“ You can’t use your mind powers this time,” Natalie said. “No chance, boy scout,” Daryl said. “In order to move past, one of you blokes have to fight one of us.” “I’m afraid that Mr. Ardmore is correct,” Chancellor Thorne’s hologram declared. In fact, I nominate Miss North to face one of the enforcers.” “That would be me.” Natalie grinned devilishly.  The chancellor said, “Let the final battle begin.” The force field enclosed Natalie and me, separating us from everyone else. Natalie called, “It’s just you and me.” She tossed one of her swords to me. “Before I kick your ass, I’ll give you a fighting chance.” Why would she give me one of her swords?  Maybe she’s not as despicable as I thought. “Let’s do this,” she said

To describe what the laboratory actually looked like, it resembled kind what you’d  see in a sci-fi movie. The strange purple and silver monitors and giant test tubes were things that must’ve been created by hybrids. At first, Natalie was quiet. “Natalie, are you okay?” I asked, reaching out to touch her hand.“This place shouldn’t exist!” she said as she continued to stare at the laboratory, ignoring my hand. It strange for the three of us to see Natalie like this. Ever since we arrived, we’ve never seen her vulnerable. We all circled around her, concerned and baffled by the site of her curling up on the laboratory floor. “It’s a living nightmare,” Natalie said. “It can’t be a myth if they’re standing in it.”“Natalie? What do you mean?” I said as I kneeled down to her. I soon found myself holding h

To say that getting better at reading people’s minds was both exhilarating and distracting would be an understatement. Since I had already probed Natalie’s mind, I chose to look into Rick’s head next. I gradually penetrated his thoughts to see if I could reach his subconscious. I opened my eyes, envisioning his memories rushing through his mind like a California highway during rush hour. It turns out Rick was born on a Native American reservation in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He never knew either of his birth parents, human or alien. He was adopted by an Irish couple who were business partners with Rick’s birth mother. His mom owned a local casino. Rick’s grandfather was an Indian chief who’d owned the casino before his mother did. He and Rick’s mom had a falling out before Rick was born. He disapproved on people outside of his tribe owning property on his land. He deeply resented his mom owning a casin

We knew our parts to play in stopping Lisa from burning Seattle and began implementing our plan. Natalie ran underneath Lisa and summoned a machine gun to fire multiple rounds at her. Although the bullets exploded when they hit her, Lisa’s flames offered protection from any impact they would have caused. But they distracted her from attacking Adrian. Lisa directed her attention to Natalie instead. After Lisa changed targets, Eric used his telekinesis to block off every window in the house, cutting off ventilation. While Eric worked on his project, Daryl swung his arms toward Lisa, sending shock waves of purplish energy around his arms. When Lisa avoided the waves of energy, Daryl lunged at her. Breaking her focus from Natalie, Lisa summoned a substantial pink flame and projected it towards Daryl. Daryl jumped out of her range of fire and dodged Lisa’s attack.   Next, I joined in the action and flew in to distr

For anyone who’s ever felt lost before, you probably understand what I was feeling at this point in my life. I curled up next to Marcy’s body, trying to understand how this happened. “Madelyn, I am sorry,” Mom said. “I didn’t expect this to happen.” Without thinking, I summoned a tiger shroud around my arm and grabbed my mom by the neck, pushing her into the wall. I had lost two of the most important people in my life. Now my mother, who betrayed me is trying to apologize for it. Why should I forgive her? “It’s all your fault!” I roared.“Madelyn! I know that you’re upset, but…” she said. “I am past being upset. You sold out to Vanity.” “Let me make up for it,” Mom pleaded. “Please allow me to help save all of us.” “What are you talking about?” “I kn