THE PRODIGIES

Chapter XXIV

The next morning I wake up feeling a little empty. Chance's words ring in my head from the previous night.

"I will never hurt you."

He made one mistake, and I was ready to forget all of the times he made sure I was okay. I was willing to forget all of the little things that he did for me because of that mistake. He carried my books, gave me rides, took notes for me when he didn't have to. But he did because he was a friend that I didn't even know I needed. Now I just feel empty.

Skylar and Penelope come into our room to bring us food. Then we're notified that we're going to be switching it up. So today I'll be with Mr. Axel, Mila will be with Penelope, and Bree will be with Skylar. This is the perfect opportunity to try to use my powers on him, but I have a feeling it's going to be hard. He's already a very private person so I don't think he has many sunflowers within him. I'm still going to try nonetheless.

He comes in dressed in all black of course, and he gets down to business. Why am I not surprised?

"Show me what you can do."

So I instantly start to lift up a pillow, but he quickly dismisses it.

"Okay, next."

I place my hand onto his and close my eyes. I do exactly what Skylar taught me yesterday. I just breathe and visualize. And in one try, we're at the entrance to Cal's Coffee Shop. I blink my eyes again, and we're back in the hotel room.

That's how my day went: practicing my skills. We practiced combat, then we practiced using my powers again. It was a back-and-forth pattern and it was pretty boring. There wasn't much time in between to try to read his mind. A part of me thought that that was why he was going so fast paced with my training. He didn't want me to have any opportunity to try to get into his head. He's a smart man so I expected him to do this.

When it's time for a break, he orders room service and then leaves the room. I eat by myself, and when I'm done he's back again to continue the training.

Before we can start, I ask a question.

"Are you like this with my sisters or is it just me?"

"Like what?" He counters back.

"All strict like. Like you don't want anyone to get close to you. If we're gonna be spending all of this time together, we should be comfortable around each other. I'm not comfortable around you, and it seems like you're not comfortable around me either. So what's up?"

Mr. Axel takes a deep breath and then saunters on over to the sofa. He takes a seat before he begins talking.

"There is a lot going on right now, so I apologize for being closed off. I haven't been around anyone with powers in so long, and I keep thinking about my time as an SFA agent. It wasn't a good time."

This sparks my curiosity even more, but then I start thinking about Chance and how I invaded his privacy and ultimately lost his trust. I don't want to do that to Mr. Axel before I even gain his trust. Maybe I'll just do it the old-fashioned way and ask him about his past. It's worth a shot.

"Why wasn't it a good time?"

Mr. Axel glances over at me and shakes his head. For a minute I think he isn't going to tell me anything because I can see the pained look on his face. To my surprise, he speaks.

"We had to do some horrible things to innocent people. To innocent children. We were just following orders, but it didn't make it any easier. We forced them to kill. That's all they ever knew."

He stops.

I don't know what to do or say. I want more details. I want to know about my mom.

And right on cue, he starts back.