"Holy shit, this is a mutiny!" Isaac shouted.
His face was both shocked and delighted, as if he had caught a criminal spreading terror at the Academy. Elijah, Lucas and Bernice stood cautiously. Each side was wary of the other.
"Wait, Isaac. Let me explain," Elijah said.
"Stay back, you freak!" The fire spread over Isaac's palm. "Using fire on you, I'd say, is an attempt to defend myself."
Elijah acted impulsively by lunging at Isaac, and the two struggled on the ground. As soon as Isaac's hands were exposed, Lucas doused the young man's hands with the power of his water. Isaac groaned angrily as Elijah held his arms and legs together.
"Calm down, we need to talk!" cried Elijah.
"Let me go, you son of a bitch!"
Elijah nearly fell over as he tried to pinned Isaac's body beneath him. "Isaac! Please!"
"Can you use your water to freeze his body, Lu?" asked Bernice, half annoyed.
Lucas opened his palms. "Yeah, sure."
"No! Stop!" Elijah warned, turning to his two friends.
But Elijah was caught off guard. Isaac broke free and landed a punch in Elijah's gut, nearly choking the young man. Isaac kicked Elijah's body to the side and got to his feet. Isaac quickly backed up and ran out of the library as fast as he could.
Both of Bernice's palms were open, and with a single sweep she dropped the books to block Isaac's steps. Isaac, however, was able to dodge the attack. Elijah and Lucas stepped out to follow Isaac, who was obviously going to report to the Masters.
Suddenly, all the lights in the library blinked, and a flash of lightning struck Isaac.
Isaac's body shook for a few seconds, receiving an electric shock, and then he passed out.
Elijah, Lucas, and Bernice froze in place.
From the top of the shelf near the entrance, a young man with yellow skin was casually sitting on it. The bracelet on his hand was blinking red. He was the culprit of the attack.
"Toasted," he muttered.
"What are you doing?" cried Elijah in a panic.
The young man jumped down from the top of the bookshelf and shrugged. He walked over to Isaac and kicked him lightly with the sole of his shoe.
"He's alive," he said lightly.
"You're struck lightning at Isaac!" Elijah went straight to Isaac, who was already on the ground. "And you can be so relaxed?"
"You don't want him to run away, do you?" The young man's eyes looked coldly at the three Academione students in front of him.
"Well..." Bernice and Lucas looked at each other for a moment. "Yes, but...."
It's true, they just want to have fun when everyone else is busy going to their respective dormitories. But not by causing other problems. Running away might still be forgivable, but attacking another Academione with superpowers, the punishment was exile.
"Man, this is a mess!" squealed Lucas. "The Masters will be here soon."
"Open my bracelet," the young man ordered Bernice. "You can do it, can't you?"
"What?" Bernice was still in shock.
"Quick, let's get out of here," the young man urged.
"And bring Isaac in unconscious?" Elijah gave him a puzzled look.
The yellow-skinned boy shrugged. "Of course not. We're leaving him behind."
Bernice didn't say much as she deftly unlocked the young man's bracelet. Then she ran to the air passage, the way out of the academy.
"Come on, hurry!" Bernice hissed.
"Shit, shit," Lucas cursed.
Lucas later caught up with Bernice and entered the air duct. As soon as it was Elijah's turn, the young man suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
"Wait, Elijah."
"What's wrong?"
He offered a hand. "Happy birthday."
Elijah nodded awkwardly and shook the hand. "Thank you."
"I'm Josh."
"Elijah."
Josh grinned. "I know. You're the prickly one."
*
They didn't have a map of the interior of the school grounds, including a blueprint, but Bernice could feel the wind from outside the Academy grounds so they wouldn't get lost in the air ducts.
For almost fifteen minutes they half-crawled, finally reaching the edge of the duct. Bernice used her super strength to push the metal panel so that it was thrown far enough to the ground.
"Finally," the girl said in relief.
She came out with a half moan, her knees slightly numb and her back aching.
Lucas, Elijah and Josh followed one after the other. They all looked around in amazement. Even though it was almost pitch black, there was still a glimmer of light coming from the far end of the Academy building.
"It's the air of freedom," Josh said.
Lucas gave him a sardonic look. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen, a few days ago."
"You can breathe this free air in December. It makes no difference," Lucas replied.
"Yeah, and go straight to camp as a Deformity." Josh chuckled softly. "That's just Academy part two. You don't get your freedom."
"No need to argue. Quick, let's get out of here," Bernice snapped.
Josh lit a beam of light from his hand, called a lumen. It led the way through the bushes and dense trees outside the Academy. It turned out to be a vast forest. They didn't know where they were going, just following their instincts and their inherent recklessness.
"Why do you call me the prickly one?" asked Elijah to Josh, who was walking beside him. "Is that what you think of me all the time?"
Before he left the airway, Josh's words made his heart ache a little. Elijah knew that all the kids at the academy thought of him as a jinx. Except for Lucas and maybe Bernice.
It was just that those words came most often from Isaac's lips. Never from another Academione.
"Are you offended?" Josh asked back.
"Yes, quite."
"That's just their opinion. I only know your nickname."
"Okay," Elijah nodded.
"I guess not having powers is cool," Josh joked. He chuckled.
Bernice and Lucas looked surprised to hear such a comment. They wondered where Josh had come from, or had he been invisible all this time? They had lived together at the Academy for years without knowing each other's whereabouts.
"You can go out in public without wearing a bracelet for the rest of your life." Josh continued.
"Doesn't the bracelet make us feel like prisoners?" Bernice asked.
Josh looked back and held up his index finger. "Exactly!"
Lucas disagreed.
"We can become Deformity and live a decent life," he said.
"By risking your life if something happens to The Orb?" Bernice snorted.
"It's just an ordinary stone. Nothing for twenty years, Bernice," Lucas replied.
Bernice shook her head, tired of Lucas'—to her—naïve opinions. "That rock came from outer space, Lu. It wasn't made by our ancestors as a historical site."
Elijah cleared his throat quietly to break up Bernice and Lucas' argument, which could have a long tail.
"Is it still far away?" asked Elijah.
Josh gave a quick glance. "Where to?"
"We're going into the city, aren't we, Bernice?" This time Elijah looked back. "You can show me the way, can't you?"
A low moan came from Bernice's lips. "Actually, I don't know the way to the city. I've lived at the Academy since I was a kid," she defended.
"You didn't look it up on a map?" asked Lucas, looking even more remorseful for going along with her crazy idea.
"There's no such thing as a city map at the Academy," Bernice cursed insultingly.
"We'll just have to keep walking," Josh said.
Elijah paused. "Or...." He turned to Bernice. "You can fly us, can't you?"
Of course, hearing that, Bernice made a loud gesture of refusal. "No, Eli. The class has never been taught to lift heavy objects, especially people. Except me."
"Let's just say there are four of you here that you need to take flying."
Josh laughed at Elijah's words. But Bernice shook her head again. Lucas did not seem to agree with his best friend's suggestion either.
"I'm afraid, Eli. This isn't necessarily allowed," Bernice squeaked.
"You opened the bracelet and no one can control you now, girl," Josh replied. "You've already committed a crime, so why worry about whether it's allowed or not?"
Bernice looked at Josh with a look of disgust in her eyes. "What if you're the one doing it?"
"My powers only subject people to electric shocks or instantaneous burns."
Bernice grumbled, "Why are we going with this guy?"
She hurried ahead of the others, despite the darkness. Josh was just a stranger among the three and—according to Bernice—could make a comment. It would have been better if Josh had behaved himself or kept quiet.
Josh yawned. "So we're just going back to the Academy? Ah, that sounds boring."
"I think it's better to go back," Lucas said. "We got into too much trouble. And who knows what Isaac is complaining about right now. Don't you want to have a future if we really can't become Deformity members just because of one stupid mistake?"
Suddenly, a flash of lightning appeared in the sky, accompanied by the deafening roar of thunder. They looked up at the clouds. The dark colors up there began to turn purple, as if something was coming from beyond the atmosphere.
"Is this normal?" squeaked Lucas.
Purple began to dominate the horizon, and lightning struck the dark clouds. Then the sky spewed a shower of lightning down to earth, sending the teens screaming in terror. They ran as fast as they could, dodging the random attacks they didn't know if they were a natural phenomenon or something else.
"Get out of the trees!" yelled Josh.
Josh ran first to clear the road, followed by the others. He turned toward the highway, hoping they wouldn't get lost. Since they were in the woods, the fear was that the lightning would hit a tree and hurt the four young people.
For seven minutes, the lightning rained down on their heads. It finally stopped just as Josh brought his friends to the edge of the dark paved road. There was a section of the road that had been damaged by the lightning strike and looked scorched.
"Are you okay?" asked Elijah, the others nodding as they caught their breath.
Elijah looked straight ahead where they were in the highlands and could see the flickering lights of the city below. A beam perpendicular to the sky was coming from the city.
"What is that?" Elijah said.