By the time I had a second to myself, I felt like I had gone through a literal whirlwind. It didn’t take long after the police had arrived for the army to roll in, followed by some very official-looking people in black suits. I didn’t get to stick around to watch the search for survivors though, since I had embarrassingly lost all strength and fainted on Officer Guzman’s back. 

When I woke up briefly I was in a hospital. I could make out a muffled conversation happening somewhere to my left, but a nurse came in and gave me something that immediately sent me back into dreamland. Once I regained consciousness for a second time a kind lady who identified herself as the social worker in charge of me delicately asked how I was feeling before very calmly and gently asking me what happened at the gate. Taking note of what looked like a recording device on her lap, I told her everything I could think of. Once I’d finished she gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead and complimented me on being an extremely brave girl before slipping out of my hospital room and leaving me to fall asleep once again. 

After I was fully rested and cleared by both the hospital staff and a child psychologist, I was introduced to a government official who was as tall as a professional basketball player. He, along with my kind social worker, explained that the government was taking custody of me and that I would be a part of an ongoing study into the emergence of supernatural abilities that had apparently been sparked across the globe wherever a gate had exploded. 

I had to work really hard not to laugh when my social worker leveled an angry glare at the intimidating government official when he mentioned the “study” and he quickly added that I would not be forced to do anything I was uncomfortable with. My social worker didn’t seem convinced when I told her I didn’t mind participating in the study and she knelt and made me promise her that I’d call if they did anything to hurt or scare me. 

What a nice world this is, I couldn’t help but think. Child welfare must be really important in this country. At least on a governmental level.

I gave my very best happy smile to my obviously concerned social worker before taking the government official’s hand and following him into a black sedan with tinted windows. To my surprise, it didn’t take us long to reach our destination and I soon found myself walking through the revolving doors of a posh building that looked to have 10 or 15 floors. 

Instead of going up, the official led me to an elevator and pressed a button that said 3B. When the doors opened I was surprised to see several people in white lab coats down the hall. One of my eyebrows went up and I glanced at my temporary guardian with a hint of suspicion. 

“This is a government research laboratory that used to specialize in genetically enhanced superfoods. We’ve repurposed it to be our temporary headquarters for all things pertaining to the portals, the monsters that come out of them, and people like you,” he explained in a deep voice that was surprisingly soothing coming from such an intimidating person. 

Deciding to keep my suspicions to myself for now, I nodded and reached out to hold onto three of his large fingers. He smiled down at me, obviously feeling a little awkward, but he didn’t shake me off and instead took small steps so that I could easily keep up with him as he led me down the hall. 

The relieved smile that came to my face when the door opened to reveal the other survivors of the gate actually surprised me. After living nine lives a pattern had appeared. No matter what the setting, I had always been cast as the hero/heroine’s tragic best friend who eventually gave my life to save them. Throughout my nine lives my least favorite emotion I’d experienced was betrayal. Especially from someone I had genuinely cared about. So I’d come to the conclusion that caring for anyone who wasn’t my current best friend (aka the hero/heroine) was pretty much pointless. This meant that I was usually a lot more closed off to the people around me, but I guess after seeing these four strangers step up to protect a random kid made even my cold heart thaw a little. 

“What is Teagen doing here?” Officer Guzman, who was sporting a bandage along his hairline where he’d been injured, asked my guide with a heavy frown. “She’s just a child, she shouldn’t have to be a part of this. She should be with her family.” 

“Teagen is a ward of the state,” the official responded matter-of-factly, which I figured must have been the politically correct term for “orphan” or “foster child” nowadays. “A child psychologist already examined her and found that she was emotionally stable. She has given her consent to take part in the study that you have all agreed to, but of course, we will take into consideration her age and mental restrictions as we move forward.” 

“You’re not going to send her out to help with the portal in LA, are you?” a crackly voice asked with obvious displeasure from the corner of the room. 

I craned my neck to look past the weirdly tall table and spotted the older woman with spiky hair. She had traded out her ripped leather jacket for a clean one but everything else looked almost exactly the same as the day we’d fought against the monster hornets. 

“Of course not,” the government official responded with a frown as if he felt personally attacked by her assumption. The older woman shrugged as if she didn’t care that she’d offended him and walked over to give me another rough pat on my head.

“Nice to see you back on your feet, kiddo,” she said with a wide grin, making her wrinkles even more pronounced. “I’m Gail Harrow. Thanks a bunch for protecting us from the explosion back then.”

I blinked up at Gail, surprised to hear her thanking me again, but couldn’t help but smile. “I’m glad I could help,” I replied with a small shrug, glancing down at my hands curiously, but then frowned and looked back up at her. “What did you mean about helping Los Angeles?”

“I guess there was a portal that released these green creatures in the heart of LA,” the fire guy answered, giving me an easy smile with perfectly white teeth when my attention turned to him. “Apparently the things are smarter than other monsters that were released and LA still hasn’t been able to defeat them all. They sent out a distress signal and since we’ve got these cool powers,” he said while holding his hand out and conjuring a wisp of flame that floated above his palm, “we’re being sent in to help out.”

I frowned slightly at this news and swept my gaze over the four adults in the room. “But what about your families? Won’t they be worried?”

Officer Guzman gave me a kind smile from his seat at the table. 

“It’s risky, but it seems that most of the monsters that have been appearing around the world have some kind of power that resists normal projectiles. In order to hurt them effectively, people who have developed powers have to fight them,” he explained and I slowly nodded. This was a pretty classic setup when it came to these dungeon-based action stories, but it still made me a little sad to see these people willingly throwing themselves into danger. 

“My parents and a bunch of my cousins are from LA,” Fire guy added, his easy smile turning slightly tense. “So I would’ve gone even if they didn’t ask.” 

“Why can’t I go?” I asked, feeling slightly left out despite understanding that I was currently in a smaller-than-average child’s body. All of the adults in the room blinked in surprise at my question but it was the businesswoman (now wearing jeans and a casual off-the-shoulder shirt) who let out a small chuckle. 

“I’ll admit it would be nice to have your shields around,” she said, earning herself some rather scathing glares from Gail and Officer Guzman, “but you should be focusing on school right now. Leave the monsters to us grown-ups.” 

I puffed my cheeks and lips out in a pout and couldn’t help but grumble, “It’s summer vacation right now.” 

The businesswoman blinked but soon let out another laugh. A large hand patted my shoulder and I looked up to see the government official giving me a stern look. 

“You have not completed the assessment of your skills yet so you are not cleared to go into battle.” 

My eyes widened as I was genuinely surprised at the rather logical and sincere response to my childish grumbling. Feeling slightly mollified after being treated like an adult, I nodded my understanding and he removed his hand from my shoulder. 

“So why did you bring the kid along if she’s not going with us?” Gail asked with a quirk of her head at the government official. 

“During her psych eval Teagen expressed a desire to see the people she fought with. Since you will be leaving soon I thought she’d like to say goodbye before taking her to begin her examination,” the official explained succinctly. 

I gazed at the tall government official in utter shock to think that he had gone out of his way to let me see them before they left just because of an offhand comment I made. Feeling rather grateful I gave him a big smile, which he didn’t even acknowledge before turning away. Hmmm, so the big guy’s a closet softie, huh? I thought to myself with amusement before turning and wishing the adults luck on their mission. 

“We’ll be back before you know it, kiddo,” Gail said with a confident cackle. “C’mon, Pyro. Let’s go help your family.” 

“Seriously? I already told you my name is Dajan,” he said with a disgruntled frown on his handsome face. Gail shrugged without a care before she gave me another rough but affectionate pat on my head and turned towards the door. 

I watched as the four adult survivors filed out of the room and couldn’t help but send a prayer to whatever deity was watching over this world that they would all come back.