The Kinetics

Chapter Two

Standing still. The haziness from her vision clearing and the shock fading fast away. Like a rushing wave threatening to knock her down, the memories of the past moments flashed through her mind.

The girls bullying her, making her cry, and her hiding in the bathroom. Then the head cheer leader finding her and attempting to torment her further. Her gesturing for the snobby girl to leave, but instead a knife of air forms.

The knife slicing through the snobby girl, causing her to fall and maybe even die. She did not know how it all turned out as she had been whisked away by some mysterious heroine during the intense confusion and chaos that occurred shortly after her unintentional attack on her high school enemy.

"Where am I?" Aura glanced around the place where the stranger had teleported her to.

The lawn outside the dilapidated mansion was dry and weed choked, save for a small patch of surreal green grass in which the two wrought iron gates stood. The gates were at least ten feet tall, had strange markings etched on the iron panels, taking on many shapes.

Some of the panels were stars, others arrows, many diamonds, and a few hearts. The iron was a dark black and seemed to be in fine condition despite how old the mansion and the surroundings of the property appeared to be.

She made her way to the peeling maroon paint door, stopped to catch her breath, glanced back at the sprawling hills of dead grass, and knocked.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The sound of her knocking seemed to echo throughout the property, she could hear footsteps and the sound of the locks being turned. The door flew open and the familiar perfume scent hit Aura.

"Frieda Leclair." The woman's sweet musical voice as she stood at the door, holding out her hand for Aura to take. As Aura reached to shake the hand, she noticed something. The perfume scent that had been there just moments ago, was gone. Meaning this was not the female who had saved her.

"Pleased to meet you." Aura said politely, figuring this woman was high class and valued respect, as Aura's greeter was well dressed and spoked with a refined accent. Aura then curtsied.

"My name is Aura D -"

"Aura Desiree." The even toned, of the man's voice startled Aura, he seemingly appeared from nowhere and was reaching out for her hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Desiree. Garth Kemp. We know all about you and your plight." He gestured for Aura to enter as Frieda stepped inside and rushed to the kitchen. Aura could hear the sound of the rattling of pots and pans, the opening and closing of a fridge door.

Aura stepped inside and felt as if she was stuck in time. She looked around with eyes full of wonder at the beautiful mansion and the rooms within her view. She could see that each room had a fireplace and a hearth decorated with the multiple shapes she had seen on the gates.

The rooms were large and the wood flooring was dark oak and the stair railings were also oak and seemed to endlessly race up the long flights of stairs, where they split off into separate stair cases. The kitchen had marble flooring and the counters were beautiful white stones that she was not familiar with.

As Aura turned to close the door, she found another surprise. The once weed choked lawn and poor condition of the front porch were gone. The expansive gardens were just glorious. She could see rows and rows of rose bushes and a beautiful fountain made of pure gold in the center.

There was a hedge maze toward the far side of the property and the hedges were trimmed so carefully and reached as tall as the gates had. The stone steps were glistening in the sunset sky and they led to multiple pathways of the beautiful and great gardens.

Aura finally snapped out of her reverie and closed the door, turning around to get awestruck by the beautiful interior of the mansion once more. She followed Garth into the living room, decorated with a cocktail table and traditional armchairs and a traditional sofa.

She took off her shoes, barefoot and felt the softness of the rug beneath her feet. It was bear skin and complimented the complex and lovely design of the room. A fire roared and crackled merrily in the fireplace, which was made of the same mysterious stone as the counters.

"This place is...breathtakingly beautiful." Aura's eyes lit with the glow from the flames, which reflected off the dark stained oak flooring.

"Indeed it is." Garth smiled.

"This place has been in our family for generations." Frieda explained as she offered Aura some cookies and tea, to which Aura politely refused. "We Kemp's and Leclair's have shared this property since my great great great great great grandfather built its foundations."

Garth thanked Frieda silently as he took a cookie from the table and examined it, as if it was a unique specimen underneath a microscope.

"My grandmother of five generations ago helped design this place. Making it only fair to give credit where credit is due." Garth chuckled to himself.

Aura found the way these two talked to be very strange, if not refined and timely. She watched as Garth walked over to the fireplace and rested an arm on the shelf. He gazed into the blazing hot flames, seemingly lost in thought.

The cookie he had been studying was balanced on the edge of a tiny porcelain plate, which had been painted with elegant flowers. A single lone teacup was perched in the center of the plate, a billowing steam indicating the tea had not yet cooled.

Garth after some time finally walked back to the armchair he had been sitting in and sat back down, running his hands nervously along the velvety arms. Finally, Freida gave a small cough and cleared her throat, then turned to look at Aura.

"We did not expect you here for another five years, maybe even never." she said as she wrung her hands anxiously together on her lap.

Aura was perplexed and confused, which probably showed as Garth leaned in closer. "What Frieda means is that only one of your family from every generation of Desiree's is gifted enough to enter our school."

"School?" Aura quizzed as she glanced at Frieda and then at Garth and back again at Frieda, unsure of what to make of this.

"Yes, Scientifice School est Enim Ingenii dote Pollentibus Praeditus". Frieda elegantly waved her hand, in a grand gesture, indicating these words had a significance of some kind.

"Better known in English as, The School for the Scientifically Gifted and Endowed." Garth hastily explained as Aura stared at them, confusion etched on the line that formed between furrowed brows.

"Oh." Aura said as she blushed, embarrassment tingled through her as she knew she would have to clear the one important flaw to the two who seemed to be trying to recruit her to their school.

"I actually already attend school." Aura smiled awkwardly. "A public high school."

"We know of this." Frieda waved her hand nonchalantly. "Our school is quite unique."

"At our school you learn to harness your deep scientific knowledge and use it for the good of humankind." Garth smiled then made a complicated gesture with his hands. All of a sudden a flicker of flame evolved from thin air and began to take shape. The shape was a golden, red hot, blazing Phoenix. "Well having a good bit of fun with it too."

"H-how?" Aura was stunned.

"Here you will learn to do that, and much more." Frieda told Aura. "At our school we will teach you to harness your Kinetic powers and measure your potential for Dualokinesis."

Frieda looked expectantly at Aura, as if she assumed Aura knew what she was saying. Aura stared blankly, confused and unsure of what Frieda had just told her. Garth picked up on the confusion and decided to clarify for Aura.

"Dualokinesis is the ability to control two Kinetic powers. Kinetic abilities are achieved by discovering your true scientific potential with Kinetics. I am sure you know the Regular version of scientific kinesis."

"Yeah, I am not the best with science but I know what kinesis is." Aura restrained herself from rolling her eyes in annoyance. "But what exactly do you mean by the Regular version?"

"Well there are two different kinds of people. Everyone has been given the ability of being a Kinetic, but only a few are open and able to accept their true potential." Garth explained. "Regulars are those who never discover their potential and therefore they believe the world is only black and white, that what is able to be seen is only what exists."

Frieda chimed in. "Never does a Regular consider the possibility of something beyond just your basic Mathematics and Science. But a Kinetic, on the other hand, discovers and finds the special powers behind Kinesis."

"And once they discover this, that is where we come in." Frieda chimed in. "We were founded on the Kinetics' Civil War.

"Ever since the war, those with Kinetic abilities have had to hide there powers as the Regulars no longer look at them as a gift but rather a threat to their safety." Garth said, sighing deeply. "Because of this many potential Kinetic do not know of their abilities until we come in and show them through this educative opportunity."

"They need training and special lessons on how to harness and control such abilities." Frieda began to clear away the table as she continued to explain about Garth and her's school's history. "Through our school many have even been tested and found to have Dualokinesis."

"Also, because of the dangers of our exposure risking an all out war between Regulars and us Kinetics, we do not allow a student who has turned down our offer to use and wield their gift without consequences from our own government of Kinesis Law and Order."

"And of course many new Kinetics take this opportunity and the outcome is their mastery over their abilities. Few discover the gift of Dualokinesis. Frieda and myself are just two examples of Kinetics who have the ability to control more than one Kinesis." Garth finished and placed a small stack of papers in front of Aura.

Aura glanced at the papers and realized they were Acceptance Forms and Terms of Conditions, as well as Waivers. She knew that if she signed these her life would change forever, but was it a life always being bullied by people who weren't apparently even in her league.

Regulars that would never amount to the potential she was capable of. She begin to flip through the pages, signing her signature at the bottom of every one. She did not even bother to read the contents of the pages, she was just so eager to finally end the mediocrity of her life.

Chapter Three

After having signed the papers, Frieda escorted Aura outside the mansion, leading her through a row of hedges, which formed an intricate maze.

Taking a left, a right, another left, going in a straight line for a good while, and cutting through another sharp left, soon Aura was unable to track her steps and realized it was a good thing Frieda was guiding her. If it wasn't for Frieda, Aura would be lost in just a matter of minutes.

Frieda continued to lead Aura through the maze, both in complete silence. Aura glanced around and observed the maze.

The hedges are made out of honeysuckle bushes, the sweet fragrance hanging in the air as a group of spritelike hummingbirds zoomed on helicopter wings, soon engaging in close combat with one another.

The hummers whirred back and forth, attacking one another with spearline bills and shrieking a territorial battlecry as they zoomed over the hedges and zipped away, chasing after one another, the jewel like iridescence fading away from Aura's view.

Once again there was silence, to which Aura and Frieda seemed determined not to break. Aura noted the elegant statues that seemed to guard the way to a gated area.

The gate was tall, with slender iron bars that jutted off into starlike prongs. Past the gate, in the distance, Aura could make out another statue. The statue in the distance stood tall and mysterious, in dead center of a copse of bushes.

This statue did not bare the elegance or angelic features of the solemn guards that stood watch at the gate, but rather it was made of a crude dark gem which seemed to smolder in appearance. The figure itself was cloaked in a darkness made up of dark ore and stone, with ruby eyes glowing with a fierce fiery red.

Aura could sense that there must be a story behind this statue, one of a dark and tragic kind that was best left untold, better yet would have been better if it had never been written into existence. She also felt that, as absurd as it seemed, the angelic guards were guarding the gate to keep something in, as well as anyone out.

After awhile, still lost in thought over the enigma of the ominous statue and the solemn and determined looks of the marble angelic guards, Aura soon realized that both her and Frieda had come to a halt.

She found herself staring at a wooden double door, with iron designs of swirls and patterns that seemed to spell some kind of dilect by the way they curved together in a straight and purposeful line.

"This is it." Frieda said, not bothering to explain what the "it" she was referring to. "You are Kinetic no doubt and a powerful one at that, Telekinetic."

She glanced at Aura and smiled at her warmly, then she placed her hand on the door. Her fingers traced the curvature of the dialect, as she murmered softly what Aura could only guess was what the words meant.

Suddenly with a loud screech and a great shake, the words carved in iron begin to pull back, each to either side, and then a knob of golden ore appeared on either door.

Frieda gestured toward the knob closest to them and Aura grasped it in her hand, warm and comforting to the touch, she turned the knob back and was satisfied to hear the creaking as it opened.

Aura found herself in a residential hall full of girls of all different ages. She passed by a girl with curly brown hair who stared at her intently and before she can even process what she was doing she began to snort like a pig. She tried in her power to stop, but could not.

Soon Aura was on all fours, still snorting that piglike sound, and there stood that brunette girl. A smile that seemed to bear no kindness was on the young girl's face and the girl's icy blue eyes were still fixed and locked on Aura's.

Aura was soon rolling back and forth on the ground, still snorting, her lungs burning and desperate for oxygen. Soon she felt she might pass out, but a grasp of iciness forced her to continue her snorting.

Soon through hazy eyes, still dizzying from the lack of oxygen as she was not allowed to breathe through the snorts, she could see several other girls and hear the cruel sound of laughter.

To her surprise, though her vision was spotting, she could observe that all the girls looked the same. Tall, slender, young, icy blue eyes and short curly brown hair.

Soon a faintly familiar voice called out. "That's enough Caroline, go back to your room and practice!"

After the voice called to Caroline to stop and leave for practice, Aura soon felt the pressure in her mind, that now to her seemed to be forcing her to do all that snorting and rolling around, ceased and she let in deep gulps of desperate air.

Her distressed lungs took in the air with gratefulness and soon her vision no longer spotted. The girl glanced at Aura, who was still wheezing and gasping on the floor, then stormed into another room, soon disappearing from sight.

And with a gentler voice an older girl a few years younger than Alexis apologized, “Young Caroline’s powers are stronger than the others, minus myself. I fear she may become an Umbrakinetic, oh well, only time will tell, that does not mean to do your future thing Joan” Addressing a red headed green eyed girl who blushed deeply at being scolded.

The young brunette brown eyed girl lead Aura, who cannot help but think she looked a lot like her except a little younger and without her hazel eyes.

"Cerebrumkinesis.” The girl said as if Aura knew what it was. Seeing Aura's lost expression, the dark soulful brown eyed girl elucidated, “Brain Manipulation. She can control your actions and pretty much everything the dark matter tissue of your brain controls. Umbrakinetic if I ever saw one. But then again, you and I could be the same, except...nah you are too young."

Aura was confused, the girl seemed a few years younger than Aura, so how could she call her too young. Aura asked the girl’s name and the girl looked, what Aura could only guess as, dejected.

"Amara." The girl said, smiling at Aura, although the smile lacked any happiness to it. "I guess they never told you about me." Then the girl turned away from Aura and walked away, without another word.

Aura became lost in thought, standing in the doorway of the residential hall, where she had entered and had been accosted by Caroline. Umbrakinetic, was an oddly familiar name to Aura. Something she would soon learn more about than she could have ever expected.

To be Continued...