Ice Flower Path of ice

Chapter 8

The water glides over my body as push against it, it's comforting though for some reason it gives me a sense of dread. One I have never experienced before, like I know something bad will happen here, it's probably just me being paranoid, after all I can't see into the future, I would prefer to know if something is going to happen here, just so I can put my mind at rest, because even if something does happen, knowing always seems to help.

"Hey cute swimmer boy, how's it going?" Lynn goes to sling his arm over my shoulder but I move before I can swimming for the other side, I need to focus on practice, swimming should make me a little stronger at least. When I get to the other side of the pool Lynn and the others are already waiting there, it's not surprising they're all better swimmers than I am, certainly faster.

"Oh my god, Lynx, Luna, did you know that cute swimmer boy and the new kid kissed?" Don't react, just keep swimming. But how could he know about that? Unless he saw it somehow? No someone must have told him, but the only people that could have seen it are myself, Brock, Levi and- Opal... no he can't be, it's Lynn, he's one of the nicest guys ever, he wouldn't do something like that. Levi must have told someone and it has spread, just like all talk. Not that it matters right now, I need to concentrate on practice. I start to kick off the wall again but Lynn catches me spinning me so I face both him and the others.

"Did something happen? Did you guys break up?" They all keep staring at me, great, now they're interested, thanks Lynn. This makes the dread become clouded, both by the tingling around my body and the flipping of my stomach, I notice my hands shaking but it's probably the rest of my body too.

"Just leave him be." I looked up at the three of them, both Lynn and Lynx are looking at Luna. His voice surprisingly high pitched for his size, it gives a strange sense of joy while at the same time telling you not to mess with him, not that I would ever want to anyway.

"Oh come on, I'm just poking fun, it's fine, right Dustin?" Lynn turns to me with the same smile he always carries. No it's not fine, I don't like it.

"Yeah, it's fine." Well done Dustin you dumbass. It's not fine, why would it be? I have more important things to concentrate in, like hopefully not dying, or even finding the person that sent that girl after us. I decide to start swimming again doing two more laps before halting to catch my breath a little. The water feels slightly colder, the temperature shift itself is barely noticeable making that sense of dread all the more apparent. It sends a tingle down my spine, not one that makes people do the weird dance they do when they get what I like to call a 'cringe attack', more of a tingle that tells you to be scared when you're not. After almost a minute I start swimming again.

"...he's the natural genetic guy, the fucked up one, well all genetics are fucked up." I only hear the last part, it's Lynn speaking and he's definitely talking about Axel, the only known natural genetic in the school. He is also no doubt the strongest in terms of power use in school. He can completely cancel out anybody's power but also inflict any amount of pain he wants with just his mind. Not only that but he also knows how to fight better than most people, nobody wanted to fight him, talk to him or even be near him. It's a horrible thing, seeing someone segregated for something they have no control over. But thankfully Axel never let the insults get to him, he was always happy being on his own, he'd even denied every attempt at friendship I tried to make with him. It never hurts to try again though. I get out of the pool and reach my hand out curling my fist, no plants come, not this time, no doubt Axel is cancelling all of our powers.

"Dustin where are you going?"

"To talk to Axel, on the roof."

"Why? He's just some dumb genetic."

"So? That only means he's got more than one power, it doesn't change who he is. It never hurt anyone to be nice, I just need to find a way up on to the roof."