Chapter Two
The bus jolted, which caused me to hit Nate and stir awake. I looked outside to see the rolling hills that would soon become large mountains. Since our boarding/prep school was just north of New York City, every now and then they would bus us out to the mountains in an effort to get away from busy civilization. We always went to the same area, the Catskill Mountains, but since it was lovely, I didn’t really mind.
“Are we there yet?” Nate slurred. I shrugged my shoulders, which ended up waking him up even more considering our close proximities. We were on a nice charter bus though, not a regular yellow traditional school bus, and I tried to remember that fact whenever I felt grumpy about my long legs being cramped by the seat in front of me.
Nate opened his gorgeous blue eyes and stared blankly at me. It was weird, but ever since the chemical accident two weeks ago they had started darkening and large golden flecks had been slowly appearing. Also, his once dark brown hair was now bronze and longer. He was not the only one with differences though. I had changed greatly since that day.
My caramel colored hair had become light blonde, although it was now fall and the sun rarely peaked out from the clouds. My blue-green eyes had faded too, and it gave me an ghostly effect that was almost eerily beautiful. Also, my muscles had become more defined and I felt faster and stronger than ever before. I had heard others in my classes whispers about similar muscular changes, and I knew that something odd was happening.
The day the chemicals collided had caused quite a stir throughout the school. We had been quarantined for almost a week, and the teacher was thoroughly questioned as to why she wasn’t in the classroom when the accident happened. Rumors were flying faster that fighter planes. They studied everything about us until they concluded that nothing was wrong, everyone was fine, and we could go on with our school life.
But four days after they released us, something happened to me. For the first time since the accident, I took off my ring. It was made of white gold and was from the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was shaped like a rose and had the distinct style of all things from there. Inlaid were small diamonds that caught the light in a million different rays. Considering most of my family was there, it was a constant reminder to think of them.
The second I had removed this precious trinket from my finger, something happened. It felt as if all the particles in my body were moving too fast to handle and in one sickening second I opened my eyes. I was on the top of a skyscraper I had visited on a school field trip. I closed my eyes and thought of somewhere peaceful as I fell off the building, waiting for the sickening crunch of my own bones to be the tune of my death, but it never came. I was in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, listening to the birds, and this time I managed to slip my ring on. The strange sensation stopped, and I felt like I could clearly focus.
With my ring on, I thought of going back to my private dorm room. I felt the odd rush of spinning and within a second I stood in my dorm. My entire body heaved with pulsing breath, and I wondered if I were somehow sleeping and it just felt real. At that moment though, Kambre, an annoying girl from down the hall, knocked on my door.
“Nate’s been looking for you,” she said with a whine in her voice. Kambre was in my chemistry class too, and her already athletic body looked even more amazing after the acccident. She was one of the girls that flirted with every guy and hitched her skirt up so they would want some. Still, I wondered if she had anything odd happen to her.
“Are you okay?” she asked. There was no concern in her hazel eyes though. She merely looked disgusted.
“Yeah,” I managed to whisper.
After Kambre left, I stayed in my room for an entire day and called in sick to my classes. I realized that if I thought hard enough about all the places I had been I could go each one, one at a time. Also, if I was looking somewhere, I could transport there too. For instance, at two in the morning, I stared down the dorm hallway and transported from one end of the hall and back again within a matter of seconds. Somehow, I had become a super hero.
“So Carson, what’s your deal right now?” Nate teased. He brought me back into the present. The present where I should have been trying to act normal, but I simply couldn’t. I nervously fingered my ring.
“Nate,” I whispered, “Something’s happening to me.” He cocked his head to one side and looked at me like I was crazy. Still, I knew I could trust him with anything. He was my best friend after all.
“What?” he asked. Before responding, I quickly looked around the bus. Everyone, including the chaperones, was sleeping.
“Look at that house up ahead. Concentrate on the roof,” I told him. He looked at me like I was mildly insane. I too looked at the roof though, and triggered that reaction that moved me through space without taking time. It was quite an adrenaline rush suddenly appearing on a roof. The air was clean and clear in the country, and the leaves were brilliant shades of red. I teetered precariously and waved at the speeding charter bus for only a split second before concentrating on it and my seat.
Nate looked at me in disbelief.
“How did you just leave like that?” he asked. I shrugged and lowered my eyes to the ground. Then he whispered, “I have something to show to you too.” I of course asked him what it was.
He held out his hand and cupped it. I saw him flinch and then his palm began to glow orange and red. Within a second a spark, and then a burst of flame exploded form his hand.
