

That last sentence caused the old lady to laugh, lightening the mood. “Oh no, Bug, you were probably way too young when it happened.” Taking a deep breath, “Bug, war doesn’t determine who’s right. It never does. It only determines who is left. With this war, all that is left is death, a lost future, and hate. While laws and regulations have been passed on both sides of the conflict to keep people from discriminating against those who look like the very few that were responsible for Lhasa, Gare has gone against those laws and allowed hate to manifest against you.”

We both heard someone clear their throat. Turning around, I saw it was that short man, whose name I was pretty sure was Galen. “Nancy,” he said, beckoning to her to come.

“Bug, I’ll be back in a minute. Um…” She reached into her purse. “Eat this chocolate bar while you wait.” Ohhh, never had chocolate before.

----------

Nancy followed Galen to Gare’s office. Once inside, she let Gare have it. “YOU ASSHOLE, what kind of school are you running?”

“A school where the strongest survive,” Gare responded without emotion.

“Oh, the strongest? Well, as it turns out, B… Claire is the strongest here.” Taking a quick glance at Galen, she said, “There is no doubt now, she is a level 4. But the students AND the teachers are treating her like shit. I know why. Galen knows why. You know why, and even EUGENE knows why. The only person in this school that doesn’t know that it’s racism plaguing this school is Claire herself!”

“Oh, shut up, Nancy. I am making sure Claire understands the values of this world. I know about that little problem of hers. That amnesia. Not that difficult to see.”

“Then why didn’t you tell the teachers that?” Nancy demanded.

“Now, why would I want to do that?” Gare said with obvious glee.

“You ASS!” Usually, Nancy got after Bug when she messed up and cursed, but today, she wasn’t holding back. “What did Claire ever do to deserve this?”

Gare looked right into her eyes, his own eyes full of rage. “She was born.” Nancy was horrified, more so than Galen. “She was born, thus, she deserves every bit of it. That is only way the world will accept her.”

Nancy was inflamed. “She’s just a child. She has nothing, and you think she deserves this? How dare you!”

“How dare I? You don’t get it, Nancy. You have never got it. You forget, like so many people, that I was there. I was there when Lhasa fell. I witnessed its destruction first hand. And now, because of people like that worthless piece of shit, I have nothing! No family, no friends… nothing.”

Nancy immediately knew what this was about. It was about Frederick. It was always Frederick. Gare was one of the few people who witnessed the destruction of Lhasa and lived to tell the tale. Frederick and his army of 20,000 American, Nepalese, and Bhutanese soldiers had been stationed in Nepal. They’d responded to a distress signal from the city, and immediately mobilized to travel to Lhasa to defend it.

But Nancy and everybody now knew that it was a hopeless mission. Frederick and his army were simply too far away. They couldn’t fly anything but small units to the city. But they made little difference. Frederick and his army were locked down in a fight for access to the city, and as they made a desperate attempt to breach the siege surrounding the city, ultimately they were forced to helplessly watch as Lhasa and its population were overrun by the invaders. By the time they were able to finally recapture the city, most of its population, including a huge amount of the world’s superhuman population, had been wiped out. They were able to hold the city long enough to count the dead, identify those they could, and attempt to bury the dead. It was during this that Frederick found what was left of Jared. Only a necklace that Lacey had given him before he was disowned remained.

Frederick was so enraged at the death of so many that he evacuated all the survivors, took what was still culturally valuable from the city in order to preserve it, and in a daring move that shocked the world, set the city ablaze as he and his army fled back to Nepal to mount a defense. Now all that remains of Lhasa today is a burned-out husk left abandoned in the mountains as a grave to all those that died because Frederick and his army desperately tried and failed at Lhasa to prevent the destruction that ultimately put the superhumans on the path to extinction.

Galen walked up to Gare, preparing to confront the broken man. “I get it, Gare. But you know as well as everybody, Frederick…” Galen looked down, his face saddened by the memories of the event, “never had a chance. As the saying goes, Frederick was the Carpathia and Lhasa was the Titanic…”

“Which doesn’t give you right to allow the students and teachers to bully Claire!” Nancy butted in. But Gare didn’t seem to care.

“Calm down, Nancy.” Galen stepped in. To him, this conversation was done. “To me, it seems that Gare has allowed his own personal ill feelings to come before education and the welfare of the students. I will conduct a further investigation, but as of now, the school will go on early winter break, starting tomorrow.” Nancy watched as Gare attempted to protest, but one look from Galen shut him down. Sure Gare was one of the last remaining level 4s in the world, but no one in their right mind, no matter how much power they had, would dare defy Galen in person.

“Um… yes, sir. I’ll assemble the students right away,” Gare stuttered. Nancy couldn’t help but smile at Gare’s submission to Galen. But she wasn’t fooled. This was because of Bug. Gare would blame her, and attempt at some point to do the same thing that Greg and Frank did. Only Gare’s revenge would be simply because of who Bug was living with. Gare blamed Frederick, but with Frederick in Singapore, he took his anger out on Bug, simply because she was Nancy’s ward.

Once Gare had left to gather the students together, Galen turned to Nancy. “While I’m cutting the test run short, I’ve witnessed what I need. She has a spot here when school resumes in January.”

“Galen… I can’t send her here,” Nancy admitted.

Galen looked at her, puzzled, “Why not? I thought this is what you wanted for her?”

“After this? Galen, even if you removed Gare, the students themselves aren’t going to change right away. If Bug comes back here, she will face the same thing for no fault of her own. She may be a level 4, but that doesn’t change what people see in her and how they feel.”

Galen seemed to agree with her, “Well… Nancy, there is the online program. Bug can remain at your house, and still learn the necessary things and I’ll try to arrange for someone from Washington to come down and train her abilities.”

“Train, so you can train her and turn her into a weapon?” Nancy retorted. She knew what Galen wanted from her and now that his theory was proven correct, all it would take was the snap of his fingers and Bug would be his and the Agency’s. Galen looked at her, giving her the answer she needed. Galen still planned to do that. “It doesn't matter anyways. I’ll be dead by New Year’s and Bug will be turned into a weapon against her will. Congratulations, Galen, you have officially ruined a poor girl’s life.”

Galen looked over at Nancy, his face suddenly full of concern and despair. “I know you have cancer. But I thought… what… ?” Galen couldn’t seem to say a full sentence. This surprised her, as she had never seen Galen stutter like that in a long time.

“Yeah, I’m finally dying. My time has finally come. Dr. Silas confirmed it.”

Galen had to take deep breaths to steady himself before he could talk again. “Does your family know? Does Bug know?”

Nancy shook her head. “I haven’t worked up to it yet. I figured that I would wait until the anniversary of Lhasa’s fall and Jared’s death pass, but then, Jerri died. So I don’t know when or even if I will tell them. And Bug, what can I tell her? ‘Oh, I’m sorry sweetie, but I’m going to die very soon and you will taken by someone who is going to turn you into a weapon.’ Yeah… trust me, that will not end well.”

“I see,” Galen said, unable to say anything more.

Nancy sat down, her legs weak. Already she could feel her body deteriorating. It wouldn’t be much longer before cancer finally killed her. But for now, sitting down on a chair mostly took care of the problem. Looking up, she realized that Gare had a picture of Rome on his wall. It was a picture that she recognized. It was taken in 2000, before Project Eternity disappeared and the war began. A better time. She took a deep breath, remembering that time. “You know, Galen, I had hoped that I would live long enough to see the end of the Third Great War.” She laughed a bit, which resulted in a coughing fit. When she recovered, she turned and looked Galen right in the eye. “But now I will die soon and the world will be the same as it has been for the last fifteen years.”

Galen nodded, “I understand. You wanted so hard back when it started to take up the mantle of Eternity. You wanted to fill in for them, so to speak, until they were found.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Well, we both did. And fourteen years later, Eternity is still missing, probably dead, and we have been poor substitutes,” Galen admitted.

“We failed, Galen. We failed at protecting people, we failed at stopping the war, and we failed at our marriage.” Smiling at Galen, she remembered the love she still felt for him. “However, when I look at Bug, I see a time before the Army of the Sword, before all of this death. Bug’s case is unique; she has no connection to this time. She possesses innocence, something extremely difficult to come by in this world. For how long, I don’t know.”

Galen took a seat next to his wife and held her hand. “I know where this is going. You think that if the Agency takes her, we would be destroying what little innocence remains.”

“And forever make her one of the forgotten,” Nancy added.

Galen shook his head. “I… I honestly don’t know anymore, Nancy.” Leaning forward and resting his hand on his hands, he said, “You and I aren’t the only ones who know about Bug and her mystery. The Joint Chiefs know as well, even the President knows. If I’m going to keep her away from them, what do I do?”

“Give her what she needs. A family,” Nancy said to Galen. Standing up, she said: “Now, considering that I’m a dead woman walking, I’m going to ignore your orders and allow Bug to do stuff that teenagers usually do. While my condition may prevent me from doing certain things, I know someone that can do things. If you have a problem with it, lodge a complaint after I’m dead.”

Walking away from Galen to go gather Bug and take her home, Galen had one more thing to say: “You need to tell your kids about this, but are you going to tell Bug about what you did?”

Nancy stopped, looking back at Galen before sighing, “I don’t know.” Telling Bug that she was the one responsible for all the tests and then getting the police officer to act the way he did in order for Bug to trust her -- she wasn’t true sure Bug would take it well. With the confirmed knowledged that Bug’s abilities were on par with a level 4, Nancy couldn’t really take the chance of Bug losing emotional control. But then again, she did deserve to know the truth. “I really don’t know,” Nancy finally said, hoping that Galen would accept that answer.

-----

“That movie was AWESOME!” I jumped up and down as we walked out the theater and into the lobby, overwhelmingly happy that I got to see my first movie.

“Woah, Bug. I didn’t imagine you would like the Phantom Knight so much,” Lacey said.

“Well, I wasn’t sure, but now... I loved how the knight had to start a journey of self-discovery in order to save a woman that no one else cared for. She was a slave, but he sought to find her.”

“How about that, Cara, Bug is a sucker for the love movies…” she practically purred that to the friend she brought with her, Cara. All I really knew about Cara was that she really liked the color black and was a lot taller than either me or Lacey.

Cara shrugged, looking down at me. “The book was better, and the real story behind it was far better.” The way she said that to me gave me the impression that she didn’t like me too much. Oh, that’s right, I knew one more thing about her. She went to the same school as Greg and apparently witnessed my repelling of his attack. Since it had been three days since then, either her anger has grown, or she stopped giving a fuck. Strangely, though, she hadn’t spoken a word about it to Lacey while I was in earshot of them. Whether she told Lacey when they were alone, I didn’t know; Lacey never talked to me about it.

“You always say that,” Lacey pointed out.

“Yeah, because I literally see it happen with my ability, or did you forget that, Lacey?” Cara nudged her friend.

“Nope,” Lacey nudged her friend back.

Someone’s phone rang. “Ah, that must be my brother,” Cara said, grabbing her phone. She left us, heading into the bathroom to answer her phone, leaving only me and Lacey alone in the theater.

We both sat there for a bit, not really saying anything, at least until Lacey took an empty water bottle and threw it at me. It bounced off, not actually making contact with me. It seemed that my ability worked on fast moving objects and slow moving objects, “So, it's true,” she deduced, “You really are a level 4?”

Okay, so maybe Cara did tell Lacey about what happened, “Uh… I think so. The old lady wasn’t too clear about it.”

“Clear? What is there to be clear about? You are either a level 4 or not.”

“Well, Lacey, I’m… not sure, Lacey. The old lady, she outright told me that I’m a level 4, and maybe it makes sense to you and her, and everybody else, but to me, it just seems off. Like something is not right, and maybe that’s just part of being a level 4, but something feels to me like that isn’t right.”

Lacey seemed puzzled. “That reflection ability is limited to level 4s only. So, if you think you aren’t a level 4, then what do you think you are?” In response, I simply shrugged. “Unbelievable,” she ranted. “You have one of the most powerful abilities on this planet and your first thought about that is that something is wrong and you may not be a level 4?”

“Basically.” I had given a lot of thought to it. No matter how much I tried to accept that I was a level 4, something that was a part of me seemed to tell me that it wasn’t quite right. “Lacey, I really don’t know what is going on with me. However, there is one thing that still confuses me.”

“Oh?” She seemed to calm down as quickly as she started up

“Well, if I’m really a level 4, then why, despite all those tests that the doctors did on me, did they never realize that? Surely they would have found something that screamed, ‘hey, this amnesiac girl is a level 4, how about that!’, but they didn’t. Of course, the old lady did say that they didn’t know anything about my abilities.”

Lacey smirked, “Wow, you really don’t know that much about this. Well, you see Bug, the testing and classification takes a while. It's not an exact science and it can’t be confirmed in just a few days, but rather, a few weeks, or even months. Usually though, the testing is done when you’re very young.”

“And have they ever gotten it wrong?” I asked, curious as to whether it could be possible that they were wrong about me.

“Once. Only once did they get wrong,” Lacey admitted uneasily.

“Who?” I inquired.

Lacey hesitated, her face tense, like she was recalling painful memories. “My brother, Jared,” she finally said, “They performed the tests, like they always do, and declared after a year that Jared had no abilities. Except, a few years before he was killed, the abilities that they said he didn’t have emerged and caused a bit of trouble. Well, at least that’s what everybody says. I don’t really remember that because…” Lacey started to sob, recalling the painful memories.

I realized that I caused Lacey to recall a time that she didn’t want to recall, “Its okay, Lacey. Don’t worry about it.”

“What’s going on?” Cara asked, joining us back in the lobby after having finished her phone call.

Lacey wiped her tears away and shrugged. “Nothing. Now, what did your brother want?”

“Oh, well, actually, it wasn’t my brother, it was Paige. She asked if you and I want to come over for some Christmas party at her house,” Cara informed us. But something sounded wrong. Her tone sounded devious.

Lacey didn’t seem to notice. She thought about it for a second, and then smiled, “A party? Okay, but, what about Bug?”

Cara grinned, “Oh, she can come along. The party is almost over anyways, so we won’t there for long.”

“Great, let's get going… where are we going?”

Cara frowned at her. “Come on, Lacey. Paige’s house, out on Mosby Road.”

“Ah, right.” Lacey grinned. I couldn’t help but giggle at Lacey’s poor attempt to cover up her embassament. Cara laughed it off, but took a moment to glare at me. Something wasn’t right.

Later, on the car ride, I sat by myself in the back, while Cara and Lacey talked about things. From what I could hear, Cara was a senior and was set to graduate in the spring, so they spent most of the time talking about going somewhere to celebrate. However, Cara, who wasn’t the driver, took time to look back at me. Her face become friendlier, but her eyes, they showed something else.

What was she hiding? Lacey didn’t seem worried about anything, so was it just me? Maybe, but I couldn’t help but feel that Cara had some other plan. Or maybe I was just worked up about everything. The Level 4, my resemblance to the Japanese, and most importantly, the Dark Place. Nearly four days since that ‘dream’ and I still had no idea what it was. I still hadn’t brought it up to either the old lady or Lacey either. What could they do? Nothing.

“We’re here,” Lacey suddenly said, parking her car. I looked out the window at the house that the party was at. Nothing seemed out of place, other than the couple of cars parked outside the house.

“Great, time to party,” Cara yelled in excitement, practically skipping out of the car.

“Um, Lacey, isn’t this supposed to be a ‘Christmas’ party?” I asked Lacey as we got out the car to follow Cara. To me, the term ‘Christmas party’ didn’t sound like something you would get overly excited about.

But Lacey clearly understood what I was implying, “She’s always like this. It doesn’t really matter what party we go to, she always get excited.”

“Oh… your friend is weird.” I left out the part about the strange feeling.

Lacey nudged me. “You’re weirder,” she said jokingly.

“Hey, you two, let’s go,” Cara called out to us, already at the door. She impatiently waited until we caught up to her, before we all three entered the house and were met by… a raging party. Holy shit, this wasn’t no Christmas party. Sure, I didn’t know what a Christmas party really was, nor did I actually fully understand what Christmas was, but I knew that this party wasn’t Christmas themed. It was way too wild.

“Cara, what the hell is this?” Lacey demanded.

Cara smirked, her face wild, as she grabbed a cup, “It's a Christmas party.”

But Lacey wasn’t having any of that. I watched as anger and what looked like betrayal came over her face. “The fuck it is. You know very well she can’t be here!” she screamed at Cara, pointing at me.

Cara didn’t seem to care. “Why not? Come on, let her have some fun.”

“Here? Fuck no.” Lacey and Cara started arguing about me and I found it rather nice that Lacey was trying to stand by me, even though I was unsure why I shouldn’t be here. But then I started looking around at the people who had turned their attention on us and I immediately knew something was wrong. There were a few kids here that were in Greg’s gym class, and it didn’t take me long to spot the kid who tried to hit me with a bat, hiding in a corner, watching us.

Wait a minute, they watched me reflect an attack by Greg. Sybil said that Greg was the leader of a gang. But what was that gang called… “The Destructors,” I whispered, careful not to let anybody hear me. Sybil said that they would stop at nothing for revenge. I looked around at the various kids in the room, the emotions that I could read from them, and the mixed feelings I got from Cara. “No…” I whispered again, coming to a conclusion. I wasn’t certain of it, but it seemed likely. “Lacey,” I called for her attention. She stopped arguing with Cara and looked at me, “Did you read her mind?” I asked calmly.

Lacey didn’t even bother to look back at Cara. “No. I can’t read Cara’s mind.”

Cara flashed a grin, “Lacey may be a level 3, but she’s too weak to break through my sheer willpower.” Lacey’s shoulders sagged a bit. “No matter, enough of this bullshit, let’s party.”

“No.” I affirmed. Cara intensely glared at me, as did the other kids here. They might have begun to figure out that I was pretty sure about their plan. Right now, the best option was for us to leave immediately, but if I was right, we wouldn’t be allowed to leave. “She may not be powerful enough…” I knew what I had to do, “but I AM!” Immediately, I jumped on her, knocking us both to the ground. Cara seemed stunned, giving me the time to do it. I pressed both my hands on her forehead, closed my eyes, and focused every ounce of my will into reading her mind.

Immediately, my mind was flooded with memories of Cara and I saw it. Her conversations with Greg the day the attack happened. I saw her phone conversation, with Paige, them talking about the final details on tonight, getting some crystal ready. By the time Lacey yanked me off of Cara, I had my answer. Cara was part of the Destructors and this party was a trap for me.

“Bug, what the fuck did YOU DO?!?!” Lacey screamed at me.

But I ignored her question. “Lacey, run!”

Taken back by that, “Why?”

“They are the Destructors! Now RUN!” I screamed at her. Lacey was my friend, my first friend since I woke up. She helped me, now I needed to protect her. “RUN, LACEY!”

But she didn’t run. Rather, she stumbled, as if she had become extremely dizzy, before falling to the ground. “Oh, no,” she said before she puked.

“What the…” was all I could say when a girl that I recognized walked out from another room, armed with a gun. It was the girl that always hung out with Greg at the school.

“You are right, Claire, we are the Destructors. My name is Kelsey, and I’m the second in command.” In a matter of moments, all the other kids in the room seemed to have gathered weapons. “Did you really think we would let you get away with injuring Greg?” She started laughing, with Cara joining her. Now I understood one thing, Cara and Greg’s girlfriend were sisters. Another student, the guy that hung out with Greg emerged from the room, pulling a wagon that had a large rock strapped to it. “Now, with this crystal, you will be unable to use those powers of yours, leaving you at the mercy of our leader.”

Leader? Oh no! I heard someone walk through the front door. Turning my head, I saw the bandaged and bruised face of Greg. “Hello, Bug,” he snarled at me.