Philip Michael Lester

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"I don't have time for teasing. I had enough of that."

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"I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING. I DONT KNOW WHY YOU'RE deceiving him like this." Zoë told me as we exited the van. Dan was with Troye a bit ahead of me, he was far enough not to hear Zoë though.

She was right, I was fooling Dan but it confused me. I had the power to read minds and I didn't tell him. I don't know why I had kept that from him but now it's too late to reveal it. It's weird, I couldn't read his mind no matter how hard I tried.

I tried my best to read his thoughts but I couldn't. He seemed to be blocked off somehow. I had wrote it off, maybe it was because he had no powers. I tried to get more information about Dan from the minds of others but I couldn't find much.

"I'm just..." I tried to defend myself but Zoë wasn't buying any of it.

"You have to tell him before it's too late. He'll stop trusting you." Zoë warned, and I nodded. I wonder if he knows why he can't read Dan's mind. I ignored Zoe's thought and focused on the spot I was suppose to sit, right next to Dan. We both sat on a log, with our hands tied.

The camp was small, and looked like it was put together last minute. There were two other boys far off who were conversing while working out. Both had blonde hair and gave off a vibe of pure friendship. Zoë noticed me staring, and decided to tell me who they were.

"The thin, small one is my brother, Joe. The taller one next to him is Caspar." She introduced, Dan looked in the direction as well. He looked so defeated and I ached to read his mind. I never knew how confusing it was to talk to someone without reading their minds. How do you tell what they think of you? I never asked anyone anything without knowing the answer beforehand, without this advantage I was a nervous, stuttering mess.

"Where's this Elizabeth? I need answers." Dan demanded to Zoë.

"She's coming. Calm down, grumpy pants. I swear, you and Troye are related somehow." She complained in sarcasm. She smiled and pointed to the lady who exited the nearby tent. Her dark brown hair was put up into a ponytail. She was dressed in army pants and a black tank top. She walked over to where both Dan and I sat with our hands bound.

"Are you sure it's him? I expected it to be someone younger." The woman asked Zoë, carefully studying us both. I could just teleport out of her but that boy Troye had something on me. I don't know what his powers were but they were enough for him to keep me here. He stared at me intently from the log he was sat on across from ours.

"It is him. Troye couldn't use his mind control on him. It has to be him." Zoë told the woman, she must be Elizabeth. Her scary presence and dominance gave me that vibe. This kid never had a some type of friend? Or loved his family? That's strange. Elizabeth's thought echoed in my mind. She stared at Dan, who Zoë was pointing to. None of my powers work on him either, he must be the real deal.

"So he must be the one who made the bond and activated the alarm." Elizabeth pointed to me, Zoë nodded. Elizabeth sighed and sat on the log in front of us with Troye.

"What are your names?" She asked, looking at us both. Dan looked dead inside and it began to creep me out, I ignored it though and introduced myself.

"I'm Phil." I introduced and she nodded, turning to Dan.

"You kidnapped us and you're asking for our names?" Dan asked in disgust, I worriedly looked at Elizabeth and read her thoughts. This kid looks like he hates his life. It that what the gift does to you?

"Listen, I'm going to explain it once. That's all." Elizabeth warned as she cleared her throat. Dan and I looked at her in interest but I already knew most of the information.

"You, whatever your name is, have something within you. We call it the absorbing gene, whoever has it can absorb powers." She explained, my eyes widened and so did Dan's.

"What? That isn't true. I would have had powers by now." Dan denied Elizabeth's words.

"Okay, there are two reasons that didn't happen. First off, you have to make a bond of intimacy. Somehow you went nineteen years of your life without making a friend or loving anyone." Elizabeth spoke, she must have gotten Dan's age from Tyler, who updated her when we got here.

"What are you-" Dan began to protest but Elizabeth cut him off.

"The second reason is that you haven't learned how to use your gene. At the moment, you internally have the Phil's power, since you made a bond of intimacy with him. I assume he's your first friend." Elizabeth explained, I knew this from reading Zoë's mind earlier in the van. This did pose a threat to me, the minute Dan learned how to use this gene he would figure out I could read minds. I mean if he suddenly has the powers of reading minds of course he could trace it back to me.

"Are you trying to insult my lack of friends? Untie me you fuc-" Dan began cursing but I kicked his foot to stop him.

"I think he means that making that point was unnecessary." I spoke for him and Elizabeth nodded. That kid is probably his censor. Are they friends or are they dat- I cut off Elizabeth's thought and ignored it. 

"Sorry. My mistake. What you need to know though is that the government is trying to find you. They know about the gene now too." Elizabeth further elaborated.

Dan rose an eyebrow. "So? What's the problem with that?"

"The problem with that is that the minute they catch you, you're gone." She sighed.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously, she looked towards both of us.

"This group has existed ever since these powers started. We've kept track of any evil and made it our mission to find a person with the absorbing gene. We need them because- that's a story for another time." Elizabeth waved off and got back on topic. "Every person who had this gene was caught by the government and no one has ever heard from them again. Most were kids, I think you're the first person over the age of thirteen. You're lucky we got to you first, the government just want to spread this gene so their army could be more powe-"

"That's impossible. The government wants to end the use of powers. Why would they spread more of it?" Dan questioned.

"You're really gullible. They don't want to end the use of powers worldwide, they want the public to be powerless. Powerless to stop them." She answered Dan, my eyes widened. What does she mean? All my life the government has been trying to end the use of powers and I was scared of it being snatched away from me. They just wanted the world to be like it was all those years ago. Normal. Natural.

Was Elizabeth lying? Was she trying to convince us to be on her side? I quickly checked her mind again. Those assholes probably brainwashed them their whole lives. Who knows what stupid stories they've been told? She wasn't lying after all, what does that mean? We've been brainwashed?

"You think they've been lying to us?" I asked, she furrowed her eyebrows. I quickly tried to save myself. "I mean about their idea of making the world more normal."

She nodded, her eyes were now on me. "Yes, we'll clear up everything later but for now if someone working for the government sees any of you, we're in trouble."

"What's this group even called and why should we trust you?" Dan asked, he seemed more at ease. I felt like scratching my skin because I wanted to read his thoughts so bad. I tried again but nothing came up, I sighed in defeat.

"It's called Coven's Promise. That should give you a clue of the past." She told us, getting up from her spot.

"Coven? Like witches?" Dan questioned, Elizabeth nodded and motioned to Troye.

"Untie them."  She ordered to him. Troye have her a confused look as he shook his head.

"I'll untie the dark haired one but not him. No one has power over him." Troye disagreed, pointing at Dan.

"Untie him, that's an order." She demanded of him, he huffed walking over to us both. Starting with me, he grabbed a knife from his back pocket and swiftly cut the ropes. He rolled his eyes and with strict attitude he cut Dan's ropes too.

"If you run I will slit your throat." He threatened Dan. Troye turned back around and began walked off.

"Make yourselves at home." Zoë smiled, I looked behind us where she stood sharpening a knife.

"Doing what? Making weapons?" Dan asked, and Zoë just smiled in response.

"Follow me."

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