Do You Have A Qlue?

Chapter 9: All Aboard the Mystery Bus

Amy's POV

I exited the gas station store and saw that it was raining harder, but not too hard. Thank goodness for that. I pulled on my hood and walked towards a bus stop at the end of the block. I sat on a waiting bench with a roof and street light above it and sorted my thoughts.

Then I remembered—the envelope. I needed somewhere private so I could view it on my own. I looked to my left—nothing but the other street lights, which were barely working as they hummed out of power and back to life. I looked to my right and saw that the lady working at the cash register was looking right at me! I didn't even have the time to freak out when I heard the sound of screeching tires and whipped my head back.

A bus appeared out of nowhere. Its doors open and out came some gas that hovered in the air for a while before disappearing completely when it was exposed to the humid air. A dark, shadowy figure appeared in the mist in front of me. As the figure descended down the stairs, it (actually I should say she) took off the black hood to reveal a familiar looking person.

"Hello friend," she said.

"Hello," was all I trusted my voice to say.

Hello Wendy.

"I have been sent by the advisor's wife to pick you..." she looked behind me for something. "Oh dear," she seemed troubled. "I-I was-I-I thought there were two..." Now I know what she meant.

"I'm not sure where Daren and my brother are. We were-"

"Don't say anymore." Wendy interrupted me. "Not here," she added quickly.

Her hand landed on my arm and yanked me on to the bus, making me stumble to catch up. The bus roared back to life and picked up speed. I, sadly, was thrown across to the back of the vehicle. When I pushed myself up, Wendy was already seated to a seat not far from where I landed and was reading a newspaper. Where did she get that? Unsure of the situation, I decided to take the seat across from her, sitting on the edge of the cushioned seat just in case if something else happened.

From habit, my eyes traveled around the space I am in when they spotted the gas station store. This time, the lady had a black device in her hand and was talking to it when she locked eyes with me. Her lips froze in mid-sentence, forming an O, as we stared at each other until the bus turned on the other end of the block. What was that about? But before I could think about anything else, Wendy spoke.

"Alright. Talk to me."

I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out. Where's my voice when I need it? Turns out, I didn't need it. "Actually, scratch that." Wendy shoved the newspaper towards me. "Take a look at this." I accepted it and look at the news headline: Equalists' Attack at Lin Gwin. Bellow was an image of—Daren!—lying on the floor. And he looks...dead.

I looked at the name brand of the newspaper: Specialist Alert. Never heard of that one. I started to read the details below.

 On the afternoon of November 23, 1999, Daren McCarthy, the adviser of Master Soren Qlue, was murdered in the (now infamous) restaurant Lin Gwin in Las Vegas. According to the employees, the Qlue children were on a daily schedule to this diner, arriving at 6:00p.m. Their accomplice was Mr. McCarthy. Witnesses stated that something appeared to be "off" in the main dining room.... I flipped through the rest of the news.

...huge section of the southern part of the restaurant unoccupied..."the Qlues and Mr. McCarthy just disappeared! One second they were there and the next, gone"...McCarthy's body was found later that evening. The Qlue children were nowhere to be seen...investigators still trying to figure out the exact group of Equalists who attacked....

"I don't know what to make of this," I said. Wendy raised an eyebrow.

"I mean...how is it possible? That they were able to make us disappear?" I had many more questions but I knew we could only answer one at a time.

"Well, seeing that you don't looked so surprised, I'm assuming you already know that you have some sort of "superpower". But to answer your question, yes, it was possible. They simply used, let's just say, a material that's native to our people."

 She said 'our people' like it was something typical. I doubt it.

"What do you mean by our people?"

"We are a group of special citizens who were born with a gift. Each of our gifts are unique, like, for example, my gift is the ability to blend in."

"That's why I couldn't feel your presence at the restaurant?"

"Exactly."

I paused to think through my next question. "So...what's my gift?"

Wendy tilted her head a little to the side. A lot of people say that she could've been my mother because of the way she respond to things. But her outlook is nothing similar to what I look like. Wendy has golden blond hair and multicolored eyes and a medium size body, while I have raven black hair and midnight blue eyes and an athletic yet skinny body. If I would ever have a step mother, she would be my first choice.

 "I'm not sure. Though I promise we'll figure it out when we get—ah, here we are."

I looked past Wendy's shoulder and saw a patch of dry, dessert-like land. There was no sign of rain in this area. When I turned to look at the windows behind me, I couldn't believe what I saw.

IMPORTANT A/N- So how did you like this chapter? I know the middle is kind of confusing so let me clarify somethings.

Specialists were created by a group of technological people that changed gene malfunctions in humans. Those people believed in a chance for others like them who were born Non-Ordinary. Their genes are made permanent so their descendants are like them too.

The Equalists disagreed in such projects and that is why they rebel against the Specialists. They are some of the descendants of the Specialists who believed the human race should not bother with their ancestry's work, in other words, inherited traits. They have been searching for a cure ever since they started rebelling.

The Ordinary is what the Specialists refer to as people who are not Specialists or Equalists.

So...yeah, that's that. I had to really think about the history of my own story. A lot of times I had to change an idea to plan B or save it for later. Like you guys will find out what was in that envelope in the next chapter (sorry about that). Hmm...what else? Oh! If any of you can predict what Amy saw, I will dedicate the next chapter to you. I think that's all for now. Thank you guys for being patient.