The Queen

Chapter 3

When I walked into the stark white Aide, I was greeted by hushed whispers, but you could tell they were trying not to shout, lest they be heard and wake everyone in the building.

Bertha finally noticed by presence doing a double take then looking up at me. She stood with her hands on her hips talking to two hooded figures, like the one I had seen in my Dream. "Oh...um, hi, Mercey." She stuttered, as though she was truly rattled by my presence there.

"Hi Bertha," I said with caution. "My...uh..." I darted my eyes to the floor, to her, and back to the floor again hoping she would get the hint, just in case the hooded girls didn't know what they were and that would become an entire plethora of problems.

She glared at me and then snapped, "What happened to them?"

"They...uh...they blew up." I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Mercey, how in Inferno did you manage to sludge that up?" Her eyes bore into me, causing a ripple to run up my Input.

I looked down at my feet, waggling the cracked flinger. "I actually don't know, and I wasn't even toughing them. I still can't figure out entirely what happened to them, but I know they can't be fixed, they're fried, literally." I told her; then added, "Oh and I cracked a flinger, too. Just in case anyone was, you know, wandering the corridor at night and had any questions."

She rolled her eyes at me, and I had totally forgotten about the girls sitting on the table until the one said in a very deep, gravelly voice, "We can come back."

Bertha immediately shot them a look that said 'if you even think about moving, I will personally hunt you down and drag you back.' But instead said, "Don't. Move."
"Actually Mercey. It's a good thing you're here. I have two people I want you to meet." She told me, nodding at the cloaked figures who hadn't even looked at me since I walked in the room.

"Uh, I um, don't really think that's a good idea." I told her, shifting from foot to foot nervously.

"Oh don't be silly," she smiled comfortingly, bringing back the normal, happy Bertha I knew. "They know all about you and they're going to help you. With some of your...challenges." She said, trying to keep from offending me, but I knew what she meant. My Seeres. The fact that I felt things. But, had Bertha found out I Dream? Is that why they were here? To fix me? I didn't want that.

"Oh. Well, would you look at that." I said gingerly shining my Seeres with the hem of my shirt. "I think I'm getting it. Bye now." I said with one foot already out the door in attempts of escape. "Not so fast," Bertha commanded. Flinger flanger. I thought.

"I told you I wanted you to meet these people, and I meant it." Run. Run now. My head commanded but my feet stayed planted, and it wasn't just because of my busted Flinger.

The first figure stood up and removed their hood. There, standing in front of me, was a real, live, totally human...oid? Boy. He had chiseled features, tanned skin (The kind that could only be obtained from working in the Shine), incredibly small lips and...purple eyes.

"YOU." I sneered at the boy, who had interrupted my Charging with a nonsense Dream. Wait. How the Inferno did he even do that?

"Hi." He said meekly, the corners of his mouth upturning in a smile. I lunged at him when the other figure stood up and pushed me back away from him. Hard.

"Who are you?" I choked, trying to get my intake to flow again.

"We," the still hooded person said dramatically, "Are the Commanders of the Superior Unclassification of Persons. Otherwise known as 'SUP'" he nodded his head at me.