Chapter 8:
The Silver's headquarters was surprisingly busy, as people both young and old rushed around talking news of the battle and humans. An old man almost half the height of Sonny walked by him and tipped a large hat to him. His beard stretched until it almost touched the floor. A middle aged, larger woman stood with a dog, appearing to be having a conversation about the weather. He thought he must be hearing things when the dog responded to her, but the more he listened the more he knew the dog was in fact speaking. Sonny's gaze fell to Olive. He secretly wondered how she was taking all of this, seeing as she was the only one there who was different because she had no powers. She looked shockingly happy, or more curious like always.
Sonny glanced around, hoping to spot anyone from the battle, yet no one caught his eye as familiar. There must have been hundreds of Silver's running around the headquarters. He'd never seen anything like it before: desks of all shapes and sizes were sprawled out in one part of the giant room with books and papers stacked to the ceiling on almost all of them, pictures of various people and creatures covered the walls, chandeliers hung down over parts of the room with enchanted candles illuminating the room, and exotic plants grew from the floor swaying in a nonexistent breeze.
Stone walked them toward a group of people huddled together around a large desk, a map sprawled across it. He pointed towards a girl slightly older than Sonny. "This is Bridgette Kieslowski, she is a protector. She can make a forcefield to protect herself and anyone around her." Stone smiled, no doubt thinking back on numerous battles, "She's come in handy more times than I can count." Bridgette stood a little shorter than Sonny and had long blonde hair that was braided. She had a curvy wave to her body and the brown and black skin tight outfit she wore hugged the curves nicely.
She stuck out her hand, "Pleasure to meet you Sonny." Her gum that she'd been chewing popped as she smiled, and her flawless tan skin glowed under the light. He shook her hand, blushing slightly.
Stone turned to a boy about Sonny's age, "This fine young man is Javier Perez. He possesses the ability to use mind control and resist it. He can tell if someone he's close with is in distress and needs help no matter where in the world they are. I know if I ever need help in a battle Javier will come to my rescue." He patted him on the back. Javier had a dark complexion like Sonny, but unlike Sonny was very muscular. Sonny imagined him excellent at hand to hand combat. He didn't want to ask though in case they wanted to demonstrate on Sonny.
He too held out his hand to Sonny while asking, "Is it true you landed a strike on Lynx? No one's ever done that before." His face looked skeptical yet excited.
"I guess so." Sonny replied bashfully, remembering what Lynx did to him. He wondered why Javier wasn't at the battle if he knew they were in battle? But maybe he was, Sonny was having a hard time remembering who was even there besides Stone.
Stone stepped in with pride, "Yes Javier, he did. Made Lynx and the rest of those Keepers retreat faster than you could chase them. It was great."
They turned to a girl with dark disheveled hair. Before Stone could say anything Sonny piped in, "Hey you're the girl from the grocery store! The one I ran into with my cart." She didn't speak.
Stone interrupted, "I see you've already met Hope. She doesn't speak much and even when she does she's as quiet as a mouse. You'd be amazed to find out her power is strength. Oh boy does she pack a punch. She's as strong as 20 men." He nudged Sonny, "So don't go getting on her bad side."
Hope stood there staring at Sonny, her pale, blotchy skin turned bright red. She did not stick her hand out like the others and offer a greeting so Sonny reached his hand out. Seconds later, Sonny's hand was still outstretched and Hope stared toward the floor, not moving to grab his hand. Stone shook his head, chuckling, "Yeah you're not gonna get much from Hope. But let me tell you we are dang lucky she's on our side because you do not… I repeat… you do not want to have to fight against her." Sonny imagined her arm swelling to the size of a boat and punching him so hard he flew on the other side of the world.
Javier smiled toward Sonny, still wondering, "You're supposed to be the chosen one right? I thought you'd be bigger..." He looked toward the muscular regions of Sonny's body.
"Yeah and taller" Bridgette interjected.
"What? Why do you all keep saying I'm the chosen one?" Replied Sonny.
Stone stepped in, "Ok guys--"
"And stronger. Do you even know what a push up is?" Sonny turned to see Hope gazing at him. Did she just talk? Her voice echoed that of a mouse, quiet and petite.
Sonny began to speak, but Stone interrupted, "OK cmon let's cut him some slack." He turned to Sonny, "Sorry for that, but hey at least you got Hope to speak. That never happens."
Bridgette chimed in again, taking a look toward Olive who was entranced looking around the room, "Who's the powerless one? I didn't think we were letting humans hang out with us these days."
"Don't speak to her like that Bridgette." Stone replied
"I wasn't--"
"I don't care. We need to be respectful of her regardless of her lack of power."
They turned to Olive who now looked towards the ground awkwardly. When she looked up and realized everyone stared at her she became red, "Yes umm I'm pretty sure I don't have powers."
"Well duh we already knew that. We can tell just by looking at you. Yeah you have nothing substantial to offer us in our fight. I mean I'd be surprised if--"
"Bridgette that's enough." Stone was now enraged and his face grew tense. Bridgette was beautiful, but Sonny got a vibe from her that she believed she was better than everyone. He scooted closer to Olive to get rid of the feeling of loneliness she must have right now.
Stone continued, "This is Olive, and Olive you are more than welcome here and anywhere Sonny is welcome."
"Thank you," Olive nodded to him. Bridgette rolled her eyes and walked off, leaving Javier standing there with a goofy smile on his face that made Sonny feel more comfortable.
"Alright," Stone began, "We'll show you guys around and give you the rundown on everything about the Silvers you need to know."
"Wait," Sonny started to speak.
Ignoring him Stone continued, "Walk with me. I'll introduce you to my second in command."
"Wait I have to go home." Sonny stuttered, "What time is it? My Grandma must be very worried about me. And Olive's parents too." He suddenly realized he had in fact lost track of time. His grandma would be furious with him getting home so late. And poor Olive with her parents being so strict, she'd probably be grounded for months.
Stone put his face in his hands and with a grumble turned around, "ok Quinn will go back and make everything fine."
Olive questioned, "What do you mean make everything fine?"
"She will make your parents and Sonny's Grandmother believe you are on a school related trip and you'll be gone for a while."
Sonny and Olive began to protest. Stone interrupted, "Trust me. You have to trust me, Quinn does this all the time. It's kinda her thing. For being only 8 years old, she's used her powers more than almost everyone else here. It helps having her so it's easy to hide from the humans."
"So mind control on my parents?" Olive began, "And then what? We just stay here forever, never going home?" Sonny could tell by her tone of voice she was not very pleased with this option. He wanted to grab her hand and tell her not to worry, but how could he? Sonny possessed powers that Olive never would have. She's an outsider in this world. He couldn't imagine how terrifying this must be for her.
"Yes just a little mind control. Nothing to worry about." Brushing it off, he yelled toward Quinn who came hopping over and gave her the instructions. She took off instantly. Sonny and Olive shot each other a look, but after everything that had happened Sonny was willing to go with it.
"Ok now," Stone continued like everything was fine. "Let's meet my second in command and then get you guys something to eat. No doubt you must be hungry."
Sonny's stomach growled. He hadn't noticed until Stone mentioned food. Olive had that same hungry look.
Unexpectedly, Stone's second in command approached and was a young boy about Beau's age. He had dark green eyes that made him look like a cat. Stone introduced him, "This is Maximus, but we all call him X. He's basically a computer." Stone chuckled, but Olive and Sonny felt an awkwardness at how he referred to him.
X seemed to not notice, but smiled, "What he means to say is my intelligence is what makes me "special"" He put up his fingers making air quotes as he said special. "I'm basically an evil genius." He mocked himself and glanced at Olive giving her a subtle wink. Sonny's face went hot as Olive bit her lower lip. He was smooth and too young for Olive. Sonny caught himself becoming angry of a boy who looked like he was 13 and he felt relieved when Stone said lunch was almost ready.
X stopped Sonny before he headed to the tables to eat, "Let me check that wound on your face." Sonny winced as he pressed his fingers to his cheek. "Wow Nate and Lynx really did a number on you."
"Nate?"
"He's the muscle Lynx sends to do his dirty work for him--the one who attacked you at the park." He stood back from Sonny almost admiring him. "I can't believe you fought Nate and then Lynx off. Maybe you are the boy who will save us."
Sonny sighed, "I don't know about all that, but I'm not trying to get attacked again."
X grabbed an older lady who was seated at a chair, legs crossed and eyes closed. "MayMah wake up." X waved his hand in front of her overly makeuped face.
She popped one eye open as if scanning to make sure it was ok to open both eyes. "What is it you need X?" Her voice was low, almost manly.
"Look at the boy's face and arm."
She opened her other eye and looked up at Sonny. She laughed and stood up. "Yes you got messed up!" She clasped his face in her cold, but soft hands and before Sonny knew what was happening she chanted "To the stars we can drive in cars, but leave no trace and fix his face." Then Sonny felt an odd burning sensation in his cheeks and within seconds he felt no more pain coming from his wound. She then closed her eyes and grabbed his arm chanting again, "A wild pig likes to dig so without alarm fix his arm." Just as before, the pain had vanished.
"Woah! You can heal people?" Sonny's amazement shone like a bright light emanating from his face.
She laughed a quiet, but mean laugh. Sonny didn't get what was so funny. X instantly grabbed his arm and briskly led Olive and Sonny into a big room where he whispered to them, "MayMah doesn't believe she has powers. It's a tricky situation because," He turned back to make sure MahMah wasn't listening. She had sat back down in her chair and closed her eyes again. X continued, "because she knows she can heal people, however if you even mention that she has even the slightest hint of a power she will lose it. You can never mention she has powers. Something about that word or the stigma that goes along with it makes her lose it."
"Lose it?" Olive chimed in.
X smiled at Olive, "Yes. Straight bananas. Think tornado meets car dealership."
Olive imagined it, "Wow that's so crazy." But to Olive, everything here was crazy. She wondered where the 'normal' people with powers were. Then her gaze met Sonny's and she was happy to be next to him.
Sonny too was relieved when they finally sat down to eat. He was skeptical about what type of food Silvers ate and was pleasantly surprised to see a meatball sub, a bag of chips and a drink slide in front of him. Olive and Sonny locked eyes, both genuinely thinking the same thing about how good their lunch looked.
Minutes later Stone came and sat with them as he attempted to explain the situation a little better for Sonny. "You are the chosen one. There is a prophecy about you, that you will be the one to save us."
"How do you know it's me?"
"We have people for that. They tell us these things."
"Oh." That didn't clarify anything for him.
"Look we need you here with us Sonny, fighting alongside the Silvers. My brother's group, the Keepers, are desperate to get any edge possible and if you don't come with us, they might take even more drastic measures to get you with them. They want to fulfill the prophecy as much as we do."
Olive piped in while Sonny was busy overthinking everything Stone had said, "So why are you guys even fighting? I want to get this straight."
"It's simple really. Like I said, we don't want to have to hide our powers anymore. We don't want the human race to try and tell us what to do, or worse, to control us. In the past when humans had found out about us, it resulted in many Silvers meeting their death."
Olive looked intrigued, "So long ago we humans knew about the Silvers?"
"Yes and it didn't end well."
"And you knew my mom?" Sonny asked.
"And your dad."
"Both my parents?"
"Look Sonny, your parents were a very real part of the Silvers and you wouldn't be who you are today without them. I just want you to at least stay and find out more about what makes you so special." He ran his fingers along his mouth as if removing food crumbs. He turned to Olive, "And you young lady are more than welcome to stay and learn about this too."
Neither Sonny nor Olive bothered to answer and Stone knew they were busy contemplating the situation. He got up, "I'll leave you two here to finish your food. Let me know what you decide and if you want to go back to the human world and try and live as you were, I can arrange that."
"We'll let you know," Sonny replied, staring deep into his lunch. Stone turned and walked off, already speaking with people who'd been waiting to talk to him about the fighting.
Minutes after shoving a bite of the delicious meatball sub into his mouth to satisfy his stomach and going over the situation in his head, Bridgette approached. She bore that same girlish smile and still chomped away on that gum. She looked directly at Olive, "Hun I need to talk to Sonny for a minute." Olive sat there, chewing the rest of her bite. "ALONE." Bridgette emphasized.
Olive scoffed, "Anything you need to say you can say in front of me." Sonny thought he should get involved, but didn't know what to say.
Bridgette leaned over the table, "This is important. I need to talk to him alone." She had a gentler, important, tone to her voice.
"But--"
"Olive just let me talk to Bridgette for a minute please," Sonny felt a need to hear what she was so dire to tell him.
"Fine." Olive begrudgingly stood up and took her food to the table next to them. She stared, not letting Sonny out of her vision.
Bridgette immediately sat down where Olive had been, not giving the seat 1 second to go cold. She pulled out a brown, very worn, looking journal. She presented it to Sonny. He saw the initials engraved on the front which he traced with his fingers. "M..R...G"
"MaryRose Griffin." She said without having to be asked.
"My mom?"
She nodded her head. "Look Sonny, your parents were with us. They supported Stone's plan. And after the humans killed your parents, Stone kept this journal in case you needed some...you know... convincing to join us." Her stare pierced right into Sonny's soul. Had she known his parents too? She continued, "it doesn't look like you need much convincing, but I thought you'd want to read that." She got up, leaving Sonny with his mouth half open, staring at something that had belonged to his mom--his Silver mom.
He turned, shouting towards her, "What do you mean, killed my parents?"
She looked surprised, "You didn't know? Their death was no accident." She didn't elaborate, just shook her head and walked off.
Olive plopped down, no doubt eager to hear what Bridgette said. He flipped through the journal fast enough to see there was writing on nearly every page. He wanted to read it, to know every word she had written, but part of him was worried for what he might find.
The back of the cover held a single picture which Sonny eagerly removed. His gaze fell upon a man and a women locked in a sweet embrace--his parents. He could tell by his mom's smile, it mimicked his own. Her dark hair, caramel skin and piercing walnut eyes reminded Sonny of a time long ago, before he knew pain. His finger grazed the spot his dad resided in the photo. He realized he received none of his dad's traits: light skin, blonde hair, and captivating blue eyes--the same eyes Beau looked at Sonny with. He didn't have many pictures of his parents and seeing them like this, young and in love warmed Sonny.
"Hello? Earth to Sonny," Olive waved her hand in his face. "You ok? I heard what she said about your parents. I'm so sorry Sonny."
He shook his head, "i'm not sure I'm ok." He knew she would have a million questions. "look Olive, Bridgette gave me this journal that used to belong to my mom. I need to read it and see what she has to say. Look," He handed her the picture.
"Those are your parents?"
"Yeah."
"Wow. They seem so happy. Well, I guess let's bring the journal home and read it."
"I don't know if I can go home just yet."
"I knew it." Olive instantly replied, looking as though she was going to be sick.
"Knew what?"
"I knew you would stay with these people. Sonny you realize they basically want to wipe out the human race and assert their dominance right?"
"Olive, geeze, don't jump to conclusions. They just don't want to have to hide who they are anymore. No one said anything about killing off the human race."
"Oh so now you know everything? Yesterday you didn't even know you were a Silver, and now you know what their plans are?" She crossed her arms and Sonny could tell he'd struck a nerve.
"Olive I don't want to fight with you, but you have to see it how I do. This is my chance to find out about my parents." He grabbed the picture from her, speaking as if they could hear him, "I've never known them. I never really had a chance to know them." How could she not understand?
"I get it that you want to find out everything about them, but at what cost? To be a part of the destruction of the human race?" She stood up, grabbing her food to throw in the trash.
Sonny followed her, grabbing her arm, "Olive what do you want me to do?"
"Sonny I'm not going to tell you what to do, you're old enough to figure it out for yourself, but I'm leaving. You can stay and do what you want, but I'm getting out of here." She ripped her arm out of his grip and threw her food angrily in the trash. She began to walk toward the exit.
"Olive wait!" Sonny screamed at her. She turned, almost hopeful he would follow her. "Wait" he said catching up to her.
"What Sonny?"
"I want you here with me. Just help me find out about my parents and we can go home as soon as I do."
"I don't know Sonn--"
"Olive I need you here.... Please. I just found out my parents were murdered. Murdered Olive! I at least need to find out why. And what they think I can do for them."
Sonny looked down to find he had grabbed Olive's hands and was squeezing them tight in his. She looked away from him, afraid to make eye contact. He grabbed her chin and pulled her face so he gazed right into her green eyes that were half filled with tears. "Olive I will never let anything happen to you. You're my best friend. And this is all so new and scary to me and the only way I can handle it is with you by my side."
She looked down and wiggled her hand out of his grip. She took her sleeve and wiped a tear that had cascaded down her cheek. "Ok Sonny."
"Ok?"
"Yes we'll find out about your parents and your powers and everything, but the minute there's any talk about hurting humans, I'm out."
"Yes...Yes Olive. Ok." he couldn't help that an enormous grin had crossed his face. He was used to having to be the one convinced to do things. Now he had convinced Olive to help him. He couldn't help but be excited about his powers and to learn more about his parents.
He opened his mother's journal to the first page, her handwriting so similar to his it made Sonny smile. He read the first line, "If you're reading this, then I failed in my mission and am already dead."