Soon, Lana's bag was full and she demonstrated the roots she uses to ensnare her foes. "I'm working on some other things. Plus, there's another thing I can't demonstrate here. The space is too small."
"Too small?" Chekof raised an eyebrow. "What, grow a tree?"
She chuckled and her face lit up.
"Well," she shrugged, "I guess I can grow this one."
She placed her hand on the ground and a small shoot appeared. It then became a sapling. It soon grew into a young tree. In 30 seconds, a full-grown apple tree sprouted from the earth complete with fruit. She picked one and bit into it. Juice ran down her chin. She smiled then tossed one to Kattie.
"Do you want one, Chekof?"
He raised a hand to catch one and waited for Lana to toss it. He caught it with ease. "Toss me another. I'll bring it to Blaine." He held up his other hand and he caught it. He ate the one for him quickly sounding impressed.
Lana thought about withering her tree, but I could harvest from it at dinner time as well and maybe make some pies or something. She decided to leave it and bring an extra bag when she came back.
----------------------------
In the library, Lana and Chekof headed straight to the market systems. She sat down at a computer while he surveyed the area with intense eyes. He then moved a chair closer as he saw her looking for light crystals. She discovered there were options and she quickly got lost.
"Can I ask you a personal question and get an honest answer?" Lana asked Chekof.
"Only if you'll give me the same," he said with a nod.
Lana dropped her voice to a whisper, "what species are you?"
Chekof coughed, "I wasn't expecting that question… What makes you think I'm not human?"
"You're aura colors are different. You're not a beast either so… What are you? I've never met anyone with your aura."
"Well, you're not screaming or running from me so … I'm a werewolf."
"They exist? Does it hurt when you transform? Why did you just do your… oh, you don't want anyone to know and your watch says 1."
Chekof laughed, "You're turn. What species are you?"
Lana raised both her eyebrows, "excuse me? I'm human. Why would you think otherwise?"
"Interesting. I think so because you don't smell like a human, a werewolf or a vampire."
Lana's head turned sharply his direction as she paused her scrolling briefly. "I don't smell human? Then what am I?"
"Where did you get your ability?"
"I've always had it. I've been speaking to trees for as long as I can remember. It's the reason I'm alive."
"I know things were bad there. Can you talk about it?"
She shook her head. "What I can tell you is it wasn't always bad. I was 5 or 6 when the … management changed. I have no memory of them ever touching myself or Dobin but that doesn't mean they didn't try and we also heard the screaming at night. I have nightmares from the screaming and the results that I saw… The children that…" she choked up unable to go on.
Chekof nodded. "and the beast weapons?"
"I had an …accident with one. I almost killed someone."
"In that case, you need to work through it. You can't let fear control you."
Lana nodded. "I also get paralyzed with fear around strong adults. My meditations and breathing techniques help but even the beast weapons teacher is scary to me."
"Did you see the people who did the bad things?"
"They wore white lab coats that had hoods. I might be able to identify the ones that almost got us that one time. The trees came to life and helped us get away." She had tears streaming down her face at this point and was rubbing her hands up and down her arms.
"One last topic. What do you really think of Blaine? What emotion comes to mind when you think of him?"
"Happy, peace, safe, fear, lonely, weak, insignificant."
"So you think you don't deserve him?"
"I know I don't. He's from a well-off original family. I would never be accepted, even if the head wasn't a psychopath. I would never measure up."
"So that's it? You're going to give up? What do you see for your future?"
"Do I have a future?"
Chekof stared at the girl. He said firmly, "Yes, you have a future."
Lana bit her bottom lip and thought for a few minutes. It was taking a while so she decided to go ahead and make her purchase while she thought. He seemed to realize this was not a question she had ever truly contemplated before and it made him angry.
She bought a light crystal necklace, and 5 that clipped to clothing. She chose that many because she couldn't decide on color or shape and she wanted to give them to her friends. She didn't know why, she just feltlike it was a good idea. The necklace was white light. Three orbs were light blue, orange, and yellow. She also found white in the shape of a raven for Kattie and a bear for Dobin.
"Chekof, do you think anyone would follow me as their leader?"
He started chuckling, "they already are. Have you not noticed? You are a leader. What are you thinking of leading?"
Lana inhaled deeply. "Blaine is from an original family. Do you think his family might be more willing to accept me if I had my own original family?"
"Well, we don't know if you can have kids together because we don't know what species you are. Honestly, I think his family may be too … corrupt. However, I think that would increase your chances but you can't do it for the wrong reasons. If you form a family, you have to take care of them and treat them well."
Lana nodded, "I want to know what it means to be happy and help others find happy as well." There was fire in her eyes, a strength that told Chekof the girl was stronger than anyone understood, including herself.
Chekof smiled, "sounds like a good goal."
They checked out and Lana retrieved her purchases.
"Hey, how could you afford all that on only 10 credits a day? Have you been saving up?"
Lana chuckled, "no, I have not been saving. My bother has, I have his money … but, a classmate gave me a monetary birthday present. He's an inventor and I feed him sometimes, well, daily now, but I used most of it to buy books to learn more about using my ability. I still have some left even after this."
Chekof smiled, "I'm going to go with you were deprived for so long you want to hoard what you have. Many spend like crazy when they get money."
Lana chuckled, "I bought a lot of things but mostly related to cooking. I'm not done yet, either. We used to escape at night to cook under a tree because they would deprive us of food as a punishment. I stole everything I needed from the kitchen and kept it in my bag. I plan to purchase everything and we can eat outside once again."
Chekof nodded, "I can respect that. Let's get you safely back to your room."
Lana nodded and they did just that.
In her room, Lana presented the light stone to Kattie. At dinner, Lana gave Dobin his and offered one to each of the others, including Blaine.
When the boys went to return to their rooms, Lana decided to walk with them carrying the plate for Paul. Blaine looked at her carrying the plate.
"Who's that for?"
"My classmate. The one who's going to help with my experiments. He asked to have a plate of what I cook until we can get the experiment going. He's a bit different."
"So, he's not your boyfriend?"
She laughed really hard, the sound echoing in the stairwell as they approached the third floor. She had to stop walking because she was laughing so hard.
"He's from a top-tier family! Who would ever want to date me, much less from such a prominent family!"
She was having trouble breathing, she was laughing so hard. The words came out haltingly.
Blaine had a frown on his face and his eye started twitching. She finally got herself under control, "come on. Let's get this done."
When they got to his room, Lana asked Blaine to wait in the hall. She let herself in and placed the plate on the table. She noticed he was busy at work and silently let herself out.
Blaine had an indistinguishable look on his face when she returned.
"You are not dating him yet you let yourself into his room?"
She shrugged, "it's just one of his skills. He wanted me to be able to drop it off without disturbing his work. Now let's go before us talking disturbs him. He's busy."
"So, you are saying we are starting our second week of class and someone just gave you access to his room for the purpose of dropping off food? I'm supposed to believe that?"
She started chuckling. The sound once again reverberating in the stairwell. "I was rather shocked as well, by his actions. He had only been given his second gyro at the time, last Thursday." She chuckled again. "I guess he likes my cooking."
Blaine stood there staring at her.
She looked back, "we are at your floor."
"I'll walk you back to your room so Chekof can take you out to the park…"
"Why are you so glum all of a sudden?"
Blaine just shrugged his shoulders and kept walking. They returned to her room in silence. He nodded to Chekof and left.
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