Chapter 1

    I was walking home from a tough day of school.  I guess I was thankful I didn’t have to work today.  Although I needed more money I didn’t need the stress, at least not today.  As I walked down the empty street I watch a plane in the sky.  It was leaving behind a black smoke so I was waiting for it to crash but it didn’t seem to come any closer.  I turned onto my long twisting driveway when the plane suddenly jerked into action.  It started falling and fast.  It was coming right at me!  I ran to my house and got inside.  I grabbed all my jewelry and my favorite clothes then went into the basement for- CRASH!!

    The plane hit the house; it was a lot smaller than a plane though.  When everything was quiet I went upstairs, I felt a pain in my leg but I ignored it.  I got upstairs to see… A METEOR!  It was still on fire too, but it gave no heat.  I went up to touch it to see if it was real. It felt like a rock, it looked like a rock, it even smelled like a rock.  I knocked on it.  It most certainly did not sound like a rock.

    It opened up to reveal a metal inside filled with some sort of red and black liquid.  It gave off a warm aura.  The liquid spilled out of its weird container and everything around it started on fire!  That was when I realized two things; that liquid was lava, and I was dead.  I fainted.

    *        *        *        *        *        *        *

    I awoke to find myself in an unfamiliar bed staring at a blank white ceiling.  “What happened?”  Reality struck me, “am I in heaven?”  It hurt to move.

    “You’re not in heaven but I can tell what happened, Ms. Jeckel,” a doctor in the usual white garments appeared next me, but I could not turn my head.  “You are in the hospital because you were found in a very unusual fire.  You were saved before the house collapsed.”  I thought I had died in there.  There was something that was bugging me but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  It hurt to think that hard, so I put it aside for now.  “I can tell you remember something.  Do you know what happened?”

    “No, I was coming home from school, so I don’t know how the fire started,” Although that big rock, that wasn’t really a rock, obviously had something to do with it, I thought.  “If I knew more I would tell you, Doctor.”  I tried not to look like a liar.  “Where’s my mum?”

    “We only found you in the house.  Now, are you sure you don’t remember something falling on your house that might have started the fire?  We found a giant hole in the ceiling.  Sound familiar?”  The doctor was interrogating me as if I am a culprit!  I wanted to tell him about the rock but I didn’t want to sound crazy.  “Was this an attempt to get money from your insurance?”  I shot a glare at him and spat out a poisonous “no.”

    My body didn’t hurt anymore, so I stood up.  The doctor tried to hide his obvious disappointment.  The doctor’s nametag told me his name was Mark.  Mark was a tall man in about his mid-twenties with face that was out of an Anima show.  I was nineteen but I looked old enough that bartenders don’t ask me for ID; I might just be able to take advantage of him and get out of here.  “Oh dear, my house is probably ashes now where will I live until I find a new house?”  I made sure to give him the ‘are you busy’ look with the most innocence I could muster.  However, I could tell it was not working.

    “We run a serious business here and do not flirt with patients!  Besides you’re still in high school and I am thirty-two.”  He was thirty-two.  I almost barfed right then and there, but something willed me to keep it down.

    “I’m old enough to drink at a bar I’ll have you know!”  I tried to put on a serious face.  Then I noticed the clipboard, no doubt full of information about me.

    Mark raised a clipboard with patient information, “That may be so, but your still in high school.”  I hate small towns; everyone knows who you are; where you are; and what you are doing almost all the time.  After school, I am going to move to America and live in a big city like Hollywood where I can make a quick buck and take advantage of everyone without them knowing anything about me, or New York, where no one cares about anything but them-selves… oh well.

    “I am a senior.”  I muttered.

    “You will be able to leave in a few days, until then you can come here after school.”  Another doctor came in the door and said something to Mark.  She looked like a goddess instead of a doctor; her hair was golden with streaks of red here and there so that she looked like a fire.  Her face was flawless except the few little freckles on her cheeks.  She had red glasses and was carrying a clipboard in her arms.  She caught my gaze and winked at me with a smile.  “Thank you Sarah.”  Mark said and took the clipboard, “Well, apparently someone has come to pick you up, aren’t you lucky.”  That was when I saw my dad for the first time since I was thirteen years old.

    “Well, you’ve grown quite a bit since last I saw you.  How old are you now kiddo?”  He was dressed for a meeting and was talking fast.  Maybe he was trying to make a good impression on the doctors.

    “I’m nineteen, Dad, stop talking to me like I’m ten.”  He made a surprised face at that remark and I slumped back on the hospital bed.  “Can we go now?”  He looks the same as he did six years ago.

    “Well aren’t you in a hurry?”  He said sarcastically.  “We can leave as soon as I sign the release papers.”  Didn’t he already sign them?  He talked to the doctor for what felt like hours but I’m sure only lasted a few minutes.

    As soon as we got in the car, my dad started to ask me questions as if I was not his daughter but a friend who came over to visit and left the house completely trashed.  “What happened at the house that you had to get sent to the hospital?  Why didn’t you call your mom?  When did this all happen?  Why did try to blow up the house?  Why would make me worry like this?  What happened to the house?  Why didn’t you call your mom?”

    “You already asked that.”  This is what he was like when he left mom, fighting and asking questions without waiting for any answers.  “Dad, stop asking so many questions.  First, I did not try to blow up the house.  Second, I did not call you; if I did, I would have told you what happened.  Do you even know what happened?”  Now it was my turn to ask questions.  “Why did you even come?  You don’t come any other time I or mom called; half the time you didn’t even answer.”  He looked hurt for a minute, then angry.  I noticed how fast he was going and needed something to change the subject so I said thank you for picking me up, and that ended the talk between us for the rest of the ride.

    I stared out the window for a while and noticed I didn’t know where we were going.  “Hey dad,” I asked but he was too concentrated on the GPS to respond to me, instead he just made a noise of recognition.  “Where are we going?”  He glanced at me for the shortest time, but his face said too much.  I kept looking out the window.

    “Are you too cold?  I’ll turn on the heat.”  He turned on the slightest amount of heat.  It felt nice and I closed my eyes.  My dad put in his favorite CD and the rest of the ride was filled with Beatles music.

          *        *        *        *        *        *        *

    I sensed something was wrong.  I went upstairs to Lady’s office.  “What do you want Conroy?”  Lady said.

    “Someone strong was spotted in the state, possibly heading towards the institute.  They stopped at the courthouse though.  It was a girl. She is with an older man who also has abilities, a weaker one, possibly a searcher.”

    “I don’t care.  The plan will be ready in a few months and I don’t want anything getting messed up.  Just make sure she is dead before she causes a problem.”

    “Yes, Ormaossa,” I knew she didn’t like her name but I don’t want to forget it. And I don’t want her to forget it.

“I thought I told you not to call me that anymore!  It’s a cursed name.”  She yelled.  Ever since the incident she has denied her name in some way or another, saying it’s not her name or saying it’s cursed.  I left her to her planning.  Meanwhile, I went to my personal study to figure out a way to find and kill the girl that was interfering with Lady’s plans.  Over the years I have learned not to care for lives of others as it halts progress.  I glanced at my screen and noticed that she was alone now. But a different person was walking towards her, a younger man.  Maybe I could kill her now.  Younger users tend not to think much of the death of another user.  I sent a storm her way but it was dispelled.  “How is that possible?”  I looked closer to the screen.  I saw that she had a protective seal on her.  I would not be able to kill her until she got on campus.  Now I played the waiting game.  But how long would I have to wait?  She may not even be aware that she is a user yet.

          I went to the staircase and started downward towards the factory part of the building.  It was on the main floor.  Not only was it used as a cover for what was really going on here, but it also made useful things.  The factory had six parts to it.  One section made monitors for computers.  The section in the back of the factory made the tower for the computers.  The section in between those two made external hard drives.  To the left of those three sections was larger and made ammunition for different weapons.  On the opposite side was a section just as large that made vacuums.  That was the section people saw when they walked in.  The last section was underneath all those.  It was a nuclear power plant.  It made all the energy used to power this building.  Just underneath that was a bunker that could survive the explosion if the plant happens to fail.  There was 27 floors underneath the bunker.  All safe from radiation.  I went down to the main floor and hopped on the elevator.  The elevator only gave access to three floors unless you had a key.  I put in my key and said “B-Thirteen.”  The elevator took my down to the thirteenth floor under the power plant.  I took out my key and the door opened to a wall.  The wall made a hallway that stretched a half mile in each direction.  There was no visible door.  I took a left turn and walked until I reached the end of the hallway.  I held a card on the wall for a short time.  The wall opened.  I put the card in my pocket and walked through.

         The wall closed as soon as I stepped in.  Before me was an arsenal of weapons and vehicles.  I took my car keys out of my shirt pocket and unlocked my car, using the sound it made to locate it.  I got in my car and drove to a large tunnel at the back of the arsenal.  I drove through the tunnel which lead to a car elevator.  I was then lifted to ground level.  I drove down the long driveway until I got to the highway.  I took a right turn and started heading towards the user I was supposed to kill.  I stopped at a courthouse and followed a man inside.  I recognized him from somewhere but I didn’t know where.  I stopped him in the hall.

          “Excuse me, sir.”  I said.  He stopped and turned towards me.  “May I ask your name?”

          He looked at me confused as if he recognized me.  “Conroy?  Is that really you?”  A big grin appeared on his face, “I haven’t seen you in ages!”

          “It has been a while.”  I suddenly remembered who he was!  He hugged me.  “I almost didn’t recognize you.”

          “Well we have a bit of a problem if you can’t remember what your own brother looks like.”  He laughed, “What brings you into town?”

          “Just a job.  I need to take care of something then I need to go to the store.”

          “Are you still living with-” I cut him off.

          “Yes, but she is slowly forgetting who she is.”  I tried not to show my sadness.  I held back a tear.

          “It’s okay.  You just need to remind her.  You should visit the university some time.  We miss you there.  Also we haven’t had a decent upgrade since you left.”  We laughed.

          “Are you here with anyone?”

          “Just my daughter and a rookie who got a job here.  He’s trying to master living a normal life with his abilities and he only graduated from high school two years ago.  He hasn’t even had a class at the university.”

          I realized who the person I was supposed to kill was.  I was not happy at all about it.  “Well I have to go now, I’ll try to get to the university sometime.  Have a good day.”  I ran to my car and drove back home.  How could I kill my niece?  I had to put emotions aside.  Then something occurred to me that would make killing her easier on my mind.  Her mother’s ability.