I stumble out of bed to get ready for school, my legs still shaking miserably.
It was hard to put on my clothes with my legs feeling like jelly, but eventually I succeed and head to the bathroom.
"Good morning." My dad says. He goes to work the same time I go to school, so we always get ready together.
"I would say it back if it was," I reply. He looks sadly at me.
"What happened? Bad dreams?"
"Well, more like a vision."
I tell him about my dream, but leave out the part about me being killed so as to not worry him. He looks as puzzled as I am.
"Well," He says about my dream, "I'm not sure what the black figure means, but that place is the Metacave. I've been there once. And that also definitely means you're about to join the forces very soon."
"What force are you, dad?"
"I'm from the Force of Fire," He tells me. "Embiss. The hero version of Wylphra, the Force of Pyro. We're not a very powerful force because we can be overridden by a lot of forces and by humans, but we do what we can."
"So, mom never told you what she was?"
"No, LeAnne, and I have no guesses either. Whatever force she is, it seems nobody else is the same."
"So, the purple force? Apparently one of the most powerful?"
"I guess so . . " His face looks worried, as if some realization passed over him that he wants to deny, which makes me worried.
***
At ballet class that day, I realize Chloe looks depressed, as if something bad had happened to her over the weekend. "Everything okay, Chloe?" I ask.
"Okay? Me?" She says, clearly not okay. "Yeah. I just have a lot on my mind."
"Spit it out, baby girl," I say with a sly smile.
"What? Oh, come on. You don't need to hear me yap about my problems."
"But, I would like to hear."
"Well, my dad. He's going through a tough time," She says. She looks kind of . . scared . . Making me wonder what happened. "Of course, he has to support me by himself, and now some other things are going on in our lives, and he's scared to lose me, and all this weird stuff happening . . It's . . I'm stressed."
Somehow I'm stupid enough to not catch on right then and there.
"I knew you weren't okay," I simply say, and give her a hug. "Anything I can do to help you?"
"Not unless you're a magician."
"I got some magic, you know that . ." The Lightslip's words again enter my brain. I lowly mumble, "Maybe even more than I know . ."
"I just want my dad to be happy," She says.
Right before our first practice for Friday's show, I go up to Mr. Dorothy to ask a serious (and seriously awkward) question.
"Can I please dance with Jet?" I ask him. "We kinda got a thing going."
Mr. Dorothy said he'd talk to Jet. Now I was absolutely embarrassed because I said we got a thing going and no doubt Mr. Dorothy was going to tell Jet I said that—and we don't have a thing going, so that'd be horribly awkward.
He came back and told me that Jet agreed, so we were now dance partners. Apparently, he didn't need to ask our current partners, and they were now partners by default. The boy I danced with last week, Celsius, gave me a kinda angry glare next time I saw him. I think he liked me.
Jet's girl he danced with was Chloe's other friend Haein. She was a Korean girl who was honestly shockingly pretty. She had shimmering grey eyes, braided her hair in the prettiest braids, wore gems on her face, and had a really curvy body and skin smooth like butter. Apparently, from what Jet tells me when we're rehearsing, she was a sex-kitten.
Knowing that, I'm pretty sure she's gonna hate me now. But hey, Jet likes me more than her, so that makes me feel great. How could he choose me over a girl that pretty?
That being said, after rehearsals, she approaches me. My initial thought is she's going to attempt to give me gap-tooth, so I back up and ready my reflexes. I was about ready to drop my jacket or something, but she simply asks me, "Where do you think we'll perform this week?" Apparently she just wanted to meet me—probably to see what was so good about this girl that Jet likes.
"Probably the school auditorium," I say.
"Come on, pessimist. Think big."
I laugh. "Okay, what about at an NBA halftime?"
"Wow!" She bug-eyes. "Okay, you can dream big! I wish that were true."
"Now you're the pessimist," I joke, before laughing.
Jet comes up to us most likely to make sure nobody was throwing hands. "Getting along well?"
Haein and I say yes.
Jet introduces us to each other. "Haein, this is LeAnne. LeAnne, Haein."
"We have a mutual friend, Chloe reminds me. "Chloe's told me about you."
"Oh! Yeah, I've seen you with Chloe," I say. "Did Chloe tell you about her bad week?"
"Yes. It's . . hard to understand."
Hard to understand? Maybe she told her something she didn't tell me.
"Not as hard to understand as LeAnne, I'm sure," Jet says.
I crack up, Haein looks at him as if he were being mean to me, but I know he was talking about our moment on the beach.
"It's an inside joke," I smile, and Haein begins laughing.
***
After school, Jet asks me to come with Chloe and him to a club. If you're wondering, yes—we shouldn't be allowed there, but Chloe knows people. She's a popular girl, and the club owner is her friend and so he let's us hang out there. Though we still can't have drinks.
Before we enter, I look at the sky and see more colorful streaks above us—green, yellow, red, blue . . I look for purple, but can't find it. I stop Chloe.
"Chloe, what do you see up there?"
Chloe stares at the sky.
"Uh . . what are you talking about?"
"Like, do you see anything, besides stars?"
Jet now is staring as well. "Well, yes," Chloe answers. Jet looks puzzled. "Like what?" He asks.
"Well, I see little, uh, things," I euphemize. "What do you see Chloe?"
"Umm . . " She blushes, like she knows what that means I am. She chuckles, and lowly cracks out,. "I'm pretty sure we see the same 'things.'"
Jet is still straining to see something. "I just see stars. What little 'things' do you two see?"
Chloe is still blushed, I blush as well, and Jet is staring at us with a face of hello?!
Chloe replies, "Colors . . " I look at Chloe, gaping, in total disbelief that my best friend is a demiforce like me.
Jet is completely puzzled. "What do you mean 'colors'?!"
Chloe, still staring at me, tells him, "It's hard to explain."
Jet is completely freaked. The three of us go inside. While talking at the table, everything feels normal. As if nothing had happened outside.
When we receive our food, we all go to wash our hands. In the bathroom, I realize Chloe is blushing, and I know she is going to ask me something about our half-force-ness.
She doesn't look at me, and asks, "So . . Do you know your color?"
"Not for sure, but I've had a dream about it," I confess. "What about you?"
"I barely just found out about this weird thing." Though she still hasn't looked at me, I can tell she's frustrated as well. "When did you find out?"
"You remember when I said I had a vision on the beach?"
"Oh!" She recalls. "Yeah, that makes sense."
"When did you find out?"
"My dad went to an auto-shop on Saturday. He went inside and I sat on the curb, and . . yeah . . One of the 'employees' there told me everything."
"Glowing eyes?"
She stared at the counter as if she were looking through it. She appears paranoid. "Glowing eyes . ." She mumbles.
We leave the restroom, and find Jet at our table, waiting for us.
Jet looks back and forth between the two of us when we sit down, almost as if he's reading our body language. "Got caught up talking about the stars?" Jet says.
"No. Not the good old stars," I mutter.
"So what did you really see up there? Why can't I see any colors?"
"Well," I sigh, "I'm not sure how to explain . . "
"I don't think it's explainable." Chloe puts in.
Jet sits there, staring at the beverage menu on the table but clearly not thinking about the drinks. ". . I, uh . . "
"We should drop the subject for now," I request.
After we eat and hang out at the club with some of Chloe's friends, all of which seem to have no interest in me or Jet and whom laugh and joke with her about violent topics (one of her favorite subjects is fighting and not just wrestling), we leave the building. Chloe and I both fix our eyes on the sky. Jet looks annoyed.
I see a purple streak, the first I'd ever seen. It flies into an abandon automobile shop which has the garage door left halfway open. The streak peeks back out. It seems to be wanting me to follow.
Chloe looks at me. "I think you'd better follow it, purple girl."
I nod at her, and give a long, blank look to Jet, before walking off into the garage.
Have you ever been alone in an abandoned automobile shop at night? It's really scary. You get an uneasy feeling about every noise you hear. Especially when this purple streak led me here, I feel like something's gonna jump out at me. The smell of oil and gasoline reek in my nose. Sounds of creaking and metal tapping against each other surrounds me.
The streak guides me through piles of old car parts, all the way to an empty corner by a window. I gaze out the window, as the streak seems to be signaling me to do.
Suddenly, a long streak of white flies in through the open window and surrounds me, encircling me like a hula-hoop. I stand stiff, curious of what this means. The streak flies in front of me, and suddenly bursts into one giant ball of light, brighter than a stadium light.
I shield my eyes. The light slowly fades until I am able to gaze into it. I speak my first words since I entered the auto shop.
"Who are you?"
"I am a metalight," She answers. "Messenger of the Metaforces." Her voice was loud and booming, but smooth and calm. It was like blasting a lullaby at 400 volume with subwoofers.
"What is a metaforce?" I ask. I hope I don't sound stupid and she will understand.
"You are a demiforce, child of a monoforce. Monoforces are born of Metaforces. Metas, we are immortal."
"Oh!" I say. "So, like, the big-ups?"
"Yes, child."
"So, what is their message for me?"
There was a short pause. I could almost hear suspenseful music as wind ripped around me.
"There are forces at work in the world, child. And not all are good ones."
Not like I ever thought there'd be.
"You should be grateful." It says, "Consider yourself lucky that you were kept away for so long. But now, LeAnne Annakalcy, we need you."
Need me? Something was off here. Shouldn't powerful beings need no help? What could I do?
"Why would metaforces need a stupid girl like me to help them?"
"As far as we know, no other demiforce is like you," It responds in a harsh tone. "You are the only one capable of doing what we need you to do."
"Well I'm sure you have better options. One of you metas, maybe. I'm a dumb girl with vibrant emotions. I'm impetuous. I'll get you in trouble, at the least."
"Don't worry about that, LeAnne," It says softly, "The way your brain works is genetic."
Wow. I was born stupid. My whole family was stupid. I'm not sure that made me feel any better.
"You are one of the most powerful forces in the universe. You are one-of-a-kind, and have more power than many of the forces."
This was real—I knew I wasn't dreaming this time—but I just wasn't buying it. I am literally the dumbest, weakest being I've ever met. And I've met a lot of dumb, weak people. How could I possibly be one of the most powerful beings in the universe? A universe run by me would be a universe in serious peril.
I wanted to say, no wonder the world is so bad, but I felt that would be a bad answer, so I answered with the same question I asked my dad.
"What force am I?"
"You are from Annakalcy. The force of emotions."
I hear an explosion and look behind me. Nothing seemed to have exploded. I saw purple streaks floating all around me. Encircling me and eventually settling on my head. The white light faded to purple.
"So, what do you need me to do?" I say in a shaky voice, and look back up.
The metalight was gone.
Silence. The eerie blowing of a soft wind in my ears. The purple lights were gone. Nothing moved, nothing glowed. Everything was normal.
What just happened? What does any of this even mean? What does a force of emotions do? What did she want me to do to help them? I had so many questions.
Eventually, my over-thinker self ended up settling on the thought that, if I'm a demiforce, I am not one-of-a-kind. The white blob thing must have lied to me. I don't know what these purple streaks were, but this all must be a big mistake.
I got the sense that I could be there for a while, and all I'd know is that she was not coming back. I exit the building after standing there for a few minutes, watching the purple streaks dissipate.
"Any news?" Chloe asks.
"Absolutely. But, I'm not sure to believe it or not."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, she told me that they needed my help, but didn't tell me what they wanted me to do."
"Oh . . Anything else?"
"And then, well, I mean, she told me I'm one-of-a-kind. But, I'm a demiforce, so I'm not one-of-a-kind."
"What's a demiforce?" Jet asks.
Dead silence. Chloe and I exchange looks, deciding who was going to explain to this poor human.
"Oh, streaks," I curse. "I forgot you don't know."
"Did you say 'Oh streaks'?" Jet asks.
Chloe looks at me and laughs. "You even curse in demiforce language."
I laugh. "I guess I didn't realize that. A demiforce is . . " My smile disappears. "Well . . half-human." I jerk towards Jet and snap, "DON'T go around telling everyone what me and Chloe are."
"Okay, okay!" Jet puts his hands up innocently, startled by me snapping at him. "You're saying you're half-human?"
"Yes, because we are," Chloe says.
"Half-human, half . . ?"
"Half-force," She states.
"What's a force?"
"Even if we tell you, you won't believe."
"Tell me and I'll believe, because it's becoming very apparent you two have something I don't."
"Okay. Forces control the natural world," I tell him. "Each force controls something. Some are powerful, some aren't."
"So . . you're saying you can control things?" He says with a slight look of disbelief, but slightly concerned. "Like, if the world were a game?"
"Sorta," I say.
"So, what can you two control?"
I'm surprised he's taking it so casually. No freaking out, no, yeah, right, he's just taking it like it's another one of our life story's.
"Well, I just got my revelation in that auto shop," I reveal. Chloe smiles and looks at me with wide eyes of anticipation. "I'm from Annakalcy . . force of . . emotions."
"What does that mean?" Jet says, frightened.
"I'm not sure yet. But, it sounds like I can control emotions."
Jet's face looks like he'd just been told the Earth was crashing into Mars. Terrorized, to say the least. " . . that's actually terrifying," He says quickly. He shakes himself as he did at the beach. His face returns to normal, but still a bit mystified. "But, I'd trust you with that power more than anyone else."
I wouldn't even trust myself with the power to materialize balls of lint, but I'm not gonna tell him that.
"Try controlling my emotions!" Chloe says.
"Okay. But, I'm not sure how to do it. I'll just try something."
Chloe stands in front of us.
I look at her, and say, "You're angry."
All the sudden, Chloe's jaw drops and she rolls her eyes. She turns around the way she always does when she's angry, and puts her face in her hand. Jet and I stand there and glance between each other and Chloe, confused as to whether it worked.
"Did it work?" I ask.
"Yeahh!" Chloe says while still turned around. I can tell you her tone was literally angry, and not sarcastic. It scares me. I put my hand over my mouth in shock. Was she just acting, or did this really just happen?
At that moment, I am scared out of my mind, but also quite amused. I could change people's emotions. Jet and I drop to our knees in laughter. I'm curious if I need to say it aloud for it to work, so I look at her and say in my mind, "She's happy."
All the sudden I hear her laugh. She turns around. "Did you do that again? I didn't hear you say anything."
"Yeah, apparently I don't need to say it aloud."
"This is actually terrifying," Chloe says while wearing a big smile, "Please don't use it on me."
"I won't," I promise.
In case you're wondering, we're still just standing in front of the auto shop. We hear metal fall in the auto shop behind us, and we all freak and run away laughing.
***
When I get home that night, I tell my father about my revelation, and about Chloe. He seems not-so-surprised to know that I'm from a force of emotions, and not just because I'm super emotional, but also because my mother always had an uncanny ability to calm him when she visited. My dad is getting ready to head out to his "important work".
"Ready to put out some fires?" I ask him as he hugs me.
"Sure. Or start them. Who knows?"
"Why would you need to start them?"
"It depends. The Force of Fire has a lot of missions." He pulls out his phone and shows me a photo of him along with 2 of his friends, standing next to a line of cars that were on fire, smiling like psycho pyromaniacs. "One day we had to do this," He says.
I'm puzzled. To me it looks like the works of a villain. "Heroic, huh?"
"At first glance it doesn't look like it. But those were the getaway cars of the cartel." He puts his phone back in his pocket. "No one was hurt, but they had no cars to getaway in, so they got caught."
"Oh," I correct, "Heroic."
My dad smirks. "Yup. We just pointed our fingers and commanded the cars to catch fire."
"Oh! You can do that?"
"Yep."
"I don't think an example would be a good idea."
We laugh. "It's not. Unless we had a fireplace."
My dad leaves out the door. Before closing it, he peeks back in. "It's so cool to be able to share this with you now."
I smile. "I hope to be able to share stories with you some day, too."
He kisses me and heads out. I head to my bedroom.