There were ways to modify it, but I didn’t bother this time around. I was more interested in watching Margo control the pigeon. The bird lifted one wing and then the other, pausing its head and twitching frantically as it tried to figure out what was happening.

  “It’s not worth it,” Orange told her as he finished up, going straight to his backpack. He brought out his tablet and connected his headgear to it, loading up all the bodies he attacked.

  Rather than watch Margo play with the poor bird, Amethyst took my headgear and went to our tablet to load up the details.

  Margo walked over to the pigeon, looking down as it is it fluttered its feathers. She lifted it and tossed it into the air, giving it its own power back, and the pigeon immediately flew away.

  “How many?” I asked Amethyst as I ate the meatloaf.

  “We tagged eighty-three in one go, a new record.”

  “We’re in the nineties,” said Orange as Margo brought her headgear over to him.

  “Damn,” I said as I looked up at the gray clouds, noticing the sun had started to peek through them.

  Once Orange was done messing with his gear, he stood, pacing back and forth like he did when he was receiving telepathically transmitted commands.

  “Any good news?” Amethyst asked. “Are we going back to Turnstone?”

  “Hardly. We’re here for the night; they want us to continue cleanup as soon as the sun comes up.”

  “Why won’t they just teleport us?” Amethyst asked.

  “That’s not the order we’ve been given,” said Orange.

  While I agreed with Amethyst, considering how easy it would be to have a teleporter pick us up and take us to a place where we could sleep in actual beds, I knew Orange wasn’t about to question the chain of command.

  There might have been a time when he was younger and a bit rebellious, but he was all business now.

  Since we were sleeping on a rooftop in a heavily infested area, we would be taking turns keeping watch. Luckily for us, Margo didn’t sleep very much, so she volunteered for the latest shift.

  I got assigned the first shift, meaning I would actually get a semi-full night’s sleep.

  As soon as I was done gorging myself on MREs, I pulled out my small cot and fashioned my bag into a pillow.

  I wished Amethyst and I could have a moment alone, but I knew that until we were sent out on patrol again, or until we were back in the capital, there wouldn’t be time for anything like that.

  Too bad.

  With my bed ready to go, I took my shift, letting the others know they could rest as much as they wanted. Orange lay down, Amethyst as well, while Margo lifted a chair out of the rooftop material.

  “Would you like one too?” she asked.

  “Sure,” I told her.

  And, oddly enough, that was the only dialogue Margo and I had for the next five hours as the sun set. At some point I heard Amethyst snoring lightly, which made me smile.

  It was cute, really, especially for someone as beautiful as her to have such a funny, normal human tendency.

  Real cute.

  I was just about to wake Orange for his shift when Margo stood, her eyes focusing on a darkened corner of the rooftop. We had a lamp now, a glowing halogen of sorts, but it wasn’t enough to see anything at a very far distance.

  “Destry, get ready.”

  My bone armor immediately took shape, bulky spikes growing out of my arms and shoulders.

  Margo started to raise the corners of the rooftop even higher, so it would be harder to leap onto it.

  This did little to stop the incredible force that tore through her barrier, or the ape-like creature with a terrible maw and bluish gray skin that appeared.

  I ran to greet him with a tackle, bringing the creature down only to be kicked off, flying into a portion of Margo’s barriers. Amethyst was already up and going for her flask while Orange crouched, adjusting to the darkness after placing his headgear on so he could see.

  The monster bellowed as some of Margo’s building materials came to meet him. He swiped them out of the way, charging at her, only to be brought to his knees, the rooftop swallowing him up until all that was left was his face, the terrible man staring up at Margo with hatred in his eyes.

  Amethyst lowered her flask.

  “Let’s tag it,” I started to say, aiming my wrist guard at its face.

  “No,” the monster growled.

  I nearly stumbled backward; I’d never actually heard one of them respond to us before.

  “Margo, finish the job,” Orange started to say.

  “No,” the man said again. “I will take you to him.”

  “Pause,” Orange told Margo. “Take us to whom?” he asked the creature, crouching before it.

  “The one true alpha,” the man said, his jaw twitching as a wild look came across his face.

  “That’s not how this is going to work,” Orange started to say.

  Margo’s protective barriers gave way as dozens upon dozens of Vs scrambled onto the rooftop.

  I started swinging almost immediately, Amethyst taking a swig from her flask and crying out as her transformation took shape.

  “Stop!” the towering man shouted—and, rather than attack us, all the Vs paused, swaying and hissing. We were completely surrounded now. “If you do not come with us, we will kill you all.”

  I saw Orange’s throat quiver for just a moment as he regained control. I knew he was already sending messages to command, and that we could have backup in a matter of moments. I also knew the ape-like vampire’s threat didn’t scare Orange for shit, considering he could explode the thing’s chest in a matter of seconds.

  But Orange was clearly curious as to where this would lead.

  “Sure,” he finally said. “Let us equip our gear, and we will come with you. Until then, you will stay right where you are.”

  “Deal,” the bluish-gray vampire said, a sinister grin on his face.

  Part Five: Psychological Warfare

  .1.

  (Ten years ago.)

  “Don’t heal him!” Headmaster Malus bellowed.

  Caldon, the gray-skinned man with webbed hands, nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot.

  “I can’t…” I whimpered. “Headmaster, I can’t…”

  “You can, Destry. You must!”

  I looked up at the headmaster, my vision blurry as bones pressed out of my face, my shoulders, arms, knuckles, ribs—anything and everything from the waist up a jagged protrusion. I was on my knees, a puddle of blood around my body, with more blood dripping off the spiked bones pressing out of my skin.

  “I don’t know how…”

  “This is your ability, Destry,” he said, dropping in front of me, strands of his white hair falling into his face. “You must be able to recover from it. It is time to take your unique power to the next level. Everything we have discussed comes together now. Do it.”

  “I…”

  My control over my power had grown considerably in the two years I had been at the Training House. It wasn’t the only thing that had grown. Our numbers had multiplied, we had moved to a new estate with several stories, and we had become the interest of politicians and more military officials than I could fathom at the time.

  The Protectorate was alive and well.

  Yet even with our newfound notoriety, I still had the problem that had plagued me since the discovery of my powers: I couldn’t keep losing so much blood.

  My ability to animate my own skeleton, grow it considerably, and turn it into a weapon or a shield came coupled with a massive amount of blood loss.

  I had to learn to control my own life force.

  “Are you paying attention to me?” Headmaster Malus grabbed one of the spikes jutting out of the back of my head and shoved my face into the puddle of blood on the floor. “One way or another, you’re going to get this blood back in your system.”

  “Please, Headmaster,” Caldon started to say.

  “We have given him plenty of time to figure out how to use his power. We know from research that others with similar abilities are able to heal themselves much faster than he has been exhibiting. Let me handle this part of the training!” the headmaster said, glaring up at the gray-skinned healer. “Sometimes, the only answer is force.”

  “I…”

  “More bones,” the headmaster told me so only I could hear him now. “I don’t care if it kills you, Destry. I want you to press more bones out of your body. Now,” he hissed, using the protrusion he had grabbed to push my face even further into the puddle of blood.

  “Yes… Headmaster,” I said, speaking into my own life force, my lips wet, the wind from my words causing bubbles.

  The pain would make me pass out.

  It had happened before, and it would happen now. Once I passed out, some of my bones would grow back into my body; others would stay like they were until I regained consciousness and fixed them, which would create yet another issue with pain and blood management.

  I grew delirious in that moment.

  What a sweet rest it would be to pass out. What a sweet rest it would be to get away from the headmaster’s madness, his extreme training techniques.

  My hatred for him boiled within. I wanted his hand off my head; I wanted to send one of my bone spikes right through his throat.

  But I knew better than to disobey his orders.

  I’d seen what he could do with his abilities, and I knew trying to fight back would only lead to more pain and potential death.

  Others had died; a few of the new ones who had come a year ago couldn’t take it. They were no longer with us, yet the original five still remained: Amethyst, Margo, Orange, Cedric and me.

  “You can do it, Destry,” Headmaster Malus whispered. “You have to do it.”

  Fighting through the pain, and ignoring the fact that the front of my face was now smeared with blood, I focused on my own life force.

  One thing that had changed over the last two years was the time it took for me to heal.

  Whereas before, a healer, usually Caldon, had to help after I used my ability, I was now able to do it on my own, over the course of the night and through a bit of a struggle, usually less than twenty-four hours.

  And no matter what I pressed out of my skin, it would heal up completely, no sign whatsoever that I had used my ability.

  This was why the headmaster believed I could prevent myself from passing out due to my power, or from going down early in a fight. It was all about control. He believed I could heal just as quickly as I drew my weapons—that if I synchronized it, I’d be able to fix myself at a speed that would make me much more formidable in the long run.

  To do so, I had to have control over my own blood, as much as I apparently had over my bones and my skin. And if I had control over my skin, he reasoned, I could eventually get control over my organs…

  Something clicked inside me.

  As I pressed more bone spikes out of my back, my flesh tearing, I subconsciously reached forward to mentally retain my blood.

  “What’s this?” the headmaster asked, looking down at my shirt as the protrusions pressed out, no blood spillage as there normally would have been. “You are doing it,” he said with a gasp, letting me up. “You’re doing it!”

  My eyes closed, blood still dripping off my face, and I started to return more of my protrusions back into my body. Something felt different this time; not only did I have control of the bone, which felt heavy and cumbersome, I also had control of something light, something liquid.

  “Heal him,” he told Caldon.

  “Right away, Headmaster,” the healer said as he came to me, hovering his hands over my body.

  I began to feel stronger.

  Even though there was still an incredible amount of blood on the floor, I soon had enough strength to bring myself back to my feet, all my wounds completely vanished.

  “I want you to try again, just using your knuckles,” Headmaster Malus told me, a sense of awe in his voice. “You’ve already proven to me that you can do it, so do it again.”

  “Yes, Headmaster.”

  Looking down at my knuckles, I sent my bones forward, gray protrusions tearing out of my flesh.

  Blood this time.

  “No, no,” he said, growing agitated. “You can do it. You showed me that you can do it. Now do it!”

  “Yes, Headmaster,” I said as I returned the bones to my knuckles, looking at the wounds they left behind.

  Caldon came forward and I stopped him, watching the flesh heal up on its own, the last bit of blood seeping back into my skin.

  “Okay, that’s it,” said the Headmaster. “Now do it as you push the blades out,” he said, wiping his white hair out of his face. “You’re almost there.”

  I looked at my hand and shot the bone blades out again, this time noticing their weight, sensing a tingling sensation around them as blood began to take shape.

  Blood which I absorbed.

  “That’s exactly how this works,” the headmaster said, clapping his hands together. “I knew it, Destry! You have to be cognizant of your power. Eventually…” He came to me and pressed his finger to my chest, right over my heart. “Your heart, your lungs,” he said, dropping his finger to my rib cage. “Every organ inside your body… You will be able to control everything. But for now, heal up, get dressed, and join the others for supper. You have done it, finally.”

  “Yes, Headmaster,” I said, bowing my head at him.

  .2.

  I waited until Orange was asleep to slip out of my bed.

  I stepped into my shoes as quietly as possible, the pair in a perfect location to make this transition incredibly smooth. I was already in normal clothing, the type of stuff someone would wear outside on a breezy summer night, which I had kept under my blanket, going to sleep with my shirt off and shuffling into it once Orange dozed off.

  Once I reached the door, I dropped my hand on the handle and opened it as quietly as possible, wincing when it squeaked.

  I paused, looking over my shoulder at Orange, hoping it hadn’t disturbed his slumber.

  Even after I was in the clear, I still waited another few moments just to be sure.

  Good, I thought as I stepped into the hallway, where I made my way to the stairwell at the end of the corridor. One flight up and I was on Amethyst’s floor.

  I stopped in front of her door and flicked her door handle twice. After I’d made the signal, I stepped aside and waited.

  I heard movement down the hallway, my heart skipping a beat. Even if the headmaster believed I would eventually be able to control my organs, I still didn’t see that as a possibility, not yet anyway.

  But I decided to give it a try as I waited for Amethyst, narrowing my focus on that thing inside my chest that kept my blood pumping.

  I had to stop breathing to actually feel my heartbeat, but once I felt it, I was able to speed up the rate at which it thumped, and slow it down too. Speeding it up made me feel anxious, while slowing it left me feeling lightheaded.

  Weird.

  I stopped playing with my heart as soon as the door opened and Amethyst slipped out of the room she shared with Margo.

  Two years had passed since I’d met her, and in that time, she had started to develop. The future love of my life still held herself like a child, loose, oblivious to her body parts. But as with all people, exemplar and non-exemplar alike, there had been some noticeable changes as she’d progressed through puberty, from her chest to the way her hips had grown.

  I wasn’t really one to judge.

  I had grown taller and more muscular over the last two years, at odds with the boy who had first shown up at the program. I used to be relatively thin; now I was stocky, my features slowly chiseling as I grew into the body I would have as a young man.

  The changes had been gradual enough that I couldn’t actually document them, but I did notice a difference when I grew out of my clothing, or when my hand brushed against my stomach and I felt my abs.

  Things like that.

  “What are you doing?” Amethyst asked as she took my hand, leading me back to the stairs.

  “I was playing with my heart,” I whispered to her.

  She rolled her eyes at me. There was a smattering of zits on her forehead, which she’d clearly tried to cover up with some type of powdery concealer. “Is that supposed to be romantic?”

  “I didn’t mean it to be romantic,” I told her as we reached the stairs and began our descent. Amethyst wore a black shirt with a hood on it and the same black stretchy pants she wore when we trained.

  “You were supposed to dress in all black,” she reminded me. “Not light gray.”

  “Everything was dirty,” I said as we came to the bottom floor, both of us crouching next to the entrance to a long hallway.

  “No one will see us,” I told her, “just like last time.”

  “Maybe. But we still have to be careful, and we may have to find another way in.”

  “I’m ready to accept that challenge.”

  We made it down the hallway and past the kitchen, where we heard some activity. The staff was getting ready for tomorrow’s breakfast, preparing bread and cutting fruit.

  I licked my lips.

  “You aren’t supposed to be thinking about food right now,” Amethyst hissed, elbowing me.

  “Sorry,” I told her as we slipped into a circular room, the exit on the left. We made it to the door and Amethyst quietly opened it, allowing me to go out first.

  I started sprinting toward the gate, Amethyst following behind me.

  She was fast, but not nearly as fast as she was in her beast mode.

  I actually beat her to the gate this time, and I quietly celebrated this by lifting both fists in the air.

  “Stop it,” she said with a smile.

  “It’s the little victories that count,” I reminded her.

  She covered her mouth as she laughed and eventually gave me a playful kick.

 

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