Origin (Book 2)

Chapter 18

After that, Professor Strong basically just went over the two sections quickly before turning on the screen.

"Now, we need to discuss what happened earlier this morning," he said.

The TV powered on, and the screen faded into color.

"Now is a good time to do a Q and A session. Let's start with you." He pointed to me. "What happened in the gym?"

"In the gym? You mean the arena place?"

"Yes, whatever you would like to call it. The point is, we need to know what happened so we can keep it from happening again."

I squirmed in my seat, not wanting to call people out like the way I was trying to do. "Can't you show them the footage?"

"I would, but that would make it seem like you were trying to fight for no reason," he said. "Unless that's true?"

"Oh, it's true," I said. "I just don't really want to talk about it."

"You're going to talk about it, or Cassie will," he said. "We need to know."

I recounted what had happened right after I was teleported here, going all the way to when I saw Cassie and Ben. I left out the part about the voice; that wasn't something they needed to know, or would need to know.

I glanced at Wren when I was finished. He seemed a little angry, judging by how his desk table was crunching under his fingers.

"You make really bad decisions," the professor noted. "First, you randomly try to get into a fight you know nothing about, then you go through a portal that appears out of nowhere just because it's there. Then you fight a random stranger you know nothing about. Who raised you?"

"My parents."

He raised his eyebrows. "Okay, well, you need to write a summary report on it. Cassie, you need to as well."

"What about Ben?" I asked, nodding my head towards him.

"He's not in the system. Neither is Wren. If they want to stay, they can, but they have to undergo some tests first, and they DO NOT need to leave my sight at any time." The professor sounded adamant about this.

He pulled six sheets out of his lab coat pocket and put them on our desks, three on each. "Enjoy," he joked.

I flipped each one. They were front and back. I had the strangest urge to try to do my best on this, like exams. There were five questions total, but a lot of space to write my answer to each one. I got started on that while listening to the professor's analyzation of the footage caught by street cameras.

"Seriously, this is pitiful." Wren smiled in his seat as he watched himself throw Metagor past me. "I may not remember it happening, but this is funny to watch."

"But I won," I argued.

"Only because Ben and I saved you," Cassie said.

"It doesn't matter who won," the professor interrupted. "Just what each of you did wrong. Jay, stopping at an antiques store doesn't help you fight."

"You don't know how my powers work," I said. "I needed the sword to try to cut Wren."

"And how did that work out?" he asked rhetorically.