Faded Rose

Chapter 3

Right as she said that another person plopped down at the table. "Did I miss anything?" Deceit asks as he looks around the table.

"Nope, just me explaining River's nightmares." Holly answers immediately. "Oh, and Rose's new friend, Peony." She vaguely motions at Peony.

"Hi." Is his simple reply to the introduction. "You probably won't be friends with Rose long, our family has really bad luck with other people."

"Deceit." I hiss. "I'm not like any of you. My life will not be defined by your experiences."

"And I doubt that will happen. She has a different father than us, you can tell by the aura she carries around with her." Holly adds, looking me up and down. "And this friend she made has a very loyal personality from what I can see."

"Will you two stop talking about family curses? I was trying to escape, not be your debate." I hiss, this talk about supposed family curses annoys me, nobody can say how my life will go. Someone lightly brushes my arm, and I turn to see that Peony is trying to catch my attention. "Yes, Peony?" I ask in a conversational tone.

"Umm, the food is coming. Thought you would like to know." She says, giving me something else to think of besides my anger.

"Thanks." I smile at her, one that shows all my trust in her. "I've been waiting for a meal all day."

"Ladies and gentlemen!" A voice booms throughout the space, catching everyone's attention. "Now that I have your undivided attention, I will explain the way our school will work this year. Since we have quite a few more new students there will have to be changes to how the school as a whole will operate. Now, if you think I'm just going to drown you with words you are vastly incorrect. Simply, there will be bunk beds installed in all the living spaces and the schedule plus a few of the rules will change. The meal bringers will bring pamphlets with your food, so if you have any questions consult the book, not me." The man whom the voice seemed to come from wiped off his coat and simply left the hall. It only took a moment for voices to rise, questions coming from the many hundreds of students crowded in here.

"Well, won't be much change for us, there will just be two other people to share our dorm with, and all we know are the rules and schedule for this year." I say, not taking casting a glance at my older siblings. "Can't be too bad."

"You don't know what it was like before. We'll be the judges of how bad it is." Deceit jumps in. I growl, he shouldn't talk to me in that condescending tone. "If they're doubling the amount of kids they're taking, then it'll be really crowded."

He had just ended when the doors were shut, dumbfounding the students locked in the hall. All hell broke loose a few seconds after the loud bang. I wasn't even sure what the heck was going on, until Holly said it.

"They locked us in here. They really just locked hundreds of students in the dining hall." She states firmly, but she sounds confused about it. "Why did they do that? What experiment are we part of now?"

"Frick." That is the only thing I hear before we all hear an odd noise, like a spraying noise. Then a fog settles over the room, and it puts us all to sleep.

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I wake up, feeling groggy. There are many other students around me, I can hear their breathing and shuffling as they wake up. But I can't see any of them, it's pitch dark in here. It takes me a minute to process, but I know we are trapped. Trapped somewhere, tossed in here without much care. 

"Urgh..." I hear a groggy voice next to me. By the sound of if I would guess they are male. I turn towards them, and accidentally poke them in the side. "Hey, who was that? Who poked me?" He sounds angry.

"Me, sorry, I can't exactly see in here." I say, slightly sarcastic. Humph.

Other voices rise, with many mixes of emotion. Anger, confusion, and fear are the dominant emotions. I try to keep calm but my anxiety is rising, building up inside me like a storm. But as I think about it, it turns to anger. Who does this to kids who trusted them? Who could possibly be this cruel? What are they going to do with all these students? How many 

I hear someone grunt, "About fifty, from what I can tell." It's the boy I poked on accident, I must have accidentally spoke out loud. "You didn't speak out loud, I hear thoughts. It's a curse, to be honest." 

Then a thought hits me, what if they are just trying to collect those of us with special powers? But what would they do with us? What would they do to the ones without special powers? How do they know if we even have special powers?

"That is probably what they're doing.  I hear the founder of the school has somebody under them who can tell who has powers. They probably don't let you into the school unless you have one." He seems to have pretty much thought it out. "You have a fiery temper. I can tell just by grazing your mind. Can you light a fire?"

What an odd question. "Not without the right materials. I can us flint and stone." He sounds disappointed from the sigh he lets out. "But I'm sure that's not what you mean."

"No, it's not." He says. "I was thinking, like, a fire, in your hand, that you light by sheer force or whatever." He doesn't sound sarcastic.

"Hmmm.. I have never thought to try it before." In my mind I summon all my furry and send it to my cupped hands, I can feel it start to heat up, and soon enough there's a flame, and it lights up the container we are all in. 

I see confused faces and curious ones, but the noise had died almost immediately after I had lit the fire. I stare in wonder, and I see the boy whom I was talking to. He has a black, shaggy, mop of hair on his head, and eyes just as black as the darkness that had surrounded us not moments before.