Chapter 5
True Beauty
Somehow, no one from the airport had seen that little episode and we just carried Jennifer onto the plain and sat down. We got a few looks because Jennifer was unconscious, but no one said anything. Garret had easily put the small hallway back together, and Jack’s gift happened to work on the dead robots, so he burned all the evidence that the fight had ever happened.
The plane ride was long and uneventful. I tried asking questions but Jack had said that we couldn’t talk about it in public. I resolved to get to know Nico. Turns out, he’s an orphan, his dad died in 9/11 as well, and his mom didn’t want him anymore because he reminded her of his dad.
“Wow that must suck, not being wanted by your own mother,” I said, not realizing how stupid it was.
“Yeah, but I’m used to it. I’ve been in foster care for 15 years now. I even had a family think about adopting me once, but I ran away,” there wasn’t very much emotion in his voice, he could have been telling me the weather.
“Why did you run away?” I knew it was probably a personal question but I couldn’t help myself.
He hesitated, then as if realizing something he said, “Because they didn’t know about my gift, about the trouble I got in all the time. I didn’t want them to have to live with it,”
We were silent for the rest of the flight. I understood why he left. He couldn’t burden those people with his “gift”.
When the flight landed we were in St. Paul Minnesota. The wind was blowing, and it was still dark out, making it feel like winter already. I wrapped my Jacket around me tighter. Jennifer was still asleep, and this time we didn’t get as many strange looks, I suppose people saw her as a little girl who had fallen asleep on the plane ride and her dad hadn’t had the heart to wake her up, I guess she did look pretty small when she’s in Jacks arms.
Jack had a mini van waiting for us in the parking lot, and we all climbed in. Kayla sat in the back seat with Jennifer’s head resting on her lap. She didn’t look so arrogant when she slept, and her true beauty shown out from her peaceful sleep.
Nico nudged me from the seat next to me, and I realized I was staring. “Don’t let her catch you staring, she’ll kill you,” he said with a smirk. I blushed and looked out the window. Well that’s embarrassing, I don’t like her like that; she just looked so different while she slept.
We drove in silence for almost an hour until Jack said, “We’re here,” and pulled into a long driveway. We were still in the country, outside a town called Faribault, but it was pronounced Fairbo. It wasn’t a small town but it wasn’t a big town either, so different from the bustling New York.
The house in front of us was huge, but surprisingly not old. Actually it was brand new. It was really open on the first level but the second and third levels were a little more private. I guessed that’s where the bedrooms were.
In the backyard there were 7 teens and a protector standing next to a small pond. I was wondering why they were outside so early when one of the protectors seemed to be saying something, then he moved his hand and a ball of water rose out of the pond. All the teens watched while he made it move in a circle around the pond, then let it slip back into the center of the pond, without making a single ripple. Then, all the teens tried, most of them got a small sphere out of the pond and at least half way around, but some were struggling. One boy, tall and athletic, started to show off and turned his sphere into a figure of their instructor. I laughed at their fun, but the instructor didn’t think it was funny at all.
Behind me came a groan and then Jennifer’s voice, gravely from the sleep, said, “Where are we?”
Kayla helped her out of the van and said, “We are at the safe haven. This is where you will be trained to use your gift properly,”
“How many kids are here already?” she asked.
Kayla looked over at Jack for this one, and he replied, “You guys would make 29kids,”
“Where are the rest of them?” I asked. I only saw the 7 in the backyard.
“They’re in the house, its breakfast time.”
