Freak [Zianourry] - COMPLETE

Chapter 8

"Mr. Tomlinson." The headmaster said quietly, coming over at breakfast. Liam and Harry, as they turned, discreetly shuffled closer to me, poised.
"Yes, Sir?"
"You did not come to the roof last night. This is worth a detention, and you will come with me now." He said, aware that several people were looking.
"Zayn?" I asked. "You told me not to go last night. What about now?" His eyes glazed over.
"Nope." Zayn looked firmly at the headmaster, before continuing with his breakfast.
"Mr. Tomlinson, you can not just ignore a summon. Mr. Malik, you can also serve detention for disturbing the order of the school." The headmaster was getting more than a few stares.
"I'm sorry, Sir, but that is not just." Harry rose to his feet, looking down at the headmaster. "Zayn was merely looking out for the safety of his peers, something that I believe is highly encouraged here. Louis was acting under self-preservation."
"You have forgotten your manners!" The headmaster shouted, and everything fell silent.
"No, he hasn't, Sir." I said smoothly, standing up. "Now you have the attention of every single person in the room, would you mind telling me what so bothers you?"
"We need privacy." The headmaster sniffed.
"Then let's stand just outside. No one will be able to hear us, Sir." Keeping a perfectly polite tone of voice, I moved as though about to head out.
"They will be able to see you."
"And your problem with that is what, Sir?" I challenged. "Surely, I would be perfectly safe in your presence, so there is nothing you need to hide."
"You are rude." With a quiet growl, the headmaster subtly swished his hand and my body moved on it's own accord, going into the lift with him and standing still as he pressed the button for the roof.
Thirty seconds later, we both stepped out, and again my body moved despite my internal screaming, walking towards the edge to look out. "It's pretty, isn't it?" The headmaster grimaced. "Here is your mission medal." Panic bubbled inside me, as he dropped a thick ribbon with a gold medal on it around my neck. Everything in my brain was silent, and I knew my powers had stopped working.
"Tell me, Louis. How did you gain that sort of knowledge?" He took a step towards me.
"I - I guess I'm just smarter than everyone, including you." In a moment of freedom, I threw the amulet over the side of the building, but my body suddenly fell as well.
Air rushed around me, and yet I still couldn't transform into a bird. Concentrating, I mentally wished to hang in the air.
My stomach leapt as I jolted to a halt in midair, like there was an invisible platform, yet I felt freer. Shocked, I stared around. Nothing was holding me up, but I was also still human.
"Louis?" Someone called, and I looked up. Then, I fell through the air again, hurtling towards the ground. My body felt tired, but I full out panicked, wishing to just stop again.
Almost throwing up as I stopped falling abruptly, again, I tried to get the air to bend around me but nothing happened. Just then, I hit the floor with a splat.
"Louis!" Someone ran over just as I threw my breakfast up into the grass. "Are you okay?"
"Great. Absolutely smashing." I groaned, feeling drained.
"You look awfully pale." Liam commented as they hauled me to my feet.
"He's just fallen off a building, after being tricked into going up! What else would he look like? Overjoyed?" Harry scanned my face worriedly. "Wait - you didn't die."
"I can fly." I muttered.
"Really?" They all gasped, and I nodded.
"You've got three mutations? And a rare one? No fair!" Zayn complained.
"Dude, are you going to throw up again?" Someone called out from the crowd that had gathered.
"Hopefully not."
"Where's the headmaster?" Niall looked around, as did everyone else.
"He's not on the roof!" A parrot turned into a girl as it landed on the floor. "Nowhere to be seen."
"Let's get you upstairs." Harry said immediately, wrapping an arm around my waist and leading me inside. "Wait - are we good to go up?"
"I'll tell you in the lift..." Zayn's eyes glazed over again, leaving Liam to steer him towards said lift. As we went up, I contemplated everything that had happened. "It's safe."
"Just in time." I mumbled as the doors slid open and we went into our dorm.
"It's just so strange." As Niall, Liam and Zayn fell into conversation, Harry remained silent, and I watched him. Even without my empathy mutation, I knew he was deep in thought.
"Are you okay?" He asked eventually, turning his eyes to me.
"I'm fine." I said. Harry sighed, shuffling closer to me on the sofa, before he reached out. Resting my head on his heart, I let him hug me. "Nothing happened."
"If you weren't able to fly, you would have died." Harry said quietly. "Something definitely happened."
"But, I'm okay, right?" The rest of the team fell silent, listening to our conversation. "That's what's important."
"And to find the headmaster." Harry growled. "He almost killed you."
"And anyone else who might hurt you." Liam started to pace up and down. "We don't know who's traitors and who's not."
"Team 55." Harry spat. "That'd be a good start."
"How come? I know they're pricks, but why them?" Curiously, Zayn let his eyes glaze over as he tried to catch a glimpse of the future again.
"They hurt him. Badly." Harry's voice was angry, and his hold on me became more possessive and protective than casual.
"How badly?" Niall asked.
"They nearly killed him."
"First on the list. Get them out of here." Liam stared thoughtfully at the wall. "Maybe..."
"Maybe we should leave this conversation for another time?" I sighed. They all looked at me. "I know it's about half past eight in the morning, but I'm going to bed. Zayn, could you tell Mr. Banks I might be late?"
"Sure." Zayn smiled at me. "He won't care."
"I've got a free now, so I'll stay with you." Harry offered.
"So have I." Niall said.
"Well, Zayn, we should probably get ready to face class." Liam stretched. "See you boys later."
"Bye." We all chirped and they went to their rooms.
"Do you want to go have your nap?" Harry asked me, so I nodded and went back to my own room. It was quite cold, so I turned the radiator on and got dressed into one of my onesies, crawling into bed.
Although I was insanely tired, I couldn't sleep because of everything spinning around my brain.
I'd thought I was safe here, much safer than I was back at the village.
Turned out someone was after my life.
*******Two hours later*******
"I'll walk you to class." Liam jumped up, as I appeared, ready to go, a couple of hours later. I followed him without argument, until we reached the training centre.
"Thanks." Weakly smiling at him, I went inside, and the whole class fell quiet, lots of them staring at me.
"Hey, Lou." Zayn appeared next to me. He was sweaty, his hair all about the place, and his suit was almost ripped. My heart skipped a beat, and I mentally hit myself over the head. "We've been doing a bit of contact work today, but Mr. Banks wants us to move onto pair battles in two."
"I'll just get dressed then." Flashing him a smile, I ran over to the dressing room and hurriedly got changed. As soon as I was done, I went out, just as Mr. Banks called for everyone to finish up.
"Hurry up, Louis!" Zayn tugged me along, making me run to catch up with the rest of the class. Just as we skidded to a halt, Mr. Banks started talking.
"We will now be commencing double duels. I expect the highest consideration of each other's health and safety, and if there is any doubt that that is not such, we will all stop and do a written assessment. Are we clear?" Mr. Banks looked at us all sharply, and we nodded our agreement. "Good. Get into pairs, and then join up with another pair to start with. If you are unhappy with who you are paired with, we shall start again. Please wait quietly until I say you can start."
"Who do you want to go with?" Zayn asked me, and I shrugged.
"Do you want to pair up with us, Louis?" Trixie was standing behind me. She was the only one who'd been vaguely nice to me during those Thursday afternoons, but she had to be wary of Team 55. They hurt me worse when she interacted with me in any way.
"Hey, Trixie." I smiled. She was standing with a taller boy who had the same, brown hair as her, wearing it in a short quiff. He had dark blue eyes, and similar features to Trixie. "This is my brother, Josh."
"Pleasure." Josh smiled at us both, shaking our hands.
"Now that you've all paired up, will you please make a line?" Mr. Banks shouted over the loud conversation, his voice easily filling the room. Everyone moved about, until we were in a long line in our fours. "I shall judge you accordingly. Of course, the team that wins will most often get more points, but if they win unfairly or in a brutal or unsafe manner, there shall be penalties. First lot, up!"
"How do we win?" I asked Zayn quietly.
"Just flatten them. You'll see." Zayn nodded to the four girls that had stepped up. "Some people are a lot tougher than they look, though, so watch out."
"Do you know what their mutations are?" I motioned discreetly to Trixie and Josh.
"Trixie's invisibility and healing. Don't know about Josh."
"Hang on." I tuned into the thoughts in the back of my head, until I found Josh and easily read his mind, not finding any mental resistance. "Shapeshifter and prophet."
"That'll be tricky." Zayn looked curiously at them. "You get Josh, take him down. If not, shoot him with an arrow. Our suits will allow us to do that sort of stuff, as long as we don't use explosives or aim at their faces."
"You'll beat Trixie?"
"Yeah. Probably using a knife or something. My thermal vision will let me see where she is, even if she's invisible." Zayn hummed. "The idea is that our suits will light up when we would have died because of the attacks. It's really useful for stuff like this. It's about power, but stealth in some ways. Knowing your boundaries. The suits also tell us if someone's dead."
"Okay." Falling silent, I watched the rest of the groups, trying to pick up any points that could help me. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything useful, and it was already our turn.
"Okay. Three, two, one..." Zayn's eyes turned red, and I knew he was using his thermal vision. As Mr. Banks shouted go, my body twisted, and I turned into a panther. Just as I did, Josh shifted into a leopard.
'Focus, Louis. Whatever happens, the key to your control is wanting the results.' Harry's lessons came back to me, and my body shifted again.
People gasped, and the small dragon huffed. The leopard in front of me cowered, before it changed again. Something came flying towards my neck, and I smacked it away with a foot, breathing a lick of fire after it.
"Ow!" Josh turned back into a human, grabbing a couple of knives from a nearby rack and throwing them quickly, with deadly accuracy. Turning into my trademark kitten, I dodged them all, hearing several of my classmates awwing at 'how adorable' I was.
"That's how you're going to play?" I smirked, turning into a human. Not breaking eye contact, I reached behind me discreetly and grabbed a bow and quiver of arrows. Just as Josh twisted again, my arrow flew, striking him in the heart. His eagle flashed bright white, and he returned to human state.
"Good shot!" He called, walking to the edge of the room with everyone else.
"Louis!" Zayn shouted, and I turned just as something smacked into me, sending me flying. I didn't land properly. I smashed into the wall. I also landed on the rack of spears, cutting straight through me.
People screamed, and Mr. Banks was immediately yelling for medics. Trixie appeared as she sprinted over, my suit flickering white.
"I'm so sorry!" She tried to free me without shifting the spear, but it went through my back, and a metre of blood-slick metal was sticking out of my ribs.
"Louis!" Zayn was looking terrified, and he leapt up on the rack, taking one of my shoulders as Josh turned into a human on my other side. They pulled me off the spear, straight into Trixie's arms.
Other people crowded around, and three others gathered around me, also holding onto some part of me along with Trixie. The wound was healing very, very slowly, but my breath was short.
"Hold on, Louis, you're going to be okay." Zayn whispered, stroking my bloodied hair back from my face. "Seriously, stay awake."
"Can we get all medics to the training centre immediately. All medics to the training centre immediately." The voice boomed over the loudspeakers installed into every part of the campus, and it wasn't ten seconds before ten people rushed into the training centre, pushing Trixie and the others away.
"He's got bad internal damage!" Someone noted.
"Louis..." Niall was crouching down beside me, his hand on my neck. The rest of the trained team of medics were trying to heal my wound, but my suit was still flickering white.
"Slowly healing! Estimated minute until recovery!"
"Hold on, Louis. Stay awake for us." A male smiled down at me, but his face was slightly blurry.
"Louis, look at me." Niall said firmly, and I tried to focus my eyes on my face. "Tell me what you see."
"Y-you're a bit blurry." I breathed. "But I can still kind of see you. I - I mean..."
"Tell me exactly what you can see about me." Niall told me. "Keep on talking."
"You're - you're a little bit clearer. I can see the colour of your eyes. And, I can tell where you are, but everything doesn't have smooth edges, especially your hair. Your - your features are a bit clearer now." As I talked, I could start to see his face clearer and clearer.
"Healed!" Someone announced.
"Thank The Lord." Niall let out a breath. He helped me up and I was excused from the lesson.
"LOUIS!" Harry was sprinting towards us, and, as we collided, he wrapped his arms around me. "I was so worried." He kissed me, despite the fact that we were outside, in broad daylight.
"I'm okay, Harry." I leaned back from him, and his eyes searched mine worriedly. "They fixed me."
"Just." Harry led me back to the dorms, Niall and Zayn following. "Liam's still trying to persuade Mrs Till to let him go."
"I'm fine." I told him again as the door shut behind us five minutes later. "I'm absolutely fine."
"I don't care, Louis." Harry hugged me to him, hooking his chin on top of my head. "I'll always want to protect you."