Chapter Five

"Where's Bailey? I haven't seen her in like a week." I had my face curtained in a golden beam of afternoon sunlight. Alexsandra decided that we should have a picnic outside, so I spent my lunch sitting on a blanket with Alexsandra, Olwyn, and the boys.

"You haven't heard?" Aiden laughed.

"Depends." I said, "What haven't I heard."

"Bailey passed testing, so three days ago she started the metamorphosis." Olwyn said.

I sat up straight and looked at him. "The what?"

"The metamorphosis." Alexsandra explained, "It's where you sit in a metal box drenched in chemicals until your powers fully develop."

I could almost hear Jace rolling his eyes at Alexsandra's explanation, but I ignored him, "Wow." I said, "I didn't know she had it in her. I'm also marveling at how I didn't know this until now."

Everyone laughed and we continued eating lunch until a new question popped in my mind. "Do any of you guys have your powers?"

Everyone kind of looked awkward like this was a subject they decided not to talk about. Then Olwyn cleared her throat and said, "Yeah. Dario and I have them already, Bailey is getting hers right now, and Jace is on the last simulation."

"Huh." I said, mentally making note that the closer you sit to Cathleen, the further in training you are. That would explain why I had to sit next to Jace yesterday for dinner. But then my stomach plunged. Alexsandra sits at the far end of the table, as far away from Cathleen as possible.

We ate our lunch and Aiden and I had an insult war until Frank came declaring that it was time for Alexsandra to go to training. "Already?" Alexsandra moaned, standing up, "I'll see you guys later."

"See you!" I called after her.

There was a bit of silence where I just stuffed a bit of burrito in my mouth, then Dario suddenly spoke. "Alright, spit it out. What's going on."

It took me a while to realize he was talking to me. "What do you mean?" I asked, swallowing. He's been suspicious of me ever since I ran into him yesterday.

"You know what I mean." Dario replied, "You and Alex have been acting weird lately, and I want to know why."

I eyed him for a moment, very conscious of everyone's eyes on me. After a while I finally replied. "Yesterday, Dr. Morsie called me to her office a lot earlier than usual. It turns out she was super eager for our next training session because we were gonna do the last two simulations."

"Did you pass?" Aiden asked.

I paused again, replaying Cathleen's words in my head. "Actually, do you mind not telling young Alexsandra yet? I know you're best friends, but I need you to keep quiet. Can you do that?" She said I couldn't tell Lex, but she didn't say anything about the others. "Yeah, I did."

Everyone started cheering, patting me on the back and congratulating me. "So why are you acting upset?" Olwyn asked.

"Um," I bit my lip, feeling guilt building up in my gut, "Dr. Morsie actually told me not to tell Alexsandra."

There was dead silence. Everyone had their eyes trained on me, their expressions varying from disbelief to fear. "And… you didn't tell her right?" Jace asked slowly, as if I was a child who didn't understand the situation.

"Um, well, about that…"

All of a sudden a hand was gripping my arm so tight I could feel it bruising. "Hey!" I yelled, struggling to escape their grip. Dario was dragging me toward the willow, a large tree that had a diameter of at least a yard. He yanked me around so that the trunk was in between us and the compound. He leaned in so close I could feel his breath on my ear.

"Whatever you do," he said, "don't tell anyone about this, do you understand? I'll deal with the others, but don't expect me to do anything like this again. And also, do not underestimate Dr. Morsie. She has a way with figuring things out." He let go of me and walked over to the others. I could see the outraged look on Jace's face, the impressed look on Aiden's face, and the bored look that Olwyn was pulling off. Something was very wrong. It was almost like everyone was afraid of Cathleen. I don't think that they would be afraid without reason.

After a little bit of thinking, I walked back to the others and realized that they were talking casually as if nothing ever happened. I made eye contact with Dario, who very slightly nodded.

"Hey Sage." Aiden said, "Where were you?"

"I was just tracking down that weird bird I saw the other day." I said, sitting down on the picnic blanket. "It turns out that weird bird was a pigeon with a sucker stuck to its head."

Everyone laughed and we kept on eating like normal, but I couldn't help occasionally looking at Dario. What did he mean by "I'll take care of the others?" But then it hit. He has his power now, and I think I know what it is.

The next day, Alexsandra was teaching me how to play chess. It turns out that Alexsandra is really good, although she claims Jace is better. If that's the case, then Jace must be a superhuman chess player.

Anyway, I was sitting there, trying to remember what the bishop does, when Bailey walked in the room with a smug look on her face.

"Bailey!" Aiden said, noticing her presence, "You're back! So what's your power?"

Bailey grinned smugly, held out her hand palm up, and scrunched up her nose like she was concentrating on something.. At first I thought her power was perfectly moisturized hands, (because there's no way that she gets them that way normally,) but then I realized that the flames from the chandelier were no longer on the chandelier. They were drifting down and morphing, until they were one ball of flame, hovering over Bailey's hand.

"Woah." Alexsandra said, the flame glowing in her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, real nice, Bailey can make fire move. Now can we continue this game? I'm going against Alexsandra next." Olwyn said.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Alexsandra said, walking back to the chess board. It was still my turn. I was very proud of myself for killing her knight with my queen, only to have her kill my queen with a pawn.

After our game, Alexsandra and Olwyn were playing a very epic game of chess, when Frank came and startled Bailey by saying, "Miss Sage, Dr. Morsie is requesting your presence."

"Alright. Thank you Frank." I said, smirking slightly at the servant, "I gotta go to training guys. I'll see you later."

"Training?" Alexsandra asked, eyeing Frank suspiciously. She knew that I had passed training, so I shouldn't be going to training anymore. I decided to act naturally though.

"Yeah. I'll see you later okay?"

"Alright, bye." Olwyn said, still looking at the chessboard; deciding what to do next.

I rolled my eyes at her, waved at Alexsandra, then walked down the hall, took many turns, and ended up in front of Cathleen's office. I knocked on the door, and waited. And waited.

What's going on? I thought to myself, knocking again, She's usually hovering by the door so she can answer it the moment you knock.

After about ten seconds, I was about to walk away and find Frank, when the door swung open. Cathleen was still sitting at her desk, looking very pleased for some reason. I had no idea who opened the door until a lean man with slicked back hair and a tiny mustache peered around the door and sneered at me.

"Ah," He said in an oily voice, "You must be Sage. Come in, come in."

I looked at Cathleen, my eyebrows raised, but she just shot me a look that said "Do as you're told." I slowly walked in, very aware of the grin the man was giving me as he closed the door behind me.

"Sage," Cathleen said, "This is Dr. Tran. He is the head of the Metamorphosis office, and is here to perform your metamorphosis."

This came as a surprise, even though I knew it was coming. Now? Already? I've been here for like three and a half weeks, whereas Lex's been here for nearly two years. She hasn't started the metamorphosis yet! Despite these things rushing through my head, I forced my face to remain neutral. "Nice to meet you Dr. Tran." I said plainly, nodding to him.

He was still grinning from ear to ear when he replied, "Oh believe me, the pleasure is all mine." He then turned to Cathleen and gestured to me, "Now Dr. Morsie, do you mind if I start the process? I've been particularly excited to perform this metamorphosis ever since I saw the footage of her training simulations." He said this like I wasn't even standing there, or even like I was a piece of equipment he was requesting to try out.

"Not at all." Cathleen said, nodding to the both of us.

Dr. Tran grinned even bigger, (if possible,) and opened the door again. "After you." He said. I cringed so hard as I passed him, but continued walking down the hall as usual, following him and his oily voice as he led the way. Something about this guy gave me the creeps. Maybe it was the oily voice he always used. Or maybe it was the way he talked about me like I was a new toy he got to play with. Whatever it was, I did not want this guy to perform my metamorphosis.

"....so then I was like, 'Be rational!' And he was like, 'Get real!'" Dr. Tran laughed at his own joke, but then gestured to a door to my right, "In that door over there."

I turned and opened the door. Behind it were many holographs and people in white lab coats tapping on them. There was a large panel of glass dividing the room in half. Behind the panel was what looked like a large bathtub with a complicated light fixture hanging above it.

"Is this Sage?" One of the scientists asked. She was particularly short with glasses that made her eyes look nearly three times bigger.

"Yes it is." Dr. Tran said.

"This way Miss Sage." The short scientist said, beckoning me towards a door on the side. This place gives me the creeps. I thought, following her into the door and into a completely empty room that was entirely white.

"Take off your clothes." She said, closing the door behind me.

I blinked. "What?"

"Take off your clothes." She said, pulling a white bottle out of her lab coat.

I hesitated for a moment, making up my mind, but then decided that it's not like I'm in a public room or anything. I pulled off my pants and shirt, willing myself not to blush, and threw them in the corner. After an awkward silence, the scientist said, "All of your clothes."

I blundered, "My underwear included?"

"Yes yes." She said, impatiently, "All of it. Underwear included. Hurry up, we're on a schedule here."

Something about her impatience angered me. I set my jaw and yanked off my remaining undergarments until I was standing naked in front of this complete stranger. She poured the contents of the bottle on a rag and began rubbing it all over me. The stuff smelled of mint and chemicals and made my skin tingle wherever it touched.

When she was done applying it she walked over to a door on the side of the room and opened it. In the next room was the bathtub thing and the light fixture. The scientists were typing on the other side of the glass. "Off with you." The lady said, gesturing into the next room. walked into the room feeling way too many eyes on my naked body.

"Lay in the Morphing Capsule please." I looked around and saw Dr. Tran holding a microphone to his lips on the other side of the glass. I figured that the Morphing Capsule was the bathtub, so I walked up and climbed into it. It had a small podium that acted like a pillow, so I was relatively comfortable.

"Alright Miss Sage," Dr. Tran said, "The process will commence in thirty seconds. I recommend getting comfortable and closing your eyes. The chemicals will prevent any movement, so don't fret about that. Each metamorphosis takes different amounts of time, so we can't tell you how long it will take. Any questions?"

I didn't say anything, so I guess they assumed I didn't have any questions. "Alright, metamorphosis time. Initiating filling sequence. Starting in 3…. 2… 1…"

There was a soft humming sound that seemed to be coming from all around me. Curiosity got the best of me, and I raised my head to look at my feet. A blue gel-like substance was flooding in from tiny holes in the side of the tub. The strange part about it was that wherever the substance touched went numb. I started to panic, trying but failing to move my feet.

I'm trapped! I thought, This was all a trap and they are gonna drown me in this tub because I told Alexsandra! I forced myself to lay back down, thinking that I might as well die comfortable. I stared helplessly as the gel climbed up past my torso and up my neck. The light fixture thing above me was slowly lowering down, surrounding me in darkness. I remembered to close my eyes just in time, before my face was submerged and my mind went blank.