Spoiler
The next chapter in the book 
Thanks in advance for all your reviews! There are italics in here at some points but my computer won't let me put them in for some reason 
Thanks in advance for all your reviews! There are italics in here at some points but my computer won't let me put them in for some reason Chapter Eleven
I lost count of the days that I spent in the camp. Days turned to nights and the weeks all merged together. I couldn’t remember how long I had been there and I was starting to forget what fresh air felt like. It must have been nearing spring now and I craved the sound of songbirds, building their nests and whistling their enchanting tunes. I missed the light and delicate showers of rain and the abundance of beautiful flowers all blooming at once. I missed the warm breeze and longed for the golden sun.
I imagined all of these things whilst I was trapped inside, yet I could never truly escape in my mind for I knew all too well that it wasn’t real. I felt as if I was constantly being watched, by one person or another. They all stared at me with frightened looks and I knew why. They had heard what I could do.
It had only been about three days after I came back from the lab and Talia’s disappearance when I was called back. The same ashen faces greeted me again and I nodded curtly, walking determinedly toward the monitor.
“What have you done with Talia?” I demanded as I reached the table. “Where is she?” They remained silent, each staring closely at my face. “Where is she?” I prompted. Still no reply.
“Ashling Sanders?” A voice spoke from the doorway. It was the same man who had come to fetch me the previous time. He walked in quickly and consulted the chart being held by one of the women. His eyes skimmed it rapidly, growing wider with every second. Suddenly, he snapped it shut and looked up at me causing us all to jump at the loud noise.
“Yes?”
He ignored me, turning instead to one of the women. “Did the tests confirm what we suspected?”
She nodded shakily and he dropped the folder on the floor. None of them moved and they all stared at me in astonishment, fear in their black eyes.
I darted forward and snatched the folder, scanning it quickly to see what they were on about. Two pages were full of figures I didn’t understand but at the bottom of the second was a single sentence. A single sentence that I understood very well indeed.
She can dream the future.
Even now I still hadn’t adjusted to that fact. Telling the others in the dormitory hadn’t been the best move either. For some reason that none of them would tell me, they were now all petrified of me.
Slowly but surely I began to descend into a world of loneliness; when I walked by they all avoided me and when I started a conversation they would ignore it.
As I headed to the hall they all moved out of my way, averting their gazes and whispering amongst themselves. It was like being back in a school.
I walked sullenly to my usual table and sat down, a book in front of me. It was not a meal time so the hall wasn’t completely packed. Even so, in the struggle to move out of the way of me the three other tables had suddenly filled up pretty quickly. I sat down, wiping away the single tear that always came when they left. It was like we were two forces and I was repelling them without even trying.
As I turned my head to look around the room everyone averted their gaze, perhaps looking down at a book or pretending to be extremely engrossed in their conversations. I sighed; being the odd one out wasn’t getting any easier. I was just about to return my face to the table when I noticed a single face, watching me closely while the others avoided me.
It was a young man, with short dark hair and tanned skin. He looked much healthier than all the others, as if he had been exposed to the sun more recently. Maybe he was new, I thought, yet there was something about him that I recognised although I couldn’t put my finger on it.
He lifted his finger and crooked it in my direction, beckoning me to him. I looked quickly over my shoulder, wondering if he could possibly mean me. There was no one behind and as I turned back to him I saw that he was smiling a brilliant smile that showed his gleaming white teeth.
I blinked in confusion. I hadn’t seen a smile in this place ever since Talia had gone and I had almost forgotten how to return it. I turned up the corners of my mouth and returned the look hesitantly, hoping that as I did so I didn’t look completely stupid. “Come here,” he mouthed at me, placing his hand back on the table.
I looked at him in confusion, “me?” I mouthed. He nodded and I lifted my tray and walked to the space he had made between him and a boy name Percy.
“Sit down,” he offered, waving airily to the seat. I did as he asked, regarding him with uncertainty. Not many people wanted to be associated with me these days and it was hard to escape the frightened looks they all gave me. Surely he must have noticed them; they weren’t exactly hard to miss. Either he didn’t believe the stories he had most certainly been told, he didn’t care or he was completely stupid. I was opting for one of the first two as it would have been nice to have a friend again.
“You’re Ashling?” he asked me and I nodded slowly, still unsure of what to say. “I’m Tyler.”
“Hi,” I managed to choke out, the word sticking in my throat. I swallowed, trying to speak normally. Thankfully, my voice had almost returned to its usual sound. “Are you new here?” I asked, somewhat shyly. It was almost a relief to find that I still had that trait about me. I had changed so much over the past few months that a past version of me would barely recognise myself. In a way it was a small comfort to know that I was still the same person, underneath all of the changes.
“You could say that,” he grinned. “I’ve been to another camp before but it wasn’t this exact one.”
I stared at him, surprised by what I had heard. There was another camp like this one? Another camp where children were trapped underground and experimented on like lab rats? Another camp where hundreds of families would never see each other again? Another camp where people, like Talia, would go missing? I voiced this thought, appalled at the idea.
“It’s not just one,” he grimaced. “There are ones all over the country in secret locations underground. We imagine The Creator is trying to expand his armies, to include those who live abroad by placing camps in other countries. It’s disgusting.” The change in his face was incredible, from looking like a warm, friendly type of guy he now wore a cold expression that reached all the way to his deep coffee coloured eyes.
I shook my head, trying to wrench my own from his face. “That’s terrible!”
“I know,” he agreed, “but at the moment there’s no way we can stop it.”
“At the moment? Does that mean that there could be one day?”
He shrugged in a non-committal fashion and quickly changed the subject. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen,” I was able to answer correctly this time, not thinking I was sixteen anymore. Everything had changed since I was that age and the two seemed so far apart now. I wondered if it was rude to ask him his own age, even if he had just asked mine.
He rendered this thought unnecessary though, providing the answer before I had a chance to voice the question. “I’m eighteen.” I was somewhat taken aback, I had thought him to be quite a bit older. Yet, I reasoned, he wouldn’t have been taken into this camp if he hadn’t still constituted as a child.
I began to wonder what they did with those who were no longer children. Did they place them in further camps or did they simply send them directly to The Creator’s army? I looked to Tyler, “what happens when you are older than eighteen?”
“We’re not sure,” he admitted, “we think that those who’ve been in these places – we call them concentration camps – go on to serve The Creator pretty much straight away. There might be some form of training but we don’t really know about it. For other’s it’s hard to tell. The Creator likes to know people’s powers before taking them in but he mostly uses the concentration camps to perform experiments on children. We need to find out more.”
“Who’s we?” I asked him curiously. He had mentioned ‘we’ at least three times by now and I had no idea whether he was referring to the two of us or to him and someone else.
“Me and my brother, Jack,” he answered, “talking of which…” he broke off and pointed to the door where a boy was sauntering through. He looked completely at ease as he headed towards us and slid himself between a two girls on the opposite side of the table.
They glared at him icily but he seemed not to notice as he grinned at Tyler and me, his blonde fringe flopping into his eyes. He pushed it back with his left hand and revealed deep blue eyes. He looked completely different to Tyler. I eyed him closely, “are you two sure you're brothers?”
“Brothers?” Jack exclaimed. “Who the hell thinks we’re brothers?!”
“Everyone,” Tyler smirked. “And so do you remember?”
“Oh!” Jack smacked his forehead lightly and then winked at me, “that’s right, we’re brothers. I’d forgotten.”
I laughed and he beamed back, apparently quite pleased with himself. It was at that moment that I finally realised where I had recognised the two of them from. Their faces had been the two that had floated across my scrambled dreams whilst I was being monitored by the minion’s. So it was true. I could see some form of the future in my dreams; like a premonition.
As I struggled to find the words to tell them that wouldn’t make them run away Jack looked at me carefully, “you are the dream girl aren’t you?” I heaved a sigh of relief. They already knew. They weren’t afraid of me even though they knew who I was and what I could do. And they seemed to accept me.
I nodded at Jack and then turned to Tyler. I would just come out with it, “you were in my dream.”
He smiled slowly, “when?”
“It was about two or three weeks ago; when they took me to have my check up.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” I answered more certainly than I actually felt. I hadn’t had any experience of other dreams coming true that I could remember and it was definitely a surreal feeling.
“Eric was right then!” Jack announced to Tyler, “damn!”
Tyler chuckled, “how much do you owe him now?”
Jack’s face fell, “forty.”
“You should know better than to bet on him when it comes to things like this,” Tyler replied. “You haven’t got a chance in hell of actually beating him!”
“Who’s Eric?” I wanted to know, “is he with you too?”
“God no!” Jack laughed, “he’d spoil all the fun!?”
“He’s six years older than me,” Tyler told me, “I’ve known him ever since the first time I was in a concentration camp. I was only eight years old and he took care of me until we escaped. He was almost like a brother to me and I’m forever grateful.”
Jack coughed loudly, “gay.”
I laughed automatically, it was so weird to hear humour inside these walls; I’d thought I left that behind when I left Harry. These two people seemed completely different as if they were saner than the others. I wondered if I had become like many here, subdued and boring with no shred of happiness left inside me. There was something more to them though; they escaped? I was completely thrown; apparently this Eric character was the brains of the three if Tyler and Jack had managed to get caught again.
“You can’t have hidden very well,” I remarked. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that in a game of hide and seek you're supposed to find a good hiding place? I can’t believe you had the chance at freedom and you just let yourselves be caught again!”
“We aren’t planning on staying for very long,” Tyler put in.
“I thought we were getting out of this place today?” Jack said loudly and Tyler hushed him. So they were planning to escape? Just as I thought I wouldn’t be the one who was singled out anymore. Just as I thought that I was beginning to make two friends who didn’t seem to care what I could do they were going to leave me.
“I better get back,” I gestured to my abandoned book and sighed. It was no use staying if they were going to leave soon. If there was one thing my mother had taught me it was that I shouldn’t push myself in where others didn’t want me.
“Why?” Jack demanded. “You won’t know the plan if you walk off and I don’t want to have to explain it twice!”
“Explain what twice?” I froze in the middle of getting up. Could he possibly mean what I thought he meant?
“How to escape,” Tyler said. “You are coming aren’t you?”
I could hardly believe my ears! They wanted me to go with them? I was being offered a way out? I let myself fall back onto the seat in astonishment, still staring at the both of them; first at Tyler, then turning my head to Jack and then back again. They probably thought that I looked possessed; I wouldn’t blame them.
“Let me get this straight,” I said weakly. “You want me to come with you?”
“That was the general idea,” Tyler smiled. “Otherwise it wouldn’t really have been worth getting in here would it?”
“You got yourselves caught to rescue me?” I asked in bewilderment. “But you don’t even know me?”
“We’re physic,” Jack announced grinning and Tyler raised his eyebrows.
“We aren’t,” he assured me, “though we did come specifically for you. We had a hard time finding you mind, but if you’re as good as we’ve been made to believe…” he trailed off. “We need your help to overthrow The Creator and rescue the millions of people that he’s destroying.” He winked at me, “up for the challenge?”
I was taken aback. How would my power help them whatsoever? I could dream the future; big deal. I wouldn’t exactly be useful in a war situation and by the sounds of things they were pretty outnumbered. I didn’t say anything.
Tyler's voice faltered. “Or… if you don’t want to… if you’d rather stay here… we’d understand.”
“No!” I exclaimed, in panic. “I want to come with you! I just don’t see how I'm going to be any use to you really.”
The smile on his face was back. “You’ll see,” was his simple response.
“What time is it?” Jack asked, glancing up and down the tables.
“I’m not sure,” I confessed. “My watch was taken off me when I came in. I don’t even know what day of the week it is.”
“It’s Thursday,” Tyler replied. He turned to Jack, “I’d say you should get going about now. They aren’t going to miss you if haven’t got a file yet and we should probably get out before you do.”
Jack nodded and then winked at me. “See you on the other side.” With that he pushed himself up from the table and sauntered out of the room. I watched him go with my mouth wide open. I had spent every day scanning a new part of the building for a way out and here was Jack who had only been here for a day or two and was already getting out. I was amazed and slightly insulted. Why hadn’t I been able to find an escape?
“Where’s he going?” I asked Tyler, as Jack disappeared around the door.
“He’s going to test our theory,” he replied. “I can’t tell you it now because anyone could hear. We’ll hear if he gets caught; The Creator always tells his workers to punish anyone who tries to get out in front of the others to deter them from any ideas they might be getting.”
“He might get caught?” I hadn’t really thought about this. What if he did get caught and they killed him for it? Would it help if I said they were trying to rescue me?
“Don’t worry,” Tyler smiled. “Jack’s pretty good at hiding when he wants to. Sometimes I think that’s his extra ability but he just tells me that it’s practise.”
“When are we following him?” I wanted to know. “And how do we get out?”
“Tonight at one,” he said in a hushed voice. “Meet at the top of the stairs near room three. We’ll go from there.” He looked around quickly; the crowd of people in the hall was slowly vanishing and only a few remained on the other side of the room, shooting us furtive looks. When I glanced over they dropped their gaze to the floor and blushed red. It didn’t take a genius to know that they were talking about me.
I nodded and Tyler got up, “see you later.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and then left, through the big oak door.
It was in silence that I walked back to my dormitory. Everyone avoided me in the corridors now and I regretted mentioning my power for the third time that day. Why couldn’t I have just kept my mouth shut? Upon reaching the room I shut the door and threw everything I owned into a small bag. It wasn’t much, just the things they had allowed me to keep when I came in. I had a set of clothes and a single bracelet but nothing else. I wished I still had the photograph of Megan or a memory of Talia that I could keep to remind myself of who I was but that kind of thing wasn’t allowed. Even if I hadn’t discarded the photo I wouldn’t have been able to keep it.
I lay on my bed, deep in thought. What did I really know about Jack and Tyler? Sure, they seemed nice yet so had the woman who brought me here. Was it possible that this place was the lesser of two evils? Why were they so interested in me and how did they know I was here? These questions and thousands of others swirled around my mind as I lay there, bit by bit putting more doubt into my mind. Maybe it was safer to stay here and find my own way out. If they could do it then surely I could.
The lights had all gone out now but nobody else had come up. Nobody wanted to be in the same room as me now; they would all be sleeping anywhere they could crowd themselves into. Suddenly, the light in the corridor outside came on and I heard two muffled voices. I tried to drown them out as I was too busy with my own thoughts to pay attention to anything they were saying. But then I heard one of them speak my name.
“The Creator wants her disposed of tomorrow,” one of them was saying. “You know what happened the last time someone had this type of power.”
“Are we putting her in room three eight nine Ruth?” the other asked.
“I think so,” Ruth replied. “It’s the easiest and cleanest way we want to…um… remove someone.”
Their footsteps faded away down the corridor and my mind was abruptly made up. I had no choice now. I was getting out. Whatever it took.
