“I want it to be more than just a duck, and besides, ducks just float. I want it to be able toswimswim,” Rose said.
"Maybe it should be small, so it's hard to spot, and have a loud chirp that's really scary,” said Lena.
“It should also be really fast, lightning fast so it's hard to catch it,” added Rose.
“The color should be silver,” Lena said.
Rose smiled. She liked that.
“The color in water should be gold.”
“How will it be protected on the ground?" asked Ms. Cassandra.
Her skepticism was well deserved. The small bird was fast, but it probably wouldn't be very strong. Suddenly Rose got an idea. “Maybe the silver should be really bright and shiny, that way the light will be almost blinding to anyone who sees it.”
“Good job guys,” Ms. Cassandra said. Rose could tell she thought they wouldn't pull it off. On paper it sounded ridiculous, but Rose knew what she wanted to do to make it come to life.
Lena began writing more minor details while Rose drew. She made it medium sized and gave it big beautiful wings that would surely catch anyone's eye. Class time faded as she discovered, she couldn't get it to look just right. Luckily, after much hard work, it could at least be something in a fantasy novel.It will look better in color,Rose told herself.
“Looks as if you stole a lot of my ideas,” joked a voice, and Rose glanced up to see Noah - who seemed much better now that he knew he wasn't going to prison - the constant nervous face was gone and he was happy. In the light, his red hair could be compared to a flame.
“How could I steal you ideas if you're never in class to have them?”
“Fair enough. I think the wings should be bigger. Also, if you're going to make it able to swim, give it gills.”
“Thanks,” she said. Beside her Lena impatiently added and took away details.
“What are you making yours?”
He took out a paper from his pocket and unfolded it. “Just a cat with more wolf like tendencies. Like there are cats who hunt in packs and are really vicious, but you don't see them often in the forest, type of wild.”
Rose admired his design, which was very beautiful. “Will they be animals who can be pets?"
“Not really.”
“Why not?” Rose pouted. “I would want a wolf cat.”
“You have to think somewhat practical if you're going to do this. No one really takes home wolves for fun like they used to.”
“Who are you?” asked Kana suddenly from behind, her voice showing that she clearly recognized him.
“Noah…” he said. His face brought the edge back, like he was standing on the ledge of a cliff, and Rose gave his arm a calming squeeze.
“How long have you lived here?” Kana asked. Her interest seemed to take everyone around them off guard, as people of different statuses did not mix often.
“About three years. I moved over to Willow when I was about ten because of my dad."
“Did you once live on Saph street?” she continued with a tone that was almost urgent.
He looked at her, steadily growing warmer. “Yeah.”
Kana stopped working, and beside her Kris listened. “Next to the blue house or the white one?”
“I was inside the red one.”
“You went to Stark Elementary School?”
“Only for two years, then I had to leave.”
“But you would come back sometimes?”
“To play on the cool swings.”
Kana tapped Kris, who looked up and recognized him too, and Rose became confused. She remembered how Noah had told her not to invite them when he showed her masking. Did he know he knew them then?
“Class, pack up your things; we're going outside,” Ms. Cassandra's voice rang out.
Everyone sighed, irritated, but obliged. Rosalie grabbed all her stuff and in her haste, almost made Lena drop one of her knives from out her sleeve. She quickly stuffed it back in, and the two girls nearly ran out. Behind them, Noah, Kris, and Kana kept up their polite conversation.
Ms. Cassandra was the last to get outside, and she said, “Class, what I showed you today is one way to do what we're doing. Now for the other, I want you to find an animal and try to change it to another, or at least give it a different feature. We'll run out of class time if I try to explain even the basics, so try your best. If you know what I mean, you know it. If you don't, you don't. Today is just a trial class to see who can do it, so no worries.”
Rose took the easy way out and grabbed a bug - her plan was to make it slightly bigger. She closed her eyes and focused, but what Ms. Cassandra said was true. If you knew how to do it, you knew. If not you did not, you did not. The bug crawled all over her hand, not even paying her the slightest bit of attention, so she put it back down in the dirt. Lena wasn't having better luck. Her animal, a bird, sat lazily on her shoulder for a few minutes and then flew away; she cursed and secured another one.
“Doing good over there?” Rose teased.
“Shut up.”
Someone gasped, and Rose looked behind her to see a small crowd had formed. She tapped Lena and walked over to inspect. Noah was in the middle changing a baby lizard into something bigger, that resembled an elephant. He changed it back to its original state, then showed them, slowly, how he did it. It grew five sizes bigger first, next it grew really long legs, its ears became really big and its nose stretched to the size of a long rope.
“Amazing,” Ms. Cassandra said as soon as she spotted his work. “Amazing. Have you practiced before?”
“Yes,” he said. “I can do others.”
“Maybe on another day you can teach the class for me.”
Kana and Kris both exclaimed, “Can you show me first?”
“Or at least do mine for me” Kana added.
Noah stood up, dusting the dirt off his hands. “What features do you want?”
Kana held the white bunny she was holding closer.
“Pink fur, of course. Can you also do a different eye color?”
“Yeah, I can manage.”
“Also, can it get dog ears?”
He looked all around her animal. “No, sorry.”
“Why not?”
“Creature crafting depends on the structure an animal has and its potential. When I grew that lizard just now, it didn't look that bad in the end. If I grow this it will be deformed. That's because of how its body is shaped and its bones are arranged.”
Kana examined the bunny up and down. “How can you tell that?”
“I don't know, in all honesty, but it's been like that ever since I was a kid.”
“Is that what you used to do when we were little and you would go to the empty lot by yourself?”
“Yes,” Noah said.
“It’s very cool.”
Rose smiled. The fact that Noah and Kana already seemed to be friends made her spirits higher. When he caught her eye, she gave him a wink and turned around.
“Just let the animal tell you what it is, it kind of speaks to you in a way,” he was explaining.
“When?”
“Whenever you feel it. It should feel like the knowledge is just there.”
“Class dismissed,” Ms. Cassandra announced.
The students put down their animals, startled.Class was already over?Rose began getting ready to leave. She was intrigued to see Bash making his way into the yard. He kept walking till he made it to Kris and Kana and then said something neither liked. They asked him questions that he answered short and curt, making it obvious he was in a worse mood than usual. When Kana leaned in to whisper something, he crossed his arms. The two began an argument, but after a while Bash ignored the angry words. His eyes seemed to search around till they landed on Rose and he approached, saying:
“I need to talk to you.”
“No, you don't,” Kris said, but Kana shushed him.
“For the award show coming up in November, Vister says she wants you to give a speech.”
Rose coughed hard. Speech.
“The award show is stupid,” Kris interrupted.
“No, it isn't, it's everything we need right now.”
“They're forcing us to do these things for it when we don't want it.” “We DO want it and it WILL happen.”
Kris gave a glare.
“Okay spokesperson.”
“Your point is?”
“Exactly what I said. You're their spokesperson.”
Bash cracked his knuckles and gloated. “I'm just doing what I have to do.” “Yeah and it's not exactly making you look good.”
“This job isn't for looking good.”
“I'm sorry, is this your interview?”
“You better watch your mouth, cousin, Sahara isn't too old for kids yet.” Kris bit his tongue but said nothing because Bash had a point. Kana stepped up and said “Bash-”
But he was already walking away, saying, “make the speech.”
Noah and Lena stared after him in anger. “It's okay guys,” Rose said. They went back to the house to see the arrangements for the show. Sure enough, her name was at the head of the list. She was to be the opening “act,” and she reached up her hands to tear it down but stopped.If that is what he wants, so be it.
Lena did not like that she accepted her fate and suggested letting a bowl of leeches loose in his room. Noah did not help her anger as he wholeheartedly agreed. “I just really don't like him,” she snarled after they left again.
“He doesn't like you guys either,” Kana told them in a whisper. “All my father does is talk about how meddling you are."
“He talks about us?"
“Yes, and Bash and Vister listen, it's what we always argue about.”
“I just don't get why he would talk about kids.”
“It's because of your family, he has no problem with you.”
“My problem right now isn't her dad,” said Rose. “It's why they want me to do this."
They had a long discussion about all the theories on why he might be having Rose make the speech, until they made it to Mr. Barker's lesson, which was too interesting to not pay attention to.
“Today in class,” he said from the door, “we're going to talk about the unspeakables.”
The class went quiet, for the name sounded familiar.
“They go back through hundreds of years. Many of you have been taught about their special powers by Mr. Clark. The unspeakables were people who are now gone from textbooks because they have done things that are seen, by most, as unforgivable. Let's take Maxilennium for example, who had the power to cause mass hysteria. What do you get when you have a group of people who can't think straight? An elected leader who can speak soothing words. Maxilennium caused mass hysteria in Trearce so he could get the throne.”
Mr. Barker sat down on his desk, "As a kid he was scared of losing control. Normal people like that would get powers that keep them in control. He was not normal. He had a power that merely ensured that people will forever be predictable and act how he wanted. Please, everyone, write that down.”
It grew quiet as people wrote it down in notebooks and binders. “Now, today I wanted to show you an example, and for that I have a boy here named Joe. You may know him as your fellow classmate if you take music class. Joe, come up here, please.” Rose wondered why she had never recognized Joe before. He had pitch black hair and dark silken eyes. His clothes were all grey, though bits of color were seen through out. He was short for his age and yet his demeanor made up for it. Standing in front of the class, he looked older, in a wise way, than anyone inside of it.
“Joe, would you mind telling them your story?”
“When I was younger,” Joe started right away, “I became scared of death. I didn't want to have an “accident or be murdered” or die before my time. Because of that I developed my gift. In every room I go to, I can see who died and how; I get told exactly how being in a room might kill me; I get told who has the highest potential of being a serial killer; I get told how likely it is that I will have an accident. This gift has saved me more times than I know, but there's a twist-”
“A very important twist,” Mr. Barker said. “Pay attention.”
As Joe circled the room, a yellow orangish light appeared. It first showed a couple that were dancing, but then the woman said something the man didn't like. He yelled something at her and they began to fight. “Whenever I find myself overcoming my fear of death, even a little, it fades. After it fades, it tends to come back three times stronger. Sometimes because I realize I made a mistake, other times because of the pure attachment I have to being who I am. Many things come along with this power. Paranoia, a strong wish to be normal, regret, and yet I've had multiple people study me and tell me they want it.”
A little yellow orangish boy walked into the room and saw his parents and began to cry. With every tear more water filled the room. His parents tried to stop it when they realized, but it was too late; a flood happened, and then all the lights disappeared.
“One time I was outside and I saw a tsunami; it came down over everyone and killed at least one hundred people. I see tornados and sinkholes, mass murder by gun, mass murder by hand. There's no escaping anywhere. Still somehow I know no one can take this gift, and this gift was made very special for me. I'm afraid enough to be scared of death, yet also strong enough to handle it, along with caring enough to tell people when they should evacuate. In order for you to have a type of power like this, you guys will see the same things when it comes. You may get chosen because you're strong, resilient, or responsible. There will always be a reason you were chosen and it has to resonate with everything you are. Overall, despite how it makes me feel, I wouldn't trade it for the world.”
Rose did not know how to feel. Before she wished with all her heart that she could be gifted. Now she clung to being normal.
Mr. Barker stood “In order to have a power that goes down on the list it has to 1. Be uncommon or at least stronger than the common. 2. Be able to kill a large number of people. 3. Be hard to control unless the person dies. 4. Turn the person evil. There are more rules, but a lot have been made very specific to certain cases. Over the next few weeks we will be learning about this and-”
A loud crash suddenly came from the back of the room and everything quieted. “Sorry,” Lena said and everyone turned to her. She picked up a cabinet that had fallen among snickers.
“It's okay. Like I was saying, we will be talking about these powers for a while. I plan to have other people come in here that can show you how their's work.”
“Do you have a special power?” Kana asked.
“No. Sometimes I wish I did. Now, come on, class, let’s continue with our reenactment of the great war.”
“What was that?” Rose asked Lena as they left class an hour later.
“He had a book we needed.”
“Book?”
Lena pulled a book out of her bag. It was huge and black with silver writing. It
appeared to be at least two thousand pages thick. On the front it said: “The
Neverending Book Of Names You Need To Know”
“Every important person who has ever been anyone is in here. We can use this to find out information." Chapter 8☆
Maybe it had not been a good idea to suggest that the taken played a part, for Ana had scarcely been back since, and when asked about, Rose was told she was on official business. She and Lena searched up names of the members in their free time, and even Aylea would sneak up enough so she could help. No name stood out, and the teachers began to take a note on her lacking homework.
It was on a warm day in mid September when Rose was told "the queen is here,” by a passing maid. She happily rushed downstairs, only to find herself having to sit on the last step, as the pain coming from her leg overcame her.Maybe the wound hasn't healed after all . Lena was nowhere in sight, so she bid herself wait. As she sat, she realized it might have been a good thing, for coming from inside the couns
elor’s room, she heard many voices, and it sounded as if some of them were raised. Of course her aunt would be at a meeting and of course it wouldn't be a good one; it only made sense after being gone so long. Rose told herself she'd be the first one to talk to her after she came out, though it was somewhat of a hard task, for when the meeting finally ended and the party left, her aunt did not seem in the happiest of moods. She smiled at the men but stared after them in disgust and shook her head angrily. Rose decided to try anyway. She armed herself with a drawing of the forest from Daniel's book, and mentally prepared for the worst of her temper.
The sighting of Kris foiled her plans as he came humming down the hallway, and he said, "Hi, Ana. Hello, Rose, would you like me to help walk you up?"
"No," Rose said at once.
But Ana said, “Yes, she does,” smiled at him, and walked back in, making sure to lock the door.
Rose looked after her, frustrated.
"How about you too?" Kris asked, and Rose turned, unsure, to find Lena was coming downstairs, stifling a yawn.
"You weren't in the room," she nearly whispered, straightening her pink pajamas. It was more of a statement than a question.
"I wasn't tired," Rose offered, but they both knew it was a lie.
"Well, you can always come in my room," suggested Kris.
"She won't be tired in there either.”
"And you'll just tell war stories," Rose added to soothe Lena’s harsh comment.
"You say that like they're bad."
When a sharp pain rushed to her leg, Rose rubbed it. “Okay they're good,” she said with a forced smile. “I admit it. But you always tell them like you're reading a boring science book.”
"Science books are cool," he remarked.
"Well-"
“You kids should run along,” said a voice as the door opened again and out came Ms. Grace. “The queen is dreadfully tired.”
“I guess we should, come on Rose.”
Rose knew it was now or never, and she said, "How about you two go? I'll stay here.”
"Why? Is something wrong?" asked Kris.
"Nothing, I'm just hungry."
She went down the next few stairs despite winces of pain. Under Ms. Grace’s watchful eye, she went to the kitchen to secure a snack and then to the room from the first day to sit down. She waited till everything sounded clear and then peaked through the hole. The water trick was slower to come by this time, but she managed it. Automatically she knew that Ana would not be leaving anytime soon, for everything about her screamed unapproachable. She sat in the head chair with a crown at her feet along with bunches of papers. She wore a long green dress that was soft and delicate. Her face was so deep in thought that Rose knew she was thinking about everything from the past few days. Every so often she looked up at one of the golden guard statues, and then shook her head while destroying a few of the papers.
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