Hero Academy

"Hero academy celebrates you!" The head mistress's voice echoes out of the speakers suspended above us. The end of her speech is directed at the group of 13 year olds standing on the stage. They will be moved from the main building to the "Learning Academy" building. It's where all 13 year olds go to learn about their power. At 13 years old every girl and boy gets their power. Powers controlling heat and fire are common among most boys and some girls. Controlling water in liquid form is also common but usually among girls. There are a few other powers that are unique and extremely rare for example:
1. Control over nature- a power that allows a girl/boy to grow a flower out of their hand or make a forest populated with one species of bird. It's a unique and rare power, only three students currently have the power.
Another rare one is stretchiness. Being able to stretch your body in all directions and any shape. There are plenty other rare powers but the main powers amongst student here are:
1. Fire
2. Water
3. Weather- a simpler version of controlling nature.
4. Telekinesis
5. Teleportation
6. Powers of the mind- extremely smart kids... Always in the advanced classes.
7. And lastly, shape shifting.

The last one is the rarest of the the seven common powers.

I've dreamed of the power I would get since I was a nine. That's when we first got testing done and were given various personality tests to best conclude what our power would be.

I would choose teleportation. The ability to move anywhere in the world or universe in a split second has appealed to me since I was thirteen years old and was ridiculed for never actually getting a power like everyone else.

It's two years later and I see the prideful looks in my fellow classmates eyes as they stare me down, and I wish I could zap somewhere away from their beady eyes.

I've had various tests performed on me to try to figure out why I have yet to receive a power. They say I'm a late bloomer... A really really late bloomer. I'm about to be sixteen in 3 days and on birthdays the whole class gets together to celebrate the person and their accomplishments. A slide show is shown of the birthday student growing up, getting their power and other accomplishments they've received throughout their life. However the past three birthdays I've had have sucked. My power point every year consists of baby pictures, then childhood pictures and a few awards I have won. Mine lasts less than a minute. Power points are supposed to show everyone what you've been doing all these years but mine just embarrasses me and gives everyone a chance to ridicule me more. I'm not celebrated. I'm humiliated.

So this year the head mistress has allowed me to have a small birthday with just her present, a few adults present throughout my life while here at Hero Academy, and my best friend Claire. It's gonna be nice, I hope.

I have come to hate birthdays. They're a countdown for my execution. People try to assure me that it's a rumor, but I know it's not. I've had dreams that are TOO REAL to be imagined in my mind. I've seen parts of the basement of hero academy in my dreams, I've seen adults down there that I've seen before on the main and upper levels, working down there. That's where they kill the powerless. That's where they killed my brother.

He comes to me in my dreams and tells me what happened to him. Nobody knew. They say he fell and hit his head, the concussion too severe to be mended. But if that were true then my parents and I would have gotten to see him in the hospital. The only time parents don't come to Hero Academy when a child is injured or dies is when the child is killed by the 'workers in the basement' themselves. He was 18 and didn't have a power. That's the cut off. That's the deadline... No dark puns intended.

I will be killed in two years, my brother didn't get his power. Why would I get mine?

I won't.

I am Adeline Jones and I do not have a power.