The Phoenix Creation 🆕⭐⭐⭐⭐ (on Amazon)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

The Pool

Hanuel was waiting by the pool with some of the other boys. Paris sat nearby with her friends and they giggled like idiots and whispered about Gods knows what as Alya approached and squeezed in next to Hanuel forcing Berlin to move up to make room. She scanned the swimming pool observing the main section dedicated to lane swimming. There were four different diving platforms at a separate pool, the highest of which was twenty metres; a terrifying prospect for the little children they'd seen in the foyer, but not so much for the likes of Alya and co. who had been fully-fledged since the age of eight. There were various aspects of the pool which had been newly designed to accommodate Continent One's new objective of making all new hybrids, not only fully-fledged but fully aquatic too. Any hybrid born after 2370 now had the genetically modified V20 wings, lighter and stronger than anything designed before and impossible to waterlog; hence the new pool which was deep enough for hybrids to dive into and swim underwater either for competition or to expand their world to enable them to explore the vast ocean surrounding Continent One. Not that that was considered a priority, or even a reason for developing the V20 wings in the first place. Quite simply put, no one in Continent One needed to explore the ocean because there was nothing and nobody out there. This was it. One Continent. The rest had been obliterated in the flood, almost four hundred years ago.

Alya's grandpa disagreed, however. He had brought her up on conspiracy stories and still insisted there was a lost continent out there for them to find. He said that they didn't have the brains or the resources to do so yet. Poppy was probably the greatest man Alya knew, so she went along with his theories to please him, and to offer her grandma some respite from his fixation.

'So?' said Alya, to Hanuel. She'd noticed he looked bored and was examining his feet while they waited for their instructor to arrive.

'So?' he replied.

'Is it time to show them what we've got?'

Hanuel smiled slyly. He knew she was referring to their ability to take off from submersion. They'd been able to do this for several years under the tutelage of Poppy, out at the lake on Alya's grandparents' farm. Hanuel had spent the last few years during the summer holidays with Alya out in The Basin, partly to have a bit of time away from his twin sister, and partly to have some fun of course, which they always did when Poppy was around. When they were nine, he'd taken them down to the lake one day and rowed out on his creaky homemade boat and shoved them in. They'd had a great time, and Poppy had devised an itinerary to keep them busy, setting targets, such as swimming lengths, holding their breath underwater, and eventually taking off from submersion. They hadn't achieved it that summer, they weren't strong enough, but the following year they did, albeit clumsily and intermittently. The year after that they were pros, but also sworn to secrecy by Poppy. He had a feeling that the adults probably wouldn't like it, and Hanuel and Alya were inclined to agree, plus it was fun having a secret, especially one such as this; especially for Alya. The poorly little girl that everyone assumed she still was could now take off from submersion, and had done so for several years already. No one knew, just her, Hanuel, Poppy, and probably her grandma too.

'Erm, I don't think so, Alya.' Hanuel looked back at his feet.

What the hell was wrong with him? He was being a complete bore all of a sudden. Why shouldn't they show them? Alya would love to give her classmates a shock. Precious Alya; the sickly little girl, no wait, she's all grown up. Alya the phoenix! She lingered over the image she'd created in her head of her rising out of the pool, beating her wings powerfully, droplets of water showering people below as they watched her rise elegantly up in front of them.