Jayden

Jayden leaped onto the Outercraft and nodded hello to the pilot.

“This is for you,” the pilot stated with no emotion at all, handing him a small piece of golden paper. Very typical of ULTRASONIC. He unfolded the note carefully, his fingers tracing the creases. The note read:

29th floor, 2nd building, Mr. Zac Kolvan and Ms. Yuri Mashima. Please knock. Holken will see you at 7:30 Overhead Time.

- ULTRASONIC

Jayden shoved the note in his pocket and peered over at his watch on his right hand. It was 4:00. He had a long day ahead of him.

~~~~~~~

15 minutes later the Outercraft lowered onto the landing arena. Jayden jumped off the ramp and strode in front of the gates, loving his new found confidence. As the pilot stepped off and opened the dark wooden doors, he gaped at the city in front of him. Even though he’d been here many times in his life, unlike the other Exceptionals, he always loved to see the magnificence of the Overhead. However, what stood out most was most definitely ULTRASONIC’s headquarters. The complex itself was 31 stories tall as if the city wasn’t already high enough. As he walked into the building a cool minty breeze hit him right away. Everyone was wearing all white and gold. The scientists had on transparent goggles and long cloaks while the apprentices wore classic business attire. Again, very typical of ULTRASONIC. Jayden suddenly felt a bit less optimistic than before, seeing that he was still wearing his battle gear from defense class. Not to mention that his face was also badly bruised. Nevertheless, he continued to walk over to the reception desk, back straight, chin up.

“May I help you?” the lady at the desk said politely.

“Yes please. Um, I'm Jayden Hudson, I got a note to meet Mr.-” he stopped, the lady holding up a finger to type on her computer. After about 2 minutes, she smiled at him.

“Jayden, go up the elevator to your right up to the 29th floor. Mr. Kolvan and Ms. Mashima will see you shortly,” the lady spoke, gesturing to Jayden’s right.

“Thank you,” he told her, bowing his head a bit, then cringing as we walked away. There’s no need to be too polite, you’re Jayden Hudson. As he entered the elevator, his finger brushed against the golden button for the 29th floor. 29. Something felt familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on it. As he pressed it, the button lit up a brighter shade of gold, triggering a memory inside me. “Mateo,” he whispered. January 29th was Mateo’s birthday. He remembered back when Mateo and he used to celebrate it the day before with only each other, then have a huge party on the actual day. It was like having two birthdays and they loved it that way. Suddenly a loud ding broke Jayden away from his thoughts. The elevator doors gilded open, revealing a slim man in a black suit, different from everyone else. His hair was a rich brown, parted and shaved down the left pairing nicely with his gray eyes. The blond had to look up to meet the older man’s eyes even though he was taller than most of the campus kids.

“Jayden, it’s so nice to finally meet you, I’m Zac Kolvan,” the man smiled, holding out his hand, preventing Jayden from entering the level. He reached out and shook Zac’s hand hesitantly. “Shall we?” Zac asked, gesturing for Jayden to follow him out the elevator. His grip was firm. For a split second Jayden caught the corner of Zac’s eye as he turned around. They were glowing an ice cold blue. The exact same color as mine. A telepathist, I should have known.

“Nice to meet you too,” Jayden replied, a smug look on his face. Zac looked away and led the boy out of the elevator, clearly embarrassed that his cover was partly blown. They walked through the hallways silently into a small meeting room. There was a woman, probably Ms. Mashima, waiting, her legs crossed under the table. She was wearing some type of headband that he had never seen before. Suspicious, Jayden tested her, trying to search into her mind. Only a moment later he stumbled back in fear, grabbing onto Zac’s shoulder to steady himself. Fuck. “Oh jeez I'm so sorry!” he exclaimed, embarrassed and confused.

“No need to worry, Jayden, we aren’t the bad guys here,” Mr. Kolvan said calmly, patting his back. Ms. Mashima smiled, not saying a word. She clearly knew what just happened. ULTRASONIC had developed a new mind protector, Jayden rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “Anyway, did you want to discuss what I’ll be doing?”

“Actually we did. We wanted to tell you about how much a Guarder is important to both cities and so on, but I’ve decided on a different approach. One that I think you’ll like much better,” Zac whispered. Then he turned around smiling at Ms. Mashima. She nodded. Zac grabbed Jayden’s arm, making him twitch. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you,” he said, a smirk growing on his face as he tugged Jayden along.