Julie squints her eyes as the loud ringing warped her mind. She could hear the muffled voices in the background, but she couldn't care less. Julie was tired, she wanted to sleep more. It took a few seconds the recall what had happened, and that left wanting to sleep more. Julie felt the comfy blanket on her, as she sighs at the warmth.
'It's just a dream, everything's a dream, all I need is to go to sleep again.' she thought trying to convince herself.
"Julie?" Julie let out a groan as she tries to hide inside the blanket when it was suddenly taken away from her, and the thoughts start invading her mind.
"Thank God you're fine." Celine sighed in relief, as she hugged Julie. [Who did this?? God, she looks terrible]
Julie felt her hand twitched as she held up her right arm. It was covered with bandages, probably gashes she had. She was snapped out of her train of thought when she heard a cough at the end of the bed.
Julie jumped as she glances at the people in the room. At the corner of the room was both Ethan and Amelia sitting on the couch, face serious as they both were conversing with each other. While the cough originated was from a tall man (who looked taller than Ethan), he had dirty blonde hair, sea-blue eyes. Looked to be in his mid-twenties.
She turned to face the man, expecting the line of thoughts to fill her head. But it never came, from the grin the man gave. The face Julie was making probably looked comical. Turning her face to Celine, she gaped and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Wha- this is not normal." She whispered to Celine, suspicious of the man.
"What's not normal?" [you mean him?]
"I mean, duh!?" Julie pointed.
Their loud whispering got attention from the other teenagers, which both Ethan and Amelia approached them. Ethan had only crossed his arms and stared at her. "So...careful, huh?"
"Shut up," Julie grumbled. She didn't need sarcasm now, especially from a certain water boy. Turning to Amelia, Julie waved greeting her, which she got a small smile back.
"So, anybody gonna explain the other giant in the room?" Julie pointed out, in which all of their gazes fell onto the tall man. Ethan had only sighed (to be honest, these days all Ethan does is sigh) which he started introducing the tall man, in the most exasperated voice she ever heard.
"Julie, meet Phil Wilson, one of the higher-ups of the association. And my so-called 'teacher'." Ethan points at Phil, who had waved at Julie. She hesitantly waved back and whispered at Ethan.
"How old is he?"
"I think he's turning 29?" Ethan muttered back. [He's my guardian too]
"Shut up!?" Julie gawked at Phil. To be honest, Julie thinks the name 'Phil' doesn't fit with how he's smirking, it was an arrogant grin. But, if he one of the so-called 'higher ups' then she had no choice but to comply.
"Anyways, are we going to talk about what happened?" Celine exclaimed as Julie nodded. She also wanted to know what happened, especially after the chase with the crazed man. From the choice of weapon, the man wasn't the claw man. Was it the manipulation energy Ethan had mentioned on the phone?
"Well, first of all, who stopped the man?" Julie asked, recalling how the man suddenly stopped in the middle of the chase. Somebody had to stop him, he was just an inch close to stabbing her.
"It would be best if I explain this to Julie, would you mind?" Phil had glanced towards Ethan, who nodded and walked out the room with Amelia. Celine who didn't want to leave the room was also forcibly pushed out of the room with Phil.
"Why can't I stay with Jules??" Celine whined, shoulders slumped as she was gripping the door frame. Phil rolled his eyes, as he pushed the girl out and shut the door.
Turning back to Julie, who jumped at the sudden gaze. He gave a smile as he drags a chair in front of her. Turning the chair backward, as he sat down and rested his hands on the chair. "So, mind-reading?"
"...yeah, my so-called 'awakened' power is aparantly useless in a fight." Julie clenched the blanket, as she remembered how vulnerable she was. Julie glances at Phil. "Why can't I read yours? Usually, everything would just filter in my mind."
Phil had pursed his lips as he waved his arms around in weird gestures. " As you heard, I'm one of the higher-ups, which is an excuse to control me with their rules and stuff. But you probably wonder why you can't read my mind."
Julie nodded furiously, it was a revelation to her. Finally, someone that she can't read their mind. "Yeah, how?"
"Well, I have psychokinesis," Phil said demonstrating his powers, blue aura surrounded the couch as it started to float into the air. Julie gapped astonished at the floating couch. "Wow, you're like the scarlet witch!"
"The what?" The couch dropped, it made a loud thump. Phil stared at Julie like she grew another head. "Did you just compared me to a fictional character?"
"I mean what else am I suppose to compare you, a God?" Julie rolled her eyes, "But this doesn't answer my question, why can't I read your mind?"
"Well, cause I have a mental ability, more like I have a better mental barrier than any others. The reason why you can't stop that mind-reading of yours is that you still can't control it yet." Phil said gesturing her head. Julie stared at him, still processing what he had said.
"Wait, so was it you who stopped the crazy man?" But Phil had shooked his head, which made Julie question even more questions. The obvious answer would be Phil who had stopped the man last minute. Who else can it be?
"Was it Amelia?" Julie inquired, she still hasn't seen what Amelia does. Ethan was a water boy, Celine was a walking outlet. But Amelia hasn't shown any flashy abilities yet.
"No, she has a fire element, pyrokinesis," Phil replied staring at her like she knew who had stopped the man. But Julie could only stare in confusion. Phil sigh in disappointment, as Julie tilted her head. Well, can't blame her for being curious.
"It's you, you stopped the man."
Julie froze, she chuckled nervously. "You're kidding right?" But his silence answers everything. Julie groans as she buried her head underneath the blanket. A part of her was glad that she stopped the man, another part of her was confused and mad. Mad that she has to deal with this, does it mean she's completely in the awakened world now? She had no intention of joining in the first place, her job was only to get answers. Not witnessing a murder, and definitely not stopping a serial killer.
"Welp, now that you know about your ability. How's Noah Reed?" Julie frowns at the man, the audacity- She didn't learn anything about her ability!?
"You didn't explain jack shi-"
"No cursing." Phil interrupted her, which Julie huffed and internally cursing the man in front of her.
"Anyways" Phil continued "Why Ethan had tasked you on spying on Noah Reed, is because of his father Amos Reed. One of the main suspects for the rogue awakened."
"You mean 'claw man' ?" Julie mumbled.
"If that's what he's called, then yeah. So 'claw man' is suspected of being under Amos Reed's orders. But we still don't know that yet, if you can utilize your ability on the eldest son, then there won't be much problem to get answers." Phil explained, eyes sharp in concentration as he looked to be thinking of something.
"However for your case, the man wasn't the rogue awakened, he was just a normal human. We dropped him at the police station. The man he murdered was his boss, he was stabbed but the cause of death wasn't the knife, but asphyxiation- uh he choked to death." Julie nodded keeping up with Phil's statement.
"But He died less than a minute, usually it takes one to three minutes to choke someone. The higher-ups think that the Reed family has something to do with this, as Amos the head family was being suspicious these last month."
"So do you want me to reveal that I'm an awakened to Noah?" Julie said skeptically about everything that's going on.
"Well, kinda, anything that you can get close to him would do. Just don't reveal you can read his mind." Phil answered standing up from his chair. He walked towards the door before he went out he stopped and looked back at Julie. "You're actually very powerful Julie, you just don't know it yet." He finally leaves the room, leaving Julie alone with her thoughts.
Julie didn't know what to do at this point. She knew what she had to do at first, interrogate a senior. Easy. But now a powerful man just told her she can be in more danger than she already is? It takes everything to a whole new level. If only the claw man didn't exist, would this happen?
"JULIE! YOU OKAY??" Celine ran it slamming the door, started rambling on how the cafeteria in the facility was very big. Julie could only sit there and not listening.
"What time is it 'Line?" Julie asked as Celine cocked her head to the side.
"Almost eight."
Scrambling out, she flipped the blanket she had. She stumbled on her foot, as it was tangled to the blanket. Groaning, she tries to untangle herself with the mess she made. Her aunt would kill her if she doesn't come back.
"Julie calms down, I told your uncle that you're sleeping over." Celine tried to calm her down. Picking her up from the floor, and setting Julie on the bed again. "So don't worry 'bout your aunt going berserk."
"Thanks, Celine." Julie sighed in relief, knowing that her aunt won't kill her for passing curfew. Julie glances at the trio who were in her room now. To be honest it was a funny sight, a dude with two girls. If people saw this daily, they'll probably think something different.
"What are you thinking?" Celine nudged her, Julie blinked innocently saying "nothing." But it doesn't seem Celine was convinced. "Nah, from the look on your face, You're judging something."
"Well- I mean, ain't usually a trio consist like two dudes and the smart girl. Our situation is completely different, isn't it?" Julie pointed out. Which all three of them blinked surprised. "Especially at school, Ethan doesn't even hang out with the other dudes, always sticking around. People would think he has a harem or something."
In which all three of them combusted (especially Ethan). Celine laughed wildly, smacking Julie's back as she tried to contain her giggles. "Ha-HAREM, pffffft."
"Shut up," Ethan growled in despair, covering his face with his hands. Amelia giggled as she nudges at the boy. "Ooo look his ears are read." She cooed, as Ethan swatted her arms. Laughter consumed the room, as they all relaxed at the tension. It had been a long day for all three of them, Julie had thought.
"Wait, Ethan, do you have Phil's number?" Ethan made a look and stared at her suspiciously. [You want HIS number?? Are we talking about the same person here?]
"Shut up don't do that." She swatted him, "Yeah we are, I wanna learn more about this awakened thing." Julie said pushing her phone towards him. He reluctantly gave Phil's number.
"By the way, how is Celine in the association, did she get into trouble?" Julie asked, curious about what the trio did when she was away getting chased by a crazed maniac. Both of them were walking down a long hallway. Julie was quite amused by how the building looks. Amelia and Celine were already ahead of them.
"Nah, she didn't. Actually, she's quite good at controlling her ability." Ethan chimed in, He began telling her how their training worked. How Celine has more agility (probably because she was a basketball player), but her electricity isn't the strongest. Julie stared at him amused at how he kept going on how Celine was doing their visit in the association.
"You keep talking about Celine, what about Amelia?" Ethan choked or maybe he coughed? But the flush in his ears were definite. 'Boys.' Julie thought and sighed. "Whatever, but I'm don't really trust Amelia."
"Why though? I mean she's kinda cool, like the human torch, but less flammable I think." Julie shook her head, shoving her hands to her pockets. She didn't reply back to Ethan, which he had caught on.
"JULES C'MON HURRY UP!" they see Celine at the other end, flailing her arms around. Julie rolled her eyes at her friend, as they both speed-walked towards the end. Their walk home was loud, unlike how the normal days were like.
"Hey, you okay?" Julie glances at Amelia who kept fidgeting. Amelia laughed nervously, "Yea- yeah I'm fine." Julie hummed, staring at Amelia for a while. She raised an eyebrow, but she decided to ignore Amelia. But mentally she began to be more suspicious of Amelia.
She can't listen to Amelia's thoughts anymore.