The Powered People

Chapter 19

"So...you have the ability to create fire?" Profesor Benvelo asked Evie as he typed his notes on a clipboard with just one finger.

"Yeah, and threw it at your friend's face," Evie answered, a little run down. Profesor Benvelo chuckled.

"So you could control it as well?" Profesor Benvelo continued, in a nice, light tone.

"I guess."

"You must be pretty good to do both at your age. Did anyone teach you how to control it or did you learn on your own?"

"A bitta' both. Taiga taught me t' throw it at a lantern."

"Taiga? Is that a friend of yours?"

"Yeah. She's the ice one."

"The 'ice one?' Interesting. I'll try and put in a word. I could get her in the same testing room."

Evie perked up. "I'll...I'll see her again?"

"Of course. I wouldn't keep you two away from each other if you're friends."

"Ugh, why do you even try to talk to them?" Another scientist groaned.

"Because they respond," Profesor Benvelo answered. As he walked down Nolan's

aisle, Nolan whispered, "Hey, professor?"

Patiently, his old teacher stopped right before Nolan's cell. "W-will I be tested like the rest of them?"

Profesor Benvelo shrugged. "Well, if you're just like the rest of them."

He walked back down the hall, leaving Nolan in silence. He crashed back down on his thin mattress, right next to his sister. She blankly stared at the dull wall, stiff and bored.

"How's Imani?" Nolan asked, a little out of the blue. Evian noticeably tensed.

"She...passed out during the fire," Evian responded. "She hasn't woken up yet, but she's alive."

"Oh..." Nolan breathed. "Did the fire put her in a lot of pain?"

Evian solemnly nodded. "Way too much pain. But...it seems that we're not the only family being kept in one cage."

She gestured across the hallway to a cell diagonal from theirs. Imani was laying down on the mattress, her hair tangled and her face covered in tiny cuts. Sitting down next to her a man with the same eyes, same hooked nose, symmetrical face, dark skin tone, and hair. He kept a hand on her stomach and gazed down at her.

"I think that's her uncle," Evian whispered. "Farley or something weird like that. He hadn't seen her in years."

Damn, entire years, Nolan thought. All that time in one cage. One big lab. Not to mention her uncle had known Imani was alive. That she was somewhere elsewhere and that he may never see her again. Hell, Nolan went a lifetime without his sister but didn't even know she'd existed.

"I know right, it's crazy!" a familiar voice called out. Standing up, Nolan yelled, "Meg?"

"'Sup, kid. You're with your sister?" Meg asked.

"Are you right next to us?"

"Yep. I can't tell if I want a roommate or not. I mean, it's lonely and cold in here but there, like barely enough space for me in the first place."

"Are you going to be reading my mind all night?"

"Somethin' tells me we'll be in here longer than a night," Meg scoffed.

"Then why's no one doing anything about it?"

Evian shrugged. So did Evie in the cell across from them.