Fracted (Book #2)

Chapter 5: LAX

Two Hours Later

Ace taps my shoulder and I awaken from a moderate sleep. I scratch the blur off my eyes, but it turns out that I only need my glasses.
"We're here," he said excitedly, then he quited down.
"Where are we?" I asked. I wish I could scratch this itch inside my cast on my arm. It's like a hundred flies swarming around it. Maybe it's just too much sweat built inside, drowning my arm hair.
"We're at the airport," Jackson said. He parks the van right infront of the entrance doors.
"I thought we needed a place to stay in. Why are we here already?" I asked.
"He missed the radio news," Robert tells Jackson.
"What radio news?"
"The one with the lady telling the whole world about us "deformed mutants". Normal people are so smart," Sarra said with a sarcastic smile.
"We are not deformed!" I yelled suddenly, "Or mutants!"
"That's why we're early!" Robert said happily.
"Hey, Jess?" Ace jumps in. "I think I found a way for your arm to heal."
"Really? What is it?" I'm at the edge of my seat, both literally and not literally.
"First, I hold your arm..." I place my forearm on his pale, sweaty palm. "then, you close your eyes and phase." "Okay," I whispered.
"This might hurt a bit," he said.
"Ace, what are you up to? We cannot afford brand-new injuries until after the flight. Actually no, no one's getting injured again."
"Don't worry, he'll be fine, see?" he sounds confident, I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing. Confidence is the key to success.
"Just do it!" I say. In one twist, I felt my bones settling where they normally should be placed on. It was like applying an ice pack on a head bump, like lying down on a soft cushion after an exhausting day at work, or like eating melt-free ice cream on a scorching day.
"Now unphase," Ace lets go of my arm. Now that I unphased, I just wanna lay back and rest.
"My legs too," I said, passing through the tight cast that was on my arm.
"No!" said Jackson. "We gotta go before the entire news spreads like a virus."
"Okay," I say, dismayed.
Sarra, Robert, and Ace exit the van as Jackson gets off the driver's seat to assist me to a wheelchair. I sink down after sitting.
"What did you eat?" Jackson laughs while pushing me inside. Everyone seems busy inside. All the baggages getting reeled across the waxed floor, leaving a clustered trail of dust and scraped off rubber from the wheels.
"What gate are we in?" Ace asked.
"Gate 42, on our left." he stated.

We passed our inspection with unwavering honesty. Except for that time when Robert pretended he was the father and telling the guard that we are his foster children. How stupid are these normal people?
"We better find some seats before this airport gets crowded," said Sarra.
"Good idea," Robert said.
No matter how heavy the suitcases are, Robert and Sarra never felt tired.
Ace carried his own backpack, containing who knows what. I hope it's not weapons, or else we'll end up in a dark room with a one-way mirror on the wall and a swinging light above us terrorists. We are not terrorists, we're just kids. Really suspicious-looking, peculiar Innate kids. Oh my gosh, I don't have a code for Innate fugitives.
"What about Alice and Zach?" I remembered distinctly.
"They'll catch up with us in a few hours before our flight leaves, don't worry." Jackson's hot panting breath swept across the top of my head. He dodges two suitcases falling off a red-headed woman's baggage cart. I look back and saw Ace jumping off four tiles of cement. Man, that kid's a ninja. We're just random kids from a seemingly destroyed planet running around an airport surrounded by adults. Yeah, we can be normal when we want to.
"We're almost there!" Sarra screamed, attracting a lot of people purchasing flight tickets and airport foods on the corner. The smell of the greasy, but delicious-looking pizza makes me want to make them stop, because I'm starving.
"Gate 42!" Robert yelled at the top of his lungs and stopped after stepping on the vacuumed carpet where all the waiting chairs are placed. There's not much people sitting, so we got here very early.
"Thank goodness, the seats are empty. Except for those ten people sitting next to the glass windows. There's a family of four, a couple with matching leis, the other four are just some random people. Jackson parks my wheelchair next to his chair and sat down and closed his eyes to rest. Robert and Sarra sat across from us. Ace drops his backpack on the floor and asked, "Do you need anything?"
"My leg," I said. I feel like a diva, but I usually am not. I never will be.
"Right," he knelt down, holding my thigh with his wrist planted on my knee and his other hand holding on to the bottom of my cast. I phased when he told me to, then he pulled off my cast. I thank him.
"But I have to go to the bathroom," I said. Way to ruin the moment, Jess! "But... I can manage. Just return the wheelchair." That's better.
"Okay. Are you sure you'll be fine?"
"Yeah. I can handle it."
I walk slowly to the bathroom, which was only two gates away from ours. I could feel the warm, damp sweat dripping from my arm and leg.
"Hey, Jess!" Ace called, pushing the wheelchair behind me. He tossed me a new gray sweatless shirt and black pants. I caught them with one hand, which wasn't that hard because he was only ten feet away from me.
"These aren't mine," I said.
"They're mine," he said. "We're the same size, you know. And you need a new look, not just the hair and the piercing."
"Yeah, thanks." We separated our ways and I made my way inside the restroom with single door with two entrances that lead to the same room. It smelled like dried bleach inside the stalls and I saw the janitor exit the bathroom, pushing his yellow cart.

After using the toilet, washing my arms and my entire head, fixing my neck, and disposing the sweaty brace that mummified only my neck, I stretched down to my toes. My bones defused like grenades after pulling off the pin. I swivel around and more bone-cracking noises attracted waiting passengers.
"Sorry..." I mumbled under my breath.
I have so many bones and muscles to stretch. I didn't even know I had real muscles. It's gonna be a long flight. I walked over to our seats. Someone was sitting next to Jackson. And it's not Ace. She has blonde hair and a long neck. What is she here?!