Serenis

Chapter 28

I sat in the bath hugging my legs, letting the water from the shower fall down and run down my back. I had to be very careful with my emotions and feel as normal as possible about this situation so Ben wouldn't be alerted and burst into my bathroom with all guns blazing. I ran through my options as calmly as possible, thinking of the different ways out of Serenis without being detected. I couldn't leave the way I came in as the Pickerys were on constant patrol and would definitely tell Rochelle as soon as they saw me going near the entrance. I hadn't had time to explore further out than the lab but I was pretty sure they would have the borders covered no matter which way I went.  

I thought back to how all of this started and in particular anything that Rochelle had said in our meeting about Serenis. The only thing I kept coming up with was to threaten my way out of here - I could take someone hostage and threaten to kill them if they didn't let me leave. The only problem with that option was that I may actually harm someone and I definitely couldn't live with that. 

I turned the water on as cold as it would go thinking that it would cool my temper down which was steadily brewing but it did no good as this was an internal fire I had, fueled by hatred, anger, guilt and grief. I started to resent anything and everything to do with this place. I looked around the room and hated the towels, the clothes, the stupid white bows in the corners of the ceiling, I even hated Josh which was totally unjust but I was so mad I couldn't reason with common sense. Most of all, I hated Serenis; the community, the place and the person, and then it dawned on me... I'd been invited to go and see Serenis; Rochelle had told me in our lesson that my dream was as good as an invitation to go and meet the actual Supernatural who was responsible for doing this to me. 

That was the answer to my problem, I had to find Serenis and convince her, or if necessary threaten her to take my powers back or at least let me leave here in peace and go and live a normal life without the need to ever help anyone with my stupid ability. 

I turned the shower off and quickly dried myself; my anger was now replaced with excitement and a feeling of contentment with the knowledge that I had finally solved my problem. I knew that if Ben could feel this he would have no reason to come in and interfere; hopefully if luck was on my side he would be sound asleep in the next room completely unaware.  

I walked out of the bathroom and dived straight into my closet, throwing on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and grabbing a sweater out of the drawer just in case. The weather in Serenis was a lot milder than outside in the real world but where I was going I thought it may not be as mild and I wanted to be prepared. I slipped on some socks, rolled up the ankles of my jeans and put my bathrobe over the top; if Ben was standing out in the hall waiting for me I could pretend I was heading downstairs to watch TV and then sneak out when the coast was clear. I smiled to myself as I slid some sandshoes into the robe pockets. I was pretty impressed with my ability to be so sneaky and if all else failed in the soul snatcher department I could always consider a career in the espionage field. 

I turned off the light and opened the door slowly, tiptoeing onto the landing. There was no light coming from Ben's bedroom so I figured he must be asleep. I lightly stepped down the stairs, holding onto the banister so they wouldn't creak. As I got to the bottom I turned around once more, making sure I was not being watched and then headed to the front door as quickly as possible.  

Once on the porch I slid my sandshoes on and took the robe off, leaving it on the welcome mat; Josh would find that in the morning after his training so I figured I had a good six hours before anyone would notice I was missing. I just had to make sure I kept my emotions as steady as possible and didn't show any fear. I wasn't sure how far away I had to be before Ben's senses would be dulled and I didn't want to go through all of this just to be caught down the road for being scared of the dark. I was in Serenis and apparently nothing here could hurt me; in reality I didn't really care either way as no pain could be worse that what I felt about being away from my Dad.