The Roses

Chapter One

"What in Sebastian's name are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get these contacts in! What does it look like?" I snapped back to the female voice.

"You suck at so many things," grunting in frustration I get the contact in and turn toward the male voice behind me.

The female that was scowling at the male was Alicianna she has deep auburn/orange hair and sharp copper eyes. Her hair is usually up in a 'no nonsense' type bun.

Arms crossed over her chest and leaning back on one foot she says, "Not everyone has been here since birth, Vaertis," a copper brow raised.

Large grin in place he looks up at the almost head taller Alicianna, "I can't help that she can't do basic things," he laughed at the end. The size of his irises rapidly changing in his bright blue eyes.

Standing to Alicianna's shoulders he was a stark contrast. He had deep mahogany skin and ice blue hair that he wore differently everyday. Today, it is done up the same as Alicianna's, I'm sure as a joke she ignored, as usual. He was thick and solid compared to her thin willowy frame.

While they had their exchange I'd turned back to my bathroom mirror and looked over myself. Starting with my red, watery, and bleary eyes. They were their usual grey except the red crescent moon was hidden by my coloured contacts. I assumed the other two already had their contacts in preventing me from seeing their Symbols of Power.

Sighing and touching a white streak that flowed and wove its way through my jarringly black hair. Intermingling, occasionally, with the midnight purple and blue streaks.

Sighing again I braid back my hair revealing pale skin sprayed with white freckles across my cheeks and nose. The face looked back at me stoically, but in those eyes I could see fear.

A tanned hand with a bright yellow rose wrapping its way around her wrist.

"You okay?" she asked with concern, but I was still staring at the rose. Every Rose had one. A rose tattoo appeared somewhere on a Rose's body. Mine wraps around my hips and trails down the outside of my right leg ending mid-thigh.

Still looking at the hand I say, "Yeah, just nervous."

"Don't be, we all went though this when our powers manifested," she reassured.

"I don't know what my powers are, though. What does a moon even mean?" I exclaim.

"Well, no one has ever had a moon, it could mean anything really. It will probably be something simple like how I can bend sunlight," Alicianna said sympathetically.

Vaertis, with a gentler smile, mentioned we'd be late for my power manifestation ceremony. I'm the last Rose to have their powers manifest. Everyone else had theirs manifest years before me giving them an ample amount of time to practice and master their gifts. Despite my Symbol of Power and tattoo appearing I had yet to discover my powers.

Vaertis and his twin sister, Vaera, have been practicing their gifts since before they could walk. Their powers manifested the earliest on record. They had to spend their early childhoods away from society so they weren't discovered or accidentally used their powers. Vaertis can shapeshift and change into any person he wants, but only if he has seen the person firsthand. He cannot use paintings. Vaera can change anyone into someone else, but her only limitation is she has to be touching the person. The only other limit is her imagination. Vaertis' Symbol of Power is a series of size changing dots across his irises. Vaera's is an ever changing star. One second it could be a four pointed star then an eight pointed star, it is always changing.

As we turn to leave we see a streak of aquamarine slam into Vaertis. Used to these events we side step the blur allowing it to crash into him and then the floor. Alicianna and I looking down at the mess with similar looks of amusement. Vaera was sitting on her brother looking up at Alicianna and me with shining pink eyes. Long aquamarine hair tumbled down her back and spilled across her brother, resting in a pool around them on the ground.

"What's taking you guys so long?" She inquired tilting her head slightly to the side.

"We were just leaving," Vaertis wheezed out from under Vaera.

Jumping up she grinned even bigger than Vaertis and exclaimed, "Great! Dark is growing impatient."

At the mention of the Rose's leader, official title, Thorn of Roses, everyone (except me) got tense. I'd yet to meet this mysterious leader. No one knew his real name and he only went bu his code name. No one would speak of him so I didn't know what he looked like, what his power was, or even his Symbol of Power! Honestly, it is quite irritating.
All I know is that he is a direct descendant from the original fire, but because his power has never been seen before him. I was kind of nervous to finally be meeting him. I'd only been in the Rose facility for a week.
Still tense everyone walked from my small apartment into my entry hall and to the elevator. It didn't take long for the doors to open considering our areas were isolated from the colony. Each Rose got their own floor. So far it's been first come first serve, but now that all of the Roses have been discovered we will be assigned a floor based on rank. Only one member has been assigned his floor: Dark.

I still wasn't used to it all. Dark had the top floor, the Alicianna, me, Vaertis, and Vaera. We all are ready to move after my ceremony. After the ceremony we all will be going in to test our power levels. They told me all of this when I first arrived a week ago. "They" being the people behind our missions, recruitment, and overall everything. They don't need anyone to use their powers to test it. We had a magic item for that. Though, that's not anything they'd tell me about.
Lost in thought I bump into Vaera being that she'd stopped. Confused, I looked in front of her and saw a beautifully ornate door. Black Dér wood encrusted with jewels depicting the first Five's battles. Brehr wood trimming the Dér with beautiful white accents.

"Are you ready?" Vaertis asked from my right.

Taking a deep breath, "No," I ended out spluttering with all the air in my lungs.

Grinning, Vaera said, "Too bad!"

I heard Alicianna whisper, "Oh, she's evil," before being blinded by bright white light being released from the room behind the door.