Chapter Six

"Metamorphosis complete. Beginning draining sequence."

Light began to filter through my eyelids, my thoughts slowly beginning to sharpen. I twitched, my muscles sore, though I couldn't remember why. I could feel something draining out of whatever I was laying in, leaving stiff, sticky spots behind. I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the blinding light above me. I paused a moment, contemplating why I was sitting in what looked like a bathtub full of blue hair gel. That was when the last moments of my consciousness hit me.

I shot up like a rocket, suddenly full awake. I regretted it immediately after though, because the room began to spin, and random lights were flashing in my eyes. I nearly toppled over, but I caught myself on this weird looking light fixture hanging above me.

"Woah there." Came a familiar voice that I couldn't put a name on, "I know you may be alarmed, but there is no need to overexert yourself."

I blinked and looked around trying to find the source of the voice, but my eyes still hadn't adjusted. I felt oddly weak, my muscles protesting with every movement I made. I was putting all my weight on the fixture thing, and I was worried that I would break it.

"Sage, listen to me." the voice said, "You are perfectly fine. There's no need to be alarmed. Now, do you see that door on the side of the room?" I blinked a little bit more, my head throbbing. I nodded to get the voice moving on, but to tell you the truth, I couldn't see anything except for white. "Great. Janice is gonna come through that door to get you, so don't be alarmed by her presence. Got it?"

I nodded again, deciding to just close my eyes until they got used to the light filtering through my eyelids. I heard the sound of a door opening, and footsteps coming toward me, but I strongly resisted the urge to throw a punch in that direction. "Follow my voice." Came a slightly impatient voice.

Her impatience angered me. I forced my eyes open and squinted at the figure standing in front of me. It's that lady from before. I noted, The one who made me strip in front of her.

She began to walk back toward the door she came through, so I tried to follow her, but just ended up falling on the ground after the first step. My legs just didn't want to work.

"Oh Janice, help her would you?" I looked over and saw a familiar man speaking into a microphone on the other side of a panel of glass. A name immediately popped into my head when I saw him, along with a few for memories.

Janice made a sour face, and walked towards me, but I held up a hand, and pushed myself back on my feet. I wobbled but forced myself to remain balanced. Why aren't my legs working? I thought, wobbling towards the door, How long have I been unconscious?

I managed to get to the door and Janice let me in. The next room was all white which didn't help the headache that was starting to form. There was a shower and a sink and a pile of clothes. I stumbled over to the shower and sat under the hot stream for a while. After Janice left I climbed out and pulled the clothes on. I promised myself that I would change the moment I could, because the clothes were all white. I stared at the wall for a moment, clearing my scrambled thoughts, soon coming to the realization that I had to go out the way I came.

"Ah, Sage." Dr. Tran said, opening a small doorway in the glass panel and walking over to me. "I'm glad you're awake. I was starting to think you'd stay in that metamorphosis forever!"

I forced a smile, though I'm sure it wasn't very believable. "Yeah, I'm glad I'm back too. Now, can I go eat? I'm terribly hungry. And thirsty. And stiff."

Dr. Tran laughed like what I just said was a joke. "Ah yes, well being out as long as you have will do that to you. But first, I would be very pleased if you were to give me a small demonstration of your new power."

I blinked. "I don't know what my power is."

"It's the power you had in your Fear Three simulation of course!'

It took all my willpower not to shout at him that this wasn't an of course situation. No one told me this. "Oh, right. Well um, here I go." I decided that I'll just stick to something simple, just like what I did in the simulation. I held out my hand, thought about iron and forced all my energy on it. It took a surprising amount of effort, and even then only my thumb shifted. Either way, Dr. Tran was impressed.

"Bravo, bravo!" He shouted gleefully, clapping his hands like a one year old. "Thank you for that Sage. And now you may go ahead and eat. Do you want me to walk with you?"

I tried not to let my distaste show, "Er, no. I think I'll be fine. Thank you though."

"No problem." Dr. Tran said as I began to walk out, "Take care now!"

"Yeah," I said, looking at my hands as the iron slowly began to turn back to skin, "I will."

I walked over to the dining hall, which was surprisingly hard. My memory was still scrambled. Crazily enough, I didn't run into a single person on my way, nor was anyone there when I arrived. Well, besides the waiter, but he hardly counts.

"Mi-Miss Sage!" He stammered, obviously not expecting me, "Um, what can I get for you."

I looked at the recently installed menu. Everything seemed so good! How was I gonna choose? "Um, I'll take a bacon burger, a large handful of fries, two breakfast burritos, and…" I grinned, "A ham and cheese sandwich."

The waiter looked baffled, "Is that all?"

"Oh, and an extra large chocolate milk."

"Great. I'll get that food to you as soon as possible."

I smirked as I walked over to a table to wait. Usually the cooks had the food ready right away. I guess I overwhelmed them.

After a few minutes, the waiter walked over to my table. "Here's your food Miss." He said. He had somehow managed to carry all that food over to my table, and set them down on the table without losing a crumb.

"Why thank you. Er, what's your name?"

The waiter pressed his lips together, "It's Max, Miss."

"Max! That's right! Well Max, I'm glad you were able to carry all this food over here."

Max didn't answer, instead he just gave a stiff bow, "Enjoy your food." He said, then walked away.

I chuckled, then began stuffing my face with food.

The hallways were still very confusing, but I managed to make it to my room and change into darker clothes. Ugine went ballistic when he saw me, and it was a very slobbery reunion. I honestly had no idea where the others were, and I still haven't run into anyone else during my wandering. Now where would they be at a time like this….? That's when I realized I had absolutely no idea what time it was. Or day. Or month for that matter.

I huffed and started walking down the hall when some movement caught my eye. I walked over to the window and saw the whole group outside hoverboarding.

Oh sweet! I thought to myself, beginning the walk to the mothic machine, If there's one thing I'd like to be doing right now, it's hoverboarding.

I made it to the machine and asked for my usual hoverboard and some bands. After grabbing them, I headed outside, hearing the laughter of the teens on the boards. As I grew closer I could make out the shapes of Dario, Aiden, Olwyn, and Alexsandra racing, Dario in the lead by a lot and Alexsandra tagging along behind them all. As I neared, Alexsandra spotted me and came zooming over.

"Sage!" she cried, hopping off her board and landing on top of me, her arms wrapped around my neck. I stumbled and nearly fell over, but she caught me by the shoulders and held me at arms length. "You're awake! I want to see your power right now!"

I laughed and held out my hand, forcing myself to keep a neutral face as I forced it to shift into iron.

"Woah. You can turn into metal?" Aiden asked, hovering over with the rest of the group.

"I can turn into more than just metal." I said, though I don't actually know how I knew that. I focused on the first thing that came to my mind which was wood, and focused my energy on my outstretched hand. The iron slowly faded to wood, and everyone's reaction was pleasing to me.

"Oooh…." They all cooed, Alexsandra the loudest of them all.

"You're a shapeshifter?" Jace asked, frowning slightly.

"Yeah." I replied, shifting my hand back to normal and returning it by my side.

"Oh my gosh, you have to race with us, it'll be so much fun!" Alexsandra squealed, grabbing my arm and practically jumping up and down, "And then I have to show you what I did with my room, you'll love it! Man, I've missed you so much!"

I laughed and we began to head back towards our usual boarding spot, "Hey," I said, "How long have I… you know… been unconscious?"

Alexsandra paused, "Nine days." she replied almost sadly, but then her excited energy returned and she began skipping again.

"Nine days!" I yelled, "I've been gone for nine days! Bailey's metamorphosis only took three days!"

"Yeah, and her's was kinda long too."

"Man." I said, "Well then I'm gonna have to race extra hard to make up for all the days I missed."

Alexsandra laughed, "Well, I'll probably lose, but you're on!"

I hopped on my board and raced full speed towards our usual starting spot, laughing my head off as I went.

"So, what did I miss?" I asked, popping a strawberry in my mouth and leaning back on my hands. We were eating lunch in the dining hall, and I was eating even though I was still full.

"Um, well Jace finished his training." Alexsandra offered.

"You did?" I asked, turning towards Jace.

"Don't act so surprised." Jace muttered, his face turning red, "I was super close when you went into the metamorphosis."

"Yup." Alexsandra said, "And Olwyn beat me at chess this one time."

"You were going easy on me and I know it." Olwyn said, her arms crossed but she had a smile on her face.

I laughed, "Is that it?"

"Yeah," Alexsandra said, "Wait, no! I forgot to tell you that Dr. Morsie found herself another rebel and is going to get them right now."

"Woah, really?" I said, "That means I'm no longer gonna be the new kid! That's really weird. Is she gonna have someone show them around like what she did with me?"

"Well so far she hasn't asked anyone." Dario said, "But that could change after Dr. Morsie meets them."

"Huh," I said, "well they better not like strawberries because I'm not sharing."

Everyone laughed and we continued eating lunch. After a while Olwyn and Aiden got into an argument about the best type of socks to wear camping. I added a few comments, but I couldn't stop thinking about the new person coming. When were they gonna get here? What are they gonna be like? Who was gonna show them around?

"No, no, no." Aiden was saying, "You have to wear the really thick and warm ones. It gets cold at night, remember?"

"Yes, but you don't wear your socks to bed," Olwyn argued, "your feet will get cramped. Plus, if you only pack that kind of sock your feet will sweat and you'll get blisters."

"Well if you wear thin socks then your feet will rob against you shoes and--"

Just then, the door from the garage hall swung open, startling us all. Standing behind it was Cathleen, a slightly annoyed look on her face that brightened when she saw me sitting there. With her was a boy who was only about an inch shorter than her with purple hair and emerald eyes, his face did the same thing as Cathleen's.

"This is the dining hall," Cathleen said, "We have dinner here at 7:00, but you can come here and eat whenever you want besides that." Cathleen walked forward a few steps and closed the door behind her, then gestured at the table we were sitting in. "These are the other specials, I'm sure you will get to know them soon."

The kid was staring at me, his green eyes seemed to be boring into my soul. I stared back however, forcing myself to keep a passive expression as I popped another strawberry in my mouth.

"Everyone, this is Harvey." Cathleen said, "Harvey, this is Aiden, Olwyn, Bailey, Dario, Jace, Alexsandra, and Sage. Sage will be your guide. She will show you around the place."