Power Play

Chapter 3: Lily

Chapter 3: Lily

It had been four days since Lily Drake's friends Evan and Alaine had told her their decision to overthrow Derek Vanning. They'd made it clear they weren't ready to make an attempt yet, but they wanted to make sure they had Lily and their friend Silver's support before they started forming a plan. After Lily had voiced her support, and Silver had more reluctantly offered his, Evan and Alaine had told them that once they had more details, they'd contact them to let them know.

Lily had been spending this particular night bored out of her mind, when she'd remembered hearing about a new freak in the city. A supposedly blind freak, although Lily had never heard of a blind freak before, or at least she'd never heard of one who hadn't had their sight repaired upon becoming a freak. One who also had the rare power of true vision, although on the opposite end of the spectrum from her. Lily's vision allowed her to see things at a great distance, even through walls and other obstacles. But the vision could also take a different form, in other freaks with the ability, allowing them to see glimpses of the past or the future, or of events relating to people or objects in their surrounding. From what she'd heard though, most freaks with that form of the power had difficulty using it for any coherent purposes. They couldn't control what they saw, or when, and rarely managed to get information that was truly useful to them. But apparently, the city's newest freak had a far stronger ability than was normal. Lily hadn't been able to get more details than that, though, so she'd decided to come see for herself.

She'd learned the general area that he was supposed to be hanging out in, but there hadn't been a specific location to find him, so Lily only knew one way of doing this. Standing on a building in the center of the area, she took a deep breath and opened herself to her vision. Quickly she began to scan over the area, building by building, block by block, looking at one and immediately moving to the next a second later, searching for that certain tell-tale aura that would let her know there was a freak.

It wasn't long before she sensed a freak, about a third of a mile away, inside what appeared to be a furniture warehouse. The moment she looked inside she found him sitting in a chair amongst a great many chairs, wearing a dark cloak. He had to be the one because, from what she could see of his face, she didn't recognize him, and she knew all the freaks of the city. She'd only been looking into the warehouse for a second though, when the freak suddenly turned his head towards the point she was watching him from. His eyes were closed, but it was like he was staring right at her, and then slowly he smiled. It seriously unnerved her. It was as if he knew she was there. But no one could sense her while she was using her vision. After all, she wasn't actually in the place she was viewing, she was only seeing it. The freak lifted one hand and beckoned towards her, and immediately Lily released the vision, finding herself once more on the roof she'd started from.

For a moment Lily almost reconsidered her plan to go and see this freak. But what did she have to be scared of? Even if he had been able to somehow tell she was looking at him through her vision, that didn't mean that he meant to harm her. In fact, he'd given the impression that he wanted to see her. She'd just been surprised by the unexpected. So what? To run away based on that alone would be an act of cowardice. Having renewed at least a little of her resolve, Lily gathered herself and leapt for the next rooftop over, starting her trip towards the warehouse.

Upon reaching the building it didn't take long for Lily to figure out how the freak had gotten in. She didn't even need to check the ground floor entrances, which she was sure were locked. The warehouse had a stairwell with an exit out onto the roof. And since there was no way onto that roof, for humans at least, except the stairwell itself they hadn't bothered to lock it. Lily was able to just walk right in.

She descended the stairwell towards the floor where she'd seen the freak, and several seconds later she'd exited it into the warehouse proper and was striding towards the arrangement of chairs. The freak was still there, precisely where she'd seen him before, and his hood turned towards her as she approached, but he waited until she'd come to a halt a few feet away from her before speaking. "Welcome, Tigerlily. I've been waiting for you," the freak said in a clear, strong voice, his eyes still closed.