I am number Ten

CHAPTER 2

        Annie and I became close as we travelled from town to town, city to city. She understood that I was sensitive and never once got mad if I cried at a random time.

"You have a special gift of connecting with others," she told me, "You want to feel what others feel and that's why you cry when you become so connected with others, it's hard for you to let go."

            That gift also became a curse when Annie kept us moving from place to place and I would make as many friends as possible. Every time we moved, I went into a state of depression until we settled again. It concerned Annie a lot that I was too trusting of others and it could be my downfall. She understood my gift but she had the need to control it for the sake of my protection. She homeschooled me for the longest time and limited my play dates with the neighbourhood kids. It was rage inducing and I always thought it was unfair but underneath, I knew that Annie was only protecting me and she loved me.

            We went by a conventional story to blend in with society; Annie was a single mother trying to raise me after my father got up and left when I was two years old. She claimed that her husband wanted nothing to do with me and she had sole custody of me. She always asked the people we met not to bring it up because it upset her and she wanted to create a happy world for me to live in. It was hard for me to take it seriously because I was in no way happy about our predicament and I had always been told honesty was the better policy. Annie told me for the sake of our safety and the others out there, lying would have to do. I accepted that but always had issues with how nothing in my world would make sense. Little did I know, the lie was bigger than I thought and encased the entire purpose of our fight for Lorien.

             When we were by ourselves, Annie prepared me in every way for the fight ahead. She had me training when I was able to take the abuse without bursting into tears. She had physical training every day, teaching me mixed martial arts and ancient Loric defensive techniques. She also enrolled me in gymnastics to practice my agility and Karate to keep my strength up. Even though I was already superior to my classmates, I remained in the classes, to get away from the house and make new friends. When I wasn't doing physical training, Annie was racking my brain cells. Annie told me she was always the scholar, aka the nerd, on Lorien. She studied everything she could on Lorien and when she came to earth, she studied everything possible too. She then passed everything down to me. She taught me how to speak Loric, Spanish, French, English and what notes she had on it, Mogadorian. She told me that language was essential, otherwise, we would be speaking gibberish. She also raised me on history, Earth and Loric, mathematics, art, chemistry and biology. By the time I was twelve, I had the mentality of a Ph.D. professor and then some. Annie believed that knowledge was just as essential as physical training.

            The first hint that the Mogadorians had found us was Annie's constant web searches. I was about ten and we were living on the coast of New Jersey.  She found police reports of strange markings on a shoplifter in Florida. Annie recognized the markings and moved us out of our beachfront house the next day. I once again became depressed and prayed that Number One would be safe. Two nights later, I had horrible dreams of a girl being murdered in the jungle by these terrible menacing beings.  I felt I was the one being murdered, stuck in the centre of it all as the earth rumbled below me. I was overwhelmed with grief and rage as the figures closed in. I was shaken awake by Annie, who told me that my bed was shaking and I was screaming bloody murder in my sleep. I was still haunted by the images and had a terrible pain in my body. I shook and convulsed until the visions stopped. I told Annie of my dreams and she told me that one of the Garde may have been killed. I immediately burst into tears, feeling I had lost a lifelong friend, even though I had only known her for so long. Annie held me for the longest time and assured me that they wouldn't find me, they couldn't. We both wept and we stayed a day or two before moving out of the state.

            I was thirteen when the worst happened. I was swimming in Lake Superior, just off the coast of Detroit, with a few friends when I fell into another nightmarish state. I sunk below the surface and was plunged into darkness. Did I feel nervous, in an apartment? Visions of a computer screen and a stranger's face flashed in front of me. I then felt betrayed and upset and I was struck down and sliced at the throat. My entire body burned and I began to convulse. I was sinking into the darkness until I heard my friends calling me. I awoke on the coast, shivering and blue. My throat was burning and my eyes were dry and overwhelmed by the sudden sunlight. My friends told me that I must've hit my head or something because I went down and didn't come back up. I found Annie-who then was known as Lucy, as she came running from the house and took me up from the shore. At that point, I was crying my eyes out. Annie assured my friends that it was the near-death experience but when she was alone, she knew. I told her what I saw and she hugged me as another of my connections was broken. Annie allowed this move to be slower, and I was able to reassure my friends and let go of them. The fact that I had almost died added to my depression this time plus the loss of another Garde. The only thing that brightened my days was my first legacy developed not long after.

            I found that I could take on the properties of anything I touched. I found this out when I grabbed a hold of a metal knife during a training session with Annie. Instead of throwing it, I felt my hand get extremely heavy and it was now silver. I touched my hand, became excited and smashed my fist into a nearby flower pot. Annie then said that we could sink into my Inheritance that all Loric get. She and I opened it up and she brought out a large stone that she said would spread, what she called Externa, all around my body. I was a ball of energy and couldn't wait to get started. Annie explained that most legacies are like a muscle and I would have to build strength in order to spread the Externa and control it. The stone could only help me so much. She handed me a stainless steel ball and my hand immediately turned silver. She placed a clear bouncy ball in the other and my hand turned clear. I bounced it against the table and almost went flying. It was completely rubber and didn't hurt a bit.

        I trained harder than ever to control my legacy. It wasn't easy, at one point, my hand turned to wood and lead while writing something. Another time, it turned glass while at a party. Fortunately, everyone around me was too drunk to notice. Annie had me on the ball 24-7, practicing with any substance imaginable. And with my Externa came the ability to stretch, bend, shape and disguise myself into anything I wanted. I could be bulletproof, stretch to unimaginable lengths, rock hard and so on. I felt excited and stronger than ever.

        That is until I was hanging out with some friends and I hopped on a motorcycle. I clung to the back of a cute boy named Brad, being cautious about touching his leather jacket. We sped down the open highway and I threw my hands in the air. That's when it hit me. Like being stabbed in the head, I fell back into another nightmare. I felt the adrenaline as I went flying out the back of someplace into the jungle. I was mortally frightened and heard the sounds of others, the enemy chasing me. All at once I feel like I'm flying, over a cliff and into the air. Am I flying? I land but I am surrounded. A man grabs me by the throat and plunges a sword into me. I feel paralyzed and in a darkened state. Number Three is dead!!