The Six

Chapter One

"All you have to do is tell me where your children are." Calliope shuddered. She peaked out of her door and caught a glimpse of the man standing in front of her mother. He spoke slowly and clearly. Her mother stood her ground and glared. Calliope looked at her older brother, Sawyer, who stood next to her. Their parents had told them to hide in Calliope's room until they said it was safe. "Sara I'm going to ask you one more time, and if you don't tell me, then I will kill your husband." Calliope gasped and Sawyer covered her mouth. "Don't say anything Sara" Calliope's father pleaded and a loud smack echoed through the still house. The air was thick as Calliope's mother breathed in. "You can go to hell." Calliope saw as the man slid his knife across her fathers neck. Blood splattered onto her mothers face. Sawyer shook behind her, he was afraid, but Calliope couldn't look away. The man stepped towards her mother. "Well Sara. I think you know what this means?" Her mother let out a shaky breath but held her head high. "I think you know I'll find them, but I admire your bravery nonetheless." Her mother made one last look towards where Calliope and her brother were hidden and smiled. Sawyer shifted behind Calliope. The two watched in shock as the man took the knife and plunged it into their mother's stomach. "Too bad it can't save your children." They watched as their mother fell to the floor. She gasped. Before Calliope could react, Sawyer threw open the door and raced towards their mother. He knelt down next to her and kissed her head. "Well well well. It's so kind of you to just show yourself, saves me the time to find you." Sawyer froze. Calliope shook in fear as the man looked at her brother. "But isn't there supposed to be two of you?" The man took a gun out of coat pocket and pointed it at Sawyer "Maybe this will lure your sister out of hiding" Calliope jumped out of the room and stood between the man and her brother. "Please don't hurt him" Calliope cried. "You must be Calliope. I am a very big fan really" The man chuckled. Calliope glared at the man. She didn't break eye contact. She knew if she did, she wouldn't be able to look back. She heard Sawyer whisper behind her, "He killed them Callie", he kept repeating it over and over. The man looked at him and said the words that would haunt Calliope for the rest of her life. "You could have saved them."

Calliope sat up in her bed, panting. She looked at the time on the clock on the table next to her. 3:00 it read. She felt the cool air hit her sweaty back. Chills raced up her arms as she looked around. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She was in her room. The same room she had lived in for 8 years. She sat on her bed panting. Soon a voice broke the silence. "Did you have that dream again." It was her brother Sawyer. His room was across from hers. "Yea." Calliope croaked out. "Did I wake you up?" Calliope whispered. "There's no need to whisper, we're all awake Cal" A sweet voice piped in before Sawyer could respond. It was Lisbeth. She was the only other girl, that wasn't a scientist that Calliope had spoken too since she her parents died. "She's right Callie, you talk in your sleep." Another raspy voice laughed. It was Oliver. She waited as another friendly voice giggled, "Maybe we should call you CaLOUDope!" Dallas couldn't help him self when it came to an opportunity to make a pun. They all laughed. A soft voice broke the giggle fit. "Why is everyone laughing?" The boy yawned and waited for an answer. "I swear Payton, you are the heaviest sleeper I've ever met." Oliver chuckled. "Its not my fault! My room is the farthest from everyone else." They started laughing again but it was soon quieted by a loud bell ringing. The hall lights turned on. A voice came over the speaker, "Rise and Shine everyone. Its time for breakfast." The kids groaned as their eyes readjusted to the new lighting. They all slowly walked towards the end of the hall and into the main room. The room had a table with food laid out on it. On the other end of the room was a glass window. There were a few scientists with their notebooks and pen. They were watching them like usual. Dallas smiled and waved. "I love my fans!" He blew kisses and sat down. Oliver shoved him as they sat down. "Idiot." Dallas shrugged and started eating. Lisbeth and Calliope sat down across from them and laughed as the boys shoved their faces with food. Sawyer and Payton slowly walked up to the table and sat down across from each other. "What's wrong?" Calliope asked. "Nothing, Payton is just a little groggy." She looked at Payton and he was already asleep again. They all ate and joked. Finally as they all finished up, their doctor walked in. "Good morning kids. I hope you enjoyed your breakfast" He said smiling. His name was Dr. Reed, he was one of the only nice adults in the lab. "Yea it was pretty good Doc." Oliver laughed. "I'm glad! But now we have to do some testing. I know you guys hate it so ill try to be quick." Dr. Reed motioned for us to follow him and we did. He took us to the training room, it was a big room with a window at the end for Dr. Reed to monitor the activities. We filed in and waited for instructions. Dr. Reed's voice came on over the speakers, "Okay guys so first things first is the strength exercise." On the wall were ropes with handles, they were connected to a weight system on the other side of the wall and we are supposed to play a type of tug of war. The weight system slowly adds more weight and we have to stand in one spot and hold the rope for as long as we can. Once we let go, the weight that it got to is our maximum strength. We took our spots and grabbed our ropes. Everyone except Lisbeth and Payton enjoy this exercise. They let go at about 220 lbs. The weight got to about 650 before Dallas let go too. It was down to Calliope, Sawyer and Oliver. Calliope saw a struggle from Sawyer and giggled. 800 lbs. Sawyer took a deep breath. Calliope and Oliver made eye contact and smiled. Oliver loved this game. Strength was his biggest asset. Sawyer gave up at 1000 lbs. The machine buzzed at 2000 lbs. Oliver and Calliope laughed and let go. They beat the machine every day. Dr. Reed laughed over the speaker. "I thought for sure one of you would lose this time! We made the machine get up too 2000 instead of 1500!" Oliver just laughed. "I'm just too good." Calliope looked at him and he added in, "We, We at just too good." They all laughed. "Okay next test. Speed!" Dr. Reed said. Oliver groaned. "Guess you aren't awesome at everything huh Oli?" Dallas laughed. Payton was very excited. We all stepped onto the running track. It is like a giant treadmill and can get up to a very fast speed. We all stepped on and it started too move. The goal is to keep up. Calliope looked at Oliver and he was already panting. 20 mph, Oliver dropped out. 60 mph, Sawyer dropped out. 100 mph, Dallas dropped out. 150 mph, Lisbeth dropped out. 200 mph, Calliope drops out. 225 mph, everyone is watching Payton, who is having the time of his life. "Why don't we run all the time!" Payton laughed. 250 mph, the machine slows and Payton groans, "Come on I was getting into it!". Sawyer smiles, and Dr. Reed chuckles on the speaker, "Okay now its time for individual evaluations, everyone has special unique abilities and since only they have it, they have to be tested alone. I'll see you guys in a bit, Dr. Meager is going to take over." Dr. Read leaves the viewing area and Dr. Meager picks up the headset. "Okay. You're first" Dr. Meager points at Oliver and takes a sip of his coffee and Oliver walks to the middle of the room. "Please state your name and ability." Dr. Meager says in his usual monotone voice. "Okay, my name is Oliver, and I can shapeshift." Oliver looks over at Calliope and she smiles at him. She never really noticed how nervous he could get. He is normally smiling and showing off his huge dimples. He takes a deep breath and blows his dark brown hair out of his green eyes. Oliver closes his eyes and stops. He opens his eyes for a moment and awkwardly laughs. "I don't want to ruin my shirt." He whispers and takes it off. Calliope's eyes fall to the scars along his back. She knew why he had them. They all had some form of them. The scientists love to test their pain tolerance, both physical and mental. They never talk about them. Calliope makes eye contact with Oliver and he looks away. He takes a deep breath and groans. That groan turns into a growl as he shifts into a tiger. From a tiger he turns into a rhino, and finally into a wolf before turning back into himself. He wipes the sweat off of his forehead and quickly puts back on his shirt. "Next." Dr. Meager points at Lisbeth. Oliver sits down next to Dallas and puts his head in his hands. "State your name and ability." Dr. Meager says once Lisbeth is in front of him. Lisbeth pushes her red hair behind her ear and smiles. Her blue eyes shine as she talks. "My name is Lisbeth, and I can turn invisible and I have sonic sight and hearing." Sawyer gives Lisbeth a thumbs up. Lisbeth smiles and takes a deep breath. She disappears and laughs. Suddenly, there is fog on the glass and Lisbeth draws a smiley face before reappearing. Dr. Meager says something without the microphone on and Lisbeth laughs and says "Yes sir, I can in fact hear you, I can also hear the assistant in the hall that is arguing with her husband about her late hours." Lisbeth smiles and sits down next to Calliope and Sawyer. "Do you think I was rude?" she asks in a concerned voice. "Not at all, he kind of deserves it." Sawyer replied. Lisbeth gives a sleepy smile and leans on
Oliver's shoulder. "Gosh using our other abilities really tuckers us out huh." Lisbeth giggles. "Next." Dr. Meager points at Dallas. "Wish me luck" He laughs. Dallas stands in the center and his smile disappears. "State your name and your ability." Dr. Meager barks. Dallas runs his fingers through his blonde hair and thinks for a moment. "State your name-" Dr. Meager starts again. "Okay I know." Dallas cuts in. Calliope sees a glint of fear in his grey eyes. "My name is Dallas, and I can read minds, control minds and...." he pauses and looks at Oliver. Oliver just nods knowingly and Dallas turns back. "and I can destroy peoples brains." Dr. Meager pushes a button and a small woman walks in. Her black hair is in a loose bun and her eyes seem scared. "What is she doing here?" Dallas questioned. "You can't show me what you can do without a person." Dr. Meager calmly says. The woman looks at Dallas and smiles, "Don't worry honey, I signed up for this." Dallas takes a deep breathe. "Martha is thinking of her middle name, what is it?" Dr. Meager says. Dallas looks at her and closes his eyes. "Grace." Dallas says quickly. Martha gasps and nods. "Now, make Martha do something." Dr. Meager requests. Dallas steps towards the woman and looks down into her eyes. "Martha. I'm gonna need you to walk to that window and stick your tongue out at Dr. Meager." Martha nods and does it. Dallas laughs. "Now kill her." Dr. Meager says calmly. Dallas gasps. Sawyer stands up but Calliope pulls him down. She stands up instead. "Not this time Sawyer." Dallas looks at the woman. "I signed up for this Dallas." she says calmly. Dallas looks at her like she's crazy. "You signed up to die!" He yells. He grabs her arm and looks at her, "Tell me the truth." She looks at him, "I'm the one who was sent to retrieve you 8 years ago. You should want to kill me. I killed your parents." She says slowly and calmly. Dallas lets go of her immediately. She gasps, "I didn't mean to say that." she looks down. Dallas glares at her. He looks behind him to see his friends watching. "I don't want you guys to see this." Everyone immediately looks away, Dallas made them. But not Calliope, she wasn't affected. She pretends not to look. Dallas looks at the woman again. "You killed them?" He says slowly. She nods. He sighs and Calliope looks up. He stares at her and she kneels down in agony. Her ears and eyes start to bleed and she screams. Calliope sees that Dallas's nose starts to bleed as well. The woman falls to the ground dead. A different scientist comes in and takes her away. "You guys can look now." Dallas says, and everyone looks back at him. He wipes the blood from his nose and sits down. He doesn't say anything. "Next." Dr. Meager looks at Sawyer and he gets up. His black hair is drooping over his brown eyes. He moves it out of the way and before Dr. Meager can speak, he starts. "My name is Sawyer. I can radiate a force field that can protect people from just about anything." Dr. Meager looks at him and pushes a button. Suddenly a weight drops from the ceiling. Sawyer quickly raises his hand and a purple ball surrounds him and the weight hits the top and falls to the floor. Sawyer bows and sits. "Okay then. Next." Dr. Meager says. Payton gets up. Payton starts talking, "Hi, my name is Payton, and I can fly and heal people." Dr. Meager nods and Payton looks at the ground. He is wearing a baggy t-shirt and slowly takes it off. On his back is a pair of wings that are tightly held against his back. He stretches them out. They are a pretty white and tan. He pushes his sandy hair out of his face and smiles. Calliope saw his brown eyes sparkle. None of the others had ever seen Payton's wings, or had seen him fly. He crouched and pushed off the ground. His wings flapped and he started doing flips and trips and he kept laughing. Everyone is busy paying attention to Payton that they didn't notice that one of the assistants grabbed Lisbeth. A loud scream shattered the air as the one the assistants breaks her arm. Payton snaps his attention to the guy who did it. He glares and barrels full speed towards him. Payton grabs him and throws him against the wall. The guy is knocked unconscious. Payton's expression turned soft as he looked at Lisbeth. He touches her arm and he closes his eyes and her arm realigns itself and she gasps. "Oh my gosh, you fixed it!" Lisbeth smiles and kisses Payton on the cheek. He blushes and turns to the other assistants. he slams his hand against the wall and it makes a hole. They run out of the room. Payton turns to the window but Calliope stands up. "Payton its my turn now." she chuckles and he sits down. Dr. Meager opens his mouth. "Calliope. Elemental Control." She says abruptly. Dr. Meager closes his mouth. She looks around and her eyes fall on a Dr. Meager. She focuses on the water in the air and freezes it. She then uses the air to make the little ice pellets shoot into the window. The window shatters. She steps through the broken glass and sets some books on fire. and then uses the earth from the plant in the room to make the plant grow and wrap itself around Dr. Meager. She smiles and walks out. She looks at her friends to see they are pointing behind her. She turns around and everything goes black.