Dawns High and the Destruction of the Bees

Con.

Roy McCarthy:

Wednesday, January 27–

It's been a few days since I've arrived at the MCC. Everything would've been fine if I didn't have to do any work, but I suppose nothing in life is free. To exchange for my boring school days, I now have to learn the work of an MCC agent in the three departments old Ximen chose. At least the food is comforting...and the bed.

"Do you have the data for this ability?" Selena asks me. We are still in the A&F Department. I mean, we have a month for three departments so I guess we'll be spending quite some time here.

"No, I only did the Holy Sector so far," I say.

"Oh, okay," she says.

During the past week, I learned that the people from the ancient times used to categorize abilities into 4 different groups. Holy, Nature, Man-Kind, and Ground. Turns out the MCC still follows this tradition. Sometimes, people say there are only three groups because they combine the Man-Kind and Ground sectors, but I don't care about it. My ability belongs to the Ground Sector, which is pretty much the opposite of the Holy Sector. My ability is special, but apparently it's not godly so it's a Ground ability. People sometimes view Ground abilities as negative abilities because they associate Holy abilities with god and Ground abilities with demons, but that's pure nonsense.

Anyway, a Nature ability would be something like Emma and Matthew's. Electricity and fire is something found in nature so it's obvious why their ability belongs there. A healing ability like Selena's would belong in the Holy Sector because healing is considered a god's gift. All of the Four Family's special abilities also belong in the Holy Sector. Anywho, I never knew that the MCC could be so religious, but okay. George's ability would be part of the Man-Kind Sector because it is not Holy or Ground. His ability doesn't belong in Nature because he doesn't use anything in nature like ice or anything. His ability doesn't even have anything to do with temperature, which most people don't know about. Another type of Man-Kind ability would be like the ability I copied a while ago. Being able to conjure a bow and arrow. Bow and arrows are created by humans so naturally it would belong in the Man-Kind Sector.

I guess I'll start with the Ground Sector now. Benjamin assigned us 20 abilities to test in each sector and it's damn tiring. Why in the world do we need to test abilities that we can't even use? Well, I can, but it's not like I'll be using them for my whole life. I have a clipboard of 80 sheets of paper — one for each ability. I have to write down when this ability first appeared, who first had this ability, what percentage of living people have it, and how likely someone will be born with this ability this year by looking everything up in a humongous book that weighs at least 50 pounds. Everything is in alphabetical order, but who in the world knows the names of each ability? I just know them as abilities, not some fancy dancy and sometimes gross names like Gentle Princess Sickness Touch or Charlotte's Gemstone Blast. In addition, I have to figure out the abilities' functions and then determine which Sector it belongs in. Furthermore, ever since Benjamin discovered my ability, he's been having me "try out" different abilities so the MCC can collect data. Like what? I'm not even getting paid for this!

"I'm tired," Emma says, slouching down and leaning against the wall in the laboratory. We've been coming in and out of this place for ages.

"What have you done so far?" I ask. I don't expect her to be doing any better than me.

"Nothing, I'll just copy off of Matthew or something," she says bluntly. This girl is a bit too honest sometimes.

"Then why are you tired?" I ask.

"Because I am," Emma complains loudly. I decide to slouch down next to her. I can always do this work later. Me and Emma are the only two who are bored apparently. George looks like he's having the time of his life, Selena is doing all her work as usual, and Matthew...I don't even know how to describe him. He does everything, but it doesn't seem like he enjoys it, but he won't let anybody bother him.