by C. G. Cooper
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Benjamin. He’s the last addition to your Destructor group. Please stand and introduce yourselves,” said Kennedy, nudging me forward.
The kid with the quarter stood up first. “I’m Xander.” He smirked and flopped back down.
Roy stood up next and said, “Roy.” He tipped his head an inch, then sat down.
The twins stood up like they were attached. It was weird. I almost expected them to talk at the same time. The one with the white streak in her obsidian hair spoke first, “I’m Lily.”
The other one with the pinkish streak said a moment later, “I’m Jasmine.”
Their voices were smooth like how I’d imagine a flowing stream talking. They had that look that told me their ancestors were probably from China or something.
“I’ll let you all get acquainted and be back in fifteen minutes to pick you up for your trials.” Kennedy seemed not to notice that Xander’s hand was raised, and left the room.
“That’s a crotchety old dude,” said Xander, going back to flipping his coin.
I wanted to defend Kennedy, but I held my tongue. Best not to get in an argument at the beginning. Besides, if I said I knew Kennedy, that might give them a reason to hate me. Have you ever noticed that people, especially kids your age, find stupid reasons not to like you? Maybe it’s your name or the way you comb your hair. At one school I had a bully pick on me because I wore my back pack straps on both shoulders.
Because of that, I was really good at being invisible.
“So does anyone have a clue what we’re doing?” asked Xander.
Roy was too busy staring out the large window. It was Lily who answered as her sister was calmly braiding some strands of hair.
“I’m sure they want to see what we know.” She didn’t talk like a ten-year old.
“Why?”
I could tell that Lily wanted to roll her eyes, but she said patiently, “If you were in charge of all these gifted kids, wouldn’t you want to know what they were good at?”
Xander shrugged his shoulders and used his gift to hover the quarter right in front of his face. “Whatever. I just want to do something. This waiting around is boring.”
I decided to go find my bunk, and settled on the one on the top in the farthest corner. Someone’s stuff was on the bottom bunk.
“You can’t take that one,” said Xander. “I’ve got a lot of stuff and need two.”
Jasmine giggled and my face turned red.
I went over to the next one. I recognized Roy’s cowboy boots under the bottom bunk.
“Can I take the top?” I asked Roy.
He didn’t take his eyes off the window, like he was thinking about something a million miles away. Instead of speaking, he just nodded.
It only took me a second to throw my bag up top. Now that my stuff was stowed, I took a couple minutes to walk around the room. There were five matching light colored wood desks on the opposite side of the room from the bunks. Next to those were grey gym lockers. Four already had names written on the white labels on the top. The twins’ handwriting was flowy and neat. Roy’s was in all caps and I could barely read Xander’s other than the big X. I had to pull up a chair so I could reach mine. I quickly wrote BENJAMIN on the label and popped the locker open. There were two sets of towels. I figured that they’d probably be getting us more clothes later. Right now we were all still wearing what we’d traveled in.
The others ignored me as I finished my tour, peeking in the grand bathroom with its ornate curved faucets and marble floor, and taking in the row of history books on the small corner bookshelf.
By the time I’d finished, Kennedy was back.
“Is everyone ready to go?”
“Do we need to bring anything?” asked Lily. The question made me wonder if she was one of those kids that never left home without exactly what she needed, like the perfect #2 pencil or the pens with the best tip for writing on school paper.
“All you need is yourselves and your gifts,” answered Kennedy, already going out the door.
The others hopped up from the couch and I hung back so I wouldn’t have to be in front. No good looking too anxious, something that I really wasn’t.
I was behind the twins and in front of the other two boys when Kennedy led us to a stairwell at the end of the main hallway.
“Down we go,” he said, swinging his cane like he was taking a stroll down Main Street.
One floor. Two Floors. Three. By the time I finished counting, we’d gone down six levels. I thought the mansion was big, but not that big. We had to be underground by then. In fact, it felt a lot cooler when we hit the bottom.
There was a steel door in front of us, and Kennedy put his hand on some kind of scanner. A moment later, we heard a deep click, and the door eased open.
As Kennedy pulled on the door that looked like it would be more at home in a bank vault, he said, “For now, you’ll have to be accompanied by a mentor. Once you prove yourselves, you’ll get access to our auxiliary facilities anytime you need.”
He didn’t stop to explain, and I saw the twins look at each other with eyebrows raised. We stepped into the darkness and a long string of LED lights started blinking on overhead. The passage was wide enough to let four people walk next to each other, and I guessed that the ceiling was two stories high.
Kennedy started walking and we followed. I felt the cold sides of the passageway. It was slick and just barely wet, like the condensation on a glass full of cold water. The floor was rough and looked like it had been carved. I tried to see up ahead, but the hallway was too long.
“Pretty soon you’ll be running these tunnels. Good for the heart,” said Kennedy, tapping on his chest as his voice did a funny echo thing in the stone passage.
“How far are we going?” asked Xander, looking scared for the first time.
“You’ll see,” said Kennedy.
We kept walking, Kennedy picking up the pace. I didn’t have a problem keeping up, but I saw that the twins were breathing hard. When I went to give Jasmine a hand, she slapped it away.
“We can do it,” she hissed.
I backed away and didn’t try to help again.
It must have taken us close to half an hour to get to the end. By then we were all breathing hard except for Kennedy and Roy. There was another steel door there, and Kennedy once again placed his hand on the scanner, the door opening on command.
I was not ready for what we walked into. The next room was a cavern that looked as tall as a mountain. There were LED lights everywhere so you could see every nook.
More kids were hanging out near the middle, huddled in their own groups of five. I did a quick scan and saw there were probably nine or ten groups, which meant more than fifty kids. There were other adults talking off to the side. After Kennedy told us to stick together and head to where the other kids were waiting, he went to join the adults.
Lily and Jasmine were whispering in each other’s ears as Xander kept looking around like he thought the walls were going to cave in. Roy was the tallest kid there, and he just stood with his arms crossed.
We didn’t have to wait long. After one last group came in through the door, someone whistled and the talking stopped. There was something familiar about the sound, and I realized what it was a second later when my dad floated into the air to where everyone could see him. He looked at the group and said, “Most of you I met last night, but for those I didn’t, my name is Tim.” His eyes met mine and he smiled. “You’re probably wondering where we are. Well, this is the entrance to our training facilities. Over the centuries, we’ve built this place by hand. Destructors have carved every inch of it, including this cavern, the passage you came in through, and many more that you’ll hopefully become acquainted with over the coming months.
“Now for the rules. You already know about last names and personal history. We made that decision to give each one of you a clean start. Consider this day one in your new life as one of the gifted. As you can se
e, there are fifty-five of you here, and you are all Destructors, just like your mentors and me. The other specialties are in adjoining caverns doing much the same thing as us. The groups of five that you’ve been assigned to are your family for the foreseeable future. Get to know one another’s strengths and weaknesses. The teams that work together win together.
“That brings me to my next point. This is a training facility, but we want you to have fun when you can. There will be trips to other towns, swimming in Lake Como, even skiing when the weather’s right, but we want you to take this seriously. As I mentioned in my welcome speech last night, you are our future. Where you came from you might have been just another ten-year-old, but here you’re one of us. That means we take care of each other like family. I’m sure most of you know the Golden Rule?”
Most of the kids nodded their heads.
“Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you, right?” said my dad. “That means we treat each other with respect. Everyone understand?”
More nods from the group.
“Good. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering what else we have in store for you today. Don’t worry, this isn’t a test, and you can’t get kicked out. What we want to do is find out what you’re good at, what’s your favorite talent? So in a couple minutes your five member groups will be called into another cavern to give us a demonstration of your skills. We can’t wait to see what you’ve got.” Dad clapped his hands together and then floated back to the ground. I was too short to see him anymore.
Xander huffed and looked at me. “Who does that guy think he is?”
I just shrugged and tried to focus on what I was going to do for my trial.
Chapter 7
The Trials
Our group of five followed Kennedy through another tunnel. This one reminded me of playing Minecraft, digging through stone and dirt to build an underground fortress. The doors on each end of this one weren’t locked. Kennedy opened the far door and led us in. It was another enormous cave, the automatic LED lights clicking on all around as we entered.
“This room is ours for as long as we need it,” Kennedy said. “As you can see, there are plenty of things to use should you need them.”
And he was right. Now that the lights were on, I looked around the cavern. There was a two story house on the far side made out of plywood. Cars of all shapes and sizes were scattered around, some crushed, others perfectly intact. There were soccer balls, baseballs, volleyballs - pretty much any kind of ball you could think of in large wire bins. And there were a bunch of other things I guessed were supposed to be used as props or something.
“Now, who would like to go first?” Kennedy asked, taking a seat on a neat stack of red bricks, crossing one leg over the other.
Not surprising anyone, Xander spoke up first. “I’ll go.”
“Very well. The rest of you sit with me.”
We sat down while Xander looked around the room.
“Whenever you’re ready, Xander,” said Kennedy.
Xander turned around and spoke to us like he was about to introduce the first act at the circus.
“I call this…smash and crash.”
Making a face like he was concentrating really hard, Xander pointed at a pretty new royal blue car, one of those small ones you see in Europe. He used his gift to lift it into the air, still pointing, but now with an open hand. The car wobbled and then spun around a couple times. I could tell he was getting us ready.
Xander smiled, never taking his eyes off the car, and then he made a fist like he was squishing an orange. The car crumpled, making a metallic tearing sound that made me think that the dying car was crying. Once the balled shape that used to be a car had stopped squealing, Xander said, “And now for the crash.” He smiled and motioned like he was throwing a baseball. The metal ball flew across the cavern, his target obviously the wooden house, but it fell short and the destroyed car rolled after bouncing a time or two.
One of the twins giggled, I wasn’t sure who. Xander whipped around and gave them a dirty look. He went to say something, but Kennedy interrupted. “Well, done, Xander. Crash and smash indeed.”
“It’s smash and crash.”
Kenned chuckled and turned to us. “Next?”
Roy raised his hand.
“What do you have for us, Roy?” asked Kennedy.
Roy didn’t look so tall in the huge room. Maybe it was because he looked so nervous. “It doesn’t sound as good as it looks. I think it’s better if I just show you. Can I use anything in the room?”
Kennedy nodded.
The big Texan walked to the rock wall and started doing something with his hand. You could hear what sounded like rock scraping rock, and bits of gravel would fall to the ground, but you couldn’t see past his big frame. I’m not sure how long we waited, but Roy finally turned around, his eyes shifting from concentrating to nervous again.
“May we see?” asked Kennedy.
Roy nodded and moved aside.
Me and the twins all inhaled at the same time.
“It’s beautiful,” said Lily, looking at Roy like he was a different person.
“Amazing,” said Jasmine, both rising to get a closer look.
Roy had carved a perfect statue of his mother, down to the apron she was wearing when Kennedy and I picked him up in Texas. The detail was like Michelangelo had done it, only it hadn’t taken him years.
Xander was the only one who wasn’t impressed. “What kind of a talent is that anyway? What are you going to do, become a professional artist when you get home? So stupid.” Roy’s smile disappeared. “At least you could have carved something cool instead of that lame waitress.”
Roy’s face turned red and he looked away. I was surprised that he wasn’t standing up for himself. He was way bigger than Xander and I bet that he could have knocked him out with an easy backhand. But he didn’t.
As Xander laughed, I remembered the sight of Mr. and Mrs. Birch saying goodbye to Roy. They were so proud of him even though they didn’t really know where he was going. Suddenly I was mad at Xander, and before I could bite it back I said, “Leave him alone.”
Xander looked at me like I’d called him the worst name in the world, his eyes bulging.
“What did you say?”
I didn’t move. “I said leave him alone.”
Xander took a step toward me, but for some reason I still didn’t move.
“What are you gonna do, make me?” Xander asked, his mouth turned down in a cruel frown, like a creepy clown.
I saw everything so clearly. The black van sitting twenty feet away, the pile of rocks stacked near the van, and the hundreds of other things that I could use to show him what smash and crash really meant. I didn’t even have to move my hands like he did.
Kennedy must have known what I was thinking because he coughed once and said, “At ease, gentlemen. I suggest we go back to what we were doing.”
Xander glared at me, but turned away first. That made me feel a little better. But the thing that really made me feel like I’d finally done the right thing in a long time was when Roy walked up to me and said, “Thanks,” tilting his head like he always did. I could tell there was a lot of emotion in that thanks, and it felt weird that I’d just stood up for a kid who was three times my size. Maybe I would fit in.
“Lily or Jasmine, would one of you like to go next?” Kennedy asked, once again taking a seat on the bricks.
“Actually, we kind of do ours together,” Jasmine said.
“Is that okay?” asked Lily.
Kennedy shrugged. “I wondered how twins would tackle this challenge. Yes, feel free to work together.”
The twins gave identical small smiles then turned away from the rest of us, whispering their plans to each other. They spun back around.
“Xander, can you show us the quarter in your pocket?” Lily asked.
Xander’s eyebrow went up, but he did what she asked, sticking his hand into his jean’s pocket. He stopped, and then he checked th
e other pocket. His face turned a funny kind of magenta.
“Is this what you’re looking for?” asked Jasmine, holding out her hand, palm up. There was a quarter right there for all of us to see.
“How did you…?” Xander muttered.
Both twins shrugged at the same time.
“It’s what we do,” said Lily.
“We can pick locks, open windows and remote start cars, too,” added Jasmine, as natural as if they’d told us they knew how to play hopscotch and tag. I realized what they were perfect for, stealing things.
“Very impressive, ladies,” Kennedy said, clapping for effect. “We have one left. Benjamin, are you ready to show us your favorite talent?”
I nodded, but now I didn’t feel so sure about myself. Audiences weren’t my thing. What if I lost my concentration? What if I forgot how to do it? What if…?
“Yeah, Benji, show us what you’ve got,” said Xander, standing there with his arms crossed.
The smug look on his face flushed the nerves from my system. I looked up at the high ceiling that must have been many stories above my head. Then I looked back at Xander and smiled. Without a countdown, and without any of the lame arm stuff that he’d done, I rocketed into the air like I’d done hundreds of times since first learning to fly. When I was maybe a few stories up, I took a sharp right turn, and then another, and then I flipped straight back, feeling the familiar rush of air against my face.
A couple barrel rolls and a spinning shot like a bullet, I judged the distance and landed lightly right where I’d taken off from. Xander’s mouth was wide open, but he quickly closed it.
I crossed my arms and said, “Is that good enough or do you want me to show you how to really smash and crash?”
His face went from grey to red. “Whatever,” he said, turning the other way and avoiding my glare. It felt good to put him in his place. Bullies had been a part of my life since I could remember, always there to put me in my place even though I hadn’t done a thing to bring it on.