Ilya wasn't one for gossip, but hearing the news always made her jump. Nevaeh, someone who became widely known for gossip, informed her of the new information. She'd tell her some gossip, like what was going on with the infirmary or telling her that people had actually been developing supernatural powers.

Greyson had originally sent her to help with the daycare, but the girl would bounce on her toes, spilling all the drama on the rampage. It wasn't just the issue of conflict but also certain people's reputations back at Uden Academy and who it was best to avoid associating with.

One of the main things she heard was that Jason had apparently been beaten to a pulp, while Bella had been tied up by some people. As well, Jason's stepsister, Ashley, has apparently been acting stranger than usual since she has been missing for over a day.

Ilya leaned against the small blue sink in the bathroom at the daycare. She stared down at the number of pills for her antidepressants, with only a total of eight left. She was supposed to take them daily, or else it would increase her anxiety, which would contribute to her depression.

Melany and Cindy have been on duty, helping those injured or even in fights that have been happening lately. The fights have been decreasing since Greyson arranged order, but people got punished if they started the fighting or were disobeying order.

Although some girls would fight over dolls in Kid Palace, one toy store that sold many dolls and toys. The majority of toys have been relocated to the daycare from some houses that people had collected.

Coffee Culture is a small bakery known for its famous donuts and coffee. Ilya didn't enjoy eating sweets since it made her feel horrible afterwards. The donuts covered with rainbow sprinkles or filled with strawberry jelly inside were often eaten by her friend Selma.

Selma wasn't helping with the daycare but with the search for children left in their homes. She teamed up with Xander, Mark, and two Uden Academy students named Kay and Nicole. Selma had told her about how emotional seeing the children alone in their houses had been.

Ilya walked with a toddler, who cried as she bounced him on her lap. Becoming a babysitter for children with others helping wasn't her dream job. As she grew up, she hoped to study psychology to understand the true concept of mental health and help people overcome their problems.

The daycare door opened as Ilya looked over from her chair, seeing Greyson and Scarlett. The girl was staring in contempt, glancing around the place, while Greyson wore a smile. There was another girl leaning against the peach wall behind them. Her maroon hair was pulled back into pigtails, and her dark eyes roamed around while she fiddled with the golden necklace she wore.

"Bailey has come to help out," Greyson said.

Ilya picked up the crying toddler from the ground and walked toward them. Her mind ached from the constant crying of the children, but she was fighting through it because they were important.

"I'll take him," Teagan called, grabbing the heavy toddler from her arms.

Ilya thanked the girl, needing another older girl to help in this place. A lot of the ones who did help out were in seventh grade or lower, except for Layla, who was a year younger than her.

"Some boys will keep delivering stock if needed," Greyson implied.

Greyson has been a huge help with the daycare. Nevaeh could have been just stating gossip that could be false in the process, because she said Greyson was responsible for the injuries to Jason. The boy didn't seem like he would cause harm to anyone. Rumours were mostly gossip in the first place anyway.

"I'm never having kids," Scarlett irked, lightly grabbing her own wrist.

Ilya stared with her eyebrows knitted. This wasn't some type of sacrifice that they performed at Uden? The beautiful girl pulled back and shook her head at Greyson.

"By the way, thank you for your assistance," Ilya said.

"We have to make sure the children are safe," Greyson chimed, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Greyson's desire to ensure that the fire incident did not reoccur was noble of him. He seemed to really want to help the daycare and everyone else around in order to figure out what is going on around here.

"If possible, we're going to host a meeting with those in Simcoe. Come attend," he said.

Ilya nodded at his words as the two left. She wondered why they wanted another meeting since most tasks had already been figured out. They figured people older than fifteen had vanished into the unknown, leaving the rest stranded.

Knowing her parents, they would never just leave her. They came to Simcoe to start a new life, and she has enjoyed living with her sister ever since. Despite the cultural differences from Dubai, most of the people she met in Canada were friendly. Uden may be a different story since some behaviours were troublesome.

Ilya went back to the kitchen to grab some coffee since she wasn't sleeping well. She'd get around three hours before one child would wake up crying for food or wanting their parents. They did have some on the night shifts; somehow one would be going through something troubling.

She poured some black coffee and cream into an empty white mug while watching some girls helping the children. There were some as young as the third grade who helped care for these children, despite the chaos happening.

Gulping, she placed the coffee down before slapping her cheeks multiple times. Sleep wasn't needed when children's lives were in danger.

Cindy Yung enjoyed helping people, even though the situation became chaotic. She placed a bandage on one boy who had fallen off his bike in the middle of the plaza. Melany, her sister, sat reading a book about different types of medicine to help people.

Their father may have been a doctor, but learning all of this new information became a predicament. There was understanding the different classifications of sprains or even knowing someone who had a concussion.

In her seventh-grade health class, you were never taught much of this information. Healing scrapes and cuts becomes coherent, but it does not help some girl who has some contamination in her system.

Cindy glanced up, seeing two people walking into the infirmary. Greyson wore a smile while Scarlett, who was beside him, glanced around the rectangular area that smelled musty. He stopped in front of Melany as she looked up from the book of medicine.

"I assume that you two are Simcoe's nurses." He smiled, holding out his hand.

"Yes, I'm Melany, and this is my sister Cindy." She waved a slight hand at the boy, looking around. "We've been the ones helping treat those in the infirmary."

"We're going to be holding a town meeting to explain the situation. We need to have everyone who is a contributing member helping out with our new society."

Scarlett grabbed her hand and shook it slowly. These were strange actions when, before, she didn't seem that interested. She shook Melany's hand with a smile on her face.

"I'm sure you could use some help here," Greyson said.

Melany breathed out in relief, dropping the book on a red blanket. "It's difficult to understand medications."

Greyson crouched down to her height, giving her a hand hug with a pat on the back. "That's why we're having this meeting," he said, pulling back. "Tell people about it, especially Jason."

Cindy was grateful for his assurance in this situation. Jason had been leading, but having him injured and out of commission from Uden wasn't making their leadership seem good. If Jason and Bella's gossip were true, it may just be something someone else planned from the start.

Greyson seemed like the type of person who could lead others through this whole ordeal. She wondered if he would take control by helping out in Simcoe instead of just being up at Uden.

Cindy shut her eyes with a sigh, but when she opened them, she sat on her bed in her bedroom, which smelled of lavender. She looked around, disoriented, in her violet bedroom, which had hanging fairy lights on one side. The blinds and purple curtains were still shut in her dark room, with her long mirror reflecting herself on the other side of the room.

She knew that she was just in the church infirmary. She closed her eyes, remembering what Greyson had told her about the meeting. Opening her eyes again, she sat on the cold floor. Melany looked in horror, while Scarlett had her eyebrow cocked with a smirk. Greyson stood once again, wearing a charming smile.

"Some of us have been gaining those supernatural abilities," he said slowly.

Weren't only superheroes allowed to use teleportation from place to place? Humans were supposed to walk or drive. Looking at her hands back and forth, she looked back up at him again.

"Other people have superpowers?" Cindy asked.

"Scarlett can rank people's power output like a thermostat: high, medium, low, and very low. Sometimes she can determine what someone's power is."

"Your rank is medium. Greyson, however, is different than me," Scarlett started, a smirk settling at the edge of her full lips.

"The meeting will happen at the church," Greyson informed her, without giving her the information that Scarlett spoke about.

Did his power differ from Cindy's in terms of speed or even healing? It would be beneficial if they could find someone who could heal wounds magically. Maybe if they had people from Uden who actually knew more about curing people.

The sunlight shone through the blinds, but Jason didn't want to move. His head was still pounding as he attempted to roll over on the large bed. He glanced around the fancy bedroom with a closet that had mirrors reflected on the white doors. Gripping the sheets, he urged himself to get up from the pain seeping through his body.

Mark walked into the bedroom, awestruck by the room, before looking down at him. "Yikes, dude, looking rough," he said, helping him slowly sit up on the bed, swinging his legs at the end of it.

Greyson's anger flashed through his mind while using that power again. Is there some type of burning supernatural power that is blue? It wasn't some easy firepower, unlike the child back at the apartment fire.

"Bella caught up with some information. Ashley was kidnapped and is still being held hostage?" Mark asked.

Jason nodded, groaning in the process of trying to stand up straight, but his legs kept wobbling instead. Mark helped him down the hall, but when he tried taking a step, his legs wouldn't do what he told them, which caused his knees to slightly collapse. He knew this situation could have been worse than it was, but Scarlett stopped the conflict.

One question lingered in his mind: Why did Scarlett allow them to leave? Jason would have assumed that Greyson would let Stick or even Henry kill him before Bella. Plus, with the help of that crying girl, he had to thank her.

Mark slowly dropped him onto the long couch, causing him to roll over on his side to stare at the black TV. He spotted Bella approaching him with her arms lowered, wearing a t-shirt that showed off the marks from the skipping rope that were no longer bloody.

He could have avoided this if he had been quicker and known how to fight Greyson and stop Henry and Stick from taking her into that classroom. Then again, Greyson had that fourteen-year grudge against him and a power that allowed him to throw him around in the air.

Jason saw Teagan Baker walk over with a pancake on a black plate, crouching down in front of him to feed him with a fork. Jason didn't exactly know the girl before, along with Bella. Fighting over popularity didn't seem like the sort of person Bella had become now.

There was a knock on the door, revealing a smirking Scarlett. Jason slightly looked over, hissing at the pain striking both his head and gut. Automatically, she grabbed Teagan's wrist, raising a brow, before dropping it at her side.

Without an invitation, she glanced around the house. "Scarlett," Bella hissed.

"Where's my thank you?" she snickered.

"For what?" he asked, his voice raspy.

She kneeled in front of his face and stroked his cheek. "Letting you go. Stick and Henry were actually going to kill you. Do you believe Greyson would have liked something like that?"

Jason felt the colour drain from his face, seeing her sit down on the red recliner with ease. They were actually going to kill both of them. What reason did they have?

"It still doesn't change the outcome," Bella spat.

She had a point, because there wasn't a confession for the many questions Uden still had hidden. Scarlett tilted her head and stood facing Bella. She wore that smug smirk, knowing that Bella wanted to hold her ground.

"Well, it's just testing," Scarlett said.

She turned toward Teagan, who was standing near the arch with widened eyes. Jason watched Scarlett walk toward her with her chin slightly raised.

"Greyson would like you all to be there at the church assembly. Everyone in Simcoe needs to know what's happening," Scarlett remarked, her eyebrows raised and her smile actually appearing for once.

It didn't seem genuine by the way the edge seemed to smirk in her own way. She placed her arms by her side as she leaned her head slightly back with a wink.

The girl did this on her own, not under Greyson's command or order. Maybe Greyson wasn't actually horrible, but he was pissed off at finding the truth. Any person would be enraged to find out that most of his life had been a complete lie.

"Wow," Teagan said with awe.

Bella went back to helping him eat, slowly chewing when the pain struck his head. Scarlett did save them in her own sense, even if Jason intervened with whoever started the goal.

"In a sense, she did save you," Mark implied as he walked toward the chair Scarlett had sat in.

Bella didn't seem pleased with what Mark had said. Jason knew she didn't like the girl from the first day they met. Between Luke, who would actually murder them, and Scarlett, who seemed to threaten many in appearance.

They heard a loud thump and saw Cindy on the hardwood flooring in Bella's house. All of them stared with wide eyes at the girl, who slowly stood.

"Greyson wants people to come to the church," she said, stumbling breathlessly.

"Wait," Bella started, but he cut her off automatically.

"You can teleport?" Jason asked.

Cindy walked toward him with her dark hair up in a bun, nodding her head. She placed her hand on his forehead, and went to grab a wet rag.

"An hour, I believe he stated, or whenever he could gather the most," Cindy said.

Cindy applied some clear cooling cream from her pocket, making him grit his teeth. She started applying some on Bella, as the pain was visible from the cream stinging her arms.

"I might be able to help you get to the church, Jason," Cindy implied.

He was crippled, as some might say, since his body wouldn't do what he would say. He was barely able to stand on his own, and talking for a while made him feel sleepy. The only way to get to the church was by walking or using the golf cart, but it had already run low on gas since Uden Academy was on the other side of the highway.

"No backtalk," he slowly said. "I don't want any more injuries."

Bella seemed conflicted as Mark approached him, lowering down near his face. He wanted to backtalk and explain what had happened, but he couldn't. It wasn't just a matter of Greyson, who is able to control that freaky power of his.

Stick and Henry were on his side, attempting murder on them for no given reason. Scarlett's intervention may have given them the breath they needed, but that wouldn't last long. There was also Luke, who seemed to be holding Ashley hostage at Uden. When this meeting ended, they needed to handle everything correctly.

"Sure," Bella finally agreed.

Cindy looked toward Bella, who was staring down at her arms. It didn't compare to his wounds, but it still left an imprint.

"Are you three going to go together?" Cindy asked, holding his arm around her shoulder. "Okay, we'll go now."

One second he was in Bella's house, then the next he sat on the floor of the church infirmary. Melany had glanced up from the cot she was lying on with a medical book about repairing breaks in body parts. Jason groaned when they hit the floor, but Melany stood up to assist them.

The room still wasn't any different when he last came. There were more medications on the shelves and some crutches, thermometers, and surgical gloves. He noticed on one of the medicine shelves that it was labelled with anything that helped with pain or for various diseases.

"Feeling a bit better?" Melany asked, helping him sit on the cot.

"I brought him back to get checked out," Cindy implied.

Jason could hear footsteps above them, knowing Greyson had begun to set up the speech. It still twisted his stomach from the outburst, which came from jealousy or his own personal ambition. Whatever the case, he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Looking up toward both Melany and Cindy, they both carefully lifted him by one arm. They slowly went up the creaky wooden steps that led to the outside. The blond, named James, from the meeting stood near the chapel entrance. He looked intently through something while holding his laptop, intrigued by his discovery.

"Hi, James." The boy seemed to jump up when he heard his voice. When he turned to see him, the boy stood quietly with a small nod.

"Be sure to wait out front," James said quickly.

Melany pushed the door open to discover a large crowd gathered around the church. When they walked to an empty spot near a bench, they sat him down. Against the cement planters, the pink camellias inside were now half destroyed.

Looking up, he spotted Greyson on the square balcony, settled with Scarlett and Luke at his sides. The boy smiled down at all the people, confused by the sudden meeting.

"I understand a lot of you are confused with everything happening," Greyson started, leaning on the glass border of the balcony. "Our discovery has led us to believe that people fifteen and older have vanished. Some are aware that there is a split system between Uden Academy and Simcoe. The majority of us don't know each other, but that will change. In the bubble, we are nothing but survivors."

"What's the bubble?" someone questioned.

"It's where we are. It's not just Simcoe anymore; it's all of us young people trying to survive. From prior knowledge, Jason Harp has been your leader, correct?" Greyson inquired.

"He's been getting injured a lot lately," Neveah Bolton confessed.

"Leadership can be a hassle. If Jason can't handle leading, I can lead you," Greyson suggested with a smile.

Jason widened his eyes, wanting to fight back against Greyson's words. The crowd was mainly nodding, and Greyson was wearing a proud smile.

"I'll be able to get more help with not only the daycare but also the infirmary, along with security around the area. Luke will help direct you to where security is most needed once we decide who will be filling the roles. Who here plays a role as main leadership?" Greyson asked.

Jason noticed that Ilya, Henry, Nelson, Stick, and some others had raised their hands.

"We'll talk inside," Greyson said.

The few Jason noticed entered, while Cindy and Melany lifted him again. They walked back inside, upstairs, to where the main church would be. It was wide, with pews surrounding it and a large cross with a replica of Jesus nailed up front in the centre.

Greyson stood up front on the carpeted altar, where a podium sat nearby. The ceiling was high, and wooden beams connected it all around. No lights were on, just the sunlight shining inside from the glass windows.

There were sixteen people inside the church: Jason, Bella, Mark, Zane, Melany, Cindy, Ilya, Nevaeh, and Nelson. On their end sat Greyson, Scarlett, Luke, James Pyle, Henry, Stick, Finn Earl, and Emma.

Greyson stood up near the podium, hands in front. Most of the Uden people had been sitting on the opposite pew, except for Scarlett, Emma, and Luke.

"We have had a meeting with most of you already. Since this system doesn't seem to be working, I've devised a method," Greyson explained.

Jason looked over, seeing Bella stare in a frown at him. He knew she was against whatever tactic Greyson had in mind.

"Emma will be helping with the infirmary; she can heal wounds with a touch," Greyson stated. "She's Uden's healer."

Jason watched Melany automatically jump to her feet, startling most inside the church. "Thank you; we need the extra help," Melany sighed, sitting back down.

"Even though she is part of Uden, she wants to lend a hand," Greyson said.

Jason spotted the slow nod, looking toward them. The bloodshot eyes and how she had been crying meant she probably wanted out of there.

"Luke will be in charge of security, as I mentioned. Try and find as many people as possible to help with decreasing conflict both outside and inside of town." He took a step to where Ilya, Nelson, and Zane were all seated. "The three of you will continue doing your roles since you have been doing an excellent job. Jason, I'd recommend helping at the fire station. According to rumours, you seem to be the gossiper, Nevaeh."

Nevaeh was his own age, and Jason remembered having classes with her. He wasn't close to her, but he knew she enjoyed drama. He remembered someone on his volleyball team confessing the drama she spread about Bella and Teagan.

"From relationship drama to what's been going on, sometimes I hear drama that isn't spilled," Nevaeh implied as she bounced on the tips of her shoes back and forth.

"If you hear anything, report the drama to me," Greyson said. "Henry, Stick, and Finn, you'll be helping Luke."

"I don't want to do security with that freak!" Finn exclaimed.

Greyson let out a sigh, as suddenly bibles from the ground hit Henry, Stick, and Finn all in the back of the head.

Jason spotted Scarlett with a smirk as Greyson had his hands clasped in front. Similar to when he threw him the other day without a trace of body movement.

Henry hissed in pain while seeing that the book seemed to hit Finn harder than the others. There were tears at the edge of Finn's eyes while nobody seemed to move. It had shown that it wasn't just the wrath of Greyson, but these freaky powers.

"Having your crew will help strengthen numbers," Greyson said. "We need many to assist in this."

"Sure," Henry muttered, his grey eyes narrowing at the boy.

"Oh, I should probably make one thing clear," Greyson started, his eyes automatically darting at his. "Jason and I are actually twins, which is surprising."

Mark, like many others who had discovered the secret, appeared surprised by the results. Knowing this reveal could have a significant impact on the bubble.

Who is your favourite character so far?
Don't forget to comment and vote!
-Lexi