aSPECt

Chapter Six

"Ow. That hurt." I pulled the arrow out. There was a note covered in plastic. I opened it. "It says, 'Hello, Six demons. I assume the sleepy one took this. I'll give you three weeks, after I will kill five of you and take a prize.'"

None of us knew how to react. This person threatened to destroy the team. And by prize, did they mean me? We were all in shock.

For the next two weeks, we all trained continuously. Especially Rowena. I think she wanted to make up for the fact that I saved her. And why wouldn't I? She's a teammate, even if she is annoying.

As for Tyler, he enrolled in the standard curriculum. I told him to stay as far away from this as possible. He fought me on that, but I won on that front. Everything else however, it feels like I'm drowning. A threat was looming over our heads, and I had a really bad feeling that it wasn't any simple opponent.

Whoever it is knew about our powers, so who knows if he knows our weaknesses. Our back stories. Everything that happened, to all of us is going to surface. What made us the dysfunctional team we are today.

"Raine." It was Rowena. I hadn't really talked to her since, that day. It's kind of awkward in the room. "Uh... I never said thank you.. For saving my life." It seemed like it physically pained her to thank me.

"No need. It's not like I could die anyway, right?" I didn't really know what else to say? She is still irritating, but something changed.

"Right." She looked around. Then she muttered something that sounded like, "So that's the only reason." But that couldn't be right. I must be hearing things.

"Are they getting along?" Darrick asked Adrian. "This is a calendar moment."

"You'll ruin it!" He responded. I looked to her. She nodded. I threw the nearest two objects towards them, which happened to be wooden chairs. Rowena set them on fire right before they hit the two idiots. "I think I like it better when they're arguing."

"Agreed. We should go, before they rally Altheda to their cause." They left quickly.

"Oh! Can you please clean your half of the room?" I asked. She had left a huge mess.

"Seriously? Now? With all that's going on?!?!" Oh, she's angry. Well, her side is bothering me.

"How am I supposed to sleep if all I can think about is the mess across the room?" I asked her, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then don't sleep!" Like that's going to happen.

"Just keep your half clean! Then we wouldn't be having this conversation!" I sighed. We shouldn't argue about this.

"ARE YOU TWO REALLY ARGUING ABOUT THIS NOW!?!?!" Was that Altheda? She was really angry and really scary. "We have one week! One week to prepare for whatever this person has in store! So can you Two stop arguing for once and think of a plan?!?!" I didn't want to find out what would happen if I didn't listen.

The next three days I was thinking about a plan. Part of one emerged. I called them all into room 613. "The enemy knows too much and we know too little. Not just about him, but about each other. We can't protect each other without knowing what weaknesses, mentally and physically, they may face. We must tell each other what they used against us. Who'd like to go first?"

"I will." It was Deni. She walked up and took my spot at the front. "At first, I heard too much. I heard my dad's thinking about hating my mom. And my mom thinking of killing my dad. I didn't really know what that meant, so I went upstairs and spent an hour trying to figure it out. By the time I understood, I went downstairs and it was a mess. She had tried to set it up like a robbery gone wrong. When the police came, my dad was dead. I told them what I heard and they took my mother in for questioning. She cracked under the pressure and confessed..... I was orphaned, because of my own ignorance." She had a tear falling down her face. This happened to her, yet she remains positive? How strong does she have to be?

Adrian walked up and sat on the desk. "I used to have no control over my powers. If I spoke too loud, bad things would happen. When I was 8, just as my aunt was coming to pick me up, this other kid stole my backpack. So I screamed. The kid, my teacher, my aunt, and 4 others. They were all nearby. They will never hear again. They became completely deaf. I ruined their lives."

Next was Darrick. " My dad was not exactly a good man. As soon as we discovered my speed, he had me using it for everything for pickpocketing to bank heists. Turns out he owed a couple of loan sharks and he was using me to pay it off. I didn't know it at the time of course. I told him I wanted to quit all that, he begged me to keep doing it, he wouldn't tell me why. I ran away. Three days later, he turned up mutilated and beaten until he died." He was hiding his emotions. I could tell.

Altheda came after. "I'll stay here." She took a deep breath. "I was happy. Everyone knew I was strong. All my friends thought I was a superhero. Everything was great, until a couple of bullies called my friends freaks. So I kept hitting them, they were almost dead. And the very friends I defended thought I was scary. My parents kept me at home, they didn't want me to be ridiculed."

Rowena's story was.... Well I felt sorry for her. "I never had any friends. My powers were fueled by emotion. If I was sad it would rain. I was happy it would snow. When ever I got mad, something caught fire, so everyone avoided me. Even though I never hurt anyone. My nanny supported me until last year.... When...." She had a sudden realization and ran off.

"Guess it's your turn Catboy." Darrick and the rest looked at me patiently.

"I need to borrow my brother for a few minutes. " Tyler was standing by the door. He looked terrified. I followed him outside. He handed me a note.

"'Little pet, I know I'm early, but I'm here to retrieve my prize. And yes that means you! Oh all the fun I'll have.' What is this...? Tyler! Run!" That person had to be here. Thankfully, my brother listened to me.

An arrow was fired, no not just one at least a dozen. Even I couldn't stay conscious if they hit me. I tried to dodge them all, but I couldn't avoid one. It wasn't an ordinary arrow. It was practically a high powered tranquilizer dart. I soon couldn't stand. My legs fell out from under me. Then my vision went black.