Awoken: COMPLETED

Chapter 6: Explanations and Escape

"Serenity?" Amanda was the first to speak up in a class of silence. Everyone was staring at the two magical intruders into our Algebra class, trying to ignore Amelia's unconscious and maybe dead followers slumped on one side of the classroom in... awkward positions, to say the least.

The rest of the class turned to stare at her. She was the only one with any courage to speak. Being apparently part of the same powered race as all the crazy people we'd seen in the past half hour probably gave her a boost of confidence. Amanda has powers. Like, real superpowers. Is that even true? Was Amelia lying?

"Yeah, that's me," Serena-no, Serenity waved in Amanda's direction. "But we really don't have time for small talk right now, because those Bloodbound goons of Amelia's are going to wake up in a few minutes, and we have to be well out of here by then."

"W-we?" Amanda stuttered, blinking rapidly. "You're not including me in that, are you?"

Serenity rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am. You want to live, don't you?" Without waiting for Amanda's answer, she turned back to Mia. "How about using your little bag of party tricks to tie up our guests over there," she said, gesturing towards the pile of unconscious people.

"Gladly." Mia reached for a pouch on her belt and rummaged inside, pulling out a fistful of seeds. She dropped one onto her palm and closed her eyes, and it grew, sprouting then growing branches and leaves in a matter of seconds. She moved towards the followers, and then, as if they were bending to her will, the branches curved and thinned, creating material that looked almost like rope. She then set about tying them up.

In the meantime, Serenity had fished an orb out of her blue leather pouch that looked almost identical to the one Amelia had used. I felt myself flinch involuntarily, and looking around, I noticed the reactions of my classmates weren't too different.

Serenity sighed. "I'm not the same person that DC wannabe lady is. I have no pent-up anger toward humans. I won't hurt you. But, I do need to figure out who else is like us." She passed the orb to the next person in the order Amelia had created.

As he took the ball, it stayed the same. The trend followed for the next two people she passed the orb to. Serenity seemed increasing and increasingly more relieved as the ball remained blank, a sharp contrast to Amelia. Finally, it was just James and me left. He took the glass-like orb with steady hands, wincing as his fingers closed around it.

His eyes widened a fraction as the ball was filled with a sea-blue liquid, but his face soon broke into an all-out grin. "I have freaking superpowers – this is awesome!" He pointed his fist at the wall in extreme concentration, looking like he was trying to his hands into laser beams or sprout claws.

Oh no, now that he has powers, he'll never shut up about it. When James got a higher mark than me on a test, he was unbearable. What was going to happen now that he had something infinitely cooler to hold over my head?

By all rights, I should've been freaking out about the fact everything I had learned about reality was apparently false, magic existed, and I had been close to death several times in the past half hour. It was all straight out of the fantasy books I had tucked in the boxes in my room. And I was scared sick, but it was an ever-present dread building up in the back of my throat that I found easy to ignore and move on to other matters. Because, you know, priorities.

But no matter how cool it'd be, or how much James's bragging was going to get on my nerves, I didn't think I wanted magic abilities. Being locked in some weird magical blood feud might hinder my ability to get into University and law school – to guarantee my parents the retirement they deserved.

Lost in my thoughts, I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin when I noticed Serenity approaching me. Glancing around the classroom, I realized I was the only one who hadn't held the orb. I could hear my heartbeat quicken and felt the blood rush in my ears. I knew it was irrational-if the two girls had wanted to kill us they probably would have already tried, but being so near to someone who I had seen send a grown woman flying out the window and could probably kill me in seconds wasn't exactly calming.