Coming from his unconscious state, Tobi finally woke up. The last thing he remembered before he passed out was he was in the school's infirmary and lying down on the infirmary's bland bed but he feels much more comfortable now. There's a much more cozy feeling as to where he's currently lying down. He also smells a soothing aroma surrounding the place. This finally made him get up.
He confirmed that he was not in the school's infirmary. He looked around and he was now in some kind of a bedroom which is pretty classy that seemed that be plucked out from a magazine or something. The walls of the room are filled with different paintings, the bed is a king-size one which is definitely huge for him and the entire room is full of red, gold, and black based colors.
"Where the heck am I?" He asked himself, sitting at the edge of the bed. He noticed that his clothes changed too. He's now wearing a fancy black pajamas with gold stripes on it.
Tobi suddenly heard the door swung open then two girls who both looked very much alike probably in their late teen years came in carrying a tray with food then these trays were placed on the bed where Tobi was still sitting. The ladies gestured for Tobi to eat but even though he was starting to feel hungry, he didn't dare to touch it. He thinks that the food is probably poisoned and this is being planned by Anastasia and Thandiwe to kill him.
"Where am I?" Tobi asked the girls but they didn't respond as they were just looking down and not making any eye contact. "What am I doing here?" He asked again, "Who are you?" and again, "How did I get here?" and again, "What the hell's wrong with you?" He finishes.
He heard footsteps from the outside slowly coming in then he recognized its silhouette as it approached. It's Anastasia. She finally reached the bed and Tobi noticed that she was still wearing a sweet smile. She nodded to the girls then they headed out leaving both of them alone. It's obvious that Anastasia told something to those girls as she watched them walk out of the room.
"You might've regretted it if you pushed those girls to talk to you." Anastasia said as she connected her thoughts to Tobi's now confused expression. "Those girls are banshees. They couldn't control their Anomalies yet so you can get seriously injured even if they just opened their mouths." She explains.
"What are you talking about?" Tobi exclaimed, gradually becoming scared of the situation. "What are banshees?"
"Those are mythical creatures who are known for their loud and eerie shrieks." She answered. "We refer those two as banshees since they somewhat have the same ability. If you creeped those girls out earlier, they won't hesitate to scream at you with great force and you don't want that to happen." She ended.
"What the hell? Those two are Anomalies too?" He once again exclaimed. "Are there others? Is this some kind of a detainment facility for Anomalies? What the hell am I doing here?" He asked becoming a little hysterical.
"To answer your questions, we have other Anomalies but very few for now. This is not a detainment facility. Yes, we search people with an Anomaly to give them a place to live in peace not to lock them up. A place where they can be themselves where they'll not be judged by simple minded people like you and most of the non-anomalies." She answered. Referring to most humans as non-anomalies.
"Don't fool me around! You're just rounding up your kind to build an army to destroy our lands." Tobi said.
"I sense that you've been watching a lot of stories lately and it's fueling your imagination very negatively." She said. "It's true that there are forces in this world that has to be dealt with but you don't need to worry about my people. Our people to be exact. We are not the enemy." She added which makes Tobi more confused.
"What are you talking about? I'm not one of you! I don't have an Anomaly."
"I hate to break it to you, Tobias. I sensed that you have an Anomaly when I first came across with your mind. I'm not sure what it is though so we took you in to help you discover it."
"What? You took me in? So I can't come back to my life. My freaking normal life!"
"You can if you wish to. We just temporarily did this to examine you and to make sure you're safe."
As they both continued to have their conversation, another figure came into the room with a calm aura surrounding him. Both Anastasia and Tobi looked at this figure. This man slowly walked towards them while showing a peaceful smile on his face. He then said, "Anastasia, my dear. Kindly give us a moment to talk." She nodded then headed out. This guy stands very dignified. It seemed that this man was in his late 30s.
"My apologies Mr. Liu." This guy said, gesturing a small bow towards Tobi. "We could've met in a much less tensed manner." He calmly said which also made Tobi less hysterical. "I'm Professor Trevor Lachlan Montgomery. Prof. Trevor or just Professor would be just fine." He reached out his arm and so did Tobi for a handshake.
"I know you're immensely confused of what's happening right now." Prof. Trevor started to explain, "It's quite scary I might say but here's what our world has become. People with an Anomaly and those who doesn't co-exist but in a not that pleasant manner. All we ask of you for now is to understand. What I can assure you is we don't mean any harm to you and to the rest of the world. What we aim for is to stop those who does."
"Give me time to process this." Tobi said as he tried his best to understand the situation. "So you mean to say Prof that you're the good guys and there are bad guys that you need to stop from doing terrible things?" He asked the Prof.
"Technically, yes. Based on our recent intelligence, they're also rounding up our kind but their goal is to exterminate us and rule all the lands for themselves." Prof. Trevor confirmed.
"Damn, what did I put myself into?" He whispered to himself. " Let's say I decided to help you with whatever cause you have, how can I do that?" He asked as he slowly grew a trust for the guy. He confirmed that the place is pretty peaceful from the room they're currently in, the field from the outside that he sees from the window, and the joy he sees from the faces of people outside.
"Remember Anastasia mentioned that you have an Anomaly, yes?" The Professor said. "What we can do for now is to have her read your mind more deeply to discover if not trigger your gift. Don't worry it won't hurt. It will just feel like you're dreaming."
"I'm not so sure." Tobi said as he suddenly remembered what happened to Raf's parents. "I appreciate you taking care of me but I really need to think this through."
"I understand. Would you like to stay or you want to go home?"
"I'd prefer to go home. Thank you."
"Very well then. I'll have Thandiwe take you a lift back home."
"Uh, okay. Thanks." Tobi said. He doesn't have the guts to decline since the Professor seems very nice.
"Please ready yourself at the front of the mansion in 20 minutes." Prof. Trevor said then showed himself off.
Tobi was once again left alone in the fancy bedroom still feeling dumbfounded yet interested at the same time. But he can't make himself decide if he'll help them or not due to dozens of factors he needs to consider like what would his friend feel about him since Raf detests Anomalies and the other fact that there are two forces in the Anomaly line which are the good and evil so he's also thinking of helping the good side. He took off from bed, ate the food that was prepared earlier, put on his clothes then headed to the front door of the mansion.
"What took you so long?" Thandiwe asked, obviously being irritated. "Sorry." Tobi apologizes just to avoid any argument because it is a bit of a challenge for him to look for the mansion's entrance. "Let's go?" A sweet voice said and it turned out to be Anastasia. "I asked the Professor if I can accompany you boys as well and luckily he approved." She explained.
The three started to walk along the fields outside the mansion heading to the parking lot where Thandiwe's car was. In Tobi's astonishment, he saw other Anomalies. It seemed that all of them were around the same age as they were. He witnessed a few running along the fields, some wrestling among the grass, some jamming with guitar music, and some doing their own stuff. It really does feel that they're living a much more peaceful life here compared to the outside.
"I see you noticed the rest of the Anomalies." Tobi heard in his mind. He immediately looked at Anastasia.
"Can you not do that?" Tobi asked trying to be polite.
"Do what?" She asked.
"The thing you're doing with my mind. It's making me uncomfortable." Tobi explained.
"I'm sorry." She apologized then went silent with now a blank expression on her face as she watched the Anomalies from afar.
"Just so you know, man." Thandiwe suddenly said, "Without Anastasia's Anomaly, she's considered deaf and mute. So thanks to her gift, she can communicate with us freely." He exclaimed then Tobi suddenly felt guilty.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I just didn't know." Tobi apologized then Anastasia was quick to forgive.
"That's fine. I understand." She said now wearing her sweet smile.
As they walked across the field, Tobi witnessed something and he couldn't believe his eyes. He saw someone floating in midair. From a few meters away, he saw a girl somehow controlling her hair to take on different shapes and someone was inhumanly stretching his limbs at the pond area. This is too much Anomaly for him to take then suddenly he feels his head pumping again making him pause for a bit.
"Are you alright?" Anastasia asked in worry.
"Here we go again." Thandiwe sarcastically said.
"I'm perfectly fine. I just need some time to breathe." Tobi said. Anastasia noticed that the headaches intensified every passing second so she decided to do something.
"Reach out your arm." She told Tobi then she took a syringe from her bag.
"This will help remove the pain." She said then injected the fluid into Tobi's arm. Surprisingly, the headaches immediately stopped.
"What is that? I need a few of those." Tobi asked.
"It's a special medicine specifically modified to your headaches by the Professor. I told him that you randomly suffer from headaches so he made you this. Don't worry, we already put a few of these in your bag. The Professor said the effectivity of this medicine is a good one whole week so it's pretty helpful for you."
"That's so cool. I really appreciate it!" Tobi commended.
"Do you think it has something to do with your Anomaly?" Thandiwe butts in.
"What do you mean?" Tobi asked. "It's normal for someone to suffer from occasional headaches."
"Yes, it's normal for most people but not in your case." Thandiwe pointed out but it sounded like he's not that really interested in that subject due to his monotonous tone of voice.
"Since we ran into each other, you have that headache with you. Up until now, you've been dealing with it." He added making Tobi realize this too. "So I just thought that it's probably has something to do with your Anomaly or that IS your Anomaly." He ends as he makes fun of Tobi.
"Jokes aside though but that might be true." Anastasia agreed. "Great thinking, brother."
Tobi realized it but he couldn't pinpoint what the Anomaly they were referring to because the only thing strange that was happening to him was the sudden headaches that he's been getting. He watched Anastasia think about making something out of the situation but it seems that she's having a hard time. Thandiwe is just walking not giving any damn at all.
They finally reached Thandiwe's car but the three of them noticed that Thandiwe would not be able to drive it off since there were two other cars blocking the driveway. In Tobi's shock, Thandiwe just walked towards those cars then he raised his arms which seemed that he was mustering his strength, and planned to lift both cars away from the driveway. Thandiwe's arms suddenly changed from human arms to gorilla arms and as he thought, Thandiwe lifted those cars away gently with his beastly limbs. Now the driveway's clear, they can now head off.
"What did just happen?" Tobi asked moments after they took off.
"That's my Anomaly." Thandiwe confirmed.
"He can transform parts of his body to any body parts of any animal he knows." Anastasia explained. "Aside from the gorilla arms moments ago, you also saw him turn his arm to a snake from the infirmary." She added.
"So you can't do a full transformation?" Tobi followed up.
"That's what I've been training myself for." Thandiwe answered.
It's an interesting gift to have. Being able to transform into any animal at your will depends on what the situation asks. You can grow a pair of wings if you want to fly to touch the clouds, you can transform into a monkey so you can swing from tree to tree in the Amazon or you can grow shark-like features to experience lying down on the seabed or if you want to catch and devour other fish raw and bloody.
This intensifies Tobi's interest to discover his own Anomaly and what are the things he can do out of it but he still can't take out the fact that his friend Raf will be devastated by this discovery. Tobi continued to weigh things from the pros to the cons. Thinking over a hundred times as to what will happen if he helps Prof Trevor or just declines the offer and walks away. Thinking this over and over again felt like inviting the headaches back so he's trying his best to stay as calm as possible.
"Where are we heading again?" Thandiwe asked.
"Take me home, please." Tobi answered.
"Oh, by the way. I've been getting tons of messages from your friend Raf since we took you to the mansion." Anastasia shared. "You should visit him once you came back or contact him at least."
"That bastard." Tobi said as he chuckled a little, "How long have I been in your mansion?"
"You've been with us for 3 days after your latest pass out."
"Say what now?" Tobi exclaimed. "I've been on coma for half a week?"
"No need to panic. You just slept for 3 days. No need to overreact."
"You're right. After everything I learned and saw today, me being unconscious for 3 straight days is nothing unordinary. Really. It's nothing." Tobi responded with a sarcastic tone.
"I could really use some silence here." Thandiwe said. "Thank you very much."
After a few hours of being on the road, the three are still not at their destination. Thandiwe seems to enjoy the silence since no one is talking from any of them. Anastasia seems to be used to the silence but Tobi is more and more awkward at this silence due to his curiosity so he attempted to dig into Thandiwe and Anastasia's lives.
"So, I noticed that you addressed him as your brother earlier." Tobi started to throw a question. "Are you really siblings?" He asked. "It doesn't show though base on your physical looks."
"Yes, we're siblings." Anastasia answered. "But not by blood. We were adopted by Professor Trevor." She confirmed.
"He's your father?" Tobi exclaimed.
"Any problems with that?" Thandiwe asked.
"Nothing. I just asked. So how did you guys meet?" He asked Anastasia.
"I was discovered by the Professor while he's in Proud Russia. Since I was deaf and mute, I studied and worked at a clinic that's being managed by a local church. One day, he paid a visit to our clinic to fetch some medicines. He is surprisingly good at sign language so I personally assisted him then he finally got what he came for so he headed out and we gestured farewell to each other. He passed through a construction site just in front of our clinic. I suddenly saw falling debris from the site that's falling towards where the professor is walking. I tried to get his attention but all I can do is yell at him from my mind."
"Then what happened?"
"The Professor instinctively looked up then jumped off to the road for safety. After all the rumbling sounds, I rushed towards him and checked if he's fine. As I thought if he's fine, if he's hurt somewhere, or if he broke a bone. While he's lying on the road, he suddenly hushed me and said 'Can you tone down a bit? I'm fine.' Then I became astonished of his response because no one ever heard me before aside from myself. I looked to his entire body to see if his injured or something and I saw his right leg severely dislocated. After seeing that I screamed in my thoughts in panic. He once again hushed me and said 'Hey, hey, hey. No need to panic. I just told you I'm fine. Look.' Then I was dumbfounded of what I saw."
"What did you see?"
"It seemed that he briefly concentrated while looking at his dislocated leg. It slowly healed itself and it went back to its original form after a few seconds. He immediately got up to his feet like nothing happened. I went silent after seeing that even my thoughts are not processing anything. 'Thanks for giving me a heads up. But I thought you're mute?' He asked. I asked if he can hear my thoughts and he confirmed that he can. His expression suddenly changed as if he won a lottery. He took me out for a coffee, explained to me his mission, I agreed, talked to his connections from the church and Viola! I was adopted."
"The Professor is an Anomaly too? Well, no need to validate that. I felt like he's one of you."
"So that's how I met the Professor." Anastasia ended the story.
"How about you, Thandiwe? How did you guys meet?"
"Here's how we met him." Anastasia started but she stopped as Thandiwe called out her name. "Maybe next time." She said.
A few more kilometers passed and they finally reached their destination. The siblings dropped Tobi off at his house then Tobi proactively invited them to stay a bit to freshen up since they traveled quite a distance. Anastasia immediately agreed which left Thandiwe no other choice but to come inside as well. Then, the three of them made themselves comfortable in the living room as they drank some refreshments.
"How's your headaches, Tobi?" Anastasia checked on Tobi.
"The pumps in my head have been manageable since the Professor formulated that vaccine." Tobi confirmed. "The funny thing is it seemed that the headaches got on another level higher right after we enter the house but the good thing is it's still manageable." He explained. Suddenly, the guys noticed that Anastasia went silent and it seemed that she was scared of something.
"Hush, you guys! I can hear sinister thoughts somewhere in the area." She said with a whispering gesture. "Thandiwe, echolocation!" She commands then Thandiwe's head suddenly becomes a bat. A huge bat head. He made a weird sound and he turned his head back to normal after a few seconds. "I sensed two figures. One from the front porch and the other is in the backyard!" He confirmed.
As the three try to make something out of what's happening, they hear utensils breaking and crashing from the kitchen which has a door connected to the backyard. Then, a dark humanoid figure slowly came out from the kitchen. It looked at its hands and feet and it touched its torso it was as if he was not completely aware that it was alive. As it realized that he was actually animated, it glared at the three turning its pitch-black eyes to bloody red ones. The three cautiously prepared themselves to flee but the dark figure ran towards them and attempted to attack. Just before the dark figure reached its first strike at Anastasia, Thandiwe blocked the attack with his transformed gorilla arms.
"Read its mind and see what they came here for!" Thandiwe exclaimed, still battling his strength with the dark figure.
"I'm trying but this guy is empty!" Anastasia responded. "That thing is not alive! It's being controlled somehow." She confirmed.
Thandiwe and the dark figure showed their strengths blow by blow. As those two have their fierce hand-to-hand combat, Anastasia and Tobi are forced to take cover in the far corner of the living room. Tobi looked at Anastasia and it seemed that he was having a hard time getting into the minds of the attackers. Tobi suddenly felt a piercing sensation through his right hand even though nothing was there causing him to scream in pain.
"What's wrong?" Anastasia asked in worry.
"I feel a sharp object piercing through my hand!" Tobi confirmed then he started to feel his left hand being pierced as well making him scream once again. Anastasia noticed his agony then she rested her hand on Tobi's head.
"I'll help you numb the pain." Anastasia said that even though the piercing sensation from both hands is there, Tobi can manage the pain.
"I'm connected to the other enemy! I'll go and disrupt its thoughts." Anastasia confirmed. As she helps numb Tobi's pain, she's also dealing with the enemy through her mental prowess.
"About time." Thandiwe said.
While the two maximized their Anomalies to defend themselves, Tobi once again felt something piercing through him but this time, it was through his abdominal area which felt like a pipe and it's slowly impaling through his insides. Even though he's still being assisted by Anastasia to numb the pain he's feeling, this does nothing with this impaling so Tobi screams due to the excruciating pain. He fell to the ground and as he sent his final scream, something strange happened but it was familiar to Anastasia and Thandiwe.
The excruciating pain that Tobi felt from different parts of his body suddenly vanished. Even though he's left lying on the ground, the pain already went away and he's just catching his breath due to exhaustion. He then noticed that he was not hearing anything from Anastasia. He slowly looked at her and he saw her with a dumbfounded expression and he then noticed Thandiwe stopped from his position with his arms already turned to its original form. He saw the dark humanoid figure fall to the ground, stay there for a second then make itself look like someone cast their shadow then it slithered away to where it came from as if being magnetized.
"Everyone alright?" Thandiwe reacted.
"I'm fine. I'm not feeling pierced anymore." Tobi answered. "I'm just feeling exhausted right now."
Anastasia gestured to the boys to huddle up to where they were seated earlier as they still tried to collect themselves. Even though Anastasia's been pretty silent, all three of them think of the same thing. They're thinking of who the enemies are, why did they attack and what is their purpose? The most intriguing topic to ask is how all that action stopped. A few minutes of awkward silence passed and it seemed that the three of them recovered from all the ruckus. Someone decided to break the ice.
Anastasia asked Thandiwe if he was alright in sign language. Thandiwe told his sister that he was fine in sign language as well. In Thandiwe's curiosity, he asked her, in hand gestures still, why is she doing sign language if she could speak to them through their thoughts. She suddenly closed her eyes then concentrated a bit then she was able to get to their thoughts again. They can hear her but it sounds like she's underwater with all the rumbling sounds then switch to her voice sounding like they're in a cave with all the echoes and finally, she seems to have found the right frequency as her voice sounds normal again.
"Can you guys hear me now?" She asked.
"Finally! You're with us again." Thandiwe commended.
"I can't seem to connect to your thoughts back there." She responded.
"I think I'm the one responsible for that." Tobi whispered to himself but the others noticed.
"Responsible for what?" Anastasia asked.
"That. I think I'm the one who stopped them from attacking." Tobi answered still unsure of himself as well.
"Come on, don't be too full of yourself." Thandiwe reacted. "Maybe their goal is just to scare us off and see what are our Anomalies then fled right after confirming it." He added.
"You have a point there, brother. But, it doesn't explain why our Anomalies stopped working." Anastasia pointed.
"I might've unintentionally lost my grip to my Anomaly due to exhaustion. " Thandiwe answered.
"I doubt that. You're not the type of person who'll be exhausted that quick in a fist fight. I admit that my Anomaly stopped but I know I still have a few more stamina left for me to use so there's no way that I'll turn it off unintentionally." She explained.
"So, what are you saying? Tobi here really did stop all of those with his Anomaly alone?" Thandiwe reacted with a hint of sarcasm.
"I'm very much confident that he did. But, I'm not quite sure what he can exactly do with his Anomaly." Anastasia answered then Thandiwe shut up to prevent this discussion from becoming an argument.
"I think I know what my Anomaly is." Tobi suddenly said with a somehow firm tone of voice even though he was still affected by the recent action. "I can cancel out others' Anomalies."
"There's no way!" Thandiwe exclaimed. "I didn't imagine such ability could exist."
"Come to think of it, Thandiwe. This isn't the first time it happened to us." Anastasia said remembering a familiar encounter similar to what happened earlier. "This is the same thing back in the infirmary when we're trying to calm him down."
"Or you guys tried to strangle me." Tobi commented.
"You know that's not what we meant but yeah, you forced yourself to fight back since you thought that we'll kill you and as you let out the rest of your energy, our Anomalies turned off." She explained.
"Just like earlier. When I thought that I'm going to die, I screamed with everything I've got then everything just went radio silent." Tobi responded in agreement with Anastasia.
"I won't be convinced unless I see it with my own two eyes." Thandiwe said as he tried to deny the facts Tobi and Anastasia said. He immediately turned his head into a mockingbird and then gestured to show off Tobi's Anomaly. Tobi concentrated for a while but Thandiwe's head didn't turn back to normal. Tobi tried touching Thandiwe's mockingbird head and thought of canceling the Anomaly but it didn't work. In his final attempt, he tried to scream as loud as he could and then thought of turning Thandiwe's head back but as Thandiwe expected, nothing happened. Thandiwe just mimicked Tobi's scream still in his mockingbird form as some kind of an insult.
"So what do we have here, sis?" Thandiwe asked as he turned his head back to normal showing that Tobi had nothing to do with what happened.
"I'm sorry." Tobi apologized thinking that he mistakenly thought that he awakened his Anomaly. "I was wrong. I might've just hit my head somewhere and made me say that." He explained then Thandiwe chuckled. The guys looked at Anastasia since she was not responding to them and they saw her smiling happily as if something great happened. She suddenly talked to Thandiwe in sign language again.
"Don't play with me Anastasia." Thandiwe reacted with a shocked face. "Don't pretend that your Anomaly was canceled to support this guy's claim." He continued. As Tobi tried to cancel Thandiwe's Anomaly earlier, Anastasia's Anomaly was the one impacted instead. Even though it didn't turn out as planned, at least it did work. Thandiwe still refuses to believe it but since Anastasia explained the situation via sign language, Thandiwe seemed to give this idea a chance.
"Fine but I'll still be watching you, Tobias Liu." Thandiwe made a remark.
"But we need to further look into this for us to be 100% sure. We also need to notify the Professor." Anastasia said. "Will you now come and join us? Besides, your house is a wreck." She added.
Even before Tobi can respond to Anastasia's invite, they hear someone knocking on the front door. The three immediately prepared for another round of fighting. Thandiwe stood up as he transformed his arms back to his gorilla arms. The other two placed themselves at the back of Thandiwe then they took a defensive stance. They were immediately calmed down as they heard who that was.
"T, you home?" Raf yelled from the outside. He then tried to peek through the windows but he seemed not to see anything. Tobi went to fetch the door.
"What happened here?" Raf asked as he went inside the house. "Oh, hi Thandiwe! Why are you here? Ms. Clinic? You're here too?" He added as he saw the two loitering inside.
The four of them sat down in the living room and Tobi, Anastasia, and Thandiwe explained to Raf what they were doing in the house and what happened there less the Anomaly theories, the attack, and Tobi's discovery of his Anomaly. They made it look like the house was already wrecked when they got there and they were also lost as to what actually happened. They told Raf that the bruises they had were from a minor car accident but they saved Raf's worrying as they pinched in a few made-up alibis about it.
"Well you should crash in our house for a while 'til you get these all fixed." Raf suggested. "Besides, Mom and Eden wants to see you." He added.
Tobi remembered that he used to play with Raf's younger sister before. Tobi tried to weigh his decision because his also considering Anastasia's offer to come back to the Professor's mansion to learn more about his Anomaly or continue with his normal life living under his friend's roof. Finally, he made a decision.
"Alright, fine." Tobi said. "I'll stay with you guys just until my home insurance company fix this mess." He added as he talks to his friend making Anastasia feel bad for a second but she showed that she understood the decision and Thandiwe still didn't give any damn.
"Boom!" Raf said in excitement. "Let's go. I'll bet Eden will be very happy."