Battlefield: Control (Book Two)

Chapter One - Angela

A rectangle is four times as long as it is wide. If the length is increased by four inches and the width is decreased by one inch, the area will be sixty square inches. What were the dimensions of the original rectangle?

Angela Rios tapped her pencil on the top of her desk as she tried to remember everything she'd ever learned about geometry. Math was not her strong suit, and it was even harder when she couldn't focus. The most she could think about was counting down the days until Thanksgiving break—which were two, if she didn't include today.

Normally she was a decent student. As of late, her grades were starting to slip. Her thoughts were consumed by the party that changed her life forever.

Going out wasn't anything new for her. She enjoyed letting loose and having a good time, making sure to be responsible and smart with her fun.

This party was pretty typical. No parents were around, and whatever mischief the other teens wanted to get into, they got into. While others were off no doubt getting drunk or making out in a back room, she spent her time chatting with her friends. Everything was normal. Except for the teens in the black masks. The ones who offered her a chance to be more than ordinary.

"Shh!"

She shook her head, but ceased her tapping and decided to chew on her eraser instead. What a nerd. There are other students talking louder than I'm tapping. Okay, so if...

Her body started getting hot then, and not in the good way. The pencil in her fingers began to smoke and the paint melted onto her skin. Why is my pencil starting on fire? My pencil is on fire! Or it almost was, until she dropped it quickly onto her desk top. Stay calm.

Casually she stood up from her desk and walked toward the teacher. "Mr. Palm? Can I have the pass? I need to use the bathroom."

He nodded at her and gestured for her to take it. She did so, switching it from hand to hand in an effort not to start it on fire as well. Her body still felt hot all over. There was no other way to describe it. Sweat started to form on her skin, though not in large amounts. If she looked off, no one noticed.

She hurried to the bathroom all the same. Once there, she shut herself into a stall, sat down and took slow, deep breaths. She was getting overexcited, but could anyone blame her? Things were starting on fire just from touching them. Was this it? Was she getting a power? Or was she going to die? Had they been wrong about the timeline of the drug's effects?

At the party, the teenagers in the black masks took her into the underground tunnels littering the city and injected her with...well, she didn't know what it was. Supposedly it would give her superpowers, or kill her. She was still alive, but she was also freaking out. It was all she could think about even though it happened over two weeks ago.

What had she been thinking?

If her brother JD hadn't come for her, she didn't know what would have happened. There was a lot Angela didn't understand about what was going on. JD was being annoyingly discreet. What she did gather was somehow he had gotten himself mixed up with aliens from Altura, or rather one alien. He went by Alan. He had a longer name she heard once, but it was far too complex for her to remember. Some war was happening on Altura.

The nations there were fighting one another, but rather than fight on their homelands like the people of Earth, they did it on other planets, other peoples' homes. They got the teens involved and were hoping to utilize them for the fight. The injection she received was to help with that, but for the wrong side.

That's what Alan told her at least, but she knew so little about the goings on of Altura it was hard to say what was right or wrong. But she trusted her brother not to lead her astray, and the other members of their obscure team to do the same for him.