Tomorrow's Way

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Many hours later, Seraphine finally felt her eyes blink open. The wave of peace had worn off, leaving her somewhat angry and even more curious than before.
When she woke up no one was in the tent with her, so she decided it was time to see this camp Oliver had talked about. She noticed when she stood that she wasn't in her normal trousers and blouse. Seraphine was wearing a dress, and she knew it wasn't hers. She only owned a pair of trousers, a blouse, and some sturdy leather shoes she had been given.
Now she was wearing a long, electric blue dress and a pair of dainty cloth shoes that fit to her feet. Her thick, black hair that was normally contained in a long braid was now lying curly at her sides, reaching well beyond her hips. Her face had been wiped clean of any dirt that had masked the face she tried to hide.
Seraphine had inherited her mother's looks. They shared the same curly black hair, icy blue eyes, and pale, porcelain skin. Even her mother's shortness had been passed onto Seraphine. She was a younger version of her mother. Unfortunately, she had also inherited her father's quick temper. This had gotten her in many situations a fifteen year old should not have been in.
But her father's anger towards her started from the day she was born. He had blamed her, his daughter, for the death of his wife, Rachel Blackwell. She had died in childbirth, but Seraphine couldn't very well help that. Still, her father took out his anger and resentment after his wife's death on his daughter. Her perfect resemblance, which only increased as she grew older, only antagonized him more.
Seraphine took to hiding her face and not looking at her father when he was home. The times that she did, she usually ended up crying herself to sleep in her closet that she called a room.
The one thing that didn't seem to change, though, was her ankle. It felt just as it had before. If it hadn't been for the small scar, she wouldn't have even known that she was attacked.
Stepping out of the tent, Seraphine immediately noticed to fresh smell of food. Whatever it was smelled delicious. The smell made her stomach growl in hunger, bringing attention to the fact that she hadn't eaten in three days.
"Oh, you're awake. I was just coming to see if you wanted any supper." Oliver appeared in front of her, the bright smile still lighting up his face. Seraphine wanted to say no and refuse food until they told her what was going on, but her stomach got the best of her.
Nodding, Seraphine was then dragged away by an over excited Oliver who had grabbed her hand, "Now you can finally meet everybody. They've all been dying to see the new addition."
"New addition?"
Seraphine stopped in her tracks, pulling her hand from Oliver's grasp. He stopped too, looking back at her with a half grin, as if teasing her for not knowing what that meant.
"Yes, the new addition to our camp. Come on," He said, once again taking his large hand in her small one. Oliver must have been five to six inches taller than her, easily being able to walk faster than her with his long legs. She almost had to run to keep up, "Samuel will explain everything soon, just like he promised."
Seraphine didn't have a moment to reply, as they had arrived at the campfire that everyone had gathered around in a big circle to eat supper. Oliver led her to a spot next to two young kids, both looking to be about ten. He pulled her down next to him, a little boy on her left.
"Theodore, meet Seraphine. Seraphine meet Theodore." Oliver introduced, pointing from person to person respectively. Theodore's light brown hair was a mess, not helped by Oliver when he ruffled his hair affectionately. The ten-year old simply narrowed his brown eyes at Oliver. Theodore smiled, sticking his hand out to shake Seraphine's. Cautiously, she shook his hand.
"You can call me Theo. Only Oliver calls me Theodore." The boy laughed, turning his attention to the girl on his left who was tugging at his shirt. The girl had wavy blonde hair that fell to her shoulders. Her blue eyes seemed to smile as she smiled at Seraphine, "This is Emilie."
"Nice to meet you." Emilie said, simply offering Seraphine a smile, who only nodded. Everyone around the fire seemed to be staring at her, all ten of them. It made Seraphine uneasy and she shifted her weight underneath her, glancing over at Oliver.
He grinned at her. He never seemed to be rid of that smile, "Theo and Emilie are ten, some of the younger of the camp, though not the youngest. Alice over there is the youngest. She's only four."
Oliver pointed to a girl across the circle with vibrantly red hair that was braided into pigtails. Her face was adorned with bright green eyes and freckles. She sat next to Samuel and a boy who look only a few years older than her. His blonde hair gleamed in the firelight.
"The boy next to her is Dylan, he's six. We have all ages here, though we don't normally get any older than seventeen. People tend to leave by that time, wanting to start their own lives." Oliver told her. Seraphine was very confused by that point. Questions spun around in her head like a tornado, and she felt that prickling sensation that she got when she was anxious. It made her hair stand on end, but she ignored it as Samuel stood up to speak.
"I know some of you might have already met our new addition," There it was again, "But as most of you haven't. Seraphine, would you stand up."
Samuel gestured for her to stand, and Oliver nudged her off the ground. Seraphine stood up slowly, glancing around at all the staring eyes. She never liked it when too many people paid attention to her. She preferred to stay under the radar. Eventually, Samuel began to speak again as Seraphine stood there awkwardly.
"This is Seraphine. She will be staying with us for a while, so everybody please attempt to make her feel at home."
Seraphine felt so many eyes on her. A boy next to Dylan and Alice had put down his book, shifting his brown eyes to her in an intense stare. His brown hair contrasted with Dylan's blonde hair next to him, while a girl on the other side of Samuel had long, blonde hair that was falling down her back, perfectly straight. She stared at Seraphine with brown, narrowed eyes. Seraphine only returned their stares with a less hostile look of confusion.
"I know all of you have questions, and they will be answered. But first, we'll eat!" Samuel announced as everyone turned their attention away from Seraphine, but to the large turkey roasting over the fire.
Seraphine took that as her queue to sit. Oliver, for once, didn't smile or say anything. Instead he went forward to help dish out the turkey. It was Theodore who spoke to her.
"So what's your power?" He asked. Seraphine, shocked, turned to look at him.
"My what?"
"Your power. What it is?" He asked again, taking the plate of turkey that Oliver handed him. Oliver handed Seraphine another wooden plate full of the meet, then another to Emilie, who blushed and thanked him. Seraphine raised her eyebrows, both at Theo's question and Emilie's blush.
"I'm not sure what you mean. What power?" Seraphine asked the ten-year old.
"You really are new." Theo answered with a grin to match Oliver's as he took a large bite of chicken. Emilie scolded him for chewing with his mouth open and they began to bicker, Theo's short attention span directing him away from Seraphine.
Oliver reclaimed his seat next to her after everybody had some turkey. He took a bite of his, staring at her while she sat there silently, "Aren't you going to eat it?"
Seraphine glanced down at the turkey, her mouth watering at the sight of it. She was starving, but something told her to be weary of these strangers. Eventually, her hunger got the better of her.
Slowly, Seraphine took a small nibble from a piece of the turkey. Her mouth exploded with flavors and its savory taste stayed in her mouth.
"Is it good?" Oliver asked. Seraphine glanced at him, taking a bigger bite of the turkey before nodding. She could only hope it wasn't poisoned, though it was doubtful as everyone else seemed to be eating it perfectly fine.
"It's delicious."
Once again, Oliver grinned.
Everyone talked between themselves as they eat. Emilie and Theo had stopped bickering and were discussing trees, while Samuel, Alice, and Dylan were all laughing at a joke Samuel had told. Next to them the boy with the book was talking with a little boy who looked a little younger than Theo. His black hair was sticking up in all directions. Grey eyes glanced up at Seraphine every few minutes, but she only caught a couple glances.
Next to Emilie, the blonde girl was animatedly talking to an older boy with black hair. He looked bored as he nodded occasionally and ate his turkey. He didn't seem to be paying attention to her talking at all.
"That's Juliette," Oliver said, "She's kind of the queen bee. She thinks she's better and older than everybody else, which isn't entirely true. I'm older by a few months. I wouldn't suggest getting on her bad side, though."
"Who's she talking to?" Seraphine asked, looking at the guy. She felt like she shouldn't have been staring, but he look oddly familiar.
"Oh that's Adam, the actual oldest. Like I said, seventeen is about the oldest we get. And he's really only here because of his sister." Oliver answered, nodding at Emilie, who was sitting next to Adam, "I'm sixteen, but I don't expect I'll be leaving here any time soon. Samuel is trying to teach me to heal people instead of plants."
Seraphine nodded, curious as to why Adam looked so familiar. She was so intent on trying to remember where she'd seen him that Oliver's comment about healing plants seemed almost normal to her. Finally looking away, she finished the rest of her supper, placing the empty wooden plate next to Oliver's. She felt full, making her eyes grow heavy with sleep. Seraphine didn't want to sleep, though, as she had been unconscious for three days.
"Excuse me," Samuel announced loudly as everyone finished up their food. He stood up again, making his voice loud so everyone could hear over the crackling of the fire, "now that we've all eaten, I think it's time to answer some questions."
Oliver nudged Seraphine, smiling at her suggestively. She furrowed her brow, not sure what he meant. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Prepare to be interrogated."
Seraphine chuckled at his joke, but it didn't make her feel any better. Though she was thankful for the help they offered and their food, Seraphine knew she was better off on her own. She always ended up hurting whoever she stayed with for more than a few days.
"Seraphine, would you like to start us out? Do you have any questions for me?" Samuel asked her, taking his previous seat on the ground.
"A few."
"Well go ahead." He told her. Seraphine glanced around at everyone as they waited patiently for her to talk. Gulping, she began.
"First of all, I'm not the newest member of your camp. I don't know any of you," She said, earning a few eyebrow raises, "I do better on my own, anyway."
Samuel nodded, but soon had a reply, "I understand that you're confused, but you have to understand that you were led here. It wasn't a mistake that we were both in the same place at once. You were drawn to us, just like we all were."
Seraphine wasn't sure what to say to that. None of what he was saying was making sense. How could she be drawn to them?
"Look, I'm just a regular fifteen-year old girl. There's nothing special about me," Seraphine saw Juliette scoff out of the corner of her eye. Barely spoken and this girl already disliked Seraphine, "and it was an accident that you found me. I got attacked in the woods and you helped me, that's all. I appreciate your help, but I really am better off on my own."
Everyone stared at her, as if waiting for her to explode. The hair on her neck stood up again and the anxiety came back. She attempted to push it back down, knowing what happened the last time she let anxiety and fear control her. Seraphine's father had died as a result.
"Where are your parents?" Samuel asked her. Seraphine was taken aback by his question. What did her parents have to do with anything?
"My mother died giving birth to me." She answered after a moment of silence.
"And your father?"
Seraphine didn't want to answer. Her father was dead too, only he hadn't died of natural causes. He was killed. And she certainly wasn't going to admit that. Instead, she just looked down at her lap, trying to think of some excuse as to how he died.
"He's dead too." She said, gulping again. Samuel and the rest of the group went quiet, waiting for Seraphine to elaborate, "He - uh - he died when I was seven."
"And ever since then you've been living on your own, too afraid to stay with anybody for more than a few days because every time you did, something bad happened to them."
Seraphine's breath caught at Samuel's words. How could he know that?
"I know this, Seraphine, because all of us are the same. We've all had our share of hurting people we didn't intend to hurt. That's because we're all the same; we all have the same power. We're all special." Samuel told her. Seraphine shook her head. He couldn't mean what he was saying. Everyone in that circle couldn't do what she could do. She'd hurt people, killed people, more than once, with her curse. It couldn't be explained; even she didn't know what it was or how to control it. She just exploded a few times and people ended up dropping dead in front of her. After about three times of running away from the people she killed, Seraphine learned to stay away from people.
"That can't be true. You don't know anything about me." Seraphine replied defensively. Samuel raised his eyebrows.
"So you've never accidently hurt someone when you got angry or scared?" Her father, "Or felt a strange pull in a certain direction?" Samuel asked her. Seraphine didn't say anything, so he continued.
"That pull is to us. You've always felt it, even if you didn't realize it. You feel pulled towards us because of our energy. It happens when a lot of us group up. There's safety in numbers, after all."
Seraphine wanted to believe what he was saying, that there were more people like her and she wasn't alone. But she couldn't trust a man she'd just met, let alone believe such an elaborate lie. She would need hard proof in order to believe him, and she doubted he could provide it.
Samuel stared at her, waiting for her to say something. When she didn't, he guessed her thoughts, "You want proof?"
She frowned, unsure of what he meant. He looked at Adam from across the circle, nodding his head. Adam stood from the ground, planting his feet on the ground and looking at the fire in the middle of the circle. Seraphine watched closely, waiting for something to happen. Moments later, Adam's hands caught fire.
He put his hand out, a line of fire shooting out of his burning hand and into the campfire. Adam stopped, his hands going back to normal. There wasn't a scratch on him, no proof that he had just spontaneously combusted.
"How do you think I was able to heal you completely in three days?" Seraphine, eyes wide, glanced down at her ankle, "We all have powers, Seraphine."
After that Samuel started to go around the circle, naming everyone and their power. Some of them did a little example, showing off their skill.
Juliette could turn things to ice, Adam could obviously control fire, Emilie could move water, Theo could mimic sounds. Oliver could make plants grow and, evidently, calm people down. The boy next to Oliver, Oscar was his name, created some sort of poison. The boy next to him, Simon, could communicate with animals. Dylan moved things with his mind, and Alice controlled wind.
"And I can heal people, as you already know."
He stopped there, everyone waiting for her to say what she could do. Seraphine wasn't sure if she knew, really. She never thought about it because it freaked her out. Whatever it was that she could do, it was not a gift.
"Well go on; show us what you can do." Theo encouraged next to her, a smile on his little face. Seraphine looked at him, and then back at Samuel. She shook her head, considering her options of running away then. She could run, but if they wanted, they could catch her. She knew they could do special things; that wasn't a question anymore. Plus, she had no idea where she was.
"I can't." Seraphine simply said. She watched some people in the group frown, while others scoffed.
"Why not? You have powers don't you?" Dylan said in a snotty tone.
Oliver leaned forward, "Be nice, Dylan." He sent a smile towards Seraphine, nodding his head. Again she shook her head.
"I-" She didn't want to entrust this people with this biggest secret she'd ever had, but she didn't really see any other choice. Everyone was staring at her, waiting for Seraphine to use her power and show off to them, "I can't control it."
Everyone else in the circle, even Alice, seemed perfectly capable of using their powers without hurting anybody. Seraphine wasn't sure she could do the same. She had only used it a total of about four times in her entire life, and she had never planned on making it to five.
Samuel chuckled, "That's what we're here for. We help each other control and expand on our powers."
"We just want to see a taste of what you can do." Emile said.
Seraphine glanced at Oliver, wishing he would jump in and save her. She didn't trust people easily, but she seemed to have taken a quick liking to the boy.
"I could hurt someone."
People around the circle laughed, as if hurting someone was a joke.
"We are not children, Seraphine; we know our powers can be dangerous. We just know how to handle them better than others. Whatever it is that you can do, we can handle." Juliette spoke up. She looked at Seraphine with a look that was crossed between dislike and boredom.
Seraphine didn't know what to do. She looked at Samuel, waiting for him to say something, but he just waited for her like everybody else.
Here goes nothing...