The Makings of Evil

Chapter Three - Oblivious

Taylor woke me up bright and early. I blinked open my eyes to see her towering over me, our noses centimeters apart. She seemed to be a cyclops. Taylor had her hands on her hips and she was tapping her foot impatiently. My eyes were wide as I stared up at her. "Andy is a fun trainer and all, but he can also be very strict," she was saying, "It would not create a good first impression if we showed up late."

    "Well then get out of my face so that I can get out of bed," I said. Taylor took a step back as I yawned and stretched, my feet hanging over the side of the bed. I chose to wear a tank top and leggings from my closet and brushed my hair. Breakfast was a banana and a bottle of water.

    Taylor led me to the elevator and down to the bottom floor. This was the only floor where the walls, floor, and ceiling were entirely white. On every other floor, the walls were either tan or gray. The bottom floor felt very bright compared to them. We entered a room with a white domed-shape door.    

    Inside, it was as if we stood inside a huge white, glowing dome, which we practically were. A very tall and slightly muscular man stood in the center of the tiled floor, with his arms crossed. He could be no older than twenty-five.

    There were carts with all sorts of different training equipment and weapons all along the edge of the room. Some of them looked like children's toys while others seemed deadly. I was still gazing around when the man, who had to be Andy, spoke. "Lilliana Ehvil. Who knew you'd return? Either way, I had a feeling that I'd be training you." Why did everyone have to greet me like that?

    I gazed into his eyes as he spoke. He was focused in mine. They were deep brown and so round and . . . there was something in them, like an emotion that was there especially for me. Taylor, bewildered, was looking between the two of us frantically, from me to Andy to me again. I just didn't know what to make of all the emotions in the single room. I broke our eye contact, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

    Andy now gazed at the floor, seemingly ashamed, but snapped his head back up as he began to explain today's lesson. "Lilliana, I'll have you do a practice fight with Taylor so that I can assess what you already know. Feel free to use your power if you know how. After that, I will teach you some techniques."

    "Okay," I said, "When do we begin?"

    Andy just smirked. "A battle isn't on schedule," was all he said.

    Just then, something hit me hard in the lower back. I lurched forward, caught myself, and spun around to see Taylor preparing to throw something else from the carts at me, playfulness in her eyes.

    I was able to dodge the next item and sprinted to the weapon cart. I grabbed the closest thing to my hand; a blunt spear. Smart. I guess the O.W. doesn't want their people killing each other.

    I tried to remember how I flew last night. How would I be able to do it without the help of Madame Lee's magic? While I thought, Taylor hit me with two more things, harder this time, in the shoulder blades. But I barely felt them. Finally, I gave up thinking (I wasn't too good at it yet) and did what my gut told me to do; I pushed as hard off the ground as I could.