Return To Pandora: Book 1 in The Pandora Series (7 page)

She sounded more like a mentor than an enemy in that moment. Maybe I underestimated her and her intentions, but I still felt like I couldn’t completely trust her and I’m not sure if I’m bothered by that in a good way or bad way. Only time would tell I guess.

I nodded my head at her and started towards the river behind the warehouse. I sat on the edge and let my feet dangle over the side. I called the water to come up so I could wet my hands and rub the water over my face. It relaxed me more than I thought it would. I’m one with nature. I heard that before in a movie and now I am sure it is directed towards me. I control all the elements, I could probably make it rain right now if I wanted to, but I don’t know how that works yet. 

I felt Olivia sit near me and I felt awkward with her observing me with my abilities, but I didn’t stop. The water rushing over my now bare feet was more soothing than I could explain.

“You are exactly like your father, you know. He loved being around the water the most, especially after he used fire. He said it was like a calming medicine that he couldn’t get anywhere else. After a battle or a particularly long day of training using his ability to manipulate the elements around him he always took refuge in a quiet place by a lake or river. So to see you here reminds me of what I’m fighting for. I’m fighting for my brother and I’m fighting to have a life I was deprived of for so many years,” she paused and looked at me as if weighing whether or not to tell me what she was going to tell me. “Your mother may have made you believe that I am the bad guy in all of this, but I assure you that I am far from it. I just want my twin back and to be a part of your life. I have missed so much of it already, I don’t want to miss any more. I completely understand that I will need to gain your trust and believe me when I say I will do everything in my power to gain that trust from you, even if it means dying for you.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I mean seriously my long lost aunt comes to me after sixteen years of ignoring me and now I’m supposed to just open my arms and take her in after everything my mother said she did to my father. I know she said he is still alive, but can I actually believe that? Can I come to trust her and love her the way I want to? Deep down, like way deep down in my bones I know I can, but there is still this stubborn part of me that keeps saying not to. I have to listen to that part for now, because it has never steered me wrong before.

“Ok, I will let you earn my trust. For starters you can try and teach me how to control the fire that erupted out of my hands. From my understanding I need fire around me to manipulate it and there wasn’t any. It came out of my hands!” I said staring at them as if they had a weird disease or something.

Olivia just laughed at my disgusted look and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

From there on out I believed I had just made friends with the enemy. Only time would tell, but I hoped to God that she wasn’t the one who gave away my father and his friends because we would definitely not have the element of surprise. If she did, it would mean we would all be walking into our own demise.

We went back into the warehouse for a break and found the others doing the same. I grabbed a bottle of water and an energy bar and sat next to Zack. I tried to tell him everything that happened to me and Olivia outside without anyone hearing, but that seemed futile since we were surrounded by everyone. So I gave up. After we were done with our break I decided to have everyone run more laps, but this time we went to a field that was up the hill from the warehouse. This way we knew how many laps we needed to do to make the mile. They all hated the idea, but I loved it. This was exactly what I needed to wind down, a nice long run.

By the end of the day we were all drained and ready for bed.

“Now just six more months of this to go, yippee!” I said as I walked into my room. I barely made it through the shower before I was already half asleep. I quickly dressed and plopped on my bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was sound asleep.

The Nightmare

I was standing by a river with Leah and Joshua. They were huddled together whispering things like they usually did, but for some reason it disturbed me more now than it ever had in the past. The woods that we were in looked strange and out of place from my point of view. They almost looked like bushes instead of trees, but morphed together like some sort of hybrid bush. When I finally got Leah and Josh to stop talking so we could work out a plan, I was pushed against the strange looking trees and held there by Leah. I stared at her in shock.

What the heck? How? What? Why?

She had this evil glint in her eyes and I internally shuddered at the way she made me feel. I tried to free myself but I couldn’t. I even tried to call on my extra abilities, but I couldn’t get them to work. It was almost like I was being blocked by something, but what?

I didn’t have much time to think about it because Josh came up to me and stabbed me in the stomach. It hurt much worse than I ever thought it would, but I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of screaming so I held it in. He looked at me as if he missed stabbing me, or maybe he was just waiting to hear me weep from the pain. I’m not sure which one but I prepared myself for the next blow and when it came I bit my tongue to keep from screaming out in pain. This time he twisted the blade while it was in my abdomen and the excruciating pain that followed made me wish I were dead.

Leah looked at me and then at Josh. “What the heck?” She said sounding pissed off that I wasn’t succumbing to their desire to hear me scream or beg for my life. “You’re not even hurting her. She should be begging for relief from the pain and begging for her life. You’re obviously not doing it right!” She said as she ripped the knife out of his hand and stabbed me again and again, until I finally let out an ear piercing scream.

The look on her face when I screamed was one I would never forget, because she looked like she enjoyed it more than she has anything else.

“You BITCH!” I spat out, as I felt the blood pouring out of me from my many wounds.

That just made her chuckle which caused me to spit in her face. That earned me a nice slap across the face with the blade of the knife slicing open my cheek. I cursed myself for allowing that to happen, because now they were going to know that I heal rapidly and I cannot have them learn this piece of information.  So I did the only thing I knew that would distract her from my healing, I instigated more of a fight from her.

“Is that the best you got? My grandmother could hit me harder than that and she’s dead.”

“Oh really?” She asked as she sauntered over towards me and jammed the knife right through my heart and twisted it.

I sat up in my bed soaked with sweat and a single tear sliding down my cheek. I tried to calm myself down, but I couldn’t. Are they really going to try and kill me? Could this just be my imagination running wild? All I knew is that I would never feel secure around those two again. I need my mom. As I was about to get up and go to her room I realized it was only two in the morning. “Shit,” I said knowing that I couldn’t bother her at this hour.

So instead I went to shower and get ready for my day of training. As I was making myself some breakfast I heard the door open and I readied myself for a fight until I saw Zack. Relief washed over me as I watched him walk towards me. When he took me into his arms I lost it. I balled my eyes out and I told him everything that happened in my dream.

“It’s just, it felt so real. I mean the pain from the wounds and everything,” I said in between sobs. He just held me and let me cry out what was left of my worries, clearly not sure of what to think about my dream either.

That was until he told me he had a similar dream, only it involved him, with the same two people from my dream.

“This has to mean something,” I said getting up and heading towards the stairs that would lead to my mother’s room. “I’m going to wake up my mom and we’re not going anywhere until we have worked out some form of a plan or even a reason why we both had the same weird life threatening dream.”

I was about to knock on her door when it flew open and she had this weird worried look I had never seen before.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, afraid that something had happened.

“I should ask you the same question,” she said quickly recovering from whatever had spooked her.

“Mom, Zack and I had the same dream. Except my dream involved me and his involved him and we both died.”

Her expression confirmed that she too had a similar dream and she wasn’t happy about it either.

“Come along now, we have much to discuss and quickly if you wish to continue the charade with those two,” she said as she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

She helped herself to the pot of fresh coffee I had prepared. Then she at the table and looked me in the eye as if to suggest that what she was about to say couldn’t leave this room.

All I did was nod my head and she began her story.

“It doesn’t happen often, but when it does happen it can’t be taken lightly. You both had the same dream for a reason. In Pandora when you dream about your own death it is either to warn you that there is nothing you can do to stop it or to help you to stop it. With the woods of Pandora in your dream we know that it is a good six months away, so we have plenty of time to plan ahead and get it stopped. But we can’t kick them out of the training, we have to go on as if nothing has changed and trust me when I tell you that it will be very difficult. You need to get past that nightmare and act as if nothing has changed. Continue to practice your secret abilities in private, because we have no idea who else, if anyone, is involved and if they get the slightest view into your glorified abilities we will have no advantage.”

“But how does dreaming about our deaths now help us in the future? It’s not like I can plan to not pair anyone up with them when we get to Pandora. And how did you know where we were? Did you dream the same thing?” I couldn’t help but get all the questions I had out at once and I knew Zack was thinking the same thing.

“What you don’t know is that I hold a different power. One that very few people in Pandora have ever heard of. I actually didn’t know what it was called until I came here into this world. It’s called a premonition but I don’t get them like you see in the movies. Mine come to me only in my sleep and only ones that are vital for me to know to help me cope with what is to come or to help me stop it from happening.”

She paused as she studied her hands with tears forming in her eyes. Then when it felt like forever had passed she spoke up and it made me wish she hadn’t. “I watched your father, on the night he was taken from me. I didn’t actually see them kill him, all I saw was their group being caught coming out of that tunnel in the kitchen. Sometimes not seeing their deaths is a lot easier to cope with than actually seeing it happen. Watching you provoke Leah into killing you was probably your best chance at a quick and less painful death, but I never want to watch you die again, do you understand me? We will find a way to keep that from becoming your fate.”

“How were they able to block our powers?” Zack asked after a tense silence filled the room.

“Those trees that they had you secured on, they have magical properties that stop one from using their abilities no matter how strong they are. They chose those woods for good reason, it’s the only area around the castle that has those trees left in it. The Queen had them all taken down, so no one would use them against her.”

“What are they called?” I asked curious.

“Adstringo Magicus,” she said. “It means restrict the magic. It was given the name when someone used the tree to get another person killed after they realized their powers didn’t work while in contact with them. That happened hundreds of years ago, but those trees are very popular when raising your children and teaching them when they can and cannot use their powers. Or when someone is very ill their bodies will make their powers go haywire and injure the people who are trying to help them.”

All we did was nod our heads. I mean what was I supposed to say to that? Ok thanks for the Pandora lesson 101 it’s been helpful. Now I know to avoid those trees.

“Ok so what’s the plan with Josh and Leah? They are eventually going to stab us in the back, what do I do about them now?” I know she said act like nothing has changed but I can’t do that and she knows I can’t either.

“I know it’s hard. So go on like nothing has changed.” With that she stood up from the table and walked back upstairs.

“Great,” I muttered under my breath.

“We still have twenty minutes to finish eating before we leave and make our way towards our impending doom.” Zack said trying to lighten the mood. “I’m wicked sore and you know what? I hate you for it.” He said hitting me in the shoulder. “Not all of us heal quickly like you do. I bet you’re not even sore at all.”

He was right, I wasn’t and I went through a hell of a lot more than he did yesterday, with being thrown into trees and walls and my hands lighting up with fire.

I just shrugged my shoulders and said, “Oh well, maybe your finally getting the workout you deserve,” and I nudged him in the arm. I turned around and started to eat my now cold breakfast and chugged down my now cold coffee.

****

Today Olivia had different plans for our training which I was grateful for. She took us back to that empty field and we ran our four laps, after that she had us doing our crunches and all the endless exercises we did every day before we started our power training. Today we had everyone try to move their backpacks they had brought along with them.

“I know you don’t have your powers yet, but sometimes they come in early, especially if you need them. So if you try to use them early and continue to try them daily they might just make an early appearance,” she said to the upset looking faces of the kids that didn’t have powers yet.

I knew Leah had them or that she should be getting them because in my dream her powers were strong. We just had to get them out of her first. So when I told Olivia I wanted to try and get their powers out sooner she was happy to help me out with that.

“Okay, first group is Josh and Leah. You two will be together always practicing together and trying to get your powers to emerge sooner. Next we will have Shanieza and Elizabeth and the same goes for the both of you, the more you practice the better chance you have of them coming forth sooner. Zack and Jackie you two have practiced your powers together already and since you are the only two with them you will remain partners, for now,” she said looking pointedly at me.

I couldn’t help but wonder if she knew that we were trying to separate ourselves from them. I mean they were supposed to be our help when we get to Pandora and now I don’t even know if I can trust any of them.

“Okay,” I said.

Even though we earned looks that didn’t hide their hatred for us, I still grabbed Zack’s hand and led him away from everyone else so I could try my powers a little bit more without them noticing. I couldn’t use my fire though because then they would notice, but I could use my less conspicuous ones.

We were doing our routine, him trying to throw me against the nearest object and me ducking and getting him. Although we were using our added abilities no one could really tell because we were so far away. I used the wind the most, because that one was less conspicuous since we were outside. I used my hands to move the wind in the directions I wanted it to go. I could use my mind alone, but if I just stood there and threw him around it wouldn’t be good.

Zack caught a glimpse of my thoughts and was able to deflect my move, but not by much. When I used the elements it was hard to avoid being caught up in it.

“Shit!” He said when he landed on his ass with a thud.

I couldn’t help but laugh, he was getting more and more frustrated with me since I’d been kicking his ass lately.

“What? You said don’t hold back and apart from not being able to access it all I’m not holding back,” I said giggling at his reddened face.

Apparently he was really mad because he got up and said, “Whatever.” Then stormed off.

I was left there staring after him. What has gotten into him? Maybe it was just the dream we both had. Maybe he’s having a hard time coping with the fact that his friends were going to try and kill us. I decided it was time for a break, so I went over to my bag and grabbed an energy bar and a bottle of water. I sat down right next to my bag and prepared myself for Olivia since she spotted me alone. I saw her come over probably to talk about Zack, I presumed. I was wrong.

“I know,” she said and looked to me for any sign I knew what she was talking about.

I know could mean a lot of things and there was no way I could understand what she knew.

“You know what?” I asked, trying to figure out what the heck she was talking about.

“I have a power similar to your mothers. She never told me she had that power. Your father did since he has never met anyone with that power before. The only one I knew to have had it was my mother and she didn’t talk about it much before she passed away. I know your mother had a vision about those two,” she said trying not to be heard. “That’s why I did this exercise today. That is why I had them partnered up. The less time they spend with the others and their powers the better it will be when the time comes that they want to stab us in back.”