Seven

Part VII

2008-10-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

I knew it would happen. I always knew. Everything had been predetermined and set. From the beginning, I had known. No matter how many times I tried to change what was to come, it never worked, for it was bound to happen, even if it was delayed. In the end, I was the only one who tried to manipulate fate; the others knew that it was hopeless and stopped after a few times. Of course, I was always the one who was most naive out of all of us, or at least, so they said. And perhaps I was, but I tried my best to get the life I wanted.
It was inevitable for me to fall for the Controller of Time. I tried to stop myself, knowing that it would make his or her job that much harder. But I fell for Gwen, even with the pain of losing the six before her. And then I couldn't help myself that day at the beach. I wanted her to badly. I remembered all my past lives, where I had wanted the Controller of Time as well. But I held myself back those other times. This time, I couldn't.
As I held her close to me, I resisted the urge to take it farther. I felt my blood pulsing through my ears and my heart pounding like a drum. I was so frustrated and seeing her there, so beautiful in the soft moonlight... I couldn't help but take it one step farther than I had before.
I knew that she had to go save the world right after the movie I took her to, and I still tried to stop her, futile as it was. And I knew that all of them would die this time around. So I tried to make her stay with me. But I couldn't; she escaped from me. There was nothing I could do as I felt her life blink out of existence as I raced towards her and her companions. I was too late to do anything.
I found her unmoving body a couple minutes afterwards. And the notebook that she had written in. I gingerly took it out of her cold hands, kissing her bloodless cheeks and then gently on her lips. I felt a tear run down my face, and I wiped it away angrily, desperately trying not to break the dam I had built to hold the tears back.
And then I read, savoring each word that flowed onto the page from her hands. The writing was simple, but considering the circumstances, it was very good. I kissed the cover of it and slipped it into my hoodie pocket.
The Seven had not failed, nor had they succeeded. They had destroyed the opposing forces, but they could not stop the Apocalypse. But it was bound to happen. And now it was time for my group of seven to take our places.
The sky was now dark, and flashes of lightning filled the sky. A light drizzle began to fall, and the wind picked up, making my hair whip around in all directions. I held out my hands, watching the rain fall into my palms. And then I waited. I waited for the others, the ones who had traveled through the years with me. The names that they had over the years were not their real names, the names that I knew. Most people in this time called them Jacob, Jason, Johnathan, Aaron, Adam, and Alexander. I knew them as Zhakra, Crion, Skrau, Uan, Oisil, and Ealo. I felt as if it was time when they were reborn as two sets of triplets. Never before had they been born at so similar a time and location. I had also been born nearby, and as our old memories came back through the years, we became closer to each other and met secretly as we watched the two groups of seven grow up.
~*~
I felt their life auras move toward me from behind and I turned around to greet them. I hoped that the tears on my face were not visible and that my eyes were not red.
"Mrawlinn." they chimed together, for that was my true name. It had been a while since anyone had called me by that.
"I'm sorry about your sister." I said, clearly betraying my love for her. I had tried to hide it from them for a while, but I was sure that they knew anyways.
"I'm sorry for you too." Zhakra murmured, his eyes also filled with the pain of his own loss, his own affections that his sister had so adamantly protested against. And now the one that he cherished was gone, just like my own was.
"I suppose it is time for us to do what we were made for?" Skrau said quietly, his voice nearly lost in the wind.
"Yes, it is time." Uan agreed, his eyes etched with the pain of the world.
"This will be the end. We will not remember the lives we've lived if we are reborn again, including this one." Crion said, eyes looking distant and unfocused.
"We will not be able to sense or do what we can now. This is the end of the line, what we were made for." Oisil murmured. I could tell that he was thinking about the one he had lost as well. He held out his hands and Crion took one while Zhakra took the other.
"What resides in us will flow out of our bodies." Ealo added, taking Zhakra's hand. Uan and Skrau joined in, and then I finally completed the circle, connecting the gap between Skrau and Crion. There was no awkwardness, even though in normal circumstances, we would have acted as if this was uncomfortable.
"Is everyone ready for the pain we have to go through to complete this?" Skrau murmured, closing his eyes and lowering his head.
"Yes." the rest of us replied in unison; we had prepared for this day through seven generations of Controllers. We all knew of the pain that we would have to go through, but didn't know exactly how bad it would be. I never figured out how exactly we knew, but somehow, the knowledge was there.
Zhakra had always held the hope in the world inside of him. Through the years, he had felt the hope of those around him and now it was time to give that hope to the new world.
Crion could see the souls of the creatures around him, and it was his duty to give the new world its souls using his life.
Skrau would release the elements of the new world. He held the elements of the periodic table, but he also held another set of elements that the Controllers had. When they died, their elements were taken into his body, and he would give that to the new world.
Uan held all the pain of the world. Every single living being that felt some sort of sadness, hurt, and physical pains...he felt it all. The new world needed this pain despite the fact that everyone wished they could have a life without it. Life would not be life without the pain it went through.
Oisil's life would create the animals that roamed the world, including humans. His life would mold the shapes of the animals in the new world.
Ealo would use his life to create the plants that grew in the world, all the porcelain-like flowers and sturdy trees.
~*~
Without death, there is no life. Without destruction, there is no reconstruction. Without the Apocalypse, there will not be the rebirth of a world.
Now it was time for us to create the new world, the rebirthing of the world that was being destroyed by the Armageddon.
The wind whipped around us, blowing our clothing and hair in every which direction. We were now soaked and thunder sounded more and more often. There was a enormous rumble of noise and a flash that blinded us. And then there was nothing but us. It wasn't black or dark, or light or bright, but there was nothing-ness. The only thing that existed was us, floating in the middle of nothing.
"With my life, I give the new world hope." Zhakra started, face lighting up with all the hope he had felt from the world through the years.
"With my life, I give the new world its souls." Crion cried out, remembering all the souls he had seen as they passed.
"With my life, I give the new world its elements." Skrau sighed, recalling his time just listening to the wind blow of the feel of moss beneath his fingertips.
"With my life, I give the new world all the agony it must go through." Uan screamed, his whole body rigid with all the pain he had held from all in the world as it flowed freely from him.
"With my life, I give the new world its creatures." Oisil murmured, thinking of all the animals and people he had encountered.
"With my life, I give the new world its plants." Ealo whispered, imagining the delicacy and durability of the greenery he had been around.
"With my life, I bind all of these together for the new world." I ended, tying together what they had offered at the cost of their lives.
And then I threw my head back and screamed, feeling the searing pain rush through through me. I couldn't see, I couldn't hear. I could barely think. Mostly, I could feel the pain and cry out as it made it destroyed me. It was as if something was ripping me apart from inside, consuming my innards, but not killing me. And at the same time, it felt as if I was burning in the most intense heat I'd ever felt, as if I was on fire but not dying. Then it felt as if I was drowning, for I couldn't breathe; it was if there was no oxygen anymore and nothing was filling my lungs. My hands gripped ever tighter and I felt the two next to me digging their nails into my skin. And then even the sensation of their hands against mine faded. I had no idea what happened to them; I only knew that I was left with only my own pain and my mind.
Holding onto my thoughts of the Controllers of Time and my love for them through the years, I tried to block out the pain.
Remember Kiersa's gentle hand on your cheek. Remember Alexandra's soft kiss upon your forehead. Remember Anne's beauty as she walked down that gilded hall, the one where you were a simple servant. Remember Meng, the ruffian boy who almost killed you but stopped when he looked into your eyes. Remember Elaine, though she was older than you, you loved her. Remember Will, the gentle boy who saved the world. Remember Gwen and the feeling of her lips against yours and the warmth of her body against yours. Remember...
~*~
And the world began anew again, a new place that would have new Controllers, new Guardians, and a new group of seven that would have to recreate the world again.

Part VI

2008-08-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

"Gwen!!!" whined Justine, her eyes flaring up into flames.
"What?" I snapped, frustrated with my own failures and my friends' failures.
"I'm tired. We're tired. Can we stop yet?" The fire died from her eyes and smoked slightly as I sighed.
"Fine. Take a break." Carmen's water weapons dropped to the ground and she jumped into the salty ocean.
"What's the rush anyways? I mean, it's not like we're going to be up against the Apocalypse anytime soon." Linda huffed, creating a tree to lean against. Carmen's head popped out of the waves and she climbed back onto the beach, completely dry still.
"Did I not tell you that it's probably going to be in 2012?" Carmen, Kendra, and Ellen joined Linda under her tree.
"So? We've still got three years." Tiffany sighed and plopped herself next to Ellen. She waved an absentminded hand in the air and a light breeze swirled around the tree. The tree stuck out in the middle of the beach. If anyone had seen, it would have been a weird sight.
It was the beginning of our sophomore year. I had trained them hard during the summer. They hadn't liked it at all, but I was scared. I didn't want to die, nor did I want them to die. With added school work, the amount of time we had to do homework and train was slowly decreasing. I could slow down time enough for our homework to take only 30 minutes in real time, but it was taxing on me.
The opposing seven were beginning to travel around the world and wreak havoc. So we had to fight against them.
Natalie's power allowed them to travel from place to place quickly, but we couldn't. We depended on Tiffany's wind to carry us from place to place. And it was difficult.
Natalie caused volcanic eruptions and earthquakes that were difficult to stop. We had no control over the earth, and Linda did her best to hold the earth together with her plants. Justine also worked with Linda, holding back the volcanoes as best she could.
Meanwhile, Queenie was creating massive sandstorms, increasing the rate of growing deserts. Tiffany did her best to hold back the powerful torrents of sand.
Rachel and Kimberly were causing problems in large cities, causing blackouts. There was little we could do about that, but Carmen was doing something with her water to prevent Rachel's electricity from messing with the cities. But even if the power didn't actually go out, Kimberly sometimes was still able to create a cloak of darkness. Justine usually worked with Carmen because her flames sometimes could penetrate the muffling gloom.
Somehow, Bianca had helped to create better, more powerful weapons under a false name and now some countries were turning against each other in fear of being attacked. This one was difficult. With the countries bombarding others with destructive weapons, they were essentially helping with creating the Armageddon. They didn't know it, but we did. Justine also helped out here, trying to extinguish the flames or the firepower of the weapons before they got anywhere. I also gave her time, especially since she had such difficulty putting out the fire. It was easier for her to create rather than destroy flames. Tiffany helped a bit as well, using air to slow down the weapons and try to put out the fire.
Michelle worked to make the sun's rays brighter and more brilliant, helping with the greenhouse effect. Ellen and Kendra mostly worked against Michelle. Having Ellen there made it hard for Michelle to do what she was supposed to. They still loved each other, but they had to fight against each other. I know it killed Ellen to go against Michelle, showing Kendra mentally what Michelle was about to do as they attacked each other. Michelle could only create illusions, but her illusions often were so powerful that the body imagined being hurt and actually damaged itself. Kendra was the one who was hurt most of the time. Ellen must have been dying inside, fighting against her love, but watching her twin get hurt. It was a good thing that Carmen was slowly learning how to manipulate the body's cells to heal wounds.
It was a dangerous experimentation of Carmen's and she was terrified of hurting someone. But some of the wounds we got had to be healed by someone within the seven. If our parents found out, or anyone else... I shudder to think what could have happened if we had gotten caught. It would have made it even harder to get out of the house and save the world.
She was very careful though, and most of her attempts did work. It was harder for her to heal though, because liquids other than water used up more of her energy and more effort. We tried our best not to get hurt, naturally, but sometimes injuries couldn't be avoided.
We also learned to watch out for the opposing seven's Guardians. There was Yolanda, Marianne's monkey, Oliver, Natalie's red eyed tree frog, Samantha, Rachel's cheetah, Rose, Bianca's humming bird, Issac, Queenie's king cobra, Artemis, Kimberly's panther, and Apollo, Michelle's lion. Those guardians sometimes would attack us while we were fighting against each other. Thank goodness we had Hana and the other Guardians to help.
Our parents wondered why we always were so tired and ended up coming home with wrinkled or ripped clothes. They were worried for us and sent us into therapy. Not like it helped. It just wasted time. Ellen helped us, thankfully, and read the therapists minds for us, instructing us what to tell them so that they would be convinced that we were fine. Well, we were fine, in our opinion, but our parents sure didn't. They were annoyed at the therapists and basically every day, tried to wheedle information out of us. Naturally, we couldn't tell them that we were trying to stop the Apocalypse. I mean, we could, but they wouldn't believe us. Who would?
Jacob and Aaron continued their relationship with Bianca and Rachel, much to my distaste. I loved Jacob and Aaron, but who in their right mind would go out with those two?! I suppose that people who didn't know that they were out to destroy the world would see them are cute, attractive girls, but they repulsed me. They had my two brothers practically under their spell. Jacob and Aaron were almost like dogs, begging Bianca and Rachel for their love and affection. It was disgusting. I wished the two would snap out of it. I wasn't even sure if the two girls liked my brothers or not.
The world was slowly deteriorating and there was little we could do about it. Hurricanes and tornadoes were becoming more and more common, and Tiffany couldn't hold them back by herself. All she could do was weaken them and hope they wouldn't do too much damage. Global warming was increasing its speed and almost all the coral in the ocean was gone. The ice in the north was nearly all gone, and so many species had died. It seemed no matter what we did, things just got worse. And the opposing seven knew.
~*~
"Um... Gwendolyn?" I whipped around on my heels to see Erin sheepishly looking at me through a curtain of chocolate brown hair. Erin was my lab partner in science class. He (yes, HE!) was a pretty good partner, a little shy sometimes, but overall intelligent and athletic. He was a runner too, but he did a different style of running. I did more cross country style, and he was a sprinter. And he was FAST. He was one of the first I'd ever seen who could beat me in running speed, even though I did cross country.
"Oh, hi Erin." We had a thing going on between us. He refused to call me Gwendolyn, and since he hated being called Erin (he preferred Eri), I called him that.
"Do you want to go running with me today?" I hesitated. The Apocalypse couldn't wait forever, but it would have been nice to go running with him.
"I...have something to do today... How about after dinner?" I'd have to slow down time a lot in order to finish homework really quickly after dinner.
"After dinner? But it'll be dark then." I sighed.
"Who says you can't run in the dark?" I had run after dark a couple times, though it was a little difficult. With one of those lights that could be mounted on one's head, it was possible.
"Ha ha, fine, you win. See you at your house at around...?"
"Seven would be good." I smiled and winced inwardly at the time. There were seven of us, but there were seven of them as well. I just hoped that things would turn out alright.
"Cool. See ya then." He walked off with a little grin on his face, hazel eyes sparkling slightly. I wondered if Justine and Dustin were right. Justine heard from Dustin that Erin liked me, and I suppose that it was likely, but... I sighed. I liked him as a friend, but I wasn't sure if I liked him that way. Or maybe I did. I didn't really know.
I wandered off to the tree and readied myself for another battle.
~*~
"Alright, let's get going then." Linda smiled, weariness etched into her eyes. We all were tired. No matter how hard we tried to hide it or how much we slept, we looked exhausted. And we were, though we had enough energy to make it through each day.
"Ready, Gwen?" I nodded to Carmen.
"I'm ready."
"Tiffany?"
"Ready."
"Ellen?"
"All set!" I began to rotate my left hand and Tiffany whisked us into the air. That took some getting used to. It was an odd sensation, knowing that we were in the air, standing on nothing but air. Ellen took care of the minds of people who happened to see, modifying their memories slightly. The people knew that they saw something, but they thought it was a flock of birds. It was hard for Ellen to do, and birds were all she could do for now. Her usual work involved reading minds and talking to other people telepathically.
Ellen also directed Tiffany where to go by showing where the people were. Interestingly enough, when we landed, all of them were there. And they weren't doing anything. Yet.
I took a quick glance around as my feet touched the ground. We were in a heavily wooded area, probably somewhere in northern Europe or Asia, judging from the cool temperature.
"Hello all." Marianne said. Yolanda rested in her arms as she spoke.
"What do you want today? Haven't you caused enough trouble as it is?" Linda's words were cold and edgy.
"We want one final battle with you. The Apocalypse is almost there. But we want to face you one last time before we destroy this world." Bianca smiled icily, with Rose fluttering next to her. The end of the world wasn't in 2012 after all. At least, I hoped it wouldn't be then or the next day.
"Is that what it is? You get to go to another world if you destroy this one?" Justine's eyes were narrowed as Vinnie slipped into his fox form. I felt Hana slip from my neck and morph into a wolf beside me. She rubbed against my leg comfortingly as Rachel replied.
"Something along those lines. And of course, you won't be there." She ran her fingers down the side of Samantha's spotted pelt as she laughed, her voice echoing through the trees.
"You'll all be gone." Bubbled Kimberly and Michelle, though Michelle's eyes were still sad, as they had been from the start. That ghost of sorrow had never disappeared during the whole time. Their two large felines slunk next to them, one a dark shadow, the other a glowing sun. Artemis and Apollo, respectively. How fitting.
I felt a growl ripple through through Hana, and a put a gentle hand on her shoulder to silence her. Now wasn't the time.
"When will this battle be?" Tiffany's voice floated around on an invisible breeze as Pax flew around us.
"Tomorrow after school at 5. I'm sure you'll know where from your little mind-reading freak." Natalie spat.
"Freak? Just look at yourselves. Then you'll know where the real freaks are!" snapped Kendra. Laura let out a menacing screech, or however one would describe the noises a komodo dragon makes.
"If we're freaks, then what are you? Life's final mistakes?" retorted Queenie. Issac hissed angrily as he hung loosely around Queenie's neck.
"We'll see you tomorrow then." Carmen said calmly, clearly trying to end the pissing match.
"Fine. Goodbye." Marianne gave a tight lipped smile, eyes emotionless.
"See you tomorrow." I said, with an edge to my words.
The earth came up from underneath them and then they were swallowed up into the ground.
"Let's go back then. I see no point in staying any longer." Linda said.
"I'll send you guys back, but I'll go around with Ellen to try to fix a couple things." Tiffany looked at Ellen who nodded.
We went back in the same manner as we left, except that Tiffany placed us on the beach.
"See you later then." I said, giving Tiffany and Ellen a gentle hug.
"Yeah, we'll see you later!" Ellen smiled before they both flew up into the air. Ellen and Kendra had gotten a little more distant lately, especially since Kendra was spending so much time with Carmen. It didn't seem to bother Ellen though. She seemed to understand, I guess.
The others departed for the bus, and I went back home. I didn't bother speeding up time around me so that I could make it seem like I did my homework at super speed. It was the first time in a long while that I had actually done my homework at normal speed. I finished just in time for dinner and didn't wolf down my food. My parents looked puzzled, but they didn't ask. I was thankful that Rachel and Bianca didn't join us for dinner. They did that sometimes, and the meals ended up with me glaring at them and them glaring back at me.
After dinner, I found that it was only half past six, so I went up to the roof and just stared at the sky, watching the blue turn darker until I felt it was about time to get down. Just in time, too.
"Gwen! Some...boy is here!" I winced. My brothers would have heard my father shouting.
"Ooo, looks like someone's got a BOYfriend!" Jason said, nudging me as I walked down the hall.
"Gwen, the loveless, has actually gotten someone interested in her?" Adam said mockingly.
"The question is, does she like him?" Alexander said, grinning evilly.
"All of you just shut up!" I screeched, annoyed. They took this as a yes.
"Gwen and mystery boy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" taunted Johnathan. I could only hear the rest of the muffled song as I went to the door with my light. He had gotten one too.
"Hey Gwendolyn." Erin said, hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Hey Erin." I said, smiling slightly.
"Have fun, Gwen!" My father said, winking at me. I gave an exasperated groan and pushed him away as I closed the door behind me.
"What was that about?" Erin asked. Clueless.
"Nothing you want to know." I replied, rolling my eyes. We ran in silence, listening to the noises of the night, the pitter patter of our feet, and our ragged breaths. He tired quickly (or at least, faster than myself), so we made many stops. It took us around an hour and a half before we got back to my house. I suggested we go to the beach, and he followed me down to the water's edge.
I kicked off my shoes and rolled up my pants, dipping my feet into the water. I shivered slightly as the water flowed up to my ankles. I waded in a little more until the water was up to mid-calf level.
"Eee. It's cold." whined Erin, who had waded in behind me.
"Well, deal with it." I smiled. I wiggled my toes in the wet sand underneath my feet, feeling little rocks mixed in with the grains.
I took a sharp breath as I felt arms wrapped around my shoulders. If anyone else had done that, I would have ripped their arms away from me, but.., Somehow...it was okay when he did it.
"Gwendolyn?" he asked, his head resting on my shoulder next to my ear. Gods, he was warm. I could practically feel the heat radiating from his body.
"Yes Erin?" My voice came out more quiet than I had wanted it to.
"I... I really like you a lot. I've been dying to say this. Will you go out with me?"
"Erin..." I thought about how much time I had. "Alright. Tomorrow after school okay with you?"
"Yes. Thank you, Gwendolyn. You won't regret it." He released me from his hold and turned me around, looking deep into my eyes.
"We'll see." I said, smiling.
~*~
As we walked back to my house, with slightly damp and sandy feet, we talked about who was the better runner, a long term argument that still hadn't been decided. When we got to the door, I pulled out my house key and prepared to open the door.
"So...see you tomorrow?" I said, fiddling with the key with my fingers.
"Yeah, see ya." He turned and I heard his footsteps move away from me for a couple seconds. But then the sound stopped, and I turned around, key still stuck halfway through the lock, confused at why he stopped.
"Eri-" I was about to ask him if something was wrong, when I found his lips pressed gently against mine, for just a moment.
"Goodnight, Gwendolyn." he said quietly, flushing slightly in the pale light of the moon. And then he was gone.
I touched my fingers to where his lips had just been and felt heat rising up to my cheeks. I stayed there for a couple minutes, waiting for the heat to die down before entering the house.
"How did it go, Gwen?" Jason asked, smiling mischievously.
"None of your business, Jason. But if you must know, it went well." I replied coolly, smiling at him sweetly before going up into my room.
I flopped myself onto the bed even though it was only around 8:30. For the first time in a long while, I was able to fall asleep peacefully.
~*~
"Did something happen to you, Gwen?" I smiled at Justine.
"Nothing, nothing at all!" I chirped happily.
"You seem... Different, somehow." Linda said suspiciously.
"Something good happen?" Carmen asked, definitely trying to get me to say what occurred the previous night.
"Maybe." I didn't really give them time to ask more before I began to ask what we were going to do today.
The rest of the early morning was spent discussing the plan for after school. I briefly mentioned I'd be going somewhere before the battle, and they tried to get me to say, but I kept my mouth shut. But then Ellen had to go and read my mind.
"Ooo! I know now!"
"What is it Ellen, what is it?" Carmen was half jumping up and down in excitement.
"Gwen's got a b-" I clapped a hand over her mouth.
"I've got a...brother." I said, trying not to blush.
"Why are you blushing?" Tiffany asked, expression innocent.
"Could it be that...GWEN'S GOT A BOYFRIEND?!" Justine shrieked.
"Shhh!" I hissed, putting my other hand over Justine's mouth.
"NO way!" Linda screamed, eyes going big like saucers. I sighed.
"It's Erin."
"Erin? A girl?" Tiffany asked. "Not that there's anything wrong with it, I just didn't know!" she added quickly after.
"Erin's a boy." I said, chuckling slightly. "You probably know him by Eri."
"Oh... Though you said you only saw him as a friend..."
"Justine, times change. Stuff happens." I rolled my eyes.
"So you have a date with him?" Kendra piped in.
"Yes, I have a date. If all goes well after, I can continue dating him. If not...well...we're all screwed. Hope it doesn't happen."
"Well... Good luck with the date! And the rest of school!"
"Thanks, Linda..."
~*~
School was pretty much a blur. I was mostly too preoccupied thinking about Erin and saving the world after our date. The only class that I really paid attention to was science, because Erin was there.
"No, Gwendolyn, that goes there." I sighed and looked again. He was right, as usual.
"Sorry, Erin, I guess I'm just a little out of it." He smiled at me and then took my wrist gently, moving the piece I had been working with to where it should have been. I had always been hopeless at trying to set up the microscopes properly, and today definitely wasn't my best day.
"I'll go get the sample. Be right back." Letting go of my wrist, he left my side, and I felt as if something was missing as I waited for him. I tried not to let myself speed up time. I would need all the energy I could get for later.
"Back." The sample slid under the lens and he nudged me gently towards the microscope.
"You should look first." I protested, but I looked into the microscope all the same.
"My turn." I moved away and he took my spot, marking information on the assignment paper. I knew that he was pretty much doing all the work, but I really needed a break. Everything was insanely stressing, and though he was soothing to be next to, it wasn't enough.
For the rest of the class, I could tell that he was flirting with me. My body reacted to it, but the rest of me remained stressed out and distracted. It wasn't until after school that I could really pay attention to him.
~*~
"What movie do you want to watch?" I stared at the movie theater sign.
"Um..." I hadn't watched a movie in...a very long time. "How about you choose?"
"What kind of movie do you like watching?" He really was very determined to get me to choose something.
"I'm an action girl, but I like movies with complicated plots."
"Er... How about... The Dark Knight?"
"Sure, I don't really know if there's anything good to watch anyways... I don't watch movies very often."
"Alright." I felt his hand slip around mine, and I looked up at him. Smiling a little, I turned back to the counter.
"Two tickets for The Dark Knight." I pulled out a 10 dollar bill, and he took my hand gently and pushed it down.
"I'll pay."
"No you aren't."
"Why not?"
"Because I said so. I'll pay for myself." We both put our money on the counter. My ten ended up on top of his 20.
"Whose money should I take?" asked the bewildered lady behind the counter.
"Mine." we both said at the same time.
"This isn't helping me." She threw up her hands into the air.
"Here, you know what?" I shoved my ten into his jacket pocket and pushed the twenty towards the lady.
"What? Take back your ten!"
"I don't want to!"
"Here's your tickets. Enjoy the movie. Next!" I shoved Erin towards the concessions stand.
"You can pay for the food if it makes you feel better." He smiled.
"Okay, what do you want."
"Nothing." I beamed. He scowled. "I win." Sticking out my tongue at him in defiance, he challenged it and stuck out his own tongue. We just glared at each other until we both burst into peals of laughter.
He bought a small coke and a medium bag of popcorn. We settled down in the middle of the theater, not too close to the screen, but not too far away.
I honestly didn't really pay too much attention to the movie. All I could concentrate on was listening to his breath soft against my neck as he whispered comments about the movie. I guess I really did like him.
~*~
When the movie ended (and I didn't really know what happened at ALL in the movie), he ended up with his arm around my shoulder, and we walked out in that fashion. Flipping out my cell phone and turning it on, I realized that it was already ten minutes to five.
"Erin?"
"What is it, Gwendolyn?"
"I'm so sorry, but I really have to go now."
"Why such a rush?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Hopefully I'll see you soon. If things don't turn out well...I can't say much more than that."
"Wai-" That was all I heard before I dashed off to find my friends.
We'll come get you at that tree over there, Gwen. I heard Ellen's voice and I skidded to a stop. I had to hide from Erin in the tree as he ran by it, probably frantically searching for me. I sighed and wished that I didn't have the huge responsibility of saving the world. That just wasn't cool sometimes.
My friends showed up a couple seconds after Erin passed and I jumped to the ground and joined them.
"Let's get going then, shall we?" I said, giving a worried smile.
"I guess so." Justine said, sighing and visibly preparing herself for the ordeal ahead. Tiffany lifted us up as I slowed down time enough for us to get to the location that Ellen found by five. They were already there and waiting for us.
They had taken us to a desert location with giant hunks of rock circling the area. They had clearly chosen an area to their advantage.
"You're late." Marianne remarked, looking casually at a watch on her wrist.
"We're not late, you're just too early." Carmen said, taking Marie from her neck. Hana slipped off my neck of her own accord and shifted into a wolf beside me, hackles raised and fur rippling.
"Then let us begin." Queenie said, and sand lifted up into the air around her.
~*~
"Fuck!" screeched Justine, tossing a fireball the size of my head toward Kimberly, who wrapped a shadow around Carmen's eyes. The shadow twitched and released its hold over her eyes, and a torrent of water covers Queenie's sand, dampening it and making it heavier. Queenie cursed as her sand dropped with the extra weight, missing me by inches. Tiffany sent a sand tinged gust of wind at Michelle, who lifted her arms and braced herself against the grains of sand. Queenie had been distracted enough not to block the sand, and drops of blood began to flow down Michelle's arms and legs where her skin had been vulnerable.
I felt useless as I tried to help my teammates by slowing down the opponents' attacks. Ellen stood beside me, connecting our minds and showing all of us what the others intend to do.
Marianne gave a shout and I was thrown backwards with the force of the sound. I slowed down time for me and managed to catch myself. Barely. My arms and palms were scraped from the impact and begin to bleed. Normally, Carmen would heal us, but she needed all the energy she had to protect herself.
Linda made a cactus appear underneath Natalie, who yelped with pain and ripped the plant to shreds with shards of earth. Bianca tried to strike Kendra, but Ellen warned us just in time. Carmen shot a ball of water above Kendra's head and the water absorbed the electrical shock. I watched in horror as Carmen, concentrating only on save Kendra, was shot down by a pellet of metal. It embedded itself into her back, and crimson blood poured out from the wound. I rushed to her side, slowing down the time around us so I can talk to her while protecting her.
"Carmen. It's going to be okay." I tried to sooth her, but it didn't help. Her eyes were wide with fright, and her brow was pinched with pain. My eyes welled with tears and my vision blurred, but I had to keep my concentration.I kept one hand twirling as I listened to Hana's growls and barks, along with the snarls and hisses of the guardians.
"Gwen... Get Ken-" Her words were cut off by shriek that sounded forced out of her lungs. Body writhing with agony, I tried to hold her down as Kendra reached Carmen's side.
"No. No. Oh god, no." I hear Kendra whisper next to me as her crumpled and she collapsed to the ground, head in her hands.
"K-kenda." choked out Carmen.
"Carmen, my darling Carmen." whimpered Kendra as she dragged herself to Carmen's side.
"Don't be afraid, dearest. I love you, Kendra. Ah..." Her words were a sigh as her eyes fluttered shut and her body went limp. Marie looked at us sadly as she faded away into the air. Now that Carmen was gone, she would not appear again until the next Controller of Water was born.
The tears from my eyes fell freely as I stood up and tried to pay attention to the fight ahead. There would be more time to mourn later, I told myself. I couldn't afford to break down now.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the tears of the other members glistening in the sunlight.
"NNNNNOOOOO!!!" screamed Kendra, head tilted to the sky. Her eyes filled with hatred and she lifted up hunks of rock. Natalie tried to take the rocks back into her control, but Kendra was too strong, too angry, too powerful.
With a flick of her wrist, all the rocks were sent shooting towards Bianca, who had no time to react. The rocks pierced through her, and she stared at the hold in her body before her eyes flipped up and she fainted. Rose gave a few feeble flutters before she melted into nothingness.
Still angry, Kendra lifted more rocks, sending them shooting towards the other members of Bianca's group. But they were prepared this time.
"Kendra, stop! You're using too much energy!" shouts Ellen. I realized that Ellen was right as I side stepped a slowed down sword of sand sent to me from Queenie.
Almost as if something snapped within Kendra, she suddenly froze in her movements, and the items in her control dropped to the ground. Her body fell to the ground. She had exceeded her limit and her body couldn't take it. I hope that it was a painless death. Laura gave a screech of lament before she disappeared, just like Marie had done.
More tears blurred my vision, but I whipped them away with my left hand, still keeping my right hand moving. Now I tried to slow the time around the objects that were being shot at members of my group.
I would have carried Carmen's body out of the way, but I couldn't afford to stop slowing down time. The only thing I could do was stand next to her unmoving body and protect the others.
Ellen walked up beside me and put a hand on my shoulder.
She died happy, Gwen. Carmen at least. Kendra felt no pain and was at peace at the last moment of her life.
"Thanks, Ellen." I murmured, knowing that she was going through as much pain as I was, if not more. She had been inside their minds in their last moments. For her, it must have been like dying twice. She had even taken the consideration to cut the rest of us off from their minds before they died. My heart ached with their deaths, but I had to go on protecting the remaining 4 members of my group, not including myself.
Would all of us die like the pattern had revealed? I didn't know then, and I hoped it would not come to be true.
I whipped around my head just in time to see a sand dagger plunge into Linda's leg. She fell onto her knees without a sound, eyes closed tightly in agony. I watched her take a deep shuddering breath before she ripped it out of her flesh. Only then did she allow herself to scream.
Rachel sent a bolt of lightning toward Linda, and I slowed it down in time for Linda to create a tree to divert the deadly shock.
Linda, are you alright? I asked, tears still refusing to stop falling from my eyes.
I'm...okay. I can't stand... she gasped out mentally, hands clutching her wound. One of her hands wrapped several leaves around the wound, stopping the blood from leaving her system, while the other created a wall of thorns to block Natalie's wave of sand. Will should have been at Linda's side, comforting her as she bled, but I noticed that he lay on the side, limp and unmoving. He was dead, but would stay there until Linda's life fled her body. A new Guardian of Plants would help the next Controller of Plants.
I watched an illusion of a stampede of cows ripple toward us. One of Michelle's mind tricks. Ellen did her best to block it, and through the mental link, I felt her sadness and pain at fighting against Michelle. Despite all that she had gone through, her feelings for the other girl had not diminished.
The bovines disappeared from my vision, but cuts appeared suddenly on Ellen as her body imagined horns cutting through her skin. I winced at the shower of blood. She let out a hoarse cry, and Marianne took advantage of the sudden noise, throwing me backwards. I didn't have enough time to react and my arm scraped against the ground as I landed.
Gritting my teeth, I lifted my arm and glanced at it to inspect the damage. It was a relatively deep cut, and there was a lot of sand in it. And it hurt. A lot. I could barely contain the scream the welled up inside my throat.
The bright red blood gushed down my arm, dripping to the ground, staining the sand crimson. I must have hit a rock somewhere along my fall, but I couldn't see any around where I fell. It probably was Natalie, for that would be the kind of thing she would do. I was luck to not have been stabbed by a rock spear.
It seemed only seconds passed as I watched Justine get stabbed with a sand sword through the stomach, her fireball engulfing Queenie at the same moment. Vinnie yelped and vanished with a poof of smoke, as Issac did the same.
Rachel hit Tiffany with a bolt lightning. She gave a triumphant shout as Tiffany crumpled to the ground, but her celebration of cut short when a rock that Tiffany had been blowing fell onto her head. I heard a deafening crack, and I assume the rock broke something or knocked her unconscious. Pax and Samantha were gone.
Linda had vines around Kimberly's throat, the suffocating girl gave a strangled gasp for help before she went limp and the vines curled away. Artemis gave a something between a snarl and a whimper before she faded away. Beside me, I heard Ellen begin to retch as her stomach churned. I barely could hold onto the contents of my own stomach as I continued to watch in rising horror.
Marianne shot Linda across the sea of grass with a shout, and Linda crashed into a rock sticking out of the ground. A trickle of blood came from the corner of her mouth as her eyes grew dim and sightless. Will's limp body seemed to almost melt into the sand and then was gone.
Ellen's brow furrowed in concentration, and I stared as Natalie walked right onto a some snake that did not look particularly friendly. The viper lashed out and bit Natalie on the leg, and she cried out in pain as she killed the snake with chunk of earth. Then she fell to the ground and writhed in agony as the poison rushed through her veins. Oliver, her frog guardian, could do nothing as he watched his controller die.
Michelle walked up to Ellen, no illusions, just two daggers.
"Kill me, Ellen." she whispered softly, putting one knife into Ellen's hand.
"We'll die together then." Ellen murmured, tears streaming down her face. I couldn't move, or think, as I watched them kiss each other once, before plunging the daggers into each others' backs. Cam and Apollo disappeared together, looking at each other and their guardians sadly.
Then it was just Marianne and myself. I was almost completely helpless against her. I was wounded, and my powers could do little against hers. She, on the other hand, had no wounds, and her powers were offensive. I looked at her across the plain that was covered in blood and the bodies of our friends.
Her eyes were full of tears as she screamed, sending wave after wave of pure energy rolling off of her. I curled up into a ball, covering my ears. It did little to help against the pure, unfiltered cries that pierced my ear. I'm surprised my eardrums didn't break.
Hana had no way to cover her ears in time, and was only a couple of feet away from Marianne. Her body went stiff and then she fell. I don't know what happened, for there was no wound, but her brain must have not been able to handle the extreme power.
Then, I watched as she dropped to the ground. She had overused her power in her grief, and killed herself. Yolanda gave Marianne a little caress on her cheek before I could no longer see her.
I could still hear the echoes as I lifted my hands from my ears.
I spilled out the contents of what I had in my stomach, body heaving. Moments later, I lay against the ground, body almost entirely spent. Only then did I cry.
I cried for Justine, my best friend. I cried for Linda, our group leader. I cried for Tiffany, the smart one. I cried for Carmen, the bubbly cheerful girl. I cried for Kendra and Ellen, the twins who had loved with so much passion. And I cried for myself, for I knew I was going to die soon.
I sighed and looked down at my arm, which was still bleeding and throbbing. Using my unharmed hand, I pulled out the notebook and pencil that was still in my pocket. I was glad I had brought it. I set it down on the ground, and began to write, carefully moving one foot to slow down the time around my arm. I would need all the time I could get without killing myself.
I began to write down the story of what had happened to me, and my friends. Even if no one would read it, I wanted to free myself of the events that had led to now, before I would be no more.
The sky began to darken, and there were flashes of lightning, though no rain. The Apocalypse was on its way, but I still wanted to finish. That was the last thing I wanted to do before I died.

Part V

2008-08-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

When I woke up, Hana was back in her necklace form.
"Good morning, Gwen!" she chirped, the little wolf pendant giving a wolfish grin in the mirror. I narrowed my eyes. If there were two things that bothered the crud out of me, it was people who were overly happy and people who always p.o.ed at the world.
"Good morning, Hana." I replied through gritted teeth. Why did it have to be only Thursday?
"Don't forget to put me on, shower, eat a good breakfast, g-" I cut her off.
"Hana, I've done this every day for the last couple of years, I think I'll be okay without your reminders, thank you." I gave an annoyed smile and went to take a shower.
"Err... Hana?" I asked her as I was standing in the bathroom with my clothes and towel.
"Yes, Gwen?"
"Shouldn't I take you off when I shower?"
"No, I'll be fine in the water. Thanks for your concern!" It wasn't what I had meant.
"You're welcome." I said, sighing. What I had meant was about my embarrassment at having someone look at me while I was showering. I had tried to make it subtle, but she didn't get it. I didn't want to press the issue though, so I showered with her on, blushing the whole time.
When I got to school, I wasn't the only one who was still blushing. Justine, Linda, Carmen and Kendra were blushing the hardest. The others were considerably less flushed. I had no what I looked like, but I did know I was flushed.
"Shower?" I asked everyone.
"Shower." they all said, nodding, flushing even more.
Justine began to do her homework, and Tiffany tsk tsk-ed her for not having done it the night before. Then she took out some flash cards to study. Linda absentmindedly made a couple plant sculptures with a hand while talking to Ellen, who looked like she'd been crying all night. Poor Ellen... Kendra and Carmen were sharing secret little words were each other, and I smiled to myself as I watched them out of the corner of my eye.
I just sat there by myself and listened to little bits and pieces of the others' conversations. Sometimes I felt as if I didn't fit in, and this was definitely one of them. But then Justine would usually invite me to do some great one on one trip to somewhere and we would have a blast. If not for her, I don't think I'd be a very big part. But then again, I supposed, now that we were gifted with powers, we kind of couldn't separate from each other. We had to work together.
But what about the other seven? Did they have powers? We had taken up most of the usual powers, and the only other thing I could think of was electricity or something along those lines. What could drive them to want to cause the Armageddon though? That was what puzzled me most. Why would they want to do such a thing that could harm them?
I sighed and then looked at my cell phone. It was time to go to class.
"Guys." I said quietly. "Guys." I said louder, but they didn't hear. I rolled my eyes. "GUYS!" I half-screamed at them. And then they finally heard me.
"What?" Justine snapped. She wasn't too pleased about being distracted from her homework since she really needed to get it done. I couldn't blame her.
"It's time to go to class." I said, picking up my bag. The others had this "oh..." expression on their face as they followed my example and headed off to class.
My day wasn't the most exciting, but I finally finished learning all the verb tenses in Latin and all the declensions, which was really exciting. I only wished that I could remember the all the verb tense properly. Despite the fact that there are only six verb tenses in Latin, there is the active voice and the passive voice. And of course, there are the irregular verbs that drive me crazy.
In science, we learned about global warming, which I paid a lot of attention to. If we were going to save the world from it, I'd have to learn about how it works first. I already knew a bit about how earthquakes and volcanoes were created, but global warming I didn't know quite as well.
Math was just more Algebra, and history was a test which...I hadn't studied for as much as I would have liked. Law was...alright. Not the most interesting lesson of the year, but important. And English was the start of yet another essay. I decided that I would write a draft and then write the pre-writing afterward as usual. I could never write a pre-writing before a draft. I guess it should be called a post-writing for me.
When school let out, I wove through the people in the hall and made it to the tree first. And then I waited for the others. I don't know why I wanted to get there so fast; there was just this strange force pulling me to the tree.
The others were there quickly as well. Tiffany was first, then Justine, Kendra and Ellen, Carmen, and Linda. They all seemed to feel an urge for speed. I sped up the time around us and the people were gone quickly. And then I saw seven shapes in the shadows.
"Hello, Gwen." It was Marianne. She was the first to step out of the dark. She seemed a little sad, but set on whatever she wanted to do. The six other shapes came out behind her and they stood facing us. We stood up as well and looked back at them. My group and their group had been friends, but now it was time to sever the connection.
"Hello, Marianne. It's unfortunate that we had to meet under these circumstances. And it's also too bad that we must sever our friendship because of our differences."
"Yes, Gwen, it is rather a pity. I think we would have been very good friends if it weren't for this."
Gwen, take me off! I heard Hana's voice in my head and obeyed, pulling off her and placing her gently on the ground. In a moment, she grew larger and took on her wolf shape.
Marianne had done the same, for she had a necklace with an animal on it as well. Hers was monkey, with golden fur and bright brown eyes.
"Yolanda." Hana's voice was strained and angry.
"Hana, my good old friend!" Sarcasm laced the monkey's words.
"I still don't understand why you've chosen to cause the Apocalypse. You had a choice to save the world, like me." Her words were cold and harsh. Her yellow eyes were narrowed with anger.
"If you knew, you'd join too."
"Over my dead body." Hana snarled, hackles rising. She seemed to be resisting the urge to rip Yolanda apart.
"We're just here to show you what we can do. And see what you can do as well." A short haired blonde with a cap on stepped forward. She was Bianca. A small ruby-throated humming bird fluttered beside her head.
"Are you ready for what we can do, Bianca?" Linda sounded upset, sad, and angry all at once. I couldn't blame her. I was feeling the same.
"More ready than you could imagine." Rachel said, stroking a purring cheetah next to her.
"I'll go first." Natalie said, stepping forward ahead of everyone in her group, with a small, red eyed frog on her shoulder.
She closed her eyes for a moment before a bike of earth rose from the ground. She mounted it and where she rode, a path of earth followed. The path behind her broke into pieces as she rode forward until she was high in the air. Then she suddenly shot to the ground and screeched to a halt. The bike disintegrated beneath her and then she backed up into her group.
"My turn." Queenie said, shaking her long black hair as she strode forward. A large cobra was wrapped around her head like an Egyptian crown. Her eyes met Natalie's for a moment, and I got the sense that they were more than just friends from the way that Natalie's body relaxed into mush for a second. But only a second. She pulled herself together right after.
The earth that Natalie had left began to break into smaller and smaller pieces until it was just fine grains. Was she a controller of earth as well? But then the grains rose and swirled around her like a sandstorm. Which is what it would have been if it was on a larger scale. She controlled sand. The storm slowly died away, and the sand settled back down on the ground.
"Ooo! Pick us!" It was Kimberly and Michelle. One was more excited than the other though; the other had a slightly sad expression. I guessed that sad one was Michelle. I saw Ellen close her eyes out of the corner of my eye. A shudder of a sob ran through her body, and Kendra put a gentle hand on her twin's shoulder.
Behind Kimberly was a large panther, while behind Michelle was a lion. Kimberly created clouds of darkness that seemed to suck away all the light, and Michelle created a couple illusions ghosts/people. I guessed that they were dark and light controllers, respectively.
"You ready for this?" Rachel asked, smiling. Her eyes glowed with pleasure. She stuck out a hand and a sword of crackling electricity whipped out. With a couple of fancy steps and flicks of her wrist, she created a glowing intricate design in the air that lasted for a couple seconds before fading.
"I'm next." Bianca stepped out from her position and took off a large ring of metal from her pocket. She held in gingerly in her hand before it floated into the air in a shapeless blob. And then she began to give it shapes and whip it around the air like a dancer's ribbon. Then it settled back in her hand in the ring that it was before and she slipped it into her pocket.
"Now it's me." A twinge of pain hit my chest and I tried to ignore it as I watched her step out into the center. She held up her two hands, and then clapped once. The resulting noise caused my temporary deafness and some leaves to be shaken off of the nearby trees. She smiled and then moved back into her group.
"Now it's our turn." Justine growled, stepping forward. Her body burst into flames and then there was a skateboard of flames underneath her. So she had listened to Tiffany's idea all those months ago. She whizzed through the air a couple time, performing some of her competition tricks in midair before coming back down to earth and fizzing out.
Carmen chose to go after, whipping out a large water bottle from her backpack. She opened the bottle and with a fluid motion, pulled the water out from the bottle. It swirled around her like a dancing snake, creating constantly changing designs. Then she allowed the water to go back into the bottle and let the twins go.
Kendra and Ellen held each others' hands as they showed off their powers, Kendra silently comforting Ellen. Stones and sand began to swirl around them as Kendra picked up the results of Natalie's and Queenie's work. Ellen began to say random things that were floating around in the heads of our opponents and some of them flushed when she mentioned some things that I won't put down here. The levitated items slowly floated back down and Ellen stopped talking. They smiled to each other, probably some joke between them, and Tiffany stepped forward.
Tiffany seemed a little sad as she performed her air tricks, whipping leaves into different patterns in the sky. She also managed to mess up Queenie's hair, much to Queenie's annoyance. She stopped abruptly when she was done, and the leaves slowly fluttered back down to the ground.
Linda grew a couple plants and began to use them to bear fruit, create works of art out of twining branches, and some with thorns that swayed dangerously close to the other seven. Flowers of all colors and variety bloomed and filled the air with a intoxicating fragrance and I felt my head go dizzy with pleasure from the smell.
Finally, I went. I took a moment to think about how I wanted to show them before I began. I picked up a couple stones and whipped them into the air. Then I began to slow time around the stones, making it slower with each passing moment. They watched as the stones fell slower and slower in their separate time. When the stones were about head level, I abruptly sped up time around them and they almost seemed to teleport to the ground because of the sheer speed.
I stepped back to join my group. Our group glared at theirs and they glared back. Marianne was the first to speak.
"So now you have seen our powers and we have seen ours. Impressed? We're not impressed by you." She gave a smug smirk.
"No. We're not impressed at all. In fact, we're disappointed at how pitiful your performance was." Justine snapped back.
"There'll be time for you to appreciate the sheer power of what we can do." Natalie retorted. And then walls of earth engulfed them, and they disappeared into the ground. I guessed that was Natalie's work.
"Ellen?" I turned around to see Carmen and Kendra over Ellen, who had slumped down against the tree, head in her hands. She began to cry, and all we could do was try to sooth her as she poured out her emotion through her tears. Hana and the others changed back into necklaces, and we had to help Ellen put Cam on properly, for her hands were shaking so much she could barely pick up him. Kendra decided to take Ellen home, so we all went along to try and comfort Ellen. Their parents seemed a little confused why we were all at their house, but they greeted us warmly and set out some drinks and food for us before disappearing upstairs.
"Kendra? Do they know yet?" Carmen asked, jerking her head upwards.
"No, they don't." Kendra sighed, and fiddled with her hair with one hand while patting Ellen on the back with the other.
"Know what?" Linda asked, confused. I had a general idea of what it could be. It could have been their parents not knowing about them being bi, or their parents not knowing about Ellen's relationship with Michelle.
"Their parents don't know they're bi yet." whispered Carmen softly, so they wouldn't hear from upstairs.
"Oh..." sighed Tiffany, closing her eyes.
"Do your parents know, Carmen?" It wasn't really the time to ask, but I couldn't blame Justine for asking all the same.
"Not yet." Her expression grew a little sad but she wiped it away when she turned back to Ellen to help Kendra comfort her.
"What am I gonna do?" wailed Ellen, sobbing against the table.
"Shh... It's going to be alright. We'll figure something out." Carmen said, trying her best to calm the crying girl.
"How can it be alright? I love-" she broke off. I noticed that they were careful not to mention the gender of the person or the name.
"Maybe we can change the person's opinion and get the person on our side." Kendra suggested, trying to remain optimistic.
"Do you really think so?" Ellen asked, sniffing and rubbing away tears.
"Yeah, I think so too." Carmen replied, smiling at Ellen, although her eyes betrayed that she wasn't quite convinced. There was a moment of silence as Ellen hiccuped and recovered. When she finally stopped crying, we all gave her a hug and had to leave for dinner. There wasn't quite enough room in their house for seven hungry girls. My house was probably the only house equipped to handle so many people. Carmen stayed though. I bet Kendra and Ellen's parents thought that Carmen was just a close friend. Well, technically she was. But more than a friend as well.
The rest of us went to my house, calling parents on cell phones along. Both sets of triplets were a pain during dinner, bothering us while we were trying to eat by stabbing us in ribs with their fingers. I had to lock them out of the room. Sort of. That is, if you count propping chairs against the doors as locking. But it worked.
After dinner, we had a couple hours of homework (with Justine whining the whole time until I turned on my computer and played some of her style music, much to the despair of everyone else) and then we started talking.
"I feel really bad for Ellen..." murmured Tiffany, looking at her toes as she talked.
"Yeah, what's she gonna do? Hell, what are we gonna do?" Justine said, clenching and un-clenching her hands.
"I don't know..." Linda, our planner, didn't know what to do. We were sunk. Unless someone else could come up with something.
"I guess... Try to save the world and make sure they don't get in our way while trying to convince Michelle to get on our side?" It was weak, and I knew it. We all already knew what I said; I didn't present anything new.
"Yeah, how the hell are we supposed to do that?" Justine was definitely frustrated. She was swearing more than usual.
"Well...we could start buy recycling and trying to stop global warming. Linda could grow more trees and Carmen could try to help clean the water. Justine could try to do something about the volcanoes and Gwen can slow down time to make sure we have time to do everything else we need to do. I could try to do something about the storms. Ellen can search for people who want to attack us, AKA Rachel and them. Kendra could just help around as she sees fit. Ellen can try to talk to Michelle without Kimberly interfering and maybe work something out. What do you think?" We all stared at Tiffany for a moment. She'd never really spoke up about things like this before and now that she had, she seemed to be our newest planner. What else did she have in that head of hers that we'd never heard?
"That...is a pretty good plan." I managed to say.
"Why haven't you ever spoken up like this?" Linda asked, also having picked up on what I had.
"Because I never saw the point of doing so. You always took lead, so I let you. Since you couldn't come up with anything this time, I decided to take your place. Temporarily though."
"Daaamn!" Justine said, laughing. We joined in with the laughing, though I was still worried about everything we had to deal with. I guessed the others were too. I let Tiffany log onto gmail to tell the twins and Carmen about the plan. Ellen was a little worried, but Tiffany convinced her that it would all work out in the end. Although, I don't know about how convinced everyone else was. I know I wasn't very, and I shouldn't have doubted Tiffany, but in this situation, who could help themselves?
"GWEN!!!" My head jerked up. Someone was calling me from downstairs. It was my mother.
"WHAT?" I shouted back to her.
"COME MEET JACOB AND AARON'S GIRLFRIENDS!" I sighed.
"Want to come see?" I meekly asked my friends, feeling slightly embarrassed. My mother always had me meet my brothers' girlfriends. They nodded, smiling slightly, and we clunked down the stairs.
When we got into the living room, my breath stopped dead at who my brothers had their arms around.
~*~
"You!" I said accusingly, pointing a finger at one of them. "And you!" I pointed my finger at the other.
"What the hell?!" screeched Bianca from underneath Jacob's arm. Why did it have to be Jacob?!
"What are you doing here?!" screamed Rachel, still pressed against Aaron.
"I'm their sister." I answered as cooly as I could, resisting the urge to really hurt the two girls.
"Oh, so you know each other already?" Jacob said, smiling. Gods, he was so clueless sometimes.
"Well that's great! You'll all get along well, I hope?" Aaron said, also grinning. I really wanted to smash in their heads.
Behind me, Justine, Tiffany and Linda stared at Bianca and Rachel. Justine had murder in her eyes, while Tiffany and Linda were just plain old shocked.
"We'll get along...just fine." I growled through gritted teeth.
"Then we'll leave you guys here for some quality bonding time. See ya later, Rachel! Don't worry, I'll be back." Aaron kissed her on the forehead (he KISSED her!!!! *twitch*) and dragged Jacob out.
"Dammit, why do you have to be related to him?!" shouted Bianca, stomping over to me and getting all up in my face.
"It's not my fault. It's your fault for choosing him." I tried not to smack her.
"And I had thought that I finally found a decent guy." snarled Rachel, staring me down as well.
"You're two on four; outnumbered." Tiffany pointed out.
"We could take you." Bianca said, giving an smug grin.
"No way in hell could you do that." Justine shot back, baring her teeth in a feral manner. I wondered when she'd learned how to do that for a moment, then focused back on Bianca, who was still in my face. I pushed her away.
"Don't you get in my face." I said, keeping a dangerous quiet tone in my voice. She faltered for a moment, then put on a determined expression.
"I can get in your face if I want."
"Yeah? Just try, one more time." My hands turned into fists, and my stance shifted slightly to a more guarded one.
"I will." She smiled, and then stepped forward.
One foot spun counterclockwise as I shifted my weight and slammed a fist into her stomach. I stopped spinning my foot and watched her double over in pain.
"You asked for that." I said, standing over her crumpled form. Rachel then cried out and leapt at me. Justine was in front of her before I time to react, and slammed her in the side of her face. I hoped she didn't break anything.
Rachel fell over, clutching at her cheek. I made a quick check, and was pretty sure she'd only end up with a bruise. A nasty one though.
~*~
I got in trouble, grounded for a month. My laptop was taken away. I wasn't allowed to text. And I got beat up by Jacob and Aaron while Mom wasn't looking. I ended with a lot of bruises. Mostly on my arms and stomach, so it wasn't too hard to hide the next day. They hurt whenever I moved though.
I told the others when we got to school, and we talked about what we were going to do in each household to recycle and the like. My house already had a recycling system set up in our house, so I didn't have too much stuff to do. We were already doing a lot for the environment. That was all we got to before it was time to go to school though.
Through the school day, I was pretty much sulking and when classes were over, I said goodbye to my friends and slunk home. I did homework, did some swimming, and then stared at the sky for a while on the roof. It was really boring. At around 6, I had dinner and then went back to my room. Hana chose that time to change into her animal form.
"Hana?" She turned her head to me.
"Hn? What is it, Gwen?"
"Do you have any other forms?" She was thoughtful for a moment before answering.
"Just my human form."
"Wait. You all have human forms?"
"Yes." She shifted a little on my bed, getting more comfortable.
"Why don't you use them?"
"I don't know. I just prefer my animal form over my human form."
"Can I see your human form?" She sighed.
"Sure, why not?" She jumped off the bed, landing on the ground with a gentle thump and then turned around to me. With a fluid motion, she shifted her weight to her two back legs. Her fur began to grow shorter and her body began changing to a more human shape. She grew taller and the tail and ears disappeared along with most of the fur.
When she was done changing, she had a pale silver dress that went to her ankles. It was a simple strapless dress lined with fur at the bottom and shimmered in the light. Despite her tall, slender human appearance, she could never have been thought as a normal human. Her yellow eyes and grey hair were a little out of place. And she had an air of wildness, something not human. But she was gorgeous.
"Wow." I breathed out, staring at her.
"It's not that impressive." she said, blushing slightly.
"Not that impressive? Right..." I said, rolling my eyes and smiling.
"You should see the others!" she protested, her face still flushed.
"Whatever you say..." I wasn't convinced. But then again, I really hadn't seen the others.
"Anyways, can I change back?" Her yellow eyes wide into puppy-dog eyes.
"Fine." I consented. She shrank and her fur grew back as she dropped to all fours. Then she was back as a furry wolf again.
She bounded back onto the bed, the whole frame quivering for a moment before she settled down.
~*~
The next couple weeks passed uneventfully. I ran, did homework, talked with Hana, and sat on the roof. But Hana and I began to tighten our bond during this time. She began to teach me what the previous Controllers of Time had learned during her time as the Time Guardian (which is what she was officially called). Here is a snippet of one of our conversations.
"Hana?"
"Hm?"
"Can I, er, we only speed up and slow down time?"
"Well...I mean, that's all that most can do."
"What do you mean by most?"
"Some of the past Controllers could see possible futures in their dreams on occasion."
"I had a dream where there was a huge storm while there was an earthquake and a volcano. And then there was just...nothing. I don't know how to describe it."
"Ah...the end of the world dream. There was one boy who had that dream."
"Boy?"
"You didn't think you were all girls, did you?"
"I um..." She laughed at me at that point.
"There have been six before you. You are the seventh."
"Again." I laughed a little.
"The first one was a boy, and then two girls, another boy, a girl, a boy. Three girls and three boys. Four girls now that there's you."
"Who were they?" Her eyes grew distant and sad, and I immediately regretted it. Then she shook herself internally and then come back to the present.
"The first had no name. He was an outcast and lived only for himself. I had to lead him to the others." She smiled a little. "He tried to kill me at first. I couldn't blame him. Of course, in those times, I was a spear. I called him Kiersa. It was his...word for when he was frustrated."
"What about the others in his group?"
"The others were a mix between boys and girls."
"Then why are we all girls now?"
"I...don't know. It's never happened before." I thought for a moment before asking.
"So how did..Kersa...turn out?"
"Kiersa. He..." Her eyes had become watery. "...sacrificed himself to save the others, to save the world." I quickly changed the subject.
"The second one?"
"Ah... Alexandra. She was only ten when I went to her. I was a pretty marble lying on the ground when she found me."
"When did you have to part with her?"
"I had to leave her when her job was done. As I will have to when the time comes for you as well."
"What about the third girl?"
"Anne. She was seventeen, and royalty to boot. It was hard sneaking her out of the palace to make sure the Armageddon didn't occur. I was a necklace abandoned on the ground in her room. She was...assassinated shortly after she saved the world." Her eyes had gotten watery again, so I moved onto the next Controller.
"The fourth?"
"Meng. A young boy living in the streets. He was around thirteen. I was a shiny bauble. He almost sold me." She chuckled a little. "The others were a little different from him because they were all wealthy merchant children, but they learned to get along with each other eventually."
"And the next one?"
"Elaine was...unusual. She was twenty-five, older than the previous Controllers. And all the other Controllers in her group were around ten. It was very strange. I never quite understood why that happened. She had a hard time accepting that a book could change into a wolf."
"The last one?"
"Will." Her eyes filled again, and this time tears ran down from her yellow eyes. I didn't dare ask.
"It's okay, you don't have to answer."
"No, you should know." She closed her eyes and took in a shaky breath.
"Seriously, you don't need to te-"
"Just let me say it. It was close last time. Too close. All the other members died except for him. He was the one who saved the world. But only by a hair. It's been getting harder and harder ever since Kiersa. My first time, it was just one. During Alexandra's time, it was two. For Anne, we lost three. With Meng, four were lost. And Elaine, it was five. You already know what happened with Will. I'm..." Her whole body shuddered and her voice trembled as she continued to speak. "...afraid. I don't want the end of the world to happen. None of us do except for the opposing seven."
"Oh gods..." My voice came out more shaky than I had wanted it to. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to lose any of my friends either. They were all precious to me. I loved them with all my heart.
That was the most important conversation I had during that month. It scared me. But I didn't tell my friends. I didn't want to be the one to tell them. I didn't want to bring fear into their hearts. So I pushed them to learn how to use their powers even harder during the mornings that I saw them before school. And when that one month ended, I had them fight against each other for practice. I didn't want them to hurt each other, but I felt it was better than them dying. I hoped what I was doing was right.

Part IV

2008-08-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

I waited until all of us were there.
Justine looked exhausted when she arrived, muttering something about "friggin' stupid Mondays." Linda looked fine, although her movements indicated that she was a little tired. Carmen had faint circles under her eyes, though one couldn't tell unless she was really close. Tiffany had fairly dark rings under her eyes, though I could tell she was trying to hide them under light makeup. Kendra and Ellen both were...full of energy as usual. They bounced on the balls of their feet lightly, bobbing up and down and flitting around people, poking them gently.
The only one of us who really was bothered by their energy was Justine, who snapped her head around to Kendra - or was that Ellen? - and shot a death glare at her. Justine was not to be messed with on Mondays unless you were asking to be killed. Which ever one of the twins who had poked Justine was lucky that she was in a forgiving mood. Well...more forgiving than usual.
She gent- fine, not so gently - pushed the twin away with her elbow and clenched her hands into fists, holding them by her side. I guessed that she was exercising a lot of self restraint. Had her assailant been someone she wasn't close to, that person would have received a hard blow to where ever Justine wanted. She usually went for the stomach, though if the person was unlucky, they got hit in the face.
I sighed and put a warning hand on her shoulder. She whipped her head around, eyes steely, but her gaze softened slightly when she saw it was me. Gritting her teeth, she slowly unclenched her fists and ground a foot into the ground. The twin had bounded off to another victim, which was Tiffany. She was too weary to do anything but weakly push the twin's finger away. If my suspicions were right, she had stayed up working on some homework assignment.
"Kendra. Ellen. Please stop." Linda had stood up from her seated position under a nearby tree and walked over to us. They settled down a bit but fidgeted impatiently as she spoke.
"Did you all have a good weekend?" I smiled slightly.
"Yes. And I have some ideas for our gift control." Tiffany perked up a little at this. As I scanned my eyes over the group, I noticed Carmen gazing at Kendra (or so I assumed, since I couldn't tell who was who), who was absentmindedly fiddling with the bottom of her shirt. Kendra snuck a look out of the corner of her eyes at Carmen before flushing slightly. Carmen noticed Kendra's eye flicker and knitted her fingers together, looking down at them. I chuckled internally. They were really cute like that.
"So what did you come up with?" Tiffany's voice brought me out of my observation of the two lovebirds.
"I think our powers are linked to concentration. And perhaps..." I suddenly realized it. "...maybe our talents can influence them."
"What talents?" scoffed Justine, scuffing a black boot casually.
"You skateboard well." Carmen offered, looking at the skateboard propped up against Justine's leg.
"That's not a talent." she replied, rolling her eyes.
"Anyways, I think you're onto something." Linda smiled slightly as her eyes unfocused into thought.
"I was thinking meditation or yoga could hel-"
"Hell no!" I was cut off by Justine just like I thought I would.
"Justine, just hear me out!" I snapped back.
"There is no way I am going to do either thing." she retorted, narrowing her eyes. She wasn't pleased, and I knew.
"Look, it's only a suggestion; I never said that we would actually do it!" I half growled at her, beginning to feel irritated.
"Oh. Fine." She calmed down and rolled her eyes, her expression softening.
"I don't think it's a bad idea, but we're going to need to find something else for Justine." Tiffany said quietly, her voice as soft as the wind. I could barely catch her words.
"Maybe we could have Justine do competitions. Competitions require concentration, right?" Kendra bubbled excitedly. It was pretty clear Kendra wanted to see Justine skateboard against other people. I gave a little smirk. If there was one thing Justine absolutely could not back out from, it was a dare. Even if it wasn't really really a dare.
"I'll do it." I resisted the urge to laugh. Justine couldn't help herself.
"Maybe the rest of us should do competitions too!" Ellen exclaimed, popping up and down.
"Tiffany could do ice skating, Lin-" Kendra began.
"I'm not doing ice skating. I do not do ice skating competitions. Period." Tiffany's voice was serious and said that she wasn't going to be convinced otherwise.
"Maybe you can do a math competition? You're very good at that." Carmen suggested.
"That's a great idea!" gushed Kendra, clapping her hands together at super speed. Carmen's eyes dropped to her feet as she rolled her foot around against the ground. She blushed slightly, her cheeks tinged with a soft pink. Kendra didn't seem to notice.
"Fine. My parents will probably be ecstatic." Tiffany rolled her eyes slightly, but smiled. Math was her strong point.
"Drawing competitions for me, I suppose?" Linda asked, knowing that there was no answer really necessary. Of course she would be doing something along those lines. With her amazing art skills, it was only natural that she would compete with her artwork.
"Track or cross-country for Gwen!" Justine trilled, putting her hands on my shoulders. I scowled. She knew how much I hated being in a team. It was more fun to run by myself, with no distractions, no crowds, no prying eyes.
"Singing for Carmen and dancing for the twins." I said finally, trying to resist the urge to smack Justine on the head.
It was evident that I would be racing with the track team, and despite that I knew that, I still didn't want to. The team had wanted me for a long time, and they would take me in even though it was right before their next competition. They would be incredibly joyous at my joining, and I would have to deal with it. I sighed. As soon as the competitions were over, I was getting out of that team. I only had to deal with it until summer. Which was in couple of months. Otherwise known as an eternity.
~*~
In the next couple of months, we trained for our competitions. The track team was trilled. I was not. Especially since I couldn't see my friends as much. They were busy with their activities and I was busy with mine.
Kendra and Ellen were the first to have their performance, and they did spectacular. They ended up first place. Funnily enough, the second place winners were also a set of twins. Japanese twins. I think their names were Michaela and Carmendy or something similar to that.
Justine was next up, and got second place after a girl named Natalie, who used a bike. I honestly couldn't tell the difference of who was better. I thought both were insanely amazing and daring.
Mine was a couple days after Justine's and shortly after my competition (where I came in first), I crashed into a girl named Marianne. We hit it off right away, after our embarrassed apologies. She was a drummer, African style, and we recorded some of her music. It made for great running music. Steady, strong, and quick beat.
Carmen became close to a girl named Queenie at the Drama Club where she worked on her singing and general presentation of herself for the talent show. She made third. Queenie made second. I thought that Carmen was better than all of them, but...I suppose I was biased.
Linda made first at the art show. She did an amazing piece with the four elements (was she influenced by the events?) and it was almost as if the painting was jumping of the paper. The girl in second, Bianca, her piece was...more of an invention than a piece of work. It was some sort of plant blooming. Very pretty, but...she got some points off since it was more of an invention than artwork. A pity really.
Tiffany was the last one of us. Her team came in second in the nation, which is incredibly amazing. I saw her talking with some girl with brown hair before going on stage. I was a little upset, but then again, I didn't tell Tiffany I'd be coming anyways.
Along with the competitions, I worked on my time control, which improved a bit. I was able to hold the increased or slowed down time for longer than before, but only by a couple minutes. The thing that I needed to do to slow down or speed up time was to rotate a part of my body counterclockwise or clockwise and a lot of concentration. Still, it was hard, and drained me of my strength after pushing myself to the limits. I guessed if I tried to go farther than I knew I could by too much, I might lose consciousness. I remembered one time which I lost my vision for a couple moments.
After so many months, the competitions were finally at an end. I quick the track team ASAP. They were...upset to say the least and begged me to come back a couple times. More than a couple times.
The day after Tiffany's competition, we all got together at the beach near my house and finally shared information. Kendra had finally gotten the guts to tell Carmen, and now they were a couple. Out of school anyways. I swear I could feel the waves of passion rolling off of them as they sat next to each other, cuddled under a blanket.
Tiffany and Michael managed to go out a couple times while she was preparing for the math competition, and the last time, he took her home and kissed her gently on the forehead before heading home. She turned incredibly red as she shared this piece of information with us. Just when I couldn't think she couldn't turn any redder, Justine gave a smirk and winked at Tiffany. God knows what she thought, because she managed to turn even more flushed than she was.
And Justine? She was glowing as she shared what had happened to her. I knew already even though she hadn't said anything the month before. I could tell. Dustin asked her out. They'd gone to a horror movie and apparently he got so scared that he ended up using Justine's shoulder to avoid watching. And she thought it was cute, what he did. She had enjoyed every moment of that movie, especially when he started burrowing his head into her shoulder.
Finally, I shared my own information. Not very...happy really. Xavier and Peter (the two idiots!) just had to confess their liking me and ask me out on the same day. The SAME day!!!!! It was extremely annoying. I hadn't wanted to be mean to either of them, so I'd ended up telling them I'd think about their offers and see if I had time. Which I didn't, but I could have just turned them down. I'd turned them down a couple days after. They were still sort of after me though. Xavier opened doors for me almost every time he could, and Peter was always trying to help me by carrying things for me.
Carmen pulled herself from Kendra (a little reluctantly, I think) and hugged me to comfort me when she had heard my sob story. She took my shoulders, looked into my eyes and said that I would find the right person for me someday. (Whatever she says...)
My parents had said the same as well when they heard the news. My brothers just took the chance to bother me about it. They kept saying that I was hopeless before and was an idiot for turning down both. And they really rubbed in the fact that I hurt them. I hoped I didn't...
And then we showed each other what our powers could do now. Justine could now cause her whole body to burst into flames at will, though she could only do her hands if she wanted to do only a bit of herself. The other bits she was working on.
Tiffany could create gusts of wind up to 20 feet away, and was steadily increasing the distance. So she claimed anyways. She hadn't been able to measure, and we didn't know how far she could blow before.
Linda was coming up with more kinds of plants and creating hybrids for different uses. It was clear that she'd been studying her plants.
Carmen was like Tiffany, water up to 20 feet away. But she needed water to begin with, and hadn't figured out how to draw water from the air. She managed to get a little out of the air before, she said, but it was hard.
Kendra was becoming more skilled with her telepathy and could handle more than one object now. It was dizzying to watch her shift around stones with simple flickers of her eyes.
Ellen...was frightening. She began to spew information that we had in our heads that we weren't even thinking until she brought it up. We begged her to stop after a minute.
And I? It was hard to show them the difference in my powers. I'd only increased by a little bit of time, barely noticeable. I felt...ashamed of myself. And disappointed at how little progress I'd made compared to the others. My heart sank, and there was a bitter taste in my mouth at the end of the day.
We all went home at around 5 to do homework and eat dinner. During dinner, the A triplets were still teasing about Xavier and Peter, while the J triplets had gotten bored of that and were bothering about my height. Whenever they couldn't find anything else to bother me about, they turned the subject of my height. I flicked three peas at them, with the peas in fast motion, and they whacked their foreheads. My parents missed the shooting of the peas, and I gave a smug grin at them as they glared at me.
I scuttled upstairs as soon as I finished eating and finished off the last of my homework. By 9, I was on the computer and chatting with the others. We didn't talk about anything important, just life and girlfriends/boyfriends and stuff. Carmen was even beginning to finish sentences made by Ellen and Kendra. Scary...
At 12, everyone else off of the computer, so I got myself off and flopped on the bed. I wasn't tired, though I should have been. As I looked around my room for something to read, my eyes fell on the leather book with my name. It almost seemed as if it was...calling me from its place in the bookshelf. I pulled it out gently, but then dropped it as soon as I had it in both hands. It was...shaking.
As I stared at in horror, it began to grow bigger, and I backed up as far as I could, hand ready to slow down time if needed. The lettering almost seemed to bleed and cover the entire book in silver as it expanded. The leather turned to fur and I began to see a four-legged shape. A dog?
Or...not. Intelligent yellow eyes opened and...the book shook itself before opening its mouth. Except whatever came out was all distorted and slowed do- I looked down at my foot, which was turning counterclockwise. Whoops. I stopped and this time when it spoke it was normal. At least, as normal as a talking wolf's speech can be.
"I greet you, Controller of Time." I blinked a couple of times, aware that my mouth was hanging open and that I couldn't do anything about it.
"Um... Hi?" I squeaked, nervously wiggling my toes.
"I am Hana." It...um...she was a female. I kind of guessed from the slightly feminine shape of the wolf, but it confirmed my thoughts. It took me a moment to realize I was supposed to reply with my name.
"I-I'm Gwen. Short for Gwendolyn."
"Gwendolyn...goddess of the moon. Not quite suitable, but a nice name all the same." I nodded dumbly at the talking wolf, which had sat down and began casually scratching an ear with a paw.
"There's no need to be afraid. I'm not going to eat you. I don't think you'd be very tasty anyways. No offense intended, of course."
"N-no, of course not." I stammered, sinking to the ground and sitting down where I had stood.
"You can come closer if you like." Her eyes were friendly and warm, but I was still in shock at the fact that my book had turned into a wolf whose head rested at my waist level.
"I think I'm okay here." I mumbled, staring.
"Alright, if you say so." she got up and walked over to me and sat down next to me. I could feel warmth radiating from her form.
"You may be comfortable talking to someone from far away, whereas I am not. Also, it's rude to stare." I blinked a couple times, shifted away from her slightly and tried not to stare.
"Sorry."
"Anyways, I am your book. In a different form."
"Will the other books turn into wolves as well?"
"No. The others will be other animals."
"So...why have you turned into a wolf? And why now?" She sighed and shook her head.
"You have met the opposing seven forces. It has come time to teach you how you must go about saving the world from the Armageddon."
"Pleasant. But we haven't met seven forces yet."
"You have. You just don't know it." I thought about it. Where were there seven people in our lives...? It suddenly came to me. And it filled my heart with dread.
~*~
I couldn't speak for a minute or so. It couldn't be. It couldn't! Why?!
"Not Marianne... Oh gods, not her."
"I am unsure if that is her name, but I know that you seven have met the opposing forces."
"It can't be her. It just can't. She's too nice, too kind."
"Don't judge a book by its cover." Hana put a gentle paw on my shoulder as I slumped my head into my hands. I ignored it.
"I hate those stupid sayings." I muttered, rubbing my temples with my fingers.
"You aren't the only one going through this. The others will be experiencing the same thing now, but with their books. I will stay with you." I looked up at her.
"A silver wolf by my side during school. Funny, I don't think that would work too well at school." I couldn't help letting bitter sarcasm leak into my words. She laughed, a surprisingly high pitched chime.
"Silly. I'll be with you in a different form. Not my book form, it'll be too much of a hassle for you. And you might lose me." She gave a kind smile before she began to shrink. I gaped at her as she began a silver wolf pendant on a black rope. The wolf winked and Hana's voice came from the pendant.
"Yes, I'm a necklace. Put me on. Don't take me off. Ever. Unless I tell you so." With shaky hands. I fumbled with the clasp until I finally got it onto my neck. I tried to put my thoughts aside and fell asleep without turning the light off.
~*~
The next day, we were all up early and met under our tree. Everyone else was also wearing a necklace. Except the color of the pendant was different. Ellen's book told her to check for anyone looking. There wasn't, so all of them changed into their animal forms.
There was Hana, my silver wolf, Vinnie, Justine's red fox, Pax, Tiffany's dove, Will, Linda's garter snake, Marie, Carmen's tiger, Laura, Kendra's komodo dragon, and Cam, Ellen's chameleon. The books all knew each other already.
I was a little intimidated by Marie and Laura, but they turned out to be very friendly. Vinnie was a playful little creature, and he apparently liked to play tricks on people. Justine appreciated Vinnie's tricks on her brothers. But she didn't say what he did. All she said was that it was something that she probably shouldn't share. That worried me a little. Pax was very quiet, but her voice rang loud and clear when she wanted it to. Cam sort of disappeared somewhere, and only Ellen knew where he went off to. And Kendra sort of knew I suppose, but she acted as if she didn't know. Maybe she really didn't, but then again, I wouldn't know. Will reminded me of a British gentleman, and if you weren't looking at him, you could just imagine a tall handsome gentleman. Hana was playful like a pup in some ways, but in others, more mature than the others. It was interesting to switch back and forth between the two.
After some time had passed, it almost seemed like they had some sort of a signal, and they all turned back into necklaces at the same time. A little creepy how they changed at practically the same instant. We picked up our...necklaces and put them on and headed off to class.
~*~
I tried to ignore the necklace I was wearing the entire day. It was hard though. I kept feeling as if there was a spotlight on it, as if everyone who looked at me was looking at it. It didn't help that Hana told me to stop worrying while I was in the bathroom. Not the most comfortable day. Especially when Mrs. Alic, my English teacher, pointed it out. She said that it was really pretty. All the while, I was sweating like a pig. I'm surprised she and everyone else didn't notice. I swear my heart could have jumped out of my throat at that moment. Good thing it didn't.
I met with the others after school. It was then that I remembered about Marianne and the other six. As casually as possible, I brought it up.
"So...you guys heard about the opposing forces that we've supposedly already met?" Internally, I whacked myself for sounding so obvious.
"Yeah, but...who?" Carmen's face wrinkled in thought. I realized that the others probably didn't know about the people I had seen. Not everyone had been able to go to the others' competition.
"I can't think of seven people that we've met." Tiffany said, also looking thoughtful.
"Who the hell cares?" Justine said cheerfully.
"I do. And I know who they are." I said quietly. "Or at least, I think I do."
"You do?" Linda looked rather surprised.
"Yes. We've all met one." I sighed and ran a hand through my short choppy hair.
"We still don't know who you're talking about." The twins also had no idea.
"Marianne was the one I met. She's African. Justine met Natalie. I think it's Natalie anyways. I couldn't stop looking at her when she was performing."
"It can't be her!" Justine half-shouted, causing the passing students to look at us funny.
"Justine, please calm down." Tiffany tried to sooth Justine, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. Justine ignored it.
"The twins met another set of twins."
"Michelle and Kimberly?!" they screeched. (I got the names wrong.) One of them looked like they were going to faint, the other looked horrified, and Carmen was immediately at the side of the one who looked like she was going to faint.
"Ellen, it's going to be alright. It might not be them." Carmen murmured, gently rubbing her back.
"Is there something we should know?" Linda had picked up on the same thing as I did. There was something more than met the eye.
"Ellen?" Kendra said softly, looking her twin in the eye. There was a moment of silence before Ellen nodded.
"Ellen and Michelle have...been more than just friends over the last couple months." Kendra finally said. And then Ellen burst into tears, with Carmen desperately trying to calm her down.
"Oh god." Justine whispered, wide-eyed.
"I am so sorry Ellen. I didn't know." I managed to choke out. Tiffany didn't say a word, but went to help Carmen sooth Ellen.
"Who are the others?" Linda eventually said, after Ellen's sobs had turned into quiet hiccups.
"Queenie. Bianca. And a brown-haired girl I saw talking to Tiffany." I listed.
"Why did it have to be Queenie...?" Carmen mumbled, still comforting Ellen.
"I can't believe that it's Bianca..." Linda gasped.
"Rachel...?" Tiffany choked out. I felt really bad being the one to share this piece of information. But I figured that it would have been found out eventually.
"I'm sorry. It was hard on me too." I said guiltily.
"It's not your fault, Gwen." Ellen said, looking at me with teary eyes.
"Yeah, don't feel bad." Kendra said, trying to smile. And failing.
"Let's all go to the beach. Maybe we'll feel better?" I hoped that maybe once we were there, Hana and the others could explain some things.
~*~
The trip was spent in silence, and because the others moved slowly, I made time move a little quicker so that we could get there faster. Or at least seem faster for me.
Once we arrived, Hana and the others changed and took their animal forms.
"I'm sorry Ellen." Cam said, changing into the color of the sand.
"We're all sorry." Laura said.
"I'm proud that you told everyone." Hana praised, though there was a tinge of sadness in her voice. She gently nuzzled my leg, and her silver fur was soft against my leg. I sat down and hesitantly rubbed her fur, sinking my hands into the softness. Her eyes closed in pleasure and we sat there, comforting each other.
Meanwhile, Cam had made his way onto Ellen's shoulder and Laura to Kendra's side. Will lay curled around Linda's neck loosely, and Pax stood on Tiffany's outstretched finger. Vinnie was curled up on Justine's lap and Marie was nuzzling Carmen. We all needed as much love and friendship as possible. It was hard knowing that the friends we had made over the last couple months were actually our enemies. And in Ellen's case, more than just friends. We just sat there in silence for an hour, just trying to heal the wounds of the spirit inflicted by the new knowledge.
And now, we would have to learn how to defeat the friends we had bonded with.
"We know this will be hard, but you will have to learn how to defeat the oppossing forces. That is, unless you want the Apocalypse to occur." Marie smiled (as much as a tiger can smile), but her eyes were serious.
"The other seven will be out to cause the Apocalypse. Not that they need much help." Hana added.
"What do you mean, not that they need much help?" Justine asked, scowling.
"The universe is ready to destroy Earth and cause the Armageddon. All the opposing forces need to do is stop you seven." Pax twittered, not helping the situation much. She only had the best intentions though.
"So what are we supposed to do about it?" Carmen asked, nervously leaning on Marie and holding Kendra's hand.
"All you need to do is don't let the opposite side defeat you and try to make sure the Apocalypse doesn't occur." Laura said cheerfully. We all glared at her. Except for Cam. At least, I didn'think he did. Then again, I couldn't really see him too well.
"Fantastic. How are we supposed to prevent the Apocalypse then?" I asked.
"Stop global warming, help save the environment... Just make sure the world isn't destroyed by storms, heat, loss of land by water, volcano erruptions, and all that stuff. Those are all actually signs that the Earth is ready to break into bits."
"That's...lovely." Linda said calmly, probably trying not to sound sarcastic or annoyed. It worked, to some extent anyways.
"We'll talk to you guys more about it later. But now, I think it's about time for you to go home." Cam's voice suggested. I couldn't figure out where he was, but I nodded. We exchanged hugs and farewells then headed off to home.
I spent dinner worrying about what we were going to do while maintaining a cheerful exterior. Or at least I tried. When I finally finished dinner and homework, I flopped onto my bed and Hana turned into a wolf. She came up onto the bed with me (causing the bed to creak a little with the weight) and allowed me to sink my face into her silky fur.
"You should try to talk to the opposing seven like normal until you have your first real encounter. We don't know for sure if they are the right ones, though we're pretty sure. Still, try to maintain the friendship as best as you can until then. Alright?"
"Alright." I mumbled into the warm pelt.
She acted like a warm squishy pillow to hug for the night. It was comforting to have her warm prescence by my side, and I wondered why I never wanted a pet before. They were really soothing.
I fell asleep listening to Hana's gentle breathing. The last thing I remember seeing was her silver fur shining slightly in the streetlamp light that leaked through my windows.

Part III

2008-07-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

~One runs. One stops. One stares. Volcano. Lava and stones in air. Rivers of bright red magma. Dark column of smoke. Must stop flow before humans are hurt. Earth shifts. Footing unstable Ground crumbles. One falls into hole. Must get out. Wind whistles in one's ear. Sky darkens. Lightning flashes. Thunder roars. Cannot hear. So loud. So deafening. Rain falls. One is soaked, cold, dripping. Steam where water hits magma. One cannot see. One cannot breathe. Eyes sting. Chest hurts. One is swept up in a gust of wind. Spinning, spinning. Pulled in every which direction. No control. Loud, dark, wet. Blinding light. Then, nothing.~

With a gasp, I sat up, heart racing, breath coming short. The dream...it was so vivid. I could taste the bitter tang of smoke, the rain on my tongue. I could feel the ground falling apart beneath me, my arms scraping against the jagged rocks. I could smell the scent on the wind that swept me up into the air. I could hear the thunder booming in my ears.
Shivering, I hugged myself until the pounding in my chest stopped and I could breathe normally. That...nothing-ness. It was awful. Indescribable. It was...
I stopped myself from thinking more about it. I tried to ignore my dream and curled up in the covers again. It was still dark; the clock said it was 3 in the morning.

~One is hot. Sweltering, blistering. Sweat runs down face, arms, legs. Unbearable. Must find shade, shelter. Temperature too high. Riverbeds dry. No rain. Plants dried up or nonexistent. Humans skinny. Cheeks sunk in and hollow. Dying people. Sick people. Look like zombies. Pain in one's stomach. One has not eaten in days. One cannot find food nor water. One will die soon without nourishment. Others will die soon as well. Life cannot survive without water.~

I forced myself to wake up. My eyelids refused to open. Afraid of falling asleep again, I moved sluggish hand to my face, prying my eyes open with barely responsive fingers. I flicked on my bedside lamp, hissing at the bright light. It was worth it though. I didn't want to have any more of these dreams.
The barren landscape of my dream world was horrifying. I didn't know why I was having such dreams, but I knew I didn't like it.
With a quick glance at the clock, I found it was 4:30. I sighed and then decided it was alright to get up and take a shower. The sun had not quite risen yet, but I knew it would soon.
A quick splash of cold water on my face had me feeling a lot better. I turned on the computer and logged onto my gmail account. Linda wasn't there. I sighed, then opened up a new tab on the screen so that I could see if Linda was on later. She sometimes slept in on the weekends.
I plugged my earphones into the laptop, turned on the volume, and then went onto YouTube. I searched up one of my favorite songs, Halo, by Haley James Scott. The song was a little strange by my friends' standards, but I listened to weird things.

I never promised you a ray of light,
I never promised there'd be sunshine everyday,
I give you everything I have, the good, the bad.
Why do you put me on a pedestal,
I'm so up high that I can't see the ground below,
So help me down you've got it wrong, I don't belong there.

One thing is clear,
I wear a halo,
I wear a halo when you look at me,
But standing from here, you wouldn't say so
you wouldn't say so, if you were me
And I, I just wanna love you,
Oh oh I, I just wanna love you

I always said that I would make mistakes,
I'm only human, and that’s my saving grace,
I fall as hard as I try
So don't be blinded
See me as I really am, I have flaws and sometimes I even sin,
so pull me from that pedestal,
I don't belong there.

One thing is clear,
I wear a halo,
I wear a halo when you look at me,
But standing from here, you wouldn't say so
you wouldn't say so, if you were me
And I, I just wanna love you,
Oh oh I, I just wanna love you

Why you think that you know me
But In your eyes
I am something above you
It’s only in your mind
Only in your mind
I wear a
I wear a
I wear a Halo

One thing is clear,
I wear a halo,
I wear a halo when you look at me,
But standing from here, you wouldn't say so
you wouldn't say so, if you were me
And I, I just wanna love you,
Oh oh I, I just wanna love you

Haaaa ha-ha halo (x9)

I smiled as I listened to the song, enjoying the beat and the clear, but soulful voice. When it was over, I switched to another song, called Gonna Getcha Good by Shania Twain. I had weird taste in music, according to my friends. To me, it was normal. I just listened to whatever was good. There were some older songs that I liked, such as Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Hung Up. But I also liked more, I guess, modern songs, such as Lips of an Angel, or Pocket Full of Sunshine. And then I also listened to classical music, which is really really old. Sort of.
Justine was a heavy metal and rock girl. Linda went for Russian songs, which we didn't understand. Kendra and Ellen liked French songs and a lot of stuff by Avril Lavigne. Classical music was basically all that Tiffany listened to, except for the occasional Chinese piece. Carmen listened to Spanish songs and a lot of Japanese songs (she had this obsession with Japanese songs because they sounded cool). I...was just a mish mash music listener. Whatever I thought was good, I listened to it.
The song ended, and I took a peek at gmail. Still no sign of Linda. The time was 5:24; there was still time for her to get up if she was going to get up early. I started playing another song called Boulevard of Broken Dreams, by Green Day. Kind of depressing song, but I liked it.
While I listened, I plugged in my iPod (black video nano), bought a couple songs, and then synced it. The money was charged to one of my parents' credit cards and I paid them back when the bill came. I made sure to only buy a couple each week so that I would still have enough allowance for other things. Most of the time, I saved my money for a couple month before shopping for a few pieces of clothing to replace older ones. If I had some left, I would buy some food for myself (the usual groceries were paid by my parents but bought by me and my brothers) and found some other random things I wanted. That day, I felt that I didn't really need anything, so I listened to my music until my iPod finished charging.
It was 6:30, and I guessed that Linda was sleeping in. I unmounted my iPod from the laptop, and closed up everything before turning it off. With my iPod, cell phone, and wallet in my pocket, I crept down the stairs and out the door. My parents and brothers wouldn't notice anyways, for I knew they wouldn't get up until around 8 or 9.
I found the bike path near quickly, and then lost myself to the music and my running. It felt good to be outside, with the wind brushing against my skin. The air was crisp and cool, though I knew it would get hotter latter.
My pace changed slightly as the beat of the songs changed, but I had set a playlist with music of almost the same tempo, so I was generally pretty steady.
The only sounds I could hear was the beat of the music (I turned it down pretty low), my breathing, and the sound of my feet hitting against the ground. It was just me, my music, and my running. My legs pulsed with energy and I could feel my blood pumping through them. They were a little sore, but it felt good to be out again. (I didn't run during school days because I had homework and other things.) I turned back when it was around 7 and began to run back to my house. It was around 7:30 when I got home.
I tiptoed up the stairs and took a shower, enjoying the cool water running down my heated skin. I just stood there for a while, enjoying the water, until I heard a knock on the door.
"Gwen, get your ass out of there before I break down the door." I rolled my eyes.
"Jason, shut up so I can get some clothes on. Then you can come in." I knew it was Jason somehow. I turned off the water and began to dry myself with a towel quickly.
"Jeez, I never cease to wonder how you can tell us apart. No one else can. Well, I mean, I can tell the difference between Jacob and Johnathan, but... But other than that, just you."
"It's just a talent I have. Besides, I'm a girl." I dried my hair with the towel and then dumped it next to my dirty clothes. I'd have to dump those in my dirty hamper later. They would be washed on Sunday.
"Oo. That was harsh. But guys are better. Girls are so soft and...weak." I scoffed and scowled at the same time, but shot back a reply.
"Yeah? I'd like to see you kick my ass in a running competition." I laughed to myself as I pulled on some clothes. He could never beat me in running.
"Well... Just try to kick my ass in basketball, shorty!" That was cruel. I growled softly in the back of my throat.
"I may be short by your standards, but..." I opened the door with my dirty clothes and towel slung across one arm. "...you should ask Carmen." I playfully pushed his shoulder, and he poked me in the ribs before slipping into the bathroom.
Jason was my favorite out of the J triplets. They had different personalities despite the fact that they were identical and shared most of the same likes and dislikes. Jason was more playful and funny. Jacob was...more of a bad boy; he often got himself into fights and usually came out on top. (As for what he did with girls...I hoped he wasn't doing anything too bad.) Johnathan was the smartest of the three, and got the best grades too. He was a little bit of a teacher's pet sometimes.
"Gah! Jacob beat me to the shower?" I chuckled and nudged Alexander.
"Actually, that was Jason, but yes, he beat you to the shower." He gently elbowed me before walking downstairs.
Alexander was more peaceful and calmer than his "duplicates." He enjoyed reading as much as he enjoyed basketball. Aaron was a trouble maker, and had gone to the principal many times. They all had, but Aaron had gone more times. Adam was the sporty boy, the one who excelled at many sports and often showed off to the ladies.
I also met Johnathan, who asked me if anyone was in the shower. Along the way, I met my mother, who kissed me on the forehead before going off to eat breakfast. I assumed Dad was still sleeping.
When I got to my room, I dumped the contents of my pockets onto my desk and climbed up to the roof to gaze at the ocean. It was a gorgeous as always. The seagulls called their harsh cries as the soared in the wind. The waves crashed against the rocks and splashed on the sandy beach. I scanned the waters for the seal that sometimes showed up, but there was no sign of the slippery creature.
As I lay on the roof, I wondered where the others were. Justine was probably skateboarding at the park, and Tiffany was probably at the skating rink. Linda might be holed up in her room drawing, or drawing outside. Kendra and Ellen were most likely at their dancing class. Carmen was probably singing for volunteer work at a nursery home or somewhere.
I didn't see them much on the weekends, because that was when they pursued their interests and spent their time with their family. I saw them enough during the weekdays anyways.
A seagull landed on the roof and looked at me cautiously, cocking its head to one side. I grinned and cocked my head in the direction it did. And then it cocked its head to the other side. I copied. We kept this up for some time, until it got bored and flew away. Seagulls were funny like that. It brought back old memories.
I had a sandwich stolen by a seagull when I was around 6. My family had gone to the beach for the weekend and we were sitting their eating lunch. I put down the sandwich to grab a drink, and the next thing I knew, a seagull had grabbed the sandwich, looked at me almost mischievously, and then flew off. My family had laughed at me while I fumed and got myself another sandwich.
There was another time when Jacob had gotten himself a "seagull lover" as I called it. Some seagull had found something particularly interesting about him and followed him around until he tried to kick the seagull in his frustration. It tried to attack him at the point, and he had to take shelter under a towel. I think he was 10 at the time.
Those memories brought a smile to my face. I stayed up on the roof until I heard my father calling for me. Scurrying down, I quickly made my way towards the source of the voice.
"What is it, Dad?" I asked, skidding to a halt in front of him.
"I was thinking about going biking. The boys aren't interested, but I was wondering if you wanted to go?" I thought about it, and then nodded.
"Sure, I don't mind." He smiled and then headed to the storage shed, where the bikes were. He pulled out his navy colored bike, and I pulled out my own dark silver colored one. It suddenly reminded me my time controlling powers, and I stopped short for a moment. I tried to act natural as I resumed my bike inspection.
"Is something wrong, Gwen?" Shoot, he had noticed.
"Err...nothing at all. Just remembered that I went running for an hour this morning."
"You what?!" I'd forgotten that he didn't know about that. Oops.
"Yeah, I run for an hour or so in the mornings on weekends."
"An hour?!" He seemed shocked and surprised. I laughed internally.
"It's not that long. I've run longer." I gave a nonchalant shrug, and swung my leg over the bike seat.
"You ready?" I asked, giving a sly grin.
"Ready if you are!" He returned my grin and we set off into the winding path through the woods near the cliffs that loomed above the churning waters of the ocean.
We rode for about a half an hour, and he began to seem very tired. I slowed down and then stopped. He braked and ended up a couple feet away from me.
"You okay, Dad?" He didn't look too great. His breath was coming short and his face was flushed. I pulled out the water bottle I had brought with me and handed it to him.
"Thanks. I'm just a little tired, that's all."
"A little?"
"Fine, more than a little."
"We can stop for a while if you want." I wasn't tired, and felt that I could go on for another hour or so. But I kept my mouth shut.
My father worked at the aquarium, so he got some decent exercise, though he mostly worked on the technical aspect of the place. My mother was the one who did shows and tours of the aquarium. She was a lot more fit than he was.
Ten minutes later, we were off again, but this time we were headed back to the house. It took us around forty-five minutes to get home, because this time my dad was tired and therefore slower than before.
We put our bikes into the shed again and then went inside. My mother was at work now, for her day off was on Sunday. My dad had his day off on Saturdays.
I whipped up some lunch for us (the boys were out doing whatever they do) and as we ate, he scribbled absentmindedly on a piece of scrap paper. I didn't bother him. He was probably working on some problem that they were trying to fix at the aquarium.
When I finished, I gave him a gentle hug before heading upstairs for a change of clothes. I didn't perspire too much, but I probably didn't smell fantastic. I changed quickly, then examined my laundry load for tomorrow. The J triplets were doing their laundry today, and the A triplets were probably going to do theirs tomorrow, so it was best if I did mines in the morning, right after 8. That way, they couldn't accuse me for doing things "at the crack of dawn."
~*~
I decided to go swimming later, and did so until around 6. It felt good to be in the water, to feel the gentle waves lapping against my skin, the cool liquid spilling through my fingers. When I got home, I rinsed off my hair in some water, to get the salt out of my hair, and then headed down to the kitchen.
I knew my mother would be home soon, so I took the opportunity to cook some dinner so that she wouldn't have to. She probably was tired from her day at the aquarium. Technically, popping a frozen pizza (or 4 in my case) into an oven isn't really cooking, but by my family's definition, it is. It's hard to get a home cooked meal. Most of the food is pre-made and or easy to make. It may be part of the reason why I'm almost vegetarian now. I don't like pre-made meat. Also, I get this sick feeling when I eat too much meat, which is another reason why I'm practically vegetarian. It's weird.
My brothers came down and devoured two of three pizzas, and I stole a piece of the third before sticking the rest of the third into the oven to keep warm. I left a note on the oven telling my mother and father that there was pizza and then headed upstairs.
It seemed late enough for some of my friends to come online, so I flicked on the computer and waited for it to allow me to log into gmail. Once in, I scanned the page quickly to find that Carmen was on. I smiled slightly and opened up a chat.

Gwen: carmen?
Carmen: i suppose you want to know too?
Gwen: eh?
Carmen: about how I knew and everything
Gwen: knew what?
Carmen: you honestly have no idea?
Gwen: not a clue
Carmen: everyone wants to know how I knew that i was lesbian
well...i just knew
it's like how the rest of you know you're straight or bi
Gwen: oh...that's what you were talking about...
i honestly wasn't going to ask
that kind of thing doesn't bother me and i just accept it as it is
Carmen: well, justine's asked, and same with linda and tiffany
the twins didn't ask, but i suppose they would know what i mean
Gwen: yeah, they would know
...can i ask you something?
Carmen: within reason, and i'll answer
Gwen: do you like anyone?
sorry, i know it's personal and you don't have to answer
i just...
Carmen: no, it's fine
i was half expecting it anyways
although, no one's gotten the guts to ask other than you so far
*takes deep breath*
k, here goes
i like kendra
Gwen: oh
Carmen: yeah, i know, laugh
how can a dark skinned girl like a light skinned girl?
Gwen: oh god, no, that wasn't what i was thinking
i was just thinking how much that complicates life
Carmen: thanks for being understanding *iz being serious*
i was afraid that you wouldn't understand how i felt for her
but yes, oh my god, it makes life so hard
Gwen: i can only imagine
seeing her everyday
so close yet so far away
must kill you
Carmen: tell me about it... *cries*
Gwen: *pats shoulder*
if you ever need a shoulder to lean on, i'm here for you
all of us are (if you tell them that is)
although, i know you aren't about to tell kendra and ellen
not yet anyways
Carmen: yeah...
i'm just...so scared
i want to tell her but...
Gwen: you'll do the right thing in time, i know
Carmen: you can travel through time?
(but, yeah, thanks)
Gwen: um...not as far as i know
Carmen: oh
i just thought you might have gone through time and seen something i didn't....
Gwen: no, you wish
i wish a little too
Carmen: it would be both a blessing and a curse
Gwen: our gifts now are both a blessing and a curse in general
i wonder what we're up against
thinking of which, i had this seriously weird dream about stuff
it sort of involved our powers yet it didn't
i don't know how to put it simply
all i know is that i don't want to ever have those dreams again
Carmen: i don't know what you're talking about, but...alright
Gwen: oh yeah, how was singing today?
or that's what i assume you were doing
Carmen: *grins* thought you'd never ask
yes, i was singing
it was really great
to see all those people smiling and as if they had such a great load taken off their backs
it felt good to do that for them
Gwen: well, then i'm happy for you ^_^
Carmen: i gotta go now...
my family and i are going to watching a movie soon
Gwen: home movie?
Carmen: yup
ttyl?
Gwen: if i'm on, yes
if not...well, ttyl even later!
Carmen: lol okay
bye

And then she was gone. I sighed and lowered the cover of my laptop, flopping onto the bed. Life had gotten confusing lately. Carmen liked Kendra, Tiffany liked Michael, Justine liked Dustin, I didn't know who liked who else. Now that I thought of it, did I like anyone?
That had me thoughtful for a while. Then I shook my head to no one in particular. I hadn't found anyone truly liked. I smiled bitterly. As if I would ever find anyone who would ever like me.
I was a little annoyed at the time, I guess. All my friends had gotten asked out at least once, though most of them didn't like the people who asked them out in that way. Tiffany was lucky. I ground my teeth. It wasn't fair sometimes.
I wouldn't have cared so much if my brothers and Justine didn't bother me so much about it. They were always asking if I liked anyone, if anyone had asked me out (yet), and in general, just being annoying about that kind of stuff. I'd never asked them to stop, because I knew they were curious and Justine was probably slightly concerned about my lack of being asked out. Still, it didn't help it from getting on my nerves.
My laptop blipped, jolting me out of me thoughts. I stared at the screen for a moment before realizing that Kendra was trying to talk to me. Odd; Ellen wasn't there.

Kendra: gwen?
are you there?
Gwen: yeah, what's up?
Kendra: i gotta tell someone other than ellen before i explode
and i trust you to keep it to yourself
Gwen: okay, shoot
Kendra: i...
*sighs*
i think i have a crush on carmen (OMG, NO WAY! *faint*)
Gwen: when did you know? (At this point, I was trying my best not to hyperventilate. Carmen liked Kendra, Kendra liked Carmen. I thought about it. It was pretty cute actually.)
Kendra: for the longest time really
i just...knew at some point
but i tried to ignore it for so long
when carmen told all of us that she was lesbian
i swear, my heart stopped
Gwen: i think it's really sweet that you like her
Kendra: you think so? *blush*
Gwen: yes, definitely
Kendra: that makes me feel so much better... *sigh of relief*
i gotta go now, but thank you soooo much
Gwen: i'm glad i helped you, kendra
ttyl i guess
Kendra: yeah, ttyl

Oh. My. God. They both liked each other! I was so happy for both of them, but underneath, I was worrying what it would do to our group. Would it make life awkward? (It wouldn't have made mine, but I worried all the same for the lives of my other friends.) How would the others react? How would the school react if they were open about it? There were just so many questions out there. So much drama. I had been complaining that my life was too boring just a week ago, and now all this. Gifts, saving the world from the Apocalypse, Carmen turning out to be lesbian, her liking Kendra and Kendra liking her back...so much stuff all at once. Why couldn't all this have happened over a large period of time?
The reference to time flicked my brain over to my powers, which just made my brain feel as if it was going to explode.
My head couldn't handle it. I let my mind fuzz out, just staring at the computer screen.
~*~
When I "woke" myself up, it took me a moment to even realize where I was. When I figured out that I was still staring at the laptop, I shook my head to clear away the funny feeling in my eyes and then checked to see if anyone was on. There wasn't, so I logged off and curled up into the blankets of my bed.
I didn't sleep exactly, but my eyes were closed, the light was off, the shades drawn. My mind was in a state of numbness. Really, I was half conscious, but the rest of me was floating off somewhere else.
After a while, something snapped inside of me, and I half jumped out of bed, turning on the laptop as fast as I could.
I read about the Apocalypse, meaning "the lifting of the veil" in Greek. It supposedly is to be the last test of the sinful nature of Mankind. There is to be the releasing of Satan and the destruction of heaven and Earth. They will be recreated in the beginning of Eternity.
It was a little too religious in my opinion, but I read on. There was some other information that I didn't quite understand, but I had a pretty good idea.
I knew already that there had been several cases where a person said that the Apocalypse was coming and a whole bunch of people would commit suicide and such. It was pretty gruesome, and so far, the Apocalypse had not come. The latest saying was that the Apocalypse was to come in 2012. If that was so, my friends and I only had until our last year of high school to save the world. And get good enough grades to make it to a good college in the even that we did manage to save the world from the Apocalypse. It wasn't a very long time. It was already almost the end of my freshman year. That meant we had three years and a bit. If it was true in the first place.
I started reading some articles on the subject of time, hoping it would help me. In a way, it did, but in another way, it just confused me. There was a lot of physics and other things I really didn't understand involved in it.
It came to me that the others should read about their own gift, though it might be hard for Ellen and Kendra. Still, it would be good for the others to understand more about their gifts and how it affects the rest of the world. If we were going to save the world, we had to make sure that we didn't destroy a small bit of it while trying to save another bit. Justine would be hard to convince though.
Another thing that occurred to me is that using our gifts required an extremely large amount of energy. It would be best if we could learn to build up on our endurance and strength along with out power control. With that, we would have to learn to concentrate properly, a task that would frustrate Justine, and I knew that.
Meditation (and/or yoga), was an idea, although I knew Justine would kill me if I tried to get her to meditate. I thought it'd be a bit much for Carmen, Kendra and Ellen though. They're too full of energy to settle down. I would probably be able to convince Tiffany and Linda though.
It seemed to me a good way to burn energy and actually learn how to be more flexible. Though, Tiffany, Kendra and Ellen were all pretty flexible already. Their endurance and strength was another matter.
I, not trying to brag, was in pretty good shape. At least, in my opinion anyways. I suppose other people could have disagreed.
Since the clock informed me that it was already 1 in the morning, I turned off the computer and fell into a dreamless sleep.
~*~
Sunday passed in a similar manner, but I went biking by myself, without my father, so I was there for a very long time. I didn't swim that day either. I also got my laundry done before I went biking, so it was a fairly productive day.
My mother had her day off, so she decided to take me shopping at 4, after I was done biking. Despite the fact that I honestly hate shopping in general, I went with her. I hadn't really talked with her one-on-one in a really long time.
She kept trying to get me to wear all these frilly clothes, fabrics with sequins, girly prints, and pink things. I wasn't too pleased.
I managed to actually get some good clothes that weren't too girly though, which was pretty nice. Plus, my mother paid for it, so I didn't have to use my money. I got myself a silver rhinestone-studded black belt that I had had my eyes on for a while, but didn't buy because it was a little more than what I normally spent. There was also a great set of biking gloves that looked good and was very comfortable. Finally, there was an irresistible great buy on a fake leather riding jacket. It looked and felt rather realistic, and was amazingly fitting on me, so I got it. My mother paid for half, while I paid for the other half. She said it was kind of expensive, but I didn't really care. I knew that jacket would last me a very long time.
We bought dinner on the way home at around 6. The guy who took our order (he looked around 17) looked flabbergasted at the amount of food we ordered. It really wasn't that much to our family. I gave a little smirk as he gaped at me carrying two bags of food in each hand. My mother had one in each hand, adding up to six bags. Not too much really. The boys ate a lot. I could eat a lot when I wanted to.
When we got home, the boys stampeded down the stairs and into the kitchen, taking the bags from our hands and ripping them open to get to the contents. I chuckled and shook my head as I watched them. My mother gave a little sigh and a smile before jumping into the brawl and dishing out the food to them.
We had all finally gotten out the food and dealt it out when my father came home. He looked tired, with light rings under his eyes and a weary expression. I helped him into a chair and took his stuff to put away. He smiled gratefully before devouring his food. The boys followed his example while my mother and I ate slowly, calmly, and neatly. The last one was the most important one, because the boys and my father almost always made quite a mess. I usually cleaned it, though a lot of times I would make the boys clean up at least some of it before I did my part.
The boys and my father stomped up the stairs leaving my mother and me to finish eating. When my mother finished, she headed upstairs without a word. She seemed a little out of it, so I cleaned up the kitchen and then headed into my room. The boys were playing their loud rock music (two different songs; one from the J triplets' room and the other from the A triplets'), so I escaped to the roof with a pair of binoculars.
The loud beat was significantly quieter on the roof, though I could still faintly hear the slanted tiles quiver slightly underneath with each boom. I sighed and then looked through the binoculars at the stars, marveling at their brightness and beauty. The moon was gorgeous as always. The gentle sounds of waves soothed my mind and helped to relax my troubled soul. A little, anyways.
I hadn't thought too much about the gifts we had gotten and the incoming Apocalypse, but subconsciously, I worried about it. It was hard not to think about it. Any color that corresponded with our gifts triggered my thinking about what the books had told us. I tried to ignore it the whole day, but it was hard still.
With the great open sky and silence, it was even harder not to think about it. I closed my eyes and tried to let my mind wander. My attempt failed miserably, as it led straight back to what I had been trying to avoid. It was easier to ignore things when I was doing something.
When the sounds of my brothers' music stopped, I decided that it was about time to go to bed. I had school again tomorrow, much to my distaste, but it meant that I could talk to the others all at once. Which was good. I had some convincing to do (or rather, try to do), and a lot of stuff to discuss.

Part II

2008-07-23T13:26:00.001-07:00

When the sun peeked though the cracks of the shades, my eyelids fluttered open. I gave a soft groan as I sat up from my sleeping position. The morning air was cold, but I forced myself to get into the shower.
The sharp minty scent of my shampoo woke me up, (although the cold water did a pretty good job too) and by the time I was drying my hair with a towel, I was wide awake. I slipped into dry clothes, then glanced at the clock. It was only 5:45 in the morning. I sighed and made my way to my laptop, but not before tripping over something. Catching myself, I took a sharp breath in before looking down to see what I had tripped over.
It was the book. I picked it up gently, not knowing why I carried it with such care. Then, I gingerly opened the first page. All of a sudden, I remembered what I had read last night. After a moment, I took a deep breath in.
The book had said something about me being one of the seven to be entrusted with powers to help the universe. I was supposed to be one of them, given the gift of time control. Every so often, the universe would have some issues and a large number of problems would come up. Apparently, it made a lot of religious people think that the Armageddon was coming and it was up to the seven to fix the problem before it actually happened.
I scoffed and then put the book back down. Sure, we were having a lot of problems with the world, but that didn't mean that we were entrusted with powers and stuff. Besides, I couldn't control time like the book said, could I?
The memories of the previous day rushed through me and inwardly, I shook myself. I could not control time. I'd only been...spacing off, that was all.
I remembered that Linda was usually on in the morning, since she was an early riser, so I took the chance to turn on my laptop and log onto to gmail. It was a good thing that I had turned off the sound last night or else my parents would have been really ticked off. Not to mention my brothers. Although I was in the attic, it didn't mean they couldn't hear. In fact, my brothers had super sensitive hearing despite the fact that they played loud heavy metal music almost 24/7. They probably trained themselves to make sure they wouldn't get caught doing whatever they did. I hoped that they didn't do anything too bad.
The laptop finally logged me into gmail and sure enough, Linda was on.

Gwen: you there?
Linda: yeah
Gwen: you get a chance to read your book?
Linda: *nods* it was really weird...
Gwen: did you get the feeling that...
Linda: you couldn't really understand yet you understood at the same time?
Gwen: exactly
Linda: what did you get from your book?
Gwen: i...
something about some gifted seven saving the world
Linda: same...
i also got something about my having the ability to control plants
you?
Gwen: something about controlling time
too much like the symbols on our books
Linda: no kidding
mine was a flower and yours was an hourglass
Gwen: this is getting kinda creepy
but it couldn't be true could it?
it has to be some hoax or something, right?
Linda: one can only hope
Gwen: what's that supposed to mean?
Linda: there is a chance that this could be true
Gwen: but there's no such thing as magic or anything of that sort
it defies all logic
Linda: true enough, but who ever said the world made sense?
Gwen: no one did, but this is outrageous
Linda: you have a point
but think about it
what if it was real?
Gwen: our powers could be used for really dangerous things
Linda: exactly
if people knew, they would want to control us so that they could use us for their own benefit
Gwen: and that would be really really bad
Linda: we have to talk about this to the others
Gwen: tiffany's probably read it
but we can't count on the others to have read it
justine is...
well, justine
she doesn't read books usually
Linda: kendra and ellen...no one can really say for sure
they're so...
Gwen: unpredictable
Linda: carmen might have read it but...
i dunno
Gwen: she's more fantasy book type of person but who can say for sure
Linda: exactly (I heard the sound of movement from below and sighed.)
Gwen: agh
family waking up
i gtg
Linda: okay, talk to you at school
you should bring your book with you
Gwen: k, bye

I logged off and turned off the computer as quickly as I could before slipping downstairs to help with breakfast. It was usually my dad and I who did the cooking. My mom was hopeless. On her defense, she did try, but we usually told her to just sit down and let us do the cooking. My brothers weren't much better really, so it was up to my dad and me.
By the time everyone had come down, breakfast was done and I sat down with the rest of the family to grab a quick bite before heading out the door to catch the bus.
We had no one else in the family to depend on other than ourselves usually. Mom and Dad took care of me until I was 12, though they slowly weaned me out of it over time. After that, I was on my own. I woke myself up, changed myself, shopped for clothing, bought groceries, and did whatever else I needed to do in order to survive. The only thing that my parents did was make money, pay the bills, and pay the taxes.
Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for what they did do. They couldn't be expected to take care of their seven children all the time. We had two cars, one for my father and one for my mother when they went to work. The rest of us had to walk, bike, or take the bus to get around. I learned quickly. One had to adapt or else they wouldn't last long in this family.
No one else I knew lived this far out, so I sat alone on the bus until I made it near the school. I thanked the bus driver and walked the rest of the way to school. I didn't take a school bus because no school bus came this far out, so I took the town bus. The bus came at 6:45, so I usually arrived at school at around 7:00. That left me with around a half an hour to kill before the school would let students in.
I didn't like it much at first, but I enjoyed the silence after a while. It was nice to be able to have a moment of peace and quiet.
But that morning, Linda came at 7:15 with her bike. It was odd that she came this early, even though she did wake up early, but I didn't question her as to why. What surprised me even more was the arrival of the rest of my group only a couple seconds later.
Justine arrived by skateboard, Tiffany by car, Carmen by scooter, and the twins by foot. Somehow, even though I was astonished to find my friends here early, it felt right, almost natural that they would be here. I didn't really know why I had this feeling, but it was there.
"What are you guys all doing here?" I asked them when everyone had settled down on the grassy lawn.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know why. I normally don't even wake up until 7:35." We all chucked at Justine's words. She was always late to class. Either that or she would make it there at the last second.
"Kendra and I aren't usually awake until 7:20."
"My parents have me up at 7:00, but I'm still usually not here at school at this time. I had my parents drive me here though. It just felt like the right thing to do."
"Yeah, I just woke up at 6:30 for no apparent reason and found myself here now." Carmen fiddled with a blue wheel on her scooter as she said this.
"Did everyone read the book?" Linda went straight to the point, not even bothering to answer why she was here this early. To my surprise, everyone nodded.
"Even you read it, Justine?" Tiffany sounded shocked as well.
"Yup. First book I've read it ages." This meant that she hadn't been reading some of the assigned English book, but I felt it wasn't the time to point it out.
"Did everyone find out about some seven people and saving the universe and their supposed power?" I wondered aloud.
"Uh huh. I control fire." Justine's red streaked hair bobbed up and down with her nods.
"I control wind." Tiffany's soft voice was followed by a gentle breeze, causing all of us to shiver with the thought of us actually having these powers.
"I control plant life." Linda's quiet but firm voice answered next.
"I have telekinesis." Kendra answered first out of the twins.
"And I have telepathy." Ellen replied right after her sister. It made sense that Kendra and Ellen would end up with similar gifts.
"I control water." Carmen's bubbly voice was not quiet as perky as usual, and reminded me of the calm before a storm.
"I control time." I answered last, after everyone else. My guesses had been pretty much all right, except for Kendra and Ellen's, because I hadn't been able to figure out those two.
"Could all this be true?" Tiffany's wide brown eyes flickered worriedly over all of our faces.
"It would be pretty neat if it were, but it'd be creepy." Justine seemed to have not a care in the world as she absentmindedly pulled up a few blades of grass.
"But no one can control those things, can they?" Both Kendra and Ellen asked in hushed tones at the same time. Their pale green eyes were large as they looked at each other.
"Who knows..." Linda said, causing all of us to think about what all this could be.
"Can I look at someone else's book?" All heads swiveled to the owner of the voice, which happened to be Carmen.
"Sure, take mine!" Justine's book flew in the air to Carmen. She caught it, but then dropped it in an instant, her face twisted in pain.
"Are you alright?" Linda was at Carmen's side in a flash, her hazel eyes inspecting Carmen's hands. Her hands were red and they looked almost as if...they were burnt.
"I'm...not sure." Carmen looked at all of us with frightened chocolate colored eyes.
"What happened?" Tiffany was next to Linda beside Carmen now, also looking down at the hands that had dropped Justine's book.
"It was almost as if...as if the book was on fire." We were all quiet for a moment.
"Someone take someone else's book." I looked at Linda incredulously. After what had happened, she still wanted someone to take another person's book?
"You sure that's a good idea?" Kendra and Ellen voiced what I had been afraid to say, but nicer.
"If no one else will, then I will." She took a deep breath and took Tiffany's book into her hands. Almost instantly, she was blown backwards by an invisible force, and the book flew out of her hands and into Tiffany's lap.
"Linda!" I realized the voice was mine as I moved to her side.
"I'm okay, just...winded." What she said was rather ironic in my opinion, but I kept that thought to myself.
"After all this, do you really think that maybe..." Kendra began.
"...the stuff that the books told us is true?" Ellen finished.
"I...I don't know. It seems almost true, but my mind doesn't want to accept it quite yet." Linda said slowly, voicing my own uncertainty.
I stared at my own book, sitting near my backpack.
What would my book do if someone touched it? What if I can control time? How can any of this be real? Am I dreaming?
I pinched myself. And it hurt. I sighed and removed myself from my own little world.
"We should...think about it during the day." Tiffany suggested.
"I think that's a good idea." Justine replied, and the rest of us nodded, most with a bit of hesitation and worry.
"I'm going to go inside now. I have some stuff I need to pick up from my locker." Linda picked up her backpack and book before heading indoors.
"I should probably go too." Carmen left without any other words. Slowly, the others all said something about having to do something inside and then I was the only one left.
I took a moment to organize my thoughts and then picked up my own things before joining the others inside.
~*~
I couldn't concentrate all day. I kept making stupid mistakes that I knew I normally wouldn't make. I mean, I know that two times four is eight, not six. But I made those kinds of errors throughout the day, not only in math, but in all my other subjects. I couldn't believe I actually wrote: he has doing much good. I just don't do those kinds of things. And yet I did.
It was extremely frustrating knowing that I was completely screwing up. I was so relieved when school finally ended and I got to see my friends at our meeting spot.
"Let's go to the library again." We all looked at Linda carefully, making sure she wasn't joking, and then we exploded with questions.
"Why would we even want to go back?!" Justine half-shouted, causing some of the passing people to look at us weirdly.
"Justine, you really need to calm down. But I kind of agree. These books showed up from there. How do we know that it's safe to go back?" Tiffany's voice was filled with an inner calm, but her eyes were concerned.
"I have my reasons for going back. I just feel it's right. Maybe we can find answers there." The blond haired girl probably felt as if she was losing control. I knew she didn't like that.
"And maybe we can get into some sort of trouble there!" This wasn't like Carmen. We all stared at her for a moment before turning back to Linda.
"Can you all please just trust me?" she pleaded with us. Her eyes grew big and her lower lip stuck out in a pout. I sighed.
"Just this once, Linda. If anything happens while we're at the library, we aren't going to go back. Do you understand?" I kept my voice low and steady. "Is that fair enough?"
"I guess that..."
"...should be okay." The twins hadn't said anything before, but they both looked scared and worried. Naturally, all of us were. Or so I assumed. I knew I was.
We picked up our bags and headed to the library in almost complete silence. Tiffany was fidgety, constantly looking around as if someone was watching us. Kendra and Ellen nervously fiddled with their hair. Justine was biting her nails, a bad habit she'd never been able to get rid of. Carmen kept fixing her clothes, as if there was constantly something wrong with them. I didn't notice that I had been flexing and unflexing my fingers until I looked down to see what was hitting against my legs. Only Linda remained calm.
The doors soon loomed in front of us and we all milled around the entrance, unsure of what to do. Linda took the initiative and pushed open the door. We all held our breaths. Nothing happened, so we all took a couple of tentative steps. Still nothing. It took us a couple more steps to feel better about the whole going into the library process.
Several people in the library looked at us strangely, as if to say "you've never been in a library?" I'm sure we must have looked absolutely ridiculous.
I gave a sigh of relief as we sat down in the corner of the library with some comfy couches. I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath for that long, but now I knew, and my head spun with the sudden rush of oxygen. If I had been standing, I'd probably would have fallen.
"So nothing happened. Happy now?" Linda smiled triumphantly, and we all gave weak grins back.
"Yeah, fine, you were right. Whatever." Justine rolled her eyes and acted uncaring, but I knew that she was annoyed and relieved at the same time. It was the kind of thing I just knew from past experiences.
"Well, we're all okay, which is good. I think we should talk about the books." Tiffany took slight charge of the situation when she saw that Linda had not brought up the idea.
"I guess this is as good of a place as anywhere else." Carmen was looking like usual again. Bright smile and a sort of up and down motion were generally good signs that she was alright. She always seemed to be bobbing up and down in excitement or hyper-ness.
"Let's take out our books then." Linda said as she took out her own and placed it on the circular table in the middle of the couches. Soon, seven books lay flat on the table in a circle.
"I know that we can't touch anyone else's book," Ellen started this time.
"but can we look at another person's book?" And Kendra ended the sentence.
They did occasionally speak their own sentences, but in general, they finished each others' sentences.
"I dunno. I guess we try it out?" I carefully lifted the edge of my book and flipped it open. I could see the graceful writing on the pages, but the others winced and shielded their eyes.
"What's wrong?" I asked, not seeing why they were acting this way.
"It's so...so bright." I could barely see Carmen's face behind her hands.
"It seems to be emitting a silvery glow around it." Tiffany supplied, squinting at the book.
"You don't have a problem with it?" Linda had noticed my obvious comfort with my book and immediately questioned it.
"No, I don't have a problem at all. It just seems like a normal book with strange writing in it." I closed the book, and the others let out a breath, putting down their hands.
We repeated the process with everyone else's book. Justine's shone a brilliant red, while Carmen's was a cool, but eye-piercing blue. Linda's was radiant green, and Tiffany's was so white that even freshly fallen snow would look off-white compared to it. Kendra's and Ellen's were both a blinding purple. The owner of the book couldn't see the light (although Kendra couldn't see Ellen's, and vice versa), while the rest of us could.
The colors matched the ones on the cover. We didn't really notice that until everyone had recovered from the colorful lights. I had flashing lights in front of my eyes for quite some time afterward, and the others probably did too.
"I guess we can't see each others' books." Justine shrugged and was about to put her book back into her bag when Linda stopped her with a tap on the shoulder.
"What?" she snapped at Linda's touch.
"I want all of us to write down what we see in our books and then show it to the others." This was addressed to not only Justine but the rest of us.
"We probably should go different places in the library." I said, still not fully recovered from the glaring glows given off by the books.
"What if other people can see it?" Tiffany had a good point, I had to admit.
"Okay, well then let's all just try to cope with other people's books." Carmen said, clapping her hands together. I couldn't figure out what was so exciting. If that was the reason for her clapping in the first place, anyways.
I opened my book along with the others, and we all winced at each others' light, but carefully copied down some of the text in the book on a scrap of paper from our backpacks.
Tiffany was the first to finish. Linda was next, followed by myself, Carmen, Kendra and Ellen, and finally Justine.
"Everyone has their text now?" Kendra asked.
"Is it legible?" Ellen questioned. Justine laughed nervously, and we all chuckled, shaking our heads. Her writing sometimes was so bad that even I couldn't read it, and I had been reading her writing since we were both able to write.
"Let's put them on the table and rotate them until we get ours back." Tiffany put her paper on the table as she said this, and we all followed her example.
One by one, the other pieces of papers made their way through my hands. I recognized them from my own book, but I couldn't understand them like I had with my own.
When mine came back, I knew what mine said, unlike with the others.
"Did anyone else have the sense that-"
"-we couldn't understand the other people's text even though it was familiar from our own?" I finished for Tiffany. Everyone muttered a 'yes' or a 'yeah' in Justine's case.
"Creepy isn't it?" Kendra asked.
"We can tell that it's like our own," Ellen said...
"but we can't understand it." ...with Kendra finishing.
"No shit!" Justine clapped her hand over her mouth when she realized that she'd been a little louder than she needed to be. We burst into laughed, giggling uncontrollably for some time.
"Well, I guess the next step is to try and see if we can do what the books say we can do." I felt my mouth drop open as I stared at Linda. She kept bringing up all these things that were really quite shocking.
"Alright, let's go!" Carmen seemed very enthused, and stuffed her book into her bag before scampering towards the exit. We all scrambled to keep up with her, sticking books into bags while walking quickly and trying to actually get on our backpacks without knocking over books. It was a good thing that I was fairly organized and quick.
Soon, we were out in the large field where most of the gym classes were when it was nice out. I was filled with the urge to run around, but I contained myself and sat down with the others on the cool green grass.
"So...we try?" Carmen smiled mischeviously, pulling out a water bottle from her backpack. The rest of us nervously gave half-smiles back as we fidgeted slightly.
"Who's first?" Tiffany asked, looking as if she'd rather do backflips than actually try to control the air. (She can't do backflips and probably will never want to do one.)
"Oh, pick me!" We all laughed at Carmen's enthusiastic reply but sobered up when she unscrewed the cap of her bottle and stared at it. Then she closed her eyes and her brow creased a little. Her hand came up over the bottle slowly, almost as if she wasn't actually controlling it. The water stirred a little as she wiggled her fingers over the top. We all stared at her and the bottle.
Her brow creased a little more as she took her index finger and trailed it upwards. The water flowed up through the top, almost like a snake. She gave a little gasp, and her eyes fluttered open. The water dropped from its position and splashed to the ground.
"Are you okay, Carmen?" I asked, concerned and in a state of shock.
"I'm fine... Just...extremely tired... I... I don't know why..." She didn't seem quite sure, but I couldn't blame her.
"I guess someone else should try now..." Justine murmured softly.
Linda turned out to be that someone. We all watched her carefully as she made several circling motions over the earth beside her. Like Carmen, she seemed almost in a trance, not quite in this world, as she did this. Her hand suddenly moved up a foot or so from the ground and a small lily sprouted underneath her palm. Then her eyes opened and she stared at the flower that she had just grew. Her eyes were filled with a great weariness, as if she had been exercising all day or something.
Justine was next. We moved onto the pavement for this, for we didn't want her burning the grass. She took longer than the previous too, spending most of her time just with her eyes closed and fingers twitching slightly. It took us all by surprise when her hands suddenly burst into flame. They were extinguished quickly when she opened her eyes. Her hands looked untouched, though she claimed that she could feel a gentle heat licking her hands. She too was exhausted afterward.
Tiffany offered to go and so we all moved back onto the grass and sat patiently as she too had her moment of silence as she concentrated. A spiral of wind acted almost like a tornado around her, whipping her hair up, but only for a second. Her eyes flashed open in surprise and the wind died down. She almost seemed to droop from the effort of performing this task.
Kendra went first out of the twins, holding a small flat stone in her hand. After a minute or so, the stone left her hand shakily, quivering in the air. It dropped back into her hand as soon as her eyes opened. The stone dropped from her hand as her arm fell to her side.
Ellen had a more difficult time, for she supposedly had telepathy. She chose Justine to be her test subject. She wanted to choose Kendra at first, but they already finished each other's sentences all the time, so we didn't allow it. As she was in her half-conscious state, she asked Justine in a eeriely calm voice to think of a number. Ellen recited a whole string of numbers that left Justine flabbergasted before she came back to us. She curled up next to Kendra, and the two seemed to be almost like cats taking a nap together.
I was last. I wasn't sure how to show them, but when I let my mind wander off, I just knew what I needed to do. My hands moved on their own on the ground before me, tracing a counter clockwise circle. I vaguely heard the others gasp in surprise. I knew that I was slowing down time, but I didn't exactly know how. It was almost as if someone was taking my hands and moving them for me, showing me what to do. My eyes opened slowly, as if I had just awakened from a long sleep. Everything seemed normal, but my friends were looking around them with wide-eyes and open mouths. And then all of a sudden, I was so tired. It felt like the time I had done two all-nighters in a row. I hadn't been this tired in ages.
"Is everything alright?" I asked, unsure of what exactly had happened. I had the impression that I had slowed time, but I hadn't seen it for myself.
"E-everything slowed down. The birds flapped their wings at snail pace and the wind moved the grass in a extremely slowed down wave." Linda half-whispered, still staring at the grass with large eyes.
The others had been able to feel the effect of their actions, but I hadn't really been able to tell. I half knew what I had been doing but I couldn't see the results for myself. Carmen could feel her water spashing down from where it had been. Linda could see her flower. Justine could feel the heat from her flames. Tiffany felt her breeze. Kendra felt her stone move away from her hand and back. Ellen heard what was in Justine's mind and said it aloud. Only I could not see my results. I only had the others to confirm what I had done. I felt a little disappointed, but I didn't say.
It was getting late, and we all parted ways, not talking about what had happened. I reached my house at around seven. I had dinner with my family and this time, I actually remembered some of the stuff that happened. Jason apparently asked out a girl at his school and promptly was turned down. Still, he was better off than poor Alexander, who got slapped by the girl he asked. I felt kind of bad for them until they started bothering me about not having been asked out yet. So to ease my anger, I punched Jacob. (Don't ask me how I tell my brothers apart from each other. The J triplets [Jason, Jacob, Johnathan] all look the same, but somehow I know. It's weird, but I do. Two of the A triplets [Aaron and Alexander] have the same hair style, but the last one [Adam] recently did something weird to his hair and it looks different from the others. They're still all technically identical though.)
My parents didn't notice my punching Jacob, not that they would have really cared even if they did see it. My mother and father were both probably tired from their jobs at the aquarium. Yes, they work at the aquarium. They love aquatic life, which is probably why we live by the sea.
As soon as dinner was over, I did my homework. It wasn't too bad, but it was mostly just tedious. The math homework was repetitive, but I knew the stuff, so it wasn't too bad. I had already finished the English essay on American writers a couple days ago (I'm a pretty fast writer, and fairly good I suppose), so I could skip that. The social studies homework was this reading on Buddhism, and it was really boring. At least there weren't any questions with it. Not yet anyways. There wasn't any science homework since we had a test the following day. I did a little studying, but in general, I knew the material.
I didn't take a language (unless you count Latin [dead language so I guess it sort of is a language], which the only homework for that was vocabulary memorization) or any music course, but I did take a class that had to do with law. It was actually pretty interesting, and I was considering on becoming a lawyer. Or at least a paralegal or something. The homework for that was a bunch of research that, thankfully, I'd already finished during study. At 10, I finally got a chance to get onto my computer.
Only Justine was on gmail.

Gwen: 'tine?
Justine: hey gwen
Gwen: you alright after everything today?
Justine: yeah
still kinda in shock though
Gwen: can't blame you
i could barely stop thinking about it enough to eat dinner properly and get my homework done
Justine: i think i'll go to school early in the morning now
Gwen: what?!
Justine: we can practice in the mornings
Gwen: oh...
we could practice by my house in the afternoon
it's a little far, but there's a cave near the beach by the ocean
we could go there so that other people can't see us
Justine: sounds good
Gwen: i'll tell Linda tomorrow morning
and the others after school
i don't think i'll be very surprised if the others show up early again tomorrow
Justine: i don't think so either actually
it's weird...
Gwen: how you just sorta know?
Justine: yeah...
Gwen: what do you think we're up against?
Justine: what do you mean?
Gwen: you know how we're supposed to save the world from the Apocalypse?
Justine: um...
dunno?
maybe global warming or sumthin
Gwen: i just can't get my mind off of it
no matter what i do, i'm constantly reminded of today's events and just everything that could result from all of this and i don't know how much sleep i'll be able to get tonight
Justine: dude, you need to chill
Gwen: i know i do, but i can't help but worry...
Justine: try to get a good night's sleep, okay gweny-poo? (She only really used that name for me when she wanted to bother me or be affectionate. And she only used it online when there were no other people. I was thankful for that.)
Gwen: alright, but don't call me gweny-poo!
Justine: you sound like inez from this tv show i used to watch
Gwen: cyberchase?
Justine: exactly
she would say, don't call me nezzie!
Gwen: i guess i do sound kinda like her
Justine: XD
Gwen: well, g'night i guess
Justine: yeah
g'night

She logged off a second before I did. I collapsed onto my bed. Throughout the night, I fell asleep, woke up, tossed and turned, fell asleep...in an endless cycle. Through all this, I managed to have a strange dream about volcanoes erupting and earthquakes and floods of water and extreme heat.
~*~
In the morning, even the cold water and scent of my shampoo failed to wake my properly. Still, I managed to get to school without falling asleep on the bus.
"Dude, you look like shit!" I gave a half laugh at Justine's exclamation as she arrived by skateboard. She was the first to arrive after myself, which surprised me a little.
"I'm sure I do. I barely slept all night."
"Aww... Come here." I shuffled my way over to her, and I was soon squashed against her in a tight hug. I felt a couple back bones crack as she squeezed.
"Feel better?"
"A little... Well, at least it's Friday..." I mumbled, rubbing my eyes drowzily.
Linda was the next to arrive. She too was surprised at Justine's promptness. Tiffany showed up soon after. Kendra, Ellen and Carmen arrived together. And then we were all there.
"I guess everyone wanted to see what they could do?" I murmured wearily to the group.
"Yeah... You okay, Gwen?" I gave a tired smile to Carmen before answering.
"I'm fine, just really exhausted from lack of sleep."
"Well, who wants to go?" Linda took charge of the group and when no one volunteered, she tried herself. This time, she was able to make a blade of grass grow longer without having to close her eyes. I noticed that it took a considerably shorter amount of time for her make it grow. Still, it was tolling on her, for her eyes immediately lost some of their awake-ness.
Carmen was able to pull some of the dew off the grass and morph it into different shapes. We laughed as Justine's hair went up in flames for a moment, though her hair didn't actually burn. Ellen made Tiffany turn completely red as she told all of us what Tiffany was thinking about. (She had her mind on Michael.) Kendra had a little stone whiz around our heads until Tiffany knocked the stone off to the side with a gust of wind. I was able to remain awake enough to speed up time a little so that there were only 10 more minutes left before other people would arrive by letting my mind, so to speak, open, and making clockwise circular motions with my hands.
Whenever one of us lost concentration, whatever we were trying to do stopped. If one of us disturbed someone else, we lost control of what we were doing. We were very careful not to disturb Justine, because we knew that her fire could prove to be dangerous.
It was easier for all of us to do what had taken each of us around 3 minutes last time. Although in my case, I really lost all sense of time so I wasn't sure how long it had really taken me. Even so, I could tell that everyone was tired from their efforts. I was left even more tired than I began with, but I was pleased with what I was able to do.
We parted ways when we saw someone coming to the school. I didn't see them again until the end of the day.
During the day, I fell asleep at my desk in math, though when Mr. Foy rapped on my desk with a ruler, I was able to answer the question he had on the board quickly. I was glad I knew the stuff. In English, I half snoozed the time away since everyone else was working on their essays. Gym woke me up considerably, especially since the exercise and fresh air cleared my mind. I was a lot better in social studies and science, and I felt I knew the answers to the questions on the science test fairly well. Law was as interesting as always, although I could tell some of the other students looked ready to take a nap. I laughed internally when I saw one of the guys behind me drool in his sleep. Later on, Ms. Linae whacked him on the head with a rolled up packet of paper. Latin was not the most interesting, seeing as the only thing we really did was have a quiz on vocab and study for the test on Monday.
When we met after school, we waited until the other students had left before I led them to the bus stop that took me home and we spent the rest of the day in the cave by the beach. We all took a long time to get a good grasp on what we could do, and even so, it was difficult and tiring.
Carmen was completely in her element there. She dived right into the water without thinking and completely goofed off in there the whole afternoon. Her fingers and toes didn't even get prune-y. (And her clothes didn't get wet either.) She didn't really mess around with the water, but she seemed to have a great time just being in the water.
Linda spent her time making the wild grass grow taller and making them curl into different shapes. Justine promptly burned Linda's grass sculptures, which was alright, because there was only small bunches of grass here and there on the sand. They look long breaks in between each creation and destruction of a sculpture though. During those breaks, they lay in the sand and stared at the clouds, just relaxing before trying again.
Kendra and Tiffany were playing some sort of game with a stone. It was suspended in between them and it seemed as if they were trying to push it towards the other. Sometimes it would move towards Kendra when the wind created by Tiffany was particularly strong, but other times it would come closer to Tiffany when the wind was weaker. They stopped every couple of minutes to sit on the stones near the water to rest, idly flicking the water with their bare feet.
Ellen sat the whole time with her face in sort of in a spaced out expression. She occasionally smiled at something or frowned at something else, but generally, she was still during the time we were there. I think part of the time she was reading people's minds, but the other bit was spend resting and clearing her mind.
I watched the events that were interested slowed down so I could see every detail, while I watched boring ones quickly. It was tolling though. I had to open my mind so that I was aware of everything around me. I suppose it was almost what you could call enlightenment, except I wasn't actually enlightened.
With my senses more aware of my surroundings and my mind almost empty of thought except for concentration on my time control, I was able to manipulate the time around me. The longer I kept myself in this manner, the more tired I felt. It was as if someone was adding weights to my body and sucking away my energy bit by bit.
My concentration would slip here and there, and time would go back to normal speed. It was hard to keep up the time control, and perhaps my gift was more difficult to use than the others. I was messing around with time (I mean seriously, TIME!), while they were just messing around with the elements and their mind.
When the sky began to get dark, I was ready to fall asleep on the sand. Except I knew I couldn't do that. I had to get everyone else home first.
I taught everyone how to use the bus to get to near their house before trudging back into my own home. I nearly fell asleep at the dinner table (but my brothers poked me as soon as my head started bobbing) and barely managed to get my homework done before I went to bed. I didn't bother to try getting onto the computer before I drifted off into sleep.

Part I

2008-07-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

The number seven is ever present in my life. My birthday is July seventh. According to my mother, she went into labor at seven p.m. and I was born at seven a.m. I am my parents' seventh child. My name, Gwendolyn, begins with the seventh letter of the alphabet. I am one of seven friends are like family to me.
My mother and father originally intended to have only one child. They ended up with triplets, much to their surprise. Jason, Jacob, and Johnathan are their names. The number three bothered my mother for some reason (I have no idea why), so she wanted one more child to make four, which was her lucky number. Somehow she ended up with triplets again. They are named Aaron, Adam, and Alexander. Only a year after her second set of triplets, she had this great need to have a daughter. (The triplets, both sets, were all boys.) She got lucky and had me. Seven children was enough for my mother, and so it's just the seven of us.
Life can be pretty difficult with so many siblings, especially if they're all older and boys. But one learns to cope.
We live in a beautiful blue house by the sea, a seven minute drive away from the nearest house. There are seven stones that make up the walk way and there are seven steps up to the entrance. My room is actually the attic (the door to my room is seventh door down the hall), but I don't mind. I have the best view and there is even a small door with a ladder (with seven rungs) leading to the roof where I like to sit. It's a nice place to lie down and stare at the stars. Or the ocean if I feel like it.
Everything was just normal for fourteen years of my life. Nothing extraordinary or strange. It was in my first year at high school when my life changed completely.
~*~
"Gwendolyn Skah-eh-" I sighed, rolled my eyes, and then spoke up.
"It's Gwendolyn Skaelyn, pronounced as 'sky-lynn'" I didn't bother to tell the substitute that I preferred to be called Gwen. She'd forget and she'd be gone by tomorrow anyways.
As she continued to take attendance, I shot a glance to my best friend, Justine. She was staring at the hottest boy in our school as usual. I grinned to myself. She'd had her eyes on Dustin for a year or so, but she never managed to get the guts to speak to him.
Personally, I thought that he wasn't too bad looking, but he just wasn't my type. I didn't really have a type, but I wasn't interested all the same.
Justine saw something in him that I couldn't comprehend, but if she wanted him, I didn't care. Besides, she wouldn't have to deal with competition with me that way. Not that she needed any or of that, considering that all the girls flirted with him. He was nice about it, but he'd turned down all of them so far.
Either he was picky, had his eyes on a girl, or he was gay. Picky...maybe, but there were so many girls who had asked him out. If he did have his eyes on a girl, he probably could get her in a second. (Or maybe he's just too shy to ask her...) I could see the possibility of him being gay to be true but I couldn't say for sure.
I was lost in my own little world for what seemed like only a minute when the bell rang, nearly causing me to jump out of my seat. Glancing at the clock, I wondered when fifty-five minutes had passed. Then I looked down at my desk. There was a math paper with my writing, and it was completed, but I didn't remember doing it at all. I shivered slightly as my blood went cold. I managed to collect myself in time to hear the substitute say to hold onto our papers and hand them in tomorrow. Almost automatically, I packed my silvery-gray bag, slung it over my shoulder, and was out the door within the next thirty seconds. Rows of lockers flickered by my vision as I made my way through the busy hall. I skipped my locker, since I had nothing to get.
Then, I waited for the others to arrive at our usual waiting spot under the large tree in the middle of the quad.
Justine was the first to arrive. Short choppy hair with bright red highlights always signified her coming. She was my best friend and we'd known each other since we were born. She's more of a tomboy than I am. She loves to skateboard but she enjoys basketball as well. Our parents had been best friends and so her family and mine were practically one. Her parents were from Korea and she spoke Korean in her house most of the time. Last summer, she went to Korea for at least a month and came back with all this cool stuff that she gave to me and the rest of my friends.
Kendra and Ellen arrived a split second later. They were one of the few sets of twins in our school and the only in our grade. Not only that, they were identical twins. It was almost impossible to tell them apart, especially since they both always had their light brown hair tied into pony-tails at the nape of their necks. They were both born in France and often talk to each other in French so the rest of us won't understand. They're strange like that sometimes. Even so, they are great people to have around when you wanted to go shopping or get the latest gossip. They're also talented dancers.
Carmen was the next to arrive. Most people think she's African because of her dark skin and hair but really, she's from Mexico. She's fluent in Spanish and has a slight accent when she talks in English. Also, she's an amazing singer. She acts like a mother or older sister to the majority of us despite the fact that she's a year younger than us and shorter than all of us. In general, she's peppy and almost always happy.
Linda and Tiffany arrived at the same time from different locations. Linda is Russian and often has a problem with people who bother her about Chernobyl and things that happened in Russia a while back. Still, she's one of the smartest in our group and is usually takes the role of group leader automatically. She's a great drawer and has won a few prizes for her art work.
Tiffany is Chinese and speaks Mandarin almost fluently, though sometimes she has trouble reading and writing in Chinese. (Still, she's better than all of us combined. I mean, none of us can speak Mandarin so she has to be better than all of us.) She doesn't like sports really, but even so, she's scary good at figure skating. We're surprised that she hasn't considered competing or anything. Out of all of us, she's probably the most hard working and gets the best grades. Sometimes she has problems with other students because she's shy and has glasses, but the rest of us are always there to back her up if she needs it. Not that she really needs much help. She's scary when she wants to be...
And me? I'm from the good old US of A. Just English for me. My red pixie cut hair, bright green eyes, and small frame often get me teasing about Peter Pan, especially since I'm pretty much a completely tomboy, but I've learned to ignore it. After all, with 6 older brothers, one gets used to all the teasing quickly. (It could be my brothers that caused me to become so tomboy-ish...) I'm a runner mostly; my light frame and long legs are good for sprinting, though I sometimes do long distance running.
Linda stood in front of the rest of the group and began to address all of us. This is normal, for she always wants to know what we're going to do first and then plan it. Her neat blond hair was tied into a high pony-tail as usual and it swung gently as she talked.
"So where are going today?" Her quiet voice often led people to assume that she was the following type, but once people got to know her, they were the ones who did the following. I made that mistake when I first met her.
"I was thinking of going to the library." Justine wrinkled her nose at Tiffany's suggestion. They're good friends despite the fact that one prefers to skateboard while the latter prefers to sit down with a good book. But Tiffany can have fun just as well as the rest of us even though she almost always puts homework first.
"Let's go get some food and then we can go to the library." The twins answered together, a creepy thing they did rather often. They sometimes finished each others' sentences too. It was almost as if they could read each others' minds.
"Is that alright with everyone?" Linda looked around. Tiffany hesitated, clearly thinking about her homework, but nodded. Justine scowled but eventually consented as well. Linda's gaze wept towards the rest of us. Kendra and Ellen both nodded excitedly, their long brown hair jumping up and down in unison. Carmen and I both agreed after a moment of thought and then we were off.
~*~
The twins gossiped (or so I assumed) in French as Tiffany and Justine compared the differences in their foreign languages. (Honestly, I can't tell the difference between Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese, but they both claim that they're really different. Whatever they say...) Linda, Carmen, and I chatted about the stupid things people did in class and other random things, but I wasn't really in the conversation.
Next thing I knew, we were sitting down and about to eat pizza. I realized that twenty minutes had probably passed, yet it only seemed like five. Confused and slightly scared, I tried to cover it up by eating my pizza to distract myself. The gooey cheese burned the top of my mouth as I ate. My frantic fanning towards my burning mouth caused Justine to burst into laughter while the others politely chuckled, trying not to make me feel embarrassed. (I wouldn't have anyways, but it was a nice gesture all the same.)
During our conversation as we ate, I found out that Michael, a relatively cute Taiwanese boy, had asked Tiffany out. We all chuckled and nudged her, causing her to blush. She'd been crushing on him for almost a year and it was like a dream come true for her.
Also, Linda apparently dumped James (they'd been dating for only a month) after he tried to feel her up in the halls that morning. A good choice in my opinion. I didn't like the annoying brunette anyways.
We were almost done with the pizza when Carmen suddenly announced something that had us silent for a moment. But only a moment.
"Guys? I just thought you should know that I'm lesbian." The moment of silence was quickly broken by Kendra and Ellen.
"Kendra's bi."
"I am, but you should have let me say that myself. And you are too." They glared at each other before bursting into peals of laughter. The rest of us didn't get it, but their act brought a half smile to Carmen's face.
"I think it's great that you know what you are inside and accept it." I tried to give her a hug after but somehow ended up catching my foot on the edge of the chair. She tried to squash a snicker as I got up and hugged her properly.
The others soon joined in with our hug, effectively clogging up the path to and from the door. We had to stop our little gathering and let people through. We gave sheepish grins as we apologized to the annoyed people, cleaned up our trash, and left.
No mention is made about Carmen's sexuality afterward, for the people in our school are everywhere. I, for one, didn't know if she wanted everyone to know and the others probably thought the same. And besides, it made no difference to us really. Her sexuality only told us that she wasn't interested in boys. We weren't homophobic and hadn't been since we knew what gays and lesibans were.
It was when we reached the library that things got really weird.
First of all, there was no one in the library but us. Not even the librarians were present. Secondly, there was an eerie silence. The library is meant to be quiet, but even at the quietest of times there is some sort of noise normally. And then there was the pile of seven books, each with a different name on the cover. The names looked like ours but they were...different. Not in spelling, but rather...in essence. I couldn't explain the feeling.
We didn't say a word to each other as we picked up the book with our name on it. And then we took "our" book and high-tailed it out of there, not knowing why we even took the books. We didn't stop until we were on the grassy hill near Linda's house.
"What do you think they are?" Justine looked at the book in wonder, running her hands over the leather cover. Which suddenly struck me as odd because I know no books covered in leather.
"And why do they have our names on them?" Tiffany's was covered in leather too. In fact, they all were, including mine, which I just realized was in my lap. The only thing different about each book was a symbol, our name, and the color of the lettering.
"What about the symbols?" For once, the twins were not blabbing about something in French. They usually do when something exciting happens. Although, I didn't feel excited. But the twins can be strange sometimes. Well, more than sometimes.
"Maybe we should take these home so we can take a better look. Talk to you guys on gmail later?" We all saw the logic in Linda's words, for the wind had picked up and the sky was darkening.
Goodbyes and hugs were exchanged before parting ways. I made it home just as the rain began to come down.
~*~
Dinner was a blur. I only remember that the boys were obnoxious as usual. I don't remember what I ate or what I said either. It seemed as if only ten minutes had passed when I found myself in front of my laptop.
Thanks to the studies I had that day, I was done with all my homework. I quickly logged onto my gmail account, sevenpowers, and then checked to see who was on.
Linda was on, as well as Justine, and before I had time to try to chat with them, they had invited me to their group chat.

Linda: hey gwen
Justine: sup?
Gwen: hi you two
found anything interesting about the books?
Linda: you haven't opened yours yet?
Gwen: i only had time to have dinner
got onto the comp just now
i'll take a look now (I pulled out the book from my bag, where I had dumped it when I started on my way home. My name, written in silver, had an hour glass underneath. How fitting, I thought, especially since I had been speeding through my day.)
Justine: well?
Gwen: my name's in silver and there's an hour glass
haven't looked inside yet
(Carmen got online and I invited her at once)
Carmen: hi all!
Justine: hey
Gwen: carmen!
Linda: hiya
Carmen: whatcha all talkin about?
Gwen: the books
Carmen: oh...
Linda: mines has green lettering and a delicate flower on underneath
Gwen: silver with an hour glass
and btw, mines isn't actually a word
Justine: red with a bonfire
Linda: whatever
Justine: whatever what?
Linda: to what gwen just said about the word mines
Justine: oh
Carmen: mine is blue with a couple of waves
(The twins got onto the computer and someone invited them into the chat)
Kendra: what'd we
Ellen: miss? (They were creepy like that sometimes...)
Linda: we just shared the color of our name and the symbol underneath
Gwen: what do you two have?
Kendra: we both have
Ellen: purple with some sort of
Kendra: purple orb (I guess it was only natural that the twins had the same thing...)
Justine: red and bonfire
Linda: green and flower
Carmen: blue and waves
Gwen: silver and hourglass
Linda: what do you think it means?
Justine: idk
Gwen: search me
Carmen: dunno
Kendra: we have
Ellen: no idea
(Finally, Tiffany got on. She probably had been doing homework so she was late)
Tiffany: i'm guessing you all have been talking about the books
mine has white with a symbol that i believe to represent wind
and what about the rest of you? (She types incredibly fast.)
Gwen: i will copy what we wrote so we all don't have to rewrite it
Justine: thanks gwen (She types the slowest out of all of us.)
Gwen: Kendra: we both have
Ellen: purple with some sort of
Kendra: purple orb
Justine: red and bonfire
Linda: green and flower
Carmen: blue and waves
Gwen: silver and hourglass
Tiffany: so now we're trying to figure out what all this means, right?
Linda: exactly what i want to do
now that we're all on, it'll make it a lot easier to figure out (Linda types pretty fast too. Faster than me but slower than Tiffany.)
Carmen: this reminds me of a lot of books i read
Tiffany: you mean the fantasy books that my parents would so not approve of if i tried to bring one home?
Justine: what else does she read?
Carmen: haha very funny. *scowl*
Gwen: you have to admit, you really don't read anything else
Carmen: fine, i'll give you that one
but seriously
Linda: you have a point though
it really is almost as if we're going to get the kind of power on the book
Kendra: so we're going
Ellen: to be able to shoot purple orbs
Kendra: at people or something
Ellen: like that?
Justine: lololololol XD
Gwen: that would be...
Linda: weird
Tiffany: exactly
i got to go to bed now
Justine: but it's only 9!!!
Tiffany: you know how my parents are
Linda: true enough
Carmen: see ya at school tomorrow!
Gwen: bye-ah
Kendra: good
Ellen: bye
(Tiffany left the six of us to discuss the books more.)
Justine: thinking of which,
Gwen: you should be going to bed since you parents say so but you aren't because you don't want to
Justine: exactly
Gwen: i know you too well
Justine: that's what happens when
Gwen: you know a friend for a long time
Justine: yup
Kendra: you guys should almost
Ellen: like us
Carmen: you guys kinda do
Gwen: except we're not related are we?
Linda: a red head related to a korean?
long time ago maybe, but recently?
nope
but anyways, back to the books
Justine: right
Gwen: some of these sort of relate to us though
Carmen: what do you mean?
Gwen: i mean, flower for linda
linda loves plants
Linda: that's true
i didn't think about that...
Gwen: and carmen is gentle like the ocean sometimes but at other times when she gets angry or frustrated she can get stormy and angsty
Kenda: just like the
Ellen: ocean does sometimes
Linda: and you would know best since you live by the ocean
Carmen: i can sorta see that
Gwen: yup fire suits justine because she's so hot-tempered and untameable
Justine: that's not nice!
Gwen: but true
Justine: good point
Carmen: XD
Linda: and tiffany is dangerous like the wind if you mess with her
Gwen: i would have never thought that when i first met her
Carmen: most people don't
Justine: she can hold her own if she wants
Linda: she's just too polite to do so usually
Gwen: that's what you get from a chinese household i suppose
Kendra: perhaps that
Ellen: may be true
Justine: *nodnod*
Gwen: concerning the purple orbs...
i have to say, i'm stumped
Linda: i gotta go to bed
Justine: parents?
Linda: yeah
Justine: why do you even listen to them?
Linda: i dunno
why do you not listen to yours?
Gwen: lol
Carmen: good one! actually, i gotta go to bed too cya
Linda: yeah, bye everyone
Justine: bye
Gwen: ttyl or rather, tomorrow
Kendra: see you guys
Ellen: at school!
(And then both Linda and Carmen were gone, leaving Justine, Kendra, Ellen, and me.)
Kendra: i don't think we got
Ellen: very far with our discoveries
Kendra: about the books
Gwen: at least we sorta found out a little bit
Justine: she's got a point
Kendra: we actually need to
Ellen: finish our homework
Kendra: eh he... ^^"
Gwen: good job guys... talk to you guys tomorrow?
Kendra: yup
Ellen: bye
Justine: cya
(Then it was just Justine and me.)
Gwen: wow... that was pretty crazy
Justine: what was?
Gwen: all of us talking at once
Justine: i guess so
Gwen: what about you?
do you have homework
Justine: err...
i...
um...
Gwen: go do your homework i'll talk to you tomorrow
Justine: fine... *sulk*
Gwen: XD
Justine: hmp
Gwen: hugs and kisses to speed you along!
Justine: thanks... i'll need it
Gwen: i know you will ^_^
Justine: hugs and kisses to help you sleep
Gwen: good night 'tine
Justine: 'night gweny-poo
Gwen: didn't i say not to call me that yesterday? (I scowled at the words on the screen, but half smiled inside at the affectionate way Justine addressed me.)
Justine: too bad still calling you that
Gwen: be like that then
Justine: i will!
Gwen: go do your homework
bye

I logged out so that she wouldn't try to delay her doing homework. Stretching my fingers, they felt numb from typing for so long, although I'd typed longer before. The laptop blipped to tell me that I had low battery and I sighed before turning it off and taking it downstairs to charge. I would have charged it upstairs if my parents let me.
Then I headed back upstairs, flipped off the light, and collapsed onto my bed, welcoming sleep to take my mind off of all the strange things that had happened that day. It was only then that I realized I hadn't looked inside the book yet.
Sighing, I turned the light back on, wincing as the bright light burned my eyes. As I squinted at my surroundings, my hands found the book and I flipped it open. I let myself adjust to the light before I began to read. Or rather, try to read.
The writing was some strange language made up of symbols. They were flowing and graceful, made with gentle but firm strokes. It looked hand written but it was so beautiful. Not quite perfect, but amazing in its own way.
I couldn't consciously understand any of the writing, but when I let my mind wander a little, it seemed to make some sense. Losing all sense of time, I absorbed the information in the pages, not quite understanding what it was trying to tell me, but subconsciously knowing what it meant.
When I looked up at the clock, I found that it was already two in the morning. It took me by surprise, and I stared at it before really realizing that it was late. I hadn't felt tired before but a great weariness fell upon my shoulders and my eye lids grew heavy. By the time my head hit the pillow after putting the book down and turning off the lights, I was fast asleep.