The Elements

Chapter 5 - Halley or Olivia

I woke up in cold sweat. I was lying on a bed somewhere. I tried to sit up, and this time it worked. The room I was in looked simple. Nothing other than a bed and a small table. I slowly stood up and walked to the door. Just before I could open it, footsteps rang in the corridor.

I rushed back to my bed. I knew that Olivia was here, somewhere. So was the rest of the girls. But I couldn't be caught sneaking out of bed. I lay back down. And, surprisingly, the door opened. I saw a woman coming in.

"Hello," she said, "We heard you. You wanted to see Olivia, right? She's here. We can bring you to her, but you need to be careful. There are people looking out for you." This woman seemed pretty nice, and I was sure she could help. So, I nodded.

"Then let's go." I exited the room with the woman and found myself in a long corridor that seemed to stretch on forever. There were doors on either side of the walls, labelled with numbers. Mine was door 17. The woman led me forward until we reached door 43.

"She's in here," the woman whispered, "I'm afraid I can't help you anymore." Before I could thank her, she had walked away. I edged open the door. I found myself in a room identical to the previous one. The first thing I noticed was, of course, Olivia. She was on the bed, but her wrists and feet were strapped onto the bed and there were wires connecting everything to a gigantic computer. I knew she was struggling. I could see it on her face.

"Olivia. Olivia. Olivia!" No reply. I went over to the computer, trying to find out whether that could help me. Apparently it couldn't. It was filled with gibberish and numbers and letters. But there was a heading on top. It read "82% complete..." I didn't know what it meant, but I took a mental note of that number in case it was important. Then I went back to Olivia.

"Olivia. Please wake up. This is Pearl." And, well, she did. Sort of. Her eyes popped open and she managed to say, "Pearl. They're coming. Go!" in a weird hoarse voice. Before I could ask her who was coming, I found out for myself.

Behind me, the door had opened. A man stood, gaping at me. Uh-oh. I was in trouble. That was my only thought. And water trickled out from my fingertips. It covered my whole body and, when I looked down, I saw that it had changed colour, camouflaging me. Who knew water could do that?

But it worked. The man stopped looking at me, as if he had imagined what he had done just now, and walked over to the gigantic computer. He looked at the statistics, said something to his phone, and exited the room. I looked at the computer again. "93% complete..." What would happen at 100%? Then I looked at Olivia. She was no longer struggling. Fear struck me. Overwhelmed me. Drowned me. I didn't know what else I could do, but I guess sometimes powers are really useful. Water burst out from my fingertips. Onto everything. Everyone. The wires burst open, the straps on Olivia flew off, and then everything was still.

"Olivia!" I rushed over.

"Pearl? Is that you?" Olivia groaned as she sat up, "They were doing something, Pearl. To the rest too. Or maybe not. Argh! Now I don't know which one is true and which one is false..."

"Wait, wait, wait, slow down — "

"There's no time to slow down! We need to get the rest out!" And Olivia dashed out the door. I followed her, seeing that there was nothing else I could do. Olivia counted on her fingers and led me to room 59. She flung open the door and pointed at the bed. Aura?

"Do the thing you did just now!" Olivia shouted, "And quick! They'll be here in 1.982 minutes!" How did she do that? I didn't have time to ask. All I did was try to make water appear. Well, it worked. Water exploded and the same thing happened. Then Aura sat up.

"Wha — ?"

"No time to explain! C'mon! Emerald's in 64!" Olivia cried. Aura stood up and followed Olivia and I out. I was bursting with questions, but I knew now was not a good time to ask.