Part III

~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

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

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.