Origin (Book 2)

Chapter 9

"How much farther?" someone asked behind me.

"To where? We're not going anywhere," I said loudly.

We had been wandering around aimlessly for the past hour and a half, according to my watch. And in all that time, we hadn't gone anywhere. Just endless trees, grass, and vines.

I looked behind at the group of ragtag people we had. The oldest of us looked like he was a bit older than me, maybe twenty, and-

Wait, if I've been sleeping for three months, then doesn't that mean I missed my birthday? I thought with a jolt. My eighteenth birthday was supposed to be a hallmark in my life, a time to celebrate becoming a legal adult. It seemed almost fitting that Jake was the one to ruin it.

The rest were either right behind me in age, or older than thirteen, by the looks of it.

I had no idea where we were going. But mound around was better than doing nothing.

Apparently, not everyone thought that.

"We're going around in circles," the guy who could turn into metal said suddenly. He pointed to a tree with an odd mark on it. "I remember that from a half hour ago."

I analyzed the mark briefly. "Did you make this?" I asked him.

"No," he said.

Then the question was, what did? Were we in this jungle environment alone? As far as I could tell, there were no real organisms aside from us.

"Do you think a monster could have done this?" Alissa asked me quietly so no one could hear.

"Not likely," I said. "We would've heard something, or seen it. Besides, there are no tracks."

"You're probably right," she said. "But just in case, can I fly up to see what's going on?"

"Why are you asking me?" I said, mentally slapping myself for not thinking about that earlier.

"It is my duty, oh fearless leader," she mocked, grinning. Then she started floating into the air.

"Where is she going?" a blonde girl asked me.

"She's getting a better view." I watched her rise.

She stopped when she was high enough. She turned in midair, looking around. Her gaze lingered on something for a second. She descended toward the ground at a fast rate.

"We need to move," she said urgently. "Something's coming."

"Could you see what?" I asked.

The rest of the group surrounded her, listening.

"No, but it's big. The trees are tall, but I could see something red glowing in the leaves. And there's something, like a black mass, behind it. They're both heading this way." She sounded genuinely scared.

I considered my options. This was just like at the house. This time, there were seven of us, but the threat was bigger . Last time, it had ended with memories being erased and me getting my ass handed to me by another meta. The wise choice would be to run and hope for the best. But this time, there was no where to run to even if we knew where to go.

Everyone turned to me.

I used my superspeed to run up the nearest tree. I sat on the branch closest to the ground.

"How many of toy have a power that can get you up here?" I asked.

All but two of them raised their hands. A girl and a boy. "I can turn invisible, though," the boy said. "I have laser vision," said the girl.