Us Mutants Prefer the Term "Special"

x35x

As soon as we got to the house, Zaine immediately climbed out of the truck and jogged into the house. Chance and I took a slower pace. And then he wandered into the kitchen and started wetting a towel, breaking the house's silence with the running water, and placed it against his bloody nose.

"Why did that happen?" I asked him softly.

"Why were you two taken, or why—"

"—you're bleeding?" I interrupted. Then, he turned around to face me.

"Bending time and space has its consequences," he simply preached.

"Does this happen often?" I asked and then his eyes lowered.

"No..." he whispered and I knew that he meant to hide his pain and suffering from everyone. Especially from the girl who was supposed to feel no pain.

"So where is everyone else?" I asked.

"They're outside or upstairs doing whatever they can before Sunday," he shrugged. Wait, none of them cared about me or Zaine being missing for the whole day? How rude— "No one knew you guys were in trouble. They thought you were just going out. The only reason I knew was because of Sumer."

I sighed and had to think about what happened this morning and it was painful. Why had I been so stupid and nosey to ruin things!? But more than sulking for the loss of Zaine, I ultimately cared about his wellbeing.

"Where's Warren?" I happened to ask.

"He's been upstairs all day," he answered and then I heard a door slam shut. That was probably Zaine. "I hope I don't need to travel more because it would throw everything off, but what happened between you and Zaine?"

"I asked one stupid question about someone to Warren and he overheard," I grumbled. "It may not seem like much, but it is."

And later that night, I found out how serious it was when I had trudged up the stairs and found all of my stuff sitting directly in front of Zaine's door as if it was a barricade. I had really screwed up and it hurt like all the pain I should've experience from before. And as the tears blurred my vision, I had successfully repositioned my things downstairs before even realizing his Tablet sitting inside my backpack I had taken from home. But what did that matter?

=XXX=

"Wilbur and I will handle security," Isaac offered.

"Andres and I will find any surviving kids," Anthony said.

"I'll go as well," Skye pitched in.

"Aspen, Warren, Superman and I will get to the bottom of all this," Cheshire sighed.

"But we're all fighting," I insisted. A fight would in fact be necessary, so we shouldn't act like it isn't inevitable.

"What about my sister?" Isaac asked. There was a silence. We had been ignoring Indica this whole time, but I had a feeling for days now that she just wasn't even here anymore. And seeing as we were making our plans for tomorrow, she needed to be here. Just like Zaine did...

"Well I would want her to assist Cariba in exchanging all of the Cures with the antidote just in case anything happens, but she's clearly not here," Jane answered.

"So now you all care," Isaac realized. "Why has everyone just been ignoring her? I know I argue with her, but did it occur to any of you that she hasn't even been here?"

"Maybe she hasn't."

"Lucky us."

"Shut up."

"Make me—"