MEET PHEBE

They exited the stands and ran down the halls as the little ants chased them. The girl pressed her hand against the wall. From there, lightning went out and zapped the ants in the front row until they were scorched.

The door leading outside was in sight.

"Isaac!" Elijah yelled, "I need your fire!"

As soon as they left the stadium, Isaac's hand rose in flames. The girl also sent out a bolt of lightning, which trapped the ants in the middle of the hallway. Elijah used telekinesis to move the gate, then closed it from the outside. He also shut the gate with a firm earth wall, which made the ground rise in front of the entrance to the stadium.

They all took a step back and then ran out of the stadium. When they started feeling safer, they slowed down and stopped in front of an area of skyscrapers. Isaac flung his backpack to the ground and pounded his back in tiredness.

"Oh, my back! I might have fallen on a can of food. Isaac grumbled, "It hurts a lot."

"Why don't you just leave that backpack?" Elijah gave a small chuckle.

"Then why don't you just do it yourself?"

They laughed softly and knelt to open the zipper and get a bottle of mineral water. Elijah gave one to the girl, who looked suspiciously at the two boys before her.

"You don't want a drink?" Elijah questioned.

The girl cleared her throat and nodded, then took Elijah's bottle. Then she said, "Thank you."

On the side of the road, they stopped for a while. The three of them were quiet as they drank water. Get some peace of mind after nearly dying at the stadium.

Elijah asked, "You're a deformity?"

The girl gave a nod. "I'm Phebe."

"Elijah." The young man then used his chin to point. "This is Isaac."

"Where do you all come from? Milton?" The girl asked.

"From Fall City," replied Isaac.

Phebe's face turned up just a little. "It's far away from here."

"Yes, our trip was way off the mark." Elijah just gave a sly smile.

"How did you do it?" The girl looked at Elijah in shock right away. "You don't have just one power, do you? But how could that be?"

"I don't know. It happened the day I turned seventeen. Elijah answered, "When the Orb opens."

"Seventeen? You didn't have any special abilities until you were 17?" Phebe was even more surprised.

Elijah and Isaac looked at each other, but Isaac quickly turned away. The young man didn't care and didn't want to help Elijah explain anything.

"And you don't have Academy or Deformity outfits on. Are you rebels?" When Phebe asked, she got up. She was awake, and her hands were open. "Answer!!"

"You want to attack us after we helped you?" Isaac gave a head shake. "Unbelievable!"

"I only …." Phebe didn't know what to say, so she put her hand down. "… Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I don't know, but all this makes me feel like I've lost my way and my trust."

Elijah took a chocolate bar from his backpack and put it on the ground. "You're going to need glucose."

Phebe seemed off, and she relaxed even though she was a safe distance from Elijah. The young man gave her a bar of chocolate, which she took. Phebe gently opened it and enjoyed it. Then Phebe looked straight down the empty street and let out a soft sigh.

The girl said, "All my comrades were killed, 49 of them."

"So you're stuck in there, right?" Isaac gave it a quick look. "On the airways."

She looked at the ground. "I was afraid, so I ran away. I've been there for two days, and I'm already afraid I'll die."

Elijah asked, "What really happened?"

Phebe's eyes filled with tears, and she started to cry softly. Then the girl began to tell what happened in order when she and the others first got to Auburn.

Phebe became a Deformity after being taken from the Academy and has been assigned to protect the citizens of Auburn. People had to be moved to Milton because it was said that the aliens had spread from Tacoma. She and hundreds of other Deformities left Milton and went to save people in certain places.

Phebe was one of only fifty Deformity troops who came to Auburn from Milton. As people were leaving, suddenly, an army of ants came. There were two hundred or more of them. The Deformities could take charge of the situation and wipe out the ant army. But there were much stronger creatures than the ants. The creature is tall and thin, and she is powerful. Even though there were only five of them, they were much stronger than the Deformities. So, this makes things hard for the Deformity troops since it is hard to fight the leader of the ants. On that day, thousands of people were killed.

The Deformities tried to trap the thing that looked like a celestial being in the stadium, but they all died there. Phebe, on the other hand, is hiding in the air ducts.

"They have tentacles?" Isaac asked with interest.

Phebe nodded. "Yes, from the hair and back. You've seen it too?"

Isaac gave a head shake. "No, but Elijah did."

"We call it Queen," Elijah said.

"You said that," Isaac corrected. "I call them Shesquid instead."

"Oh my gosh!" Phebe turned her head away.

Elijah took his time to clear his throat. "I think the ants will die in the stadium. But we must still ask the Army and Deformity troops for help."

"Then we must go to Milton," Phebe said.

Isaac gave a head shake. "No, we're headed to New Castle. There are military and Deformity bases in that region."

"So is Milton, and it's closer than New Castle." Phebe gave a disparaging look to Isaac. "The Milton base is big, and there are a lot of good soldiers there."

"It doesn't matter who is competent or not," Elijah said. "The rebels captured us before. We're all worried that the rebels will attack New Castle."

"We have no idea what's going on in New Castle. It might not matter if they can escape an attack by aliens or rebels. What if they don't? At least they can get ready or send troops somewhere safer," Isaac said.

"I think there is a link between the sites at New Castle and Milton. Yes, and so do all Army Deformity sites. You might be able to report there when we get to Milton," Phebe said.

Elijah asked, "What do you think, Isaac?"

Isaac just shrugged. "Up to you. It's fine if you think of Milton, than we travel to New Castle."

Elijah stood up. "Then we'll go to Milton."

Phebe nodded. "Walking takes time. We should leave now."

Isaac suddenly let out a soft chuckle. "By foot? Oh, we have something better. Riding a motorbike."