Chapter Seven: Mallory Cane's Point of View

Chapter Seven

           

            About ten minutes later the bombs have stopped, the school is untouched, and fires are visible through every window.

            I climb out from under my desk and let go of Violet’s hand, flexing my fingers.  Adrenaline makes people strong apparently.  I remember about my powers and look at Violet.  Thank goodness, she didn’t get burned.  Everyone else looks about the same as me.   Shocked, sad, afraid.  Grieving.  Morbidly curious.  The teacher is mad, or close to it.  She runs out of the room screaming.  No one either notices and/or cares when Violet and I stand up and leave.  We stop by the cafeteria for Lois, and then head to the gymnasium.  In the cellar, we find about fifty terrified people.  Scarlett is among them.  We run into Katie on our way out of the school.  We can only hope that Luna is safe because she was at her family’s house earlier.  Now the hard part.

            We walk through the smoldering wreckage of what used to be the grocery store and technology shop, not looking too closely, for there were, no doubt, people in there.  I find myself gazing up at the sky while we walk.  Ironically, it’s a beautiful shade of blue.  Violet stops after a while.

            “Can we check? You know, for Aaron,” Violet asks.

            No one can really object, so Violet walks over to the pile of rubble covering the cellar door.        

            “Luna, can you…?”

            “Yeah,” says Luna, and we watch as the pile of rubble floats away from the door.  Violet yanks it open and drops into the dark basement.  We hear muffled sobbing and Scarlett and I throw a glance at Lois.  She looks relieved.

            Just then, Violet scrambles up with Aaron and about three others.  Despite the situation, Violet is grinning hugely.  She hugs Aaron tightly.

            “Found him,” she tells us.

            “You’re right, Mal,” says Lois, answering my thoughts.  “We should go find Colette.”

            We walk for a while and come to our cabin.  It is completely unscathed, except for some scorch marks on the sides. 

            A mad squealing and thumping hits my ears as we enter.

            “ROSCO!” Violet yells, and storms upstairs.

            “She has a pig?” Katie asks.

            “Yeah, it just lives in her wardrobe or something,” answers Lois.

            “You know…Maybe we should go find Colette…” I say.

            “Good idea,” says Scarlett.

            I walk to the cellar door, pull it open.

            “Colette?” I call into the darkness.

            Nothing.  I light a fire in my palm and climb into the cellar.  The flame casts strange, flickering shadows.

            My foot runs into something.  I gasp.  Looking down, I see an unmoving Colette curled up on the floor.

            “Hey guys? I think I found Colette but she’s unconscious…can you help me?” I yell up.

            “Coming!” Katie yells back.

            They get down and help me drag Colette up and onto the couch.  Since dumping water on her isn’t really an option (she could zap us as she wakes up), we just wait for her to come to.  For a while, Lois has a look of deep concentration on her face.  I watch her for a while, then turn to the couch.  Colette is rubbing the back of her head and blinking.

            “Whoa, guys, you won’t believe the crazy dream I – oh.  Oh,” she says.   She’s looking out the window.

            Violet, who came back downstairs sometime in the last twenty minutes with a tiny pig in her arm, sits down on the armrest of the couch and gives Colette an awkward shoulder-hug.

            “Um… I’m gonna go look for Malcolm and Mary.  Come, don’t come, whatever,” I inform everyone and walk toward the door.  Lois and Violet follow.  When we get outside, a strange sight greets us.

            A girl, about our age, is sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of our cabin.  Her eyes are closed, well, the one we can see is.  The other one is covered with her brown hair.  All of a sudden, her eyes snap open, and she smiles hugely.

            “Oh.  My.  God.  A PIG!” she exclaims, and runs to Violet, making cooing noises to Rosco.

            She seems to actually notice Violet, and says, “Oh, he-he.  Can I hold him?”

            “Sure…?”

            “Oh my god he is so adorable!”

            “Okay…”

            “I’m Grace, by the way.  Fourteen and three months.  I’m a Seer, but it’s not like it’s a big deal,” she informs us.

            “I’m Violet…” says Violet.  “And this is Lois and Mallory.”

            “Hey!” says Grace, and holds out her hand.  Neither of us takes it.  “Okay… anyway, you’re looking for your siblings, and you’ll find them, sort of,” she tells me.

            “And you,” she says, looking at Lois, “will be a huge part in helping, er, what’s her name, Makayla, in the near future.”

            “It’s Mallory,” I correct her.

            “Oh, yeah, sorry,” she says.  “I’m not good with names.”