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.

Chapter 4

Raven was dragged by Kristyn to the briefing room. Raven just went with the flow of things, but Kristyn looked like she was a woman on a mission. Kristyn was making several calls into her phone, and by the time that we got there, several people were already there waiting for them.

“Heather,” Kristyn said, “please get her suited up for a heavy pickup mission. She’s an asset on this particular mission, even though she has little training.”

Heather nodded, and led Raven to the locker room, where she was given a different set of clothes to wear. Heather had told her to strip out of what she was wearing, and to throw on the sports bra, black tank top, and some loose fitting pants, and combat boots. She still remembered Raven’s sizes from when they went through the wardrobe section together.

After everyone had been geared up and in the briefing room, Kristyn called the mission briefing to order. The briefing room was set up to what you would normally see on Hollywood. There was a central table in the middle of the room, with an LCD screen built into the table, that Kristyn could just use her fingers to point out different things or manipulate the display in front of them. Behind her was a glass window, with the map of the whole country on it, with a red dot over where Raven’s home town would be. There were also a few computers around the room, a door that led off to the men’s locker room, and a padlocked cabinet.

There were several people gathered around the central table. The girls Raven knew, but she had never really met any of the guys.

“We’ll save the introductions for later,” Kristyn said, bringing the briefing to order quickly.

“Dani has just had a vision. Some of the details are a little blurred, probably due to external influence of some kind.”

Kristyn shot a look in Raven’s direction, but she did realize that Raven didn’t know that she wasn’t supposed to disrupt Dani when she was having one of her visions. Raven looked away quickly, now embarrassed.

“However, we do have most of the picture of what’s going on. This mission involves another double emergence, however, we don’t know if we can pick both of them up or not.

We also know the location of both of the emergents–Raven’s home town.”
Everyone in the room turned and stared at Raven for a bit, while Raven looked surprised as
well.

“There’s going to be significant collateral damage as well, caused by both of the emergents, and not us. However, we also know that a group, possibly the same one that tried to go after Raven, will also be going for the first emergent.

“From what Dani described, the first emergent will be at Raven’s old high school, Calaveras High School in San Andreas, California.”

Kristyn manipulated the map of the area being displayed on the LCD screen with her fingers, and a detailed overhead view of Raven’s old high school was presented on the screen.

“We will drive through the back area of the school, where Raven said the school buses would come to pick up the students for their ride back home. The emergent will rampage through the school, destroying what he can just for the thrill of it, from what Dani has described.”

At those words, Raven thought she had an idea of who this emergent could possibly be. It sickened her to think that if it was whom she thought is was, that he would only become more of a bully after gaining control of his powers.

“We know little of the second emergent,” Kristyn continued. “The only thing we do know is that they will be undergoing their first emergence here.”

She manipulated the screen again, and this time it was an overhead of view of a house and a woodland area. Raven thought for a minute and then said, “My old house? How can that be?”

“We don’t know. Apparently Dani’s vision ended with her seeing your home in a blazing inferno and you crying at the destruction. We have no idea of who the second person is.”

“If her role in this mission is to weep over her burning old home,” the lime green hair guy said, “why is it so important that we bring her along? It seems like she was just there to feel the loss of her old life completely.”

Raven looked a little taken aback when he put it so bluntly like that.

“Ray,” Kristyn answered, remaining calm, “Dani also saw that she was deeply involved in attempting to contain the first emergent, in going to the school to keep him distracted for some reason. Also, she was needed to talk down the second emergent before they did anything they would regret.”

He nodded, after those details were given.

“Ray, give Raven the same armaments you gave me on my first mission,” Kristyn continued, “we head out in ten.”

Ray nodded as the rest of the team headed for the vehicle port. Ray then walked Raven over to the locked cabinet, and unlocked it.

Raven could see why it was locked. It was a miniature armory in there. It only carried several kinds of pistols, and few grenades, but it was still a bit impressive.

“Name’s Ray Lomax, by the way,” Ray said.

“Raven,” she replied.

“Okay, you’re getting a couple of smoke grenades,” he said, pulling a pair out. “They are really very simple to use. Pull the pin, count a couple seconds, and then lob it in the direction you want the smoke to go in.”

Ray stuck them onto the combat belt that went with the entire outfit that Raven was quickly given.

“Also,” he said, “here’s a knife. You should never go on a mission without a knife. It has a lot more uses than just being able to stab someone.”

He stuck the knife into the slot on the belt, trying to avoid touching her as he did this and then locked up the mini-armory, and led Raven to the vehicle port.

-------

About thirty minutes later, the group was in the air and winging their way towards Raven’s old home. Raven sat by herself on the plane. She was too lost in her own thoughts to be much of a conversationalist at this time, if even she was one at all.

Her thoughts were dwelling on the fact that she was going home, but not in any way that she would have ever liked. She was told by Kristyn that whatever Dani saw in a vision like she had, it was always going to happen, no matter what. Precognition was the ability to see the future, and since it was a secondary ability for Dani, she only saw the future at certain times.

She was really concerned for her father and Jessica. Even though that life was gone, she still had deep feelings for the both of them. Her father was her only family in the world, and that had all been snatched away when she became Raven, and Jessica was the only friend that she had ever. The two were inseparable at most times, except when one of the two of them needed some time to themselves.

Raven was regretting how short she was with Jessica the last time she had seen her. As Jack, he was in too crummy a mood to hang out with her that last day. As Raven reached underneath her black tank top, she still cared deeply about Jessica. She fingered the raven pendant that Jessica had given Jack, and it was also the symbol of her namesake.

Jessica always did think Jack was clever, especially at how Jack was able to figure some things out from class and how he managed to avoid the bullies when he was able to.

Her thoughts continued to drift as she wondered who the two emergents were going to be.
All she knew that one was emerging at her old high school and the other would cause the destruction of her childhood home. Raven hoped that no one would be hurt when her old home goes up in flames. She didn’t want to think about that happening at the moment, so she wanted to think about something else that could help everyone. Raven tried to apply her mind to figuring out who the two emergents could be.

She thought to herself, ‘Since it was Friday, and we wouldn’t be landing until about three in the afternoon at the small airport near town, it would have to be someone who stays or is forced to stay late.’

As her mind raced around the various possible candidates, she realized that she didn’t know too much about the people that she went to school with there. The only person she knew who didn’t have a mother was Jessica. That could mean anything since Jessica only mentioned that her birth mother died when she was very young.

Raven was snapped out of her thoughts by Kristyn, who gave her a little nudge.

“We’ll be landing in a few minutes. Are you ready?” she asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” Raven replied.

Kristyn nodded and said, “Good.”

-------

Harold was not enjoying himself. He had landed in detention again, for the fifth straight day that week. Ever since his little punching bag and personal bank, Jack had mysteriously died in a hunting accident behind his house, he had gotten sloppy. He would pick on various other wimpy people, several people per day in fact. None of his new targets had the same resourcefulness as Jack had.

With Jack, he would at least have some sort of challenge. Jack kept the game interesting, as some days he would win, and other days Harold would win. Ever since he had disappeared though, the game wasn’t as interesting so he stepped up the beatings to try to make it more interesting. That plan backfired in his face horribly.

Six people being sent to the school’s nurse in one day, and all of them rightfully accusing him of the assaults landed him in detention for three weeks. While he was used to being in detention every so often, it bored him to tears. Some days, he would often wish that he could do something about it.

Today, as he was reading one of his smuggled in comic books, he felt something was a bit different. He shrugged it off, thinking that it was not something at all important. He was reading about those villains who could manipulate the energy around them and use it to cause physical damage. Harold enjoyed how they were able to do that, and wished that he could.

He thought, ‘If I had that kind of power, I would show this school a thing or two.’

He thought that it would be cool to thrust out his hand at the door and blow it open, and then he would go around and destroy a few things, just because he could. To put his mind at ease and to calm his imagination down, he did just that not expecting anything to happen.

The door was blasted off its hinges and into the office hallway, as if there was a small explosion going off behind it.

Harold looked surprised, as did the secretary who was supposed to keep an eye on those in detention. Harold thrust his arm again at the brick wall, and the bricks flew out and away from the building leaving a large gaping hole.

“Now, this is cool,” Harold said, standing up to leave.

“Mister Stewart, please sit back down this instance. I’m sure these events are nothing more that a small gas explosion.

“Gas explosion?” Harold scoffed. “Yeah, right. I’m doing it.”

“You?” Mr. Danielson said, looking very confused.

“Yes, me!” he replied, thrusting his arms at Danielson.

Mr. Danielson was thrown back from his desk straight into the whiteboard on the wall. Several of Danielson’s several bones in his body had just been broken, along with a serious concussion. He lay there at odd angles from his injuries and was rendered unconscious. The cracks in the whiteboard from where he hit spread out all along it, as well as into the wall.

Harold ran out through the hole he had previously made, and started to run around the school, blasting things that he had always found to be a nuisance in the area. Along his destructive path, he caused doors to be blasted into their classrooms causing some collateral damage, and many windows were shattered, raining tons of glass on people who were inside working on various afterschool projects. People screamed as they tried to make a break for it, to get out of Harold’s way.

Harold, meanwhile, was quite literally having a blast. He had never had so much fun in his life–he always loved demolition and explosions. He never thought that he could be doing something like this on his own in a million years, like one of the villains from his comic books. As he turned up the hill to go rain destruction down on the library, he saw several people wearing what looked like SWAT team uniforms holding up tranquilizer guns pointed at him.

“Hold it right there,” the leader said.

“And why should I when I’m having so much fun?” Harold replied, and caused the concrete in front of them to be smashed into several pieces and sent the pieces flying at them.

The assault team tried to protect themselves as best they could, but they couldn’t avoid all of the pieces flying at them. Harold just laughed as he decided to take head for the girls’ locker room, thinking that he always wanted to go in there and see what was so sacred to them.

The assault team tried to get back to their feet, but they were having a hard time of it. Some of the concrete rocks that Harold kicked up with his force pelted their limbs, causing some injuries to the people. But, the leader managed to reach for his radio and said into it, “Code red, target is heading for locker rooms.”

-------

The black SUVs that Raven and the other were riding in pulled up to the high school a few minutes later. They were greeted by the local police, who blocked their way into the school.

“I’m sorry,” Chief Whisenton said. “But, no one is allowed in there until the SWAT team arrives.”

Kristyn pulled out her Homeland Security badge, and showed it to the police chief. “We’re with Homeland Security, Chief. We can handle this situation. If you don’t believe me, call your boss. But, we’re wasting time here, so if you can give me the current situation on the ground that would be greatly appreciated.”

Chief Whisenton was rendered speechless as someone who looked like a student here had just given him a serious dressing down. He never would have thought that a teenager could act like someone with his years of experience. He quickly realized that she was probably right, and showed her the layout of the school.

“The initial blast was here, at the main office,” he began. “But, there have been subsequent explosions along this hallway heading towards the locker rooms. There have also been reports of a group of people carrying MP5s in the school as well. They are not my people and could very well be responsible for this disaster.”

Kristyn nodded, and then talked to her team. “Ray, I need you to set up in that tree over there. It looks like it can give you a clean view of most of the campus. Max, we may need you by the pool later on. So get over there and stand by for now. Heather, you, Lili, Liz and Rita will take care of the witnesses. Raven, you’re with me, since you know the terrain you will be my guide and we will try to stun the emergent before they cause any more destruction around here.”

Raven nodded and began leading the way to the locker rooms, where the trail of destruction was leading. The asphalt driveway, that led up to the locker rooms was a clean straight shot there, devoid of anyone else for the moment. As they approached the breezeway, which divided the two locker rooms, the guy’s locker room door was blasted off of its hinges.

Kristyn and Raven took cover on the handicap ramp that led down towards the football field. The two of them peered over the edge, and they saw Harold walk out of the room looking very smug.

“Oh my god,” Raven whispered. “I never thought it would be him.”

“Who is he?” Kristyn replied.

“Harold Stewart, the bane of Jack’s existence.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s the bully that always would torment Jack whenever he could get a chance. I never would have imagined that he is one of us. It sickens my stomach to think that he is.”

“Well, I know this may sound a bit cliché,” Kristyn said, “but, did you ever ask him why he was being a bully?”

“I tried; he dodged the question by punching me in the gut.”

Kristyn winced at that. “Well, maybe his second emergence will make him turn over a new leaf.”

“Oh, I doubt that.”

Kristyn just shook her head, and said, “Let’s go. Try to distract him long enough for me to zap him.”

Raven nodded, and snuck out of the ramp, and towards the girl’s locker room, where Harold was heading.

“Oh, what secrets are in there, I wonder,” he said to himself, as he approached the door.

“Like a scumbag like you will ever find out,” Raven said, as she poised herself to jump out of the way should Harold attack.

“And just who the hell are you?” Harold said.

“Just a ghost from your past,” she cryptically replied.

“What?”

“Oh, I’m hurt,” Raven said, mockingly, “to think after all we been through those many years, and now I’m sad that you don’t remember me.”

Harold looked very confused at that response, as Kristyn had moved up the ramp to the top of the stairs that gave her a clean shot at Harold. Kristyn took that shot as soon as she got it, and Harold fell to the ground a few seconds after.

“Is he dead?” Raven said, as she approached the smoking body.

“No, I just gave him enough juice to put him under for a while.”

“And thank you for doing that for us, you little girls” a voice said, as a shadowy figure emerged from behind the building.

Kristyn and Raven looked up, and saw a bunch of women who were all wearing the same trench coat and had the same long fiery red hair fluttering in the wind, and a man who was also wearing a trenchcoat, but with short blond hair.

“Yes,” the blond haired man said, in a deep voice. “Thank you for neutralizing our newest asset. Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll be taking him and leaving, little girls.”

“And what makes you think that we’re just going to sit back and let you take him?”

“This!” he shouted, raising his hands causing the earth underneath them to shake wildly,
making them lose their balance. Pillars of earth rose up, separating Kristyn and Raven
from Harold, as one of the red haired girls, reached down and grabbed Harold. She and the blond haired person then turned and walked back the way they came. The others that were just standing there faded away as if they never existed.

Kristyn pounded her fist into the pillar in front of her. “Dammit!”

“What now?” Raven asked, not looking as frustrated as Kristyn did.

“Now, we go find out what everyone else is up to,” Kristyn said, as she tried to calm herself down. “Hopefully, we were able to find something that can shed a bit of light on
these people.”

-------

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Jessica and her father were at Jack’s old home talking with his father. He had taken Jack’s mysterious death pretty hard and had started to indulge in drinking much more often, and with much harder liquor. He was becoming a wreck, waiting to happen, and Jessica’s father Mark didn’t want that to happen.

Although Jessica has had it rough the past week, what with losing her best friend, however, she was holding up better than Charles. Jessica believed that this was because she had her dad to fall back on for emotional support. She did feel like someone had ripped her heart out, since she still had very deep feelings for Jack.

She always wondered why he never seemed to return any feelings she gave out to him. He had always had it rough at school, and she thought might have had some sort of impact on it. Mark was sitting on the couch, waiting for Charles to come back from wrenching up his guts after his latest binge from the bottle. Jessica was wandering around the living room, looking at photos of both Jack and Charles and of the various things that they used to do with each other. She could begin to understand why Charles was taking this so hard, the pictures said it all.

A few minutes later, Charles emerged from the bathroom, looking like hell. His hair was all over the place, his smelled strongly of alcohol, and his clothes were looking ragged on his body, from being worn so often and not being washed. He managed to make his way back to the arm chair and sit back down, reaching for the glass of ice water that was on the coffee table.

“Ugh…,” he said, after taking a swallow of the water. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t mention it,” Mark replied. “I know things have been rough, man. But, at least you still have all the fond memories of the time you two had together.”

“Yeah,” he replied, taking another drink. “But, this is getting to feel just as bad as losing his mother.”

“How did Jack lose his mother?” Jessica asked, curiously.

“I’ll never forget,” Charles stated. “About an hour after Jack was born, his mother went into some sort of seizure. One by one, her major organs had started to fail, and within a few hours, she was dead.”

Charles began to tear up, as he recalled the tragedy. He continued, “When the medical examiner performed the autopsy to determine the exact cause of death, he said that it appeared to him that all of the organs were physically drained and overworked, as if all of their functions were being put to one single use. Paula never complained of any fatigue or anything else. She seemed normal throughout the pregnancy. She followed the doctor’s instructions, and drank lots of water.

“When she first found out that she was pregnant with Jack, she rushed out and bought several cases of water from the store. She put one in the back of the car, and the rest in the closet. We used to joke that she would burst from drinking so much.”

Charles broke down crying, as the memories were starting to become too painful for him to remember. Mark stood up from the couch, and went over to comfort Charles the best he could.

He said, as he drew close, “My wife was the same way, and I also lost her after she had given birth to Jessica. I thought it had something to do with Jessica’s birth, but nothing ever came from that.”

“Really?”

Mark nodded, “Yes.”

Jessica recalled the day that her father had told her about her mother’s death. She had been only seven years old, and had brought the question up after a field trip to the Train Museum in Sacramento. Several of her classmates’ mothers had volunteers to be chaperones on that trip, and when she got home, she asked her father where her mother was.

The trip to the cemetery was very sad for her then. Her father had told her that her mother had loved her very much, as she wanted everything to be perfect for their little girl. It wasn’t easy for either of them, but they managed to get through it.

Jessica walked over to the two men, and gave them as big of a hug as she could give them. All three of them had lost someone that they cared for, and they would need each other to get through it.

-------

Kristyn was not in the most amicable of moods when she returned to the command post. Raven could tell this, as she had said nothing as the two of them walked back. Raven could tell that she was pissed by letting this emergent slip through her fingers. What was nagging in the back of Raven’s mind was who those other people that they had encountered were and why they were here. They seemed to know a great deal about the area, and waited for just the right moment to snatch Harold away from Kristyn and Raven.

Raven also just felt lucky that neither of them had been physically injured. However, she knew that Kristyn was seething with anger and frustration. When they returned to the command post, Ray and the police chief walked over to them.

“Kris,” Ray started, “the police chief is insisting that the prisoner be kept in their custody.”

The chief countered, “He was apprehended by my police force, and in our jurisdiction.”

“Yes, but he is a high-profile suspect in our ongoing investigation.”

“An investigation which I keep hearing is classified at the highest levels.”

Kristyn was looking like she was about ready to go crazy. “Enough, both of you,” she snapped. “Ray, start at the beginning.”

Ray and the police chief both sighed. They both gave each other a glance, and then Ray began.

“Kristyn, during the sweep of the campus a few minutes ago, the local authorities picked up a wounded hostile. They brought him back to the command post, where they attempted to bring him around to question him.”

“Go on,” Kristyn said, as her mood was steadily becoming better.

“Well, they succeeded, but he is refusing to talk to anyone at the moment.”

“He should be in our custody for participating in the assault upon this school,” Chief Whisenton interrupted.

“Chief Whisenton, with all do respect,” Ray said, “he is a member of an organization that is currently undergoing investigation by our branch of Homeland Security.”

“Gentlemen,” Kristyn cut in, “please, stop it. Ray, find Lili and have her join me while I try to interrogate the prisoner.”

“Right away, Kris,” Ray replied as he set off to find Lili.

“Miss Keys, I would like one to be present when you interrogate the prisoner.”

“No, Chief,” Kristyn quickly replied. Before he had a chance to respond she added, “If the questioning proves to have no relevance to our investigation, we will be more than happy to turn him over to you. That’s all I can promise you.”

The chief’s face turned a light red, and then he replied tensely, “Fine.”

He turned smartly on his heel and headed off to coordinate with his men to keep the perimeter secure from the growing mass of the media.

Kristyn and Raven both continued down the path to where the prisoner was being held. Kristyn told Raven that she would have to wait outside, since she wasn’t cleared for the interrogation.

Raven nodded, and resigned herself to that fact.

“What would you like me to do then?”

“Find Heather, and help look for other injured. Also, keep your past buried. No one can know who you were. Got it?”

Raven nodded somberly. Kristyn turned away to go into to one of the least damaged rooms of the main office, where the prisoner was currently being held.

Raven walked through the school as she tried to find the others, and anyone who may have been injured by Harold’s destructive rampage. A part of her was sad for those who have been injured by Harold, and she sympathized with them. She recalled almost every single fight that she got into as Jack with him.

When she added in the fact that Harold was apparently similar to her and the others, her stomach turned in revolt. Harold had been bad enough as a high school bully. Given that he now possessed the ability to now channel his thoughts into destructive forces, she was fearful of anyone who would stand in his way.

She laughed a bit at the thought of Harold turning into a girl. She thought, ‘That would serve him right for being the big, macho bully that he always portrayed. I wonder how he would feel about being turned into a girl, and losing all those muscles that he boasted about having.’

She eventually managed to meet up with the others. They were just heading her way when she ran into them.

“Raven, did you find the emergent?” asked Heather.

Raven sighed deeply and replied, “Yes.”

“Why so sad?”

“Because, he was abducted by some mysterious people, and we couldn’t stop them.”

The looks on their faces fell sharply at that piece of news. It was now the fourth time that they had been intercepted in retrieval operations. All four times the emergents were abducted by a group of unknown people that they had no idea of who they were.

They were demoralized by the fact that they had lost another to these mysterious assailants. Not much was known about them, and everyone at the Center realized that their struggle was just beginning.

After a few minutes walk, the girls returned to the command post. Ray had collected Max from the pool, and both were waiting outside of the office, awaiting news from Kristyn and the progress of the interrogation.

“How long has she been in there?” Heather asked.

“For about twenty minutes or so,” Ray replied.

“How long do you think he can hold out?”

“Well, considering that he seems to be some peon, I doubt we’ll be able to get anything useful out of him,” Ray said.

Heather shrugged at that. However, at the moment, Kristyn walked out. She didn’t look all too pleased.

“Well?” Ray asked.

“I’ll need to tell Harris first. But, things are definitely going to get interesting. Also, hopefully, we’ll be able to get some answers.”

“Is there anything more we can learn from him?” Ray asked.

“Probably. I’m going to have him sent to an interrogation facility, just to be sure.”

Kristyn whipped out her cell phone, and made a few important calls. Raven looked around at her former stomping grounds while she waited for the calls to be finished up. It saddened her to see her old school in such a state. It looked like a warzone, one that she hadn’t exactly fought on.

Her gaze turned towards the hills, which were in the direction of her former home. She wondered how her dad and Jessica were doing. The others weren’t paying too much attention to her at the moment, but she didn’t want to run for it. She knew that she could trust them, and that she would visit her old home, as was seen in Dani’s vision.

At that precise second, she saw a huge fireball shoot up from about where her house was. She was stunned to see that kind of destructive force in the normally quiet Mother Lode.
She yelled over to them, “Guys! Something just exploded in the direction of my previous home!”

Kristyn said into her phone, “Gotta go. Situation developing.”

They rushed over to where Raven was standing and they saw the black smoke billowing from the forest.

“Are you sure it’s coming from the direction of your old home?” Kristyn said.

Raven nodded. “We have to get over there. Now! My dad and friend could be hurt.”

Kristyn nodded. “Load up; we have to get over there.”

The team piled into the SUVs and drove off towards Raven’s home, with Raven showing them the back roads that they could take to get there as quickly as possible. As they drove, Raven hoped that no one was seriously hurt. She knew it would tear her apart if anything were to happen to her best friend and father.

------

When they arrived on the scene, the entire house was covered in flames. Tall orange flames that seemed to dance wildly over the wood and the other fuel the fire could use in that home. The forest behind the house was still untouched by the house fire, due to the wind and the protected space that the property had around it.

Raven exited the SUV and took off at a dash towards her old childhood home. When she got within a few steps of the front door, she collapsed on to the ground, and began sobbing a flood of tears from her eyes. To her, everything that she was before her emergence was gone, as it was now burnt away in that fire. The reality of her situation now firmly took hold in her mind; Jack Thomas was truly dead now.

Max, with his hydrokinetic abilities, used water from a nearby stream to help douse the fire. Although the stream didn’t have enough water in it to put the fire out completely, it would be enough to prevent the fire from spreading any further.

Liz and Kristyn walked over to Raven, and knelt down beside her. They both reached out to try to comfort her. The forest nearby also looked downtrodden, as if they were also in mourning.

Raven didn’t know that she could cry so much. She never would have thought that everything that had happened to her in the past week could’ve happened. She looked up from the small puddle of tears on the ground, and up at her burning childhood home. A few seconds later, resolution took hold, and she picked herself up off the ground and out of Liz’s and Kristyn’s grasp.

The two of them were stunned at Raven for getting back to her feet, and they were shocked when they saw her dash headlong into the blaze.

“Raven! No!” they yelled after her, but there was no stopping her, like she was on a personal mission.

Raven had to see if there was anyone left alive in there. She rushed through the blazing front door, and saw the living room engulfed in flames. She saw the furniture, the pictures, and the other objects around the room burning. However, when she looked at the floor of the room, she saw two things.

The first thing she saw, sadly, was the burning body of her father. He wasn’t moving at all, and she knew that he was dead. The second thing she saw surprised her greatly, as she knew that given this inferno it should not have been possible. Laying there on the burning couch was Jessica’s prone body. She was still breathing, as if she was only sleeping there. However, there were no burns anywhere on her body. Her clothes were smoldering pieces of ash, but her body seemed to be untouched by the flames.

Raven quickly reached down, and grabbed her from the couch. The remains of Jessica’s clothes fell away as Raven moved her. She then rushed from the home and back outside. After getting a good distance away from the building, Liz ran over to help.

“She’s alive,” Liz confirmed, by checking her pulse. “Her pulse seems normal. But, how come she’s not burnt anywhere?”

“I don’t know,” Raven replied, “I just found her on the couch in there.”

Raven breathed deep and then added, “Although, I did find my father in there, dead.”

“Oh, Raven,” Liz said, as she tended to Jessica, “I’m so sorry.”

Raven cried a little, she deeply missed her father, however, she missed Jessica even more. She knew that her father was probably racked with grief over the loss of his only son. She knew that he would be finally reunited with her mother, whom he had loved deeply and passionately from the stories he used to tell.

Liz had been using her healing abilities on Jessica, just to make sure that everything was in order. A few moments later, Jessica awoke with a start. She looked around and said,

“Dad! Mr. Thomas!”

“Who are you?” she said, noticing the three girls, sitting around her.

“Calm down,” Liz said. “It’s okay. Raven saved you from the burning building.”

“Burning building?” she said, and then glanced over at the house. “No! Dad!”

Jessica bolted upright and gazed at the fire. “No! How could I have done such a thing!”

“Wait a second,” Kristyn said, “you did that?”

Jessica nodded as the tears were streaming down her face.

“How?” Raven asked. “How did you do it?”

“I’m not sure. We were lighting a few candles in Jack’s memory, and then I felt a strange surge in me. The flames started to grow more intensely and quickly. Soon, the entire house was on fire. My dad disappeared, but soon Mr. Thomas was engulfed in the flames. The screams were horrifying, and I didn’t even feel a thing.”

Jessica began to cry even harder now as Raven did the first thing that popped into her mind. She reached over to Jessica, and hugged her tightly. A part of Raven was mad that her best friend had killed her father. She knew it was an accident, and she could forgive her for that.

“It’s okay, Jessica. I forgive you,” Raven whispered in her ear.

“Why would you forgive me?” Jessica said through her sobs. “I don’t even know you.”

“Yes you do,” Raven said. She reached under her tank top and pulled out the raven
necklace. “Do you remember this?”

Jessica looked at the necklace, and then that memory flashed back to her hard.

“Where did you get this?!?” she yelled, in anger. “I gave it to Jack the day he disappeared. How did you get it?”

Jessica climbed to her feet, and Raven swiftly followed. “I got it from you, Jessica,” she replied. “Although, I probably didn’t seem very grateful at the time.”

“No,” Jessica said, not believing a thing that Raven said. “It can’t be. You stole that
from him!”

“I assure you, that I did no such thing.”

“Then how else could you have gotten it? Huh? I’ve never seen you in my life before today.”

“Well, that’s not quite true. You did see me before today, but not like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jessica, I was Jack,” Raven said softly, but assertively.

Jessica backed up, and said, “No, that’s not possible. How could you be Jack?”

“I am Jack, or at least I was Jack. You and I were best friends since kindergarten. You came over to help me up when I was beat up by a bully that day. You have always been there for me, even though I didn’t show any feelings in return.”

Jessica still didn’t believe her. From her perspective, there was no way that this person could possibly know that information. Nothing was making much sense to her anymore, and she was scared out of her wits.

“Jessica,” Raven said, trying to calm her down, “please listen to me. You’re scared and confused. I know I was when I was undergoing my emergence. But, we can help you, if you
just let us.”

Jessica kept shaking her head and backing up until she backed into a tall tree. She gasped as the bark scratched her skin.

“Jessica, please calm down,” Raven said.

“No! Stay away from me!”

Jessica lifted her arms up and Raven saw a fire in her eyes that hadn’t seen before. She could now very well believe that she was responsible for the house on fire.

“Jessica! Don’t do it!” Raven yelled, reaching for her trying not to make her do something that she would later regret.

The tree that she was standing in front of whipped its branches out and grabbed her limbs, holding her in place. As Jessica struggled against the tree’s grip, Raven was astonished that she was able to do something like that.

She walked over to the struggling girl and said, “Jessica, please listen. I was Jack, but now I’m Raven. For the past week, I’ve been on a strange roller coaster ride. But, through it all, I could only think about you. You were like my rock, and I could just die if anything were to happen to you.”

Jessica was starting to tire from struggling against the branches. It seemed to her that the more she struggled, the more resistance she encountered.

“Jessica,” Raven said, “please. Let us help you.”

Jessica continued to struggle against the tree.

“Jessica, you can trust me. I’ve never lied to you as Jack, and I’m not lying now. Please, stop struggling and come with us.”

Jessica began to tire quickly. She began to think of everything this girl, Raven, had said to her. It made sense to her of what she was hearing, things that only Jack could have known. When she finally stopped struggling against the tree, the branches simply let go of her, dropping her to the ground.

“All right,” she said, weakly. “I’ll go with you, Jack.”

Raven reached down for her, and brought her back to her feet. She then said, “You don’t know how happy I am to have you back in my life. I missed you so much.”

“I missed you, too, Jack.”

“It’s Raven now,” she replied with a giggle.

“Sorry.”

Liz draped a blanket around Jessica’s naked body, to try to give her some warmth and protection from the elements, as they headed for the SUV. Max had managed to put enough of the fire out, so it would just burn itself out and not cause harm to anything else. Raven and Jessica both climbed into the SUV together, and they never let go of each other.
As they close the door, Jessica said, “Can we get some food, please? I’m starving.”

“Sure,” Kristyn replied. “We can get some food before we fly back.”

“Thanks,” Jessica replied.

Twenty minutes later, the plane was winging its way back to the Center. Raven and Jessica sat close to each other, neither of them saying much. Both of them were looking happy again now.

Jessica soon passed out in Raven’s arms, but Raven didn’t care. She knew that she would have to answer a lot of questions later on, but for now, she was happy to just have this person back in her life.

-------

Back at the remains of Raven’s house, a shadowy figure emerged from the forest. He looked at the smoldering ruins, and said, “Well, let’s see if she’s still there. Dr. C had told me that she would also be immune to fire.”

The figure searched the ruins until it became dark. When it did become dark enough for him to give up the search he shouted out loudly in frustration.

“Damn! How did she get away? I thought that the mild sedative that I gave her would keep her alive until I could return after the fire was out.”

The figure started off down the road, to his red pickup truck. His business partners weren’t going to be too happy with him for losing a potential asset.

‘At least I was able to make her destroy any evidence of my being there,’ he thought to himself. ‘Grief can be a powerful influence and trigger.’

After a few minutes drive down the road, his cell phone went off. After checking the caller, he answered it, “This is H. No, I wasn’t able to get subject 0302. She somehow escaped. What? Those people were here? They must’ve have taken her. I understand, sir.”

H cursed himself as he hung up the phone. He was really in trouble now. They were recalling him back to his home base. He was needed for something back there, and they didn’t say what over the phone, give the confidentiality of their work. He just hoped that with the newly acquired subject they had picked up today, they could continue with their experiments.

A loud caw rang throughout the forest after the truck had driven off. The caw was followed by a fluttering of wings, as the bird left its perch in the forest, and began to wing its way east.