The Turn: Chapter Five

The Turn

Chapter Five

~Cornbread Etiquette~

Three Years before the Turn

The warning bell rang as Zara pulled up to the school. She hurriedly locked her bike and ran up the steps. Zara suddenly turned around back to her bike and grabbed the little doll sitting on her handlebars. Since she had woken up late, she had had no time to drop Shuppet off.

Zara ran through the hallways to her locker to get her books before going to class. She opened her locker and placed Shuppet on the top shelf. It sat there as Zara crammed books into her back pack. Zara slung the bag over her shoulder and slammed the locker shut.

“Hello.”

Zara jumped as she was putting the lock back on her locker. She glared at Chaud who was leaning against the locker to her right.

“You didn’t call me,” he said after a few seconds.

Zara rolled her eyes and started walking down the hallway, “It was practically midnight. I didn’t think you were up.”

“I was up doing calculus.”

“Are you going to turn in your homework this time?”

Chaud smiled. He kept up with Zara’s pace in easy strides, “Do we really need to go there?”

“You could have told me that you were a Galaxy.”

“Wow. I don’t go to class but at least I know enough to know that I am a human being and not a galaxy.”

Zara paused unsure if Chaud was talking sarcastically in the moment or literally in the way he felt at home. She shrugged it off when she glanced at the clock. There were two minutes left until the bell. Zara picked up the pace.

“Seriously though,” Chaud sped up to match her, “what do you think?”

“Can’t we talk about that later?”

Chaud sighed, “Fine. Is there anything I can do in the mean time?”

Frustrated, she said something to get rid of him, “I don’t know. We need a place to train don’t we? Find a place!”

“Roger!” Chaud fell behind.

His sudden disappearance surprised Zara. She briefly looked behind her and saw no sight of him. Without a second though, she ran into her classroom seconds before the bell rang. She sat in her seat as the teacher started roll call. Zara sat in her usual seat by the window at took a glimpse outside. She caught sight Chaud on the grounds below. He was walking away from the school. She watched him stop and turn around. He seemed to know she was watching him and smiled at her. He nodded before he continued walking.

“Zara Uzek,” the teacher called.

“Here,” Zara answered, eyes still staring where Chaud had disappeared to.

“Now if we can begin…” the teacher’s voice went on.

Zara sighed and looked away. This was going to be an interesting two weeks.

IOIOIOIOIOI

“I found a place,” Chaud stated as he arrived at the lunch table. Surprisingly, he was late.

Deontay looked up from his chili, “Really?”

“Already?” Zara asked with mild shock.

“Yeah, already,” Chaud looked at her sarcastically, “You do realize we have less than two weeks right?”

“Yeah,” Zara said with equal sarcasm, “Did you know we are supposed to stay on school property during school hours?”

“Yes,” Chaud said even more sarcastically, “as a matter of fact, I did.”

Zara opened her mouth when Deontay raised a hand, “You don’t want to do that. He wins every time. The only way to win is to make him think he’s won when you really won. Believe me; I’ve been working on it for months.”

Zara looked at him, “Have you worked on a solution yet?”

Deontay shook his head, “Nope. I’ll get back to you when I do.”

“See, that’s what I don’t get,” Zara looked at Chaud again, “You’re smart—”

“I know,” Chaud was taking a drink of water. He looked at the faces staring at him, “What? It’s true.”

Zara shook her head and continued, “I just don’t see why you don’t just go to school and make something of yourself.”

“All the good jobs are taken,” Chaud looked over at Naru’s uneaten cornbread, “You going to eat that?”

Naru shook his head. Chaud grabbed the piece and ate it in one bite. Vicky snickered at Zara’s disgusted look on her face. Hina looked at him with a ‘get one crumb on me and die’ look while Deontay, who seemed used to this behavior, casually finished off his meal. When he looked up he noticed everyone looking at Chaud. He looked over just as Chaud was practically chocking on the bread. His shoulders slumped.

“Man, how many times have I told you to not eat cornbread whole!? Every black person alive knows that!”

Zara rolled her eyes. This seemed like a recurring issue. Deontay started slapping Chaud’s back trying to clear the airway. Hina complained about Chaud’s eagerness to eat, saying that their father wouldn’t have ever allowed them to eat the way Chaud was eating now.

“Um, excuse me,” Vicky spoke up, gaining Zara’s attention, “Do you know where we will be meeting?”

Zara shook her head. That information was stuck inside Chaud’s throat. Chaud was getting a little blue around the edges. Hina looked like she had had enough and slapped Chaud in the back herself using her powers. A purple flash appeared as she hit him. The force was enough to get the cornbread out. And in was enough to send pieces of cornbread across the table where Zara was sitting. Surprised and disgusted, Zara flailed her arms.

“Gross!” she was at the point of gagging, “I think some went in my mouth!”

“What was your mouth doing open?” Chaud asked when he could speak.

Zara stared at him a moment, “Are you saying that it was my fault for getting sprayed by food?”

“Well—” Chaud started.

“No!” Zara grabbed the closest napkin and wiped her face and clothes. It was dead silent at the table until she finished, “Okay, where are we meeting, Chaud? Let’s get that out of the way and call it a day, alright?”

“It’s at the old Native Shrine, get there ASAP after school. Oh, and bring your weapons,” Chaud said but his eyes weren’t on her, they were on the nearby piece of unsuspecting cornbread on her tray.

As he reached for it, Zara grabbed it and stuffed it in her mouth. For a moment she enjoyed the distraught look on Chaud’s face. But then, she couldn’t breathe. Deontay sighed loudly.

“I correct myself; almost every black person knows you don’t swallow corn bread whole.”

Naru pulled out a water bottle and handed it to her. As she was drinking, Vicky thought that she would be useful and slapped her on the back. Water and wet cornbread got all over Chaud. Zara couldn’t help but smile.

“Gross,” Chaud muttered.

IOIOIOIOIOI

Zara biked to the other side of town after school. After biking to a bus stop, she boarded a bus that took them along the ocean. There were two ‘native’ shrines on the Island. One was a newer one that was built as compensation for the new foreigners that were settling on the Island and another one, the one that she was going to, that was built long ago by the original settlers.

Shuppet looked out the window toward the ocean as they left the big city behind. Zara frequently looked at the slip of paper that she printed out with directions on it to make sure she was headed in the right direction. There was one road with room for only one car or bus.

The bus finally stopped and Zara stepped off via the back left. She stood at an old wooden bus stop shelter as the bus pulled away. The bus kicked up dirt from the gravel on the road. Zara coughed as she squinted ahead of her through the smoke and dust. There was a well beaten grass path that wound its way through the thick forest. A green lantern hung on a red post near the entrance.

Zara took a quick look to her right to see if she could see any trace of the city, she couldn’t. She kept forgetting how big the Island was with is mountains, deserts, forests, plains, and canyons. The bus ride alone took almost forty-five minutes. With a sigh, she straightened her backpack, tucked Shuppet under one arm and crossed the street.

She followed the green lanterns as she walked. They were at regular intervals and at curves and bends in the road. There was a crushing waterfall. She and Shuppet stopped on a faded red bridge to watch for a few moments. Soon though, she was on her way again.

Zara continued walking and just when she was about to give up and go home she found herself in a clearing. She looked at shrine. It hand stone steps leading up to the shrine itself. Large round wooden columns held up the ceiling. The wood was a rich brown as if the wood were cut the day before. There looked to be at least three floors. The wild grass in the clearing was cut short. Piles of stones dotted the landscape. Flowers sprouted here and there. Butterflies and bees flew around as Zara made her way to the large open entrance.

The inside was large a welcoming, at least half the first floor was open space to welcome guests. The floors were smooth and waxed; a modern invention. Freshly picked flowers that hung from class vases on a small wooden podium alternated with an old piece of paintwork on old paper. Across from the doorway were black plaques that read the names of those who were currently staying. Zara took a step over the threshold to take a closer look.

“Please take off your shoes,” a voice requested.

Zara stopped and saw a man in a corner with a broom in his hands. He was sweeping away at a stubborn cobweb and didn’t look up once when he spoke. He wore a large black robe. Around his waist was a black sash, a sword’s sheath hung from the sash. His black hair fell to his shoulders and no longer. He stopped his sweeping suddenly and looked at her. Zara quickly slid off her shoes.

“Place them outside, please,” he said as if he were incredibly board.

Zara did so. The man looked like he was in his early forties but was fit and very healthy. He took the broom and walked across the room, barely giving her a second glance. Zara walked back in barefoot. She was about to ask him where Chaud was.

“He’ll be in in a minute,” the man said before she had a chance to speak, “Have a seat.”

Since there were no chairs, Zara assumed he meant she should sit on the floor. She placed her weapons and bag down and placed Shuppet comfortably on the floor by the wall. Then she sat in the middle of the room and waited. She watched the man ignore her and carry on with his chores. This carried on for an agonizing five minutes.

“Hey!” Chaud walked out of one of the adjoining rooms, “I see you’ve met Crow. He isn’t much of a chatty type.” He said the latter as a side comment.

Crow grunted silently signaling that he heard the comment and disapproved. Zara stood up. Chaud was grinning so wide that Zara started to feel uneasy. He shifted uneasily as if he were hiding a really good secret that he wanted you to ask about. Zara eyed him skeptically.

“Aren’t you going to ask me why he’s here?” Chaud hinted.

“No,” Zara flatly stated. The man seemed to hide a small smile.

“Aww! Come on! Ask me!” Chaud pleaded.

Zara crossed her arms, “If you want to tell me so bad then tell me!”

“Fine! You will be so proud!” Chaud’s grin unbelievably got bigger. Zara stood there expecting him to say something, “Crow is willing to train us!”

“We don’t need training,” Zara sighed, “That is why you go to school, to train!” train

“Yeah, but its mass training. The teachers don’t care if you make a tiny mistake each time but it’s those tiny mistakes that win or loss battles. That is what Crow is going to help us with the first week.”

“And the second week?” Zara still wasn’t sure she liked this idea. There was already a lot on her plate; dealing with Chaud was one of them.

“Then we start team training,” the victorious smile was still on his lips, “I am so good. Told you I can take care of the details.”  Chaud saw the skeptical look on her face, “Fine let’s just try it out for one day and then make your decision. Besides I kind of paid him for the day already.”

Zara raised an eye brow, “Really? How much?”

Chaud shrugged, “5,000.”

“5,000!?”

Chaud answered nonchalant, “Yeah, its pocket change. It’s what happens when you’re the rejected kid of a rich family and gets in trouble a lot and saves every check your parents throw your way for good behavior. So yeah, no biggie.”

Zara shook her head. A shadow moved over the door.

“For Pete’s sake! Take off you freaking shoes! Kids nowadays!”

The Turn: Chapter Four

The Turn

Chapter Four

~Unwanted Power of Invisibility~

Three Years before the Turn

Zara sat through her Arabic language class staring out the window. As much as she tried to focus, her mind was just too full of its own thoughts to allow any learning. She looked out the window. A gym class was out for a jog/run around the expansive school property. Vaguely, she heard the bell ring, signaling the end of two hours of language.

The group assessments were two weeks away. In the meantime, school took up most of her time. She repeatedly kicked herself for not getting a team together sooner. Now everything hinged on the group assessments and she still had a ton of last minute homework to pull together for the end of the school year; not to mention exams.

It was around lunch time and Zara made her way to the lunch room. She stood in line and got her food. She then looked for a place to sit and found and empty table in the corner of the lunch room. She sat on the side of the table that looked into the lunch room. The lunch itself looked decent but Zara just wasn’t hungry. She pushed her food around with her fork. Soon she felt a presence in front of her.

A tray slapped down on the table. Zara looked up to see who it was. It was the boy with bleached hair. He glanced at her briefly and started eating his mashed potatoes and gravy. Zara dug around in her memory for his name. Chaud! That’s what it was. Now what was he doing here?

“Are you going to eat that?” he asked pointing to her mashed-potato-steamed- vegetable-gravy mix.

Zara shook her head and watched as he grabbed her plate and scraped off the mess she had created. She then had to force herself not to throw up as he started eating.

“I can’t believe that Miss. Kemp gave us an essay to do on the history of the Island, on the last two weeks of school too!” another tray fell heavily onto the table, “I mean, doesn’t she know that we have half a dozen things to do!?”

Hina sat down to Chaud’s left. Her brother, Naru, just quietly listened to his sisters ranting, nodding his head in agreement from time to time. He sat beside Zara across from his sister.

“Man!” Deontay, the black boy, sat down next to Chaud, “I’m beat!”

“Yeah,” Chaud answered, “Running around school property does that to you.”

Deontay looked to Chaud with skepticism, “I don’t see you sweating bullets.”

Chaud shrugged, “I didn’t run. I was hiding in the bathroom.”

“Right,” Deontay shook his head back and forth.

Silently, Vicky slid into the seat on Zara’s left. Perplexed at her sudden overflow of company, Zara looked around the table. She wasn’t sure if she liked the company but she surely didn’t resent it. Nevertheless, she was curious as to why they were sitting next to her.

“Um,” she started.

Chaud raised a fork to stop her, “Alright, time for the first order of business: Heard down the grapevine that you needed a team. Voilà! Here we are. Had to pull Deontay from his other team though; by the way, you need to bake him cookies, chocolate chip preferably but really this guy will eat anything. Oh, we sent you our data. It should be in your inbox. That Naru, I tell you, he may be quiet but he is amazing at a keyboard. Took him five seconds to crack the school firewall to find your e-mail address.”

“We could have just asked her,” Deontay muttered.

“Where is the fun in that?” Chaud shrugged, “Besides, this way I get to see the look on her face. First impressions are everything. Just like my dad always says, “Be sure to shine”. I am totally shining right now. Moving on: Who votes that Zara here is the leader?”

“Aye,” the whole table said in chorus.

“And the nay’s?” no one said anything, “The aye’s have it. Second order of business: I nominate me as second in command,” Chaud raised his hand.

“I second the notion,” Deontay nodded.

“Third,” Hina said.

“Forth,” Naru said a fraction of a second after his sister.

“Fifth,” Vicky said quietly.

“As chairman of the quickest team meeting known to man,” Chaud said again, “I appoint myself as second in command by the majority of the vote,” he looked to Zara, “The choice ultimately is yours.”

Zara thought a moment. Chaud had shown an outstanding ability to organize and plan. He looked like a complete dunce in his sleeveless shirt and baggy black pants but that obviously wasn’t the case. She looked him over. His posture was one of slight arrogance. The type of arrogance that made people want to hit him but not quite kill him. Sarcasm seemed part of his theme too. This only made Zara wonder…

“Why don’t you want to be the leader?” Zara asked.

He raised an eyebrow in thought but answered almost instantly, “To much responsibility.”

Zara shrugged, “In that case, I don’t see why you can’t be second.”

“Great,” he stood up, his tray cleaned of food. He glanced at the watch on his wrist, “In that case, I’ll talk to you after you’ve had a look at the data. Meeting adjourned.”

Just then the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period.

Deontay smirked as he finished his food, “Nice.”

“Told you I had this timed perfectly,” he stated as he started to walk away.

“Never doubted you,” Deontay stood up with the rest of the table. He dipped his head to Zara as he left.

The whole table left and Zara was sitting by herself. She sat there a few more seconds, trying to absorb what had just happened. Her stomach growled. Zara sighed. Yeah, now she was hungry.

IOIOIOIOIOI

It was around nine-o-clock at night and Zara sat in her bed looking at a laptop screen. Shuppet sat in the space created by her crossed legs. Puppetmaster insisted that she take Shuppet with her for the night. He seemed very pleased that his prediction came true for the most part. Zara was beginning to think that these predictions were a bunch of hooey that he spouted when the moment was right.

She opened her e-mail and sure enough found the five large files in her inbox. With a tired yawn, Zara glanced at the clock. She knew she should have done her homework right after school instead of read the advanced chemistry book. Zara looked at the doll below.

“Looks like we’ll be up late tonight,” she said.

Shuppet responded by settling down some more. It seemed fairly interested on Zara’s teammates. It was ready to absorb information like a sponge and relay the information to its master the next day. After all, that was the reason it was here in the first place.

“Let’s get started,” Zara muttered as she clicked on the first file.

It took a while for it to load. When it did, Deontay’s file showed up. It started with the general information like his full name: Deontay Walsh. He was the same age as Zara. He was male, obviously. Zara scrolled through to the academic records. Deontay was the best with gym, especially when using his powers. He had the powers to use the earth to attack and defend. There was a picture of his weapon. It looked like a glove of some kind. It had sharp claws that extended from fingers including the thumb. The cloth on the palm side was removed allowing for much easier movement. In fact, where ever cloth wasn’t necessarily needed it was removed to make the weapon lighter. The fingers on the glove were cut off and there was a small metal bar that allowed a grip.

Shuppet leaned in slightly at the picture.

She scrolled down a little and saw his scores on the individual assessment. There were four judges including Sirius. All of judges scored him high marks on defense and offense. His speed could be better but his strength wasn’t an issue. He had good weapons skills as well.

Zara nodded, “He sounds like a tank to me. It looks like he can take a lot of damage and deal out a lot of hurt but if you tell him to walk a tight rope, things won’t end well.”

Shuppet seemed to nod in agreement. Zara closed the file and looked at the next one in her inbox.

Victoria “Vicky” Chen was next on the list. She was Chinese but born in America with the power of wind. Her awkward picture was next to her basic info. Her hair was a mess, her glasses were tilted and her smile was more of an awkward unsure toothy smile. It was painfully obvious that she forgot it was picture day. Shuppet tilted its head up.

“Don’t judge,” Zara muttered, “She is a nice girl.”

Shuppet shrugged unconvinced.

Vicky was very smart in the academic area especially in medical science and natural remedies. In gym though, the gym teacher wrote a comment along the lines of “is afraid to do anything” and left it at that. She did alright using her powers but her grade didn’t seem to match with her potential. Zara made a mental note to help Vicky come out of her shell. Just like before, there was a picture of her weapon. It was a shuriken. In the margins there was a note that she actually carried two of them.

Her assessment sheet was much the same as her academic record. The judges gave her average marks on offense and defense. Her speed was higher than normal and she was nimble on her feet. She could use the weapon well and her use of her powers was noteworthy. But again, she seemed very unsure of herself and the judges had to dock points off for that.

Zara closed the file. Shuppet stretched out its arms as if it were stretching out muscle. It made sense in a way. If you were made of wood it was likely that you would feel fairly stiff from time to time.

Next were Hina and Naru Sasaki, both Japanese. Zara first took a look at Hina’s file. She too was sixteen. At a brief glance she could be mistaken as a boy. She had a stern look on her face as if she were is a relatively bad mood and had no time to be sitting for pictures. Zara was fairly certain that her parents were hoping for a sweet little girl because of the meaning of her name. If Zara remembered correctly Hina meant sunlight, in other words a happy girl. Instead, she got in schoolyard fights almost every day. She did play the violin but it was obvious that she did it to make her parents happy. Shuppet tilted its head to one side in confusion.

“She’s a girl,” Zara answered his unspoken question.

Shuppet nodded, satisfied with the knowledge.

Hina was average in her studies. It didn’t look like she scored especially well in her basic studies but she did get high grades in power identification. It was a class that strictly studied different types of powers, how to counter them, where they most likely originated from, and how they affect the body. It was understandable because Hina’s powers weren’t the typical fire, ice and lightning. She was able to create a type of force in the palm of her hands and use it in various amounts to create a small force field that would be created quickly and dispersed just as quickly creating a large amount of energy. She would then use that energy anyway she saw fit.

During the assessment, she scored high on defense and offence. She had no weapons other than her fists and hands. Her speed was notable as well.

Zara muttered, “She strikes fast and hard.”

Shuppet nodded in agreement. She seemed scary.

Naru’s picture was much nicer. He had ocean blue eyes that seemed to look at things with a heightened accuracy. His hair fell around his face and shoulders. Zara already knew that his power was water. He looked softer than his sister, much more feminine. It said in his file that originally, their parents though that he was going to be a she, that their mother was expecting twin girls. Lo and behold, one of the ‘she’s was a ‘he’ bringing the meaning of his name, “to become”, to light. In a way, he ‘became’ a boy.

He earned ‘A’s in all of his classes but seemed to have a strong interest in weapons requiting a strong sense of accuracy, like the bow and arrow or throwing daggers. Also he seemed interested in the human body, like the anatomy and physiology, pressure points and the like. His weapons were the sai, throwing needles, and throwing stars. He did well in gym classes but it was noted that he usually kept to himself.

Shuppet seemed interested. It looked to be reading the page that Zara was on with great detail. Zara raised an interested eyebrow.

“You can read?” she asked.

Shuppet made a dismissive gesture as if saying, “Yeah, duh. What have I been doing this whole time?”

Naru did really well in the assessment. His defense could use work but the judges noted that he could use his water powers to defend as well. He was also fast, faster than anyone at the assessment. He seemed to disappear and reappear in another spot in an instant. It was also noted that he didn’t have teleporting abilities but it was possible that he did obtain a little speed ability. Zara was greatly interested in Naru’s abilities.

Last but not least was Chaud. Zara forced herself not to laugh and Shuppet slapped one of its wooded arms onto its face in distress. His grades were much to be desired. He was getting a low ‘C’, the lowest one could get and stay in school, in practically everything, including gym. His teachers all said negative things about his grades and his attendance records. Apparently, Chaud rarely came to school; or at least he hid in the bathroom a lot. Although, he did attend his class on firearms and passed that with flying colors.  All this information seemed contradictory to what she had seen earlier that day. She did however find it interesting that in addition of his electrical powers he could sprout wings and fly.

His assessment was even worse. He didn’t even try. The judges gave him all low marks because all he really did was stand there with his hands in his pockets. Zara looked closer. One of the judges didn’t give Chaud a ranking at all. There was just a symbol over his section: Ø. Zara knew that symbol meant null set in mathematics. In short hand it just meant null. Zara smirked, was his performance that bad that the judge just couldn’t handle it? She looked at the signature: Sirius Galaxy. Zara scowled in thought.

There were a few reasons that a judge would withdraw himself from rating someone. Most of the time, the reason was when they knew the person they were assessing and couldn’t rate fairly. This was especially true if they were related. Zara paused a moment. Her mind went back to when she met Sirius in the office.

“Be sure to shine,” he had told her. And that day, Chaud told her something similar.

Zara scrolled up the page. She had skimmed over Chaud’s name in the beginning because she thought it didn’t matter. She had thought wrong. Sure enough his last name was Galaxy. She copied his name and opened another window. Sure enough she found a family photo; he was one of Sirius’s four children.

There was Kaiba; apparently he was next in line to the throne of the Tower and learning how things work. He was the oldest at age 25. There was Lynx. He was known for his inventions and was in charge of anything electric at the Tower. If it went boom, zzt, or beep, most likely Lynx was behind it. The twenty year old was an electronic genius. Then there was his wife. She wore a stylish black dress and a large black hat. Her hair was died black; she was a natural brunette originally. She was a famous fashion designer. She often designed clothes and uniforms for the Agents when she had time and the current ones were “so last year”. Everyone only knew her by Mrs. Galaxy. Then there was the youngest in the family, ten year old Amber. She was adopted into the family when she was an infant. Her orange hair was pulled into two tiny pig tails. She was the cutie in the family. Last but not least was Chaud. In the picture he seemed to fade in his family’s reputation. He wasn’t second in command, he want good at mechanics, his clothing tastes could be better, he wasn’t the youngest who got all the attention and he certainly didn’t own the Tower. He was the invisible third child.

It explained his behavior. He was trying to get as much attention as he could whether be it good or bad. That’s why he didn’t go to class or do anything for the assessment. Everyone knew about his brothers, his mother, father and his sister but rarely, it seemed, did people notice him. Even now, Zara had looked over him.

Zara looked at the clock. It read close to midnight. She slowly closed her laptop and placed in on the floor. Shuppet looked at her as she stepped out of the bed. Zara picked him up and placed him on her nightstand. She turned off the lights and went to bed. Shuppet looked on for a moment in the dark. It looked at the computer and its shoulders rose and fell in an inaudible sigh.

Poor Chaud.

The Turn: Chapter Three

The Turn

Chapter Three

~He’s Seriously Sirius~

Three Years before the Turn

The man in white sat them all down in the main office. The bullies sat on one side of the room and the rest of them were on the other side. Zara sat beside the bully boy in front of the large desk where the man in white sat. The other man stood on the man’s right side.

Zara tried not to look at the boy beside her. She stared at her lap and tried to focus on who the man in front of them was. The smile on his face didn’t seem to fade in the least while his assistant looked even more serious that before, if that was possible. She had the sudden feeling that someone was watching her and looked up. Her eyes met with the man’s blue eyes. His smile widened and he looked around the room once more. He seemed to be waiting for something.

Kaiba, his assistant, was busy at his tablet. He held one end of the thin glass in one hand as he used a pen in his other hand to work. Soon he handed the glass to the man in white. The man looked at it, occasionally looking up at different people. He nodded and handed back the tablet.

“Hello, everyone,” the man started, “My name is Sirius Galaxy.”

Zara felt the air in her lungs contract. This was the head of the Tower, the most powerful person not only on the Island but in the entire world, and he caught her in a fight with some bullies. It wasn’t the best of introductions, especially on assessment day.

Sirius smiled, “So, who wants to explain what just happened here?”

No one answered. Zara’s voice seemed caught in her throat.

“Simon?” Sirius asked the boy sitting next to her. The bully shook his head. He wasn’t about to admit that he started the whole thing. Sirius’s eyes scanned the other faces.

“Hina? Naru?” he looked at the brother and sister. Naru looked down at his hands while his sister, Hina, stared Sirius dead in the face.

“Deontay?” he asked the black boy. Deontay slouched in his chair.

Sirius called a few of the bully’s names. Naturally none of them answered.

“Chaud,” he called the bleached haired boys name. The boy didn’t even stir at the call of his name.

“Vicky?” Sirius asked the girl in glasses. She shook her head and pushed her glasses up her nose.

Finally, he looked at Zara, “Zara.”

“Yes, Sir,” Zara practically shot up from her chair. She stood with her feet close together and her arms straight at her sides. When he called her name she had been unable to stop herself from having the reaction. She had gone through the scenario when she would meet Sirius over and over again in her head. When she finally gained control of her anxious body it was too late. The others in the room were looking at her like she was some kind of nutcase. She stood her ground, literally, until Sirius told her otherwise.

His smile widened again as he forced himself not to laugh, “Thank you, Zara. You may sit down now.”

Awkwardly, she did. Simon, the bully, snickered. Zara did her best to ignore him. She looked directly at Sirius waiting for what he would say next. Sirius leaned forward and propped his head on one hand.

“Do you know what happened?” he asked.

Zara quickly sorted the facts in her head. She was about to tell exactly what happened when she stopped. If she told what really happened then they would all get in trouble most likely and if that happened, not only would she be perceived as a snitch or a tattletale but she would be the most hated person in the school. Even just in the room, telling the full truth could ruin the lives of the others who deserved to be here at the school. She sighed.

“It was my fault,” she stated.

Sirius tilted his head to one side, “How so?

“I stepped on Simon’s foot and he got mad,” Zara felt more comfortable with her lie, “The others were just standing up for their respective sides.”

Sirius looked at her for a few good minutes then he slowly nodded. He looked at Simon, “Is that true?”

Simon sat back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head, “That just about sums it up, I’d say.”

The corner of Zara’s mouth twitched as she refrained herself from hitting Simon in the stomach. Sirius looked at them both a while longer. His smile widened as if he were satisfied with the answer.

“Kaiba,” he said, glancing to his right, “would you take the rest of them to the gym please while I talk here with Ms. Uzek?”

Kaiba nodded silently. The others in the room stood up quietly and walked out. Zara waited patiently. When the door closed, a dead silence followed.

“So, are you going to stick with your story?” Sirius asked.

Zara nodded, unsure of where this was going.

“Well, in that case, you will have to be punished in some way. How does going home sound? It looks like you might need it too. You will not be able to do the individual assessment today.”

Zara’s jaw clenched. She forced herself to nod in agreement. After all, the punishment could be worse.

“You can still do the group assessment but you will be at a disadvantage because you didn’t take the individual assessment,” Sirius stood up, “but I’m sure you can make up for it. Oh, one more thing, you all would have been expelled if you hadn’t taken responsibility for everything.” Sirius looked down at her, “Be sure to shine.”

Sirius walked out of the room. Zara stayed where she was. She forced herself to breathe normally and to keep her mind clear. She stood up and walked out of the office. Zara slowly walked through the empty hallways. Her mind was in a frantic rush to figure out what to do next. Yes, save the five others who were completely innocent but she also saved the butts of those no good bullies and after she trained for years for this day she couldn’t even show them what she could do. Did life have to suck so much?

Zara walked out of the main building into bright sunlight. She looked around for the bike rack and stopped. Puppetmaster was standing at the bottom of the stairs, a large smile across his face. Shuppet, in his arms, was waving a wooden hand at her. Puppetmaster held out one arm toward her. Zara ran down the stairs and ran into his open arm.

At least there were people like Puppetmaster who made life suck less.

IOIOIOIOIOI

Zara pushed her ice cream around in her bowl. She had walked her bike alongside Puppetmaster the entire way back to Transaction square. Puppetmaster sat across from her and Shuppet sat, slightly slumped, in between them. Zara hadn’t said much the entire way back and Puppetmaster didn’t push for her too. She had had a rough day. He watched her barely eat her ice cream. Several times she opened her mouth as if to say something but them closed it without saying a word. He looked to the doll equivalent of himself. Even Shuppet was quiet.

“It’s not fair!” Zara said at last.

“It isn’t?” Puppetmaster responded.

Zara sighed, “No, it is. It could have been worse. It should have been worse.”

“You think so?”

“I mean we broke school property, we should be expelled,” Zara paused a moment, “Now, I guess I can focus on finding a team then.”

“I guess?”

“Will you stop that?”

“Stop what?”

“That!”

“What?”

“Answering my statements with a question?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“There! You did it again!”

“Did what?”

“Now you’re just doing this on purpose!”

“Am I?” Puppetmaster said with a smile.

Zara stared at him for a long moment. But after a while she sighed. There was no way on earth a way to resist his smile for very long. Besides, she appreciated his way of letting her talk out her situation with herself. Still, he could have done it a different way.

“Thanks for coming to get me,” Zara said.

“You’re welcome,” Puppetmaster nodded, “I got a call that said you might need some company.”

“A call?” Zara looked up, “When?”

“Before I left.”

“When did you leave?”

“A while ago.”

“Stop it!”

“Alright, alright!” Puppetmaster chuckled. He stood up and grabbed his empty bowl and her almost empty one and placed them on the counter. As he walked back, Zara stood up and picked up Shuppet. She was glancing at the hat on top of its head when Puppetmaster walked up.

“Shall we go?” he said, guiding her to the door.

“You made this?” she asked as they walked out of the store, “What about the ones you’re wearing? They look old.”

Puppetmaster smiled, “I inherited them from one of my uncles or great uncles can’t remember which really.”

“Like that stone in your hair?” Zara pretended not to be too interested.

“My, my, look at the time,” Puppetmaster looked at an imaginary watch on his wrist, “Shouldn’t you be getting home?”

Zara looked at the sun in the west. It was already very low in the sky. Almost as if he knew her thoughts, Puppetmaster handed her some money in coins.

“That should be enough for the bus fair,” he said with a smile.

Zara handed Shuppet off and found her bike, “Thanks, I’ll pay you back.”

“No need,” Puppetmaster smiled, “just travel safe.” Shuppet shifted into a more comfortable position.

“I will,” Zara mounted her bike and biked off to the nearest bus station. One day, she vowed, she would find out the secret behind the purple sphere. For now, she needed to find a group.