Mutation

Chapter 19: Training and Flying

Leo

As soon as I made my way out of the crowded City Hall building, I made a bee-line for my room. I didn't even think about telling anyone where I was going. All I wanted to do was get away from everyone right now and sleep it off. My mind was fixing to explode from thoughts about Linus. After what I learned about him, I now understood how good he was at driving people crazy. It was in his sick nature.

I bolted straight into my room. (Literally, I didn't even open the door. I just walked right through it, forgetting my strength again.) The only thing I was worried about was Linus coming back to torture me again while I was sleeping. Sighing, I went over to the now broken door, opened it the correct way, and went across my room to Hazel and Maxine's. Crap, I thought, realizing that Hazel and Maxine were probably hanging around at City Hall. I didn't care though; my spinning head had other plans. So I broke the doorknob, shoved the door open, and made my way over to Hazel's bed. I didn't think about any of my worries anymore as soon as my body fell onto the mattress.

~

"Leo, get up," a voice called. I didn't respond right away. My head was swimming as I began to wake up.

"Leo, I said get up," the voice repeated, sounding more urgent. This time, I groaned, but didn't move. Whoever this was needed to leave.

I heard the voice sigh impatiently, then it yelled in my face, "Leo, get UP!" As soon as the voice said that, I felt something hard hit me straight in the face. My eyes popped open to see, of course, Hazel, standing by the bed. She was holding what looked like a very thick magazine in her hands, and looked quite angry.

"Dude, what was that for?" I asked, rubbing my nose from where she hit me. Then I remembered that I was in her room, and in her bed. Also, my eyes glanced past Hazel to the door I broke to get in. Of course she'd be mad that I came in here without asking.

"Well, let's see, you broke into my room, which gave me a heart attack when I saw the door was shattered. Then I see you asleep in my bed, when you didn't ask me if you could do that. And even if you asked me, I'd still say no!" Hazel took a deep, irritated breath, then said more calmly. "Don't you remember we have a meeting to go to tonight at nine? Well, it's 8:55. Get up and let's go."

I couldn't help but stare blankly at her. Did I really sleep for that long? Why didn't anyone wake me up? Maybe Hazel was out all day doing stuff with the colony, and didn't find me until now. I secretly felt jealous that she got to explore today and I didn't. But I quickly pushed that thought aside in my head and got up out of her bed. I already had clothes on, so I brushed them off to unwrinkle them a bit, and I ran my fingers through my tangled hair as we headed over to the field Dr. Baker told us to go to.

The field Dr. Baker was referring to from the meeting this morning was a small, deserted patch of land on the far side of the colony. There were no lights to see anything, except for the artificial moonlight and stars in the fake sky. I was surprised that we found our way over here. Even though I could barely see them, I heard many others who were here also. I heard the familiar, high-pitched voice of Maxine talking to someone. Linus's cocky voice spoke back to her, which made my face burn in anger. I had to control my emotions.

Then, we all heard a voice say, "Zoe, lights on," and immediately following that, the whole field was covered in bright, neon blue light. I discovered there were more people here than I expected. The girl named Zoe, who I assumed turned the lights on, was standing close by. The luminous blue light was coming from her hair, providing everyone with visibility out in the field. Zoe, an average-sized girl with glowing blue hair as her mutation, looked around sheepishly, blushing almost as bright as her hair.