• T E N •

Love this song!!

• • •

"Why go to school when I could light myself on fire and feel the same way?"

• • •

The sound of the door slamming tells me that they have finally left to go train. Silently, I creep out of my room and into the halls, making sure that the house is empty. I sneak out of the house and race after them. They always train in the exact same place. I run down the dirt road, my ragged skirt flapping as I force myself to go faster. The rocks dig into my bare feet but I only run faster.

I burst through the teeming woods and stop just at the edge of a clearing where they practice. Ivan is yelling out orders and Enrique, Joe, and Rome are sparring with my brothers. They always start with simple hand to hand combat. I study their moves and how they counter each other. After a while, they switch to drills. I position myself the same way that Rome does. He stands in front of the others and displays the moves. I go through each motion, practicing it until it looks exactly like Rome's then I work on making it faster.

My brothers will go over the combat with me later, but I like to get in as much practice as possible. What they don't go over, however, is the powers. I don't have any powers and I might not ever get any, but I like to listen and take notes. I know that they will never train me, even if I do develop powers, but I can't help but hope that I do get powers. And, if I do get powers, I'm going to need as much help as possible.

"Light touches!" Joe roars to Anchor, correcting him.

Anchor nods and adjusts his technique so that he can get the leave to float in the same spot. Anchor has air powers so he can make things float if he is careful enough. All of the powers have hidden talents that you just have to figure out if you can fine-tune your powers enough.

Take Lonica for example. He has water powers. When he first got them, all he could do was cause floods. The water nearly drowned Henry when Lonica lost control. Now, Lonica can cause it to rain, he can clean our water, he can make it so that he only needs a single bucket to take a shower.

Frustrated, Enrique yells, "Lonica! You need to use the water that is already inside of him!"

A look of confusion comes over Lonica's face. Storming over, Enrique whacks him on the back of his head and exasperatedly explains the exact technique of choking and drowning someone with their own water.

I listen intently, imagining exactly how I would do that. I hold myself the same way that Lonica does and mimic his motions as he chokes Phillip.

Rapt, I pay attention as my fathers lead them through the training. After a few hours of hard training, my fathers begin to head back. They leave an exact list of drills for my brothers to work on for hand to hand combat before they make their way back to the house.

They always head back around the same time so that they can eat lunch. But only our fathers. They say that only men get to eat lunch. My brothers are too young to be considered men and don't get lunch until they prove that they are a man. I'm a female so I will never be allowed to eat lunch.

Once our fathers are out of sight, I burst out of the trees and into the clearing. Laughing, Klause lifts me up and I cling to him like a koala.

"What are we working on today?" I ask excitedly.

John recites the list that our fathers left for them.

"Wow, our fathers left a lot for us to do today," I remark offhandedly.

Stiffening, Klause drops me, completely startled.

John snaps his fierce glare to me and snarls, "They are not your fathers! Your father is dead, Rage!"

My chin wobbles. Crossing my arms, I fix him with my own glare, albeit slightly watery.

"Well, that's not my fault, is it?" I yell angrily.

Dark eyes flashing, John spits, "No, but it is your fault that Mom is dead. If she didn't screw some other guy, she never would have gotten pregnant with you. Then you came along and killed her. You're the reason why they're so mean now."

"That's enough now," Joseph says with a sigh. "Come on Rage, I'll work with you."

My glare is replaced by a grin as I hop to my feet and head over to Joseph. Joseph is the second youngest in our family. I can take him. I mean, I haven't yet, but I've been working at home when I wasn't locked in the box or cleaning.

Joseph leads me away from them so we have space and clears his face of all emotion as he settles into a calm and icy persona that no nine year old should have mastered. But I can't say anything, really. I'm eight and I still can't calm down or be icy.

Instinctively, I settle into a fighting stance, bending my knees and making sure my hands and feet are in the correct position. Joseph nods, approving of my stance and I strike first.

Rage is my name, rage is my game.

An amused smile makes its way onto my face. Using the anger from my encounter with John, I manage to put extra force into my blows. Quickly, I use the combinations that we have gone over, adjusting when necessary. Joseph looks taken aback at first but quickly recovers, returning my hits. A good hit to my mouth snaps my head back. When I look back at Joseph, all I feel is rage.

With a roar, I throw myself at him, throwing hits. My puny fists pound against him over and over until he is curled up into a ball.

Strong arms lift me up and I thrash against them, trying to finish hitting Joseph.

Klause sets me down, still clutching my shoulders as he waits for me to calm down.

"Count with me," He whispers calmly.

"One...

"Two...

"Three...

"Four...

"Five...

"Six...

"Seven...

"Eight...

"Nine...

"Ten..."

I take a deep breath and look him in the eye to show him just how calm I am. Klause studies me. Nodding, he lets go.

The second he does, I race after Joseph.

"I'm going to kill you!" I boom. "Joseph!"

• • •

An amused grin spreads across my face as I remember that day. Shaking my head to clear it, I turn back to Gage.

Studying me, Gage gives me a suspicious look before nodding slowly. "Alright. You can train us."

I grin wildly.

Oh, this is going to be fun.

"First, I will need to see what level you are all at," I announce, my lemon eyes scanning each one of them. "I'm going to pair you up and have you spar and then we will break down each element of your powers. No pun intended.

"Gage will go against Boaz, Nekoda against Darkon, William against Asher, and Kolton will go against the winner of Nekoda and Darkon's match. Am I clear?"

They all nod and look to each other. Boaz lazily climbs to his feet with a groan. Gage and him head to the center of the clearing and Boaz ignites his fists as Gage creates a swirling bubble of water.

"This isn't really a fair fight," Asher blurts, his cheeks turning a dark red.

"What makes you say that?" I ask, tilting my head in confusion.

Asher's blush somehow deepens. "W-Well, water always beats f-fire."

I scoff, "As if. Sure, Gage has a bit of an advantage, but what makes steam?"

"Heat," William murmurs.

I smile slightly. "Exactly. If Boaz creates enough fire, he'll destroy Gage's water. If Gage creates enough water, he'll destroy Boaz's fire."

The six of us fall silent as we watch the fight begin. They take turns blasting each other until Gage wins finally. Not a beautiful fight, but they do have potential.

"Good!" I call. "Nekoda versus Darkon now."

Nekoda is as icy as ever as he heads to the center of the clearing. Darkon, the huge boy, has a distant look in his eye as the fight begins. It doesn't take long for Nekoda to freeze Darkon's stones. A furrow my brow. What had Darkon so distracted?

"Alright, let's have William and Asher go now," I decide.

Asher and William nod and head out to take Nekoda and Darkon's places. The match begins and Asher, using his fauna powers, calls out the animals from the forest as William uses his flora powers and causes all the plants to grow out of the ground. The grass is now taller than even Darkon. The animals charge at the same time William sends the grass forward. His plants grow, increasing in size as they hurry for the animals. The animals split up. Half of them charge for William, and half of them attack the plants. William nods and splits up his plants the same way.

It is no longer a battle of Asher versus William. Now, it is fauna versus flora. Plants versus animals.

Silently, Asher pushes forward in an incredible burst of power. More animals join him and a large bear races forward and roars right in front of William, a large and frightening roar. William is frozen in fear. It raises a hand and Asher shoots his hand forward. The bear's hand stops right on William's neck.

"Asher wins!" I yell.

Asher calls off his animals and they all return to the woods and William's plants return to their original size and stop moving, save a gentle swaying in the breeze.

They clasp hands and then head back to us.

"Good job, Asher," I tell him as they draw near.

A pale pink blush paints his cheeks and he stammers, "Th-Thank you, Rage."

"Kolton versus Nekoda!"

Kolton jogs out to the center of the clearing and Nekoda takes graceful and concise steps, still maintaining his icy image.

The fight begins with a bang. Kolton shoots out a burst of air right as Nekoda sent out a wave of small ice daggers. Kolton blows the daggers off course as Nekoda gets hit by the air. Seeing his weakness, Nekoda quickly forms a shield of ice on his left arm. It touches the ground and covers him fully when he crouches. Kolton grins and directs more air toward him. Nekoda just barely remains upright and throws more ice at him.

The two trade blows and Kolton grows an edge over Nekoda who stumbles back a little further with every blast of air. Nekoda throws his hands out and freezes the air. Kolton attempts to push through it, but Nekoda counters by freezing Kolton himself. Completely blank-faced, Nekoda leaves the frozen Kolton there and makes his way back to us.

Boaz groans, "Ugh. Now I have to melt him, huh?"

"Oh, please," William laughs. "You love fire."

"Not this fire!" Boaz yells, a serious anger in him.

"Shit, I forgot, sorry," William apologizes, worry in his electric green eyes.

Boaz scoffs, "Whatever. I'm melting him and then I'm done for the day."

Gage nods and I look at each of them, confused about what just happened.

"What's going on?" I ask.

They all exchange looks.

"Boaz will have to tell you that himself," Gage says finally. "We don't know the whole story ourselves."

I nod. I can definitely understand that. After all, we all have stories and secrets to tell and to hide.

"Well," I say. "I got a good sense of your guys' powers at least. I should probably get going now."

I should probably get in some training, if not fight at the ring tonight.

"Hey," William says nervously, asking everyone but sort of focusing on me. "Would you want to eat dinner at my place? Asher is coming and my family is there."

Biting my lip, I think it over. It isn't accepting help, is it? It's not letting someone pay for me, is it? It's different. Right?

"If you don't mind," I agree slowly as Boaz and Kolton return to us.

William beams. "That's great!"

Looking at his phone, Gage frowns, a disappointed look crossing his face before disappearing. "Sorry, I have to get home. Pa needs help and Mom's at the restaurant."

"Don't worry about it," William assures him. "Get back to your dad."

Gage nods and sets off at a jog.

Boaz grunts, "I'm down for free food."

"I'd be happy to come," Darkon announces, looking at me. "But I can't sorry. I have to help out at home."

Still hiding his emotions, Nekoda shakes his head. "My parents need me back at their place. Someone important is coming, apparently."

Kolton groans, "My dad's home. I have to be there."

William calls, "Excellent!"

Nervously, I follow them out of there.

I'm nervous. I've never had friends, never gone over to someone's home before. I better not screw this up.

• • •

Q: If you live in a country other than America, what country and what side of the road do you drive on?

A: I live in America... And have an odd fixation on finding out which countries use which side of the road. But I'm too lazy to Google it...

JadeQueen100