The Recruitment of Seth Norwick [On Hiatus]

Chapter 1

I roll my shoulders back and walk out from behind the Starbuck's counter. My shift's finally over. "See you guys," I call out as I make my way towards the door.

My co-worker Nikki smiles and replies, "See ya, Seth!"

Before I make it out the door, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around, expecting either Wes, Nikki, or Poppy. Someone that worked here. Instead, I see a middle-aged man taller than me, a small smile on his face. Nothing's specifically alarming about him, looking like a business man, but he gives me the chills anyway. Maybe it's the smile. "Hello, my name is Xavier Johnson. Are you, by chance, Seth Norwick?"

I narrow my eyes and ask, "What?"

"Is your name Seth Norwick?"

"I think you have me confused with someone else..."

The man laughs and says, "The barista just called out your name, did she not?"

"If you already knew that, then why did you ask?"

"Well, I wanted to hear it from you! But I'll get straight to the point. Could we talk somewhere a little more secluded?" Xavier gestures toward a corner booth, still visible but not surrounded by other people.

"No thanks. I don't know you and I definitely don't trust you. Sorry."

I turn to leave but he whispers, "Don't you want information about your abilities?"

I whip around and growl, "What?!" How did he know about my abilities? I kept that secret under multiple locks and keys. Not even Casper knew about it. This man shouldn't know something that personal. After I realize what I've given away, I softly curse myself.

Xavier raises his eyebrows and gestures towards the booth. My interest is very piqued but my caution is off the charts. "Well?" he asks. Before I make a decision, he motions toward the sunset painting hanging on the front wall. All of a sudden, it shifts to the right then back to the left before falling off with a crash. It takes all of my willpower to not do a double take like before.

Nicki jumps and stares at the fallen painting. I quickly walk over to the painting and pick it up. It's intact, not even a scratch. The wire holding it up untwines on its own and I look up at Xavier. His smile widens and he starts walking towards the booth, expecting me to follow.

I inhale and even though I have a sinking feeling in my stomach, I hang the painting back up and follow. He sits down in the booth and laces his fingers together. I warily sit down across from him and watch him carefully. "So," he begins, "I'm sure you're wondering how I know about that little tidbit of information about you. I remember, in the distant past, seeing a news story about a very interesting little boy who was found in a house with corpses. Ring a bell?" My blood runs cold. Xavier smiles and continues, "Of course it does. I remember seeing this story and thinking, 'Well, it's obviously the boy's fault! He's the only one there!' But the child was so frightened, it was so genuine that there wasn't a trace of fault on him.

"The bodies were reported to be beaten up beyond recognition. So if it wasn't the boy, then who was it? And why would this killer leave the youngest child to live and tell of what happened? It didn't add up. This happened quite a long time ago, about 10 years if I recall correctly, but you already knew that. I only came across this file yesterday, to be honest. I wanted to talk to you in person about that. It wasn't easy finding you, seeing as you relocated after that night, but I was able to find you eventually." I immediately look at this guy in a new negative light.

"How did you find me?" I ask accusingly.

"It's not an extreme game of hide and seek. A little asking around did the trick. That news story is buried beneath thousands of other ones but fortunately I found a newspaper covering it. They didn't directly say where you went but they indicated the general direction." Despite the pleasant smile on his face, he gave off a sinister aura. He laughs and says, "Enough about that, though. I can tell it's not the most pleasant of topics for you. Long story short, I was interested in the news story from 10 years ago and when I found your file yesterday, I wanted to talk to you because of the possibility of you having abilities, and by your reaction, I'm going to assume that you do."