I pause, trying to focus my eyes around me. I am no longer underground in the dusty cellar of the candy shop. I’m outside. And surrounded by more grass and greenery than I’ve ever seen before in my life. Trees line a dirt path before me. There’s a humorous juxtaposition between the beautiful greenery and the huge open vehicle, one of many, before us. It’s built like a tank but still looks sleek enough to go fast, faster than most cars even.

I walk toward the vehicle, finding the wheels to be the size of me. I extend a hand, mouth agape, to the shiny metal. It’s polished enough for me to see my reflection in the metal. And then I look around, not quite making sense of any of it.

I look behind me, at the door I just walked through, and realize there is no door. But there’s a huge rock, as though we all just emerged from a boulder. Dizzy, I back away, looking left and right at the handful of people that followed me out.

“First time?” A man beside me asks. I look him up and down. He looks unfazed.

“Not every day I walk out of a basement into a goddamn forest.”

He laughs at my remark, a genuine laugh that wrinkles his eyes. His laugh is contagious, a hearty sound that I can’t help but mimic. A bit of my fear melts away. He doesn’t seem afraid. Maybe I shouldn’t be either.

“It gets easier, trust me,” he says. And I nod, as though I understand what he’s talking about.

“My name’s Nick,” he says and extends a hand. I shake it, a firm handshake. “Aiden.”

“Welcome to the Alloy.”

“The… what?”

“You’ll catch on,” he says with a pat on my shoulder.

He climbs into the jeep-tank-thing and extends a hand to me. I take it, letting him pull me into the vehicle. The others follow.

“Ladies, gentleman, and others, please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times,” the driver–a woman with a bob cut and a cigarette–says with a grin. “I’m looking at you, Jamie.” A teenager, Jamie I assume, turns bright pink at the accusation. The vehicle begins moving and another soon takes its spot at the boulder.

“Where are we going?” I ask Nick. There’s a glint in his eyes as he replies, “That’s a surprise, isn’t it?”

I look outside of the jeep. Considering it’s late autumn, it’s awfully warm here. There’s so much nonsense and my brain is deciding to focus on the weather. I could almost laugh if I weren’t so nervous. 

But the sight is beautiful. The trees are all the shades of autumn. As the vehicle moves and the trees dance past us, I see something in the distance. Buildings. A whole collective of them. Beautiful, stone and glass structures that were built with such a grandiose nature that I can’t help but stare. The dirt road turns to pavement and it strikes me that we are in a city. A city that isn’t New York City. One that looks nothing like home.

The driver takes us to the biggest building of them all, an obelisk made almost entirely of glass, parking just in front of the concrete steps. A woman in a pencil skirt and a blazer perks up when she sees us. She looks nothing like the driver or Mizuki, not nearly as intense as them. She has a scowl on her face.

“Martha, you’re late,” she scolds as the driver puts the vehicle in park.

“Chill out man,” the driver huffs, stepping out of the driver’s seat. “The pod was giving me issues.”

“There are no issues with the pods, they were just checked at maintenance yesterday. You took the scenic route again, didn’t you?” Met with silence, the woman sighs and straightens out her skirt. She turns to us and clears her throat.

“Welcome to the Alloy. My name is Catherine. For those of you who are new here, this building is the Hub. You’ll be spending a lot of time here for the next few days. Now follow me. We’re late and behind schedule. Much to do. Much to see.”

I feel like a highschool junior again, going to college tours around the city. But this is different. This is somehow so much different. The questions just keep piling. And no one is giving me answers. 

Without another word, Catherine turns on her heel and marches up the concrete steps. I notice Nick and a few others begin to follow her, so I join them.

Through the glass doors is a lobby. The floor beneath Catherine’s heels are polished white marble, shiny enough to reflect the grand chandeliers that hang from the high ceilings. We approach the front desk, where a few workers are typing away on computers. Catherine clears her throat and a young man jumps at the sound of her voice.

“I’ve come to tour the next round of newcomers. We’re on a tight schedule,” she says pristinely. The young man straightens up.

“Yes ma’am. All clear for entry.”

Catherine is already on her way to the elevators and we all struggle to catch up to her. The elevator shafts are big enough to fit all of us in one. We all file in. I stay close to the door, feeling uneasy, like I’m going to be sick. The elevator shoots up and I find that even the walls around us are made of glass. I hear murmurs as we pass different floors, each just as pristinely decorated as the last.

“Most of these floors are offices. And most of your jobs, if you choose to stay, will be working in them,” she says curtly. I think about my actual job at the restaurant. “Um but I have a job already,” I say before I can stop myself. Catherine’s head whips around to glare at me. She lowers her thick-framed glasses to the bridge of her nose and flashes me a pointed look.

“A job at the Alloy,” she classifies as though that was obvious information. My ears burn with embarrassment. I feel a hand clasp my shoulder and I see Nick trying to hide a smirk. I roll my eyes.

The elevator dings and the doors slide open. Catherine leads the way, walking us through the amenities of this strange building. We pass a music room, a grand library, a gym, science labs, research rooms, computer rooms, swimming pools, greeneries, each room somehow stranger than the last.

As soon as she showed us the major hotspots of the Hub, she was already making a beeline for the other buildings. Healing huts and markets and training compounds, an odd conglomeration of anything and everything. I was completely out of breath by the time Catherine paused to face us again.

“The Alloy welcomes you all with open arms. We proudly call ourselves a safe-haven for the gifted. And we thank you all for choosing us.” Not like we had much of a choice, I think bitterly. I stopped questioning things, it’s only hurting my brain. I’m just going to start accepting it. This has to be a dream. It’s the only way any of this makes sense.

“Those of you who know your resignations are welcome to leave this tour. The rest of you, however, are to follow me to the dormitories, where you will wait to hear the results of your predetermined classes.”

“The dormitories?” A girl behind me asks. Catherine looks affronted, almost offended to be asked such a question.

“Well of course. Were you expecting to sleep on the grass?”

More than half the group breaks up and dissipates. I’m left following this crazy woman up the steps of yet another building.

“The dormitories are welcome to all in times of crisis,” Catherine explains, smoothening any fly away hairs on her head back into her bun. “But most of you will be given long-term housing if you decide to stay in the Alloy. You will each be assigned a room but be aware that space is limited and you are all very fortunate to have received an assignment. You will be sleeping in the main campus tonight, until your classes have been chosen.”

I stop listening when we reached the main campus, finding stacks of bunk beds filed neatly beside each other in a giant room. There are some familiar faces from that basement. I scan the room, looking for Lucy. I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding when I finally spot her, talking somerly with some other woman by the windows.

I practically ran over to her. “Lucy!” I shout and her eyes light up when she finds me.

“Aiden!”

“Lucy, what’s happening? What is this? Where are we?” I can’t help it. I’m eager for answers.

“You didn’t talk to Aunt Silva, did you?” She asks, a hint of disappointment in her voice. I frown.

“Silva… she explained this to you?”

“Not all of it. Not most of it. But this place is… it’s not New York, Aiden.”

“Yeah I can see that. It’s like we walked through a portal to another world,” I laugh. Lucy doesn’t laugh. Her eyes are sharp and serious. My chuckle dies in my throat.

“What-”

“Do you remember when we were kids? How weird shit would happen all the time? When Mom would take us shopping and things would start flying off the shelves? When it seemed to storm only on our block?”

“I don’t-” I frown. “I don’t remember any of that.”

“Remember when you almost drowned at the community pool and then all the water in the pool disappeared?”

“What? Lucy, you aren’t making any sense.”

“Aiden, please. You don’t remember anything? Remember when Mom died and it rained for nearly a month straight as though the sky itself was mourning her? Do you even remember how she died?”

“She drowned. Her car veered off a bridge and she got pinned and drowned.”

“Oh Aiden,” she said, a sob stuck in her throat. Her eyes were full of pity. “No.”

And suddenly I can’t breathe. It’s like someone stole all the breath from my lungs. Tears burned the back of my eyes but I couldn’t cry. The whole room feels distorted. Lucy is saying something but I can’t hear a word she says. I feel eyes on me. All eyes on me. And I don’t think. I just turn and run.

I need to get out of here. I don’t know where I’m going but I need to get out. Out of this building. Out of this place. Away from these crazy people and these secrets. I want to go home.

The tears finally fall as I run down the hallway. I notice people staring but I don’t care. I don’t care.

I book it down the stairs and out the front door. I don’t stop running until the buildings are well behind me. I sprint through the forest, stopping when I’m just feet away from a lake. I collapse to my knees in the mud, hugging my arms to my chest, feeling smaller than I ever have in my life.

“How much will the truth change?”

“Everything.”

I hear footsteps approaching me from behind. I don’t turn around. I don’t care enough.

“I thought that was you I saw making a run for it.”

“Here to scold me?” I ask Nick without tearing my eyes away from the water. He laughs.

“Of course not.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Ya’know,” he starts while crouching beside me. “Plenty of freshies have a similar reaction when they first find out this place exists.” Now I look at him, taking in his features that seem to radiate warmth.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s not every day you find out your whole life is a lie.” He catches the look on my face and winces. “Well, not a lie per say… more like a half-truth.”

“What is this place?”

“Just like Catherine said. A safehouse for the gifted.”

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“You know. An aptitude for oddity, an inclination for strangeness.” I flash him an incredulous look, waiting for him to start making actual sense.

“Like… magic,” he says with a grin. 

“Magic,” I echo slowly. “So we have… superpowers or something?”

“Well, yes and no. Some people’s gifts are not as prominent as others. Some people are just exceptionally good with computers, or have an admirable skill for the arts, or are just really smart I guess. But all with any kind of gift are welcome at the Alloy.”

“Well I am none of those things and I certainly don’t have any ‘gifts’. So why am I here?”

“If your name was on that list and you walked through those doors, I promise you you’re here for a reason.”

I frown and looked back at the water. Lucy, maybe. But there’s nothing special about me. Never has been. This is obviously some kind of mistake. I don’t belong here.

“So what exactly is your gift?”

Nick smiles as though he’s been waiting for me to ask that question. “I’m just a wicked good aim.” I look at him with a raised brow.

“That and I have a tendency to accidentally explode things when I’m overwhelmed.”

I snorted. I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. It’s absolutely absurd. Nick’s smile widens.

“There, you laughed. Now come on. It’s late and I’m exhausted. I’m sure you are too. I’ll walk you back to the dorms.”

“Does time work differently here?” I asked as we walked side-by-side back toward the campus. The sun was just beginning to set in this place, whereas in New York it’s well past midnight.

“Something like that,” he said.

“You don’t seem all that shaken up that there were just attacks downtown.” That it was almost my building that just exploded into bits. For the first time, Nick’s eyes darken.

“This certainly isn’t the first time this has happened, even in the mortal world.”

“What do you mean?”

“It may seem like magic now, but it won’t for long. The gifted aren’t all heroes.”

“You-” I feel something stuck in my throat. “You make it sound like we’re responsible.”

He doesn’t answer, only picks up the pace. I’m practically jogging after him.

“Nick? Are we? Are we… responsible?”

“Aren’t we? It’s because we’re being targeted that innocent people are being hurt and killed.” his voice comes out mangled and strained, like he’s forcing his words out.

“Targeted? Why are-”

He stops walking and I crash head-first into him. I’m rubbing my nose absentmindedly when he turns around.

“You have a lot to learn, kid. I’m not sure I’m the one who should tell you all of this. I’ll leave that to the Edict.”

“The Edict?”

“You’ll see them soon enough.”

I have a lot to think about by the time I reach the dorms. I find an empty bunk far away from the others and bury my head in my hands. The ring around my neck feels like a weight. Was I being lied to this whole time? How did Mom really die? Why am I here?

What is my “gift”? And is it really worth what I’m leaving behind?

No, I can’t think like that. I have to know the truth. The whole truth.

<<<>>>