“Can I help you, young lady? School didn’t start yet so why are you here?” The office lady asks me. She doesn’t even look up. She’s busy typing like crazy on the computer.

I clear my throat and say, “I’m new here. This is my first day.” Now she stops what she was doing and looks up at me.

“Oh, well what’s your name honey?” she inquires. Now she’s being all nice. Probably only because I’m the new kid.

“I’m Alexandra Davids.” I reply. Now she goes back to her computer and searches for my name then I hear a faint ‘aha!’ and she prints something. When she gets two papers she gets up, comes over to me, and sticks out her hand for me to shake. While we shake hands she introduces herself, “I’m Mrs. Sullivan, nice to meet you Alexandra. This is your schedule and a map of the campus. There are three buildings. Building A is for English, Math, Social Studies, Science, and it’s where we hold the after school programs. Building B is where the Gym, Art, Music classes are and there is a pool at the end of the building. Building C is where the cafeteria and library is. You can also go there if you need extra help and there are people to tutor you.”

Okay. I’m surprised. I did not expect this high school to have a campus with three buildings. It has art which a class I never had and they even have music! They also have a SWIMMING POOL of their own! I love to swim. How come my mom didn’t tell me any of this? But to act normal and not freak the lady out I take my schedule and map from her smile and say, “Please call me Alex. And about the swimming pool, is there like a class for that?”

Mrs. Sullivan laughs, “No you can just go for a swim whenever you want. Like during your free period or lunch time or even afterschool. You bring your own swimsuit and keep it in your locker until you want to swim. Now let me show you where your locker is then to your first period class.”

“Okay” I mumble. As I follow her I think about how much I could swim now. I check my schedule and see that she’s right. 9th period is my free period. Maybe this isn’t going to be so bad like I thought.
___________________________________

Opening the door, Mrs. Sullivan clears her throat and introduces me, “Sorry to interrupt your lesson, Mr. Smith, this a new student. Her name is Alexandra Davids. She came to school early but it’s my fault that she’s late to class.”

“It’s ok. We are actually starting a new unit today so Alexandra came right on time. Welcome to Fairview Academy.” Mr.Smith says with a big smile on his face.

“Thank you Mr. Smith. And could you please call me Alex?” I can feel the whole class staring at me.

“Okay Alex, you can sit in that empty seat next to the window. Damen raise your hand please! See? He will help you get settled in and help you catch up.” Mr.Smith assures me. So I decide to go over to my seat but when I finally face the class, I could see that they are trying to hide their smiles. When I get to my seat Damen smiles a friendly at me. So I smile back. At least this is a start.

“Hey, where are you from?” Damen whispers since Mr.Smith already started talking again. He probably assumed that Damen’s catching me up not asking me questions completely unrelated to the topic.

“New York. But I’m liking Oklahoma very much so far.” I whisper back. I thought that I should comment his home to make a good impression.

“Do you really? Like Oklahoma I mean?” he asks skeptically. Well crap, I got caught. So instead of answering I shrug my shoulders and take out a brand new notebook. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him smiling at me.

I look at him and ask, “What exactly is this new unit we are starting today?”

“Writing essays.” he replies. Then he focuses his attention on Mr.Smith. So I do too.

I open my notebook and take down some useless notes to make it look like I’m paying attention. But instead, I’m thinking about Damen. How could he have such black hair with bright green eyes? I’ve never seen anyone like that. I glance a peek at him again. He has straight hair that looks so soft that I want to touch it. It isn’t long; it’s up to the bottom of his neck. He looks at me and catches me staring at him. Quickly I look back at Mr.Smith. Then when Damen’s attention shifts back to Mr.Smith I take in the classroom. I look at the students, how they are dressed and how the boys looks. They all look pretty normal to me. Damen was the only one who’s different.

“...Alexandra?” Mr.Smith asks. I focus my attention back on him. Then I realize he asked me a question. The whole class is staring at me with smug little smiles playing at their lips. Everyone but Damen. His lips are pursed. Like I messed up big time.

I clear my throat, “Excuse me? Can you repeat the question please?” I could feel my face getting red all over.

Mr.Smith glares at me until I get uncomfortable and squirm in my chair, “I asked you that if you learned a different method on how to write a good essay in your old school?”

“No not really.” He gives me one short nod and goes back to teaching and I go back to zoning out. Trust me I never learn my lesson the first time. It’s always the second time. A couple minutes later the period’s over.

As I put away my book, Damen comes up to me and says, “You should pay attention. Especially in this class. Just a word of advice.”

I look up at him. He must be 5’8 at least. Good thing I’m 5’5 so that way he isn’t that tall for me. “Okay thanks.” I give him a short smile then go back to my bookbag.

I hear him clear his throat. So I look back at him. “What?”

“Can I see your schedule?” And when he sees the weird look on my face he adds, “Please?”

I shrug and give him my schedule. Then I put my bag around my shoulders and suggest, “How about we walk and talk?” He nods his head but was still observing my schedule. So he’s cute but weird, cool. I walk to the door and out to the hallway with him following me. Then when we get far enough from Mr.Smith’s class I stop and he bumps into me then swears. I try to hold back a smile while I mumble a ‘sorry’.

Then he gives me my schedule back and says, “Follow me.”

I roll my eyes and say, “I can’t I have to go to math right now.”

He laughs then puts his hand on my shoulder and looks at me right in my eyes, “Yeah, that’s the thing. You have the exact same schedule as me. First english, then math, then art, then lunch, then social studies, then science, then music, then gym and finally free period.”

“Oh.” Is all I could say. Yeah I know it’s brilliant. So I just follow him. Then a question pops up into my head, “What do you usually do during free period?”

“I usually go for a swim. Why?”

“Nothing, that’s actually what I was planning to do.” Yes! I’ll get to see him in a swimsuit! How awesome is that?

“You can swim?”

“Yeah, you make it sound that New Yorkers are known for their lack of swimming which isn’t true.”

“Sorry Alexandra--

“Alex.”

“Right. Sorry.” Then he points at a class at our class. We walk up to it and enter. Then I find a seat next to Damen, again.

“So what do you think of think of this school so far?” Damen asks as he bites into his sandwich.

“It’s pretty good actually. And It’s good too that most people here dress like I do.” Then when I realize what I said I curse myself inside my head.

“Um, Alex no offense--

“Yeah, yeah I know. I’m wearing a daisy dress but that’s only because my mom forced me to. She also tried to convince me to let people call me Alexandra not Alex. But that’s not how I like it. Starting tomorrow I’m going to dress the way I want.”

“Oh, okay.”

I stand up and look around the cafeteria. Then I ask him, “Where’s the bathroom?”

He points to a door that I would never have guessed as a bathroom, but whatever. He knows better than me. So I tell him that I’ll be right back, then go to the bathroom.

When I enter the bathroom I see three girls standing next to each other and whispering. When they see me, they stop and just stare at me. Then one of the girls walks up to me with the other two behind her.

“Do you know who I am?” she puts her hands on her hips and taps her foot, waiting for an answer. Her friends behind her say ‘ya!’. I just shake my head no.

“I’m Mary Lue. These are Jessica and Brianna. Got it?” Mary’s a blonde, Jessica is a dirty blonde, and Brianna is a brunette.

“Okay.” I decide that I should use the bathroom later. I try to leave but Mary slaps me. I glare at her and ask, “What do you want from me?”

“Nothing. You know my dad would pick a fight with me if I wore something that low on me.”

“I don’t like either okay? I hate dresses.” I’m getting annoyed at her. What’s her problem?

“Then why wear it? You must have a loser dad if he doesn’t notice how you dress.” Now I push her and she falls on her friends and her friends fall to the ground. I could feel my eyes getting teary. But no way am I going to cry in front of these girls.

“My mom made me wear it. And don’t you dare talk about my father like that ever again or you will regret it.” Then I storm out the door.

When I get back to Damen and settle down, I still feel like crying. Bringing up my dad that way wasn’t right. And I’m too much of a baby to do anything about it.

Apparently, Damen senses my bad mood because asks, “What’s wrong?” When I look at him, he is staring at my intently.

I shake my head, “Nothing.” But of course my voice cracks.

“You took almost no time at all in the bathroom.”

“And?”

“Something happened.” he says it as if he already knows what happened in the bathroom. But that’s impossible.

“Nothing happened, Damen.”

“What happened in there, Alex?” He looks at me knowingly. “Your right cheek is pretty red too.”

I look back at where the girls are sitting and they stare right back at me. Then my mind goes back to the scene in the bathroom. “Alex?” Damen asks again.

I bite my lip trying hard not to cry and shake my head. Then I look at the table, observing my half eaten sandwich in my plate. I was looking everywhere but Damen. Then he sighs loudly. I look up at him, “Damen?”

“They bothered you didn’t they? Mary hit you and her stupid friends just laughed. Then they made fun of you.” It’s like he read my mind or something. He must have because he was right about everything he just said.

“H-How’d you know?” Sure I’m upset that he found out but I’m also curious.

“They do that with every new kid. Mostly girls. It’s like a routine or something.”

“Oh.”

“Are you okay?” He asks gently. I just shrug my shoulders. No I am not okay, not that I am going to tell him but I am not going to lie to him either. So sticking with a shrug is best.

“I get the feeling they upset you more than they usually do to other girls.”

“Really?”

“You looked like you were on the verge of crying when you left the bathroom. What did they say to you?”

“They just mentioned my clothes and stuff.” Then he stands up and I swear there was a purple light surrounding him for a second but then it was gone.

“What are you doing?”

“I hate it when kids like them mess with people when no one did anything to them. I’m going to talk to them.”

“No please don’t! It’s okay really.”

“But--

“Don’t make me beg you.”

He sighs and mumbles something about men never being able to win against women in an argument, “Fine. But if they bother you again, tell me and I’m going to have a talk with them.”

I nod then the period ends. Thank god.

“Alexandra?” Someone calls me. I turn around and see that it is Mrs. Sullivan.

“Please call me Alex.” Is it really that hard to remember? Jeez.

“Oh right. Sorry. Can you do me a favor? I’m behind schedule and I need to do something else. I’ll give you a pass for your class.”

“Yeah sure. What can I do?” She motions me to follow her to the back of the office. She opens a door that said ‘Staff Only’. It leads to a whole bunch of stairs leading downstairs and the bottom was dark. I look at her questioningly and she says, “This is where we keep our student files. They are organized by last names. The problem is that there is a stack that needs to be put away. I’ll show the system then leave you to it. Can I trust you with this?”

“Oh yeah sure. No problem.” Damen never talks about his family or his background. Maybe I can find out a little about him. Just to see what kind of person he is. Mrs. Sullivan smiles and leads me downstairs. I get the full view of the basement when she turns o the light. It is BIG. Then I see the stack I have to work on. I sigh and go over to it.

I get to work after Mrs. Sullivan shows me the system and I finish in no time. Then I set out to look for Damen’s file. His full name is Damen Clark. So I go to the C section and look for his name. When I get to his file, I find it was unusually thin. When I open it there is only one page in it. It has a picture of him and it says his name, date of birth, gender, and age. That’s it. The rest is unknown. Seriously:

Parents: UNKNOWN

Address: UNKNOWN
State of Origin: UNKNOWN
Nationality: UNKNOWN
ID: UNKNOWN
Phone Number: UNKNOWN
Parent Income: UNKNOWN
Blood Type: UNKNOWN
Allergies: UNKNOWN
Email: UNKNOWN
Disabilities: UNKNOWN
etc.

“What the hell?” I whisper. Ok excuse my use of improper language but you would say the same thing if you saw his file. They have nothing on him. Just the stuff you could get from his appearance. How did he get into the school then? If he doesn’t he have parents wouldn’t that make him an orphan? But wouldn’t the address say the name of the orphanage? This doesn’t make any sense. According to the bottom of his file he bribed his way into the school. He paid $10,000 to get into this school! If he didn’t have any parents, how did he have that kind of money? And why did he want to get into this school so badly? I then hear someone coming down the stairs so I put Damen’s file back in the cabinet and go to where I’m supposed to be and pretend to have just finished putting the files away.

“Everything okay down here Alex?” Mrs. Sullivan asks. I still can’t see her face but I know she is near so I clear my throat so she she could get a sense of where I am.

“Yeah I finished putting away the files then I checked some others to make sure they are all where they are supposed to be.”

“Ok great. You missed first period but I let Mr.Smith know that you were helping me so you don’t get in trouble. And I wrote you a note for second period so off you go now.”

She hands me the note as I pass by her on the way upstairs. When she is out of sight I run all the way to math. When I get there, I take a deep breath and go inside the classroom and hand Ms.Sofi my note. Then I make my way to my seat and sit down next to Damen. I sit next to him in every class, which is something that I now might regret.

Damen passes me a note that says, Hey you ok? I look over at him. He looks so normal. Not like a person who doesn’t have any parents; in fact he looks rich. With the way he dresses and just his appearance in general. I sigh and reply to his question, Ya I’m fine. I make sure Ms.Sofi wasn’t looking and passed the note back to him. I try to pay attention to the lesson Ms.Sofi was giving but Damen gives me the paper back, What happened to you last period? I sigh, again, guess he doesn’t know then. I was helping Ms. Sullivan with the files downstairs in the office. I give him the note back and after he reads it he looks at me and makes an 'oh' face. I nod at him then go back to 'paying attention' to the lesson. Instead I think about what I found out about Damen. Or maybe what I didn't find out. I know one thing for sure; if I had that kind of money and no parents I'd be donating it to charity and spending it on my self. Not bribing my way into school.

Then I feel Damen's stare on me. I look over and he quickly turns his head to face Ms. Sofi. I sigh inwardly. He is so weird, good looking, and mysterious all at the same time. And since he's my only friend and the only kid who has been nice to me since I got here I'd have to
deal with it. This time when I look at Ms. Sofi I pay attention for real. And guess what? I actually learn something by the end of the class. That’s a big surprise because usually it’s next to impossible for me to learn something. And considering the fact that half the time I wasn’t paying attention makes it a miracle.

I’m feeling proud of myself by the end of class, so I totally forget about the Damen issue and approach him like everything was okay.

“Hey Damen.”

“Hi Alex.” He studies me carefully which brings me back to reality. I remember what I found out about him then take a step back. But of course he notices that and of course he takes that as an offense. And I immediately feel bad.

“What? What is it?” he asks in a hurt voice.

“N-Nothing come on lets get to class.” I walk toward third period class and he walks beside me. He keeps looking at me. Like he is worried that I found out a secret or something.

“Why do you seem nervous?” He asks.

“If anything you’re the one who’s nervous. You keep looking at me with this anxious look on your face. So you tell me. What’s wrong Damen?”

“Nothing is wrong. It’s just you kind of seem uncomfortable around me. Like you don’t to get too close or something. I don’t get it.”

“Oh no don’t worry about that. It has nothing to do with you. I promise.”

“Are you sure about that?” Then I look at him and think how I like him and don’t want to lose him as a friend. I know that I’ve only known him for like a day but still. Despite everything else, he was so far a good friend. So I nod and smile to reassure him that it’s me not him. Which was partly true since I like him and don’t want to get too close to him and end up doing something stupid. And guess what, to make him feel even better I link my arm with his and drag him to art class.

So after art things kind of got back to normal between Damen and I. Every now and then Damen would stare at me with lots of focus which would make my brain hurt. The freaky part is every time he got what he needed from looking at me like that, the intense look in his eye would go away, he would go back to normal, and my brain would stop hurting right away. Then he would guess or say something that I was thinking.

It’s starting to creep me out. It’s like he’s a mind reader. I know I sound like a paranoid person right now but it’s true. It’s like one minute I’m thinking something and next thing I know he’s guesses it. God, I need medical attention.

“What are thinking about Alex?” Damen snaps me out of my reverie. I shake my head mentally and answer.

“Nothing…”


“About how I almost always guess what you’re thinking?” Oh my god! See what I mean? He’s dead on!

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?” He gives me an innocent look but I’m not buying it. It has to be some sort of trick.

“Read my mind!”

He shrugs his shoulders, “Must be a sixth sense or something.”

I roll my eyes, “If you don’t want to tell me fine no problem but you don’t have to lie.” _____________________________________________________________________


My mom pulls up by the corner. Just as I am about to go to her Mary, Jessica, and Brianna show up in front of me and block my way to mom.

“What? Can’t wait to get home?” Mary asks with a nasty smirk on her face. I don’t answer her so Jessica says, “Hey! Mary is talking to you! Show some respect! Flower girl.”

“Can you get out of my way please? My mom is waiting for me.”

Mary rolls her eyes and -totally ignoring me- says, “You know last time when we had our little talk, when I brought up your skank father you got upset. I wonder why.” Then she comes closer to me and whispers in my ear, “My mom is good friends with Mrs.Sullivan. She found out that your father is dead. I’m the only one who knows. Jessica and Brianna don’t know. Yet. If you give me problems the whole school will know. Got it?” I feel my eyes widen and start to tear up. Mary moves back to her friends and her smirk turns into a smile as she sees me cry. I wipe my tears and push past them and run to my mom’s car. I could hear them laughing behind me. I get into the car but instead of sitting in the passenger seat, I sit in the back seat.

“Hey Alexandra. How was school?” Okay. Good so she doesn’t notice anything about me.

“Normal.” Well crap. Maybe I don’t look like I am about to cry but my voice tells another story.

“Honey, what’s wrong? And why aren’t you sitting next me? Why in the back?” She turns around to face me.

I don’t want to look at her just yet so I look at my lap and ask in a low voice, “Can we just go home please?” Mom sighs and turns around to face the wheel.

Then I rest my head on the window and watch the city pass by us as we drive. Just then I get a text message. It’s from Damen, Hey I saw the MJB’s talking to you. Are you okay? What? How did he see that? He was no where near us. Yeah I’m fine. How did you see that? I didn’t see you. He replies instantly, I had after school today. I saw the whole thing from the window. Alex, I’m worried about you. You ran pretty fast away from them. What happened? I sigh. Damen is very sweet. He cares about me but sometimes I wish he doesn’t. I don’t want to make him feel like I don’t trust him but I just can’t tell him. But I text him something that I know I’m going regret the next day, Can we talk about this tomorrow during lunch? I don’t know why I bother asking him. I know his answer was going to be Okay. And sure enough it was, Okay. See you tomorrow. I

sigh. I don’t want tomorrow to come. But it’s going to and I’d have to tell Damen about my dad. Well he was going to find out eventually. It was going to come up in one of our conversations and I’d be forced to tell him.

“Are you going to tell me or not? No actually the question should be are you going to tell me this year or next year?” Damen asks for the fifth time. I look at him warily and ask, “Is there a more private place we could go to talk?”

Damen nods, gets up and says, “Come on.”



He takes me to this place on campus but no one was around it. “This place is kind of my get away place. Like when I need to be alone. No one knows about it. But now you do.” He looks at me shyly and adds, “We could share it you know. That is if you want.”

“Really? That is so cool. You sure you don’t mind? I mean this kind of your private place and all.”

“Yeah really no problem. Lately I’ve been coming here trying to think of a name for it. God, I’m a year and a half late.”

“Um, how about... The Cavern?” Damen just stares at me stunned. I get nervous so I ask, “What?”

“Alex. That’s perfect! It took you a couple of seconds to think of that and I’ve been thinking for months!”

“Oh.” Then I look back at The Cavern. It is a small cave. Very small. Just big enough for two teenagers. It’s behind a bunch of bushes. That’s probably why no one knows about it. It’s hidden. I know I’ll probably sound crazy but this place is beautiful. The small cave is surrounded by a couple rose bushes and there are vines growing on the cave from the outside. A little further back there is a fence which prevents us from going any further than that point. Beyond the fence was a little creek. The sunset was probably beautiful here. Then Damen clears his throat and I realize I’m just standing there like an idiot.

“Oh sorry.”

“It’s okay. Come on follow me.” Then he goes inside the cave and I go in after him. Inside the cave, it is empty. Except for a mat on the floor. Damen goes over to the mat and sits down. Then he pats the floor beside him inviting me to sit beside him. I smile and go over to him.

“So shoot. What happened.” I’d planned to tell him a lie but after showing me this place, trusting me to keep it a secret and allowing me to come here whenever I want, I feel bad. He certainly deserves the truth.

I look him right in the eyes and say, “I’m going to tell you everything but you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

“I promise.”
I look at my lap and take a deep breath and go into my story, “There is a reason I moved here. It’s because my mom saw that this school is good and it’s easy to fit into this neighborhood. We moved because…because my d-dad died. Recently.” I stutter at the ending. I could feel the tears building in my eyes. Even though I hate crying, this time I don’t try to stop them. “He um, died because he had a car accident. Someone had a grudge against my dad for some reason and tampered with his brakes. We were in the country for the weekend. We would go there every now and then because their groceries sold really good food for cheap prices. So me and my mom went shopping there and when we finished we called my dad to come pick us up. In the country he drives faster than he does in the city because the roads are wide and there are barely any cars. So he was driving kind of fast and when got to us he pressed on the brakes but the car wasn’t stopping so that’s when he started yelling for help. He was saying something was wrong with the brakes. I kept yelling dad and my mom kept yelling Henry. Then he lost control of the car, he zoomed past us and crashed into the fence at the end of the road. The car was tipped and was about to fall. From afar it looked like he hit his head and was passed out. So I told my mom that we should go to him now. Just when we took a step forward, that’s when the car tipped over and fell into the lake. He fell about 20 feet into the water…” I’m crying hard by now. I wipe my tears with the sleeve of my sweater. And I am sniffing a lot. So Damen takes out a tissue from his pocket and hands it to me. I mumble a ‘thank you’ to him and blow my nose. Then I continue my story, “I was shocked when I saw that. I yelled ‘No!” and dropped my bags and ran to the broken fence. I could hear my mom screaming after me. She kept telling me to stop. But I ignored her. I was thinking that since I could swim and my mom couldn’t maybe I could save dad. So when I got to the end of the road, I jumped. The water was very cold but all I could think about was getting my dad. I could see the car but it was sinking very fast. So I swam over to where it was but by the time I got there the whole car was completely under water. So I took a deep breath and went under water. The car was sinking pretty fast and that was a big lake. So I swam over and I finally made to the car. I went over to the driver’s seat and I could see that my dad was in fact passed out. He was breathing in water. I tried opening the door but it was jammed. So I kicked the window and went in through there. I tried pulling him out but then I realized he still had the seatbelt on. I tried to take the seat belt off but it was also stuck. Then I panicked. I started yanking on the belt but it wouldn’t budge. I was running out of breath so I calmed myself down and thought. Then I remembered that dad kept a pocket knife in the compartment. So I swam passed my dad and opened the compartment and got the knife out. Then I faced my dad and ripped the seat belt so that he was free. Then I swam out the window and grabbed him and pulled him out of the car. He was heavy and I was out of breath so I swam as fast as I could to the surface. When I made it I took lots of deep breaths. I made sure my dad’s head was out of the water too. I could hear my mom screaming for me so I turned around and saw her up on the cliff waving her arms like crazy. There were uniformed men with her. Since I couldn’t go back up there I swam to shore making sure that dad’s head was above the water the whole time. When I
made it to shore I climbed out and quickly pulled dad out of the water. Then I felt his pulse and there wasn’t one. So I tried giving him cpr. But like only to get all the water out of his lungs. When I did I felt his pulse again and there still was no heartbeat. So I started shaking him. Telling him to wake up. At that moment I realized that he was dead. I failed at saving my own father. Then I felt the coldness of the water catching up with me. I was really tired, cold, and I was crying so much. Just when I saw the paramedics running to where I was, I passed out on my dad’s chest. The next day in the hospital the cops told me I was a brave girl and then they left. When I asked my mom, she confirmed that my dad was dead.”

“Wow. Alex, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“Of course you didn’t know. How could you?”

“Is this why you mostly dress in black?”

“No. I always dressed like this. It isn’t because of the accident.”

“Are you okay?”

“No.” What is the point of lying anyway. I am bawling my eyes out right in front of him. So he puts his arm around my shoulders allowing me to lean against him. I do and it feels so reassuring that he is still going to be my friend. Maybe I shouldn’t have doubted him.

“But what does all that have to do with the MJB’s?”

I sigh, “Remember how on my first day here after I got out of the bathroom you said I looked like I was about to cry?”

“Yeah?”

“Well it’s because Mary was making fun of my dress and then she started calling my dad names. And yesterday she whispered in my ear that she found out about my dad. She threatened me. Said that if I gave her problems, the whole school would know.” I feel him tense beside me. I look up at him and his face is expressionless. He clenches and unclenches his jaw. When he realizes that I’m staring at him, he says, “I hate this. It’s so unfair. You just got here and they’re already threatening you. And that’s the last thing you need. At the end of the end today I’m going to tell them to stop bothering you and--

“No! please. If you tell them that they’ll know I told you and by tomorrow everyone will know about my dad.”

“But it’s not right.”

“I know. But please don’t do anything.”

“Only on one condition. Every time they bother you or upset you, you have to tell me.”

“Deal.” Then I realize that I feel so much better after telling him about my dad. Since I am leaning on him, to hug him means hugging his stomach. But whatever. I hug him and say, “Thanks Damen.” I say in a quiet voice.

“For what?”

“For everything. But especially for pushing me to tell you what’s wrong with me. Now I feel so much better to get it off my chest. To have someone else know. And thanks for still being my friend.”

“Still being your friend? Of course I’m still your friend. What do you mean?”

“In my old school, this kid lost his mom because she had cancer. He had lots of friends but when they found out about that they left him for some reason. Then he was friendless. I felt bad for him. Anyway I thought--

“That I would leave you friendless too? That’s why you wouldn’t tell me?”

“Yeah…”

“Alex, I would never do that. I don’t even-Oh crap we gotta go! Lunch just ended! We’re gonna be late to Mr.K’s class.”

I untangle myself from him and get up. Then he gets up and runs out of the small cave and I run after him. As we run back to Building A, I can’t help but laugh. I don’t know what’s funny. Maybe it’s because we are running late, and we are running and everybody is looking at us weirdly. Pretty soon Damen joins in on the laughing too. I look back at The Cavern. Our secret getaway place. From here it just looks like shrubs but I know better. Then look forward to see where I was going. Me and Damen are still laughing as we enter the building and make our way to Social Studies.

The rest of the month passed by super fast. Nothing major happened. Whenever Mary, Jessica, and Brianna would bother me, me and Damen would go to The Cavern and talk about it. We would also talk about other things too. Like how we felt about certain subjects. I totally forgot all about the whole Damen has no parents issue. That is until today. Damen keeps looking at me weirdly and I was starting to get uncomfortable by lunch time.

“What?”

“Nothing I was just wondering something…”

“What are you thinking about?”

“I was just wondering if you’ll come to my birthday party this Saturday.”

“Oh! Of course I’ll come! But just one problem.”

Looking worried he asks, “What?”

“I don’t know where you live. Can you give me your address?”

“Oh yes sure!” Looking relieved that, that is the only problem. Then he takes a piece of paper and writes down his address and hands it to me.

“Damen?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s wrong?”

He sighs, “I knew you noticed. Come on lets go to The Cavern.” I nod and we walk out of the cafeteria. As we make our way to The Cavern I think about what I just remembered. Well maybe now I could find out more about him. Where he lives, his type of lifestyle, how his parents are.


Well he has to have parents doesn’t he? I mean he’s inviting me to his birthday party. I shake my head. I can’t think about this right now. Something is upsetting Damen and I have to help him just like he helps me.

Once we get there, we sit down. Then I look at him and say, “Okay so what’s bothering you?”

“You know that you’re the first real friend I’ve ever had in my life.”

“Huh? Really? Howcome?”

“In elementary I had two friends but then I found out that they were using me so I left them. Then they told my secrets to everyone. In middle school I had no friends. And here I never made friends. Not until you came that is. So basically I never had a birthday party. That’s why I was nervous about asking you. I thought you would say no.”

“Oh. Have I been a good friend?”

“What? Are you kidding? You trusted me with your biggest secret! You haven’t used me yet--

“And I never will. So it’s just me and you at the party?”

“Yeah. Is that a problem?” Sounding worried again.

“No! I was just asking. Actually I’d rather it be us only. Because everyone else here hates me.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yeah it is. You know it and I know it. Anyway forget about me this your time.”

“But I have nothing else to say.”

“But are you okay?”

“Yeah sure I’m fine.” I give him a skeptical look.

“What? He practically whines.

“Are you really?” He just shrugs which tells me that he isn’t okay like he is claiming. “Come on lets get going. I don’t want to be late.” Once we stand up I realize that I should’ve at least comforted him. I mean after everything he’s done for me.

“Do you need a hug?” I ask gently.

“I would like one, yes.” So I go over and hug him. Hugging Damen is never awkward. Seriously, never. No matter how long we hug it never gets awkward. Even with my friends back at my old school, hugging them for longer than 20 seconds gets awkward. And they were girls. Yeah I know weird...

I knock on the door hoping I got the address right. I look back and saw my mom’s car still there. I told her to wait just in case this was the wrong place. She had wanted me to wear a dress but this time I put up a fight. See the problem is she thinks it’s a real party. With other people. Not just me. But I also didn’t want to wear black jeans, a white shirt and a gray sweater like I usually do. Don’t get me wrong I don’t wear the same things everyday. My clothes just range around those colors and I always wear jeans and a shirt. But today I decided to wear a little prettier but wasn’t to girly. I wore a plain black shirt that was short sleeved. It was kind of tight
but my mom said it was fine so I just shrugged it off. Then I wore the black mini skirt that I got

as a present once but never wore. There were little gold studs on the pockets. And finally I wore my black combat boots.

Finally Damen opens the door, “Hey!” He looks so happy. Then he runs his eyes over me, from head to toe and grins at me. I blush so I look back at my mom and wave goodbye. She waves back and drive away. When I turn back, Damen had moved to the side so I could enter.

When I do enter I gasp, “Wow! This place is amazing!” The second I step inside his beautiful house, I forget all about the parent issue.

Damen chuckles as he closes the door, “Yeah, I grew up here. I’ve never moved. And I don’t want to. This place has so much memories.”

“I bet...Hey where can I put this?” Then I lift his present.

“Oh! You didn’t have to get me a present you know.” He says as he takes it from me and goes over to the living room so he could put it on the table.

“Of course I did. Everyone deserves a present on their birthday.” I reply following him.

“Well, thank you.”

“Aren’t you going to open it?” I can’t wait until he does. He is going to love the watch and cologne I got him. The watch isn’t plastic or anything. It is real silver. Yeah I put money and effort for his present. So I really hope he likes it. Plus the cologne smells really good.

“Right now?”

“Yeah.” I go to sit on his couch because I don’t want to stand there like an idiot.

Damen takes the two small boxes out of the gift bag that were wrapped in pretty wrapping paper. Then he takes the one wrapped in light blue first. Once he unwraps it, he opens the box and gasps.

“Alex this watch is awesome! Thank you!” I could tell he really means it so I’m extremely relieved, because I was worried he might already have one like it. Considering he is rich and all. So I smile at him. Then he unwraps the second present and ‘oohs’ it. Then he takes the cap off and smells it. Then he smiles again.

“This smells really good.”

“I know.”

“Seriously Alex. Thanks for the presents. Their amazing!” Then he comes over to me and hugs me.

I laugh, “Happy birthday, Damen. I can’t believe you’re 16 already!”

"Yeah, me neither."

"So what are we going to do now?"

"Oh, come on let's go to the gameroom!" As we make our way to the game room I take in all the designs in the house. It is amazing. That's like the only way I could describe it. When we get to the game room, I gasp again.

"When you said 'game room' you actually meant it."


"Yup. This place is like an arcade for me. And if you get thirsty there's a mini fridge in the

back." Then he went over to a car racing game and said, "Wanna race?" I nod and go over to him. Then he starts the game and we raced. I could've easily won but since it’s his birthday I went easy on him. The whole thing takes like five minutes and when we finish he excuses himself to go to the bathroom.

So I go over to the mini fridge and open it. There are lots of water bottles but also there was purple liquid in some bottles. So I take a purple bottle, open it and smell it. It smells like nothing. It’s probably water with something in it. I take a sip it and it tastes good. It is bittersweet and I like that. So I keep drinking from the purple water, and I’m almost finished with it when Damen comes in and sees me drinking it. Then he freaks.

"No! You weren't supposed to drink that!"

"What? Why? What is it?" I ask as I finish up the drink. But almost immediately I feel dizzy. I drop the empty bottle to the ground and lean against the wall. Damen runs over to me, picks me up and brings me to the nearest couch.

"Damen? What's going on?"

"You weren't supposed to drink that." He repeats, looking scared out of his mind. "Are you feeling okay? Or are you feeling funny?"

I’m about to answer when a terrible pain passes through my stomach. I scream out in pain and clutch my stomach so hard. I hear Damen say something about how I'm going to be okay but his voice feels very faint and far away. Then the images become blurry and then all I see is pitch black darkness.

_____________________________________________________________________


“Alex! Alex? Can you hear me? Wake up Alex!” Damen’s voice is like an echo in my head. It’s like I could hear him but I’m not sure if it really is him or just my imagination. Either way his voice is waking me up. I stir a little, and that’s when I feel Damen’s hands on my shoulders. He is shaking me. He wants me to wake up so badly. Why? And why am I asleep in the first place? Then I open my eyes and my image was really blurry. But I hear Damen give a sigh of relief.

“Alex? Are you okay?” Okay maybe he isn’t that relieved. He still sounds panicked. I nod and he moves aside so I could sit up.

A searing pain shoots through my head, “Ow!” My hands go up on their own to grab my head. It’s like I have no control over my body at the moment.

“What is it?”

“My head hurts so bad.”

“Anything else?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Listen I’ll go get you an aspirin but don’t move.”


I nod which is a huge mistake. I feel myself wince at the pain. What had happened? I look

around the room. I’m still in the game room. But why did I fall asleep? Today is Damen’s birthday. We are supposed to be having fun. Not him treating my headache. Then he comes back with a pill in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He hands me the pill and I thank him then I drink the water.

“Damen? What happened?”

“You mean you don’t remember? Anything? At all?”

“I remember that today is your birthday and after you opened my presents we went to the game room. Which is where we are right now. We played the car racing game and then you went to use the bathroom. After that everything is mixed up in jumbles.”

“Okay do you feel strange?”

“Strange how?”

“Like does your body feel weird?”

“Kinda yeah. Why is that bad?”

“You could say that.” But I could tell that he isn’t telling me everything. He gets up like he is going to do something but I grab his hand and pull him back down next to me.

“Damen. Tell me what happened, I want to know everything. And I want to know the truth.”

“I can’t Alex. I wish I could but I can’t.”

“If you’re really my friend you’d tell me. If you really trust me you’d tell me.”

“Alex-

“Damen. What the hell are you worried about? Me getting scared or something? Well news flash I’m very hard to scare. I won’t tell anyone Damen. Just tell me what happened.” He sighs, and looked at me with those intense eyes of his. Then I think here we go again. He’s going to guess what I’m thinking. After a while of waiting, I get irritated, “Damen?”

“Okay,okay. Listen Alex I’ll explain everything to you. But…” Then all of a sudden he looks scared.

“Damen? What’s wrong?”

“Will you still be my friend?” He asks in a very low voice and looks away. Like he is ashamed. “Promise that after you find out everything you’ll still be my friend?”

So that’s when I realize how serious the situation is. He is afraid to confide in me, because it could cost our friendship.

“I promise. I’ll still be your friend. Besides, what kind of friends are we if we can’t stand by each other’s side and help each other out? Your old friends may have used you but I’ve never used anyone nor do I plan to.”

“Thanks.” Damen looks a little reassured but not completely. I don’t know what was going on but I am not going to abandon him. Then he stands up and says, “Come on. I have a feeling you’ll need real water later on. Let’s talk in the kitchen.” But before exiting the room he goes back to the mini fridge and grabs a purple bottle. Something nudges at the back of my mind. That purple liquid looks familiar. He sees me staring at it and sighs, “Don’t worry I’ll explain everything.”

“You know how I told you that in elementary school people used me and when I found out I left them?”

“Yeah.”

“Well I was also filled with hatred towards them. So I started a blog and wrote how I felt about everything. I also mentioned how I wanted revenge. I wanted to make everybody pay for what they did to me. I just a kid and wanted them to pay for what they did to me. So I kept on blogging. Then a famous guy named Anderson Robert commented on my blog. He said he could help me but only if I could keep a secret. After we talked a bit I invited him over here. That’s when he told me about black magic-

“What?!”

“Please let me continue. If I don’t get it out now, I never will.”

“Okay sorry.”

“It’s fine. Okay so that’s when he told me about black magic. He said it could solve all my problems. So I agreed and he taught me things. Once I learned the trick to it and all the do’s and don’ts, I payed him and thanked him and soon he was on his way. And I did get my revenge on those kids. I didn’t hurt them. I embarrassed them. A lot. But they never knew it was me. Everybody thought it was karma. After I had my fun, I felt bad. So I decided to use black magic for good only. But one night my parents stormed into my room demanding an explanation for my weird behavior and the weird objects all over my room. I freaked out and tried to use black magic on them to make them forget. But by accident I murdered my parents. I was in shock for the rest of the night and the next morning. When I realized what I did I used my black magic to make them disappear and then cried for days on end. When I finally got a hold of myself, I decided to fix everything. When ever my parents were needed, I used black magic to fool the grown ups. Once I finished elementary school I applied to middle school but since they needed information that only my parents knew I used black magic again and got in. I was careful not to make any friends. But some kids would get bullied so I would put my power to work for good only. To scare the bullies away. When I came to Fairview Academy I again didn’t make any friends. But when you came, you seemed...different. You weren’t like the others. That’s why I wanted to become friends with you so quickly. Before my chance was gone. I didn’t want you to find out. I just wanted a normal friendship with you. But I guess I couldn’t even get that.” He looks really sad. He looks like he just wants to give up on life.

I pat his shoulder reassuringly, “Hey, it’s ok. I don’t mind. Plus isn’t it better to have true friendship where you tell them anything?”

I saw his eyes widen in surprise. Then he looks at me in utter shock, “What?”
I smile gently at him, “You didn’t mean to kill your parents. You didn’t hurt those kids who used

you. Anyone else who had your power would’ve been greedy and hurt the people who hurt them. Instead you used your power for good.”

“But--

“No buts. I’m still your friend just like I promised. Besides didn’t I tell you that I’m hard person to scare?” I joke. I really want to lighten his mood.

His features instantly darkens. His eyes are full of pity and sorrow, “You might die.”

“What?!”

“You drank one of my potions. I’ve been experimenting on rats down in the basement. Trying to find something safe for a human’s body. The rats always died.”

“Then why’d you bring another bottle?”

“I thought maybe if you drank another dose maybe your body would accept it because it built immunity to it or something.” Instead of replying I think hard. What had I learned last year in science? Something about human DNA...That’s it!

“Damen! What blood type are you?”

“O. Why?”

“Oh my god. Perfect! I know a way to solve this problem!”

“Really?”

“Can I stab you?”

“What?” I can tell by the expression on his face that I look like I’m losing it. But actually I’m on top of my game.

“Or you could stab yourself. Your choice. I just need some of your blood.”

“What? Why?”

Then I give him a serious look, “Do you trust me?”

“Yeah but I don’t understand.”

“I just need a little of your blood.”

He sighs and goes to the knife drawer. He gets out a knife and cuts himself across the palm. He winces against the pain. As he does that, I unscrew the purple potion bottle and carry it over to him. Then I take his hand and tilt it sideways so the blood could drop into the potion. When I get enough of his blood, I tell him he could bandage it up. But all he does is wash it and throw a small hand towel over the cut.

I put the cap back on the bottle and shake it. So the blood could mix in with the potion. And that’s when Damen realizes my plan. His eyes widens. He shakes his head back and forth. I smile at him and then start to open the bottle.

“No! Alex! You can’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“It hasn’t been tested. I don’t know what could happen to you. What if you die?”

“Big deal. At least I tried.”

“You’re not scared of dying?” He asks suddenly confused.


I sigh and put down the bottle. Then I look at him straight in the eyes and answer honestly, “I’m not easily scared. There’s only one thing I am scared of. Death. But not for me. For the people I love. I already lost my dad. I’d rather lose my life then lose someone close to me.”

“I lost my parents too. And it was my fault.”

“No it wasn’t. You were trying to protect them from the truth. It was an accident.”

“It wasn’t your fault either. That you lost your dad.”

“Yes it was!” I could feel the tears coming but I continue anyway, “It took forever to convince my parents to take me to swimming classes. My main argument was that if I knew how to swim I could save others. And I did. I saved three little kids at the beach. But the one person I couldn’t save was my father. Do you know how that feels? That I could’ve saved him? That he could be here right now?”

“Alex. No matter what you say or did, it wasn’t your fault.” He says gently.

“I’m a failure. I don’t care if I die.”

“Alexandra. I lost two people I loved too. I don’t want to lose a third.”

I wipe away my tears, and take the bottle. Not noticing what he just said, I unscrew the bottle, “I’m not going to die. I promise.” Then before he could stop me I drink the whole drink in one big gulp. When I finish, I set the bottle down and look at Damen. He’s just staring at me. He looks like she just saw a ghost.

“See Damen? I’m fine. Good as new.”

“No you’re not.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re glowing.” Then I look down at myself and sure enough I am glowing a very faint violet. Then I suddenly feel dizzy and my whole body starts to ache. I push past Damen and stumble to the couch. I’m breathing hard and I am starting to sweat.

“Alex? Are you okay?” I can’t answer. I smiled faintly at him. My body is hurting so much. Damen comes over and sits next to me. “Alex? What’s going on? What do you feel?”

“Everything hurts.” Was all I’m able to manage.

“Are you-are you dying?”

“No. I told you. I’m not going to die.” But my body is hurting beyond anything I could ever imagine. The pain is so unbearable. I close my eyes, lean on Damen’s shoulder and focus on my breathing. Pretty soon I fell asleep.

_____________________________________________________________________


“Alex? Oh thank god! I was so worried.” Damen exclaims, as I sit up straight and try to get a hold of my surroundings. “Alex. How do you feel?”

“I feel...pretty refreshed actually.” Then I stretch like a cat which feels amazing.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Told you I wouldn’t die.”


“Wait. You remember?”

“Of course I remember everything. Hey what time is it?”

“It’s 6:10”

“Oh okay my mom is picking me up at 10:00 so I’m good.”

“Alex. What if you die later?”

“How long did it take for the rats to die?”

“Three days.”

“So Tuesday. We’ll see what happens then. But I have a feeling I won’t go anywhere. Wait how did you not die?”

“I don’t know. I guessed it was because I’m a guy and since guys tend to have stronger bodies so my body was able to withstand it. But I was so scared when you drank it because your body may not be able to contain it.”

“Oh, well don’t worry. I’m definitely going to get through this. Besides we have better things to worry about.”

“Oh really? And what would that be?”

“Your birthday! Duh! I wasted half of it but I’m going to make it up to you.”

“Alex. It’s okay. I’m happy you came. That’s what made my day. Not the presents-well maybe a little-but you just coming here and wishing me a happy birthday is what’s important.”

“Too bad. Come on I’m taking you to a bakery that you’re going to fall in love with. And I’m paying so don’t even argue with me on that either.”

He laughs, “Well since you’re paying, well that’s a whole different story.” He gets up and follows me to the door. I could hear the sarcasm in his voice. Then out of the corner of my eye I see him get his wallet off the table and put in his right butt pocket. I grin, if he tries to pay in the bakery I’ll steal his wallet and keep it with me until I pay. Then I can consider giving it back to him.

“Okay you can pick anything you want.” I say as we enter the store. Damen nods and goes towards the pastries. He is looking at them trying to pick one so I go ahead to the croissants. My favorite kind is chocolate croissant. This bakery makes the best chocolate croissants in the world. So I ask the lady if I can get one chocolate croissant and she gives it to me in a plastic wrapping. I thank her and go over to Damen. He had just chosen blueberry pie. Not a whole pie just a piece.

“Ready?”

“Yup!” We walk over to the cashier and set the croissant and pie onto the counter.

The cashier lady says, “Seven dollars and 48 cents.” She says it to both of us but she is mainly looking at Damen. Since he was the guy, she was expecting him to pay. He takes his wallet out but before he opens it, I snatch it from him and put it in my pocket away from him.


“Hey!” He sounds surprised. Did he think that I was kidding about paying?

“I told you you’re not paying. Not today.” The cashier lady raises one eyebrow at us but says

nothing. I get out my wallet and pay for the both of us. Then she puts our stuff in a bag and hands it to me. “Have a nice evening.”

“Thank you.” When we leave Damen asks if he could have his wallet back. So I give it to him and instead of putting it away, he takes out a crisp $10.00 bill and tries to give to me.

“No, Damen. I’m not taking your money.”

“Yes you are just take it.”

“Nope.”

“Please. It’ll make me feel better if you took it.”

“Not a chance.” Then he tries to shove it in my pocket but I move away fast enough. He grunts and tries again. And he misses again. Soon enough I start running away from him.

“Hey! Come back here!”

“Nah!” So he runs after me. We continue this way until he we get to his house. We are both out of breath but I still keep my distance away from him.

“Okay, okay. Fine you win. See? I’m putting the money away.” He takes out his wallet and puts the $10.00 back in there. Once he puts his wallet away I relax. Then he takes out his keys and opens the door. We both go in and head to the living room. Once we settle down we start eating our treats.

“Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m still going to get you.”

“In your dreams.”

“And thanks.”

“For?”

“Giving me the best birthday ever.”

“Your welcome.” I’m about to take my fourth bite into my croissant, when my head starts hurting. I drop the croissant onto the table and grab my head. What is happening? Something was wrong.

“Alex? What’s wrong?” Damen asks worried. I just shake my head. I can’t answer him. The pain isn’t bothering me. Something else is. I’m getting weird images and thoughts in my head. Some dangerous people...knives in their hands...faces covered with hoodies...What am I seeing? And my thoughts are weird too, Protect….him...Damen...my...duty. Damen could sense something is wrong. So he looks at me again with those intense eyes of his and suddenly I feel him in my brain. It’s like I can’t control anything anymore.

Damen gasps, “Oh god.” Then suddenly the pain in my head disappears.

“What?” I want to know what he thinks. Wait a second. Since he uses black magic he has to have real powers or something. “Damen what are your powers? And who were those guys? And why


do I have to protect you?”

He sighs. He mumbles something about more explaining to do then answers, “I can read

people’s minds, make things appear as I want, and mind trick people. For years a certain gang has been trying to murder me. For my powers. Then one day I read a prophecy. It was about me, thou shall seek fyren shall meet a wench ac she shall ashredden thou.”

“Which means?”

“You will commit crime and meet a girl who will save you.”

I gasp, “That girl is me isn’t it?”

He nodded, “I thought the prophecy was all bluff until well...you know.”

“So let me get this straight. Your powers are the ability to read minds, make things appear the way you want, and you can trick people mentally. A gang has been trying to kill you for a long time but now I have to protect you.”

“Yeah. Sorry Alex. If it was up to me I would never have included you in the prophecy.”

“Hey it’s ok. Think of it this way, you’re going to be protected by someone you trust rather than some stranger.”

“True. So anyway we need to find out what your powers are and fast.”

“My powers?” I didn’t think of that. Having powers? AWESOME!

“No, not awesome.” I blush. “Okay so we already know that you could have visions of the future. But what else?”

“Does there have to be something else?”

“Most likely you’ll have more than one power.”

“Wait, how do you know I have visions of the future?”

“You know what you saw? That was a vision. When I looked into your mind I payed attention to the details. You didn’t because it’s your first time. The date in your vision was next month. I caught it some where from the surroundings. Next time you have a vision you have to pay attention to everything because that will help you find out the facts you need.”

“Okay. But now what?”

“We can test it. First lets see if you can fly. Let’s go to my back yard.” We get up and go to the back yard. When we get there he tells me to go to the bench and stand on it so I do. “Okay now, I want you to really believe that you can fly and jump and don’t worry about anything else. I’ll catch you if you fall. Just focus on flying.” I nod and close my eyes and concentrate on flying. I believe I can fly. I believe I can fly. I believe I can fly. I keep thinking that then take a deep breath and jump. A second later, I’m in Damen’s arms. I guess I can’t fly after all. I open my eyes and say, “Oh well. I can’t fly.”

“It’s okay. Now we’ll test your strength. Maybe you got super strength.”

“So I have to pick up that’s really heavy?”
“You got it.” I look around. What was heavy? What should I try to pick up. Then my eyes land on the bench. Duh. No way I could pick that thing up without super strength. So I go over to the

bench and try to pick it up with both of my hands. It wouldn’t budge so I try even harder. “Alex, it’s ok. Don’t hurt yourself.” So I stop and look at him.

“What’s next?” Damen thinks and makes and ‘oh yeah!’ face.

“Force field.”

“What?”

“I’m going to throw something and we’ll see if you have a force field.”

“I’m not following.”

“Okay stay right here. I’ll be right back.” He runs back to the house. I sit down on the bench and think. What force field is he talking about? I sigh. And I thought my life was complicated before? Look at it now. I have to find out what my powers are, then practice them, then I have to protect Damen from this gang. Jeesh.

“Okay--

I gasp and jump. “Geez Damen! Never sneak up on me like that!”

He grins, “Oh, did I scare you?”

I glare at him and roll my eyes, “No you didn’t. You just surprised me. There’s a difference.”

Still grinning, “I thought you were a hard person to scare.”

“You didn’t scare me!”

“Suuuure.”

“Can we just please get back to testing what powers I have?”

“Trying to change the subject?” I roll my eyes at him again so he gives in, “Fine. Here’s how this force field thing works. Basically I’ll throw this pen at you. You will extend your arms out at me and try to prevent the pen from hitting you. I’m using a pen just in case you don’t have the power and I don’t want to hurt you. Pretend that the pen is a bullet. You don’t want to get shot. So protect yourself. Ready?”

I extend my arms out at him. I close my eyes and pretend that pen was a bullet. Then I hear Damen say ‘okay’ then he throws the pen and I concentrate real hard. Then I feel something extend from my hands but the I keep my eyes closed. Then when I hear Damen gasp, that’s when I open my eyes. I gasp too. I glance down at the ground, there lay the pen that was supposed to hit me. Then I look back at my force field. It’s a hot pink color. The force field is bubbly too. Then since I’m focusing anymore, it disappeared. I hadn’t noticed that my hair was floating until it rests back on my shoulders. Then I look at Damen, stunned.

“Okay so you get visions of the future and you can create a force field for your own protection and the protection of others.”

“Protection of others? How?”

“Simple. Let’s say you want to protect me. You would come in front of me. If people are shooting at us from the front all you have to do is create a shield and it would protect both of us. But let’s say we’re surrounded by people and they are all shooting at us from all directions. As long as I’m standing near you and you want to protect me you can make a whole shield around


us. So we would be standing in a big pink bubble. Your shield can withstand anything. But it’s your stamina that I’m worried about.”

“What about my stamina?”

“Well let’s say you’ve been protecting us for a long time. You would get tired and eventually won’t be able to create the shield anymore. You would need to rest a bit.”

“Oh.”

“With a little practice, your stamina would be great and you would be able to extend your force field to the point of surrounding whole objects. Like buildings or airplanes.”

“Really?”

“Sure. As long you’re on or it.”

“Awesome!”

“So do you want to practice shield power or do you want to find out about your third power?”

“Um, you said that the gang members are coming to you next month right?”

“Yeah.”

“So let’s find out my third power today and maybe tomorrow I can come over and practice a little or something.”

“Alex, you’re genius!”

“Why thank you.”

“I can use my black magic to create a training course specialized for your powers. And the more you train the better you’ll get. The better you get get the harder the course will get. Since it’s magic not man made there’s no end to the course. So you just keep improving.”

“Cool!”

“Okay let’s find out what your last awesome power is.” Then he makes a weird face.

“What is it Damen?”

“Not fair.”

“What?”

“You got powers that are better than mine. I’m so jealous.” I laugh. Who would think that Damen Clark can get jealous? And of who? Me!

“Well I do have to protect you, so it’s only fair that I get the cooler powers.” He just rolls his eyes but smiles.

“You said your mom is picking you up at 10, right?”

“Yup.”

“Well it’s 8:30 so we got an hour and half to figure out your power.”

“Wait since now I have to go to your house everyday for a month, what will tell my mom?”

“Oh yeah...Oh! I can mind trick her. I’ll ride my motorcycle here but make it appear as a car. I can get out looking like my mom. And introduce myself as Damen’s mom. The excuse can be that we’re going to do homework together. After a quick introduction I take you and we come back here. That’s for tomorrow. Then I can convince a teacher to give us a partner project


mentally. We could be partners and you could use that as an excuse to come to my house everyday.”

“Perfect!” I don’t like the idea of him messing with my mom’s head but I know it’s necessary so I’ll just go with it.

Then we spend the rest of the time we have trying to figure out my third power. We tried everything we could. We tried water powers, super speed, freezing things in motion, transporting from place to place in a matter of seconds, my flexibility and more. Finally my mom came and I had to go.

“Sorry Alex. I don’t know why we couldn’t figure out what your third power was.”

“It’s fine.”

“Tomorrow we’ll just focus on your shield power okay? We could figure out your third power another time. Okay?”

“Fine by me.”

“Oh and don’t tell your mom about any of this okay?”

“Yup. Bye Damen and happy birthday.”

“Thanks.” Then I leave his house and run to my mom’s car. When I get in and she drives away, she obviously asks me the first question I know she would ask.

“Why were you the only one in there?”

“Everybody left at 9 and 9:30. The last person who left was 5 minutes ago. I was just helping Damen clean up a bit because there was food all over the place.”

“Oh. So what’d you do?”

“Well we wished him a happy birthday then played in the back yard and all over the house. After that we went to this bakery and we each got one thing. Then we came back and opened presents, and ate cake. Then everyone just hung out.”

“Sounds like you had a good time.”

“You have no idea. And mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I go to his house again tomorrow?”

“Why?”

“To work on homework together. At the party we both realized that we both need help with our math homework. So we could work on it together.”

“I don’t know…”

“His mom will drive me so you could meet her and she’ll be watching us the whole time. So you don’t even have to drive me.”

“Fine. But only once meet his mom.”

“Thanks mom!”

“Your welcome.”


________________________________________________________________________

I text Damen. I told my mom that your mom is picking me up tomorrow and driving me back. And that she’ll be watching us the whole time.


Okay. Thanks for letting me know. I sigh. Now we both have the same story to follow. Instead of replying like I should’ve I put my phone on my desk and go to bed. I fall asleep in no time. I guess it’s because of everything that happened today. Who knew that all that could happen in just one day? Well anyway, I better get a good night’s rest because tomorrow was going to be the first day of my training.

“Hello. You must be Damen’s mother.” My mom assumes. She shakes hands with Damen’s mom and smiled.

“Yes I am indeed. And you’re Alexandra’s mother.” She replies after their 5 second hand shake was over. My mother nodded and pointed at me.

I clear my throat, “Hi nice to meet you.”

“Hello dear. Did you have fun at Damen’s birthday party yesterday?”

“Yes I did. It was so much fun.”

“Oh, by the way Damen really loved your presents. They were his favorite.” I grin at that. My presents are his favorite presents because they are his only presents. “Thank you Mrs. Clark.”

Damen’s mom nods and looks back at my mom sweetly. “You don’t need to worry about Alex. I will keep my eyes on her and Damen the whole time. And it’s nice to have Alex come over. Damen doesn’t get many visitors so it gets lonely for him.”

“Oh really? Poor Damen. Well As long as their in your hands I trust everything will be okay. Thank you Mrs. Clark.” My mom says. Then I wave goodbye to my mom and go after ‘Damen’s mom’ to the fancy car.

When we are out of earshot, Damen says, Don’t sit in the passenger seat. Remember this is still technically a motorcycle. Sit in the back seat and grab onto my chair.” I nod at his instructions and when we get to the car I did as he told me to do. “Ready?” he asks.

I grab onto his chair, “Yes.” Then he starts the car/motorcycle and once we get far enough away from my house the car slowly turned back into a motorcycle. I gasp at the transformation. Then I notice that I was grabbing onto Damen from his shoulders. I know that I was bound to fall off this way so I let go and quickly put my arms around his waist. I hold on tight, close my eyes and rest my head on his back. This was the first time I’ve ever ridden a motorcycle. I’ve always hated them. They are so dangerous in so many ways. But I feel semi-safe with Damen. My mom would kill me if she finds me riding a motorcycle. Then the Damen starts to slow down. I open my eyes and sigh, we arrived to his house safely. I start to relax a little. Then I let go of Damen and get off the bike. I am a little shaky but other than that I am fine. Damen cuts the engine and walks over


to me.

“So how was the ride?”

“Scary but good.” I give a shaky laugh. He smiles and goes over to the door to unlock it.

“Come on. I wanna show you this. It’s amazing, if I do say so myself. I worked very hard on it.”

So I follow him to the back of the house and he opens a door that leads to the basement. He leads me downstairs and flicks the lights on. I gasp. It was amazing. I could tell that he put his time and effort into this training course.

“Wow Damen. This is amazing! I can’t believe you did all this by yourself! And in one night!”

“Well I did use my blackmagic. So technically it wasn’t just me.”

“I don’t care this is awesome.” There are two sections. One for each of us I guess. I don’t know which is who’s though. So I look at him, “Which one is mine and which is yours?”

“The right one is yours and the one on the left is mine. And guess what?”

“What?”

“We can compete against each other. We can practice together. Figure out a way to put our powers together to work.”

“Cool! Just one question. When are we going to find out my third power?”

“Since we tried everything I know I’m guessing it will show up on it’s own. At the right time.”

I nod. Whatever. I have two awesome powers anyway. I need to practice them right away. So when I figure out my third power I’ll be fairly ready.

“Damen?”

“Yeah?”

“Those guys. You said that they’ve been chasing you for a long time. If you could handle yourself back then, why do you need my help now?”

“Their rank has grown. They’ve become stronger. Back then it was only 100 of them. Now it’s over 1000. Last year when they came for me, I almost died. A cop saw us and he stopped them. He saw it like some guys harassing a kid. Not them trying to kill me.” He looks at me seriously,

“I can’t fight them alone. And besides you’re in the prophecy remember? You’re destined to save me.”

I nod thanking god that his life has been spared last year. “Okay. Let’s get started.”

“So this is how these work. Your course is made specifically for your powers. Since you’re a beginner, it will question you on what you should do in a situation. Then it will test you. Pretty soon you will be fighting like crazy. And don’t worry. If you mess up you will never get hurt.”

“Okie-Dokie.” I walk over to my course and step in. I look over and see Damen do the same thing. We could see each other. Good. So if something happens to either one of us the other would know. He looks at me and smiles. Then he walks over to a thing sticking out of the keyboard that looks like a microphone. He speaks into it and I hear him in my course. “We could see each other just in case something happens we would know.” I grin and walk to my microphone, “Did you just read my mind?”


“No why?”

“I just thought the exact same thing you said.”

“Oh haha. Looks like I’m better than I thought.” I roll my eyes and looked down at the keyboard. SO MANY KEYS. “How do you work this thing?”

“Just press start and stop. Start is a big green button and stop is a big red button.”

“Okay thanks.” Then I look back at the keyboard and press start. A big screen appears out of nowhere and it says ‘Welcome Alex’. I smile. Then I hear Damen say, “You’re supposed to talk to it.” I nod then wonder what exactly I’m supposed to say to the screen. So I decide to stick with simplicity.

“Hello screen.” I feel so stupid. I mean come on. Talking to a screen? Seriously? Then the words on the screen change and now it says ‘My name is Computer.’ I clear my throat and say, “Sorry. Hello Computer.” Now the screen says ‘It’s ok. Are you ready for your training, Alex?’

“Yes I am.”


Then that’s when it started. the computer started asking me questions and once I gave the right answers, I would get test. Something would get thrown at me and I would use my shield to block it. I wasn’t only practicing my force field. The computer was helping me control my visions. It would give me feelings that I should get when I get a specific vision. It was also training me to feel the tiniest things that would be warnings that I was getting a vision. Later on I’ll learn some self-defense, which is something I’ve always wanted to learn. We practiced for the whole day. We took a 10 minute lunch break but then got right back to training. When it was eight we decided to call it quits for the day. Damen had ‘driven’ me home and after I answered my mom’s questions I went to bed. It was tiring. Especially since that I would be doing this everyday for a month.

And to think that I was only a beginner! I was already tired. I wonder how I will survive

the rest of the month. I thought about what other excuses I would have to make to go to Damen’s house on the weekends. I was thinking about what my third power could possibly be. I mean we’ve tried everything. Maybe I don’t have a third power. But even if I do or not I fell asleep thinking of different amazing ideas for powers.

“Oh! Alex! You are doing a very good job!” I jump and look behind me. Ms.Ricci is standing with a big smile on her face.

So I smile back and say, “Thank you Ms.Ricci.”

“Why are you just sitting here like this. You know I don’t allow that in my class.”

“Well I thought that my drawing turned out pretty good and I don’t want to ruin it. So I’m thinking of other things I can add and how it would look.”


“Oh good, good. As long as you’re thinking about the project, I’m fine with that.” I glance at the clock and groan. 10 more minutes until lunch. This is the longest day of my life.

“Um, Alex?” I look at Damen. He looks worried for some reason.

“Yeah?”

“You look like you’re about to pass out. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.”

“Okaaay. If you say so.”

“I do say so.”

Then a couple minutes later the period was over. Thank the lord. I am starving. I need food ASAP. I get up and wait for Damen who is packing his things. Then we file out the door, down the stairs and out into the campus. Then we make our way to the cafeteria. Once we open the doors to the cafeteria, that’s when the smell hit me. Delicious pasta, garlic bread, and pizza. I guess that’s what they have for lunch today. I smile and walk over to the place we always sit. I put my bag down and excused myself to go to the bathroom.

I need to splash some cold water on my face. So I go to a sink and and turn the faucet on. I make sure the water is cold then I cup my hands to gather the water in my hands and splash it on my face. I do that a couple of more times then turn the faucet off. Then I grab a paper towel and dry my face. I feel refreshed so I’m about to leave but then I hear the MJB’s voices coming. They are about to enter the bathroom and they are talking about me. I gulp and quickly looked around. There was no where to hide. I wish I was invisible. I wish I was invisible. I wish I was invisible. I keep thinking that hoping a miracle would happen. Then I feel a shimmer go through my body. I look down at myself and gasp. I’m invisible! This is my third power! Ironic that I needed the help of Mary, Jessica and Brianna to figure that out.

The girls come in with nasty smirks on their faces and then stop. They look around confused. Mary kick open every stall and but they are all empty. I could see the shock on their faces. “Where is she?! I saw her come in here! And she didn’t leave!” Mary screams. Wow guess they were really looking forward to beating the crap out of me. Then Jessica says, “Maybe there’s a trap door or something.” Then Brianna snorts, “Get real. She’s here but she’s too scared to come out and face us. But I don’t know what the point is. We are going to find her.” I run out of there still invisible and head straight for Damen. When I get to our table I whisper, “Damen!” He jumps and looks around. “I’m right here, in front of you!”

“Alex?”

“Yeah Damen, I’m invisible. That’s my third power.”

“What? How?” He stands up and leans forward. He is looking forward just like I told him. Little does he know that his face is inches away from mine. So I back up a bit and said, “Meet me in The Cavern. And Hurry.” Then I run to our secret place. I get inside the cave and wait. A little later Damen comes in.

“Okay so Damen this is how it happened--


“Wait where the hell am I supposed to look? I don’t know where you are.”

I laugh and go up to him and pat his shoulder. “I’m right in front of you now.” Then he looks right in front of himself and right at me. Since he can’t see me he doesn’t know how close I am, he guesses a little far. So he takes a step forward and once again we are inches away from each

other. I already like him and he isn’t helping by standing this close to me. So I clear my throat and suggest, “How about we sit down. You first because I can see you.” So he nods and sits down. Then I sit down and say, “Ok so here’s what happened. I went to the bathroom. Then I was about to leave but I heard the MJB’s voices so I freaked out. There was no place for me to hide so I started wishing that I was invisible. Then I felt a shimmer run through my body and when I looked at myself, I saw nothing! I was invisible. So while they were bickering on where I was I escaped and came to you.”

“Wow. You get three awesome powers! You’re so lucky!”

“Yeah well now I’m invisible. How do I become visible again?”

“Oh that’s easy. Just relax and let go. If you need a little push, then just focus on becoming visible again.”

“Oh ok.” Then I concentrate on becoming visible again.I feel the shimmer go through my body again. I look at myself and sure enough I could see me. I look up at Damen and grin.

“Jealous?”

He rolls his eyes, “Shut up.” I laughed and he rolled his eyes again. “Now I’m going to need to add this to your training course.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry about that.” He just smiles and stands up.

“Come on. I want to finish my food before we go to social studies.” I get up and follow him out the cave. Then we walk back to school.

________________________________________________________________________


“Hey mom. I need to ask you something. Can you please get out of the car so Damen can talk to you too?”

“Yeah sure sweety.” Then we wait as she gets out of her car and comes over to us. “Hello Damen. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“So mom in science class Ms.Khan assigned us a project for the whole month. She partnered the whole class up and me and Damen are partners.”

“Oh wonderful.” My mom says enthusiastically.

“So Ms.Khan gave us lots of work to do. We have to do 15 calculations, then after that gather all the data and make three different types of charts. Then we have to put everything we learned on a chart paper and present it to the class.”

“Wow that sounds like a lot of work. Are you going to be able to finish all that in a month?”
“Yeah mom that’s the thing. We won’t be able to finish it on time. And she’s barely giving us

time in class to work on it.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Well ma’am. We thought that maybe Alex can come over to my place everyday after school to work a little on the project together. Then my mom could drive Alex home. What do you say?”

“Oh. Um. I don’t-I mean I’m not sure about this.”

“Mom, please say yes. Look Damen’s dad is always working and his mom is never working. She will look after us for the whole time. So what’s the problem?”

“Alexandra, how do you know Damen’s mom is actually willing to take care of you for a whole month?”

Damen clears his throat and says, “Well I called my mom already during school and she was fine with it. I mean she already has to take of me. And yesterday Alex was no problem at all.”

My mom sighs. She is probably hesitating because she wants us to do this project but she doesn’t want me going to Damen’s house everyday. “Okay fine. But if I hear any complaints from Damen’s mother, Alex. You aren’t going to his house anymore.”

“Okay mom. Thanks so much!”

“Yeah thanks ma’am.”

“Your welcome kids. So how are you going to get home?”

“Today we are taking the bus home but starting tomorrow my mom will drive us.”

“Why take the bus? I’ll drive you. Hop in” Then my mom goes back to her car and starts the engine. We both look at each other and shrug. I sit in the passenger seat and Damen sits in the back. Then my mom drives us to Damen's house. We drive in silence and it is very awkward. So I turn on the radio and try to find a good song. But since it is all news, I sigh and turn it off. A few minutes later we arrive to Damen’s house. My mom turns around to face Damen.

“Can your mom please come out, Damen? I just want to make sure that she’s okay with all this.” Damen nods as we both got out of the car.

“Be right back mom.”

We headed towards the house and once we got inside, Damen quickly changes into his ‘mother’. She had her hair down. She was wearing a white plain t-shirt and black sweat pants She had the same piercing green eyes that damen has. Damen looks at me and asks, “How do I look?”

I laugh, “You look beautiful.”

We go back outside, we see that my mom is out of her car and is leaning against her door. When she sees me and Damen’s mom she starts walking towards us.

“Hello again.” Damen’s mom says with a smile.

“Hi, so I’m sure you already know about the project. Are you sure you’re okay with watching over both of them for a whole month?”

“Yeah it’s no problem actually. All I do is cook, watch tv and clean the house. But by the time Damen comes home I have nothing to do.”
“Oh okay. Listen if Alexandra ever gives you any trouble please let me know.”

“Oh I’m sure she won’t be a problem. Girls are easier to watch over then boys.”

“Oh? How do you know?”

“Damen’s older sister, Rachel. She is in college now but trust me she was much easier to care for then Damen.” As Damen says that about himself, I try hard not to laugh. I mean he is talking like

this about himself in front of my mother!

“Oh wonderful. Well I have to go but it was nice talking to you.” My mom, thankfully ends the conversation and was starting to back up to her car.

“Same here.” Then Damen and I walk back into his house. I wave goodbye to my mom and then close the door behind us. When I turn around to face Damen, he is himself again. I grin at him.

“What?”

“You’d make a great mom, Damen.”

“Oh shutup.” We go to the kitchen first to grab a snack so then we could start training. I get a small bag of CHEEZ-IT and start eating it. Damen grabs a granola bar and starts munching on it. Then I follow Damen down to the basement and then he tells me to hold on so he can make some adjustments to my course. I nod and find a corner to sit in and watch him do his magic.

After 10 minutes, Damen says that I was ready to train. So I thank him and go to my course and press start. Then the screen appears and I start my training. Just like yesterday, it was question, answer, then test. After a little while I look over at Damen to see how he was doing and saw that he is meditating. Well at least that’s what it looks like. It is probably a mind test or something. I shrug and focus back on my training. And we stay like that for hours. Until something happens.

I was practicing my force field. The Computer made a powerful illusion that I’m in a forest with a little boy and I have to protect him. We are surrounded by men who are shooting at us. So I create a force field around us. We are surround in a pink bubble. The bullets are bouncing off and landing on the floor. Then I felt my shield start to fade. So I put all my energy into the shield and it became stronger. My hair lifts up and then I start floating too. I’m above the little boy. I’m at the very top of the shield. I think that this is very cool. But I still have to focus. We still have to get out of here. That’s when I get a semi brilliant idea. I look down at the boy and tell him to run. He does as I say but he doesn’t actually run. He just moves his legs and then the force field started moving in that direction. Good we are moving. But we are also headed straight for a two guys who are shooting at us. I’m sure what to do so I tell the boy to keep going in that direction. Then when we get to the men; they don’t go through the shield like I expected them to. Instead they bounce right off. Just like any object. When I realize that no one could get to us with my shield I tell the boy to run faster and pretty soon we are out of there.

When the illusion ends away and I’m back at the training course, let’s just say I’m really tired. My legs can’t hold me and and my knees buckle so I fall to the ground. I don’t black out or


anything. I’m just too tired to stand.

“Good job on completing the course, Alex.” The computer says.

“Thanks.” But that’s when I hear Damen speak through the microphone.

“Alex? What happened? Are you okay?” I look up to where he is. I want to tell him that I’m fine

but I can’t get to the mic. So I give him a thumbs up and rest my head on the ground again. “Hold on I’m coming.” I hear him say. A minute later I hear Damen enter my course and walk over to me. “Alex what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. The last training I just went through took up all my energy and now I’m too tired to even stand.” I see Damen make an ‘oh’ face. Then he just chuckles and shakes his head. “Wow, I was actually worried.”

“I know, sorry.” Then Damen picks me up and carries me out of the training room. Then he carefully lays me down against a wall so that I’m sitting up.

“Be right back.” I nod okay and then Damen runs upstairs. Two minutes later he comes back down holding a cup of weird looking liquid. “This is my homemade energy drink. Better than the ones in the store because mine actually give you energy and their made of natural ingredients.” then he gives it to me.

“Thanks.” Then I drink it. It tastes really good. When I finish with my drink, I feel better but still low on energy. I guess it takes a minute or two for the energy to kick in. “So guess what I found out today?”

“What?”

“I can float.”

“What? You have a fourth power?!”

“No! Like it’s part of my power.”

“Okay I’m lost.”

“Look, one of my powers is to create a force field. Right?” I wait for him to respond but all he does is nod. So I continue, “Well part of it is that I can float.”

“Explain please.” So I tell him everything. About the little boy, about the forest, the men shooting at us and the shield. And when I finish he says, “So you can float inside your shield and whoever you’re protecting can move the shield so you can get out safely?”

“Yup.”

“Can you try it with me right now?”

I shrug and say, “Okay.”

Damen helps me up and then I position myself in front of him. I create a force field around us. But thanks to my training, I know that I could make the shield stronger. So I focus and I do it. It is easier than before since I’ve already done it before. That’s when it happens. I start floating and I hear Damen gasp. When I get as high as I can I look down at Damen. “Move. Start walking or running.” He does, but just the training, the whole force field moves too. So then I smile at him, “Cool, huh?”


He looks up at me and stops moving, “Yup. Hey I have an idea. Let’s say we don’t the people who are attacking us to see you. Can you turn invisible while doing this or not?”

“Let me try.” I close my eyes and try to concentrate. But it is hard because I’m focusing all my energy into this force field to make it powerful. So I pretend that my life depends on it and then it

works. I feel the shimmer go through my body again so I know I became invisible. I look back at Damen and ask, “Well?”

“You did it.”

“Yes!” But then I lose focus by accident. My shield disappears and I fall to the floor and land with a thud. At the same moment I become visible again.

“Alex!” I sit up and wince. Guess I hurt my shoulder since I landed on it. I scooch backwards until my back meets the wall so I can rest against it.

“I’m fine. But Damen, there’s a problem.”

“What?”

“Making the force field is easy. But if I want to make it powerful enough that nothing and no one can get through it, well it takes all my energy. When I start to float, that’s how I know that my shield is powerful. Since it takes all my energy I won’t be able to keep it for long. I had to force myself to become invisible. And that lasted for a second.”

“Don’t worry about that. Today’s the second day of your training. By the end of your training, you’ll be able to do both at the same time with no problem. But how do you feel right now?”

“I’m drained out. Way too exhausted.”

“Well we have a couple of hours left. How about we train for one more hour then start on our homework and project?”

“Okay.”

“You can just practice self defense for the next hour. Okay? Nothing magical.”

“Good idea.” So after a couple of minutes of resting I go back to my course and press start. The Computer welcomes me back and I say, “Hi Computer. For the next hour can we focus on self defense please?” Then the screen says ‘sure’. So we do.

We continued training like that for the rest of the month. Sure my mom asked me questions every now and then but other than that she left me alone. Every night I would be exhausted and fall asleep right away. And Damen was right too. About me being able to control my powers and do them at the same without using up all my energy. I got better at it every time I practiced it. And my fighting skills have improved too; I can defend myself against anybody. Damen and I even trained together once a week. We needed to practice together so that we would be able to work together efficiently if our lives depended on it. It also felt good to sweat a little after school. Today was the last day we could train because tomorrow is when the gang is going
to attack. So we were just reviewing everything we learned. We both had decided that it would be best to not show myself unless it was absolutely necessary. That way they wouldn’t know who I was which would stop them from threatening me and my mother. And Damen even learned something cool about his power. When he reads peoples’ minds, he can also speak to

them in their minds and they reply by thoughts. That’s the main thing we focused on together since it allows us to communicate secretly.

Starting tomorrow and for the rest of the week there won’t be any school. Well that was perfect considering that we would be busy kicking butt in Damen’s backyard. We also decided that since we didn’t want to attract too much attention, we would let them come to us then we would ‘run away’ and lead them to a nearby forest so we have as much room as we would need. I had to admit it would a good plan for two teenagers to come up with. I was excited but mostly scared. But whatever, me and Damen will work together and we will win.


“Knock, knock? Wake up and smell the coffee, Alex.” Damen snaps me out of my very long mind babbling.

I shake my head, “Oh sorry. I was just thinking about everything and our plan and stuff.”

Damen rolls his eyes, “Yeah well, we need to review our plan together so we know what to do tomorrow. I cannot believe you aren’t as worried about this as you should be.”

“Actually I’m excited but mostly nervous.”

“I’ve faced these guys lots of times and I’m still scared.”

“That’s ‘cause you were all alone but now you aren’t.”

“Alex-

“I’m just saying that there’s no point in worrying because either way we have to face them so it’s better if we’re confident. Our results will turn out much better that way.”

Damen sighs giving in to me, “Fine. You’re right anyway.”

“So what do you want to do now? Besides reviewing the plan that we already reviewed like 10 times. I have it memorized because of you.”

“That’s the point.”

“Whatever.”

“Alex, you have to take this seriously.”

“I am.”

“No you’re not.”

I sigh. He is right. I’m not paying attention and that could cost us our lives. “Okay, okay you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.”

After we go over everything we decide to do some last minute training. But since it was the last time, we decided to train together.

We first train in combat. It surprises me how much we both improved. The first time we


tried to fight each other, well we basically threw punches in the air and just stood there aimlessly. Now we are punching and blocking each other’s punches. Kicking and blocking kicks. We can also run faster and jump higher. Our reflexes have sharpened as well. I honestly feel like a ninja. Plus my powers I’d be a super ninja.

Then we move on to our powers. First we do mental training for Damen. We sit down in a meditating form and close our eyes to concentrate. Even though we no longer have to do that. Now since Damen has improved on his skills he can do things with his mind without having to concentrate so hard. We practice communicating mentally, which is pretty awesome. We also check his ability to trick people into seeing things as he wants them to see and his ability to get into people’s minds and make them forget certain things. Damn! He is super good with the mind. Seriously. Good thing he’s my friend not my enemy.

After we check that his powers are in order, we move onto mine. First I protect Damen with my shield and while I’m invisible. It’s so much easier now. After we do multiple things that includes both of those powers, we focus on my vision powers. Obviously we can’t control my visions. We can’t just make them appear out of nowhere. Instead we test my senses. Little tingles here and there. I had to distinguish the ones that I would get before a vision and the fake ones. It’s hard but I had gotten better at it. Damen also quizzed me on what I should and shouldn’t do before and after a vision. The main rule is to be isolated so that no one sees me having a vision. That way if I do faint or black out no one would be there to question it. Also if I was around Damen and feel like I was getting a vision; I have to tell him so that he could help me afterwards.


We did that for the whole day basically. But when we decide that we’ve both had enough training; we go to review our plans one more time. During that time is when I start to get a headache. Then a little tingle, which warned me that I’m about to have a vision. I close my eyes and clutch onto Damen’s arm.

“Alex, what-

“I’m getting a vision so can you please keep quiet?” Then I put my head between my hands. Then the vision hit me. I see the gang just like I saw last time. People walking around in a warehouse. Through the window, there were trees everywhere. ‘Hey boss. You ready?’ My vision shifts to the right of me. A guy with a hoodie is talking to a guy with a black leather jacket on. He has lots of piercings and he has a cigarette in his mouth. On his belt there is a buckle to hold his gun. ‘Yes. Let’s do this.’ Then everyone; his workers I’m guessing cheered. They are all dressed alike. That part of my vision ends and then comes the jumbled thoughts. He will...betray...look out...protect him...at all costs...must not...die. Then the vision ends. I gasp as I come back to reality. This vision is so much different than the first one. It has more details. But the thoughts doesn’t make any sense.

“Alex. What did you see?” Damen is staring at me intently again. But he isn’t in my mind. I would feel it.


“I saw their boss. He’s coming with them I think. They were in a warehouse and when I looked out the window, there were trees everywhere.”

“Okay. So the boss is coming. That’s bad. And if you only saw trees, well they must’ve been in a forest. That’s also bad because our plan involves going to the forest so they might be familiar

with it. How many guys were there?”

“A lot. Damen they filled up the warehouse. I don’t know how just the two of us are going to take all of them on like that.” The vision had left me worried. Now I’m so much less confident than I was before.

“Don’t worry. We can do it. Anything else?”

“After the vision I got thoughts just like last time. But these were much more confusing.”

“Okay what were the thoughts? Tell them to me in the exact order.”

“He will, betray, look out, protect him, at all costs, must not, die.”

“Huh.”

“Well? what does it mean?”

“Did your vision focus only on the boss?”

“No. It was the boss and a guy in a hoodie just like everyone else. But the guy was talking to the boss.”

“What did they say?”

“The guy said ‘ready boss?’ then the boss said ‘yes, let’s do this.’ then everyone cheered.”

“Okay so it’s talking about someone betraying. So it’s either the guy or the boss. I’m pretty sure it’s the guy though. Then I think the ‘look out’ part is when the guy betrays his gang he will come to us so we have to be aware of that and not kill him.”

“Okay. But then what about ‘protect him at all costs must not die’? I have to protect someone? and if I do, who?”

“Well I think it’s talking about you protecting me. Remember your last vision? It kind of said the same thing. To protect me and that it’s your destiny. Now I think they are adding to it. That I must not die and you have to protect me at all costs.”

“Oh wow, Damen. Do you know that you’re very intelligent?”

“Affirmative.” I roll my eyes and he laughs.

“It’s ironic isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“That I have to protect you at all costs. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

“Hey I’m sorry. But it’s not my fault.”

“But why?”

“Why what? Please make more sense!”

“Why can’t you die? I mean I don’t want you to, but there has to be a reason for your life to be so important like this.”

“I think that after we beat those guys we will find out.”


“How?”

“By you having another vision.”

“Oh so now you can tell the future?” He laughs at that, and just shakes his head. Then I have a horrible thought. “Damen?”

“Yeah?”

“What if-what if something happens? And we don’t make it out alive? What will happen to my mom? And what will she assume about you? Will everyone find out about us? What-”

“Alex, I promise nothing will happen. I thought you said that you weren’t afraid of death.”

“I’m not scared of dying! I’m just of what’s going to happen if I do. I’m worried about my mom.”

“Oh, Alex. Look will it make you feel better that if I feel like we aren’t going to make it I use my black magic to send her a message and let her know about everything?”

“Yeah, thanks.” I get up and gather my stuff. It’s only eight but I want all the sleep I could get tonight.

“You want to leave now?” Now Damen gets up and follows me to the door.

“I’m thinking about going to bed early tonight. I want to be well rested for tomorrow.”

“Okay. Let’s get you home then.” We make our way to his bike and once we get on it and he starts the engine, another question pops in my head.

“What time will you pick me up tomorrow? Will it be earlier?”

“Yeah around six.” Then he backs up out of the driveway and speeds down the street. Riding the motorcycle with Damen wasn’t intimidating anymore. I’ve been managing it for a month so I got used to it. A couple minutes later we get to my house. After Damen cuts the engine I get off then he does.

“Damen, when do you think will the fight be over? Like will I come home late?”

“I don’t know. It depends on what time they show up. Why?”

“What happens if I do end up being late and my mom calls me. And she calls me during the fight? What then?”

“Good point. Do you want to just tell her you might be a little late tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. Listen I’ll see what I can do and then text you.”

“Good luck. See ya tomorrow.” Then I watch him start the engine and drive away. After he disappears into the night I turn around and head to my house. I get into my house and my mom comes over to me right away.

“Oh Alex. You’re home early.”

“Yeah.”

“Alex, tomorrow I’m going to be out of town, until next week. I know it’s short notice but it’s a business trip and I have to go. I promise-

“Mom. It’s fine. I’m not a baby, I can take of myself for a week.”

“So you’re not mad?”


“Why would I be mad?”

“Because-I don’t know!”

“I’m not mad. You go to that trip of yours and come home safely. ‘kay?”

“Okay. Thanks honey.” Then she hugs me. I smile and went up to my room. I’m still smiling like

a fool. My mom was leaving which means I don’t have to worry about anything tomorrow!

After I take a long hot shower and get into my pj’s, I go to my bed and got my phone. My mom is leaving on a business trip tomorrow. So we don’t need to worry about anything. I hit send and wait for Damen’s reply. It thankfully came instantly. Great! That’s one less thing to worry about. To avoid starting a conversation, I decide not to reply. All I need is a good night of sleep. So I put my phone on my desk and turn of the light. I go to bed hoping that everything would turn out okay like Damen promised.

“So are you ready?” Damen has packed a few things in two bookbags for both of us. Stuff we might need. Last night he created some potions for injuries and energy loss. He labeled them for me so I don’t get them confused. He packed a first aid kit, little snacks, flashlights and some batteries.

“Yup.” I put my bag around my shoulders and so does he. We are all set. We had decided that when they come, Damen would trick their minds into not seeing my bag. Because if I go invisible, it’ll look like my bag is just floating in the air. Then they would know something’s up. So we just sit there on the couch waiting for them to come. The problem about my visions is that they don’t tell me the time so they could show up whenever and we would be startled.


A loud knock comes from the door. Me and Damen both get up and nod at each other. I run to the back yard and wait for Damen. Damen goes to the door and opens it. I hear lots of yelling and stomping of feet. I guess Damen is leading them to me now. So I become invisible and make sure I’m in an area where I won’t get trampled on. Just as I get to the corner of the yard they come running in. They are chasing Damen and then I hear him in my head. Where are you?! He’s running in circles trying to get away from all those guys. So I quickly think, Back of the yard in the right corner! Come quickly! He quickly makes his way to me and I step aside to he can get all the way into the corner. When he does I patted his shoulder so he knows I’m right there. Then I step in front of him and take in how many guys there are. They aren’t running anymore since Damen is backed up into a corner. The guys are smiling and laughing. Then one of them takes a super sharp looking knife and throws it. I put my hands outward and create my force field. The knife bounces off the shield and lands on the floor. I hear some gasps and look up. The guys are confused. Then another guy throws a knife and that too bounces off.

“Hey Damen! What are you doing?!” One of the hooded guys says. “Using your black magic again?”


“Nope. This is not my doing. This is not power. I thought you losers knew that.” Damen replies calmly.

“Loser?! I’ll show you who’s a loser!” Then they come running at us. So I make my shield stronger. I start floating like always and my shield becomes a nice shade of hot pink. Then I think

Run! at Damen. I look down to see Damen nod. So I extend my force field into a bubble. So now it surrounds us. And that’s when he runs. Everybody who collided with my shield bounces right off. So instead of coming at us then come after us just like we want. We lead them to the forest which is like 40 minutes away. But since Damen runs fast we will get there in 30 minutes. The guys are right behind us. They keep throwing weapons at us which is good because that means they were wasting them.

________________________________________________________________________

Finally when we get to the forest, I hear Damen panting. I look down and sure enough he looks like he needs a little break. So I think Get us to the nearest tree and you can rest a bit. I can hold them off. He looks up at me even though he can’t see me. Then I hear him in my head, Okay thanks. He brings us to a tree and sits down leaning against it. I make my force field a little weaker and back to stage one so I could stand on the ground. We are surrounded by lots of men in hoodies. I make sure the Damen is still in the bubble and then focus my attention to everyone else. They keep throwing weapons at us. And they keep bouncing off.

I can’t fight them off and keep Damen safe at the same time. So I decide to try out my new trick that I learned while I was training with Damen yesterday. I’m going to try it. I thinks. Damen’s head snaps up and he ‘looks’ at me. Fine but be careful. I take a deep breath and position myself. Then I close my eyes and concentrate. I’m gathering most of energy to my hands. Then I open my eyes. I feel my hair starting to float but I know I’m not going to float too. People are still throwing weapons at me. I glance at the ground. There are lots of weapons. I make the bubble shield stretch into two hands. I move my right hand and the bubble version of it mimics the movement. I hear several gasps and grin. This is going to be easy. I pick up a knife with my bubble right hand and throw it at the closest guy to us. My aim is good because the knife hit him straight in his chest. He screams and crumples to the ground clutching his chest. I smiled; I could do this. I could beat them.

I start to pick up weapons and throw them at the guys. They are going down one by one. The ones who are farthest keep throwing weapons at us; little did they know that they are just giving me more weapons to attack them with. Alex! You’re doing a great job. I’m fine now. Let me help. I look back at him for one second and see that he is standing. Then I look forward again and think, How are you going to help without getting hit? If you want to help I’d have to take the force field off of you. You’d be very vulnerable. Everybody is starting to realize that they are helping me beat them. So they stop throwing weapons at me. But I still have plenty of weapons lying at the ground in front of me. Alex. This is going to take forever. This is not the full amount. We will be here all night if you keep at this. He’s right. But if I take the shield off of him they


might start attacking again. I sigh, I’m supposed to make sure he doesn’t die. Alex! I have an idea! Hoping he has an actual idea, I think, What is it? I don’t want to do this all day so I was kinda up for anything at the moment. I only need my arms free. So keep the shield around me but stretch it so it isn’t covering my arms. besides they aren’t attacking right now. It’s our best

shot. Okay it is a good idea. Damn, he thinks fast. Okay, let’s give it a shot. Good luck. I stop throwing weapons at those guys and turn around to face Damen. I retreat my bubble arms into the shield again to reinforce it. Damen turns so that his back faces me. He lifts his arms to the sky and keeps them there. Then I start to pull the fore field down his arms. Once it gets to his shoulders, I stop. Good job Alex. Now it’s my turn. Alex, I need you to stay behind me. Move with me so that I can turn around and not hurt you.

I watch as Damen closes his eyes and concentrates hard. His fingertips start glowing a nice mix of indigo and purple. Then the color spreads so that it outlines his hand. He whispers something then opens his eyes suddenly. Damen’s eyes changed. Now they are more narrow and dark purple. “GO!” He throws his hands outward towards the guys and for a second nothing happened. Then I hear shocked gasps. I look around me and all over people were falling to the ground. Then Damen starts to turn around slowly and I turn with him. As we turn Damen causes more people to gasp and fall to the ground. Once we complete a full circle and got most of the guys, Damen puts his hands down and his eyes become normal again.

I quickly shield him fully then go over to him since he looks like he is about to fall. I put my arm around him and let him lean on me. He is heavy but I could handle him. Let’s get out of this place. I’ll take us to another part of the forest. He nods we start walking. I look back at the dozens of guys he took out, laying on the ground. Damen, what did you do to them?

I shocked them with electricity which paralyzed them. They are going to live but they are paralyzed from the shoulders down. Which means they won’t be any threat to me. Well that explains the gasps. And how no one made any movement. Do you think it’s okay to show myself now? Just for now? No one’s around. Plus it’ll save my energy. Damen shakes his head. They see us. Their boss is spying on us. We’re just putting some space between each other. But he can still see us. So don’t let your guard down. I nod and look around. Okay

I see a big tree that looks nice to lean on. There are also shrubs around it so that was nice. We might not be able to hide from the boss but we are able to hide from the hooded guys. I lead us over there so we can rest a bit. I gently help Damen down and against the tree. Then I sit next to him. I look over at Damen. He looks like he is ready to pass out. Give me you bag. Without replying, Damen shrugs his bag off and puts it on the ground. I take it and open it. I look for the energy potion and when I find it I take it out and glance at Damen. His eyes are closed so I sigh and open the bottle. Then I put my hand on the back of his head and tilt it forward a bit. He opens his eyes and when he sees the bottle, he nods. So I bring the bottle to his lips and tilt it. He drinks half of the bottle then whispers, “No more.” So let go of his head and closed the bottle. Then I put in his bag. I lean back on the tree and close my eyes. I’m afraid of falling asleep because if
that happens, then I would be visible. So I make sure I’m in an uncomfortable position that would never allow me to fall asleep.

Damen! It’s the guy who was talking to his boss. The one who might betray remember? And he’s heading straight to us. Then Damen gets up and quickly put his bag on. Damen. I’m going to stand in front of you just in case he throws anything. So don’t step forward without letting me know. He nods so I go ahead and stand in front him cautiously. I’m waiting for the blue-haired guy to show up. Alex, when he comes I’m going to look inside his head to see what his intention really is.

Okay Damen. And that’s when the blue-haired guy comes. When he sees Damen, he freezes. Then slowly he puts his gun on the ground and puts his hands up in show of surrender.

“Damen? I assume?” The guy asks

“What do you want?” Damen’s voice is brisk and all business. There is also a little tightness in his voice. I guess it’s because he is trying to concentrate on reading his mind.

“I-I just want you to hear me out. We don’t a lot of time.” Mr.Blue Hair sounds scared. He keeps looking all around him.

“Okay.” Damen’s voice sounds normal now. Alex, he’s not planning any tricks. He genuinely wants to be on our side. Well that’s weird. Why does he want to betray his boss and be with us?

Okay Damen. Let’s hear what he has to say.

“My boss recruited me differently than the others. The others were offered the job and if the declined it was fine. They could go on with their lives. But I forced into this thing. I didn’t want to do it but he threatened me. Said if I didn’t do what he wanted, he’ll kill me and my family. When I found out about you, well I thought maybe you could help me.”

“What do you want me to help you with?”

“Maybe I could you through this. Would you be able to help relocate me and my family?”

Damen clenches his jaw. He is thinking hard about this. I don’t know what the problem is. Damen, what wrong? He doesn’t answer right away but I wait patiently. The problem is that I think he wants to use me. He’s on our side sure but I think he’s doing it for his own good. What should I say? Damen has a point. The guy makes it sound like he wanted to use Damen. I sigh quietly. I think you should agree and see what happens once we get out of here. We can decide from there. Damen gives me a tight nod, so only I notice it and not the blue-haired guy.

Damen looks at the guy and says, “I don’t need your help. But you need mine. So let’s make a deal. As long as you do what I say and we get out of here safely then I’ll help you.”

“Okay! Thank you Damen!” The guy exclaims. There is pure joy and relief on his face. Looks like Damen is his only hope.

“First off, what’s your name? And don’t lie because I’ll know. My powers relate to the mind.”
“I know. My name is Richard.” I see Damen nod. So he is telling the truth. “Can I ask you something?”

“You can ask.”

“Do you have an accomplice?”

“Why would you suggest that?” Damen’s voice is neutral but I could see his body tense.

“Well your powers are for the mind only. You don’t have any other powers than that. But the shield we saw today proves that there’s someone else.” Richard doesn’t sound accusing. He just sounds curious.

“Well your pals and your boss are trying to catch me because of my black magic. Have you ever considered that it might not be my powers but my black magic?” Wow. Damen is a quick thinker.

“Ah, w-well actually no. We d-didn’t think of t-that.” Richard stutters and takes a step back. I grin. He’s scared of Damen, and Damen is only a teenager.

“Well you should have before asking me that ridiculous question.” Damen goes back to the tree and sits down. Then he motions Richard over to sit down next to him. “Do you have a way to communicate with your boss?”

“Oh yes! Hold on.” He searches through his book bag. I didn’t want to tell him about you just in case. Okay? I look at Damen. He is still looking at Richard but I could tell he is waiting for my response. Okay. By the way did you see how he was scared of you? Apparently you’re scary to adults. Damen grins at that. That’s when Richard finds whatever he was looking for. He hands it to Damen. It’s a pink walkie talkie. I try to hold in my laughter. I cover my mouth with both of my hands and tried to think about something else. Damen laughs but quickly covers it with a cough.

“Okay I know. It’s pink but it’s the only one that was left.” Richard’s blushing but tries to keep a serious face. I go over and sit on the other side of Damen as he takes the walkie talkie from Richard.

“Okay, I have a plan. So I’m going to talk to your boss and tell him I took you has a hostage. I’m not going to bargain you or anything but maybe he will lay off a few of the guys. By the way, why can’t you just escape him yourself? Just run away.”

“When he threatened me and my family, he didn’t just do it by words. You see he’s in this whole thing called the company and he said if I ran away to any part of the world they will find me and will kill me.”

“Okay so, when I get face to face with this boss of yours I’ll see what that’s all about.” Richard doesn’t say anything. He just nods. Damen, how are you going to get the boss to show up? He’s making those hooded guys do his dirty work for him.

I’m going to use the walkie talkie to get him to me. Then we will see if he’s lying about the whole company thing.

Oh okay then. Then Damen clears his throat and focuses back on Richard. “We need to hide you.”
Looking and sounding freaked out, Richard asks, “What? Why?”

“Well he’s going to ask to see you but I’m going to say that I hid you. Remember I’m not going to actually use you as a hostage. Just to get him to me.”

“Okay, well, where do I hide?” Damen looks around and sighs. There isn’t a place he could hide in these woods. His comrades would probably find him and either ‘save him’ or get him so he can be punished for betraying.

“Okay get on your back and lay flat. I’m going to cover you with leaves, twigs and dirt.” Richard nods and does as Damen tells him. “What’s your boss’s name?”

“Blake. That’s his last name but everyone calls him that.” Damen nods understandingly.

________________________________________________________________________

We hear a noise in the distance. It’s coming from behind so we turn around to see what it is. I hear Damen gasp in shock. There are thousands of guys running right at us. They all look the same. They are all men holding weapons and they are all wearing grey hoodies and jeans. I thought they were going to run us over but then they stop 20 feet away from us. I see one guy staring at the ground where we hid Richard. He bends down and helps him up. I look at Damen nervously. Now what? Damen looks around him. That’s when I realize he is looking for the boss. But I’m worried about Richard. Try to get him back once we deal with the boss. Just keep on eye on him for now. Okay, Alex? I look back at Richard. He looks like he’d rather die than go with those guys. I sigh silently, Okay. I keep my eye on Richard, making sure he doesn’t get hurt by the guy who's holding him.

Then I hear a thump, like someone was jumping on the ground followed by an ‘oof’. I look back at Damen and he isn’t there. I looked behind me only to see the boss holding Damen with a gun to his head.

The boss, Blake, is dressed exactly like I saw in my vision. Except now that I’m seeing him for real, he looks a lot more scarier. Damen! Are you okay? I inch my way closer to Damen. Careful not to step on any twig on the ground that might give me away. I’m fine. He just got me by surprise. But his arm that’s around my neck is really choking me. And having a gun pointing at my head isn’t helping. He is trying so hard not to move. But I bet that the position Blake has him in is very uncomfortable. I’m making my way towards carefully. So I can put a shield around you. I see Damen stiffen. So I stop walking. Did something happen? No! Get away from me. He’ll know something’s up. Let me just talk to him. I inch my way closer to Damen not caring what he just said. I plan to just stay near him just in case.

“What do you want from me?” Damen’s voice sounds hoarse. Like it hurt him to talk.

Blake chuckles, “What took you so long to say something? Talking to someone else?”

Damen’s body becomes tense, “There’s no one else here. You got me. Now what?”
“Oh, what I’m going to do with you is for me to know and you to find out. But lets just say that you won’t survive it.” I gasp. then I realize that I gasped out loud so I quickly cover my mouth with my hands. Blake unfortunately heard me. He looks around and grins down at Damen.

“Damen? What was that?”


“Me...gasping.”

“I think it was someone else.” He says knowingly.

“I think you’re mistaken.” Blake tightens his grip on Damen, which chokes him even more. Damen gasps for air.

Then Blake brings his head down to Damen’s so he could whisper in his ear, “And I think you’re

lying.” He whispers it loud enough for me to hear. Then he makes Damen turn around so he can face him. Then he lets go of him so he isn’t choking Damen anymore. While Damen is busy trying to get air, Blake punches Damen hard in the stomach. Damen doesn’t make any noise but he coughs up blood as he clutches his stomach. He falls onto his knees and his head is bowed.

Blake stands up straight and looks around, “Where are you? I know you’re here, Damen’s partner! Just come out and maybe Damen won’t have to die!” I’m about to become visible but I hear Damen in my head. Don’t do it Alex. Don’t let him see you. Just get out of here while you still can. I shake my head. Even though no one could see me. This just isn’t right. No Damen. I’m not going to just leave you here. Stop thinking about me already! Just focus on pulling yourself together. I move even closer to Damen. My job is to protect him. And right now I’m doing a horrible job.

“No answer? Well what if I do this?” Blake shoves Damen to the ground and kicks him. Then he aims his gun at him. He looks around again. “I know you’re watching! That pink shield isn’t Damen’s powers. His powers relate to the mind. So it’s obvious that he isn’t alone. If you don’t come out in the next 5 seconds I will shoot him!” He waits a moment for a response. When he doesn’t get one, he gets his gun ready to shoot Damen. “5! 4! 3! 2!--

“OKAY! Fine just don’t shoot Damen!” I yell. I’m still invisible. But the boss still gets what he wants

“A girl? Really Damen? You brought a girl with you?” He starts laughing hysterically.

Damen grunts and starts to stand up slowly. When I get a look at his face, I gasp. His eyes are filled with hatred and anger. “She is my friend! And I will not allow you to talk about her like that!” Then he punches Blake in the jaw.

I make my way closer to Damen. Then after Blake recovers from the blow he received, he gets ready to shoot Damen again. He aims the gun at Damen and holds the gun so tightly that his knuckles start to turn white. His finger hovers over the trigger. In one fast motion I jump in front of Damen, put out my hands and create a force field just as Blake pulls the trigger.

“What just happened?” Blake asks clearly confused. I make myself visible and face the boss confidently. He gasps when he sees me.

“I just happened. And just so you know, you’re going to pay for hurting Damen. You have no right to just go after him like this. And if you’re so powerful why do you have these guys do the
work for you? You’re just all talk aren’t you?”

“Sorry, but I didn’t get your name.”

“Ok, so here’s the thing Blake, girls hate it when they are ignored. You just ignored me.”

“Oh? And what are you going to do about it?” He snickers. I slap him then kicked him hard in the stomach. While he’s busy clutching his stomach, I kick his knees a couple of times hard too

so that they finally buckle and he falls to the ground.

“That’s what I’m going to do. I would’ve just said but you were right there so I thought I might as well give an example.” I grin at the sight of him on the ground. He’s groaning and clutching his stomach and his knees.

“Good job Alex!” Damen exclaims. Just as I turn around to give him a thumbs up I realize that the whole mob is glaring at me angrily.

“Umm...Damen? I think we have lots of fighting to do.” I look around us. We are completely surrounded. Everybody is looking at us. They must’ve been angry for me beating up their boss like that. Talk about royal.

“I’ll do that thing again. Remeber? So stay behind me.”

“No! Damen, you were exhausted last time and needed time to rest. We can’t afford that right now.” I look around us nervously. they are starting to close in on us.

“Don’t worry. This time I have lots of energy left. Just put the force field around us and stretch it just like last time.” I sigh and get behind Damen. I quickly make the force field around us then started to back up so it could stretch. The pink bubble slowly goes up Damen’s arms and when it gets to his shoulders, I stop. I patiently wait for Damen to position himself. He closes his eyes and takes in deep breathes. Then his fingertips start glowing a nice shade of indigo and purple just like last time. Then the color spreads to outline his hands. He mumbles something and finally opens his eyes. Again, they are narrow and dark purple.

After making sure I’m behind him, Damen extends his hands towards the crowd and I hear shocked gasps just like last time, then they crumble to the ground. They are seriously dropping like flies. Damen gets the boss first which causes an uproar. Everybody’s upset about it that they don’t pay any attention to Damen. So he gets most of them. After he goes around in a full circle, he drops his hands to his sides. He closes his eyes, takes in a deep breath and when he opens them, they are back to normal. I put the shield around him so that his arms are protected too. I then, take everything Damen just did. He took out a lot of guys. They are all on the ground moaning in pain. Not wanting to look at them anymore, I focus my attention on Damen.

“Are you alright?” I’m still worried about him. I am pretty sure that took some of his energy.

“Yup. But let’s stop worrying about me for now. I got most of them but there’s still a few left. We need to take care of them then we’ll be finished.” I glance up at the sky, It’s dark. The whole forest seems dark and quiet which is eerie. I take out my phone to check the time. It’s 9:30.

“Damen, it’s 9:30. Do you want to get some rest?” He looks up at the sky, like he just noticed it was dark.
He nods, “Yeah that’s probably a good idea. Come on, let’s find a safe place to get some rest.”

I still have the shield around us, but just as I take a step forward, I see it flicker. That’s when I feel weak. I’m hungry and really tired. My knees buckle under me and I crumple to the ground. I land on my hands and knees and I’m trying to keep my eyes open.

“Alex! What happened?” He kneels down beside me and puts his hand on my back.

“I’m just really tired. I guess I didn’t realize until now.” I whisper, looking at him with a smile. Relief washes over his face. Then he stands up and bends down to pick me up. Then he starts walking again.

I frown and look at him, “What are you doing?”

He grin at looks down at me, “Well think about it. You’ve been invisible the whole time except for the last couple of minutes. Plus you were using your force field to protect me this whole time! For hours! You wasted your energy. You need to rest for sure.”

I rest my head against his shoulder and watch the trees pass by us as Damen walks deeper into the forest. I smiled and closed my eyes.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to sleep right now. Wait until I find us a place to rest.” Damen whines.

“Don’t be silly. I’m not going to sleep. Just resting my eyes. There’s a difference.”

“Of course. How silly of me.” Damen replies sarcastically.

______________________________________________________________________________


Damen finds a nice pit for us to rest in. He puts my down against the tree. Then Damen goes through my bag and takes out the energy potion and hands it to me.

“Thanks.” He gives me a crooked smile then looks away. I shrug and drink half of the bottle. Then I put it away and rest my head on the tree. I sigh and closed my eyes.

“Why’d you do it?” Damen asks in a quiet voice. I open my eyes and look over at him. He’s staring at the ground, playing with twigs and leaves.

“Do what?” I ask in the similar quiet voice.

“Save me. Now they know how you look. You could be in danger now. After me they might go after you. And you knew that!” He kicks the dirt angrily and sighs, still refusing to look at me.

“Well it doesn’t matter now, does it? We are going to defeat all of them. That way no one will go after you or me.”

“Yeah but why? You basically risked your life and your mom’s at that moment.”

“Okay one, my mom is away on a business trip. So she’s safe. Two I did it because I wasn’t going to let you die. How do you think I would’ve felt if I let you die and I knew there was something I could do about it?”

“You should’ve saved yourself. But now you’re in this. You should’ve ran away and let Blake shoot me. My life is worthless. I don’t a family. Who would care if I died?”

“I would.” I say in a very quiet whisper. Now he looks at me with his sad eyes.


“Why? I just don’t understand. You risked your life for me. No one ever did that for me. Come to think of it you’ve done things no one’s ever done to me.” He runs his hand through his hair frustrated.

“Damen, there’s nothing to understand. Yes I risked my life for you, but here’s the thing. I would do that for any of my friends! And sure maybe I’m the only friend you’ve ever had. Big deal.

And guess what? Friends give each other presents on their birthdays. They listen to one another. Help each other through tough times. They tell each other secrets because they trust each other. That’s all I’ve been doing, Damen.”

He sighs. Just as he opens his mouth to say something, I say, “And if you ask ‘why’ again, I’m going to smack you.” He frowns at me and shuts his mouth. I grin and put my hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. It really is. I don’t mind any of this because I know I’m doing it for a good reason. I didn’t let Blake shoot you because I care about you. Okay?” I assure him gently.

He looks at me and nods, “Thanks Alex.”

I smile, “No problem.”

“Come on let’s get some sleep.” He puts his arm out, gesturing me over. I nod and move closer to him. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and I rest my head on his broad chest. I smile and closed my eyes. I feel him put his on top of mine. Pretty soon we fall asleep in the middle of the quiet forest.

“Oh my god! Alex you have to get up now!” Damen shouts. He’s shaking by my shoulders. My eyes flutter open and I groan lazily.

“What?”

“We’re surrounded! There isn’t as much now but still.” He moves away so I could stand up and look around. I’m feeling better but I lazy from the little sleep I got. The forest is pitch black. Seriously, I could only see Damen because he’s standing right next to me. But I could just barely make out the shadows of the guys who have us surrounded.

“What are we going to do?” I whisper.

“You go invisible and take out as much as you can. and I’ll do the same without the invisibility part.” He whispers back.

“But I can’t protect you that way.” I look over at him and he shrugs his shoulders. “Okay, wear your bag so that you back is kind of protected. Then you won’t have to worry about it much. Just focus on the front.”

“Fine.” He grunts. He wears his bookbag and goes to the right. So I decide to take the left. I become invisible on my way to my first target. I take out my knife that I grabbed from the ground earlier. I feel sick in my stomach just thinking about what I have to do. But I have to kill them. It’s either that or they would kill me. Plus if I don’t kill them they won’t only come after Damen. This time they would also come after me and my mother, and I plan to avoid having my mom
getting mixed in with all this.

I get to the guy and it's like he felt my presence or something because he starts looking around anxiously. Not wasting any time, I go behind him, and in one swift move, I lift my arm, put it around his neck and slit his throat. Then I quickly back away. He crumples to the ground with a big thump. The guys around him are startled and start looking around wildly. They know

it’s me because I'm the one who has the invisibility power, not Damen. They just can’t see me; that’s their problem. I go over to the next guy and do the exact same thing quickly and efficiently. He too falls to the ground loudly.

But when I get to the third guy, he’s expecting it. So when I put my arm around his neck, he grabs my arm and punches the knife out of it. I yelp and tried to pull back back, but his grip on me is too strong. Then he uses my arm to swing me over him and he throws me on the floor. Searing pain soars through my head and my vision gets dizzy. No. I can’t pass out here. I slowly get up and I notice that I was visible now. All the guys around are grinning at me. I look behind me and see that Damen is too busy to come help me.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then I open my eyes just in time to see a guy charging right at me. I side step and he runs right into the guy who is behind me and they landed on the ground cursing. The guy starts getting off the other but I kick him back down and then push them both down the small hill. Then I focus my attention on the rest of the guys. I have half and Damen has the other half. Even though 10 guys looks like a lot, I’m sure I could handle them. I center myself and start throwing punches and kicking. I’m surprised at my self. It’s like I am an expert at fighting. I am moving so fast that my arms almost seemed like a blur. One by one the guys start falling to the ground. I smile, I can do this! I want to look over at Damen to see how he is doing but they guys I’m fighting are keeping me occupied. I have about five guys left, but it’s obvious that they are more skilled in close combat than the others.

Damen, how are you doing?

Fine. I have a couple left. How about you?

Same here

_____________________________________________________________________


I throw one last punch at the last guy and he collapses to the ground. I assume I’m finished and I am about to go over to Damen, but that's when I hear a click sound of the gun ready to fire. I freeze and start turning around when a harsh voice says, "Don't turn around." I curse under my breath but do as he says. I don’t turn around which leaves me facing Damen fighting two guys. He’s oblivious to what is happening. I am about to call him but realized that isn’t fair because he is busy with other guys of his own.

I hear the voice again and this time it is closer, "Thought you got rid of us by pushing us down a tiny hill?"

"Pathetic." Another voice scoffs. I mentally scold myself for forgetting about them. God, what


was wrong with me? Sometimes my stupidity surprises me. And this certainly is not the place nor the time to be stupid.

I swallow the lump in my throat and say, “Are you going to shoot me or not? You know I could go invisible anytime right? Plus I have my shield.”

The first guy laughs while the second replies, “No you wouldn’t do that. Not when we tell you

that if you do any of those things we can just shoot Damen.”

I tense but don’t say anything. I don’t want to get shot but I’d rather it be me than Damen.

They both laugh at my silence and the first guy shouts, “Yo Damen! Check this out!” Damen had just finished beating up the last guy so he looks over and freezes when he sees what’s about to occur. Then he starts running towards me. I shut my eyes tightly and in less than a second the guy pulls the trigger and I fall forward to the ground.

Damen screams, “NO!!” as he runs.

The bullet had hit my back but my whole body’s in agonizing pain. A tear slips down my face as I took in short pants of breath. Is this it? Is this how I’m going to die? Am I going to bleed to death?

_____________________________________________________________________


First I hear very quiet talking. I hear Damen’s voice and some other lady’s voice. When I hear my name, that’s when I open my eyes. I immediately wince at the light and groan. That catches Damen’s attention so he ignores the lady and quickly comes over to me. “Alex? Honey? How are you feeling?” I shoot him a what the hell look. Why did he just call me ‘honey’?

“Fine, I think.” I try to sit up, but the second I move my body, searing pain shoots up my back. “Ahh! Ouch! My back! Ugh!” I collapse back onto the bed as the nurse comes over to me.

“Alex, you shouldn’t move much. The less you move, the sooner you can get out of here. It should just be a couple more days and you can go home.” She says with a wink and leaves, leaving me and Damen alone. I look at him and notice the bags under his eyes, his messy hair and crumpled clothes.

I almost wince at the sight of him. He looks terrible. “Damen, when’s the last time you slept?” He gives me a sad smile, “I couldn’t sleep until you woke up. You’ve been sleeping for a day.”

“That means you haven’t slept in a day and half! And it looks like it’s noon so that’s like two days! Did you have something to eat at least?”

“Um...I had 5 cups of coffee.” I feel so bad. This is all my fault. But I am still wondering why he called me ‘honey’.

“So, why’d you call me ‘honey’. No offense but-

“Oh that. Well I obviously lied to them to get you into the hospital the fastest way. I’m your dad and I’m making myself look older for everyone. Your name is Alex Clark. Just so your mom never finds out about this.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks.”

“So are you okay?”

“Damen, I’m fine. go home and rest a bit. You don’t need to worry about me.” Damen just stares at me as his eyes start to tear up. He blinks them away quickly. He just keeps worryin me even more, “What? What is it?”

“When you were in surgery, I asked the nurse how you’re doing. She said that you lost a lot of

blood and were in a very weak position. She said that you might not make it.” Damen chokes on his words. He stands up and takes a few steps away from me. With his back facing me he continues, “I was so close to losing you, Alex. I was so afraid. Horrible thoughts were running through my mind at the time. I just couldn’t lose you Alex. You’re the first person I’ve ever cared about, ever since my parents died.”

“I get it Damen. I know how you feel. But listen, I’m fine now. So just go home, take a shower, eat something and go to sleep.”

“I can’t Alex. What if something happens while I’m gone? What then?”

I sigh exasperated, “Damen, nothing’s going to happen. I promise. Just please go home.”

Damen sighs and goes to gather his things. Then he comes over to me and holds my hands tightly. “You sure you’re going to be okay? I really don’t mind staying.”

I roll my eyes and say, “Seriously Damen, GO. HOME. NOW. And you can come back tomorrow.” I grin as I add, “When’s the last time you looked at a mirror anyways?”

He chuckles, “Well you try watching you best friend almost die, knowing that it’s your fault.. Let’s see how you react to that.”

“Okay one, I would freak, two it wasn’t your fault, and three get out of here and go home. Geez Damen how many times do I have to tell you?”

“I’m going, I’m going.” He squeezes my hand one last time and leaves the room without looking back. I sigh and close my eyes. I might as well get some sleep since I have nothing to do. Just before I enter the realm of dreams, I hear Damen’s voice faintly echo in my head. Sleep well, and I fall asleep smiling.

_____________________________________________________________________



I wake up to find to very green eyes staring at me. “AHH--

Damen quickly puts his hand over my mouth, “Shh! It’s just me! Calm down!” Then he slowly lifts his hand off my mouth and I glare at him.

“What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack? Geez Damen, you scared me so bad.”

Damen sits down on the chair next to my bed and grins, “I thought you were hard to scare.”

I roll my eyes and counter, “You know what I mean.”

“And what if I don’t?”

“Then you’re retarded.” I say flatly but with a smile on my face. Damen gasps and puts his hand over his heart dramatically.

“That hurts Alex! I have feelings you know.” I laugh and shake my head at his silliness. I’m glad


he looks better now. He looks showered and his hair wasn’t messy. I realize that I probably have bedhead so I my hands on my hair self-consciously. Damen gives me a weird look and I sigh.

“My hair’s a mess.” Then I drop my hands onto my lap.

Damen laughs and leans over to ruffle my hair. “Don’t worry about it. I think you’re cute with bedhead.” I blush and punch him playfully.

“Do not ruffle my hair again.”

“Why not?”

“Everybody used to do that to me in my old school. I hate it.” I grumble and slowly try to get out of bed.

“Whoah! I don’t think so.” Damen pulls my back and forces me to stay in bed.

“Come on Damen. It’s been two days.” I whine like a five year old.

He gives me a stern look, “You’re not moving without the permission of the nurse.”

“Ugh, fine. Dad.” I press the red button on the side of my bed and the nurse comes in running.

“Is there a problem?” she asks, confused. She probably thought it was an emergency.

I smile sweetly at her. “No, I just have a question. I can move like I want right?”

“Oh, yeah! No problem now. In fact you can leave any time you want today.”

“See dad? Now would you please let me go to the bathroom?” I smile brightly at Damen in success.

“Yeah sure.” I get up and as I make my way to the bathroom, Damen goes into my head. I’m going to get you later. I turn around and make sure the nurse isn’t looking at me. Then I stick my tongue out Damen then quickly run to the bathroom.



I leave the bathroom. I walk back to where my stuff is and start packing them in my bag. I grab my shirts and stuff them inside my bag. I then take my sweatpants and put it in the my bag. I put my bag around my shoulders and turn to face Damen. He is twiddling his thumbs nervously while facing the ground.

I c*** my head to the side and ask, “What are you doing?”

His head snaps up and I could see by the expression of his face that I had startled him, “N-Nothing.”

“Umm, okay then. You ready to go?” I start walking towards the door slowly.

“Oh, um, yeah! Let’s go.” He gets up and starts following me out the door. We walk together towards the elevator and Damen presses the button. While he wait for the elevator to come, I look over at Damen.

“What’s wrong Damen?”

“Nothing, Alex. Jeez” The elevator doors open and we step in. I press the lobby button and wait as the doors close.

“There’s no point in trying to lie to me, Damen. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

"It's nothing, I’m just not feeling well.”


“Damen, you know you can tell me anything, right?”

Damen sighs, “I know, It’s just this is personal…”

I widen my eyes, “Ohh, ok. Yeah um, no problem. But you’re all right?”

Damen nods quickly, “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

I nod but still stare at him. He hasn’t made any eye contact with me this whole time. He’s acting

weird. Then the elevator doors open. Me and Damen step out and head towards the exit. Once we get outside, we go to his motorcycle. I wait for Damen to get on then I go on behind him. He passes me the helmet and I put it on. Then I wrapped my arms around Damen. Usually he wouldn’t do anything. But when I did that I felt him tense. It lasts only for a second and then he goes back to relaxes. But it still happened. I shrug my shoulders as he starts to drive.

“Damen?!” I yell so he can hear me over the noise.

“Yeah?!”

“I saved you just like I was supposed to! Now what?!”

“I don’t know! But honestly, I don’t care! If it’s my destiny, then it’ll happen!”

“Oh, I thought I saved you because you had to do something!”

“Don’t worry about it! You’ll probably get a vision if anything is supposed to happen!”

“Okay!” I see my house up ahead then suddenly I feel a very distinctive tingling in my head. "Damen! Hurry! I'm going to get a vision!" Damen flicks his hand on the handle and then we start going even faster. I gasp onto Damen even tighter. A minute later we arrive at my house. Not waiting for Damen to kill the engine, I get off the bike and run to my house. I quickly get my keys and unlock the door. I run to living room and sit on the couch. I put my head in my hands waiting for the vision to come.

“So now class, I want you to…” Ms. Ricci is talking about how she wants us to make our paintings unique. I’m exhausted. My mom would be home soon and Damen keeps asking me what I saw in my vision. He can’t get inside my head because I learned a trick a while back that could keep Damen out of my head when I want to. The thing is I just can’t tell him what I saw. It would be super awkward and embarrassing. It was a vision of Damen telling me how he really felt about me. I know that if I tell him, it won’t only make me uncomfortable, it will make him uncomfortable too. Oh lord, thank god it’s Friday.

“Alex?” I shake my head and look at who called my name. It’s Damen. He’s looking at me weirdly.

“Yeah?”

“Um...why are you just sitting like that? Everybody went to get their paintings and art supplies.”

“Oh, um I’m going to get them right now.” I blush and get up. I squeeze past Damen and make my way to the back of the room. I can feel his gaze on me as I get my painting. I gather my
supplies. Then I turn around and walk back to my desk. Damen had already started working on his painting. He’s focused on it 100%. I sigh, relieved and place my painting on my easel. Then I put my paint and brushes on my desk. I open the blue paint first and squirt a little on my plastic tray. Then I dip my skinny brush and look back at my half finished painting. I’m trying to draw the beach with a sunset. It’s turning out pretty good so far. I look over at Damen’s painting. He

has artistic abilities. Seriously, he can paint anything. This time he’s drawing the forest at night. I smile and look back at my painting. Then I take my brush out of the tray and start painting.

“So far so good, Alex.” I jump startled and look behind me. It’s Ms.Ricci.

I smile, “Yeah, thanks.”

“You’re drawing a sunset at the beach right?”

“Yep.”

“It’s very good. But you know how I was telling the class to make their paintings unique?”

“Yeah?”

“Well for you, you can make it unique by adding something that usually isn’t there. You know like a hidden message or maybe something that isn’t there that you wish it was.”

I widen my eyes as an idea pops into my head. I grin at Ms.Ricci and say, “Oh my god! You just gave me an idea. Thanks!”

Ms.Ricci laughs, “You welcome, Alex.” Then she walks away. I quickly take out my notebook and write down my idea. Draw a heart with an arrow going through it in the sand. In the sky draw little birds flying away. In the bottom right hand corner draw a boy walking watching the sunset. Make him black. No details. Like a shadow.

“What are you doing?” I gasp and turn around to see Damen peering over my shoulder. Trying to see what I’m writing. I quickly close the book and put it back in my bag.

“Nothing. What are you doing?”

“Trying to find out what you’re hiding from me.” Damen is grinning. Like he knows what I’m up too. Oh god, if he finds out I would die.

“I’m not hiding anything from you.”

“Yeah you are. So what is it?”

I put my hands on my hips and roll my eyes, “Nothing Damen.”

“Who’s it about?”

I blush and turn around to face my painting, “No one.”

“Yup. Now I know it’s about someone.”

“Geez Damen! I’m a girl and I’m not going to tell you all my secrets.”

“Oh? So just because you’re a girl you’re allowed to have secrets?”

“Yes. But you shouldn’t be talking. I know you are hiding something too. But you don’t see me trying to force it out of you.”

This time Damen blushes and goes back to his painting. I grin and wait for him to answer me. “Fine. You got me. I am hiding something from you. But I’m not telling you either.”

“And why not?”

“‘Cause you won’t tell me what you’re hiding.”

“But you had this secret first. I had my secret a couple of seconds ago!”

“Awe. Too bad.”

“How about this. I will ask you a question and I will answer it and I ask you a question then you

answer it. That way it’s fair.”

“Deal. You first.”

“Okay. Damen, is your secret about me?”

Damen shifts in his seat uncomfortably then sighs, “Maybe…”

“Okay it’s about me. Your turn.”

“Wait, how do you know it’s about you. I said maybe.”

“You would’ve answered no if it wasn’t about me. Therefor, it’s about me. Your turn.”

“Fine. What does your secret relate to?”

“A hidden message I’m putting in this painting.”

“Okay. Not sure what I can do with that piece of information.”

“Hey! My answer was much better than yours.”

“Alright. Alright.”

“Okay, um..Is it a good thing or a bad thing about me?”

“Well, in my opinion it’s a good but scary thing. But it also depends on how you react to it."

"Oh, so I will find out?"

"Yes and sooner than you expect."

"Oh ok your turn."

"Is the hidden message to a random person or to a specific person?"

"A specific person."

"You know, you two have very weird conversations sometimes." Me and Damen both gasp and jump at the same time. We turn around only to find Ms.Ricci standing behind us, looking at both of us weirdly.

"Oh my god, Ms.Ricci you scared us!" I exclaim putting my hand on my chest.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, but I thought you heard me coming over here."

"It's ok, I guess it was kinda our fault." Damen reassures her politely.

“So what’s this I hear about taking turns and asking each other weird questions?” Ms.Ricci inquires.

Me and Damen both look at each other then start laughing. “It’s just we have these weird competitions…” I try to continue but I was mostly trying to breathe through my laughter.

“Okay, then. Just please talk less and work more.”

“Yes, Ms.Ricci.” Me and Damen both say in union. We calm down and look at each other.

“Wow, that was close.” Damen says looking back at Ms. Ricci.

I nod my head in agreement, ”Yeah. I know. Let’s focus on work for the rest of the period and--

“Okay class! The period’s over! Put your things away and clean up!” Ms.Ricci says.

I look back at Damen, “Nevermind then.” Damen shakes his head and chuckles. We both put our stuff away and head towards lunch.

________________________________________________________________________


“I feel another vision coming soon.” I tell Damen quietly, and glance around the lunch room to see if anyone heard me.

“Like how soon?”

“Like in two minutes or so. I should probably go to the Cavern.” Damen nods and stands up. We both hurry out of the lunchroom and make our our to the cafeteria.

We get into the cave and go sit on the mat. Two seconds later I get the vision. I’m in a black place. Just floating around aimlessly. Am I dead? I think. Then an ancient statue appears. It looks normal so I float over to it. Once I approach it, the eyes start to glow a neon blue, almost blinding me in this darkness. Then it speaks. It’s voice is loud and booming. It says, gaderen eal blaec magike users akin thy werold. Befriend theim. Togadere thee haven to destroien eal thy blaec magike excepten youres an your partener. Then the statute fades away leaving me in complete darkness. I hear Damen calling my name which brings me back to reality.

“Alex? Are you back?”

“Yeah. And just for the record, that was the strangest vision I’ve had so far.”

“What did you see?”

“I was floating around in the dark then this statute appears and I think it told me another prophecy. But I obviously didn’t understand a thing.”

“Tell me exactly what it said."

I close my eyes and frown. I try to remember what it said. I go back to where the statute was and replay the whole scene inside my head.

“Gaderen eal blaec magike users akin thy werold. Befriend theim. Togadere thee haven to destroien eal thy blaec magike excepten youres an your partener. “ I open my eyes and smile in success.

“Okay. This language is easier than the last prophecy. I understand it perfectly.”

“What does it say, Damen?”

“Gather all black magic users in the world. Befriend them. Together you have to destroy all the blackmagic except yours and your partner.”

“What are you? An old english translator?”

Damen chuckles, “Let’s just say I’ve had lots of practice.” I laugh and shake my head. Then I stand up. Damen stands up next to me.

“So we basically we have to go on a quest and get all the blackmagic users in the world and have them destroy their blackmagic. But we keep ours.” I walk to the entrance of the Cavern and lean against the wall.


“Yup.” Damen walks out of the cave and I follow him. We both make our way back to the cafeteria to continue our lunch. I sigh. Another mission means more training. More training means more lying to my mom and more mind tricking teachers we have to do. Another mission means more danger. More chances of almost losing one another again. All this makes my head hurt.

I wake up and smile. I stretch and get out of bed. I walk over to to where my comb is and on my way there I stop at the calendar. Today’s date is circled. It’s my birthday; I’m 16. Finally! I’ve been waiting since I was ten to turn 16. And today’s the day. I jump up and down in happiness and walk over to my bathroom.


I’m eating breakfast and watching tv. My favorite show is on. I know that my mom isn’t going to be coming until tomorrow which means she has to miss my birthday. But that means she will feel guilty and surprise me with something awesome! Just then the home phone rings. I go over to it and see the caller name is my mom. I pick up the phone to answer.

“Hello?”

“Happy birthday sweetheart!!!” I wince and the volume of her voice.

“Thanks mom. But are you trying to make me go deaf on my birthday?”

She laughs, “Oops sorry. I just got so excited. I’m sorry I can’t be there for you today. But I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

“No worries mom. It’s fine.”

“So are you thinking about your sweet sixteen yet?”

“No actually I’m eating breakfast and watching tv right now.”

“Oh, well think about it. Okay?”

“You don’t have to tell me twice. So how’s London so far mom?”

“Amazing! But when it rains. Yikes! It’s crazy.”

“Well I’m fine here. No bad weather at all. Which is weird for Oklahoma.”

“Yeah it is. Oh! I have to go now honey. See you tomorrow!”

“Bye.”

I end the call and go back to the couch only to see that my show ended. So I shrug and grab my plate and head over to the kitchen. Today, I plan on going shopping. I haven’t had the chance since I got here!

______________________________________________________________________________


I’m about to open the door to leave when someone knocks. I open it and see Damen leaning against the wall with a huge smile on his face. His hands are behind his back like he’s hiding something.

“What are you doing here, Damen?”

“Happy birthday, beautiful.” Damen says in a soft voice. Then he shows me what he’s hiding


behind his back. It’s my present.

My eyes widen in surprise. Did he just call me beautiful? I clear my throat and reply, “How did you know today’s my birthday? I didn’t tell anyone.”

“I have my ways. Are you going to let me in or not?” I nod and step aside to let him enter my

house.

I lead him to the living room and invite him to sit but he doesn’t want to.

“Alex. You know how you got me two gifts for my birthday?”

“Yeah?”

“I did the same.” I nod and smile at him. I don’t want him to spend money on me like this but he already bought them. Then he hands me my present. I thank him and open it. I gasp and look at Damen to make sure I’m not imagining it. He got me a gold necklace that says my name in script.

“Oh my god. Damen? Are you serious? This is my present?”

“Yup.” I squeal and put it on the table carefully. Then I run over to him and hug him tightly.

“THANK YOU SO MUCH.” Then I let go of him and go back to get the necklace. I try to put it on but my hair keeps getting in the way.

“Here, let me help you.” Damen takes the necklace from me and I bring all of my hair to of side. He places the necklace gently on my chest and clips it together. Then I put my hair back and turn to look at him.

“Damen, this is the best gift I’ve ever got. It’s beautiful. Seriously, I love it.”

“I still didn’t show you my second gift.”

“Damen! I don’t need a second gift. This alone is too much!”

Damen chuckles, “Too bad.”

I groan, “Fine, what is it then?”

Damen looks right into my eyes, “You’re my best friend right?”

“Yeah?”

“So can I tell you a secret?”

“Yes.”

“I’m in love with my best friend.” I gasp in shock. Damen puts his arms around my waist and pulls me close. “And your second present is this.” Damen closes his eyes and leans in to place his lips onto mine. When he does, something magical erupts inside of me. I close my eyes and lift my arms to wrap them around his neck. I kiss him back passionately. When I do all of my worries fade away.