I didn't even notice I was crying until I felt a droplet splat on my hand. Crynn was watching me with concern.
"Raylee? Are you okay?"
I nodded my head. Did he know? Did he know that he was my replacement because I wasn't crazy, but because I was a faulty experiment? My voice shook.
"I'm okay, since that was your question it's my turn again."
Crynn glared at me.
"Did you trick me so you could go again? Gosh, I hate the way you loony bin people play 20 Questions!" He crossed his arms and sat on the cement floor with me so we were almost eye to eye through the gaps in my bars. I clear my throat.
"Do you know? Do you know why I'm in Illwood? Why I was carted off like property at three years old? Why my so-called loving parents never visit? Why bars are separating us? Why you were even created?" Crynn looked frightened but curious. Good.
"N-no, Mom and Dad only said that something went wrong with your birth and that you weren't well. Wh-what happened?���
I laugh humorlessly and Crynn shrinks back. I'd scoff if I wasn't laughing so hard right now. Does this kid even know how to shock someone? He has dark purple hair for crying out loud! Well, not as dark as mine.
"Something went wrong? Ha! You could say that again! Everything about my birth went wrong! I was an experiment, Lara and Root Damini were supposed to bear the very first Heavie daughter. I was supposed to be the first. They wanted the attention and the new power connected to their name." I scoff aloud this time, "Pathetic! They just wanted to pour a whole bunch of different elements into one empty shell of a child! And this is what they got. The first Heavie, me. The first person to be able to control Gravity with the flick of my wrist!"
I laugh with no humor again. I don't notice that Crynn starts to scoot farther away from the bars separating us. I don't notice the bars start to crunch into themselves like a strong, invisible force is squeezing them together jerkily. I don't notice the crackle of the speakers, alerting anyone in the hall that the guards are listening in. I don't notice the wild way my hands are moving through the air. I don't notice the hysterical pitch my voice has reached. I don't notice the crazy gleam in my eyes. I wouldn't though, I'm too caught up in my emotions.
"Well, it's not all fun and games! Every week," My voice cracks and tears spill down my cheeks, "My body goes to war with itself, my lungs push away from each other because they have the same charge, my kidneys can't bear to be near my bladder, my liver is shoving my spleen away and my intestines are trying to straighten out into parallel lines." My voice starts to fail me so I look at Crynn, his horrified face looks back at me and I clutch my chest while my heart pangs.
"They should have killed me, should have ended my misery before it started, instead I was spoiled from day one. I was the start of a new, powerful ability so of course, I was treated like a princess." I wipe my eyes, "I was treated like a princess until I was three when every child gets to access their powers for the first time." I smiled weakly at Crynn.
"I started floating, I was weightless and was stuck against the ceiling in the living room. I couldn't figure out how to get down so I made all the furniture float, lamps broke and wooden tables collapsed. Mother was laughing but I could tell it was forced. I felt a pain in my gut and fell from the ceiling along with everything else, my body started trying to tear itself apart. It was awful. I remember I blacked out and woke up in my room, tied to my bed. Everything looked like it was thrown around, my sheets stuck to me with static and so did some magnetic objects." My expression soured and I glared hard at the ground.
"They came for me that night. I was shoved in a glass box and brought here. They told me that my name was now Raylee Farren because I had no family. They told me they would help me. They told me I would love it here. They told me that my family would visit. They told me I had a little brother." I look at Crynn's face, it's lit up with shock but also curiosity. I took a deep breath before starting again.
"They taunted me. The guards said that my family was happy now, with a strong Sparkie boy who would carry on the family name. They said that my family never wanted me because I was a girl, they said I let my family down, no, Esmijan down. Mostly, they just looked at me like I was their greatest failure." I suck in a deep, shaky breath and whisper,
"They tried to kill me."