Butterflies

Chapter 12 - Evil Light

Picture of Hailee Steinfield as Samantha.

Chapter 12 - Evil Light

She thought of Rita as fast as she could to get away from the dark atmosphere. A yellow room with a solid gold floor. Mirrors across one wall and a small window across the other. Rita and her instructor stood so they could see the window and the mirrors. Rita didn't wear any roses of any kind which was a relief, but she still seemed different than before. She was no longer the shy little girl who was unsure whose side she was on. She had a thick black outline around the rim of her eyes and symbols all over her arms in a language Olivia had never even seen it before let alone understood it. Rita tapped a symbol on her left forearm and it started to glow with a navy light.

"Let's start." The instructor pushed a brick in on the wall behind her and a series of lasers swept the room. Almost as soon as they had started, they stopped and froze making a criss-cross of red lines all over the room. Just as Olivia was starting to wonder what was going to happen next, the lasers made a series of people made of light around the room, each surrounded by lasers. There were only three: Lily, Katie and Samantha, all of which were on Olivia's side. Olivia concentrated on both concealing herself and learning Rita's gift. The first yellow beam twisted between the red ones straight into Katie in the centre in less than a second and Olivia only just saw it. The second went from underneath Samantha's feet from floor to ceiling just as fast. The third one was about to hit the image of Lily square on, when she dodged and the beam hit a laser behind her. The lasers started to move again. The fake Lily and the very real Rita circled keeping just enough space for comfort. Rita picked up a rock that had appeared on the floor and tossed at one of the red lasers. It turned to dust the minute it touched it. Rita sent a beam to stop Lily from moving and slowly moved it to the lasers. Lily touched the first laser and the image flashed once and disappeared. The lasers shorted out and Rita crashed onto the floor.

"Well, that was an improvement I suppose... We will continue later. By the way, never let your guard down. That is all, I will leave you now," the instructor left the room and Rita stared up at the ceiling she flicked her wrist and the sky replaced the cement ceiling. She moved her hand to make a cloud change shape. Olivia looked up at the finished piece - it was a butterfly, perched on a tree with its beautiful wings opening to fly. So when a solid blue beam of light screeched past Rita's head, inches away, Olivia nearly lost her connection or whatever it was called. Rita leapt up off the floor and sent three different beams in the direction the blue beam had come from. An image focused. It was Olivia.

"So your biggest fear is me?!" the image laughed throwing its head back. "I have seen many before, most scared of animals, some scared of death, but never any scared of a real person!" It laughed and laughed as if it had all the time in the world. Rita started to mutter under her breath. "Ah, a smart one. A revealing recital - which you may regret seeing as you've never met me and I am far scarier than any girl." Rita didn't look at the image at all, and continued, getting louder and louder. She reached the final line -

"Ostende te!" She finally reached the crescendo and shouted as loud as she could. The image dispersed into tiny little specs of light. The window light reflected off them which should have been impossible. The specs joined back together in the same form as the image Olivia had seen talking to Lucy's instructor. Rita's own instructor burst into the room. The image started to reform facing the instructor but shrieked as soon as it saw her.

"Leave now, or regret it forever!" but even as she spoke the image exploded in a million shards of glass. Black glass. The instructor threw up a solid black wall of darkness that absorbed all of the black glass before it damaged something. Or someone. Olivia felt drained and left them to it. She reopened her eyes to see Ella still walking away.

"Ella, how long have I been gone?" Ella turned slowly. She frowned and tapped her chin.

"Gone where? To the seaside? Or are you testing my memory? If you think this is funny you can -"

"I saw her again. She spoke to Rita. She exploded in a million black shards of glass. Why does that mean something to me?" Olivia needed answers and Ella just didn't have them. Or wasn't going to tell her any time soon.

Ella sighed. "Firstly, have you seen Cheryl?" Olivia shook her head. "Then Marium must have given you that power already. Who have you seen so far?"

"Lucy, Lily, Scarlett, Samantha and Rita. A Physicist, a Naturist, a Peace Keeper, a Necromancer and a Light Manipulator. What power?" Most of which managed to scare me in one way or another, Olivia thought.

"Doesn't matter. Right, test each of the powers to check they all work, especially the defensive ones - you need to be able to protect yourself because I won't always make it in time." A gust of darkness shot out from Ella's sleeve and scooped around the room. She put her hand up to stop it in front of her and it settled on the floor. Olivia looked down to see a line of objects.

"How did you know....?" Olivia smiled despite herself. "Never mind..." She sat in front of the cup and recalled what she had seen Lucy do. Without realising, she had closed her eyes and the cup was spinning around her head. Seeing the cup spinning, even without her eyes closed or having to concentrate too hard, gave her a boost of confidence. She set the cup down gently and moved on to the flower pot. This time she just stared at the pot and hoped it to grow. Three beautiful white roses grew in perfect unison. About to move onto the next object Olivia remembered she has seen Scarlett next. She concealed herself slowly and felt the shimmering rise. Ella glanced round.

"Olivia?" she asked uncertainly. She let the shimmer lower slightly to just under her chin. "Very clever... Scarlett I assume?" Olivia nodded and moved on to Necromancy. She moved the shadows to hide herself. Then she manipulated them to make a defensive wall like the instructor had. Satisfied, she continued with Light. She sent a beam into the final object so fast that she didn't get chance to see what the object was. "Finished?" Ella sipped her drink out of a very dainty cup.

"Yes. How much longer do I have left?" Before Ella could answer, a man knocked on the door and entered. He was in complete black just like earlier.

"Please make your way to the stadium now, thank you." He shut the door with a soft click and Ella grabbed Olivia's arm. They travelled to the stadium just as a gunshot went off.