deCEIVED (Book 2)

15: Michaela

That night, the entire Society was fast asleep- except for me. I laid down on my back and tried to fall asleep, but it was no use, no matter how many sheep-shaped clouds I conjured up.

I figured that this was because a lot of things were on my mind- as usual. But more than anything, Isabella's words echoed through my head like an eagle crying out to the entire world in a microphone. I had been picked on by almost everyone I knew my entire life, but nothing had hit me as hard as the things Isabella said to me.

It was strange how a powerful dream demon was on a mission to kill me, and the worst thing that I've ever heard anyone say about me was coming from someone who was on my side. At least I think Isabella is on my side. I know she's not very nice, but could she be evil?

Either way, I didn't want Isabella's words to get to me, and I didn't want her to think that I was a weakling. The only way I could do that was by proving her wrong. I am Discorded. She is a Dreamscaper. I should be the one who feels taller, who feels stronger, who feels...well...invincible.

I decided to train myself until the others woke up, and no matter what the voices inside my head urged me to do, I was not going to go easy on myself.

I snuck out of the room wearing black shorts, a seafoam green sports bra, and a pair of black and white Nike shoes. My hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and there were no earrings in my ears. I tried to be as quiet as I could while I was sneaking out, mainly because if I woke up Mackenzie, I was dead meat.

After I had snuck out of the bedroom, I sprinted to the gym before anyone could catch me out of bed. It was time for me to begin my training.

I started by shooting fireballs at a target. The target never caught on fire, even when my fireballs hit the center of the target. I didn't stop shooting fireballs at the target until I truly believed that I could easily hit the center when the sun rose.

Then, the target began to move around me. Sometimes it circled behind me- in more than one direction -and other times, it would materialize behind me, above me, or by my side. I kept my eyes on the target, and I focused on where it moved. I concentrated on hitting the center of the target, no matter where the target moved.

Next, I practiced materializing behind and around a punching bag I'd found in the storage room. It required a lot of concentration at first, but once I got the hang of it, it was like having a gentle ghost drag you across the room. But as relaxing as it felt to materialize, I knew I couldn't practice that single technique forever.

I stood in the center of the room with my eyes closed and my arms stretched out at my sides. I practiced summoning every object in the room, careful not to drop anything I summoned. After standing in the middle of the room, I scurried across the gym and tried to summon various types of training equipment. It was no walk in the park, but it wasn't too challenging for me to handle.

"Bring it on," I silently told myself as I ran, "I am Discorded. I am the Chosen one. I can handle anything people throw at me. And I will not rest until I am able to defeat the demon who stands in my way."

If Bill was somehow able to drain my powers from me, I still needed to be able to fight him- even if I couldn't use any fireballs. I had to become rock-solid and bulletproof.

I stood in front of the punching bag with my fists in front of my face, and without any warnings, I hit the bag hundreds of times without stopping. I punched the bag as fast as I could and as hard as I could. The punching bag wasn't very soft; my knuckles began to bleed after awhile, but it wasn't like I cared.

I'd gotten into many fights at school when I was younger, so I knew how to defend myself, but even still, Bill wasn't going to stop harassing me and point fingers at me when the principal showed up and called my dad. The principal wouldn't be able to prevent Bill from abusing me, and even though Lucas and I were closer friends now, he still didn't recognize me as his daughter.