A hazy green mist hung lightly over the blue-gray city buildings, while a still breeze rippled through the mild night air. The sounds of taxi’s shouting and heavy music was background noise to one teenager lying awake in his bed, staring up at the dark ceiling above him with wide, awake eyes. The tune of the streets was almost like silence to him and the soft music coming from his iPod player did nothing to help. He leaned over and switched the player off, rolling back onto his back. His gray eyes were itching with tiredness but he couldn’t make himself fall asleep if it meant avoiding that recurring nightmare. Despite the warmth, the thought of the nightmare sent a chill up his spine as he shuddered a little. He visualized the glowing orange flames and felt the sear of fire on his skin, heard the screams of people he knew as he walked through the fire as if it were air.
“Snap out of it, Falcon,” he muttered to himself. He sat up and pulled himself out of bed and walked over to his bookshelf to try and find something to read to distract him. He didn’t have many books that he’d read, and the ones he had were old and dusty. War of the Worlds, Harry Potter, inside my Head and iBoy were among those he had flipped through countless times. There was nothing Falcon could read to take his mind of that horrific scene in his mind, so he pulled on his pants and slung a jacket over his shoulders and the next thing he knew, he was walking down the streets of Los Angeles with his iPod full blast in his ears. There was everything out here to do at night, even if he was breaking LA curfew for his own needs. It wasn’t as if people were discreet about being out, and the police didn’t even bother patrolling anymore, it was a waste of their time. Falcon rounded a corner and saw a bunch of people he knew.
“Eli,” he called, and a dark haired youth turned to face him, and his face broke into a grin.
“Hey bird boy, watcha doing out late? Your mom with get you into trouble,” Eli mocked. Falcon pulled one headphone out of his ear and smiled at Eli’s insult.
“She doesn’t know, or even care,” he replied. Falcon remembered his dream, and remembered Eli had been lying on the ground, dead, as he walked onwards.
“Yeah right, you’ve always been a bit of a goody two shoes since third grade,” the dark haired boy said. Falcon shook his head and took a few steps forward towards him, hands in pockets, fingers gripping the small knife he had concealed there. The blade was cool but his skin was blazing hot.
“You’ve always been a bit of a rebel, though haven’t you, Elijah,” he sneered. Eli’s friends snickered at his real name.
“Shut up feather brain. So how’s your dad? Oh yeah, he’s dead,” Eli shot back at him. Falcon narrowed his eyes. That was a step too far.
“Yeah, you know why he’s dead, retard. You dads fucking police forced killed him,” he spat. He walked closer to that he was chest to chest with the taller boy. Eli smirked and pushed him back a little.
“My dad was just doing his job you know. Ferdinand was breaking the law by keeping an apparently gifted child under his roof. And what happens? You go and burn down a ware house with your fucking powers,” he teased. Falcon found himself trembling, not from fear, but from anger. He had been taking this guys shit for eight years, and he wouldn’t put up with it any longer. He pushed Eli to a wall, brought the knife to his throat and spoke in a low whisper.
“You shut the fuck up, understand? This has gone on for too long and I’m not standing for it anymore. Now, I know things about you that you don’t even know, like if you have a Gift or not. And I’m not saying you do, and I’m not saying don’t, but if you want to know, you have to do a few things for me, ok?” he said. Eli nodded as the knife was dug into his skin, not hard enough to draw blood, but with the pressure to make it uncomfortable.
“Ok, ok, what do you want?” Eli stuttered.
“First, I want my amulet back,” Falcon said. Eli pulled a silver chain with an ankh pendant on it and pressed it into Falcons hands.
“Thank you. I also want you to say sorry to Charlie, you seriously hurt her,” Eli nodded and Falcon let him go.
“Is that it?” Eli asked. Falcon shook his head.
“There’s a lot more to come. I’ll write it out for you,” he said, and turned and walked away, but stopped.
“Oh yeah, this never happened. But you still have to apologise to her,” he said. Eli and his friends nodded. Falcon nodded too and walked away. What the hell just happened, he thought to himself. He shook his head and walked down into an old park that was hardly even used by kids anymore. He sat down on the swing and stared at his hands, where his fingertips were glowing faintly like in that movie ET. The glow was kind of red and the light grew. This only happened when he was angry or upset and this time it was both. He cursed Eli under his breath and hid his hands in his jacket pockets where they touched the blade of his knife.
“What am I doing?” he asked himself.
“You’re acting on what you think is right,” a voice behind him said. Falcon whipped around, pulling his knife out of his pocket, not caring that they would see his hands, which looked like they were on fire. He found himself facing a man about thirty, thirty five years old with auburn hair and dark brown eyes.
“Who the hell are you?” Falcon asked. The guy chuckled and held up a hand, and the knife zoomed into it.
“I’m Oliver Kane, nice to meet you Falcon,” the guy said. Falcon narrowed his stormy eyes.
“How do you know my name?” he asked.
“I saw what you did. I know a lot about you,” Oliver said. Falcon clenched his fists and small flames engulfed them.
“You have telekinesis?” he stated. Oliver nodded.
“And you have pyrokenesis,” he replied.
“Fire. Yeah, I know. I burned down a warehouse that my dad used to own,” Falcon said.
“I knew Ferdinand, we were pretty close friends. You know, he had a power even he didn’t understand,” Oliver said in a distant voice. Falcon perked up.
“You knew my dad? What was his power?” he asked. The telekinetic man in front of him smiled and gave him back the knife.
“He could generate nuclear energy just by being near a nuclear power station. He could take the poisoning out of people and was quite helpful in Japan when he was about eighteen. That’s where I met him, you know. I was helping put back together the Fukushima power station after the 3054 earthquake. The same thing happened in 2011,” he explained. Falcon took this information in and looked at his hands, where the fire was spreading up his arms.
“Mom never told me anything about this....” he said quietly.
“Dolores didn’t want you to know,” Oliver said. Falcon looked down and took a deep breath, then looked back up again.
“What else do you know about my family?” he asked.
“Everything you need to know right now, so ask away,” Oliver sat down on the swing next to Falcons and Falcon did the same.
“What was my dad like, and why did he really die?” he said.
“Ferdinand was a lot like you. Aggressive, intelligent and with strength that only comes out when he’s provoked. He was quite well liked, but he never fit in with the popular crowd, which he doesn’t regret. And he’s not dead, he was taken just before he died, to the Los Angeles Underland,” Oliver said. Falcon’s jaw dropped.
“He’s not dead? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” he almost shouted.
“Once again, Dolores didn’t want you to know until you were a legal adult, so you wouldn’t do anything stupid,” Oliver replied calmly.
“What the hell? He’s my DAD! I have to know these things!” Falcon almost shouted again. Oliver sighed.
“I know how to get into the Underland, but it’s highly dangerous. Pretty much a suicide mission. And you’re not going,” he added as Falcon opened his mouth to speak.
“I am. I’m not letting this drop,” Falcon insisted, then got up to walk away, but Oliver gripped his elbow.
“If you’re going, you’ll need a lot of help. And I mean A LOT of it,” he said. Falcon pulled away.
“I know people with Gifts, a lot of people Oliver,” he snapped. Oliver sighed and shrugged.
“Fine. I’m going to help you then,” he said. Falcon pretended he didn’t hear him and continued walking away, but secretly, he was thrilled that his father was alive and he had a chance, no matter how small, of getting him back for good.
- Should I continue this?-
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