It had been a while since I had checked the place out, and again I was told not to go to the gym, so I couldn't check out the library either. In the computer room, Strong was still hogging it. So, I gave up and stayed in the living room near my room, sitting on my "comfortable" stool.
Destiny hadn't spoken much for a while. She had spent most of her time on her cell phone since I came to sit here. She said it was for something important.
I, on the other hand, kept trying to come up with a plan to get the computer. I had looked at the nearby rooms and had a pretty clear idea. I would take the clock from one of the rooms and, before the appointed time, I would leave very carefully to hide in the bathroom near the computer room. As soon as it was 6 a.m., I would leave the bathroom and take the computer.
The problem would be getting the clock. Destiny was constantly watching me, following me wherever I went, and the worst part was that most of the clocks were wall clocks.
This surveillance had gone from being a nuisance to a problem with my plan.
The only room that had a clock within reach was the living room where we were, because in addition to a large clock on the wall that didn't seem to move, there was a smaller clock near a lamp that had hands, like one of those little alarm clocks. Maybe I could try to take it on my way to my room.
I waited and, taking advantage of the fact that Destiny was still distracted by her cell phone, I started checking the clock and moved it to a table so I could take it more easily.
Just as I was doing that, she looked up from her cell phone and I quickly had to pretend to look at a picture in the room as fast as I could. It was a pink, purple, and red picture, and I didn't really know what it was about.
- I'm sorry, but I really had to do that, - she said in the same tone she usually used, which was calm and a little discouraged.
- It's okay, I took the opportunity to take a better look at the pictures. -
I lied as best I could, but when I looked at her, I couldn't tell what she was thinking or if she believed me.
I had to change the subject as quickly as possible in case she was suspicious, so I decided to ask her something to distract her a little. I had formulated the question a while ago, and now was the time to find out if it would work.
- Hey, can I ask you a question? -
- Go ahead. -
- I was just thinking that I was brought here by truck, but I wanted to know if it was the same for the others. -
- That's an interesting thought, but the truth is, I don't know much about how the rest of them are 'brought' here. It's not something you ask newcomers very often, but I don't think trucks are the most common way. -
She was silent for a moment and then finally continued.
- In my case, I came by car, but I'm also American, so I think the rest are brought by plane or helicopter. -
Perfect, I think I had distracted her and also confirmed more or less what I thought about the hangar. I haven't seen the courtyard, but it's probably not big enough for a plane to take off, so the hangar is most likely for a helicopter.
Feeling more relaxed about that, I sat back down on my stool, but I was still unsure how to carry out the plan. She said she would help me, but I couldn't really trust her completely.
She was looking at me. What is she thinking? Is she suspicious? Had she noticed the watch? I wish I could tell, but her expression doesn't help, and her eyes distract me.
- You look nervous, - she said after a few moments of silence.
Hearing those words, my body suddenly tensed up. I knew she had noticed. Probably her eyes had something to do with her power or something like that, and that's why she was assigned to watch me.
- You're nervous about dinner, aren't you? -
Hearing those words, all the tension eased slightly, and I let out a sigh. Maybe her power wasn't that after all. But I had to play along, or she might really become suspicious.
- Yes, that's it, - I said, still feeling a little tense from just two seconds ago, and smiled a little.
- It's normal to be nervous. It's the first time you're going to see several of them, and you don't know what they might think of you or if they'll judge you, but don't worry, most of them have been through the same thing, and I guarantee it's not as bad as you might think. -
- Wait, will everyone else be there today? - I said, swallowing hard.
Now I was getting nervous. The last time I was upstairs, I could feel those monsters as soon as they opened the door, and now I would be facing them.
- Relax, - she said, without much more emotion now than she had had throughout the conversation. - You'll get to know them little by little so you won't be overwhelmed by their... -
She paused briefly before finishing her sentence.
- Presence? - she finally said.
Despite her rather lack of expressiveness and the few words she had said, knowing that at least it wouldn't be like last time really calmed me down, but not completely.
She got up and put her cell phone away.
It took me a moment to realize what was happening. I found it strange that she would just get up like that, and even stranger that she would stare at me. That's when it dawned on me.
Despite all the time I had spent looking at and observing clocks in different rooms, I had never stopped to check the time on any of them. I turned to look at the clock I had been holding in my hands just a few minutes ago to confirm what I already suspected.
It was 8 p.m., already time for dinner.
I had completely lost track of time thinking about my plan, the clocks, the different rooms, and now it was time to meet the rest of them. I was so taken aback that I didn't know how to react. Having so many emotions constantly changing can't be good for anyone in the long run.
I quickly got up and tried to follow her. But she turned to look at me again, this time with an expression I could definitely recognize. I turned around, picked up my stool, and followed her to the kitchen.
The dining room was now lit up, and as soon as we approached, I could feel the change in the atmosphere. Although it wasn't like last time, you could still feel the tension in the air.
We finally reached the dining room. On the longest table, there were now plates and cutlery on a sky blue tablecloth that I hadn't seen before. It was clear that Nanny was serving the food, as she was constantly moving around while preparing everything.
There were already a few people sitting at the table, but I hadn't seen any of them before. There was a girl who looked pretty normal, but as soon as she saw me come in, she looked away. She had brown hair and was thin, but I couldn't make out much else. It looked like she was putting on makeup.
Sitting near the edge of the table next to some kind of decoration was a guy with light blue hair. He was curious to look at because he had his eyes closed and was muttering to himself. He seemed older than me, but I couldn't tell by how much.
Next to him, closer to the center without skipping any chairs, was a boy I thought I had seen before but whose name I couldn't remember, nor his power. He was rather short with slightly darker skin and curly hair. He was the first to look like a foreigner. If I had to guess, I would say he was from South America. Next to him, talking to him, was another boy who looked a little more Asian, if we could say so, but despite that, he was taller than his friend.
I stood there not knowing what to do until Destiny pointed to a place where I could sit.
The spot was across from the blue-haired guy. The tablecloth was covered with clear plastic, and both the plates and cups were disposable plastic. There seemed to be a perimeter around us because as soon as I sat down, the blue-haired guy moved back, and the guys next to him moved further to his right, away from me. Destiny sat next to me, but kept a distance of ten feets.
As sad as it was, I knew that these measures were necessary to a certain extent. If I wanted to eat, I would have to take off my helmet, and the moment I did, the rest would be vulnerable to my poison.
Of course, there was no chair in "my spot," so I took my stool and sat down. Looking around, I noticed that there was no food on any of the trays yet. I looked ahead, and the blue-haired guy had stopped talking to himself and looked back at me with light brown eyes that didn't seem to be focused on me.
Damn, is he waiting for me to introduce myself? How do you break the ice in a situation like this?
While I was thinking about what to say to him, I noticed that he was forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace than a smile. All his teeth were showing, and I got the impression that his mouth was bigger than normal. I wasn't sure what the correct number of teeth should be, but that definitely wasn't it.
Suddenly, he stood up, jumped on the chair, and pointed a finger at me. Then he started yelling.
- Look at the new freak, look at this damn new guy, feast your eyes on the new forgotten one. - He said it like a ringmaster introducing a circus freak to the rest of the crowd, and he looked me straight in the eye before continuing, - How does it feel to think that, in your case, there won't be much to hide, since there are no achievements to cover up? -
Suddenly, all eyes were on me. The boys who were talking stopped and looked at me. Destiny looked at me with those deep eyes, and even the girl who had been looking away turned her head slightly. I, on the other hand, froze in my place.
The room suddenly felt smaller, I could feel thousands of eyes staring at me from all sides, hundreds of whispers from all directions. I felt like I was going to throw up, even though I hadn't eaten in hours, everything was getting dark and an ever-increasing silence filled the room.
Until Nanny broke the silence by hitting the blue-haired boy on the head with a rolled-up cloth and sitting him down with the same movement.
- You know what's going to happen. You're leaving without dinner. You heard me. - Her voice was angry.
- Wait... -
He tried to defend himself, but Nanny didn't let him finish. She grabbed him by the ear and took him to another room. The other two began talking to each other again, and the girl turned her face away completely. The only one who continued to watch was Destiny, but she was more than uncomfortable and I felt terribly embarrassed. l wished that at that very moment another giant snake would break through the floor and swallow me whole.
- What a shame I missed the show, -
said a pink-haired boy as he entered. I had seen him before; he was here the day before, but I couldn't remember his name. He was calmer this time. Last time, he had left upset because he didn't like how I reacted to his power, but I guess they asked him to come anyway. He was carrying Thing in his arms in the form of a doll.
He grabbed the chair that had been occupied earlier and put Thing there. He turned to look at me and nodded slightly.
- Sorry about yesterday. It really wasn't a good day for me. Nothing personal. -
After saying that and placing Thing securely in the chair, he went to sit in one of the chairs furthest from the table.
We waited there for a while until the rest arrived. Among those I could recognize were Strong, Sleepy, and the vagabond. On the other hand, a woman with very light brown hair, blue eyes, and a purple hat that stood out quite a bit also arrived, followed by a boy with red hair who flew into the room.
After waiting for a while, the boy who was the last to arrive finally asked aloud.
- Is everyone here, or is someone else coming? - He said it with a hint of desperation in his voice, making it clear that he wanted to leave.
He was sitting across from the girl with the hat. His hair was a coppery red, and he was quite tanned. He couldn't have been more than 13 years old. I couldn't recognize the accent he spoke with at all, but it was clear that he wasn't American. He was wearing light blue denim shorts and no shirt. His only other piece of jewelry was a black rope necklace around his neck with what looked like a small silver coin hanging from it.
- There's just one more person missing, - Destiny said without even looking at him.
I turned to ask her who it was, and that's when I started to hear footsteps coming from the same room we had entered the dining room through.
I turned to try to see who it was, but I couldn't see anyone. As time passed, the footsteps began to get louder. I looked around and saw that the boy who had been grumbling earlier was now looking at me with amusement, and the boy with pink hair also turned to look at me before smiling and looking at the place where the sound was coming from. The rest continued as if nothing had happened, even Destiny seemed to think it was no big deal.
Finally, I went back to see where the sound was coming from, and as I turned down the hallway, I finally saw him. To be honest, it would have been impossible not to see him. The last guy to arrive was basically a giant, his head almost grazing the ceiling as he walked, his footsteps as loud as the sound of a very heavy object hitting the floor.
He was simply impressive. As he entered, he greeted the rest of us as if nothing were wrong and came closer and closer to me. When he was closer, he looked down at me and crouched down, putting one knee on the floor and one hand on his knee. Even in that position, I had to look up at him.
- Hi, sorry I took so long, but I had to take a shower before coming. Thanks for waiting for me. -
His voice wasn't much different from that of a normal person, he just spoke louder. As soon as he stood up, I could see the difference between him and me. He was undoubtedly much bigger than me. At that moment, he was sitting down, but even if I stood up, I doubt I would have been taller than his knee. He was so big that for a moment I felt dizzy just looking at him.
He walked around me and came up beside me. What I had thought was some kind of decoration turned out to be a colossal table for the giant, who grabbed a huge chair that I had thought was a sculpture until that moment. Honestly, it should have been more obvious to me, and I'm embarrassed to say that it took me so long to connect the dots that the thing next to me was a table and the sculpture of a chair was in fact a chair, but in my defense, it's really one of those things that you see but don't analyze, and now that I saw it, I felt like an idiot.
And so we were finally complete. To my right was the giant, to my left was Destiny, in front of me was Thing, and next to her was that curly-haired guy who, now that I looked at him more closely, had big dark circles around his eyes.
We waited a moment until Nanny arrived with a food cart and began to distribute it to everyone present. Along with the food, she gave some of us, like me, our pills. Despite that, no one was eating yet, so I decided to wait too. I wasn't really that hungry anyway, as the pressure I was feeling at that moment had turned my stomach a little.
- All right, thank you all very much for being here, - Nanny began to speak once she had finished distributing everything. - As you know, we are gathered here as we are every night, but this time for a special reason. As you well know, being a new CP can be difficult, and adapting can also be complicated, which is why this dinner is a little different from the usual ones. That is why I am going to ask everyone to introduce themselves as kindly as possible to our new rookie. -
Once again, everyone was looking at me, and I wanted to become invisible and leave. Nanny turned to look at me, her expression one of happiness, and when she saw me, she nodded as if to indicate that she was supporting me.
What a way to support me! If anyone hadn't looked at me before, they certainly did now.
- Please, Rookie, could you stand up and introduce yourself to the others? - She smiled at me, and I couldn't refuse.
I got up from the table, my hands were sweating, and my heart was racing. I didn't know why I was so nervous. There weren't even that many people, but like everywhere else in the house, I couldn't help feeling uneasy.
- My name is L... - I had to stop myself because I almost let my real name slip out. - My name is Rookie. I know this is the first time I'm seeing all of you, and I hope we can get along. -
Silence filled the room until Nanny spoke again.
- Honey, you must also tell them your power. -
- Sure. - I blushed a little. - My power is that I produce a toxic poison throughout my body and contaminate everything I touch. If anyone comes into contact with the poison, it would be fatal. That's why I have this suit, so I don't contaminate anything. -
Silence fell once again, but it was broken shortly after by applause.
- Very good, thank you very much, dear. Who wants to be next? -
- I'll do it, - said the boy with dark circles under his eyes and curly hair. - My name is Raccoon, and my power is called Loop88. With my power, every so often, time repeats itself at least eight times, but I can activate it to create a loop on my own. -
I definitely didn't understand how his name related to his power, but that power didn't sound so bad.
- All right, it's my turn. - The boy next to him stood up. When I looked into his eyes, I could see that instead of normal pupils, he had two vertical lines. - My name is Pause, and my power is to stop time for all living organisms within a radius around me, but this is active all the time and does not stop inanimate objects unless I concentrate specifically on the object. -
- Wait, if you stop time, how can we move? - I asked.
- It's because if I'm close to Raccoon, he can... -
- Enough, I want to eat quickly, - the flying boy raised his voice. He was the next to speak, but now he was flying above his seat. - My name is Pan, and my power is imaginary manifestation, which allows me and other children under the age of 15 to create things with our imagination. -
The rest continued to introduce themselves one by one. There were impressive powers like the ones mentioned at the beginning, but there were also pathetic powers like having an irresistible taste. Finally, it was the giant's turn.
- My name is Tiny. My power allows me to increase my size and with it my strength and endurance, but I cannot return to my original size. -
Looking at him still made me feel a little dizzy, but I was getting used to it and he seemed quite friendly. He had one of those faces that looked like he wouldn't hurt a fly, which contrasted with a power as potentially dangerous as his.
- My name is Thing, and my power allows me to turn into any object. -
Her voice startled me, and I jumped. I had completely forgotten that she was there and that she should introduce herself. Besides, her doll-like voice took me by surprise. She didn't speak as loudly as the rest, so maybe the others hadn't heard her and had simply seen me jump in my seat.
- Perfect, thank you very much, children. Remember to make Rookie feel welcome, and now you can start eating. -
Dinner continued and things went on as normal. It seemed that the others already knew each other better, so they started talking among themselves. For my part, I continued eating in silence.
- So... how are things going? - Tiny spoke to me from his special table, leaning slightly to the side so I could see his face.
- Are you talking to me? -
- Of course, you're the new guy and I love meeting new people. -
- Well, I guess okay, if you can call it that when your power destroys your skin, makes your body burn, and you end up in the house of the cursed. -
- Wow, that's rough, man. - I wasn't sure if he had an accent or not. - Did you see the doctor? -
- Yeah, he gave me some pills to stop the burning, but so far, I think they only reduce it to a minimum. -
- It's okay, don't worry, the doctor is the best. He'll surely find a way to make it not hurt and bring it to you on Thursday. -
- Yes, of course, Thursday. If only I knew what day it is today, that would be better. -
He started laughing out loud. His laughter was full of life, like him, really. He spoke to me calmly, and I had no problem talking to him. Even when he ate, he did so energetically.
- Sorry, tomorrow - he said with his mouth full, because after laughing, he picked up the drink on his table and stuffed a whole hamburger into his mouth. Actually, I think he was the only one eating hamburgers. - It's Wednesday. You arrived on Monday night. We were all awake to see you arrive. -
- Yeah, don't take this the wrong way, but I think at that moment I wanted the opposite. -
- Ha, that makes sense. - He went back to eating. - Don't worry, I know everyone here, and yes, there are some who can be a little more problematic than others, but take it easy and if you have any problems, don't hesitate to ask me for help. -
- Actually, I do have a small problem. -
- Wow, you really are one of the troublemakers. - He laughed at his own joke. - You know, because they punished you yesterday. -
- Yeah, haha. - I laughed uncomfortably.
- Okay, jokes aside, what's the problem? -
I explained the situation with the computer and Strong and the homeless man. I left out the fact why I wanted to use the computer.
- Okay, okay. - He took a sip of his drink. - Well, you do have a bit of a situation there. If you want, I can try to talk to Strong and see if he'll lend you the computer for a while or something. -
- That would be great -
I was really hoping he would give me a little more physical support, or something. If anyone was capable of beating Strong, it would be him, but I guess thinking that it would come to blows just because he offered to help was asking too much.
I kept talking to Tiny for the rest of dinner. He made jokes and told me about things he had been doing or watching, and he tried to include me, even asking me about things I liked. He was definitely the friendliest person I had met since I arrived at the house, and once I started talking to him, I somehow got used to looking up to him.
Dinner finally ended. Some people left as soon as they finished eating, while others stayed and chatted a little longer before leaving. Other than Tiny, I didn't talk to anyone else.
But I was ready to carry out my plan.