First Strikes Disaster

by Tatiyana Perkins

  "No Evan. It looks like it, but no. Many would say that she's actually very healthy for her age, which happens to be three million seventy two. She's just asleep, and she wakes up for one day each year at random, her flowers bloom and her branches grow an inch longer."

  Rose raised her hand. "Which day was it last year?"

  “Winter solstice. It has been for a while, though not forever."

  Rose felt stupid, and she thought,​Of course​. It was in the name after all. "Do you still have your pens and papers?”

  They all nodded.

  "Good. I want a paragraph on how being near her makes you feel, then we're going to begin a brief essay on the history of trees.”

  Everyone but Bash started writing and groaning. He raised his hand, and Mr. Clark pointed to him. "Where are we again?"

  "This museum is about the first anything. Tree, river, bird, turtle, cat, dog. Things that lived on earth a long time before we did."

  "Can we look around?" he asked. Rose snapped her head around hoping her teacher would say no because she wanted to stay longer, something about winter was very amazing to her.

  "Yeah, can we?" everyone in the class agreed.

  "Well, I guess. I still want your paragraphs, but we can, ummm–” he looked around. “Do you guys want to see the skeleton of a kraken?”

  The majority of the class nodded.

  "Come."

  Rose had no choice, so she got up. Lena caught her eye and raised her eyebrows, knowing how she felt, and she telegraphed that she hoped they'd just look and be right back. Everyone talked so excitedly, however, that of course they spent more time there than was planned. Already on the way Mr. Clark was telling them about sea creatures so big they could be compared to trenches and how a museum in France was trying to get the authority to have one. "Too many issues," he said. "The glass could break and it would get out.”

  He stopped talking when they saw the kraken skeleton and the skeleton for a shark so big that four students screamed. It was so truly amazing that no person could deny it. They saw the skeleton for a bunch of different types of big fish and then moved on to a different section full of the skeletons of the first land animals. There was a giant elephant and a so called rat.

  The class had so much fun that they forgot all about winter. Even Rose did once they saw a giant bull that could have “used its foot to crush three medium sized houses stacked on top of each other.” Finally, they were able to get a brief lunch and Mr. Clark took them back to the tree.​She's so beautiful,​Rose thought. Everyone sat down and started writing so they could go back to school quickly.

  A single leaf floated down from the tree, and she watched as it landed in her hand. When no one was looking, she put it in her pocket while she smiled.

  That afternoon she went to sleep after merely eating a bowl of cereal. She couldn't help it, for she felt unbearable tiredness as if someone had drugged her. It was so bad that she couldn't even make herself get up to go back to school. Lena agreed on her staying home, but insisted on walking her up stairs before she left, hoping that she'd feel better after she woke up. Somehow sleep did not bring peace, instead it brought horrible nightmares. A man was trapped inside of a mercury cage, but that did not stop his powers. In the night, men came to bring him food and he crushed them to death with big rocks; after he was done he used air to float their bodies into a dark hidden closet.​He even has on a mercury suit,​Rose recognized with horror; they had even mixed mercury in his food. He laughed at them as he ate it, and over time the bodies kept piling up. Soon, whoever was in charge, started to send multiple men to feed him. The person in the cage stopped his murders, as even one person getting away would ruin his secret. A private investigator eventually came in, who claimed he was investigating the case of the missing guards. It took three days, but when he found the hidden closet, he chuckled and then asked for keys to the cage. The guards hesitated but gave it to him gravely. He let the man out while countless guards warned him it was a bad idea, and together they captured everyone in the prison. She wanted to finish the dream but in real life something was on her, walking. She opened her eyes and saw it was a butterfly that looked to be made of white crystals."You're beautiful," she said, and it flapped its wings on her and flew away.

  She began getting out of bed to follow it, but it flapped its wings furiously till she laid back down. She sighed, tired. "Come here,” she said, and the butterfly landed on her stomach.

  Sleepily she picked up a container and stuffed it inside, making sure that the top of the lid had holes in it to let in air. She dreamed of nothing; when she woke up the next day, she remembered everything, but it was gone.

  Rose and Lena talked over the dream in the hallway, making sure to not let anyone overhear.

  “And you’re saying the butterfly saved you?” Lena questioned in a whisper.

  “Not really. It was a dream, so how could I have been in any danger ?”

  “But I’ve heard about this.” Lena picked up a book labeled “Odd Dreams and What They Mean” and went to the one hundredth page. “If I’m right in my assumption, you traveled.”

  Rose took the book. “Traveled?’

  “Yes, it’s very real.”

  Rose sighed and read, “Dreams that occurred after an uncontrollable tiredness can sometimes have a magical cause. You know your dream was controlled if you:

  A. Were handed or found an item that you felt drawn to during the day of the dream (often comes in the form of a leaf, jewel, or rock).

  B. Found yourself as purely a watcher in the dream

  C. Watched events occur over a period of time

  D. Were saved from your dream by a small creature

  These dreams are often sent to show a past memory or a prediction of the future. Be careful not to recognize everything in this dream as fact, as the magic used can be changed to suit the person’s will. These dreams are most often used between family and friends, as they can only occur if you share a close bond with the person.”

  Lena blinked. “See what I mean?”

  “But I didn’t even know who those men were.”

  “Well, the man in the cage was obviously an unspeakable and relevant to what’s been happening,” said Lena confidently.

  “How can an undocumented unspeakable be a part of this?” Rose pondered.

  “They're powerful, Rose. He could have easily snatched everyone.”

  “Not that… What I meant was...Wouldn't we have heard about him by now? A man immune to mercury?” The idea made her scared, and she started shaking.

  “Not really. If it’s true that a man came and took him away, he could be being managed by him and so he won’t make hasty decisions that get him caught.”

  Rose put the book in her bag. “So we need to track them down, find them, and we might have our answers?”

  “Yes.”

  Rose took out the book about people you need to know. “Who could have given me that dream?”

  Lena took it from her and began to look through it. “If we’re being honest, I don’t know.”

  “I feel like Ana would have told me, my other family is gone, and none of you guys did it.” for a second her parents flashed in her mind.

  “Maybe there's something in the dream you were supposed to notice that can tell you.”

  Rose tried to have the dream again when she slept that night but failed. "I think I'm almost there with my masking," announced Lena proudly. It was a Saturday afternoon, and Aylea finally sat with them. Rose had been wanting to find a moment to talk to her and tell her about the dream, but she seemed so happy to be back that she avoided it. Even Kana had decided to join them.

  "Disappear right now," urged Kana.

  They were in the park, where it was considerably empty, as almost everyone had decided to sleep late, which was the smart thing to do, as Rose reflected. Lena jumped in front of a tree and made herself fade into it. It wasn't as effective as anything the professional maskers had done. For one, it took h
er a long time to get situated and she barely held it for under a minute, but she looked so real Rose could almost forget where she started and the tree cut off, so she smiled fondly.

  "Are trees all you can do?" Rose asked.

  "No. I can do rivers, and dirt, but I can't combine them."

  "You could get Noah's da-" but she stopped. Aylea and Kana did not know the full story about Artisan. Maybe they had put it together that Noah was involved in this somehow, but they did not know Noah was his son. "You could get Noah to help you."

  "Can Noah even fade?" Aylea asked, and they all paused. Good question that no one knew the answer to.

  "Probably. How could he not? He knew Sakara before we did.”

  "You do it so prettily Lena, can you teach me?" Kana inquired.

  "Teaching is hard, though I think I can do it; honestly you just have to focus on blending in. I used to focus on looking invisible, but the only way that happens is if you're as blended as possible. Act like you're painting without using your hands."

  She pulled Kana's hand and led her to a bush that she and Rose had both found out was the easiest to do, surprisingly. It was low and the right amount of winds and air illusion magic, could make anyone think it was real.

  "Make leaves rush toward you. Don't give it a second thought, just make them come your way."

  She closed her eyes and did it. It was a nice effect, but there were too many gaps and leaves missing in certain places; overall it was more like a photo shoot than a masking. “How am I doing?”

  “Great,” Lena encouraged.

  Rose and Aylea caught each other's eyes and laughed while Lena gave out pointers. Finally when it was good enough to be just passing, she said, “Rose, you try.” Rose stood, expecting her to say that, and stretched, ready to show off her skills. The bush trick was always cool to her, and the waterfall and the tree, but she absolutely loved the guy who came out of the sky. As they watched she focused on the air engulfing her. She wasn't as good at air tricks as Lena, but being able to control the temperature helped her, as it caused air to move. She closed her eyes and breathed - breath out she was the air, breathe in the air was her. She imagined being so surrounded by it she became lost in it. Someone said “amazing” but she didn't know who. Everything felt so far away, as if it was there but not there; life itself felt like a mistake. She focused on holding it for as long as she could and next thing she knew she was opening her eyes and walking out of the sky.

  Aylea and Kana cheered while Lena stared at her.

  “You’re good enough to join them on their next mission,” she joked.

  “We have time to try a few more.”

  “I feel as if you should try to blend in with a wave," said Kana. "It would work perfectly with your water magic."

  “Look.” Ayela pointed up, for the sky had begun turning dark; it was a warning to the people that the award show was tonight.

  “Kana," Rose asked, “Can you do my make up for the night?”

  “Definitely.”

  Chapter 14☆

  When they made it to her room, Kana immediately turned Rose into her own personal little doll. She took her hair out of the ponytail, rubbed in oils that made the curls shine, applied a cream that completely smoothed out her brown skin, added lipstick to her lips, touched up her eyes, and put a beautiful rose pin in her hair. To finish, she put her in a pretty purple dress with silver jewels and a graceful heart neckline. After it was done, Rose looked in the mirror and thought she looked beautiful, resembling Ana when she was in her prime.

  “Wait,” Kana said, and she grabbed a pretty silver star necklace that she draped around her. It was simple and graceful, something Briana Ontari would have worn. Now Rosalie knew who she really resembled, still the indication would be that it was similar to Ana's. Rose grew sad. Would anyone ever tell her she was like her mother?

  “Thank you.” She twisted the necklace in her hand and forced herself to do a tiny spin. “Are you coming down with me?”

  “I have to get dressed now or I'll never get there.”

  “What are you wearing?”

  “I'm keeping it simple.”

  Kana opened her closet to reveal a sparkly silver fitted dress. Rose touched the material. “It's beautiful.”

  “It was Sahara’s.”

  The name roused Rose, and she considered that that was the one counselor she never met. “I never see her around," she said. "What is she always doing?”

  Kana pulled her close and whispered, “She's taken over foreign affairs." “Really?”

  “Yes, but shh. No time for talking, we both need to get down there.”

  Rose spun again. “Are you staying the whole time?”

  “Yes, and it'll take me a long time to get ready; you, on the other hand, need to go.” Rose paced the room and admitted, “I'm nervous.”

  “Don't be. They'll love you, and if they don't, just smile, you have a nice smile.” “Thanks,” she said, and then, “Are you saying a speech too?”

  “No. Apparently children of Elesto weren't a priority at all when it came to this show since he won't be there.”

  “You're lucky.”

  Kana picked up a hair brush that she waved dangerously “No, I'm not. Dad will get into arguments about this; trust me, it's not lucky at all.”

  “He wants you to speak?”

  “No but it's the principle, as it always is with them. Vister didn't even reserve spots for us.”

  Rose looked taken aback. “Really?”

  “You would think with how similar they are, they'd be better friends.”

  “I'll make sure to save you a seat.”

  “They'll probably all be gone by the time you're down there; have you seen the time?”

  Rose looked at the time, which said six o'clock; she jumped up and said “thank you” again, to Kana's amusement, and then ran outside her room. Rose went down the stairs two at once wondering if she had missed it. No one seemed to be in the living room and the smells coming from the great room made her want to melt on the spot. They were there. She bounded outside, into the great hall, prepared for anything. What she saw shocked her. A hundred people were dancing inside of a huge room she never noticed before, the fast music causing them to turn round and round. Each person was so enchanting that she wanted to get lost in the crowd; right before she grew ready to join them, she remembered that her speech was her priority. She walked past them and onto the stage, trying to appear graceful.

  A man at the podium shook her hand with excitement, so she knew it was time to go on soon. "Hello, everyone," he said, and she shuddered, ready to begin, but next thing she knew, the man dropped like he was a liquid, straight onto the floor. She stared at where he had been, open mouthed and shocked and the rest of them did the same as they were disappearing, draining into the floor.

  Rose's mouth hung open; she was utterly confused with a scream caught in her throat. Despite the fact that they were some of the most powerful people in the world, they just kept falling and draining; she became so scared she almost called out. How could she fight if she couldn't see?​Will it happen to me? Where are those people going? Where is the attacker?​As she panicked, Ana walked towards her, looking as heavenly as a God that had come to deliver a town from flooding.

  "You weren't on time," was the first thing she said.

  Rose nodded, unwilling to speak.

  "Do you feel ready for tonight?"

  "Yes, but what-”

  A man came bounding onto the stage resembling the one that just melted; he had on a completely silver suit with warm silver hair. He appeared to be one of those types of people who was always excited, the one that loved telling you his stories. As he caught his breath, he told her, "You look perfect, magnificent really.” At the sound of his voice, she noticed it was the host from the show before, Jackson.

  "Practice," Ana said, as if that explained everything. "I wanted to make sure we were ready, it was meant to be a dress rehearsal but there's no more time for
it now.”

  "The real people will be here in less than twenty minutes." The man seemed to study a non existent watch and smile brighter as he said it.

  Rose gulped. So that wasn't it? Ana looked her over encouragingly, and Rose could tell she knew she was nervous. For the remainder of the minutes, Rose practiced her speech.

  When the doors opened, Vister was the first to walk in, boldly announcing himself to Ana's displeasure, followed by a parade of people. Rose spotted the two couples from before, walking as if they were already tipsy; one of them even winked at her. There were more than five hundred people squeezing into the large room, which was expected people in Trearce would die before they looked scared. The room began to fill and Rose saw many unrecognizable faces, adults and teens alike. To her surprise the room just grew bigger and bigger with the crowd, and chairs sprouted out of the floor faster than flowers. It seemed as if every guard and soldier in the world was there. The majority left their kids home, which may have been the thing that saved them, for the caterers, who had begun to look uneasy, smiled. Next to her, the host gave her a hug and winked. Then he spun and screamed, “WELCOME ALL,” which caused hundreds of cheers. When they subsided a little, he said, “pleased that all of you could make it, but I am not the opener of tonight, for we have the one, the only, ROSE.”

  It was easy to spot the ones who were less enthusiastic. They didn't clap as much as they did before or they clapped too loud in a patronising way, like Vister. Rose smiled brightly as she looked around at everyone, and he stated:

  “THIS NIGHT WILL BE GREAT. MAGNIFICENT. BEAUTIFUL. AND I KNOW I HAVE A HABIT OF GETTING OVER EXCITED, SO TO MAKE SURE SHE'LL HAVE ENOUGH TIME, WE'RE STARTING RIGHT OFF THE BAT WITH HER.” Rose blinked, for she didn't expect that her part would come so soon. She took the mic, and said:

  “As you all know, the event we had in August was cancelled and for a while, the world was at a standstill.” Her heart started pounding. “I know that all of you guys lost something that night because those people were special to us whether we knew them or not. They were protectors, friends, and family. Now, after having our time to mourn, we let the people who took our families know, that the stand still has stopped. We are brave, bold, and unrelenting. They have left behind a group of people that are stronger than they think, and together we will move past this. I am so proud to be in this room with all of you, whether you will be receiving a reward or not. I have pride in our country and pride in who we are. However, I want to remind you to be aware of your surroundings at a time like this. Who's in charge. Who's not in charge. Make sure you learn everyone in your community and we'll be better for it. I congratulate everyone who wins an award tonight, for you are the ones being aware. The ones our country needs. The ones making the ones we lost proud and inspiring greatness. Soon, it will be time to step down, as I am not the important one here. We are here to honor the people who go out of their way to work tirelessly to protect us”. She said the last word with a scream the way Jackson usually did.