First Strikes Disaster

by Tatiyana Perkins

  Rose couldn't help but chuckle when she saw his shocked face. “Good luck,” she said to him. Lorenzo gave her a gleeful look. Rosalie shook her head happily but soon was met with questioning eyes. In class, as Noah sat down, she told Lena everything.

  They planned to corner him at lunch, as it seemed to be the only time they had to all be together. As all tells go, he was not there, and he had not had third and fourth period with them for reasons they did not know. They wandered the hallways asking various teachers if he had their class, and all said no. Many did not even know who that was, and some even suggested that he went to another school.

  “I know a Noah, but his hair is brown and he's in upper levels,” said Mr. Barker as he sat grading papers in the library.

  “What shade of brown would you say? An auburn?”

  He dipped his pen in his ink and squeezed his temples. “No, actually, more like a black, and his dad is in charge of the school district."

  That was the closest they got.

  When they finally left the building, Lena was getting dreadfully determined, while Rose was ready to give up. He'd hid the first time, and she knew why, but what was the reason now?

  “After me and Kana find Evan, we’re going to head out and play another game” yelled Kris from across the yard. “You guys want to play?”

  “Sure,” yelled Lena back, but Rose was not so sure, as she was not ready to leave the school yet.

  “Come on,” Lena said.

  “Wait.” Rose looked around one more time just to be sure.

  In the entryway she saw Mr. Clark, and she broke away to ask, “Do you have a minute?”

  Her teacher looked startled. “No, sorry, I have to go.”

  “Well, then, can I talk to you today after eighth period?”

  “I won't be here,” Mr. Clark said and bowed his head. “Today is one of my student’s court dates.”

  “Court dates?”

  “Yes. Just a few days ago he got into some trouble with the law.”

  “Oh,” Rose said and then she cursed herself; she just knew the student was Noah. Mr Clark gave her a knowing look and walked out of the school carrying his bag while Rose told Lena what he had said.

  “Guys, we found Evan,” yelled Kris. “Come on.”

  Lena squeezed her hand and reasoned “Come on Rose lets just play, I'm sure it will be fine."

  That day when they played Destroy The Fort, however, Rose was distracted, for she just sensed something bad was in the process of going on. Evan destroyed her forts within the first minute, and Kris destroyed them again the second time around within seconds.

  “It's almost like you guys want me to win,” yelled Evan.

  “How about you take my corner, it might be easier,” declared Kana, and Rose hesitantly walked over.

  “Are you still thinking about it?” asked Lena, when she ran over under the penance of looking for her lost scrunchy.

  “Yes. You already know that the whole thing sounds bad.”

  “It does, but I feel like they wouldn't be having his trial so soon.”

  “The sooner he's away and quiet the better.”

  While they were getting ready for the third game, Lena suggested through bubble that Rose go to Ana with her fears, but Rose decided against it. So far Ana did not like when she played the detective. If she did do something, she'd have to do it herself without her aunt finding out.

  It was four o'clock when they decided to end the game so they could all stop at home. Lena kept meeting Rose's eyes and hinting suggestively that she still wanted her to do what she said. Rose ignored her and tried to make her own plan to stop it; however, after they went back to the house she gave in. She walked to the counselor's room ready to tell the truth but found it empty. In fact, the whole house seemed unusually empty; even the guards were gone, and the kitchen had few workers. “Where is everyone?” she asked a passing maid.

  “Gone. Vister will be back some time tonight to oversee all the court proceedings, but the others are completely gone for the day.”

  Her heart started to beat hard against her chest. “Do you know if there are to be any court meetings today?”

  “Of course there are, just don't expect to find the counselor there. He only goes when a case has to do with something federal.”

  She didn't have to be a genius to know Vister would be there.

  “Do you know when the meetings start?”

  “Depends, but today roughly around seven.”

  At six o'clock, when everybody left, Rose and Lena stayed behind. Lena knew where the meetings were held, and it was decided that they would go just to be more safe than sorry. Luckily Lena agreed that she felt something amiss was in the making, as nothing ever seemed to be fair when Vister was left in charge. With Aylea’s help, they put on their worst, most mismatched outfits, looking exactly like they could have been any random kids that grew up in Chariot, and made the trip across the sky to the government building.

  “Hello, welcome,” said a man outside the doors, “potential infrastructure issues, public safety concerns, new information found for a case, we can help you with it all.”

  An older lady, there as they passed the doors said, “As you all know, no weapons are permitted in the government building. If you have a weapon, now is the time to turn back. If one is found on you, it is an automatic twenty years in prison.”

  Lena clenched her knife hard. People questioned them on who they were there for but did not stop them. To her surprise, everyone monitoring seemed to be really old. They got names confused and let others in purely for the fact that they recognized them as someone else.

  “Delila Harold and Samantha Duffy here to see Pete Smith.” The man stamped on their paper.

  The room was the same as any other courtroom when they went inside, except for the fact that it was emptier. There was no crowd to watch or writer to take down notes. There was only a judge to decide the verdict, a jury of what looked to be ten really low-born people, and the lawyer who would be going against everyone coming in for the day. Just as the two girls sat down, Mr. Clark came in, looking rushed but professional. He walked right to the front and sat down.

  “Should we say hi to him?” Rose asked, but Lena said, “shhh.”

  Vister walked in and sat in a chair close to the judge; with that Rose knew she had been right. Luckily he had not seen her.

  Before long the judge announced, “The trial against Marianna Tray will begin; bring her to the floor.”

  The girl assumed to be Marianna Tray walked in through the door. She was no older than fourteen, with clothes too small for her and messy braided hair. She seemed very small for her age, and Rose wondered what she could have possibly done. She had no lawyer and no family to watch her case, only sympathetic looks from some of the jury. Her footsteps were shaky but quick, as if she just wanted to get it over with.

  “Marianna Tray, you have been charged with stealing food from the local grocery store. How do you plead?”

  “Guilty,” she said bravely, though her voice cracked.

  “Good. You will receive a year in prison. Take her away.”

  Are judges supposed to say “good”?​The guards reached for her, but she shook them off and walked herself. With a sigh she gave one last look to the room and then let a man, that had come to the door, slide on a mercury bracelet. Rose felt her mouth draw to a straight line. So one mere year of prison got your powers taken away? Even if you were a child? She decided that it might have just been the one case; however, the other cases went the same every time. Everyone said they were guilty and received time in prison. Rose's stomach dropped to the floor, and beside her Lena gripped her knife dangerously hard. Finally they reached the last case. Noah did not wait for his name to be called; instead he walked in and stood alone. Mr. Clark gave an encouraging look, but Noah shook his head; he walked up to his spot basically shaking.

  “The trial against Noah Smith will begin. Noah has been accused of breaking and entering, at
tempting to break his father out of prison, and resisting arrest. The punishment for his crimes will be thirty five to life. If he pleads guilty, it will be twenty years in prison. Eric, you have the floor."

  Rose gasped at such a long sentence, which was luckily muffled by Eric standing up smartly. “The defendant was found not only wandering around the prison but also blowing up things late on Sunday night. To prove this, I have my first witness.”

  Lena was ready to jump up at this, but Rose squeezed her. “Not now.”

  The guard from before, that let them in, came in and took the stand. If she noticed the two girls, she did not say, but she looked at them a lot. A long scratch on her cheek showed that Vister had gotten to her.

  “Did Noah sneak past you to get to the prison?”

  “Yes.”

  “Was it on Sunday?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did he blow things up?”

  “Yes.”

  “My case dismissed.”

  One of the jury members was shaking with laughter, two of the others, crying. “Noah,” the judge said, “you have the floor.”

  But Lena could not take it, so she jumped up and yelled, “Can I say something?” “Who are you?” asked the judge, placing a finger to is chin.

  “Lena Marie.”

  “Marie, hey? You can't defend anyone.”

  “I'm not. I just have something to say."

  “As you will.”

  “Technically you think the reason for him to have been breaking in and 'breaking his father out' is that his father was there, but his father was not and you do not have enough evidence that shows if he thought so. Henry, who broke the columns, was let out by pure accident, by Rose, we all know it was not Noah's doing. From what I hear, Noah had already been there legally and just failed to leave at the right time. There could have been a communication issue. The guard you're questioning works night shift. She did not see anything happen. She's merely repeating what she heard, which makes her word invalid. If you are charging for resisting arrest, Noah should be charged as a minor, since he's below eighteen years old. And we need proof that his arrest was valid. If you want to charge heavier you'll need evidence, and a full case will be permitted that can be viewed by the counselors.”

  The whole room grew quiet as everyone inside of it looked at her. In front of them, Mr. Clark's eyes shone with something that might have been pride, and Noah mouthed a “thank you." Vister walked over to the judge and they whispered together; in the end he pulled back his head, triumphant. Rose caught his eye and gave him a look to let him know why she had come here; she was telling Ana no matter what he did. He bent down to whisper again. By the urgency she knew he wanted to find some loophole in this. When the talk was over, he clenched his fist at Rose, like he could strike her where she stood, so she knew she had won.

  The judge cleared his throat and said, “Does the defendant want to plead guilty?”

  Noah said “no,” but Mr. Clark cleared his throat loudly, and he changed it to “yes.”

  “You will be charged with six months community service. Every night you will join in with the nightly water pollution clean up. When the six months are up you'll get another court date. Do you understand? ”

  “Yes I do, and thank you.”

  “You are dismissed.”

  A few of the jurors clapped; others booed. As Noah walked down to get his court order, he looked at Rose, and for a second his lips gave her a smile. Before she knew it he was gone. Mr. Clark beamed at them while Vister smiled in more of a sarcastic way.

  “You think he's angry?” Lena asked.

  “Very,” Rose said.

  “It suits him better than being condescending."

  “I don't think he'll let it go anytime soon."

  Rose suggested they leave before the court turned on them.

  After they left, Lena walked up to the painting they had of Vister in the great hall and destroyed it. A person saw but said nothing, as she looked fearless while she let the wood and glass crack in her hands.

  The next day Noah was not in class again, and Rose worried about what might have happened after he left; however, he showed himself at lunch.

  As Kris and Kana approached, a person pulled her to the side and said, "I have something to show you, but you have to listen to me and stay quiet. You can't bring those two with you"

  She nodded. So many questions stood on her lips, but instead she just shrugged them off. "Lena," she whispered.

  Lena gave her a look that said that she heard everything, and without a second thought, she followed them.

  Chapter 6☆

  "It's just back here, not far." Noah raised his voice to explain. The trees were growing thicker and thicker, and Rose wondered if she could get back herself without his help. All around her, different animals and monsters stopped to watch them, and she smiled at them, though she found herself growing slightly scared.

  "What is this place? Where are you taking us?"

  Noah looked back "It’s something Dad was apart of,” he explained, “kind of like his 'organization.' I have a question though, you know how you let me go?" “Yes," she answered, wondering where this was going.

  "Will you do that for them too if they weren't exactly legal?"

  "Of course," she said, a little too fast. Lena looked at her but said nothing.

  “I promise it's nothing too bad. Don't think I'm leading you to a bunch of murderers." “I don't,” she said, though in the back of her mind she kind of did.

  "Does your aunt still look for me?" he whispered, and Rose found it hard to not laugh.

  Lena intimidated him.

  "Not really, or at least I don't think so." “Good, because I thought she was really a grudge holder,” he confided. “She is. I don't think she was ever the one to worry about, however.” Part of her wanted to explain the betrayal going on in the kingdom but she knew that was too far. Noah was still a stranger after all.

  He shrugged, “I can't argue with you, since you know her.”

  It grew quiet for a time. As they got deeper, and deeper Noah said, "We're going to have to get really silent," and Rose slowed her breathing. Maybe it was her imagination, but Lena walked louder, suddenly crunching every leaf. Next thing she knew, Noah full on stopped. "Those bushes over there,” he said, pointing to somewhere a little far away. “You have to go to them and hide before the people come out. I'll stay here because I can't go with you.” Rose immediately followed his order, though she wondered why he couldn't do the same.

  After they went over to the bushes, they crouched down and waited. At first Rose thought nothing would happen, and she suspected this was something of a cruel trick, but then, a few feet away, she saw a man literally walk out of the sky. It appeared that he had been up there thousands of miles away, yet instead he just walked down - after that she watched the forest in front of her like a hawk. Another man walked out of the water in a river; completely just walked up as if he had been apart of it. As she surveyed, she saw more people were walking, coming out of places she couldn't even see. Dirt, bushes, flowers. After going to their original form they appeared human, which was the scary part; their ages appeared to range anywhere between seventeen and thirty.

  A boy stood in the middle who looked to be nineteen, with brown skin, short black hair and dark eyes. Everything about him just screamed that he was the leader. His eyes followed the other members very watchfully, and he wore the most beautiful weapons on his outfit. He waited until everyone had settled down and the talking had stopped, then he said, "I'm happy all of you could make it; we need to talk about what we found scouting.”

  "Not much, as it's only been a few days," said a pale girl with long brown hair. Demeanor wise, Rose was strongly reminded of a younger Ana.

  "Are you not the world's greatest maskers?"

  "Not everyone is as​good​as you, Sakara.”

  There was an edge to her voice that cut like a knife, more than sarcasm. Rose thought

  a
bout it and decided that, above all, Sakara had seemed to appear from literal nowhere. "I AM the most skilled out of all of you, still I promise not for long.” He turned to where there was a tiny drizzle of water, stuck out his hand, and his whole body disappeared into everything. The water, the air surrounding it, the rock behind it, the ground. Now that was impossible.

  Rose couldn't take it any longer, so she stepped up and asked, "How did you do that?” Close to her, Lena gave a low groan.

  Sakara looked at her, surprised and even a little impressed. "Do what, exactly?"

  “That thing you just did."

  "It's called masking."

  "Yes but how?" She was almost shaking with fright and excitement.

  "You have to surround yourself with all of an element at once; Hazard show her.”

  The brown haired girl rolled her eyes, and then she started to run towards a huge boulder. Rose was scared she'd crash till she threw herself down and Earth flew at her at the last second. There had only been one boulder before, that was known, but the effect was so real that Rose found herself wondering if this was just some trick.

  "Could you teach me?" she asked.

  "Not really," he said tentatively. "It's not exactly something you learn."

  "Is that a skill you've always had, meaning you were born with it?" Rose cursed herself for never having the good powers.

  "Well, I don't like to believe so," he told her; "It's just certainly not something everyone knows about."

  Lena seemed to have grown restless in her spot as she stepped up and demanded, “But what about you? How are you different?"

  Sakara smirked. "I can manipulate multiple things at once. I can blend into anything and look like I'm not there. Earth, wind, fire. It doesn't matter. I've never once been found, no matter where I sneak to. I've been hired and then sent to die because I scared the people who hired me. Just look." He laid down on the ground, and Rose's heart nearly dropped, for nothing changed; even the elevation looked the exact same. Impossible. Before she could stop herself, she walked on him, and a few of the people laughed; if he felt it he said nothing. She stepped back and forth, even jumped. Rose could just sense everyone's respect as she walked off of him and he hastily stood.