Incipience

Chapter 11

All things considered, it's not much of a surprise that we've been given the morning off. After the night we had, we all definitely deserve a few extra hours of sleep.

The cadets around me sleep like the dead for the most part. The few of us that are awake either opt to savor the opportunity of getting to stay snuggled up in bed, or wander off to the mess hall to replace the energy lost during last night's excitement. I fall into the latter category.

I pile my plate high with carbs and sweets. We usually aren't given the option for sweets since they generally go against the strict diet our trainers have us on, but today there carts filled with baked goods sitting next to our usual line up. I'm guessing this is the Inovarians' way of commending us for our hard work last night. Well, it's that or they knew that we'd all need some comfort food to cope with what happened, but either way, I'm not complaining.

Even though the coconut tart I'm munching on is subpar at best—my grandmother would be irate if she tasted it—I still appreciate the effort. The Inovarians didn't have to do anything nice for us in the first place, more or less provide treats that stray so far away from our usual dietary restrictions.

It's not long until my plate is cleared and I'm returning to the pastry cart for seconds. I bag a few things I think Chloé would like before heading over to Xiomoazi's lab. She hadn't come to by the time I woke up from my power nap on Xiomoazi's floor—which is surprisingly comfortable if you're tired enough— so I opted to sleep in a real bed in the barracks and check up on my friend in the morning. I'm betting that she'll be needing a sugar-filled pick-me-up if she's awake after the night she had.

...

"Mali!"

The wind is knocked out of me upon our collision and I'm barely able to keep myself upright. Chloé squeezes the life out of me with the strength I wouldn't've thought she'd possess after dealing with the Quinzentenians less than eight hours ago.

"It's good to see you too, Chlo'," I chuckle, wrapping my arms around my friend. "I guess all this energy means that you're okay, right?"

"Funny that you mention energy," she comments, taking a step back from me. Chloé holds up her hands, showing purple and white bolts of electricity sparking off of them.

"I—how?"

"I don't know," Chloé shrugs. "Dr. Xiomoazi said this started happening a few hours after everything settled down. I guess it's something that the Quinzentenians did to us while we were under that made us like this."

My focus shifts from the teen before me to the ones sitting across the room on their medial beds. With their masks off, I can see that the other two are McCormick (aka the Beta Blondie with a bad attitude) and another Beta girl that I'm not all that familiar with (Dianna, I think?).

The Beta girl's eyes meet mine before she rolls hers. "My name is Diane, not Dianna."

My brows furrow in confusion. I know I didn't say that aloud, so does that mean...?

"Yes," Diane replies with an annoyed huff, "yes it does and I hate it. I woke up last night because I thought everyone was shouting. Turns out these three just have very loud thoughts."

I let out a low whistle in response. As I'm sure she can attest from her few hours of being awake, being able to hear other people's thoughts must be overwhelming, bordering on irritating, depending on who you're around. Half of us can barely handle our own thoughts, more or less be forcefully subjected to other people's.

"You can say that again," Diane mumbles bitterly.

I look to McCormick, "And you? What can you do?"