The (Temporary) Creators

Chapter 6

Everyone runs out of the shop in a panic to see what made the deafening noise from outside. I grab Cody's arm and follow them out the door. I can't see exactly what happened since there's a mob of people in the way, but I can see a bent street sign and dust floating in the air. I let go of Cody's hand and move closer to get a better look. A tall man in all black stands on the crushed car. Something seems to be protecting him from the crowd since everyone who tries to get to him gets pushed back to where they were as soon as they get within a few feet of him. When I look closer, the air around him shimmers from the sunlight. Almost like the light was reflected off an invisible barrier.

The man ignores the noise from outraged customers in front of him and searches the crowd. When his eyes meet with mine, he freezes. Just then, I feel something run into my side. I fall onto the sidewalk from the force, and I'm being pulled up before I can process what happened. Expecting to see Cody helping me up, I'm surprised when I see Zack standing there with his hand around my wrist. He doesn't look at me or say anything, but he grips my wrist even harder as he quickly leads me away from the crowd. "Hey! Zack, where are you taking her? Zack? Zack!" Cody yells from behind us as he tries to catch up.

"Just follow me, Smith, and no more questions. Got it?"

Cody doesn't answer back. He just reluctantly follows us as Zack drags me towards the school with a surprising determination.

When we get to the front of the building, he finally lets me go and turns to face us. "Tell me what you saw right now, Keith!" He spits at me.

"Just a tall man standing on a crushed car. And it looked like he had something like a force field around him. Nobody could get to him. And I saw him scanning the crowd like he was looking for someone. Then when he saw me, he completely froze. That's when I'm guessing you pushed me over," I murmur as I rub my side.

"Look, you need to forget what you saw today, got it?" Gosh, why is he so demanding and pushy all of a sudden?

Cody walks up to him and gives him a mean glare. "Someone sounds a bit too suspicious. I mean you show up at the frozen yogurt place, tell us the principal needs to see us on a Sunday, then there's a loud crash on the street, and you drag us here and tell us to forget everything we just saw?"

Zack gives Cody an evil glare. "You don't understand. Just forget what just happened back there, and you'll have one less problem to deal with." Cody looks like he's about to counter, but he remains silent.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean by one less problem?" I demand, "Are you trying to say we have other problems that you know about? Because we're fine. And our 'problems' are: None. Of. Your. Business." I cross my arms and glare at him in an attempt to look intimidating. Truth is, we probably do have some kind of problem that involves that man and our new powers. But I barely know Zack. Who does he think he is dragging us here and telling us to forget something that has nothing to do with us specifically, and will probably be the town's breaking news? And then he acts like he knows everything going on in our lives.

"I know a lot more about you two and your friends than you think, so I advise you to listen to what I said and not argue," he retorts.

Before I can think of a response to that, he starts running back to the incident and disappears in the crowd of people still there. "Do you think the principal's here?" I ask.

"Hopefully. We need to talk to him about more than where my necklace went," Cody replies. He looks just as angry and confused as I'm feeling right now. "Let's go."

Cody's about to hit the button to let the principal know we're here, but he opens the door farthest from us. He doesn't notice us at first. "Umm, Mr. Principal? We need to speak to you," I say more like a question.