I am Number Twelve

2

2

I stand up and jog up the small set of steps. I open the door and shout as loud as I can 'Lol-'. She's just sitting there, on a kitchen chair, glaring at me like I'm the most ugly piece of crap in the world. 'What?' I ask, I'm stumped, it's like she knew when I'd get back. 'Where have you been? Huh? Tell me.' She says, condescendingly. 'I've been on a run, Mistress Lola.' I say, sarcastically, a  mask covers my real facial expression. Inside, I'm glaring at her, but in the outside, I'm just politely staring black. 'Enough with the crap, Zeda. Why could I see smoke? And why do you smell like it?' She gives me the death stare as she talks away in her patronizing voice.

'Oh, Lola,' I remark sarcastically. 'I developed my first Legacy today. But of course you won't know what the hell that is. And let me tell you, lady, it's none of your business whether I smell like smoke or not.' I say, and turn to go down the hall. 

'Oh, honey, something has happened, hasn't it? Are you ok? I should tell you, though, that this "Legacy" is not real. Jack was lying. That stupid chest? It was fake. The corny necklace? From the two dollar shop, honey. We are staying where we are.'

Something inside me snaps. In the distance, I see her pot of tea boiling on the stove. With my mind, I move the flame on the range. I take some, and let it float through the air. Lola doesn't notice it. She's still ranting on about how we're not leaving. 'I don't care about your little new scar. You can die of pain for all I care.'

That's when I lose it. The flame moves closer to me, and manifests directly behind her. I move it forward. Her hair goes up in flames and my ears are crowded with her scream. 'So Lola, I never actually said anything about a scar. Who are you actually?' I sneer in her direction while she runs around, her stupid shoes clicking around on the tiles, her arms waving around her head, her green sweater burning. She reaches the tap and runs the water over her head until the pipes seize up. I'm marvelled at this little miracle, I'm laughing inside. Who knew the taps would seize up?  

She takes her head out of the sink and looks at me horrified. 'Stupid humans shouldn't mess with Aquillians, Lola!' I say, rejoicing in victory as she screams off down the hall, her scalp blistering, in search of the bathroom tap.

+++

An hour later, I'm back in my room, with my laptop on my bed, searching the word 'Pyrokinesis' in Google. The results I come up with are amazing. Just stupid websites made by stupid humans who actually believe that they could train them selves to be pyrokinetic, But the more I look at these websites, the more I'm certain that Pyrokinesis is the first Legacy I gained.

I drift off of the laptop, and I wonder about how Lola knew about my scar. I didn't tell her. Would she notice? It's healed surprising fast considering I only got it a few hours ago.

I miss Jack. He'd be able to tell me whats happening. Why Lola is getting creepy, where my chest is. Why she knows about my newest scar.

Jack met Lola five years ago, when I was ten. We'd been on Earth for 5 years, we were on our way to Billings, in Oklahoma, and Lola was just lying on the side of the road. Someone had run her over. Jack got my chest of the boot of the car, and told me to sit tight. He took my hand and pressed it against the padlock with his. The lock snapped open and Jack rummaged around for a bit. He pulled out a green stone, and jumped out of the truck and ran over to Lola. Of course, back then, Jack was George,I was not Zeda, I was Marissa, and Lola, was Whitney. George and I had just been at a truck stop, we had just picked our names and I took a shower in the mouldy motel bathroom while he made our fake ID's.

He pressed the green stone to her stomach and she started screaming. She suddenly stopped, and George walked her over to the truck. 

She was only supposed to stay for a couple of weeks, in which that time, George and I would not reveal anything about our true identities. George fell in love, and one night in bed, a fourth scar seared itself into my leg. The truth had to be told. 

I didn't want to compromise our mission, I wanted Aquillia to be only mine and George's secret.

That didn't happen. Whiteney demanded the truth, and George, in fear of not getting anymore love from Whiteney, gave in. She changed her name to Lola, I changed mine to Zeda, and George changed his to Jack. We moved to the middle of nowhere. A tiny house 10 minutes drive from State Highway 1. 1/2 an hour to the nearest house.

We lived here for four years without any disturbances. I grew more and more wary each day. Jack and I trained like crazy. He knew how I felt. We trained and trained and trained. Until one day Jack said no. "No, Zeda, Lola doesn't want us training anymore."

That moment, in my mind, was marked as the point of no return. The day when Jack stopped caring of Aquillia, of me. A week later, he pulled me aside one day, and told me Lola was getting too controlling. He told me to train at night, and if I had any questions, to ask him when Lola was around. He told me he had hidden my chest somewhere in the house, and when the time came, I would be able to find it. "Just look into the heart, Zeda, into the flame"  I never figured it out. A few days later, Jack told me he would be breaking up with Lola. He said he was going out to town to stock up on groceries. I let him go.

He came home 6 hours later, no groceries, and fatal injuries. I didn't know how he managed to drive home, and still to this day don't. Lola came rushing in, screaming at me "Jack, Jack, Oh Jack, He's injured!" I rushed out side, where Lola had put him on the grass. She sat there, on the ground, holding his hand. When ever I tried to touch him, she would hiss in my face, and when I tried to talk to him, she just yelled at me. Eventually, Jack had had enough. "Lola! Let Zeda speak to me! Alone" he had said to her. "But, but Jack, she'll surely kill you! She's the devil! I know it!" She replied. "For gods sake, woman! Go away!" He'd screamed at her.

She'd trudged back into the house. I ran and knelt beside my precious Jack. I pressed my forehead to his shoulder and cried. 

"Zeda, oh Zeda. I'll miss you. I love you with all my being." He'd said, hoarsely whispering.

"Jack. I know, I love you too. I'll miss you." 

"Zeda, your chest, it's in the heart, with the flame. Don't let Lola get it. Leave here once you find it. Find the others, and save Aquillia. Child, don't let Lola get it!"

"Yes, yes, of course, Jack!" I'd said, I'd never thought to ask where the heart was. 

He was slipping away. I just sat there in his arms while he died. I was only thirteen, nearly fourteen. I still knew there was nothing we could of done. He stuttered 'You're my earth d-' and he stopped talking. Stopped living.

I sat there, leaning against Jack while he left this earthly realm. I knew where his spirit was going. It was going to Aquilla. He could finally be free, of me, of Lola.

I wished him luck on his journey just before Lola came running back outside. She was crying. "You've killed him! You little bitch!" She reached around my neck and yanked my pendant off.

A year later, I'm fifteen, I never found the chest. I found the pendant though. I'm still here, with Lola. She never says anything about Jack. I think of him every day. A great Cepan.

But every minute I waste not searching for my chest is spent in the wake of the banshee. Lola. And speaking of Satan, just that second, she trudges into my room. "Pack up your shit, Zeda. We're going."