Gift Academy (Book One in the Gifted Series)

Chapter Sixteen

Fay

Nick, Austin, and I race downstairs and fly through the front doors. Not literally- though that would be cool.

I look around and spot what we've been looking for in a matter of seconds. A guy with dark brown hair, who must be the Extra, Ethan, is dragging and unconscious Wesley into the trunk of a black van. How very cliché of him.

I run towards him, Nick and Austin by my side. He hears us and looks our way. When he sees us running to him, he smirks and thrusts his hand our way. Austin, Nick, and I go flying backwards from a strong wind.

Gifted with wind. I wonder what his second gift is.

I raise my arm and I thick green vine appears in midair. I try to wrap it around his feet, but he raises his hand as well, and a vine just like mine appears and whips mine away, throwing me off guard.

Nature and wind. Nick and Austin both have fire, we can take him down.

Austin jumps to his feet and hurls two fireballs at the Extra. He quickly whisks the two balls of fire away with wind. Knowing that he's going to get overpowered, he dashes to the driver's door and climbs into the can, starting it and driving away.

With Jake and Wesley inside.        

"NO!" I yell, then hop to my feet and race to the car, trying to slow it down or stop it with vines, making sure to not tip it over so Jake and Wesley don't get hurt.

Nick appears next to me and is about to throw two fireballs at the van, but I stop him.

"No, Jake and Wesley are still in there," I remind him. We stop and catch our breaths. Austin stops by our side, breathing heavily.

I failed my two best friends.

And now they've been captured by the Extras.

And we can't do anything about it.

Veronica

Flora and I make our way up to Nick and Austin's dorm, where Gina and Nick should be, spying on the Extras for Hailey and Claire. I will admit it, I can tell that Hailey and Claire like each other. They kissed a little longer than necessary when playing 'Spin the Bottle' at Fay and Floras birthday, they always blush and look away whenever they make eye contact, and they're always with each other or very close to each other. Physically.

Flora knocks on Nick and Austin's door. After a few seconds it swings open, revealing Gina inside the dorm. She looks frantic and in a hurry. She quickly pulls us into the dorm, shutting the door behind us.

"Gina? What's wrong? Where's Nick?" I ask her, looking around and noticing that he's not here as Gina sits on the couch, staring intently at the screen, her eyes wide.

"Nick's outside with Fay and Austin," Gina quickly answers. I glance at Flora, who automatically looks worried.

"What's Fay doing outside?" Flora asks Gina.

"There's an Extra here, kidnapping any stray Gifted he sees outside. His name is Ethan, and Nick, Fay, and Austin went outside to find Jake and Wesley. They told me to stay here and keep in touch with Hailey and Claire," Gina explains, holding up Nicks phone to her ear.

"Fay is outside battling an Extra?! I'm going down there to help," Flora exclaims, turning around to head for the door. I'm about to protest, so she doesn't get hurt, until I hear another familiar voice speak up.

"That won't be necessary," a female voice calls, and she sounds solemn and depressed. I turn to the door and see Nick, Fay, and Austin walk into the dorm room, which I didn't hear open. They look really upset as they close and lock the door behind them. Flora rushes to her twin sister and looks her straight in the eye.

"What happened out there? Are you okay?" Flora asks Fay, but Fay doesn't look her in the eye.

"I'm fine," she replies, and I know that she is. Physically, not emotionally. I look behind the three and realize that Jake and Wesley aren't here.

Gina told Flora and I about an Extra named Ethan coming here to kidnap any stray Gifted he finds roaming outside. Jake and Wesley went outside to gather weapons for the war.

"Jake and Wesley were taken by an Extra," Austin sums up, and that one sentence is enough for the whole room to become sad and depressing.

Oh god.

Gina

We all gather on the couch, deciding to forget about Jake and Wesley for now and focus on Hailey and Claire, who are still hiding in the closet- which I explained to everyone when they couldn't see them.

"Okay, Hailey, it's getting dark, so you and Claire are going to get out and take the copies of every students' schedules and wait for Ethan to come back with Jake and Wesley, okay?" Fay order Hailey.

"Okay," Hailey replies. We already told her about Jake and Wesley being captured. I'm positive that Ethan will bring them to Gift Academy. Where else would be bring them?

After a few minutes, Nick and I have checked everywhere at least three times.

"The coast is clear. Head to the main office. This place looks almost exactly like Gift Academy, so you should be able to find your way there," I tell Hailey and Claire.

"Okay, we're going out," Hailey replies, and I look to the camera and see the closet door opening and Hailey and Claire sneaking out. Hailey has her phone to her ear. She looks around before heading down the stairs, Claire right behind her. I check every camera they're on to see if they're going the right way while Nick observes the other cameras to see when Ethan arrives with Jake and Wesley.

"We're in the main office," Hailey whispers into the phone.

"No one else is in there?" I ask, looking at all the cameras in the main office. No one is in there except Hailey and Claire.

"Nope," Hailey confirms. She searches through a drawer, which she seems confident about while Claire keeps a lookout, which she really doesn't have to do.

"Okay, I got them!" Hailey whisper-shouts. Excitement fills me as she pulls out a huge stack of papers, though not as big as the stack Wesley showed us when he, Hailey, and Fay stole the schedules from all the students here.

"Guys, I have some very good news," Hailey tells us all, examining the schedules. She points at something to Claire and their faces brighten.

"What? What is it?" Flora asks urgently.

"We have the pictures and Gifts of every single student as well."

Wow.