As soon as I got to the others, we immediately left to get to homecoming as fast as possible. This year it was being held in the local museum about an hour away so we had to get there before all the good parking spaces were gone. Alvin and I ended up sharing the space in Mariah's trunk again which I didn't mind since it gave us an excuse to huddle close.

“You look amazing by the way.” Alvin whispered as I could feel my cheeks grow warm. “THanks you look pretty great yourself.” I remark while Alexis and Satoya challenged each other to see who could sing the song on the radio the loudest.

“Sorry it took us so long for us to come get you by the way, but my mom insisted on taking a crap ton of pictures before I could get out the door.”He added with an eye roll bringing me to laugh before I remembered my own mom and what her reaction had been upon seeing me. I became lost in thought as the frown I had earlier quickly returned at the mere thought of how my mom had acted. Part of me knew that the amount of disdain she had on her face in that moment wasn't all for me, but thinking about it only made me wonder where it had come from so suddenly and why had it bothered her so much.

Apparently I had missed out on the entire group conversation as I was suddenly thumped hard on my forehead causing me to jump and look up to see Darold, Tariq, and Mariah all looking at me really concerned.

“Have you come back to earth?” Tariq chuckled as Mariah put the back of her hand against my forehead to see if I had a fever.

“Oh yeah I’m fine.” I tried to play it off with a smile but the looks on their faces made it clear they were not convinced.

With a long sigh I tell them about the reaction my mom had to my suit just before I had left the house.

“Well maybe she had a good reason?” Mariah tried to remain positive while Darold shook his head, not buying it at all.“There is absolutely no reason to look at your kid in disgust. If she really felt some type of way about it then she should’ve done a better job at hiding it.”

“Either way you don't have to worry about it because you look amazing Jaden.” Tariq added, giving me a thumbs up bringing the smile back to my face.

My mood definitely improved for the rest of the car ride as we all told corny jokes and sang a variety of songs both terribly and loudly.

~*~*~*~

As we pulled up to the museum the first thing I noticed was the valet and that it was completely separate from the regular parking. While it was no surprise to me the valet was meant only for the use of the Terrans and while it made us all uncomfortable none of us wanted to know what would happen if we didn't use it.

Reluctantly we all got out of the car and let the Valet take it to the others.As we all looked up at the museum we couldn't help but appreciate the decorations. The theme was meant to be greek mythology which at first no one was really sure of, but as I walked past the sculpted statues of various greek gods, shimmering marble columns, and various symbols carved into the walls, It was safe to say the homecoming committee had delivered. As we walked up to the entrance we were met by Gianna and Tristan welcoming in their fellow Terrans and scowling at everyone else which came as a surprise to no one. However once they saw us their grins were replaced with the usual smirks that they wore around the school on a regular basis.

I quickly noticed that the pair were both wearing laurel wreaths Giannas made out of roses gilded in gold and Tristans being so pitch black that it would have gone unnoticed had it not been for his brown hair being a contrast.

“About time you all got here.” Gianna scoffed while Tristan let out a bored yawn.“You idiots are late. All newly enlisted Terrans are supposed to be an hour early to every school function.”

“That's a bit much don't you think?” Mariah questioned only to quickly look away as Gianna sneered at her.

“Gianna just give them their crowns so we can go in already if another one of these regular rejects tries to look me in the eye then ill be forced to vomit in disgust.”With that Gianna pulled out a box and dropped it at my feet with a loud thud.The two of them then turned and walked into the party without saying another word.

“I’m surprised she didn't try balancing it on her abnormally large boobs.” Alexis joked causing all of us to laugh as I picked up the box. “ Alexis.. At this point I can't tell if your just insulting her or if this is your not subtle way of telling us your into her.” Tariq chimed as we walked into the building and I opened the box to examine what was inside.

“.... At this point it could very well be both and- holy shit those look amazing!”

Alexis' attention was now focused on the laurel wreaths that were in the box as she quickly grabbed the one made of some crystal looking material that seemed to shimmer with various colors of light every time she moved.

I had to admit it was beautiful and she looked amazing in it, but the fact that it worked so well with her powers was no coincidence, and it was definitely no coincidence that all them were designed with that fact in mind.

Tariq's wreath had a smoky design that seemed to mimic the after effect of his teleportation, and Darolds was made entirely of jade which I could only assume was to represent the color of the binary code that he could project from his body. Mariah's was made out of glass but it was decorated to appear as if was already shattered and it was filled with liquid that seemed to change color with every expression she made, while Satoyas was so transparent I could hardly tell she was wearing it.Alvins was a regular gold wreath but lighting designs had been engraved into which I could only assume was a metaphor for his speed and mine was designed in a similar fashion with stone being engraved in the back, wind and water engraved in the sides and fire being engraved at the tips of the wreath.

“If having powers was a regular thing they couldn't have made it anymore obvious.” I reply as I toss the box in the trash and we all walk in to the party and almost suffer from sensory overload.

From what Satoya told me about the museum, there should have been a large dinosaur statue in the center of the room but it had been replaced by a massive dance floor that was barely visible amongst the sea of students as the room flashed multiple colors all at once.

A buffet was off to the far right aligned with quisine I could only assume was greek since I didn't recognize any of it.Five different photo booths were set up all around the area gathering long lines of couples as everyone was laughing, cheering, making out , or singing along to the song.

“Normally I would question why all of this is needed for homecoming but honestly I’m too excited to care.” Satoya said as she bounced up and down in anticipation.

I couldn't lie I was excited too as we walked down the stairs and into the party Darold and Mariah were curious as to what Greek cuisine tasted like as they immediately moved towards the buffet, while Tariq and Satoya ran to one of the photo booth lines leaving Alexis, Alvin, and me looking around wondering where to go. In the end we decided to head to the dance floor , and while I can't really dance I decided to sit at a nearby table and watch my friends have fun.

Alexis and Alvin immediately challenged each other to see who could dance the sexiest, which made me laugh as Alvin started twerking while Alexis started to grind against him.Their friendship always made me laugh since they weren't afraid to do things that most people wouldn't even dare to do. Even as people looked at them in disgust and moved away the both of them continued to dance without while Alvin continued to keep eye-contact with me as he continued to twerk surprisingly well for any guy i know. I began laughing even more until I realized that the dance floor had become empty rather quickly leaving only Alexis and Alvin still on it. Almost everyone else had filed off and were now skulking around the tables watching them in envy,disgust, and some of them even looked scared.

Mariah and Darold seemed to be in a similar situation as everyone else had left the buffet table except for them. They didn't notice until Darold almost started choking on his food causing them both to look up and look around confused. Darolds eyes met mine as he silently asked me what was going on but I had no real answer as I was just as confused. I could hear Satoya laugh as she and Tariq walked out of the photo booth and looked confused as to why the massive lines had suddenly disappeared.

“They’re really pitiful aren't they?”

The new voice caught me by surprise as I turned around to see that Cindy the glowing girl from the party a few months ago was standing behind me with a smile on her face. Her tone was inviting but I remembered that night at the campfire clear as day, and the way she hardly flinched at those two boys in pain that night did not sit well with me at all.

“Your Jaden right?” She asked as she sat down to my right and began to tap her fingers against the table.

I simply nodded in response while noticing that a lot of eyes were now looking in our direction even though she remained unbothered.

“Don't mind the nosy looky-loos.” She remarked before suddenly raising her voice “ In fact none of them should even dare to look at us at all!”

With this loud gesture everyone quickly turned away in fear as the smile on Cindys face grew wider.

“I swear the nerve of some people… common sense would tell you that if you're afraid of someone then you shouldn't be glancing in their direction when they're likely to notice.”

Her comment caught me off guard completely. People were scared of us? I mean being scared of Cindy I could understand given her entire demeanor gave me vibes that she wouldn't hesitate to stab me if needed, but why would they be scared of me and my friends?

“Why would they be afraid of us?” I asked even though I had a feeling I knew what she was gonna say.

“ Well isn't it obvious? It's because we're Terrans! Everyone else spends the majority of their days under our heels, and just imagine how things would be if they knew what you and I did right?”

With her last statement she had scooted closer to me and was now inches from my face. The Lavender hue in her eyes shimmered briefly before dissipating as I coughed awkwardly.

“So was there something that you needed?”

“Nothing specifically my dad has just been talking about you so much lately so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about… and I gotta say i'm not disappointed at all.”

I barely had time to register the creepy remark as I was too focused on what she said about her father.

“Oh I'm sorry!” she suddenly exclaimed, clapping her hands against the sides of her face. “I’ve just been talking all this time and completely neglected to introduce myself.”

She sat back in her chair and extended her hand out towards me.

“My name is Cindy Jameson and ranked 3 of the top 10.”

Reluctantly I shook her hand and noticed she held onto it a second longer than she should have.

“I was unaware that Mr. Jameson had a kid-”

“Kids.” Cindy corrected “ Gianna and Tristan are my siblings, and are also ranked 1st and 2nd in the program.Jameson adopted us all around the same time.”

That definitely made sense seeing as all three of them looked nothing alike.It wasn't really surprising to me that Jamesons children were ranked highest in the entire school, but what left me curious is how he came upon adopting all three of them, but one thing I knew for sure is that if he was the one raising them then they all had to be extremely powerful and well in tuned with their powers.

“So Gianna is your sister? That can't be easy at all.” I remark as Cindy begins to giggle. “ I know she seems like a lot but the three of us actually like each other. We've known each other since we were all 5, but enough about me after all you're so much more interesting.”

“I am?” I asked in disbelief as she rested her head in her hand, her gaze never leaving mine.

“Well of course! Why wouldn't you be? I mean traveling from California, Ohio, Delaware to New York and then eventually finding your way here?” She laughed but there was no smile on my face as she recounted all the places my family had moved from, knowledge that she shouldn't have had at all. “Not to mention all the chaos you’ve caused along the way. With all the hospital visits, school repairs from accidents no one could explain, countless school transfers..” I was starting to feel sick to my stomach. My entire life seemed to be at her fingertips.

“Not to mention your sweet, innocent family.”

I could feel my hands growing warm under the table, and even though I didn't have to look I was certain the ground had cracked underneath my feet.

“ A single mom doing it all on her own, struggling to take care of a son she doesn't understand, and lets not forget your sweet innocent little sister… it's a shame your mistakes have brought them so much stress isn't it?”

“How dare-”

“Imagine if they died…” I froze in my seat. “ After all it would be all your fault wouldn't it? A supposedly powerful son… completely powerless as his family and friends meet an incrdibly gruesome murder because of his failure to protect them.”

“So i take it you came all this way just to threaten me?”

Her face fell into a playful confusion. “ A threat? Of course not labeling it as a threat implies that I may or may not go through with it. This is a promise I fully intend to keep you little shit.”

She suddenly arose from her chair and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt with great force. She pulled me so close that our noses were almost touching.

“I’m not sure what my father sees in you since he's not inclined to tell us shit other than what we need to know so let me be very clear. If you prove useless, make one misstep, try to ruin everything we've worked so hard to establish, and I will kill everyone you care about starting with your adorable little sister and then I will force you to relive the memories of her helpless, blood curdling screams for the rest of your life. Do you understand?”

I sneered at her, but silently nodded in response,and her dark demeanor quickly changed back to her perky, cheerful side.

“Great! It was so good to finally talk to you.”Cindy lets go of my collar and starts to walk back up the stairs before stopping and turning back around to face me.“By the way, the terran party is on the upper floor in the aquarium exhibit didnt you all realize you were the only ones down here wearing Laurel wreaths? We’re royalty, we don't party in the same space as the trash.”

With that she walked off without another word. Smoke was rising from my hands in my anger as I watched her walk away, and I could feel a slow rumble in the ground where I stood. Dozens of emotions were flowing through my mind.

They had made their point clear. They wanted me- they wanted my power, and my family would die if I did not deliver.

And I was scared out of my mind.