The next morning at school, Dante and Nadea had decided that they would investigate Luca Hayes and figure out what he was. They huddled together at their lockers, watching Luca like vultures. Luca was talking with Delilah across the hall, who was batting her eyes and flirting shamelessly. She'd already dug her claws into him, and she wanted everyone to know it. A few of her friends were also standing next to them, their eyes glued to the new kid.
"What do you think he is?" Dante murmured.
"Not sure, but I don't think he can do what I do," Nadea whispered back. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy as she watched him talk to Delilah.
"Demon?"
"Doubt it," she shot down, focusing on the task at hand. "I only saw his eyes for a second, but they looked like a wolf or something. Maybe he's a werewolf?" She mumbled. Sam rolled his eyes.
"So he's a dog."
"This dog can hear you," Luca called over, Delilah long forgotten. He walked over confidently, and he was tall enough that he loomed over both Nadea and Dante. She almost wanted to cower away, but Dante said in a low voice, "You're in our space, I suggest you back up."
Eyeing Dante for a moment, he said, "I see you told your friend about me. Not very good at keeping secrets, are you?" The two boys glared at each other, and Nadea could almost feel the tension as if it were a physical thing. However, it eased slightly when Luca took a step back.
Nadea matched his sour expression with one of her own. "You didn't tell me it was a secret. Besides, telling my best friend doesn't count. It's the same as telling myself." Luca didn't seem convinced by her words, and she didn't really care. She glanced over at Delilah and her posse only to find them glaring. Nadea didn't really care about them, either. Noting that the hallway traffic began to dwindle, the three of them headed to their first class of the day.
"I'm not a werewolf," Luca said suddenly, right as they entered the classroom.
"What are you then?" she questioned. When he didn't answer and instead went to his assigned seat, Dante leaned towards her.
"Stop bothering him. We can figure things out on our own. I don't like him," he said before he also went to his seat.
While Mrs. Barkley taught the class about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Nadea brainstormed. She'd seen his eyes of course, but he wouldn't answer her questions. Ripping a piece of paper from her notebook, she began to scribble a message before sliding it over to Luca.
Last time I'm going to ask… What are you?
He glanced down at the paper, sighed, and began to write. Your handwriting is horrible. Also, I'm like you, he wrote, sliding the paper back towards her.
What am I? Nadea wrote. Luca stared at the paper, torn between how much he should share with her. After writing one word, he returned his attention to Mrs. Barkley's lesson. Glancing at the note, she frowned. It read, Extraordinary.
~
For the remainder of the day, Luca completely ignored Nadea. He chatted with Delilah, along with a few other girls throughout the three classes they shared, and it was driving her crazy. Before yesterday's incident with Toby, she'd assumed that maybe Luca had been wearing yellow contacts, not that he was different. And if he was like her, did that mean that she wasn't human? Her parents had always seemed normal; her mom worked an office job and her dad was a carpenter. They never once seemed different. "Am I adopted?" She muttered to herself.
"What?" Dante asked, confused. They had been walking to the bus stop together, and she'd completely zoned out. "Nadea, you know damn-well that you're not adopted. You look like the both of them, may they rest in peace." He muttered a quick prayer and kissed the cross that hung from his neck. As she began to get on the bus, she turned around to see Dante still standing outside. "I can't get on with you today, Nadea. I gotta take care of some things. Adios."
Nadea tapped her bus card to pay the fare just as a black car pulled up in front of the bus and Dante got in. "What the hell is he up to now?" She wondered aloud before sitting down. The ride was much longer without Dante, and she wondered if it was the same for him when he rode alone. Before she was a foster kid, her dad would drive her to and from school. She never imagined that she'd have to take the bus.
When her stop arrived, she got off of the bus and had begun to walk home. It was a warm September day, and she didn't need her jacket anymore since it had long since stopped raining. Julia's house was in a quiet neighborhood, and there wasn't much activity. The residents stayed in their homes and minded their business, which Nadea liked. She was never very social. As she crossed the street, she was suddenly hit by an unknown force that sent her flying into a nearby ally. She slid along the pavement and groaned when she finally came to a stop. Jumping to her feet, she looked around wildly, trying to figure out what had happened. Then, the same force flew into her chest, knocking her off her feet. Again.
Looking up, she found a man in his early twenties staring down at her, his eyes filled with what she could only assume to be hate.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked. Nadea stared at him long and hard, trying to place him. He was covered from head to toe in black, from his turtleneck and blazer, all the way to his expensive leather shoes. His locs were dark brown in color and were decorated with wooden beads. He seemed like someone important, but her mind kept drawing up a blank.
"I don't know who you are, I'm sorry."
Her response only angered him, and the wind around them picked up, and from his hands came fire. It snaked around his wrist like a living thing. Her eyes widened and she realized that this man before her was also different, but she didn't feel a sense of comfort or familiarity the way she did around Luca. This man was broken, unhinged. His face became expressionless.
"They thought that they could start over with you. They pretended that I never even existed. You'll die, just like them." He took a step forward and without thinking she raised her hand and shards of light flew at him like spears. His other hand, which was not consumed by fire, became a fist, and a wall of earth and concrete rose before him, deflecting the light spears. By the time he lowered the wall, Nadea had taken off down the alley.
There was no way that she was going to wait for him to get ready for another attack. Turning the corner, she collided with someone and took a step to the side, ready to run around them, but the stranger grabbed her wrist. Glancing up, she almost sighed in relief when she saw that it was Luca.
"Luca? What are you doing here?"
"I knew you'd be in trouble the moment you began using your abilities," he said. Before she could question how he knew she'd been using her abilities and how he'd known she was in trouble, he began to tear off his clothes and toss them at her.
"What the hell?" She asked before his pants hit her in the face. "Just hold onto my clothes. I'll need them."
Only seconds had passed, and Nadea stared in horror as Luca let out an inhuman growl and morphed into a large, black wolf. It had happened so fast that her mind was barely processing the sight before her. He crouched and waited by the corner as the sound of footsteps grew louder. Just as the man who had tried to kill her turned the corner, the black wolf, Luca, launched himself at the attacker, his teeth clamping down on the man's arm. As terrifying as all of this was, she knew that Luca was protecting her from this man. Trying to help him, she held out her hand, but there were no shards. "Come on!" She yelled at herself. A bright light flickered near her palms before fizzling out. "Fuck," she cursed. Looking around for something to use, she found a wooden plank that had long since been cast aside.
Nadea waited for the right moment before hitting him over the head, and he dropped to his knees before falling unconscious. Just as quickly as he'd become a wolf, Luca shifted back to his human form. Seeing that he was completely nude, she tossed his pants at him. "I knew you were a werewolf!" she said triumphantly before tossing him the shirt.
"Again, I am not a werewolf," he said with a sigh as he took off down the alley.
"So you just happen to be a guy who can turn into a wolf?" she asked incredulously.
"Among other things," he said ominously, walking faster so that Nadea had to jog to keep up with him. Sensing her annoyance at his vague response, he clarified, "I can turn into other animals, not just a wolf. My power is biokinesis."
"Bioki-what?"
"Biokinesis. It means that I can alter my DNA to match that of any animal."
As they walked, Nadea realized that Luca was leading her to her own home. As they walked up the pathway, he reached for the door and opened it.
"How do you know where I live? Have you been stalking me?"
"I've been watching you, yes. And if I hadn't, you'd be dead by now, so you're welcome."
With a huff, Nadea brushed past him just in time to bump into Julia, who was on her way out.
"Finally! You took your time coming home—" Julia's words trailed off as her eyes landed on the tall dark-haired boy standing behind her foster-daughter. "Who is this?" She said, eyeing Luca suspiciously. As much as Julia annoyed Nadea, she couldn't help but smile at her protectiveness.
"This is Luca, my classmate. We were going to hang out."
Julia eyed Luca for a moment before she gave an approving smile. "Uh-huh. This is a nice change of pace from your other friend." Nadea's foster mom hated Dante, but she'd never say that out loud. She thought he was a thug of some sort, but she also knew that Dante was Nadea's only friend, as well as the only constant in her life since the death of her parents.
"Lucky for you, I'm taking Toby out today. He's been wanting to see the dinosaur exhibit at the museum downtown. I expect you two to behave," she said almost sternly before walking past them with Toby trailing behind. "Bye Dea!" He said, completely ignoring Luca.
"Bye Julia! Bye Toby!" She said as they left. Leading Luca inside, Nadea threw her bag down on the floor and sprawled out on the couch. "You were quiet with Julia," she said.
"My social skills aren't the best."
"Tell me about it," she teased before propping herself up on a throw pillow as Luca sat at the opposite end of the couch. "Start explaining, please."
With a heavy sigh, he leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers locked together. "As I said before in class, you're an Extraordinary. It means that you have an ability of some sort, a power, if you will. From what I saw in the alley, your power is photokinesis."
"Photo….kinesis?" She questioned.
"Yes. You seem to be able to control photons, or light particles. You turn them into a physical thing. As for me, my ability is called biokinesis. I can, in theory, become any animal that I want. At the moment though, I can only become a wolf or a crow…" he trailed off when Nadea began to snicker. "What's so funny?"
"It's just…" she said between giggles, "you're a bird-dog!"
Rolling his eyes, Luca decided it was best to not indulge her by correcting her statement. "As I was saying, there are others like us, other Extraordinaries, but not all of us are good," he said ominously. "We are being hunted. Some of us killed, others taken. Those taken are called the Lost. They usually only take children. That man in the alley was one of them. They can never be reasoned with, and need to be put down. Immediately."
Nadea was all seriousness now. "Who takes them, Luca?"
"He calls himself Amon. Not much is known about him. Those who see him usually don't live to talk about it." He murmured.
"Well that man, one of the Lost, knew who I was. Does that mean they'll take me too?" She asked, almost fearfully.
"Obviously not if he just tried to kill you not even an hour ago. But they do know of you, which means that you are no longer safe."
Sitting up now, she frowned. "What about Julia and Toby?" Now that that man was after her, would he come after the ones she loved? How did he even know her?
"I'll see what I can do. For now, though, you'll need to learn how to use your abilities to protect yourself and the ones you love."
"Who is going to teach me?" She asked.
He grinned at her. "I know the perfect teacher."