It started off distorted just like before, but then there was a sudden change. Like a switch had been flicked.

“Don’t call her by her name. You’ll get attached. Patient number 22, subject number 22, whatever just not her name. There’s no reason we need to make this harder, got it?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The man responded like he would to a superior officer.

There was a sigh from the woman. “Don’t be like that. I could tell that the last subject got to you. I’m just watching out for you.”

“Alright, sorry. Let me just get her up.”

She was already awake, but she wished she was still asleep, where she could pretend all this was just a dream. The girl savored the last moments of shut eye and relative peace she’d have for a while.

“Hey, get up!" The man yelled loud enough to almost make the girl jump. "We have a surprise for you today.”

She didn’t want to face them, and yet the thought of disobeying them made her heart pummel. The consequences of that may be worse than just facing what was thrown at her today. So she rolled over on the hard bed and opened her eyes.

“It’s going to be another long day, but first-” the man held up a bar of soap, a towel, and a change of plain white clothes. “you get to shower first.”

The feeling of elation she felt was way too much for such simple items and the promise of such a simple task. Yet, it was all she had, so she took it.

She got up and timidly walks towards them. They open a gap so she can walk past them. It all seems routine. They direct her towards a door that leads to a very simple bathroom, which feels like the opposite of homey.

Finally, they offer her the necessities and close the door so she’s finally alone again. The girl looks around, and much like the room she came from, there wasn’t much to look at. It’s just another boxlike room. The first thing she notices is that there’s no mirror. She sighs. Just another disappointment. She hasn't been able to see her reflection since she got here. There were no windows, except the one's they had in the test rooms, but those left much to be desired. So, despite having dirty hair and the real need for a shower, what she wanted most was to look at herself. She was starting to feel lost, losing bits and pieces of herself as time went on. She thought that if she could only just look at her reflection, she could ground herself again.

But that wasn’t going to happen, not today. So she quickly turns on the shower because she doubts that they were going to patient about this. She quickly washes herself, but slows down once she’s rinsing off the last bit of soap.

Suddenly, the water stops running over her. I thought it had been because they cut off the supply or something. The reality was much more impressive. The water was suspended in the air before her. The mass gets bigger as more water pours out of the shower head, and she starts playing with it. The water shapes into impressive designs, she even changes it to ice and back. Still more water collects and it eventually becomes a giant mass of water about the size of a person.

The mass moves over towards her body, and just before she submerges herself with it, she takes a deep breathe. Her body rakes with sobs as she lets her tears mix seamlessly with the water all around her. No one will know about it except her and me because there’s no sound, not while she’s enveloped. She keeps herself submerged for too long, and I can feel the struggle she has to keep the water’s shape. But she’s able to keep it up long enough for the threat of passing out. Just moments before that, the water all drops at once, slapping the floor loudly.

She takes in all the air she can, and calms herself down. She moves on like nothing happened. The thought of making them wait too long pushes her forward. She pushes the plastic curtain aside and grabs the towel to dry herself off. Then she dresses in the all-white outfit, and knocks on the door. There’s no time to savor the fact that she’s finally clean again.

The door quickly opens to reveal only the woman now. This time, I’m able to focus on her. The woman wears a white lab coat, and looks every bit professional. Which is threatening in a way, but in no way does it subtract from her beauty.

“Good. You look much better already.” The woman smiles slightly looking the girl up and down. She nods satisfied and motions for the girl to follow her. “After we have breakfast, we’ll have to get started.”

The beautiful woman eventually opens another door that leads into a much nicer room than the white halls we’ve been walking through. The brown wooden cabinets and table are a relief on the eyes, even if they too are plain because at least finally, there was some variation.

It smells nice too. There’s bacon and eggs on two plates, and a separate plate holds perfect looking toast. It’s a sight that makes the girl salivate.

The woman turns and smiles, still she holds a satisfied look. “It’s much better isn’t it? That’s because I made breakfast today.”

The girl doesn’t move. She feels slightly unsettled like she’s being tricked, but she wants to believe that pretty smile. Even after hearing the words from earlier, it's much easier to believe that maybe the woman was good after all. She did always treat her kindly, at least when they were alone.

“Well, come on now. It’s already getting cold.” The woman reaches for the girl’s hand, and she can’t help but flinch. A small frown forms on the woman’s face. She tries again, slower this time.

“Let’s eat. Shall we?”

The girl looks at the woman, her heart beating furiously. But she puts on a calm charade, and nods slightly. The woman leads her over to the table and pulls out a chair for her. Once she’s settled, the woman takes the seat across from her.

“Go on. You’ve gotten quite thin since arriving. Eat some bacon.”

The girl looks down at her plate, and can’t help it anymore. She reaches for the bacon, and takes a bite. It might be because she hasn’t had good tasting food in a while, but it tastes like the most delicious thing ever.

“There you go. I knew you were hungry.” The woman encourages her softly. She has a quiet voice that sounds pleasant to the girl and it helps her believe what she's been trying to convince herself. The women couldn't be bad if she made this for her, could she?

The girl nods and continues to devour the food. She reaches for a piece of perfect toast, which I’m slightly envious of, and eats it in just four bites.

“Oh, shoot!” The girl looks up when the woman quickly gets up from her seat. She watches her quickly walk to the counter and grab something.

When the woman turns around, I’m able to see an odd helmet with an intricate designs of wires, it's clearly not meant for protection.

“I forgot to put this back on.”

The woman walks back over, and the girl automatically turns towards the woman and looks up.

“Thank you. Alright, on it goes.”

Once it’s placed on her head, the static returns once again.

Solar's POV

I burst out of the vision breathing hard. I look around frantically still feeling unsettled and enclosed, but Byul’s there to calm me down.

“Woah, woah, Solar. It’s okay, you’re still in my room.” She rubs my back in soothing circles and I’m quickly able to catch my bearings, but it doesn’t chase away the fear. A selfish fear. A fear I felt for myself, and an even stronger fear I felt for Moonbyul. We weren’t the only ones with gifts, and even worse, there were other people already curious about us.

“Byul, I-” I cough not realizing how thirsty I was. She uncaps a water bottle she has on her nightstand and hands it to me. I quickly gulp it down and finally look at Byul, who’s looking worried.

“I was able to get in.”

She’s quiet thinking that I was going to continue, but I don’t. It was a chilling sight that truly shook me to the core. I know I haven’t even seen the worst of it, but the fear she felt when she even considered disobeying was a clear enough to understand.

“So, what’d you see?”

“Have you ever thought about the possibility that there are other people out there that are like us?”

I can tell from the look on her face that she knows that this isn’t just a random question.

“The thought may have crossed my mind once or twice.” She moves so she’s sitting in front of me. “What exactly did you see?”

“The distressed person that reached out to me is a girl that’s like us. She’s being held in some sort of facility, with white halls and small rooms. I didn’t really see anything, like what they were doing with her, but I saw why she was there. Why they wanted her.”

My heart started racing just thinking about it. All of it. There were more people out there like us! Which is something I’ve thought about fleetingly, but I didn’t ever think it would matter if there was. I didn’t know about them until it happened to me, so what were the chances that I would cross the path of someone with a scar like Moonbyul’s and mine after? That’s how I thought about it.

The unnerving part was that there were people out there willing to keep someone against their will to understand the phenomenon better. What did that mean for us? Didn’t it just make the risk bigger?

Moonbyul quickly picked up on my unease and grabbed my hand. “Why did they want her, Solar?”

“I’m not exactly sure what she had, but I do know that she was able to move water with her mind. It was… remarkable.”

My mind goes back to the sight I had seen. It was like real life water bending, and it was just as beautiful as it had been depicted.

Moonbyul’s mouth opens in awe and her eyes unfocus for a moment, I’m sure she’s trying to picture it. She shakes her head and swallows. She’s finally realized what this meant.

“She’s their experiment. We’re not a secret.” The disbelief was evident in her voice.

“At least, not as secret as we thought.”

She looks down at her left arm. I can feel how shaken she is. As I’m about to reach out to her, she clenches her fist. She’s shaken, but that doesn’t stop the anger from rising.

“We have to get her out of there. I’ll text Wheein and Hwasa to meet us at the garage.”

Wheein's POV

I knew immediately from Moonbyul’s text that the meeting at the garage wasn’t about the fun day out we had planned for. She was direct and short about it, plus she didn’t reply when I responded. I thought I’d feel dread if we ever had to go through another risky adventure like last time, but for some reason the thought of it excited me. It shouldn’t, right? I mean dealing with Daeho and Kai was really truly terrifying. There was a real chance that one of us could have died. I mean Byul got shot! She was close to death, and this time she was lucky. Yet, my heart has picked up at the thought of another adventure, and it wasn’t because of fear.

Before I could fully understand my reaction, my phone interrupted me. A reflexive tug pulled at my lips when I saw the caller ID, and I immediately accepted the call. I don’t even remember when that started happening. Just seeing her name made me giddy, and I didn’t hate it. I didn’t even want to deny it, but I tried not to dwell too much on it. Not when I didn’t know where her heart stood.

I know that I could ask Solar about it, but I didn’t want to find out that way. I wanted to hear it from Hwasa herself.

“Hey, Hwasa. You got the text too?” I asked while finally sitting up in bed.

“Yep. What do you think it’s about? I get the feeling that we’re in for another crazy ride, especially after what happened yesterday. I just can’t figure out why I’m not upset about it. Or at least anxious. That’s wrong of me, isn’t it? I mean considering everything that happened.”

I truly felt a lot better knowing that I wasn’t the only reacting this way. We were different in a lot of ways, yet our differences didn't stop us from ending up on the same page.

“Maybe it is wrong, but if I’m honest, I feel the exact same way.”

I could tell she was now smiling on her end, and for some reason the thought that I seemed to always manage to make her smile made me blush slightly. I liked it too much.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one.” She pauses. “Should I pick you up then?”

“At this rate, my cars going to be rusty by the next time I use it.” I laughed. But who could blame me? Was I supposed to refuse a ride with Hwasa?

“So is that a no?”

“Definitely not. Give me thirty minutes.” I made my way to my drawers to get a fresh pair of clothes, so I could shower. I think I smelled a little like beer from the night before.

“You’re still in bed?” Hwasa tuts. “Alright, lazy. See you soon.”

“I’m not- Oh, she hung up.”

There were others like Solar and Moonbyul!! I had never even considered it. I don’t know why I didn’t when the fact that the both of them have it should be enough to lead to that conclusion. I guess it’s because I had a romanticized way of thinking about it all. I tended to do that sometimes. My mom told me I was a dreamer and I had gotten it from her. She said it was the way most artists were.

I thought the gang was special, like a group from a movie or comic. I didn’t matter that I didn’t have a power, just being in the group with them was enough.

“So where are we supposed to go from here? I mean, you don’t really know anything.” I raised a fist to my chin and tried to think of my own idea. I may have a romanticized way of viewing the world at large, but I did know that there was a real life at stake. More than adventure, I wanted to help. I don’t ever want that misinterpreted. My mind sometimes wandered on its own, but I knew when to ground it.

“We don’t know. We’re stumped at the moment. She could honestly be anywhere right now. It’s possible she’s not even in the same state, but I have a feeling she’s close.” Solar lifted a hand to her chest and patted where her scar was absent mindedly.

Moonbyul had walked in looking particularly upset between the two, and the look hasn’t left her face. “I guess for now, the only thing we can do is wait for Solar to make another break through and hope it gets us somewhere.”

“Why are you keeping all that anger in, Byul? Tell us what’s on your mind.” Hwasa spoke up from her seat next to me. She was casually slouching on the couch like it was any other day. It was funny how even this seemed not to faze her.

“How did they even find out about that girl? I mean, what the ? Are we at risk too?” She indicated to Solar and herself.

. I hadn’t even considered that either. I glanced at Solar, who definitely had. There was evident worry on her face, and my initial excitement seemed dumb and naïve now. I could make it up to her, it just meant I had to shoulder some of this for them. I helped last time, but maybe this time I could do more. I just had to figure out how. I didn’t have any gifts like them, so I had to be crafty.

“Maybe, but you’re aware of them now. You’ll know to watch out, and now you have the advantage.” Hwasa assured her sitting up a little straighter. I bet she felt the guilt too.

Moonbyul’s jaw remained tight for a moment, but soon she relaxed a bit.

“Yeah, you’re right. We just have to be careful from here on out. Once we find the girl, at least we’ll know the faces behind the organization.”

How did they find their subjects? That question Byul asked, stuck with me. There was one easy way I could think of, the internet. Of course . What was the first thing Solar did when she was struck? She went to the internet to find information. The thing is, she looked only before she knew about her powers, and so did I. We never checked again because we found Byul and things were just crazy in general right from the get go. Byul looked too; although, I’m not sure about the details, it was possible that the page was just made recently. My point is, maybe there was something we all missed.

So after we had separated from the other two, I had Hwasa bring me to my house so I could get to my computer.

“So what are you going to type?” Hwasa asked sitting next to me eager to help.

“Um, let’s see. I guess if it were me I would put something like ‘struck by lightning’ and ‘powers’.” I clicked enter and immediately saw stuff that looked unrelated, but I held onto hope. I scrolled to the bottom and clicked page two.

“Look at that one!” Hwasa pointed out excitedly. “It seems promising.”

“Which on- Oh.”

There was a blue link before me that was titled “When lightning struck my...” It did look very promising, and so I clicked on it.

It led me to a plain looking blog that may have been the jackpot.

-----------------------------------

yo hey

thanks for your kind words

they warmed my heart truly

hope you're ready for the ride cuz i don't know what i'm doing lol