Indigo

XIV

     I'd rehearsed this a million times in my head, but talking aloud made everything so much more real. This was my world now. I couldn't do anything to get out of this now, even if I tried. I longed to have Lucas holding my hand. The peoples' gazes were intently focused on me, and it scared me.

     "Hello," My voice came out hoarse, but I quickly put the confident illusion back on, hoping that no  one had noticed.

     "My name is Indigo Astoria, but I'm sure that you all already knew that." At this point, I noticed a camera near the back. They were recording this, watching every move I made. I began again.

     "What you don't know, is that behind what everyone's said about me, there is a person, with real feelings, made of flesh and blood, and she can break. This girl is Indigo, but not the leader one, she's the real one. She loves cats, she's a complete book nerd-" I laughed, a bit less nervous now that I had begun.

     "-and she's scared of heights." Everyone was watching. I hated to tell them this, but I had to sooner or later.

     "I know that you all want me to say that I'm not afraid. That Midnight and the hounds don't scare me one bit... but they do. They terrify me." I admitted, my voice faltering, consciously seeing some faces fall.

     "But I promise you that I will do anything and everything to save us. All of us," I looked back to Lucas and the others, none of whom I knew at all yet.

     "From the moment I got here, I knew that the rest of my life, which might not be that long, would be  for the protection of you all. And if I can't save you, then I will most certainly die trying. And know that if I die, it will be for you. It will be for you, your leaders, and your world. And listen to me when I say this... I will not fail." The last words came out so strong that I almost wanted to scream Hallelujah! I wondered if I'd convinced them too. Slowly, one person began to clap. They stood up. Everyone else followed suit, standing and clapping until there was just a shouting scream of noise. I smiled and looked back at Lucas. I hadn't been expecting this good of a reaction. He nodded to let me know that I'd done well. He waved to the crowds and pulled me and the others off the stage, separating us from the crowd. I could still hear the peoples' cheering.

     "Follow me!" Lucas shouted over the noise. A few minutes later, we were all in the elevator, going up to my apartment. It was pretty awkward, considering that I didn't remotely know any of them. I tried to break the silence.

     "Hey," I said. They all looked at me like I was from a different planet. "I'm-" The sound of the elevator ding cut me off, signaling that we'd arrived.

     "Okay, sit down." Lucas gestured to my couch. We all did as we were told and sat next to each other,  uncomfortably squished together. It was clear that he'd been the leader until now. But now it was my turn. To be honest, I didn't really know if I could do it.

     "Okay, this is what we're gonna do." He began. "We're each going to get up and say our names, our power, and how long we've been here." I'll admit, it was a bit odd seeing him take charge like this, I only saw him when he was alone with me.

     "Okay, so like kindergarten?" One of the boys scoffed. Lucas glared at him.

     "Well, none of you know Indigo, and unless you have a better idea..." He said. "Okay, well then, I guess I'll start. Hey, I'm Lucas Donner, I'm twenty-three years old, and I've been here for seven years. I can borrow and give strength." He sat down and pointed to the girl with olive skin and dark black hair. She stood up.

     "Hey, uh, my name's Portia, Portia Lewis. I'm twenty-one and I've been here for two years. Um, I can turn into animals." She stood down and the next girl went up. She had straight blonde hair and unhealthily pale skin. Her eyes were so dark brown that they might as well have been black.

     "I'm Robin Hemingway," She spoke low and soft, I could barely hear her. "I'm twenty-one, been here for three years, I can instantly regrow my own limbs, but no one else's." She hurried out of the spotlight, and the boy who'd cut Lucas off earlier went up. He had that mischievous glint in his eyes that wold instantly make you run and cower for fear of being extremely pranked. He had short, brown, wavy hair.

     "Hey, 'sup? I'm Alan Jacobs, I've been here for, what? Since I was eighteen? I'm twenty now. And I can solve any word, math, or mechanical problem, plus codes." I wondered how many Facebook accounts he'd hacked lately. The last boy stood up. He was tall and well-built with a black buzz cut and pure blue eyes.

     He immediately began moving his hands in ASL(American Sign Language), which I thankfully understood. My mom had made me learn from pre-school until graduation. Basically, this is what he was saying:

     The name's Josiah Carter. Twenty-one, two years. I can stop motion. And well, obviously, I'm mute.

     Lucas began to introduce me, but I stopped him with my hand.

     "Indigo Astoria, twenty-two, just a few days. All of yours powers, plus, I have premonitions," I ended. They all stared at me, all with enthusiasm. Portia practically squealed.

     "I can't believe that it's really you! I mean they told us it was, but I hardly believed it until now,"

     "Me too," Alan chuckled, "And I think that that goes for the rest of us as well. I mean we've all heard the stories, but none of them said you were pretty." He winked at me. I opened my mouth to speak,but decided not to as I felt the heat flood to my cheeks. The others all began laughing and I realized that he meant it as a joke. I allowed myself a small laugh as well. Eventually, we were all just hysterically laughing and I felt right at home. We only realized how late it was when Kayla and Natalie walked in and got a  handful of a giant laughing mess. They ushered the others out and we all waved goodbye to each other in an almost drunken daze. They must've gone back to their own houses, which were in the same building as mine.

     "What were you guys laughing about?" Natalie promptly questioned, while yanking my hair in the curling iron, earning a silent ow! from me.

     "Oh, you know. Just something Alan said." She raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow at me, scouring over me, probably not believing a word that I said.

     "Really? The neighbors said that they could hear laughing a few hours ago." Really? Had we really been laughing for that long?

     "Well, beyond Alan, I have completely no clue whatsoever." I smiled at the pure stupidity of the people who were to be like my family.

     "It doesn't matter now." She stuck her nose up at me. I wondered if she felt like she wasn't good enough. I'd felt like that before, but I'd always hoped that no one would notice.

     "Go get dressed." She ushered me into the bathroom, where Kayla was waiting with a long, spaghetti strap, black dress that would go down to my knees, and get longer in the back until it was on the ground. They shoved me into some black strapped wedge heels before pushing me out the door to the banquet. In these few short days, this place had already become like home to me. I wish I'd known that it wouldn't last for much longer.

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    Hey guys! What's up, not much on my end, but I hope you all are having a great day or something. I probably won't be able to update very often because of midterms next week and I will fail if I don't study. But I'll try to get in another chapter this week anyway. The media is Indigo giving her speech. As for the other Amethysts, I am going to ask you to use your imagination. Anyway, gotta dash.

    ALLONS-Y!!! -AJSmith