Hunted

Chapter 1

Alex's POV

A wise guy once said that patience is a virtue we all must possess.

I say that's total crap.

"Rowan, hurry up! We have to get going!" I screamed for the thousandth time. Why do girls take so much time to get dressed?

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" My little sister came thundering down the stairs dressed simply in jeans and a shirt, with her flaming red hair in a ponytail. It always reminded me of my mom. While Nate and I got our dad's brown hair, Rowan got her beautiful blood red hair. That was one of the few things I remember about my mom, since she died in a car crash when I was four. Now, all we've got is our Dad.

I glanced at my watch. It was now 7: 45 a.m. She took a whole twenty minutes to get ready.

"Took you long enough." I mumbled, grabbing my keys.

"Nate, let's go." I called to my little brother who was busy checking his homework on the sofa.

"I call shotgun!" He announced to Rowan who rolled her eyes.

"You always ride shotgun, let me have a chance!' She complained.

Nate smirked. "Too bad. I'm older than you so I get it."

"That's not fair." She scowled.

"Life's not fair."

I roll my eyes at their constant bickering. We pile into my 1997 McLaren F1, which is my pride and joy. The ride is quiet until Nate speaks up.

"Did you guys hear about the guy they caught last night?"

I knew who he was referring to. Last night, The Agency caught an Alergan. The Agency is like a secret government facility filled with professionally trained agents whose job is to hunt and kill all Alergans.

Alergans are people with special gifts like telekinesis, invisibility, the power to control elements like air, water, earth, fire and some of them can even see the future. There are a lot of different things they can do. Back in 1995, there was a huge war between The Agency and The Alergans. The Agency was newly formed and their mission was to eliminate all Alergans. So they did. When they began to wipe them out, the Alergans had no choice but to fight back, which initiated World War III. By the time war was officially declared, half of the Alergans had been dead already, so it wasn't that hard for The Agency to get rid of the others. At the end of the war, The Agency had made the Alergans extinct. Because there aren't a lot of Alergans left, it was extremely rare to find one. The Agency has never stumbled across any since the war.

Well, until last night.

There was a news broadcast that The Agency found a guy who was on the beach and apparently, he was seen controlling the water. They took him back to their headquarters and carried out the punishment that had to be given to every Alergan. They shot him dead.

That's why all Alergans have to live in secrecy. Like my family.

We are all Alergans. Me, Nate, Rowan and Dad. Rowan can manipulate the elements, I can manipulate energy and Nate is the gifted one who can manipulate energy, has telekinesis and he can see visions of the future. Dad has compulsion, so basically, he can make someone do whatever he wanted by just looking them in the eye.

Our family live normal lives. We go to school, do homework and go to the mall. Completely normal. We are human beings after all. We just happened to have special gifts. That's why I hate the fact that we have to constantly live in fear. We are not threats to humanity. But I guess not everyone sees that.

"Yeah, he was killed." I said, glancing at him.

"I hate that they just kill them without even listening to what they have to say." Rowan said from the backseat.

"Me too, but we just have to accept it. There is nothing we can do about it. We just have to be careful so no one ever finds out about us." Nate glances between me and Rowan.

"Yeah, we know." Rowan says. "But it's a bit difficult to keep a low profile when you're Dad's famous."

Our dad, Henry Cadewell, is a really desired director here in LA, California. So, him being famous and rich, makes things just a little more complicated for us.

I pull up in my usual spot in the parking lot and climb out, Rowan and Nate following. We all have different classes since we're in different grades so we just separate and get to our own lockers.

I went through my usual routine for the first half of the day:

Meet my friends, go to class and try to stay awake.

I'm not the biggest fan of school but who is? It's not like I'm going to be the next Albert Einstein or anything.

At lunch, I sit with Rowan and Nate at our normal secluded table. The more we stay away from others, the better chance we have at keeping our secret. There's only one person who knows about our secret and that's our best friend Ryan. We've known him since we were kids and I guess we trusted him enough so we told him everything. Honestly I was expecting him to freak out or something but instead he totally understood and he has kept our secret safe for a year now.

As I picked up a spoonful of something that looked discreetly like mashed potatoes, I spotted Ryan's head of blonde hair in the crowd, coming to our table.

Speak of the devil.

"Hey guys." He said as he plopped down on the chair next to me.

"Hey."

He leaned his backpack against the leg of his chair, then leaned in close.

"I take it you guys saw the news last night."

"Of course we saw it, that's like the biggest thing going on right now." Rowan said while spooning some of the 'mashed potatoes' in her mouth.

"Man, I feel sorry for that guy. But, who I'm really concerned about is you three. What if they catch you guys?"

Nate looked up from his food.

"Ryan, that won't happen and you know it. We're always careful, and we only use our powers at home. No one's seen us before so don't worry." He tried to reassure him.

"I know, but still-"

Ryan was cut off by the sound of the TV on the wall in the cafeteria.

It was on the local news channel.

Mallory Mayers, the head reporter, was talking in her sickly sweet voice.

"Michael Harris, age 47, was seen last night at Lechuza Beach, apparently manipulating the ocean water. Luckily, a team of agents from The Agency spotted him and he is now under their custody. This issue has caused a bit of controversy on social media and to clarify that, The Agency has stepped in. They will keep this country safe from the dangers that the Alergans threaten us with and-"

The TV screen suddenly turned black.

All eyes trailed to the plug which was pulled by Leslie, a shady girl with piercings who never speaks.

A teacher yanked the plug from Leslie's hand and dragged her out of the room.

Nate leaned in again.

"I heard The Agency is giving people rewards now. You know, if they turn in an Alergan." He scowled.

Ryan's eyes widened a bit.

"Reward?" He asked.

"Yeah, they're giving people like thousands of dollars if they turn Alergans in." I said.

"Man, The Agency sickens me." Rowan said while glaring at the table.

Ryan nodded in agreement, staring quietly at the table.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

The rest of the day was a blur to me. The classes dragged on, the bell finally rang and then we went home.