I arrive just before the bell goes off and sit down next to Luca.
"Hey." I say to him.
"Hi, how was your morning so far?"
"It was fine. The usual."
"Cool."
He is holding back the question he wants to ask, and I can tell. Hopefully he will hold off and let me tell him when I am ready. I hope Daniel finds out who he is soon.
The class settles down and the teacher begins to speak.
"Okay students, today is the project presentations. I hope you are all ready and have your projects with you. This will be worth ten percent of your final mark."
Some people gasp from around the room. If they read the project sheet, they would have already known that.
"First up is Britany and Emily."
I have not met Emily yet, but I notice that she follows Britany around a lot. They're presentation is on the prophecy that is about me.
"So, this prophecy is about a powerful girl that will be either good or evil." Britany starts.
"She is a goddess and the most powerful of them all. The girls same is supposed to be Chara, her powers are unknown." Emily chimes in.
"No one has heard of this Chara and it is unlikely that she is on the earth today. Some believe that the part about her name is false and that anyone could be her. I mean I could be goddess from the prophecy considering how strong my power is."
"That's all."
The class claps and whispers to each other. Some more pairs pass by and there are quite a few on the prophecy about me. Finally, it is our turn to go. We are the last presentation before the class ends. Luca carries the poster board up to the front and I bring up the cue cards.
I start with a quote of the prophecy, "this prophecy is about a boy who will go through hell and escape after many years. He will possess amazing powers; however, he must not let them consume him. Many believe he is Aluca right hand man now, but no one, except the gods, know for sure what happened to this boy. We have speculations about who this boy could possibly be."
Luca states some of the people, mostly forgotten gods. I take the last theory though.
"I believe the most realistic guess to who this boy is, is Noc, God of the Night. He was believed to be Aluca's right hand man and that is why he was banished to Valanter seventeen years ago. Other than Noc, there has been no record of anyone else working with Aluca."
I see shocked faces around the room, even the teacher looked shocked. I guess no one ever thought of that possibility before.
"Thank you, Luca and Kate, for the presentation," the bell rings, "I will see you guys at the tournament tomorrow."
I turn to Luca, "what tournament?"
"I have no clue, how about we ask Jack in last period."
I nod and we head to math. Math goes by as usual; I work ahead, and Britany does not know the answers. Today I am sitting next to Luca.
At lunch Luca and I head to the cafeteria. We are sitting down for all of five minutes before some guys come up to us, I recognize one of them.
"Hey Kate! How are you?" John asks.
"I'm good. What are you doing?"
"The guys didn't believe I knew the famous Kate Smith who took down, not only Britany, but also Jason in practice."
Famous?
"Thanks, I guess. It was really nothing much."
"Nothing much?" one of the guys exclaim, "it was amazing! No one has been able to take either of them down before you."
Oh, I did not know that. Crap.
"I didn't know that."
"Are you excited for the tournament tomorrow? I think you have a chance of winning." Another guy states.
"Yeah she does, but not against me," one of the guys laugh.
"What exactly if the tournament?" I ask.
"Oh right, you guys are new. Every student goes head to head to find out who the strongest student in the school is." John explains.
I nod.
"So, who are all of you guys?" Luca questions.
"Oops, sorry forgot to introduce ourselves. I am John Craning, I met Kate at a coffee shop on Monday. I have super speed."
"I am Callum Pierce, I have invisibility," the guy who asked me if I am excited for the tournament tomorrow says.
"And I am Peter Malik, I have super strength and telepathy."
He is the one that says I couldn't beat him.
"So, you are one of the three Di's at the school?" I ask.
"That's me. What are your guys' powers?"
"I can control fire and shadows." Luca tells them.
"Ah, so you are the new Di here," Peter states.
"Yup."
"So how about you Kate?" Callum asks.
"You don't know already?"
They all shake their heads. So, everyone know I beat Britany and Jason; however, they do not know how.
"I have telekinesis, teleportation, and I can control fire."
Their jaws drop open, they stay silent for a while.
Luca leans over to me and whispers, "are they okay? They haven't spoken or moved for a while."
I shrug my shoulders, "I have no clue."
"So, the rumors about there being a Tri at the school are true? I thought that was just a silly rumor," Callum shouts, the cafeteria falls silent.
"Shut it Callum, not so loud," John says to him then turns to the cafeteria, "he is only joking guys, calm down."
"Okay, so maybe you do have a chance against me in the tournament," Peter chuckles.
"We will see tomorrow I guess."
I look at the time and we have to head to power practice. We say goodbye to the guys and walk towards the change rooms. We meet on the field and walk over to Jack; the whole class is already there. I wonder why they are so early today.
"We can now start," Jack says, "as everyone already knows, tomorrow is the power tournament. You will be going against the other students in the school to compete for the strongest student in the school. Today is preparation day for you to work on whatever you would like. You may now start."
Everyone breaks off and Luca asks me to go against him so he can practice his shadow control.
We walk over to the trees so there are shadows for him to use. We get ready in our stances and to start off I let him try out his power first. He makes the darkness of the shadows engulf me so that I cannot see a thing. It is pitch black; I can't even see Luca. He then lets the shadow down.
"That was awesome Luca! It was pitch black all around me. Do you think you can fight like that?"
"Let's see."
He sets the darkness up again and I prepare myself for him to come at me. I feel a punch hit me in my stomach and then I use my telekinesis to shield me from another punch. I feel him punch the shield; he flies back, and I can see again. He is lying on the ground. I run up to him and kneel on the ground.
"Are you okay? I didn't mean to send you flying back like that. I'm sorry."
"It's alright, I am okay. That is a very helpful tool though."
"I guess it is. Can you do anything else with the shadows? How about using them to attack instead of blind your opponent?"
"I have not tried before," he gets up and I do the same, "let's try."
I get ready again and I see Luca close his eyes; concentrating. Out of the shadows I see a black silhouette forming, but then it disappears, and Luca opens his eyes breathing heavily.
"You almost had it, I could see it forming. After practicing a few times, I bet you can do it with ease."
"Thanks Kate," he says still breathing heavily, "I really appreciate your help."
"Anytime, come on. Let's go over to the bleachers so you can rest."
I help Luca over to the bleachers and he sits down. Jack comes over to us.
"You okay Luca?"
"I'm fine, I was trying something new and it took a lot of energy. That's all."
"Yeah he was doing really great!"
"Awesome, I am excited to see how you guys will place in the tournament tomorrow. You are both very strong."
"Thank you, Jack." I say.
"I want you to go train with Jason for a bit Kate, and when you are feeling better Luca, I want you go to train with Britany."
"Okay, see you Luca."
"See you."
I walk over to Jason, "Hey Jason, you ready to train?"
"Ready as I will ever be."
"I will try not to break you this time."
He laughs, "thanks, I appreciate that."
I hold out my hand as a nice gesture and he shakes it. We take a couple steps back from each other and he transforms into his beautiful wolf. We begin to circle each other, and he decides to attack first. Instead of sending him flying back I lift him into the air and let him float there for a minute. He barks and I let him down slowly. I teleport behind Jason and he looks confused, I laugh, and he whips around. He jumps and scratches me across my face, there is a scratch going from my temple to the corner of my lip. He whines as if to say he is sorry.
"It's fine Jason."
He transforms back to his human anyway.
"I really didn't mean to hurt you, I'm so sorry."
"Jason, really it's okay. It doesn't hurt at all."
"I should take you to the nurse."
"It's ok..."
he cuts me off, "nonsense, let's go."
He takes me to the nurse, and it is the same lady that helped me with Luca and Jason.
"Geez girl, same guy two days in a row?"
"No, this time Jason made me come because he scratched my cheek. I told him I am fine, but he insisted that I come here."
"Oh, well congratulations Jason!"
"Not really. She was going easy on me so I would be all good to fight in the tournament tomorrow."
"Alright, that was very nice of you Kate."
"Yeah, I guess. So, can I go now?"
"You should get some stitches. It is a pretty nasty scratch."
"No thanks, I am fine. Come on Jason, let's go back to class."
The bell rings.
"Let me take you home instead."
I roll my eyes, "fine. Bye."
"Goodbye, I am sure I will see you again soon," the nurse winks.
We walk towards the girl's dorm.
"So, are you excited for the tournament tomorrow?" Jason asks.
"I think it will be fun. I don't know many people at this school so, going against new people with new powers will be fun."
"Hey, if you ever want to talk to someone about anything, I am here okay?" he says as we arrive at the house.
"Thanks."
"Goodnight Kate."
"Goodnight Jason, be careful walking back."
"Will do."
I see Jason turn and shift into his big, dark brown wolf. He shoots me a wink and takes off into the forest. I head upstairs into my bedroom and sit down on the bed. I reach up a hand to my face where the cut lays and I feel my hand become overwhelmed with a tingling sensation. That feeling moves to my face and I run to the bathroom mirror to see what is going on. The scratch is healing itself, repairing itself. I am fascinated and stare in the mirror until it is fully healed, looking as if there was never anything there. I head to bed not long after the incident, thinking over what other powers I may possess. Neither of my parents have the power of healing. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen except I have no clue what it is.
I wake up and throw on a black pair of tights and a blue, cropped workout shirt. I put my hair into two Dutch braids and head downstairs to grab a muffin, granola bar, and an apple.
"Hey girl! You ready for the tournament?" Alana walks into the kitchen.
"As ready as I will ever be. How about you?" I ask taking a bite out of my apple.
"I'm so excited! I hope I do better than last year. There are 254 students that participate in the tournament and I came in 178th place."
"I don't think I ever asked this, but what is your power?"
"Oh right, I have the power of flight."
"That is awesome!" I exclaim, "What about Ryla?"
"I can breathe underwater. I never get far in the tournament because that power does not help be fight."
"That is still pretty cool!"
I finish my apple.
"Come on, we should get going to get in some practice time before the tournament begins."
We walk through the forest, eating my blueberry muffin on the way.
"Damn girl, I have never seen you eat this much!" Ryla tells me.
"I know I am going to need all of my energy today, so I am preparing."
"That is really smart, I may stop by the cafeteria on the way to the field." Alana says.
"Me too," Ryla agrees.
I head to the back field to wait for Alana and Ryla, as I step into view there are so many students out there. Jason runs up to me and give me a hug.
"Kate! How are you feeling?"
Crap, I forgot about the scratch being totally healed. He releases me from his embrace when I didn't answer. He looks at me shocked and confused.
"How...what..." he stutters.
"Just please let it go, I don't want to talk about it."
He nods, I can see in his eyes that there are a million questions racing through his mind.
"Come on, let's get out there."
We walk onto the field, John, Callum, and Peter come up to Jason and me.
"Hey guys! You ready to lose?" Peter asks.
"Nope, I am ready to win. Be prepared to go down Peter." I say.
He smiles, "you wish."
We talk for a bit until I see Luca across the field. He waves to me and I smile back. I excuse myself from the guys and walk over to Luca. Gosh, I don't have many friendships with girls.
"Hey, you ready?" Luca questions.
"Of course, you?"
"Oh yeah."
We talk about nothing in particular until the principal come on the speaker.
"Hello everyone. You all need to take your spots on the bleachers as the tournament will be starting soon."
Luca and I sit by the guys and await the next announcement.
"Okay, now that you are all settled, we will be starting the competition. First to fight is Emily and Pelan. Emily can speak to animals and Pelan is a fairy," they take their stances, "begin!"
The fight goes on for about ten minutes, birds are swooping down at Pelan, but Pelan blocks the attack with a vine shield around her. When the birds leave, she lets her shield down and uses vines to tangle around Emily. Emily struggles, but cannot move. Pelan uses the vines to pin Emily to the ground and Emily gives up.
A few more fights pass, it is time for Britany to go against Brett. Brett has really improved his skills and has a chance at winning against Britany. I cheer his name and the guys chime in. Britany sends a strong gush of wind at Brett and he pulls up a shield, his feet slipping through the grass.
"Roll!" I yell to Brett.
He spins his body to the right and Britany stumbles forward. Brett takes this opportunity to push her down with his telekinesis. He holds her there, focusing on her arms so she cannot use her powers. She huffs and gives up.
The guys and I stand up cheering for Brett at is victory. He has the biggest smile on his face as he runs up to where I am sitting.
"Congratulations Brett! I knew you could do it!" I cheer.
"Thank you so much Kate! I won thanks to you!"
"It was all you Brett! Good job!"
We settle down and Brett sits with us. A few more fights pass, and Brett's sister Carly makes her way over to where we are and sits. Luca wins his fight, and John wins against Callum. Soon it is Peter's turn and he is paired with someone named Lucy. They get ready. Lucy begins by drenching Peter in water and his eyes widen. I am confused by why he is scared. Before Lucy could continue, Peter runs up and punches Lucy hard across her face, making her launch backwards. She hits hard against the ground; however, it doesn't stop her. dark clouds begin to come into view, and I am afraid it will start raining. I hear thunder and suddenly a lightning strike comes down and hits Peter; he flies back. I realize this is the other Di at the school. He sits up and closes his really trying to focus. Suddenly the clouds clear and Lucy's hands shoot over her ears and she falls to her knees, then onto the ground. I notice that Peter is sending a high pitch frequency through his telepathy power to Lucy. The match is over and Peter wins.
I am in a couple of matches, but they are over quickly. I rise through the ranks until I am going against another person for first place. That person is Peter; no shock there.
We get ready and the principal's voice blares through the speakers.
"Begin!"