I sat at the edge of a jagged rock, fiddling with my nervous fingers. I had been placed in Zephyr, the house color being green. The base platform that supported the Ring Holder was surprisingly not as bright green as I thought. It was more of a foamy, dark green color with hues of silver in it. I looked at my group members and sighed heavily. I couldn't believe my luck. I was stuck in the same group as Shade Nuwolf.
Of all the people that I could be in a group with I had to be with the one person who will probably leave me to die. At least it was better than being paired with Zerakh Wuntaf or Hyrad Wail. Like my sweet boyfriend, Hayden. And the team we were pitted against.
Sure, I was shocked by the mixed groups made by Mr. Teydon, but being against Hayden was hard to swallow. Hayden was a shooting guard of the school's basketball team. Though the school team only played one team throughout the year, the rivalry was insane between Orbus High, my old school, and Urbe Academy, the rivaling school. In all, Hayden was athletic and by the looks of Zerakh and Hyrad, they looked like a formidable opponent.
Not to forget, Mr. Teydon allowed the Eybosnians to use their Nalins during the game. Although on the bright side, they weren't allowed to use it to hurt anyone or cause major damage. In his words, it was to see if the Eybosnians could use their powers properly or not. Didn't actually get why he would say that but you could say my interest was piqued.
I watched Shade walk over to our group and stand in a soldier's pose, with his arms locked behind his back. "Let's go over our plan. Tomas and I will be standing on the front lines," he said, nodding to a brawny kid beside him. Though Tomas was well-built, he was quite short for his age. His tight white T-shirt stretched across his overly muscular body and I could barely see half of his face because of his shaggy brown hair.
"Caseena, you will stay guard with 'her' here." Shade looked at me with narrow eyes. "You can do that at least?"
"I can." Grinning sarcastically. "Isn't it weird that you placed two girls to protect the Ring Holder while you guys are heading towards the enemy lines?" I asked as I crossed my arms across my chest.
Shade rolled his eyes before shifting towards me. "If it were only you, I would have dropped you like a hot bun in the middle of the enemy land. But Caseena's Nalin is what we need to protect our spot. We need someone with her. Tomas, like claimed, is incredible at shot put. So, I need him at the frontlines. Unless you think two 'jévons' can take care of Zerakh and Hyrad by themselves, then be my guest."
He was right. Tomas and I couldn't protect ourselves against Zerakh and Hyrad. And like hell I would go with Shade. But I wasn't going to accept that he was right. Clearly understanding that he was right and I've acknowledged it with my silence, Shade turned around and handed the green and silver ring to Tomas. They whispered amongst each other and walked deeper into the forest.
I sat back down again at the jagged rock and inspected the most beautiful and breath-taking Eybosnian I had ever seen. Her hair was a luscious shade of fire orange with highlights of strawberry blonde which fell right above her tailbone. Caseena twisted at her waist and looked at me. My eyes widened in surprise, being caught staring at her, and my face felt hot. I noticed her eyes were warm blue and she had a piercing on her straight nose.
She trotted towards me slowly, almost predatory, while my back stiffened in reflex. She placed her hands on her waist and relaxed her posture. "I just want to tell you something." Her voice was cut and dripped with a strong accent. I wondered where she was from. It was definitely not Eybosnia. "You may not like us. And frankly, it's a bit vice-versa. But you are my teammate, just like Shade and Tomas. So… remember, I've got your back." Caseena smiled. "Also, I like your earrings. They're very pretty."
My hand immediately flew to my ear. I remembered it was a pair of white gold earrings that Avery and Hayden had bought for me for Christmas last year. On the new planet, it was difficult to buy new jewelry but a certain jewelry shop in the Eybosnian town next to Earth Center sold jewelry made on Earth. Nobody knew how they had procured it but they did. I remembered crying that day because Avery and Hayden had to go outside the compound to buy the present. And all I had gotten were hand-knit sweaters and a box of dominoes for them.
I smiled back at Caseena. "You can buy them at Vantak Jewellers. It's in Linzot, near Earth's Center."
Caseena nodded. "Thank you. Now, hold my hand."
"What?"
"Hold it." She extended her hand.
I stared at her and frowned. How could her hands even look pretty? She looked at me with encouragement. Slowly, I raised my hand and placed it in her grasp. She grinned before placing her other hand on the Ring Holder. What was she doing? Suddenly, her hair turned red and orange light emitted from her palms. It was oddly warm and the light engulfed me in an embrace.
"What the?" I tilted my head towards Caseena. She looked down at me with a grin. The light steadily simmered down and she dropped my hand slowly. She moved back and faced towards the forest. "What just happened?"
"I used my powers," she said as a matter-of-fact.
"And that would be?"
"I've dissolved our tracks. Now, if Hyrad wants to find us, she wouldn't be able to."
"Why wouldn't she be able to?"
Caseena sat down on the platform of the Ring Holder. "Hyrad is a tracker. You might've not noticed, but her nose is not actually not a nose. It's her Nalin. Her true nose looks a bit different. Um, I guess what you would call a dog's nose. Anyway, it helps her track her prey. That's us, right now. But my power is to evade our tracks. So, if anyone comes sniffing, they wouldn't be able to find us."
"That's what Shade meant. You're the perfect defense. The antithesis to Hyrad's thesis," I said. Caseena grinned in agreement. It was the first time I had witnessed the powers of Eybosnians when they weren't trying to fool us or trip us during a game.
Time passed and I began to get bored. Though it would have been worse if Caseena was the silent, brooding type. Instead, she was quite a chatter. She spoke about various things, like the tourist spots in Eybosnia and her favorite foods and drinks, and apparently theater because Eybosnians don't believe in televised 'garbage'.
None of which I was particularly interested in but glad to have found out. What I was actually fascinated about was the location of her Nalin. "Caseena, may I ask you about your Nalin?"
"What about it?"
"Why don't you have one? I've noticed a lot of you don't have Nalins."
Caseena chuckled. "Just because you can't see it, it doesn't mean we don't have it. Did you notice Hyrad's nose Nalin? No, you did not. Not all us have Nalin that are too obvious. But most do. Like Principal Halp. Now, that is some… Nalin." She grimaced.
"Too big?"
"Too big." Caseena nodded.
Caseena and I began to chuckle, remembering Mr. Halp's forehead Nalin. "So, what is yours?"
"My hair."
"Your hair?"
"My hair changed colors. You didn't notice? Seriously, if you want to survive in this school or in this city, you need to start to pay attention, Nyla." Caseena shook her head in disappointment.
"I… I noticed. It turned red. Wait, Nalin stores your powers. If your hair is your Nalin, then is that the reason why it's so long?"
Caseena nodded sadly. "It's a terrible curse. It keeps hitting my face when it's too windy, gets stuck in bag zippers, and the worst, combing it. It's so long that it takes forever to brush through it. I can't even cut my hair."
"Because you cut your power?" This was all so new information. I should have noted it all down. It would come in handy in the future.
"One of the two." Caseena got up and stretched her legs. "Like cutting your own skin, it also hurts."
"You've never cut your hair? Like ever?"
Caseena shrugged.
"What about Shade? I noticed he doesn't have a visible Nalin. Is he like you? Is his freakishly long gray hair his Nalin or is it his silver eyes?" I was curious. Even though Caseena looked normal like Shade, her hair was phenomenally long and it did seem odd. Meanwhile Shade could pass off as a human with the exception of his eyes which could easily be disguised with a pair of lenses.
"Well, Shade's special. You see," Just then the trees in front of us began to sway and Hyrad walked through with Zerakh at her tails. Caseena wiped out a baton that I hadn't noticed before. Maybe, she was right. I hadn't been paying attention to things around her. Or anybody. Or anything else.
"Well, well, well," Hyrad said as she stalked towards us. "Caseena, I have to give it to you. Your Detection Evasion was very hard for us to beat."
Caseena's jaw dropped in flabbergast. "This is impossible. How did you find us?"
"Isn't this obvious? Have you forgotten Zerakh's powers?" Hyrad crossed her arms in front of her chest. Zerakh, beside her, grinned darkly.
"It doesn't matter. My Detection Evasion should have overruled Zerakh's Spatial Cognition. So, how 'did' you find us?" Caseena asked.
Zerakh stopped grinning like a mad-man for a minute. "Caseena, I've told you a million times, keep your head in the game. You talk so loudly. My cognition caught your voice frequency."
"Frag! Totally forgot about that." Caseena shook her head.
"Well, it doesn't matter anymore. We're here now. All we have to do is take you out," Hyrad said, pointing towards Caseena.
Caseena smirked. "Hyrad, when will you ever learn that you will never be able to catch me."
I stood frozen, watching their bickering in astonishment. Hyrad pulled out a baton that slowly unfolded itself into an oar while Zerakh pulled out a gun. The hell!
"Wait, wait. Is that a gun?" I spoke out stupidly. "Is that even allowed?"
Zerakh let out a chuckle. "Why don't we find out?" Caseena squatted slightly with one leg behind the other. Her eyes narrowed at Zerakh as he shot almost immediately.
Shit!
Pushing my body out of it's frozen stature, I moved towards Caseena. Like in slow motion, I could see Shade sprinting out of the grove of trees and Caseena's smirk widening. Just as I reached her, Caseena raised her metal baton and knocked the bullet out of her way. But unfortunately, I found myself leaping at Caseena.