Disclaimer:
~The Center universe and any original characters from it that appear here belong to Lilith Langtree.
~Characters or lines taken or paraphrased from published works are their creators’ property.
~Any characters I create for The Center universe are open for use by anyone else, just ask first.

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Chapter 3

Raven awoke early, since she wanted to get the tests that she still had to do over and done with as soon as possible. At breakfast, the next day, Raven dug ravenously into her large meal; she hoped and had planned it so it would give her the maximum amount of brainpower. For the past few days, she had been very hungry, and yet, she was only putting on a small amount of weight in comparison. She had no idea of where all that food was going, but she didn’t feel any different, than she had acquired her new body and identity.

She thought to herself, ‘Well, I could use the energy today, due to all of those tests that I’m going to have to take.’

On Raven’s schedule today were tests, tests, and more tests. The morning started with the academic and psychological tests, with the fitness tests in the afternoon. She felt like she wanted to have them done and over with, since she also wanted to start a stable routine again, similar to what she had before.

It was a bit of a walk to the second floor and down the Center’s bland corridors, which she did the best that she could wearing the heels, that she still wasn’t used to, and school uniform that she needed to wear. She arrived at Dr. Tipps’ office once again, and tapped on the door.

“Anyone home?” Raven asked, as she entered the office.

Dr. Tipps, clad in a knee skirt and light red blouse, looked up at the young black-haired girl that had just entered her office. She glanced up at the clock and said, “You’re early.”

“Well, I just want to get them done and over with,” Raven replied. “I want to return to a life as stable as it can get around here.”

Dr. Tipps shook her head, with a small laugh, and answered, “I can understand that.”

Dr. Tipps then motioned towards the table and the booklets, and Raven quickly took her seat. “You have an hour each to complete the three tests.”

The tests were simple to understand. The first test reminded Raven of a test that she had taken back in high school. She briefly recalled that it was called the ASVAB and it was a standardized test used by the military. The second test was definitely different than the first, since it asked more abstract questions, based off of a sequence of pictures. The final test was even stranger as it asked a variety of questions that applied to everyday life, from current events to sex life.

Raven produced some strange looks on her face when she went through some of those questions, especially those that dealt with sex life. Raven glanced at Mrs. Tipps more than a few times as she proceeded through the various questions. After the three hours were up, and Raven had finished off the last question, which dealt with saving your mother or your father if both were in dire peril, Mrs. Tipps said that she could go to lunch before she needed to go the fitness testing in the gymnasium, as well as to help get her weight up to a healthy level.

“What about the psych tests?” Raven asked.

“You just took them,” Mrs. Tipps replied, with a sly look on her face.

Raven brushed it off, and headed for her room to get changed into the exercise clothing that she had picked out with Heather when she arrived at the Center. After a quick lunch of a BLT and a couple of apples, she headed to gym to meet with the fitness trainer, Lara Weise.

-------

The gym looked like any other gymnasium that one could find at any of the high schools in the United States. However, this gym was much better equipped than the average high school gym. There were several pieces of weight room equipment in a corner of the gym, all of which were top-of-the line, and where a few of the guys were working out. A door led outside to the quarter mile track and the recreational field for most of the outdoor sports. There was another door that led off to the swimming pool, complete with diving board, and the locker rooms. A tall rock wall ran up the tallest wall of the facility, with of few people climbing on it from what she could see.

Raven was a bit overwhelmed at seeing this training facility, considering that her old high school had only bits and pieces of what is in this place. She asked a nearby student where to find Miss Weise and was directed to the woman standing at the bottom of the rock wall, observing two of the girls that were currently climbing it.

“C’mon, Keys! Put your legs into it!” Weise shouted up at the two. “And don’t think I’m not watching you, Williams!”

Raven made her way over to the rock wall where she saw Liz and Lara climbing the wall trying their best to reach the top, while Kristyn was on belay for Liz, while Lili was doing the same for Lara.

“C’mon, Liz! You can beat Lara to the top!” Kris shouted.

“Are you going to let a healer beat a pathfinder, Lara?” Lili countered.

Lara and Liz both kicked it into gear, with what little strength they had available.

Raven watched eagerly from down below, as she walked towards them. She didn’t think she could do what they were doing, at least not for a while.

As the two girls made their way to the top of the wall, Lara seemed to be able to tap some hidden strength she had left and somehow managed to just out touch Liz.

“Damn!” Kristyn said, softly.

“I win this round, Liz,” Lara said. “But, you did very well.”

“Yeah, better luck next time, huh?” Liz said, somberly.

“I will beat you someday,” she quickly added under her breath and with determination in her voice.

The two girls repelled down from the top of the wall, and upon reaching the bottom, were helped out of their climbing harnesses. The four girls all had a good laugh about the competition. Miss Weise came over to say her bit when all four were done laughing.

“Good work, you four. Hit the locker rooms, we’re done for the day.”

The four girls headed for the locker room, and as they walked, Kristyn waved at Raven. Raven looked a little nervous for a second, and then felt something run down her spine when Weise said, “Miss Hawkins, it’s about time you showed up.”

Raven gulped, with nervousness. She hadn’t heard anything about the physical trainer at the Center. It seemed like the girls either didn’t have much to say about her, or they were letting Raven find out on her own.

“Nice to meet you,” Raven replied.

“Well, why don’t you start loosening up, and we can get started,” she said. “I need to have a quick chat with Miss Keys, and then I will come back. We can then find out just how good your new body really is.”

Raven gulped again as she watched Weise leave to go talk with Kristyn. Raven began stretching her body like she did when she was a guy, and just realized that she was a lot more flexible now and could move in some ways that has a guy she never thought possible.
After a few minutes, Miss Weise came back and said, “Alright, Hawkins, let’s see what you can do.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Raven replied.

“You don’t have to call me ma’am all the time, you can call me Miss Weise if you would prefer.”

“Yes, Miss Weise.”

“Well, let’s get this done and over with. We’ll start by testing your strength over on the weight machines.”

After the weight machines, which included the bench press, Miss Weise led Raven to the track outside of the gym, so that she could do a couple of sprints for Weise to gauge her average speed. And not soon after that, she had Raven run a mile around the track, to test her endurance levels.

A few minutes later after Raven had finished with the mile, she was drinking some Gatorade and was feeling exhausted. She never had days like this in gym before, the closest time she had ever come to this kind of workout, was when they were playing soccer. She was under the belief that they were trying to push her body to its limits and she seemed they might just be able to that with the way they were pushing her.

“So, how are you doing, Hawkins?” Miss Weise said, as she walked over to her, making notes on her clipboard as she came closer.

“Like I’ve been through hell and back,” Raven said.

“Oh, you’re not there yet,” Weise replied, with a mischievous tone in her voice. “Want to cool off?”

Raven nodded, as she drank some more Gatorade to quench her thirst.

“Good, because then you need to get your swimsuit on. You’re doing a few laps in the pool next.”

Raven groaned, and trudged her way to the locker room to get changed into her new single-piece bathing suit. Along the way, she ran into Luna, whom also was heading for the locker room to change.

“Hi, Raven,” Luna said, when they met at the door to the locker room.

“Hey,” Raven replied, who was still feeling really tired.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked, looking concerned at the state that Raven was currently in.

“Yeah,” Raven replied, as they entered, “I’m just doing the physical testing at the moment. I’ve already worked out at the weight machines and the track. Now, she wants me to do some more exercise in the pool. I think she gets kicks out of watching us squirm and come close to the verge of death.”

“Wow, I was just on my way to the pool for a swim.”

“Lucky you,” Raven said, with a touch of a bitterness.

“Well, I had my physical testing yesterday,” Luna consoled, “so, I know what you’re going through.”

“Is there a light at the end of this tunnel?”

“Yes.”

“But, you’re not going to tell me what it is, are you?”

“Nope. It’s sort of an unwritten rule.”

“A terrible one.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t make it up.”

“Well, that’s a stupid rule. It needs to go. I think that I’m going to help the next person that comes in so they don’t have to go through hell and back.”

“That’s your call.”

A few minutes later, both Luna and Raven had changed into their swimming attire. Raven wore a slim black one-piece bathing suit, while Luna chose a red bikini.
“A bikini?” Raven asked, surprised at Luna’s choice of swim attire.

“Yeah, I like it better,” Luna replied.

“Why? Wouldn’t you prefer something a little less revealing?”

“Why should I?”

“Maybe because you were a guy at one time.”

“Oh, I was never a guy,” she replied, jokingly.

“What do you mean?” Raven asked with her curiosity piquing.

“When I was a male, I always felt like I didn’t fit in,” Luna said, beginning her story.
“I always felt like I was out of place with the other guys, and that they didn’t see me as one of them at all.

“It also didn’t help much that when I was playing with my friends, I would play with Stacy and Britney, the girls who lived next door. We would play all sorts of girl games, and a few things that guys do as well. But, I felt more comfortable around them.

“So, during high school and after a bunch of soul searching, talking with friends and family, and just thinking about the possibilities, I figured out that I was actually a girl in a boy’s body. It just felt right to me.

“When Kristyn and Lili showed up, about half a day before I met you, anything else that was questionable or needed a reason fit into place. I didn’t have a problem going with them, since my home never really felt like a home anyways. I was adopted, after I was taken from my first home.

“My birth father,” Luna explained sullenly, “he wasn’t a very good guy. Through most of my early childhood, he seemed to drift. He took the death of my mother hard, since he had loved her very dearly. He never seemed to get over her death.”

“Then, how were you adopted?” Raven asked.

“To try to cope with the death of my mother, he drank a lot. In his drunken stupor, most of the time, he would often beat me for things he thought I did, or for other strange reasons. His mind was really clouded, and seemed to go for the bottle more often than not.”

Luna began to cry a bit, as she recalled a painful experience in her previous life. Her mood lifted a little, when she continued the story.

“When I was about nine years old, during one summer that I was at a friend’s birthday party, the red raw marks of my father were visible on my back. My friend’s father was a police officer and his mother was a lawyer. They pressed me for how I got those beatings, and it all came out. Eventually, a case was built against my father and I was sent to child services. I was adopted a couple of weeks after I became a ward of the state.

“My adoptive parents were cool, and they would help whenever I needed it, it just didn’t feel like a real home for some reason.”

“Wow,” Raven replied, after hearing Luna’s tale. “I never thought about things like that. I was always too wrapped up in school work and trying to learn what I could.”

“To each their own, I guess,” Luna said.

The two of them continued to chat as they made their way to the swimming pool. The pool was Olympic size, and built like many of the pools that try to disperse interference from other lanes, if there was any from any other swimmer. There were also a couple of diving boards nearby, in an added area of the pool where the water was much deeper than the line depths. For the people who just wanted to have a little fun, as well as a few goal nets set around the pool for water polo. Miss Weise was standing near one of the blocks, holding her clipboard and a stopwatch. She didn’t look too pleased at how long Raven was taking.

“It took you long enough to get ready,” Weise said, when the two of them arrived at the swimming pool.

“Sorry,” Raven said, looking nervous again, “we ran into each other and were just talking, when we ran into each other the locker room.”

“Stow the explanations, Hawkins. It’s time to see how well you can swim.”

“Yes, Miss Weise.”

“Good, now climb up onto the blocks, and we can get started. Hallowell, give us at least one lane width apart.”

Raven looked at Luna and said, “Hallowell?”

“What? I was a fan of ‘Charmed,’” she shrugged.

Luna nodded to Weise, and then took a few steps away so that she was able to stretch out to loosen her body up before the laps that she wanted to do, while Raven proceeded with the swimming part of the physical testing.

Weise timed Raven as she made several lengths of the pool swimming freestyle. A couple of lanes over, she could see Luna practicing a medley of various different swimming strokes, going from the butterfly to the backstroke to the breaststroke and back again. Raven wondered if her swimming had improved as a result of the change.

When Raven was finally told to stop at the end of her twentieth lap in the pool, she could feel that she was physically exhausted. She didn’t realize could be sweating so much after the swim.

“Alright, Hawkins,” Weise started, “you can hit the showers now. You’re finished with
this test.”

“Finally,” Raven said, under her breath as she climbed out of the pool.

“Your exercise regime will be shaped by your powers. Since, you are a chlorokinetic, and we have never seen one of those before, we’re going to have to play it by ear, all right?”
Raven nodded, as she continued to breathe heavily.

“Good,” Weise said, as she began to head for her office. “Go get cleaned up and something to eat, you just took a lot of energy out and need to refill it.”

Luna climbed out of the pool and walked over to Raven, and said, “See, that wasn’t so bad.”
Both of the girls started to laugh as they headed for the locker room to change and then get some dinner.

-------

After breakfast on Tuesday morning, Raven was walking to class with a few of the other girls. Ali was filling Luna in on what was being talked about in class, while Raven was just sitting back and listening.

“Miss Screws is a nice person to learn from. She has a great personality and really wants to see us learn,” Ali said. “I think she may have been a high school teacher at one point in her career.”

“Really? That would have been interesting,” Luna replied.

“Yeah, I think she likes it better here now though. Currently, she’s teaching about something called transcription and translation in biology.”

Raven’s ears perked up at the sound of that. Before being picked up by Kristyn and the others, she was reading about that for fun. It sounded like some of these classes were on par with her old school.

“What do you suppose that is all about?” Luna asked.

“Not sure, but it doesn’t sound too interesting to me.”

The three of them arrived in class in a few minutes later, and they could see Miss Joni Screws setting up something on the computer for their class. The overhead projector was fired up, and they could see her messing with the PowerPoint lecture.

“Could you two please stay right there for a bit?” Miss Screws asked Raven and Luna.
They both nodded, and stood at the front of the classroom while everyone else was taking their seats at the lab benches.

Raven took the time to look around the room, and saw that it resembled her high school science classrooms. The students sat at lab benches, with propane gas vents sticking out of the table. There were many glass cupboards around the room holding things ranging from various chemicals to general laboratory equipment.

Miss Screws called for order, and then she said, “Well, I’d like the two new students to introduce themselves, for those who haven’t already met them. Please tell us a little about yourselves.”

Luna started by saying, “Hi, I’m Luna Hallowell, and I’m originally from San Francisco, California. Umm…, I guess I’ve always felt like I was a girl and now that I am one I couldn’t be any happier.”

The class politely applauded, and then turned to Raven for her introduction.

“My name is Raven Hawkins, and yes, I’m aware of the bird references in my name. I’m originally from San Andreas, California, and I’ve been a bit of a bookworm for most of my life.”

The class again applauded, and Miss Screws said, “Well, if you two can take your seats, we can get started.”

Raven and Luna chose a couple of seats at a bench near the side of the room, which had a window looking out onto the grassy meadow.

“Well, now that the introductions are out of the way,” Miss Screws said, “it’s time to get to today’s lecture. We’ll be discussing the processes of transcription and translation, after this morning’s quiz on DNA replication.”

After taking the five-minute, five-question quiz, the class flipped their notebooks to a blank page and began taking notes, as Screws lectured. Throughout the class, the teacher would often call on people and ask them a question about the topic, and see what they thought.

“So, Miss Hawkins, tell me about RNA processing in eukaryotes,” Miss Screws asked.

“Which kind of RNA?” Raven replied.

“Messenger RNA.”

“Well, the 5’ end of the transcript is capped by a few methylguanosine residues by the enzyme guanosyl transferase. S-Adenosyl methionine is then methylated the last guanine. The cap’s purpose is to protect the 5’ end of the mature mRNA. Meanwhile, the 3’ end of the transcript undergoes polyadenylation to form a poly(A) tail, after the polyadenylation signal sequence is recognized by RNA polymerase II. The tail protects that end of the mRNA similar to the 5’ cap. RNA splicing occurs only in eukaryotic cells to remove the introns from the transcript to create the mature mRNA, and is carrying out by a protein complex called a spliceosome. Alternative splicing can result in different enzymes being encoded from the same gene.”

The class was in shock after Raven had spouted out all that information back to the teacher. They didn’t expect that from someone who was only at their age.

“Umm…,” Miss Screws said, “umm…. That’s very good, Miss Hawkins.”

The class had never seen Miss Screws rendered speechless before. She tried to regain what was left of her composure, but proceeded to drink a lot of the coffee that she had in her coffee mug. Miss Screws would often drink coffee as she lectured in the morning, but she had never downed the entire mug in one class before.

The class eventually continued, after a large caffeine infusion into Miss Screws. She seemed to avoid calling on Raven again, although that didn’t stop Raven from occasionally volunteering information during the rest of the lecture.

The class ended just before ten o’clock, but instead of heading to a different room, Raven and Luna were told that they held all the science classes in that room. As a result, they were told they could go get a drink, use the restroom, and stretch, while the teachers changed and to get ready for physics.

Luna and Raven decided to get a quick drink of some water, along the way to the drinking fountain, Luna said, “How the hell did you know so much when Miss Screws asked that question?”

“What do you mean?” Raven replied.

“I mean, how did you know so much about RNA processing?”

“Oh, that,” Raven replied, as though she got that impression a lot, “I just did. In my spare time, I would often read my science textbooks just for fun. I liked learning about them so much, that it just seemed like a good idea.”

“But, high school textbooks don’t contain that much information in them.”

“Well, I used the internet and looked up more in depth stuff about the different subjects.”
Luna took a quick drink from the water fountain, and stood back up to say, “Wow, you must’ve been quite the geek.”

“Not really,” Raven said, after she took her drink of the water. “I’ve been told that I have a knack for biology. I guess that’s true. But, I sure did feel like a nerd at times.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, there was always this bully who just wouldn’t get off my back. He kept on beating the crap out of me for money, or if I didn’t have any just because he could.”

“Ouch. Didn’t you tell the faculty of this?”

“I did, but he just kept doing it. Eventually, I tried to avoid and ignore him. It worked some of the times, but not always.”

“Wow. At least you don’t have to but up with it here.”

“Yeah, it’s a nice change of pace.”

-------

After the break, the physics class was next. Gordon Beanan was the teacher this time, and he looked the part of a computer nerd and a technical engineer. He set into his lecture, at breakneck speed, pausing only to answer any questions that came up. He had a real passion for the subject, as they could all tell.

Raven and Luna were rushing a bit to jot things that he touched on. But, they did manage to follow the class alright, as they were talking about electricity.

Luna and Raven headed to the cafeteria for the lunch break. Luna picked out a tuna sandwich, while Raven picked out a foot long Italian sub. Both of the girls also grabbed a bag of Doritos and a soda.

The two of them were enjoying their lunch when Debbie and Heather came over to join them.

“Wow, I have never seen Miss Screws act like that at all,” Heather said, while Debbie had her nose buried in a book.

“Not even anything close?” Raven asked.

“Nope, I don’t think that she expected another student to spout out things that she knew about, being a master’s graduate.”

“Well, I’m sorry I caused quite the uproar in class.”

“Don’t be, it was very entertaining. How do you know all that anyway?”

“I just like to learn. I pursued the internet a lot about the various subjects that we went over in my biology classes at my old high school.”

“Okay,” Heather said, as she took a bite into her roast beef sandwich.

Chemistry was the class scheduled after lunch, and Raven giggled when she saw that Miss Screws was the teacher again. She seemed to have partially recover from the episode earlier in the day, but she did give Raven a wary eye.

Class ended Monday through Thursday at three in the afternoon, so that the students could have plenty of time to do their homework, as well as hit the gym if they wanted a workout, or do anything else. They originally had the day end at two, but they discovered that they needed more time in the classroom. Luna walked Raven to her room, still in awe of what happened earlier in the day.

“You’re not going to do that again tomorrow, are you?” she asked.

“No, at least I don’t think I will,” Raven replied.

“Okay, I’m going to hold you to that,” Luna said, looking like she meant that.

Raven laughed, as she opened her door. “I’ll see you at dinner,” she said, as she went to hit the books from the day’s trio of science classes.

-------

Wednesday consisted of the other half of the classes that were taught at the Center. From the way the schedule was broken up, the science classes were on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while the other four classes were on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Those days started out with the history class in the other classroom that they used for the non-science classes. The history teacher went by the name of Clyde Finkle. He was a balding, middle-aged man who had a real passion for the past. He would try to bring out the context of what happened with vibrant stories from the times. The course itself was World and United States History rolled into one.

English started at nine thirty, right after history. The English teacher was Tabitha Baynes, who bore a striking resemblance to a librarian. She did enjoy books a lot though, and would try to make them come to life. Although Raven enjoyed a good book, she did have a hard time trying to understand and write the critical writing assignments that went along with enjoying books.

The class before lunch was government, taught by Mallory Gurner. Mallory looked like she used to work for the government in another capacity, as she had a no-nonsense attitude, and laid down the law quickly and effectively. However, the attitude contrasted with the long brown hair and young looks that she possessed.

After lunch, they were back in the classroom with the math class. Miss Gurner also taught the math class, which was pre-calculus. Not much was different, although Raven enjoyed math more than government.

-------

Raven felt like she was starting to adjust to her new routine of class, when she was told that she would be beginning her power training on Friday. From there, they would determine with form of physical defense that she could train in, that would best augment her powers.

Using the map application on her phone, she made her way to the power training room, near the gymnasium. She was dressed in her exercise outfit, which was essentially a pair of blue exercise tights, with purple stripes.

The power training room was a recent addition to the Center, as they have had incidents where the normal training and the power training could cause serious complications and injuries if they were in the same room with each other. The most notable incident in the old room was a bunch of equipment melting due to extreme electrical energy output. Raven laughed when she figured that it was Kristyn who was the one responsible, since she was the only Electrokinetic at the Center.

When Raven walked in the room, she could see and hear many people working on their unique talents. People were also training their defensive capabilities of their talents on another side of the room. She spotted Kristyn training with a guy that had lime green hair.

Raven walked along the aisle that divided the room in half, one side for offensive and defensive physical training, the other side for their other talents. Raven couldn’t help but look at what people were doing. She saw one person trying to control various amounts of water, while Ali was manipulating the air, and trying to move things around with it.
As Raven was watching all the cool things that were going on, she didn’t watch where she was going and then she bumped into someone.

“Ooof!” she said. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the guy said. “Soon, you will be doing things like that,
Hawkins. George Lions, power trainer here.”

Lions put his hand out, and Raven took it. After a good handshake, he said, “Follow me, I have your area all ready to go.”

Raven nodded, and replied, “Okay.”

They continued down to the end of the room, where they were a good deal separated from the other people in the room. Lions explained that when Raven was undergoing her Second Emergence, the groundskeepers were complaining about all the plant life growing like crazy. They were taking some precautionary measures, so that no one would get hurt. Raven nodded in agreement to that. She didn’t want really want to hurt anyone.

The setup that Lions had done for preparation was definitely varied. He had several tables laid out with various plant life, as well as plants in different stages in life. He had tropical plants, perennials, fruits, mosses, ferns, seeds, plants that had recently come out of the ground, plants that had been removed from the soil, and even a tree.

“Whoa,” Raven said when her eyes first saw the set up.

“Since we don’t have much of an idea of what you can do with your powers, I decided that we try a number of different things. Now, it’s up to you to figure out how to control and manipulate your abilities. I’m not going to put any blocks in that could later hinder you down the road.”

Raven nodded, starting to get a better idea of what she could probably do being a chlorokinetic.

“I have been reading your file, about the incidents during your pickup and your second emergence. During your pickup, the plants seemed to grow to protect you from the other group or anyone else that was pursuing you. And during your second emergence, the plants outside of the building, and a few inside of it, grew rapidly and out of control.”

“So, what does that mean?” Raven asked.

“It means that these events suggest, and verified by your mother’s pregnancy, that you are a level three, and a powerful one at that.”

Raven nodded recalling what happened in the forest behind her old home. “So, where do we start?” she asked.

“That depends on you.”

“What do mean?” Raven asked.

“I mean, what would you like to start trying to manipulate? Seeds, the trees, the sprouts? This session is tailored to fit your individual abilities. To further that aim, we need to figure out what you can do. So, what would you like to try first?”

Raven sighed, as this was a little confusing for her, but she was willing to learn. “How about we start with the vines of ivy?”

“All right,” Lions replied, moving the ivy to the empty table and away from the other objects.

“Now what?”

“Now, why don’t you try to make it move, or make it grow?” Lions said.

“How?”

“That is something that only you can figure out, I’m afraid. I’m just here to come up with crazy ideas that could benefit you.”

Raven rolled her eyes when she heard that, and she shifted her focus on to trying to manipulate the ivy plant in the ceramic planter on the table in front of her. There was no wind in the immediate vicinity, so if the plant moved, it was by Raven’s ability.

However, Raven had no idea what she was doing or how to use her powers, but she tried to make the plant move. She focused on making the vine of ivy that was hanging from the pot and sitting on the table, to hang from both the pot and the table. She concentrated hard, and even squeezed her eyes to try to make it move. However, nothing happened.

Raven took a deep breath and readied herself to try again. She attempted this three more
times, but the most she was able to achieve was have the vine move a little and erratically. Her frustration was evident, and Lions handed her a water bottle while he moved the plant back over to the table with the rest of the plants.

He grabbed the tree and wheeled it over on the dolly that it was sitting on in its planter.
“Maybe we should try something that has been around for a while,” Lion suggested.

“Okay,” Raven said, willing to try anything.

The tree was a willow, which had several low-hanging branches on it, sporting healthy foliage of leaves.

“How about we try to make these vines move around a bit?” Lions suggested.

Raven nodded, as she tried to make the vines move up, similar to a person raising their arm. She figured that she was trying too hard on the ivy, so she went for something a little simpler to do.

After several attempts of this, besides increase the level of frustration she was at, the only thing she managed to do was to make a few of the vines grab each other.

“Urgh!” Raven said in heightened frustration.

“What were you trying to do?” Lions asked, as he put the willow tree back.

“I tried to make it lift one vine like we lift an arm.”

“Ah. Well, you are making these plants do things, just not what you want them to do,” Lions said with some encouragement in his voice.

“Yeah,” Raven agreed.

She countered, “But, it would be better if they did what I would like them to do, then spasm.”

Lions chuckled at this. “Well, I do enjoy a challenge.”

He grabbed the seedlings in their freshly-watered pot, and placed it on the table.
“How about you try to make these grow next, eh? We already know that you made the plants outside grow during your second emergence, so let’s try to duplicate that.”

Raven sighed, and nodded again as she focused herself again.

-------

After trying various plants and different avenues of manipulation for a few hours, the only thing that Raven had managed to do successfully was work up an appetite. Lions suggest that she take a break and get some food, and to tell him what she had for lunch when she got back.

Raven thought that was a little odd, but she said, “Sure, whatever.”

She headed back for the cafeteria, and when she was there, she picked up two twelve inch pastrami sandwiches, with all the trimmings, a bowl full of green salad, with an assortment of vegetables and ranch salad dressing, and a couple bags of chips. To top it all off, she got a very tall glass of Pepsi.

Raven took her lunch to the nearest table, and began eating it ravenously, as if she had not had food or drink for a week. Luna and Heather sat down at the table a few minutes
later, and Heather said, “Been working you power outs, have you?”

“Not really. The plants haven’t been doing what I want them to,” Raven replied, in between bites.

“Seriously? You’re eating as much as a normal level three PK would, after using their power extensively in a day.”

The look on Raven’s face was one of shock. “You’ve got to be kidding. I was so frustrated that it seemed that the plants were feeling it.”

“But, you’re eating a lot of food to replace the expended energy that you used,” Heather explained.

“How could that be? All that I managed to do was cause minor growth in some seedlings, make a willow tree beat itself up, and cause some ivy vines to roll over. All of which
happened when I was trying to do something else.”

“Fascinating,” Luna commented.

“Lions and I both have no idea what it means. So, I’m willing to entertain any theories, in just a sec.”

Raven got up from the table, and went back over to the food and picked up a third serving
of a twelve inch pastrami and another Pepsi. She returned to the table where Heather and Luna were trying to think of why Raven’s powers were misbehaving.

“You say that the plants that you are trying to manipulate are doing things that you don’t want them too?” Heather asked.

Raven nodded, as she began to eat the next sandwich.

“Very interesting,” Heather commented.

“Any ideas?” Raven said, just before swallowing the food in her mouth.

“Not at the moment.”

“Hey, did you hear what the faculty are saying about you, yet?” Luna interrupted, changing the subject.

“No, what?” Raven said, looking extremely nervous.

“They say that they have never seen someone like you outperform a teacher in one of their subjects.”

Raven’s eyes went huge, and Heather said, “Meaning?”

“It means that Raven can top Miss Screws in biology around here.”

“Where did you hear that?” Raven asked.

“I overheard a few of the faculty talking about you after Screws had graded the last two quizzes.”

“Well, I hope what you heard was accurate enough.”

“Relax,” Luna said, “what’s the worse that can happen, eh?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out at the moment. I just want to be able to control my powers.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure them out soon enough.”

They talked about some other things for a few minutes longer, and then they headed back to the power training part of the gymnasium to continue.

-------

Lions was somewhat surprised when Raven told him what she had for lunch. He thought about it for a brief time, and when Raven asked him about it, he said that it was probably nothing.

As the afternoon wore on, Raven and Lions tried a variety of plants to experiment on, as well as different methods for her to try to manipulate them with her mind. However, her frustration only continued to build.

After a couple of hours of various attempts to manipulate the plants, Raven sat down in the makeshift greenhouse, and felt very tired. When she sat down under the willow tree, the other plants around her seemed to weep and shrivel their leaves, as if they were tired as well.

Lions thought for a moment again, as he was starting to figure Raven out. He was beginning to form a theory for her troubles at controlling what the plants did.

“Ugh…,” Raven said, resting her elbows on her knees, while she had her hands on her face.

“How do you feel at the moment?” Lions asked.

“Tired and frustrated,” Raven said. “It seems like no matter what I try, they won’t do what I want them to do.”

Lions replied, “Hmm….”

Raven didn’t see Lions pace for a bit, while he was contemplating the pieces of the puzzle that were floating in front of them. She was too lost in her thoughts, and how she was failing to use the abilities she now possessed.

She could think of how the plants in the forest behind her old home. She thought of how they had tried to protect her from those goons that were after her, by obscuring the trail that she had taken through the forest and hiding her when she had passed out.

‘Why is this so hard?’ she thought. ‘I can solve science problems that should be tougher than this.’

Raven continued to wallow in her self-pity and frustrations while Lions left the area to go talk to someone. He had a theory about Raven’s powers, but he knew that he couldn’t test that theory, given the state that she was currently in.

Raven didn’t know how long that she was left there to her own devices. After a while, she got up and tried again. But, she was really depressed by the current situation.

A few moments later, she was approached by Dani.

“How’s it going?” she said.

“Terrible,” Raven said sullenly. “No matter how I try to focus on making the plant do what I would like it to do, it just does something else. It seems to be getting worse, as I keep trying.”

“Why don’t you tell me what’s been happening, okay?” she said soothingly.

Raven went into the tale of the day of how her powers, when she tried to use them, they seemed to have a mind of their own. She also said that she had a huge lunch, and that Heather might’ve meant something by that, but she wasn’t sure.

Dani thought that this was really tearing Raven apart. From what she could tell, Raven didn’t like not understanding anything that did not interest her.

Raven pounded her fists against the table, before she walked over to the willow tree, and leaned against its planter. She sat down, and started sulking. The plants also seemed to be depressed around her.

Dani walked over to her, and then sat down next to her as she tried to console her.

“I’m sure you’ll figure your powers out. Just give it time.”

“But, I’ve seen almost everyone else use their powers in some fashion. Ali stirring her drink with her powers, Kris zapping people in order to defend me when she came to pick me up. I just don’t like to feel like I’m being left behind.”

Raven began to cry a bit. The plants around her also appeared to be sad, as their leaves and branches also drooped low. Neither of the girls seemed to notice this, as Dani closely hugged Raven, and rubbing her shoulder, all the while trying to comfort her.

Raven never cried so easily before. It seemed that her emotions were more difficult to control as a girl. Being a girl was still new to her, and she also was neglecting that, falling back on things that were familiar to her, instead of trying new things, and ignoring some of the new sensations that were now flooding into her.

Dani did her best to comfort her, as Raven let the tears flow. Raven had been ignoring her new self for so long, having absorbed herself into the school work. She also deeply missed her father and best friend, Jessica. They had been very helpful to talk to when things got rough, and she didn’t really have anyone like that here.

“You want to talk about it?” Dani asked, softly.

“Talk about what?” Raven replied through her sobs.

“About what’s been bothering you, and why you’re all bottled up inside.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’m an empath. I’m feeling your pain and sadness right now.”

“I’m sorry for doing that to you,” Raven said, sniffling.

“It’s okay. Everyone has broken down once before. You are being thrust into a whole new life, with a completely new and different identity. It takes its toll on everyone.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Raven felt a jolt run through Dani’s body, and it snapped Raven out of her funk for a bit. “Dani?”

The blank look on her face had Raven worried. She tried shaking Dani out of it, since it
looked like Dani wasn’t feeling too good at the moment. Nothing happened and for a while Dani just sat there.

Mr. Lions came back a few minutes later, and rushed over to their side.

“How long has Dani been like this?”

“For a few minutes now, why?”

“She’s having a vision. She’s also a precog.”

“Precog?”

“She has also has the ability of precognition. That power of her is off and on at random, and she usually needs to touch someone close to her, or something related to someone close to her to get any sort of vision.”

A few minutes later, Dani snapped out of her vision.

“Raven!” she screamed.

“I’m right here,” she said calmly.

“Oh! It was a terrible sight. The look on yours and Kris’ faces were painful.”

“Marks, tell me everything that you saw. Raven, go call Keys now.”
Raven nodded, and then got up to go call Kristyn on her phone. Kristyn came storming in to the room a few minutes later, and rushed over to her best friend’s side.

“Dani. Tell me everything,” Kristyn said.

Dani began to relate to Kristyn everything that she saw in her vision. After Dani had told Kris everything, Kristyn pulled out her cell, and began to marshal her team for the new mission.

She turned to Raven and said, “You’re coming. Since, you are needed for this mission.”

“ME?” Raven said, surprised.

“Yes. Your knowledge of the area will prove useful. And, apparently, you are needed to help bring an emergent into the fold.”

Raven was confused as Kristyn led the way to the briefing room. She felt like her life had just taken a very interesting twist.