Crossed Worlds

Chapter 22: Testing

  The day had quickly and carefully been entirely planned, so all Jade and her friends had to do was go along with it and live it. A minibus had come to the school around halfway through the day and the gang had been loaded on, which earned a lot of strange glances from both classmates and teachers. The driver was dressed in one of those horrific blue jumpsuits, and it reminded Jade of the morning she'd been jabbed aggressively in the forearm, so her already present anxieties multiplied.

Once the bus started moving to a destination unknown to the teenagers, and they'd all settled in their seats, they began to chat.

"I wonder where we're going for these tests," Jack spoke the words on everyone's minds.

"I think my parents said it'd probably be a building that's around ten miles away from town. Used for confidential government work and stuff," Lily was staring out of the window.

Jade laughed; it was forced and uncomfortable but something had to make this situation less daunting.

"Looks like we're confidential government work," she said. "And stuff."

"We made it," Luke smiled a small smile.

Soon enough, the scenery of houses and lanes lined with shops turned into countryside, and if nothing else at least the view out of the window was relaxing. It was a rare sunny day, so all the blades of grass glimmered golden, and that managed to make Jade feel safe somehow.

"I wonder if we'll see Isaac and James today," Zoe reapplied her lip gloss for the third time – perhaps a nervous habit.

Jade had been wondering that, too. She worried for them both. It had felt like everything was going to be okay when Jade told her Grandmother everything and introduced her to James the night before. Now, it felt way too uncertain.

"I wonder what the tests will be," Anna fiddled with her fingers in her lap. "I hope it's nothing too sinister or scary."

"If Queen Wild made it, it'll be both of those things," Hunter tied back his hair. "Right. I'm ready."

Despite the circumstances, the gang couldn't help but laugh at the miniature ponytail sat at the back of his head.

"What is that!" Luke giggled.

"What? I have to be prepared for whatever they may throw at me."

Jade shook her head at him, but at least it gave everyone a smile for a moment or two. They needed that right now.

"Keep it down back there," the driver said sternly, and they all went back to feeling tense and afraid.

After a few moments of silence, Lily spoke again.

"If they're using Wild One technology, which I assume they would, we could face anything," she whispered. "Who knows what they can do? They're extremely advanced."

Everyone began to imagine futuristic equipment in a lab filled with green, glowing substances and it made them both shudder and tingle with excitement.

"Maybe we're being too worried. They'll probably just do a blood test, check our height and weight, ask some health questions and then take us back home," Jade offered.

The gang decided to go with that, for it kept their nerves at bay. However, none of them particularly believed it. They spent the rest of the journey desperately trying to, until the driver pulled over onto the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

He and his assistant got up and grabbed some black masks from a satchel.

"As I heard you saying, you're headed into a confidential building. So, masks on, please," the driver said.