Anomalous

22-Family Reunion?

"Keep looking for Juliette?" Oakley asks.

Gray nods, and everyone trudges out of the room, a sadness hanging in the air.

We keep looking.

Several rooms later, still no more luck.

"I'm tired!" Ryith complains.

"Here, get on," Oakley says, crunching over. Ryith hops on his back, and we keep going.

"Ooh, me next, me next!" Nora cries, tugging on Mercedes' arm.

"Sorry Nor, I'm not strong enough to lift such a big girl like you," Mercedes grins at her. Nora grabs her hand instead.

I feel my phone buzz in my pocket, and I jump a little. I forgot it was in there.

I pull it out, and the screen lights up.

"Uh-oh," I mutter.

"What?" Leila asks me.

"Missed call from mom, 4 minutes ago, when we were talking to KC and Thalia," I groan, looking at the screen.

If I don't answer the first time, she will call 18 more times.

Gray slips his hand into mine, and I look at him. We smile at each other, and the sight of his smile gives me the little burst of energy I need.

I decide to check the next room, poking my head in.

"There's someone in there," I say, opening the door a little further. It creaks, and the woman sitting at a desk's head swivels around.

She scowls, getting up and walking towards us.

I slam the door, trying to buy us time.

Suddenly, I feel myself start to flip upside down, and I'm floating towards the ceiling. All the kids are floating as well, and I land on the ceiling.

"Crouch down, make yourself as small as possible," Nox instructs us.

I scrunch into a little ball, looking at the floor below me.

I look at Nox next to me. His face is contorted with pain, I can tell he's struggling to keep this many people in the air with him.

The lady kako looks out the door. Once she sees that there's no one there, she steps back into the room, and closes the door.

Nox groans, letting us all drop gently onto the floor. He grips his head, grimacing.

Leila looks at him with concern, holding his hand.

We move on down the hall.

Mercedes pops her head into the next room.

"Eep, I think the kako in there saw me!" She squeals, pulling out extremely quickly.

"Hey!" A gruff voice calls from inside the room.

Mercedes twirls her hand, and a big gust of wind slams the door shut, and then the doorknob freezes over.

The doorknob jiggles from the inside, but it doesn't open. We're safe for now.

So, we keep looking.

"Can we stop for a few minutes?" Leila asks. Everyone gratefully stops and sits, and Nox lets Ryith slip off his back.

I groan, and slump against the wall.

"We're going to die in this place," I mutter, sliding down the wall into a seated position.

Gray slides down next to me. "It's going to be okay, Autumn. We'll find her, there's only so many rooms in this darn building, so eventually we've got to get the right one," He tells me, patting my leg comfortingly.

I breathe out, resting, and thinking.

I open my bag, and pull out my water bottle, taking a much-needed swig.

"Do you have any more snacks?" Oakley asks quietly. I hand him a little container of dry cheerios.

"Okay, we shouldn't spend too much time in one spot, or else we'll get found. I know everyone's tired, but we need to keep moving," Nox says, standing up.

Leila sighs. "He's right, let's go," She says, standing up next to him.

"Can I check the next room?" Nora asks.

"Why not? Not like there's going to be anything in there anyway," I tell her.

She hops up, and so do I.

Skipping excitedly down the hall, Nora grins at me.

She opens the next door, looking in.

"There's no one in there, but I hear someone!" She cries, looking at me.

I open the door all the way, and everyone steps in.

A little whisper comes from behind me.

"She's right, I heard something," I say, looking behind me for the source of the whisper.

At first I only see a bunch of crates, but then I notice a bit of movement.

The last thing I see is a shadowy figure rushing towards us, and then darkness.

When I open my eyes, I find my hands to be tied to the chair I'm sitting on. I look around to see my friends bound in the same fashion.

I look around the room. It's dark, and I can't see very far. What I can see, is our weapons scattered around us on the ground. Closest to me are Nox's gun and Nora's shovel.

Immediately, I try and wriggle my wrists out of the rope, so I can grab a weapon. The ropes are tight, however, and it doesn't work. I nudge Nox's gun with my foot, wishing it was in my hands instead. I keep wiggling my wrists, hopeful that eventually I'll be able to get out. Suddenly, someone steps into the room.

"Juliette! Help us get out of here!" Leila cries immediately upon seeing her.

Juliette smiles and walks over to her, but instead of helping her, she pulls out a gun.

"Let me start off by saying, I haven't been completely honest with you!" Juliette smiles a sinister smile, gesturing with the gun as she speaks.

"From the very beginning, in fact, I've been a part of OHAR. Over the years, I've worked my way up the ranks. You don't think I put up with you kids for 6 years because I liked you, did you? It was because, if I brought in 7 anomalous kids for the experiment-eight including Autumn-then I would surely fall into power. So I tolerated you, raised you even, for 6 years while I waited for the experiment to be ready. That day I went out for errands and didn't come back? I was simply heading to the OHAR institution, because the experiment was ready. Then, it was time to lure you in. I feigned innocent, pretending I'd been kidnapped by the night-shadows. You see, I didn't plan on you kids getting as far into the building as you did. I told the guards at each door to expect distractions from each of your anomalies, but unfortunately, I didn't know yours at the time," She hisses, loosely pointing the gun at me. I only glare at her. She doesn't scare me. I hear Nora start to cry, and I look over at her, sad that I can't help her.

"Eventually, though, you "found" me. I planned on pretending to try and escape with you, and then have OHAR apprehend you before you got out the door. Oh by the way, those night-shadows that wrecked your car? That was me of course. I'm actually quite proud of that little scheme. Another thing, your friend, Katherine? Also me. Too bad her sister didn't work out, but at least we had one success. How terribly unfortunate, though, that you found the kids. And then, you ever so rudely brought them home! And because of that fire, I couldn't stop you. To think, I spent months collecting those kids, and just like that, all of them, gone! That is why, you rude, ungrateful children must be punished. You will replace those six kids in the experiment," Juliette laughs, but not a normal laugh. More like the laugh of a serial killer, right before they cut you up into little pieces.

"How could you do this to us? You were like a mother to us!" Leila sobs, and I notice that all the other kids are crying. Even Nox and Gray have tears welling up in their eyes, and I can see why. These kids were practically raised by this woman, and they're finding out that the entire time, she's just been using them for her own gain.

As for me, I've only known Juliette for maybe a week or so, which is why I had no problem knocking her upside the head with Nox's gun.