"Am I allowed to ask questions now?" Lei said, growing tired of being left to wonder. Jian prepared a delectable dish of spaghetti. Although Lei was hungry, her hunger to know why everything is happening over powered her growling stomach.
"Wasn't that one?" Jian asks, only bringing his gray eyes to meet her's. Lei pushed her plate to the side and folded her arms across her chest. The paper was still stuck to her side, but she had gotten used to it now. Jian rolled his eyes at her firm stare.
"Only 10 questions. Go." he said and Lei's mind raced. What should she ask first? How is it possible to choose one question?
"What's my first two powers?" she began and his smile widened.
"You can spell any word with ease, which was obvious, and you can override others powers and sense when something is off." He says, before pushing his plate forward as well.
Lei feels the air being knocked from her lungs. How are those powers? They seemed so pathetic compared to any power she has read about or seen in movies. She stays quiet and Jian glances around the room awkwardly.
"Why are either of those powers relevant enough for you to kidnap me?"
"Everyone, who develops powers, develops six powers. There is no way of figuring out what those six powers will be, but once one power is showing, it's implied that the other five will appear soon enough. It's better to let people know before they make a fool of themselves." Jian says, giving her a knowing look.
"And how do you know about this?" Lei asks, no longer wanting to know anything about what's going on. She desperately wished that she hadn't found out about any of this. Sure, her life was going no where and she was bound to the horrid restaurant. But, now that she knows what she knows, she wished she hadn't been given the ability for anything significant.
"I've, just recently, developed all six of my powers. I just saw how a nine year old girl had the ability to compete against eleven year olds, with one of her powers, and even went to nationals. I wanted to help." he says and Lei scoffs.
"The nine year old girl got out on the word 'akeratophorous' because she was afraid of being the center of attention. What about that screams 'help me'?" she began to grow furious with Jian for bringing up such a memory. Without another thought, she yanked the piece of paper from her side, ripping it in half, and stood up from the table. Without sparing another glance, she left the table and proceeded to walk out the door.
The paper no longer hung to her shirt. She had spent all of her life being someone's charity-case and would prefer not to get anyone's help. She was a freak. That's the only reason he saw her; that's the only reason anyone had ever seen her.
இ
Leilani has been walking the streets for an hour now. She assumes Jian has stopped looking by now, or never looked. He appeared to bring her to the middle of nowhere. There is no stores and no sign of any life whatsoever. The eeriness of the forest beside her almost made her want to turn back.
Almost.
The sight of the gravel road made her think back to when she jumped out of Jian's truck. How had she not died? Perhaps she had not died, as she suspected. Maybe she just hit her head and was knocked unconscious.
She heard footsteps behind her and she was filled with two emotions: relief and disbelief. She was surprised at how much comfort she felt by him finding her. A smile made its way to her face, and before turning around, she forced it to only a half smile.
