I am number Ten

CHAPTER 9

            Argentina is my new home. It's a busy place and full of people but I do not go out much anymore. My depression is the biggest it's ever been but this time, you add terrifying nightmares.  I have dreams of June trying to talk to me, she is unable to do so and suddenly she grows into the terrifying figure in the dream I had on the plane.  Her face is stretched and disoriented as the figure sprouts up in her place. His eyes are still red and the purple scar continues to pulsate harder every time I see him. The pendants on his chest continue to glow brighter as I approach the figure.  I know he wants me for something but I pull myself from the nightmares before he can speak. Every time I awake, my pendant glows ominously on my neck and I'm covered in a cold sweat. I keep the nightmares from Annie, knowing it would only worry her more.

            I keep myself busy at home with my latest legacy, telekinesis. It showed up just I was beginning to adapt to a regular routine in our tiny apartment. I wanted to grab some milk but the glass slipped from my hand. I reached out and the glass froze in mid-air. I was petrified and amazed as I concentrated and brought the glass up to eye level. I twirled my hand and the glass spun before I lost concentration and broke it anyway. Annie heard the crash and came running only to see me cleaning up the shards without touching them. She smiled and said we should start training as soon as possible.

            She began throwing things my way so I could catch them in mid-air. Fortunately, they were plastic and didn't break if I lost focus. Annie told me that all the Garde share a similar ability and we needed to keep training to allow it to become stronger. Pretty soon it would only take a fraction of my concentration to keep things in the air. I continued to practice and at the same time, I began to think about the Garde more and more. With Number Three dead, I'm sure the others are on guard and hopefully training as hard as I am. The faces I had memorized were outdated and I tried to picture what they would look like now. I wondered what legacies they would have. Could one of them fly? Could one them run at the speed of light? All the possibilities boiled in my mind as I practice day in and out.

            It wasn't long before I was showing off with my telekinesis. I'd fry an egg in the pan while I stirred the pancake batter in mid-air. I could tell Annie was jealous of being able to do two things at once. She'd always scoff and call me a show-off; I'd give her a smug smile and then float a cup of coffee to her.

"Maybe you should work in a kitchen. A one-man chef kind of deal" she said one morning pulling out the daily paper.

"Anything interesting?" I ask pouring milk over our cereal bowls.

"Nothing really, some kid claims to be the Messiah and another kid fell from a four-storey building and walked off without a scratch."

"Could it be one of the others?" I asked sipping my own cup of coffee, reading the comics.

"Doubt it, there's no way they would put their powers on display or be that careless to fall out a window in the first place."

I go back to my cereal for a moment and I decide to just come out and say it.

"Do you think we should try and find the others instead of hiding?"

Annie practically chokes on her coffee and spews it out on the table. I grab a dishrag from the counter and clean it up as I put my bowl in the sink.

"Why are you asking all of a sudden?" she asks.

"I'm just wondering, with three dead, I'm sure the others are getting their legacies too, shouldn't we try and find them."

"That's a very bad idea," she says hurriedly.

"Why?" I ask.

"B-Because none of you are remotely ready to fight against the Mogs..."