Fanfare

Switch

When she wakes up a few hours later, the room is dark. She smiles triumphantly. Then there is a flash; everything becomes bright, and she covers her eyes, groaning, as she rolls over, away from the light. She sighs as she gets up and dresses, pulling on a sleeveless top and her pants but not bothering with her jacket; she feels feverish, and a jacket would only make the feeling worse.

She sits in her room, feet up on her bed as she ties her shoelaces. Then she waits, staring at the rock on her shelf, a signal that everyone is up. Jack has a lot of power; he controls when everyone else wakes up. Trenna smiles slightly at the thought of Jack being in control of something; he's too irresponsible and reckless to be in control of anything. The rock lights up. She remembers the light of the rock in his hand, growing and diminishing, and the serious look in his eyes, and her smile fades. She tries to clear her mind of thought, like Pierce told her to. She focuses on her heartbeat. Her breathing. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. Nothing happens to the room, as it's lit, but it calms her.

She stands, ready to go to breakfast. And then her door slams open and something smashes into her, throwing her backwards onto her bed. Any noise she would have made is pushed out of her along with her breath, a slight wheeze. "You did it! How did you do it? Oh well, it doesn't matter. We're getting out of here!" Jack's voice is a steady stream in her ear.

"Get off me," she says with effort, shoving at his chest.

"Oh, sorry." He gets up off the bed, pulling her up with him. She straightens her clothes, a scowl on her face. And then he grins widely and picks her up, holding her tightly and swinging her around in his arms; her legs brush the walls and her bed in the limited space.

Trenna starts to laugh; he's being ridiculous, but his joy is infectious. "Ok, ok. Put me down." Jack sets her down, a ridiculous grin on his face. "What's up?" she asks, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Pierce says you can turn it off. Your night vision."

"Yeah. And?" She tries not to sound uncomfortable at the thought of last night. She hopes her face isn't going red.

"That means, my small friend, that we can leave this place!" He's like a little boy, so excited about the prospect of an outside world, somewhere other than this. The thing is, she's excited, too. She just doesn't want to build up her hope only to be shot down.

She takes his hand and speaks gently. "No, it doesn't. I might not even be able to see through the hole. The only thing I can do is turn the darkness on and off."

"Exactly. And if you can do that, you can do a lot of other stuff, too."

Trenna frowns. "What are you talking about?"

"Trenna," he says, his voice low but full of excitement. "You're a Switch."