Power (Book 1)

Chapter 13

"So...are you gonna give me a tour?" I asked Jake.

"Sure," he said enthusiastically. He was probably just glad that he got me on board with this whole Afterlight thing- or at least, he thought he did. I still wasn't sure if I wanted to be in this organization, or even wanted to use its resources for my own personal gain. I know it sounds selfish, but you gotta do what you gotta do to get the job done.

Jake strolled towards the elevator, motioning for me to follow. He pressed a button on the outside of the car, and the doors opened. We went inside, the doors closing back behind us.

I looked at the control panel on the left and examined it carefully. There were three floors: the walkway we were just on with the floor below us, and whatever two floors were underneath that.

"I'll take you to see the Agents first," Jake said.

"Why them?" I asked.

"Because they're the people you'll be working with," he replied.

"How do you know I'll be working with them?" I challenged.

"You do want to defeat Metagor and find your mom, right?" He crossed his arms. "This is your best chance at getting them both."

"Hm," I said.

The elevator doors opened back again and we were on the first floor. Jake wasted no time walking over to the metas-Agents- in the western corner of the dome.

On closer inspection, I saw that there were two boys and one girl. One of the boys was spotting the other as he lifted, and the girl just sat back and watched the two.

As we approached, the taller, dark-skinned boy spotting the other nudged him with his elbow. He stopped lifting and set the weights down on the rack before standing up to greet us. He had straight blonde hair with...wait, why were his eyes so red? It was freaky.

"What's up, Jake?" He said casually. "I see you've got a new recruit. He looks kind of stringy." He looked me up and down.

"Jay, meet Adamus." Jake ignored his comment. "You can call him Adam for short. Powers are superstrength, indestructibility, heat vision, and a really big mouth."

"Don't forget flight," Adam said. "You do that every time." He shook his head in mock disappointment.

Every time? How often did Jake do this? Never mind that, how long had he been a part of Afterlife?

I decided to introduce myself. "I'm Jay West," I said.

"Jay West!" The dark-skinned boy said. "You mean he's...he's..."

"Yes," Jake said quickly.

"What? I'm what?" I whipped my head back and forth between the boy and Jake, trying to decipher their looks.

"Nothing," the dark-skinned boy played it off. "I'm Blink, by the way. I can phase through objects. See," he said, throwing a punch at my face.

Reflexively, I flinched and closed my eyes. My face felt cold for a second, then the feeling faded away. I opened my eyes to see Blink grinning at me, his arm resting at his side.

"Hey, stop playing tricks on the new guy," the girl said as she joined the group. "God knows what he can do to you."

"I'm not the new guy, at least not yet," I told her. "I'm not completely sure I want to be here at all. I really just want to find someone who can train me."

"Heard that, Mckenzie?" Blink said. So that was her name. "He wants to be trained."

"Oh, shut up," Mckenzie said playfully.
"I have the power to control men," she explained. "See, watch." She then turned her attention on Adam. "Dance for me, babe."