Being forcefully pushed into a car hadn’t been on Ethan’s to-do list today, nor had been a plane ride with a bunch of strangers while being tied up. He had felt the branches on his head as they had snapped off getting into the car and again sitting on the plane with its sloped ceiling, but now he felt safe.

Maybe safe isn’t the word for it. He thought.

Ethan was escorted off the plane by a woman whose image continuously changed. He wasn’t sure if she was doing it on purpose or not because each time her face changed it held the same expression. She was pissed. The woman led Ethan to another vehicle, this one a delivery truck and helped him take the step up via the back bumper. The others from the plane were already seated in their places and the woman joined them, pulling down the back. Someone on the outside latched the door into place and the truck began to rumble to their destination.

“This is the last trip.” The woman said to the passengers. “After this we’ll be at a facility where you’ll be given a room and a new set of clothes. For most of you, you’ll be given free reign of the place.” She said this looking at the boy with the tree growing out of his head. “For others you will be closely monitored to see how your ability works and to what degree.” Ethan noticed that the woman stopped her gaze on the girl who was lying on the bed in the middle of the cargo truck.

“I promise that you will be treated as fairly and decently as is your right as human beings.” The woman continued. She stopped talking and took her seat beside Ethan, and stared straight ahead. The air conditioning that leaked into the back of the truck felt good, and the fresh air was more breathable than the plane had been. Ethan looked around the truck at the different people, all bound in different ways. He was lucky he supposed. Only his hands were tied together. He could see and speak if he wanted to, and his fingers were loose so he could grab onto things.

The truck continued on, with no clear passage of time, until it stopped and the back was open. The woman jumped down first, as men and women in scrubs helped people out and down, and then assisted them into wheelchairs. Everyone got a wheelchair. It didn’t matter that he didn’t need one, Ethan was pushed down into the chair and pushed down again when he tried to stand. They wheeled the branch headed boy into the facility, which from the outside looked like a hospital. He didn’t see the name of it anywhere but it looked safe.

He wondered what his parents were going to think of him being in the States. They had talked about a trip before the hard patches of flesh on his head began to grow outward and leaves sprouted on them in the spring. Ever since then they hadn’t talked much. His father had barely looked at him and his mother did so with pity. Ethan had quit school before it began that year and instead did home studies, to stay away from the prying eyes of his peers. There was no telling the amount of physical or emotional bullying he would have sustained if he had stayed in public schooling.

The man who pushed his chair took Ethan to a room with carpet, a bed, a tv, and a small dresser. He had his own bathroom and was given five sets of clothes, all matching scrubs a different color than the nurses. He was left to shower and given a schedule on where to be at what time. It looked like an orientation.

Ethan showered as best as he could in the small space, trying not to hurt his branches anymore than they already were. He could feel them soften in the water and felt a sense of relief. When he got out, he was sure that they had regrown a couple of inches. The boy put on his new clothes and opened the door to his bedroom to look out into the hall. People were being guided everywhere by an aid. It seemed, to keep people’s powers in check, they were being handicapped. The same people who had been blinded in the plane were blinded now, or handcuffed, or gagged. Those people looked around in fear. Ethan watched as a woman was walked to her room with a muzzle over her mouth, her eyes were searching the area, wide and afraid.

The boy looked at this schedule and saw that he had to be in a certain room in ten minutes. He asked the passing attendant where he was supposed to go and the man rolled his eyes and grabbed the sheet then pointed Ethan in a direction.

“Thanks.” Ethan said but the man had already walked away.

He walked down the hall and found the room he was looking for through a set of double doors. Taking his seat, Ethan saw others who must have been like him, minimal threats. No one in the room had been handicapped but everyone sat in silence. There were male and female nurses along the wall, one per powered person, and then a man who looked like a doctor came in and stood in the front of the room.

“Welcome to the Sphere.” He said smiling and using his hands to talk. “We hope that your stay here is short but comfortable. Most of you in this room have an ability that makes you different from those around you. You are able to hide it, or keep it mostly hidden, and it doesn’t affect you or the people around you. Our goal is to help you better understand yourself and thus help you live life without confusion or the pressure to stay hidden.” The man looked around the room and smiled, making Ethan uncomfortable. The doctor was too happy, as if her were trying too hard to be convincing. The boy didn’t like him.

“I trust most of you have found your rooms and have been given schedules. Those schedules are sent out everyday, so that you know when certain events are happening throughout the day. We will come to you personally when you have a meeting with a doctor, so your schedule is apt to change. Don’t worry though, most of your time will be free time. Thank you for being a part of the Sphere and for helping to make the world a better place.”

The doctor waved and the attendants began to point people towards the door, helping those too elderly to stand and walk. Ethan didn’t like the way the doctor had thanked them for being here. He had been all but kidnapped and forced here. The boy felt the plane ride suddenly catch up with him and couldn’t remember the hour difference between Ireland and here, wherever here was for certain. He felt his eyes growing heavy and was happy to see his room number coming up.

In his groggy stated, Ethan didn’t see the old man as he walked into him. He felt something forced into his hand and said sorry as he went. The old man walked past acting as if nothing had happened and Ethan opened his hand. He looked down at a small black pawn from a chess set. He didn’t know why the man had given it to him, but the boy felt a connection between the man and himself now. There was no way he was going to tell anyone about it.

Opening and closing his door, Ethan walked to the bed and nearly fainted with the piece still in his hand. He didn’t feel it wiggle out from between his fingers or see it roll under the door.