Power (Book 1)

Chapter 15

I clenched my hands into fists.

I had these great powers, the ones I got before on my sixteenth birthday. Sure, the way I got them was a mystery, but Sage said they were unnatural, like they were engineered or something. That I was a freak of nature.

And today, my powers changed. Because of this infinity matrix thing, I was a freak. The device was rewriting my DNA so that I would have powers- according to Sage.

"Jay!" Jake ran to my side. "What is going on? First I see you hiding from Sage, and a few seconds later, she's in front of you, then all I can see is blue lightning. Sage gets knocked back, then she runs away with her tail between her legs. Dude, have you been holding out on me?"

"What? No." I'm still deep in thought, but also trying to comprehend what Jake is saying. "I had no idea I could do...that."

"Okay, I need to get you into Afterlight for testing. Your matrix-" He stopped, realizing that he slipped up. "There may be something wrong with you."

"Wait, you know about it!" I accused him. "You knew about the infinity matrix this whole time and didn't tell me? And come to think of it, how do you know about Sage, too? I never told you." My anger grew with each passing second. "How many secrets have you been keeping from me, Jake?"

"One. One giant, big secret that I was ordered not to tell you about. You think it was a coincidence that Metagor attacked you, seemingly for no reason? Well, it wasn't. He was looking for you- you specifically. He knew what you were."

"And just what am I, exactly?"

"A hybrid. A cross between technology and the body of a superhuman."

I sank to the ground. My head swam from dizziness.

This was just too much. Metagor attacks, then my dad goes comatose, and my mom is nowhere to be found. I get kicked out of school, and now this! I find out I have a new family member- who, by the way, is a psycho killer who apparently wants to destroy me- and that I have a device inside of me giving me superpowers. On top of that, I lose my own powers and gain new ones. Too much has happened in the past two weeks for me to keep up.

"Where's Mckenzie?" Adam walked up behind me.

I didn't even look at him.

"Dude, I'm talking to you. Where is Mckenzie?" He grabbed my shoulder.

"Over there," I jerked my head to the area behind the car. I didn't have the heart to tell him what happened to her.

He jogged over to where I directed him. When he saw Mckenzie's dead body, he stopped. "Oh, God, no. Please let her be alive." He checked her pulse. "No, no!" He rested his head on her chest. "No."

I got up with a grunt and walked over to him. "She's dead, Adam." I tried not to sound too cold.

"How did she die?" he whispered.

"Sage...uh...she um...vibrated her hand through Mckenzie's chest," I said awkwardly. "I'm sorry, dude."

"Yeah. I am too," Adam said. "But that bitch is gonna pay."

"I'm counting on it," I responded.

"Jay, you need to get tested now," Jake said authoritatively.

"Fine." I walked back inside the old shoe store, glancing back one more time at Adam over Mckenzie's body.

Jake walked in behind me. He typed in the code in the keypad again. This time, I memorized the code he put in- 0568241.

I went through the door first. This time, the lightbulb wasn't on.

"It must have gotten knocked out when Sage woke up," Jake reasoned. "Can you make a little light?"

"No, I can't," I said irritably.

"You don't have to be like that Jay," Jake said as he felt around for the stairs.

"I'm not. I actually can't. I couldn't use my powers after that last teleport with Mckenzie," I explained.

I could see just fine. The stairs seemed to be illuminated by some unknown light source coming from somewhere. I hurried down the steps.

Jake came down a few minutes later. After putting the code in for the second time, we walked through the door back into Afterlight.

This time, Jake pressed a button on the elevator in the same place as the one on the floor under us.

The elevator doors opened, and the same, dark portal was there- the same one that everyone else said was just a white door.

I stopped, reluctant to go near the thing. It seemed to repel me, for some reason.

"Come on. It won't hurt you," Jake said, noticing my reluctance, "It's just a white door."

"No one else could see what I'm seeing, Jake," I said. "It's not a white door." I was certain.

"Hmm. You see something different," Jake speculated, rubbing his chin. "Just one more reason why we should get you checked out."

Jake grabbed my arm and pulled me into the black thing without warning. I cried out in surprise. "No!" I yelled.

Then I felt nothing.

*****

I came out the other side gasping for breath. That was nothing like teleporting. It felt like my body had been stretched and shrunk all at once. It made my skin feel tingly.

Jake was standing with his back to me in front of a giant white door. A brass knob was in the middle- yes, in the middle, not on the side- and he was knocking on it impatiently.

"One second!" a voice called from the other side.

The massive door groaned and creaked as someone from the other side pushed it open (I was not referencing Adele, people).

Where the door stood only moments before now stood a woman in a white lab coat with a clipboard in her arm.
She wore black leather heels and her blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail. Her glasses reflected off of the ceiling lights above us- white like everything else.

"Hello, boys," she said sweetly. "I'm Dr. Snow. How can I help you?"