The Effidice

Kalayan

Eli and I walked down the hall and Cain was rolled on the gurney. Eli looked sick and anxious; the same way I felt.

They led us towards a door. They pushed Eli and I in, and slammed it shut, bringing Cain with them. I slammed my fist against the door and yelled, "Get us out of here!"

"It won't do any good, Kalayan," Eli said, sighing. "We'll have to wait in here."

The room was very, very small. There was nothing in it, and the floor was made of the same sponge-like materials as the walls.

But the most infuriating part was it was all white. The entire thing, a blinding, piercing color of white. One that would drive me crazy pretty quickly. Great.

Eli Black:

Eli sat down, hopelessly, and pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on her knees softly. "It's times like these I with Lakisha was here with her stupid illusions." Kalayan growled, Eli cracking a smile.

"Yeah, but she'd probably just send a snake your way, and then change the colors of the room." The mood lightened a little bit, Eli's bright blue eyes slowly moving around the small room. The patterns in the white coushins were at least different, but got bored after a while. "So..." She drew out her words, looking for a hopeful conversation.

"So..." Kalayan replied, a comfortable silence flowing between them. Kalayan sat down next to her, and after a few minutes, Eli rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes with a deep sigh. They were next, and Eli could feel it with every fiber of her being. Whatever Cain was going through, they were going to have to endure the same thing soon.

Kalayan

Eli sighed. I didn't blame her. We both knew that they would test us all, and not just Cain, Eli, and I, but everyone we had left behind. Eli rested her head on my shoulder and I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. At least then it was black instead of this dull white surrounding us.

I didn't notice I fell asleep until suddenly I heard the door open. I snapped my eyes open to see a woman in white walk in and quietly close the door behind her. Eli opened her eyes hurriedly and we both stood up simultaneously.

"I'm Jane Yean, I'm going to have to ask you a couple of questions," the woman said calmly, surveying us. "It's in your best interest to answer, as if you don't, we might mess up on the tests, which would be... fatal, to say the least."

I nodded, my jaw set. If they asked a question I didn't want to answer, then I wouldn't.

Eli Black :

Jane turned to Eli, surveying her before writing a couple things down. "You first. You're Elizabeth Sarah Black, age sixteen, from the Grea'ah Villiage, correct?" Eli simply nodded. "You came with two animals, a mountain lion, and a bird, right?" Eli nodded again, getting bored already. "Do you have any allergies?"

"I'm allergic to meat, and animal biproducts." She glared at Jane, lying slightly. Even if she was trying to be nice, Eli had no intent of returning the favor. Even if she wasn't fully allergic, she hadn't eaten anything made with any kind of animal in so long, or used any products, that it probably would have made her sick, if that made any sense.

"Any disablities?" Eli always hated that word. Disabled. She was perfectly able to do anything.

"Blind in my right eye," she admitted, regretting it since Kalayan had been sitting beside her.

"How'd it happen?"

"Animal attack." Eli hissed angrily, rage alit in her eyes.

Jane asked a few more questions before flipping the paper on her clip board and turning to Kalayan.

Kalayan

"Animal attack."

Poor Eli. How hadn't I noticed? She hadn't ever mentioned it... had she? Jane continued asking questions, her eyes watching Eli the whole time. It was freaking me out.

Jane turned towards me.

"You're Kalayan Daniel Parture?"

I nodded.

"Your power is fire, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Allergies."

"Snake bite," I said.

Eli looked like she understood why I didn't like snakes. Well, yeah, it was a pretty valid reason. "Any other allergies?"

"Tests of every kind, unfortuantely," I said, putting on a mock sad face as I said it sarcastically. Eli looked like she was holding back a laugh. Jane looked annoyed.

"And... disabilities of any kind?" the woman asked, checking something off on her clipboard.

"Not that I know of. I got stung by a bee once, though," I added helpfully. Jane rolled her eyes at me.

Eli Black:

When Jane walked out, Eli burst into laughter, falling against Kalayan, who was laughing himself. "That was great, I've got to admit," she giggles, laughing softly. Kalayan grinned cheekily.

"Yeah, it just came to me." He smirked and Eli giggled, rolling her ice blue eyes with a crooked grin.

"So... a snake bite? That's why you hate snakes so much?" Eli asked after a few moments of that comfortable silence.

"Yeah, bad memories." He shuddered.

"Wanna tell me about it? I'll tell you about this." She pointed to her right eye, not able to see her own finger before it.

Kalayan

"Wanna tell me about it? I'll tell you about this." She pointed to her right eye.

"Alright," I said. I looked up and closed my eyes, envisioning it. "I used to live in the desert, if you can believe it. My parents owned a... a biology institute. They had so many animals, all of them. My favorite room was full of reptiles. I liked salamanders," I said, laughing softly. "And one day... when I was 12... I didn't know about my power back then, I couldn't save myself when they escaped. They were not poisonous, but I was allergic. They attacked..." I pulled up my right sleeve, showing bite marks all along it. "It felt like fire. Pulsing through my veins, I couldn't stop it..." my voice shuddered to a halt.

Eli Black :

"I'm so sorry." Eli frowned softly, sadness showing in her eyes. She hugged Kalayan comfortingly, looking up at him with a small smile. "Okie dokie, my turn." She grinned, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

With a deep breath, Eli began her story. "When I was eight, I encountered my very first litter of mountain lion kits. I helped their mother deliver them, and since an early delivery caused them to be born in the winter, I stayed in their den for four whole months, waiting for the cold weather to go away while I helped the mother and her mate take care of their kits. In the spring, they only had two kits left. One of those kits was Sabe, and the other, was his brother, Core."

"When the kits were six months old, both of their parents were killed by hunters. I took them in for the following five, almost six years. One day, while out hunting with Sabe, I came across a pair of familiar tracks. They had been Core's." Eli's eyes began to water. "Now... I hadn't seem Core for two weeks, and I had thought he'd finally found a mate. Well, as we, Sabe and I, followed the tracks, they began to get funny. Often at times, they would walk in circles, pace back and forth, get farther apart, as if Core broke into a sprint, and finally came to a hault." Eli took a deep breath.

"I told Sabe to go home, and that if he didn't listen to me, he would have to go hunting for his own dinner. He listened to me, leaving me to find Core. I walked over a hill, and saw Core lying there, in a puddle of blood. Apparently, rabies causes the animal it infects to go crazy. They're almost always hungry, and occasionally, they'll eat their own skin in a form of cannibalism. Core had rabies. At the time, though, I didn't know that." Her voice cracked.

"I had crouched down to pet my Core, and he immediately went on red alert, snarling and growling wildly. He attacked, and..." she took a deep breath, turned around, and lifted her shirt up, so Kalayan could see the array of scars. "... caused all these scars. I had turned around, facing him, and held my hands up. The water that came out of my palms to protect me, had frozen to ice needles, and impaled Core in the vital organs, and some pressure points. One however, ricocheted off a frozen tree branch, and came back at me, impaling me in the eye. Needless to say, it blinded me." She realized the tears that were trailing down her cheeks, and laughed softly, wiping them away weakly.

LAKISHA

The twits! They had locked the doors on me?! Claw hissed, tongue flashing in and out. I stared at him and smirked. Snakes were such wonderful little creatures. I pulled out my daggar and stabbed the door with it. I knew that it made it through the wood. Good.

I pulled it out and stabbed somewhere else, down lower. Then a little to the side. I loved this daggar, it seemed unbreakable.

Somebody had to have seen this by now! Sure enough I heard yelling and footsteps come to my room. The door swung open to a man with a gun.

I grinned, scooped up Claw and shoved my way past him, knocking him to his feet. I wrestled the gun from his hands and started running.

Soon enough, I found the room where the others were. "What'd I miss?" I asked, grinning and throwing the gun to the side.

Kalayan

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. I put my arms around her and she rested her head on my shoulder. I could tell she was trying to stop crying, but it was difficult for her. I could tell how much it had cost her to tell this story, and how much she had trusted me with.

"Don't be," she said, in an attempt to regain some of her dignity. "I- it happened a long time ago."

"That doesn't change what happened," I whispered. "Looks like we've both got some kind of a past, huh?"

She pulled away and smiled weakly. "Yeah. Some kind."

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, just thinking. Remembering what we had tried so hard to forget.

Suddenly, I heard the door open. Jane, back again? Luckily, neither of us looked like we had been sharing stories. We looked prepared. Well, kind of.

But it wasn't any of them. It was Lakisha. "What'd I miss?" she asked, grinning and throwing a gun to the side. She stepped in.

"No, don't-" I yelled along with Eli, but she didn't understand and the door slammed shut behind her. Locked in- again.

"Welcome to the club," I said tiredly. "Where testing is our main dish."

Cain

Perhaps it had been better when I had been unconscious and didn't know what they were doing to me. Being fully aware that you are powerless over anything that might happen is perhaps the worst form of torture there is. And knowing that you dragged two other people into the same mess you're in doesn't make anything better.

"Doe? First one of the crop?"

"Yes, sir. Weakest, first to succumb to the Zolyne, sir."

The pride in me was raging. The weakest? I was the weakest out of our little group of baby girls and snake-a-phobes? I will kill them, I swear.

"Aha. Looks can be deceiving, hmm? Aha. Hmm." The man came into focus. He, too, was wearing a starched coat of white. Part of me jolted in horror, though, as I looked into his face. The thing was covered over in metal--smooth and flawless as it moved with his skin, looking nearly like it was molten and solid all at the same time. It reflected distorted parts of my own, drugged face back at me, and seeing the refracted pieces of me over that horrible thing nearly made me pass out again.

"Mmhmm, good, good. Useful. His powers are weak, hmm? Well, that's quite all right. Well, dear, come now, this won't hurt, not at all, hmmm..."

Out of his sleeve he reached out his hand, a grotesque thing covered also in that living metal. He touched two fingers to my neck, slowly, and I did my best to glare at him in defiance. And then, something seemed to seep out of me. I could swear that I felt some part of me, intangible but definite, drain from the deepest corners of my body. My powers. No. Could they? Could they really draw those out of me?

"Ahh. Aha. You are good. Good. All fixed. Good, now. You will be useful."

The other man was capping a vial, filled with a glowing gold substance. I saw my name scrawled on the label.

"Good, good." The metal man was still mumbling happily to himself. "Good. You will be one of us, Cain. We will treat you well."

And somehow, I knew I would have to obey. No way out of it. I was the weakest one. But not without giving all I could to help the others. I summoned all that was left within me, and driven by sheer will, I screamed, my voice hoarse.

"GUYS! THE VIALS! Golden...our powers...taken...be..careful..."

Kalayan

"GUYS! THE VIALS! Golden...our powers...taken...be..careful..." I could hear Cain's voice in the distance. Lakisha stiffened.

She pounded on the door. "Cain!" she called out.

"It's locked, Lakisha," Eli said quietly.

"Cain!" she sobbed.

"We'll get him back," I whispered.

LAKISHA

I banged harder on the door, furious now. Why did I care so much anyways? We hadn't so much as greeted eachother until the van...

I could cause another illusion... But what? What?

"Lakisha...don't you dare..." Kalayn muttered.

I spun around to him, glaring. How did he know that I wanted to create an illusion?! He wasn't a mind reader! Was he? No... "Just watch me!" I hissed through gritted teeth.

Elli just stood, rocking back and forth on the balls of her heels. I didn't blame her, nobody really knew how to act around me. Had she been crying? Her eyes were puffy and red. Strange...

"Lakisha..." Kalayn warned.

I intensified my glare...except he couldn't see my glare. I lifted my hood up just enough to reveal my eyes. I didn't answer, I just held that glare and thought. What would get them out of that room? Some horrible shriek? I couldn't create anything visual since I couldn't see into the room they were in. It would have to be sound.

Perhaps I could make rioting sounds outside? I bit my lip and thought harder.

I smirked. Maybe I wouldn't have to use my powers after all...I stroked Claw thoutfully, holding my smirk. Kalayn shifted on his feet uneasily. I was grinning at him after all. I nice physical fight with him...a bluff of course; I wouldn't actually hurt the boy. He was afraid of me though, I could make him scream. I chuckled.

"Come here Kalayn," I told him softly, wiggling a finger at him. He took a step back. "I won't hurt you, I swear it."

STELLA

I was so tired, as soon as we were shown our rooms I went straight to bed. Maybe I was dreaming but I heard screams, names to be exact. They weren't mine so I ignored them. That was my first mistake. I heard comotion in the halls, it sounded like trouble. Wasn't my problem, I hardly knew anyone here, I ignored it. That was my second mistake. I was jolted awake again at some one screaming "GUYS! THE VIALS! Golden...our powers...taken...be..careful..." in a bloodcurdling tone. Something was definitely up. I had to investigate. That was my third mistake.

I got out of bed and walked over to the door. Out of no where popped a girl. Oh no, no, no, no. This was not the time for a spirit. "They know you know, that one Cain is a loud mouth. Think quickly they are almost here." she said and disappeared. What the hell did that mean? If she was a spirit....did that mean someone died here? Is she the only one or is there more?

Suddenly the door swung open and an armed guard walked in, "You, with me NOW!" he ordered. I just stood there, frozen. "Did you not hear me? Come with me right now!" he repeated. I kept standing there, still frozen. That was my fourth mistake. He grunted and lunged at me. I was too quick for his large body and ducked down. I quickly slipped out of the room and ran down the hall, but not before swiftly swiping the guard's key ring.

I ran down the hall until I came to a large, metal door and heard sobbing that sounded like it was coming from inside. Then I heard "Come here Kayalan, I won't hurt you, I swear it." What was going on in there? I pulled out the keys and tried the first one that looked like it would fit. Success. I swung open the door and saw Kayalan, Eli, and Lakisha all sitting inside. I looked around the room, it was fairly small and had an odd, soft coating on the walls and floor. What is this place?

My thoughts were interrupted by Kayalan jumping up and shouting "No, Stella the door!" I spun around just to hear it click and lock. My fifth mistake. "Well there goes another chance of getting out of here." sighed Kayalan.

I smiled, "Chill guys. I've got keys."

LAKISHA

"Chill guys. I've got keys," Stella announced, holding them up proudly.

I flung myself at her, pushing my hand over her mouth. "Shhhh! Don't announce that so loudly!" I hissed. "Oh, and pefect timing, you totally ruined a nice physical fight between Kal and myself."

"What?! I thought you said you weren't going to hurt me!" Kalyan hissed.

I chuckled, but didn't answer. Stella shoved my hand away. "What the heck is going on?!" she demanded, scanning the room.

I sighed, feeling that old rage well up inside of me. I swallowed it. "Cain is in there...they're doing something to him. We've gotta get him out!" Was I actually beggin?! Wow...I had to get ahold of myself!

At least Adam wasn't here too...I wondered how soundly Adam was sleeping right now. Odd thought. I turned my attention back to the others and the task at hand. "You said you had keys right?"

Stella nodded, wiggling them. Stupid question, I had been looking right at them. I grinned, looking at each of them. "I've got a plan my darlings."

Kalayn looked creeped. Ha. What else was new? "And that would be...?" Kalyan demanded, impatiently.

I rolled my eyes. "Simple. Stella, hide the keys in your pocket. Kalyan and I are going to have a bit of a fake physical fight, considering everybody knows we're already off on the wrong foot." I glanced at Eli, who still hadn't spoken. "You, my dear girl, are going to go get Cain the second the others come running out." Back to Stella. "Now, your keys are hidden." I glanced around the room, looking for some inspiration. A chair would do quite nicely. "I need to you to render the two freaks unconsious with something...a chair if need be. After they're out, Kal and I will go help poor, dear Eli haul Cain out of the room. Unlock the door and we're home free."

I waited for their reply patiently. They seemed to be taking a while to process this one.