Quick Author's Note before we begin:  This story is a work in progress.  It's been in development for a few years and I've done a lot of work to make the world nuanced and believable.  That said, I've not yet figured out a lot of words that I'll have to make up for use in this story; as such, I'm using other words as place holders until I can think of better ones.  I do not intend to use terms like "firebender" in the finished work.  If you have suggestions, I'm happy to take them.  Alright, read on and I would LOVE any feedback you can give me!

 

Present Day

I WAS DANCING IN MY ROOM WHEN I GOT THE CALL.

“Dancing” might be a generous word for it.  I was trying to mimic the moves I’d seen ballroom dancers do while on my last undercover mission.  Perhaps if I’d had music or a partner, I would have appeared graceful, but I had neither.  So when a firm knock rattled my tin door—which was intended more for the purpose of privacy than stability—I was balancing my weight almost entirely on one leg as I attempted to recreate a dip, my arm draped artfully around my invisible partner’s neck.  My invisible partner who failed to catch me when I crumbled to the ground, startled by the sudden noise.  Douchebag.

I collected myself and answered the door with a salute.  I was surprised to see Lieutenant Dosi stand before me in a similarly respectful position.  The salute wasn’t surprising—he outranked me, but as a specialized agent, I was often treated with more respect than I was technically due—but Dosi was a firebender, strictly combat.  Our professional paths didn’t often cross.

“Agent Camelia Rowe, you are to report immediately to Hospital Room 4F to assist General Fenn and Head Doctor Schaal with a new arrival.”

“Sir.”  I gave a sharp nod.  He saluted once more, then turned on his heel to march smartly on his way.  I wondered briefly what he’d done to be stuck Running today—that was usually Tobe’s job—then set off in the opposite direction.

The Hospital building was a few buildings over from the barracks.  My boots kicked up a dry spray of dust as I jogged the steep road up the mountainside, a side effect of the sweltering heat we experienced this time of year.  In a few months, the rain would come and only the constant effort of our Earthbenders would keep our roads from turning into impassable mudslicks.

I slowed my pace as I entered the hospital, bracing myself at the door.  I wasn’t particularly fond of the hospital—too many bodies in one spot.  My Ability, to which I owed my rank, my life, and indeed the continued survival of this whole base that was my family, came at a cost.  This soon after a mission, the energy auras given off by the average crowd was negligible and no cause for concern.  The hospital, however, was more crowded and therefore a very draining place.  The only saving grace was the fact that most of the inhabitants were ill or injured, which weakened their energy auras significantly.

I weaved my way through the heavy traffic of doctors, nurses, and injured that flowed through the hallways on the route to room 4F.  When I eventually reached the room, General Ari Fenn was waiting for me outside the door.

“Rowe,” he said in greeting, walking up to meet me.  “You’re still carrying those batteries, right?”

I blinked, surprised by the question, “Yes sir,” I always carried them.  When I was very young, and my Ability had first developed, its first appearance had been malignant and nearly lead to the death of a young classmate of mine.  If it weren’t for the indisputable power and potential of an Ability like mine, I might have been banished that night just to keep everyone else safe.  But I was valuable, so they’d put me in isolation and searched high and low for a solution.  Eventually, one had been found, in the technological hub of Eftwyrd of all places.  The machines they’d created to mimic what our Abilities could do organically required a power source, and a power source for Abilities was exactly what I needed.  The batteries they brought back were nothing compared to an organic power source, but they’d been enough to safely integrate me back into base life.  I hadn’t had to use them in years, but I always kept them on my person, just in case.

The General nodded, “Good.  We don’t know what her Ability is yet, but we have reason to believe she’s powerful.”

“I’ve just come back from a mission two days ago.  She’s powerful enough to have you worried?”

“Intelligence found her in Eftwyrd’s system.  She was caught using her Ability—accidentally in all likelihood.  They planned to send a troop of ten agents to apprehend her.”

“Ten? For one person?”

“Yes,” he looked towards the door, “We haven’t seen them send so many since—“

“I know” I interrupted.  I knew perfectly well who the general spoke of and I had enough to worry about without his name echoing in my head.  I could already feel my stomach twisting into a sick knot.  “You want me to Nullify the room, right?  Keep you all safe while you treat her?”

“And talk to her, yes.  Doctor Schaal is keeping her sedated now.”

“Will there be anyone in there besides the four of us?”  Peoples’ energy compounded when they gathered in a room.  If there were any high-energy nurses assisting Doctor Schaal, they’d have to leave before I went in there.

“No.  And we’ve got security watching the room, ready to lock it up…in case.”

Meaning if I lost control, then only the General, Doctor, and new arrival would be at risk.  I nodded, putting my hand into my pocket to toy with the four lithium ions I kept there.  “Okay.  Let’s go.”

Fenn went in ahead of me.  I braced myself, but crossing the threshold, the newcomer’s energy still hit me like a ton of bricks.  The presence of energy, especially potent energy, was a peculiar feeling.  For obvious reasons, people always assumed it was like a sense of smell, and that potent energy smelled like very good food, and in a way it was.  Sensing energy was a lot like smelling cooked meat when you were starving—in a way the sense itself helped to satisfy the need, but in a way that only caused more pain.  That was where the similarities stopped, however.  I didn’t smell energy; I sensed it.  Energy, when it surrounded me, was a general sense of heightened anxiety.  I could feel my chest tighten, my breathing shallow out, my heart rate skyrocket, pounding loudly in my head.  I was acutely aware, in the most unpleasant way, of every muscle in my body, each one coursing with something akin to adrenaline.  It made my hands shake.  Overall not pleasant.

My head spun, thoughts racing and flying in every conceivable direction, never lingering long enough for me to identify an idea to cling to.  Except one:  the source of my discomfort, and the only possible reprieve: a short, curvy figure laying prostrate on a bed at the back of the room.  I knew both from instincts and experience that giving in and Stealing her energy would make my discomfort vanish immediately.

I closed my eyes.  Deep breath.  I’d dealt with energy this strong before.  Innumerable times.  I could do it again.  “I’m going to Nullify the room now,” I said without opening my eyes.  I heard a murmur of assent from Doctor Schaal, who was apparently very focused on keeping the newcomer asleep.

The Ability to Nullify was one of the first Abilities I’d Stolen, and I’d had it for about ten years.  It was perhaps my most-often used Ability and I was grateful for it now.  The energy in a Nullfied room is softened, dulled.  It blocked all Abilities from use and made the latent energy in the room more tolerable.  My senses reasonably dulled, I was able to open my eyes and approach to actually look at the newcomer.

She was short and curvy, as I’d gathered when I’d first entered.  But she had a very intriguing look about her besides.  She was dark-skinned, her complexion similar to those I’d seen in the Omil Peninsula, but her features—a flat nose and wide set eyes, were features I more often saw in the Southern province of Kaz’zen.  Her hair was a different story entirely.  It fell in every direction and was wound in tight wanton curls—something I only ever saw in Kaz’zen—but while the roots were dark, the bulk of her hair was sun-bleached the brightest gold I’d ever seen, even all the way North in Hau’bned.  Throw in her other misplaced features, heavy brows and an explosion of dark freckles across her face, and she was one of the strangest looking people I’d ever seen.  Not to say she wasn’t pretty.

She stirred, waking up now that Doctor Schaal was no longer able to sedate her and I leaned in a little closer—mostly curious what color her eyes were.  She moved a dark freckled hand to her head and I noticed for the first time the bandages across her knuckles.

“What happened to her hands?” I looked to Doctor Schaal, who was currently resting in a nearby chair.

“I don’t know.  They were cut and bloody when she was brought in.  My guess would be a fistfight.”

I nodded.  It made sense but the fact that they were bandaged and not healed meant that she must have been at least semi-conscious and volatile when she was brought in.  Otherwise they would have healed her rather than sedating her.

“Shit.”  I looked back to the newcomer’s face.  She was awake now, her grey eyes darting between us.  Grey.  I would never have guessed.  They were surprisingly light, like little stones next to her dark skin.  I could see her tensing up, perhaps preparing to spring off the bed and escape.

“I’m sorry to frighten you miss,” Fenn stood at a respectful attention at the foot of the bed, “I am General Ari Fenn.  Do you know where you are?”

Fenn’s apology was ineffective:  The girl was starting to panic.  It agitated the energy in the air, and even through Nullify fog, I could feel some of the more extreme physical manifestations of my Ability returning.  I moved away from the bed, shoving my hands into my pockets and grasping at the batteries.  Not draining them yet, just holding them in case.

Fenn seemed to notice my distress, understanding what it must have meant about the girl’s state of mind, “We’re not going to harm you,” he said quickly, “You’re safe here.  Like I said, my name is Ari Fenn.  This is Pemla Schaal and Camelia Rowe”

“Cam” I corrected.  Half habitually and half in attempt to calm the girl down by making the atmosphere seem more casual.  It seemed to work.  Slightly.

“Alix,” she said finally, “And no.” 

“I’m sorry?”

“I’m answering your question,” Alix’s voice was oddly high but throaty.  She was in no way shrill but by the sound if it she could easily be if she so wished.  “You asked if I knew where I was.  If you’re telling the truth and I’m safe, then I have no idea.”

“You’re in an insurgent camp hidden in the Cwalu Mountains.  It’s a protected safe place for people who wish to train and become proficient in their Abilities, or whose Abilities are too strong to keep hidden from Eftwyrd.  People like us.”

Her eyes widened.  “You mean…you can teach me how to use it?  We can use Abilities here without being caught?”

“Yes,” Fenn smiled, “Once we know what kind of Ability you have, we can set you up with a teacher.”

Schaal made a loud show of clearing her throat from the chair and Fenn backpedalled a little “After Dr. Schaal has determined you have no other injuries of course.”

“Well,” Alix said slowly, giving the three of us a calculating look “I don’t know a lot about Abilities really.  But I know that whatever I do, it has to do with peoples’ thoughts.”

She was joking.  She had to be.  No way would we just stumble across another with that Ability.  And no way should she have gone so long without being caught.

“When you say thoughts,” I said, “Do you mean more on the side of hearing people’s thoughts, like mindreading?”

She shook her head.  “No not really.  More like making people think what I want them to.”

My stomach dropped and I looked to Fenn in shock.  Her description was spot on and with her energy level, it was clear.

However impossible, we’d found another Mindtapper.

2: 2 - Young Cam

13 years ago

“Cam!”  I paused, unsure if I wanted to be around Killian right now.  He was my best friend, but lately being anywhere near him had been making me really uncomfortable.

Of course, being near anyone had made me uncomfortable recently, but Killian especially so.  Even now as he ran to meet me, boots squeaking on the stone flooring of the school building, I could feel the restless shakey feeling returning.  I’d been thinking about something before Killian called my name, but the idea had fled and I could do nothing to withdraw it from the tempest of thoughts buzzing through my head.  The feeling was uncomfortable and distracting and it was at its worst around Killian.

Still, I waited and Killian eventually caught up to me, panting.  “What’s up with you?” he asked between breaths, “You keep running off.  Did I make you mad?”

I shook my head.  Normally this shakiness was something I would talk about with Killian—he’d help me figure it out.  But it was hard enough to think straight around Killian now, let alone talk.

“Was it the lizard?” he asked.  He’d put a lizard in my desk last week.  I’d seen it in class and screamed before I realized what it was.  It had been embarrassing.  “I said I was sorry about that.”

I shook my head again.  “No I’m not mad at you.”

“Well what is it then?” He leaned in and nudged my shoulder.  The contact, even through clothes, amplified the shakey feeling with a jolt and I pulled away, shying in on myself.  I wanted so badly to talk to him but I also just wanted him to go away.  Let me be alone so that the shakey feeling would be gone.

“Seriously what’s wrong?” he asked, eyeing my hands, which had begun to shake violently.  “Are you sick?”

I shrugged, stepping away.  Close proximity made the feeling worse, but focusing on his voice and the conversation helped somewhat to sooth my racing thoughts. 

“You are!” He said, “Have you talked to one of the doctors?”

I shook my head again.

“Why not?  Are you stupid?”  He was mad now, “Come on.  I’m taking you to the hospital.”  He grabbed my arm and tugged.

“Fine.”  I said, pulling my arm back, rubbing the spot where he’d grabbed, my hands shanking more than ever.  Speaking at any audible volume required colossal effort and I was only vaguely aware of my own voice.  “I’ll go to the hospital.  But you can’t come.”

He looked hurt.  “Why not?”

“You just can’t.  I’ll go by myself.”

I could see his jaw clench and his eyes water up.  “Fine.” He turned on his heel and walked away.

I sighed in relief as the feeling faded.  I was sad that I had hurt his feelings, but I couldn’t handle being near him anymore.  Even the few minutes he’d been near me had left me exhausted.

He was right, though.  Whatever was wrong with me, I needed to see a doctor.  Crossing my arms across my chest to make myself as small as possible, I made my way towards the hospital.

I didn’t like walking on the big road to the hospital.  The weather was thawing out from winter’s freeze which meant that the road was wet and muddy and slick.  Our three earthbenders were constantly running up and down the road in shifts, repairing it and drying it where they could so that it would remain travelable.  Usually this didn’t bother me, but whenever I was near someone using their Ability, the feeling intensified.  It was the only reason I hadn’t already gone to see the doctors.

I made it up the road okay.  It was pretty empty and Jonas, the earthbender on duty, was too busy to say anything to a passing six year old who’s Ability hadn’t even come in yet. 

Walking into the hospital was another story.  It was almost as bad as being near Killian was.  I was barely able to squeak out my problem to the nurse who saw me to my room.

Her name was Saya.  She had light skin and black hair and a sweet face to match her demeanor.  She was training to be a doctor.  I learned all this later and I’ve been sure never to forget it.

She didn’t try to touch me as I sat on the examination table, apparently noticing the way I was curled in on myself.

“Doctor Syhl will be in soon,” she’d told me gently, “I just need to check a few things first.  Can you remove your jacket?”

I hesitated for a moment; the jacket brought a sense of security.  It kept anyone from touching me.   But I knew that all the doctors and nurses had different ways of checking things like your heart rate, most requiring physical contact. Saya must need a certain arm grip

“Okay,” she said “I’m going to need to grab your arm right here,” she indicated the nook of my elbow, still careful not to touch my skin “and I’ll need you to grab my arm back.  Like this” She demonstrated, holding her arms in front of her, each hand grabbing the forearm on the other so that her arms made a square with her body.  “Can you do that with me?”

I nodded.  It would be unpleasant I knew.  I hadn’t touched anyone without some layers of clothes mediating the contact since I started having problems.  But Saya didn’t make me as uncomfortable as most people, and especially not as much as Killian. 

I extended a shaking hand and she reached out to grip it.  Her grip on my arm sent a painful jolt through my body—worse than the brief through-clothes contact with Killian had been—but I gripped her arm back anyway.

That’s when it happened.

There was a moment of complete chaos.  My chest tightened so much that I thought it might implode on itself.  I wanted to let it.  I wanted to curl up into a ball; curl up so tight that I ceased to exist.  My thoughts raced so fast that I couldn’t think at all. 

Then, out of the buzzing fuzz came a strange focus.  I knew what I needed.  What would make all this pain go away.  It was so clear I wondered how I hadn’t seen it before.  Numb from my own incoherent thoughts, and desperate for reprieve, I gave in to my instincts.  I relaxed and suddenly there came a rush of energy up my arm.  Unlike everything any kind of contact had made me feel for weeks, this was pleasant and in fact it soothed the pain throughout my body.

I was like a starving person at a feast; a horse who’d traversed miles of desert to only now come across a pool of clean water.  I absorbed the energy eagerly, and within moments a sweet feeling filled me from head to toe.  I felt strong, powerful, well.

It felt as though whole minutes passed like that, though it could only have been a few seconds, before the flow of energy stopped.  The pleasant feeling didn’t disappear, however.  My arm was still extended, and though my eyes were closed, I knew that it was still and steady, without a hint of the shakes that had plagued me for days.  My mind was clear, unhurried.  I felt better in every conceivable way.  Better even than I’d felt before the shakey feeling had begun to appear.

Then I opened my eyes.  I marveled for a moment at the clarity of the room around me.  Had colors always been this vivid, this sharp only to be dulled by whatever had plagued me over the last few weeks?  Or had my vision actually improved with whatever had come over me?  I felt an ecstatic grin spread across my face and I looked for Saya to tell her that whatever she’d done had worked.  I was better now.

But something was wrong with her.  She was slumped over in her chair, leaning on the instrument table next to her.  Her eyes were open, but glassy and her lips were parted in an almost surprised expression.  Despite the euphoria buzzing through my body, a sick feeling settled in my stomach.  Something was wrong with her.  And whatever it was, I knew deep in my gut that it was my fault.  I loosened the grip I still kept on her arm and it dropped lifelessly onto her lap.

Slowly, I reached a somehow steady hand out to press against her neck, checking for a pulse like they’d taught us to do in school.  Seconds passed, then a minute.  I felt nothing.

She was dead.

3: 3 - Alix

Present Day

The doctor required that I spend the night in the strange hospital room.  I could hardly believe that’s what this was.  I wasn’t a fragile or particularly accident-prone, but I’d seen my share of hospital rooms in my nineteen years.  Usually, they were jam-packed with whirring, beeping machines.  The last time I’d woken up in the hospital, there had been a number of wires attached to me—an IV in my hand, a clip on my index finger to monitor the oxygen in my blood, a cuff on my arm that inflated at random intervals to check my blood pressure, and a number of others.  Here, there was nothing.  The room was almost eerily empty—just my bed, a chair, a sink counter, and a cabinet.

Apparently that’s all you needed when your entire medical staff could tell the physical health of their patient from a single touch, and a number of them could repair most problems with not much more.

I still wasn’t sure what to think of this place I found myself in.  Perhaps I’d feel more comfortable once I was allowed to see the world outside this room.  Maybe then I’d be able to really believe that this wasn’t just a cruel trick being played by Eftwyrd soldiers before they executed me.

I thought of the events that had led to my presence here. 

I’d been drunk.  Not so drunk that I had any difficulties now remembering the event, but drunk enough to be stupid and careless.  There’d been a party—my friend Jay had gotten accepted into Eftwyrd Protection training and we were celebrating.  Like everyone else, I was happy that at least one of us had found a way out of the slum we’d all grown up in, but the thought of him training to hunt down people like me was a knife in my gut all evening, and I’d drank a lot more than I should have.

Moira was more or less sober, somehow, and was trying to comfort me as we walked home.  “You know Jay,” she told me, “he knows about us.  He won’t ever come after us.”

I made a noise that was somewhere between a hiccup and a sniffle and nodded.  Jay had promised us as much when he’d made the announcement of his acceptance.  If anything, Moira and I would be safer with Jay on the force.  But neither Moira or Jay knew about my powers—my Ability.  I’d laughed with them all as they made jokes about Jay dragging in the “animalistic scum” and warned him to be careful around the “deranged” people born with Abilities to do things that technology could only hope to replicate.

We’d grown up in slums.  We saw and accepted a lot of things that would get people exiled from polite society.  Moira and I were one example.  My mixed heritage was another.  But I’d never heard a kind word spoken about people with Abilities.  I’d accepted a long time ago that if people here couldn’t accept people like me, no one would.

I couldn’t tell any of this to Moira, even if I’d been sober enough to do more than blubber wetly into her shoulder, so I just edged closer to her for comfort, muttering over and over a garbled “I love you” into her shoulder.

She stopped walking and turned me to face her, helping me to wipe the tears out of my eyes.  “It will be okay,” she told me, “No matter what happens.  I love you.” And she leaned down and kissed me.

We were on a back road, and it was so late that we should have been safe.  Still, if I’d been sober, I would have known to scan the area before returning the kiss.  For a moment, it was drunken bliss, kissing her in the dark street, and I’d almost been able to forget that one of my closest friends would be haunting my nightmares from now on.

Then there was a bright light in my eyes and Moira pulled away.  A moment later, she screamed and ran, dragging me stumbling behind her.

There was shouting and footsteps behind us and a flood of light dancing erratically across the buildings and street.  As I tried desperately to run in a straight line, to not slow Moira down, my drunken brain pieced together what was happening.  We’d been seen.  Against the odds, an officer had happened to turn onto our little back road while we kissed.  If he caught us, we could be in prison for a very long time.

And from the sound of those footsteps, we were going to be caught.  I wanted to cry in frustration at my fuzzy brain.  I would do anything to will myself sober if it meant I could just run a little faster.  We were going to get caught and it would be my fault.

We turned a corner and I cried out as I felt a hand grab my arm.  My shoulder was nearly pulled out of socket as Moira tried to pull me faster, unaware that it was too late.  She lost her grip and fell, hitting the ground hard.  My captor laughed and a burning rage filled me.

How dare he laugh at her.  How dare he chase us down, threaten to imprison us for years, for doing something that hurt no one.  In that rage-, adrenaline-, and alcohol-induced moment, I made my decision.

Moira would hate me afterwards, but she would be safe.  I gave her one last look.  She was on the ground, looking at me in horror and with her mouth open in a scream.  I wished she would get up and run.  Without me slowing her down, she could escape.  But I knew she wouldn’t leave me.

I turned my eyes to my captor, a young man not much older than us.  He was reaching behind his back, probably grabbing for his radio, to call for back up.  I wouldn’t give him that chance.

It took no effort at all to give him a crippling headache that put him on his knees.  I could have knocked him out, but he’d seen our faces now and would easily find us the next day.  I needed to remove this part of the evening from his mind.  I’d never tried to do this before, but I knew I had no other choice.  My only practice with this Ability had to do with hiding it from everyone else, but what I had done had always come instinctually.  Easily.

Perhaps if I was sober, this time would have been the same.

In a terrified rage, I forced myself into his mind.  It was confusing and complicated, and I had no idea what to do.  I tried simply focusing on the idea to erase tonight.  I let that singular thought dominate my mind. Erase tonight erase tonight erase tonight erase tonight erase tonight erase tonight

Two arms wrapped themselves around my midsection and tore me away from my target, breaking my concentration and forcing my focus back into the street with Moira. The man let out the most agonized bloodcurtling scream I’d ever heard in my life.  I watched in horror as he clutched his head and began spasming.  His limbs kicked out and flew erratically in every direction and he made awful choking noises that I knew would haunt me forever.  Eventually his seizure eased and he lay on the ground, still except for the occaisional shudder and twitch.  His eyes stayed open the whole time, and I could see a stream of foam beginning to escape from his mouth.

I didn’t mean to do this.  This wasn’t what I wanted.

“Alix!  Alix!” Moira screamed at me and I turned to look at her blankly.  “What’s wrong with him? What happened?”

“I didn’t mean…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.  Whether I meant to do it or not was not the point.  The man looked dead.  “Oh my god,” my breath came in short gasps, my hands shook as I backed away from him, “I didn’t mean it I didn’t mean it I didn’t mean it—“

Moira was silent for a moment as the pieces clicked into place and then she let go of my waist, backing away from me.  “No,” she said, “Alix, tell me you didn’t do that.”

But I was too far gone to respond to her, “I didn’t mean to”

“ALIX” She screamed, “ALIX TELL ME YOU AREN’T ONE OF THEM” She was crying again.  There was nothing I could do about that.  I couldn’t lie to her, even if there was some believable thing I could say to explain why the man had suddenly seized like he had.

I’m sorry I wanted to say, I’m sorry I’m a monster.  I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.  I’m sorry you had to find out like this.  But all I said was “Run.”

She swallowed heavily and hesitated only a moment before turning and running from me as fast as she could.

I watched her leave with an awful sick feeling in my stomach.  Once she was out of my line of sight, I moved to check on the man I may have accidentally killed.  To my immense relief, he had a pulse.  But even though his eyes were open, he wasn’t responding to anything.  I’d been at parties where someone had gotten too drunk and passed out, and I remembered how one of the partygoers, who’d been training to be a medic, had put them on their side so that if they vomited, they wouldn’t choke and die.  Looking at the foam coming out of the man’s mouth, I decided to employ the same tactic now.

That was how they’d found me.  A group of soldiers who must have heard their coworker’s scream.  I could have lied.  Played the Good Samaritan and told them that I’d found him this way and was simply trying to save his life, but after everything I’d done that night, I couldn’t bring myself to lie, to pretend to be not only innocent, but good.  So I’d ran.  If they got too close to me, I’d lashed out with the same headache that put the first officer on his knees.  I didn’t trust myself to do anything else.

I’d planned to leave the next morning.  They’d seen my face, and what’s more, Moira knew.  We’d been dating for nearly a year and I trusted her with my life, but I had no idea how she would be responding to this once the shock wore off.  For all I knew, she’d gone right back to see Jay.

And then I’d woken up here, in this bizarre locked hospital room with three strange people standing over me.  I’d been sure I’d been captured in my sleep and taken to Eftwyrd headquarters.  Even as terrified and skeptical as I couldn’t help but be about this place, my relief was boundless.

I looked at my knuckles, now healed.  They showed no signs of the beating I’d given them that night--last night I reminded myself.  I remembered how I’d bloodied them against the wall when I’d gotten home.  I remembered how angry I’d been; angry that Moira and I had been caught in so unlikely a place, angry that I’d been too drunk to run faster, angry that Moira had called me one of “them”, and most of all angry at myself. 

With the three strangers gone and no sign of cameras in the room—though, I reminded myself, they probably didn’t need cameras to keep an eye on me—I finally let myself cry.  About losing Moira, and losing my home.  About being trapped in a new place with strangers.  About the man I’d almost killed and how much my own power scared me.

Tomorrow I’d begin learning how to use and, more importantly, control my Ability.  But for now, I just let myself curl into a ball and cry myself back to sleep.