• Prologue

    Nicholi Zoel swiftly ran a hand through his coal black hair, sighing. He paced around the big, dark room impatiently, trying to come up with a solution to his problem.

    He thought about the enemy. He knew them all too well. He knew every answer to all of the questions racing in his mind of the enemy. How did he know? He used to be one of them.

    He walked over to his huge leather chair, sat down, and stared off into the distance. As he pondered how to execute his master plan, a figure appeared in the doorway. As the figure got closer, Nicholi sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples with his fingers.

    “Kaden, what do you want?” He asked, annoyed. The scrawny, pale, young teenager standing in the doorway cleared his throat, walking a little further into the room.

    “Well, I was- I mean the rest of the group was just wondering, uh, when we were going to start heading out. You know, doin’ all the action stuff?” He nervously bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, hoping his voice didn’t show his fear.

    Nicholi’s head snapped up and his bright green eyes burned into Kaden’s wide blue-green eyes.

    “We are not going anywhere until I figure out a way to execute this plan in the most effective and successful way possible,” Nicholi said, his voice low and hard.

    “Y-Yes, sir, I will let the rest of the group know,” Kaden stuttered. He quickly walked out of the room, his forehead beaded with sweat.

    Nicholi relaxed into his chair once more and was soon lost in thought again, his mind sifting through all the possible routes they could take. He wasn’t having any luck at all. He was completely out of ideas. He didn’t know where to begin. He’d gotten this far and he wasn’t about to give up just yet. He had to find a way.

    As if being the answer to his silent pleas for help, his girlfriend, Tara Reed, walked in. She had a triumphant smile on her pink lips, revealing her straight white teeth. Her long strawberry-blonde hair flowed freely behind her as she quickly took a seat in front of Nicholi’s desk, where he sat.

    He looked up, a little surprised but curious, and said, “Tara, what is it?”

    “Oh, Nicholi, I saw it! I know what we must do!” She said excitedly.

    “What did you see?”

    “I saw the one we must get to join us. She’s going to be stronger than any of us, maybe even stronger than you.”

    “Impossible…” He breathed.

    ‘Who could be more powerful than me?’ He thought.

    “No, it’s possible. I saw her. I saw her power. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

    “Well, where is she?”

    Tara’s smile faltered a bit and she stared over his shoulder, her eyes distant.

    “Now, that’s the problem. I couldn't see exactly where she was.”

    “I see,” he said, a little disappointed. “Well, what does she look like?”

    “She has medium-length, light brown hair, lightly tanned skin, an oval-shaped face, bright hazel eyes, and she is medium height. Surprisingly, she's very young. She's new to her powers and she can’t control them very well but, she is good. Very good.”

    “And what was her power?”

    Tara’s gray-blue eyes stared deep into his as she spoke; wonder dripping from her gentle voice. “She could move things with her mind, Nicholi. She’s telekinetic.”

    He stared at her in disbelief.

    Telekinetic? Only one other person has ever been telekinetic in the history of all Specials.

    “It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” she continued. “This girl, she's very powerful. And, in my vision, I saw her moving an entire building. She was tearing it to shreds as if it was paper. The whole building was crumbling and collapsing: Debris was flying in all directions, cars that were nearby were flying into the air. It all seemed easy for her. As if they weighed nothing. As if the building was made of Styrofoam.”

    Tara seemed lost in the memory of it all.

    “Well, we must go find her. Where exactly is this building?”

    Tara thought for a moment. “I’m not really sure… It’s nowhere I’ve seen before. I didn’t recognize anything.”

    Nicholi’s brows furrowed for a moment. He thought about where she would be destroying a building made of brick. Brick hasn’t been used in a while. It was probably somewhere where the buildings where older. As he thought, an idea suddenly hit him.

    “I’ve got it! It’s the perfect plan,” he said, smiling. “We'll find her and take her with us. Just a few hours and she’ll be destined to become one of us.”

    “How, exactly, will she be destined to become one of us?”

    Nicholi looked at Tara, his smile growing.

    “I’ll just turn on the charm,” he said. All of a sudden his eyes glowed with a light like no other. The beauty and color of his eyes held Tara’s firmly. She couldn’t look away even if she wanted to.

    Slowly, Tara’s train of thought vanished and she couldn’t think or say anything. Nicholi’s hypnotizing eyes continued to pierce right through Tara’s, getting into her head.

    He smirked, enjoying the fact that he was able to charm her, and he averted his eyes to his hands, which were folded around themselves on his desk.

    Tara continued to stare at the place where Nicholi’s eyes had been, dazed. She blinked her eyes repeatedly and then noticed that her mouth had been hanging open. She immediately closed it and then, realizing what had just happened, scowled at Nicholi.