Chapter 10: Not Dream Charms, Magnets for Scary

CHAPTER 10:

 

I raised my brow at the red head, my eyes wide as I stared at his superbly excited face while he started playing with one of the rectangles and turning them into tiny cubes that had legs.

“T-training?” I stuttered, feeling my stomach roll again. yeah, I know I said I signed up for this looney bin all by myself and got excited by myself, but hearing that we’ll be training right now hit me hard once again and almost made me faint.

Michael rolled his eyes at me, looking as if he heard my thoughts then nodded. “Yeah. Training. Without it, you’ll be dead the minute you set foot out of HQ.”

“Why is that?” Skye asked, his voice a little anxious all of a sudden. Staring at my little brother, I noticed his confidence just a second ago had disappeared and had turned into anxiety and nervousness.

Lukas turned back to us, pulling up a mini walking cube.

“We don’t know either.” He simply said, staring at me and poking at the helpless little cube. [Sometimes I wonder whether this really is a looney bin.]

Skye and I exchanged nervous looks. Lukas sighed at me.

“I’ll help you out.” he said and simply let go of the cube, letting it bob on its tiny feet then stomp on the shiny floor before angrily marching off.

“We took the three of you because there have been things hunting you down before you even knew about our world.” Lukas said. I knit my brows at him.

“What do you mean-“ It suddenly hit me.

The black dog, the nightmares.

 I was about to say something about the black dog but again, something stopped me from saying it. And instead, I told about my nightmares. Lukas nodded at me.

“But, I’ve never gotten those dreams.” Christian said, watching one more mini cube pop legs and waddle off.

At that, Lukas and Michael raised their brows. “Well, then Cyreen’s the only one to get these dreams. Or Skye too?”

Skye nodded at him. “But I think it was only once.” he said and I recalled his black lady dream.

“Those weren’t just normal dreams Cyreen. They were means of scaring you, throwing you off guard. Just like how a Mantis would do when stalking its food. If we never came to you, those dreams would’ve really made you go and tell about them to everyone.”

“Then I’d be called insane.”

Lukas nodded then turned his back to me, looking serious all of a sudden.

“Obviously once your fear sets in, you’ll just go haywire and you’d be sent to a psychiatrist or something. After the dreams have destroyed your wall between reality and imagination, whoever kidnapped our trainees would’ve gotten into the normal world and taken you. Either that or the shifters.” Lukas explained.

“But,” Skye started, “what about dad? You said he was a Rogue right?” he asked.

That was true. He could’ve protected us from whatever those things were.

Lukas made a weird disapproving screeching noise all of a sudden as he led us to sit on of the rectangular seats.

“Here’s the thing-when a rogue-“

Lukas was suddenly interrupted by Michael’s elbow.

“I think that can wait.” Michael said as he cleared his throat and crossed his arms.

Lukas blinked at him then glanced at the three of us very confused teens.

In a second, he seemed to have made up his mind since he shrugged his shoulders then got up.

“Well, you got a point.” He said. At that, Skye gasped with annoyed amazement while Christian face palmed. I on the other hand stared blankly at Lukas’ seat.

Typical. It’s always like this. When things are getting good, something has to get in the way and ruin your fun.

Lukas must’ve seen our reactions since he rolled his eyes too.

“Look, what’s important for you to know is that you’re safe, you need to learn how to protect yourself and that…your lives weren’t what you thought they were.” Lukas said in a matter of fact tone. I stared up at him and Michael, slightly squinting at the bright lights hanging over their heads.

I guess I could wait for things to move on their own.

With a sigh, I pulled myself up and just pushed aside my worries. The one thing now is to know how to live my new life in a way I can’t get torn to shreds.

Lukas smiled at me then heavily patted my shoulders. “Yea, you’re your father’s daughter!” he chuckled then motioned us to the wide bowl in the middle of the room.

 

“So, right now this is the training floor.” Lukas said pulling his arms up and motioning to the huge room that was easily bigger than two football fields.

“It’s where every rookie trains their physical and mental abilities the first time around.” Lukas said as we walked closer towards one side of bowl shaped floor. Since Lukas said it was training grounds, this must’ve been the arena of some sort.

Looking up as I put my hands on the cool steel railings, I saw a simple black  box shaped item that seemed to have been floating in the air. Looking harder at it, it looked harmless but I highly doubt that.

“So, this is what we’re going to do first.” Lukas started as he clapped his hands together.      

Right then a large steel cabinet poofed out from a white cloud next to Lukas, making the three of us jump back in alarm.

Michael raised his brow at the red headed Rogue with skepticism. “Really? Are you sure about that?” he asked as he leaned on the railing, looking up at Lukas.

Lukas knit his brows at him as if forgetting something while the cabinet levitated a few inches from the shiny floor.

I blinked, staring at Lukas and thinking- “is he gonna do a magic trick?”

Lukas didn’t seem to get whatever Michael was trying to say so the black haired Rogue just sighed heavily.

“They’re not ready for that. Come on, they’re practically jumping at the appearance of a cabinet. They’re not ready for stimulation level.” Michael said.

Lukas made a face at him then sighed, snapping his fingers. at that, the cabinet disappeared again.

“Alright then.” Lukas sighed. Instantly, a smile popped on his face.

“Real training will start tomorrow. For now, you’ll go to your rooms.” He announced and at the sound of rooms and the image of a bed almost made me wobble.

At that, Lukas and Michael led us to the left of the training floor, heading to the end of the room that had many double doors that had gold plaques at the top of the doorways. Despite the long wall, there were a total of seven polished wooden double doors. From left to right the plaques read- “SHOWER” “DINING HALL” “MAIN HALL” “MEETING HALL” “GARDEN” “DORMS” “STUDY”

As much as I wanted to go through the shower, dining hall, garden or study, Lukas pulled open the silver handles to the dorms.

And from over his shoulder, I could see a long seemingly endless hallway that had the feel and look of a five star hotel corridor. It was clean, cool and made me feel just so relaxed.

And once we step foot inside and the doors shut, the sterile and strong smell from the training floor had been replaced with the smell of a clean…well, hotel corridor.

Adding to that, the floor had actually been carpeted with a thick, light blue and soft velvet layer that badly made me want to take off my shoes and just walk bare foot.

And honestly, soft carpets are my weakness. But to keep my dignity and maturity, I kept my shoes on. Skye though had no problem taking his own slippers off and sighing dreamily as his pale feet landed on the softness. He looked up at me, smiling happily.

“Heaven.” He muttered. I rolled my eyes at him, suppressing a smile like Christian.

Lukas chuckled at the kid and turned to one door on the right side of the hall.

Michael smiled at Skye too. “Well, thanks to this place being like that, we did call this the Snooze Foyer.” He smiled.

Lukas chuckled next to him. “Ah, I love that name. Helps relax a lot when you’re about to lose an arm.” he said, making me lose my smile.

Something tells me that wasn’t a joke. But then again, I’ve almost died maybe lots of times now so, I’m fine.

Pushing aside their ‘humor’, Lukas put his hand on the gold knob and the upper half of the wooden door glowed. In a second, we all saw the symbol on Lukas’ hand appear on the door. For a moment it seemed like it grew darker but then it started to fade until it was completely gone again.

Lukas took a relaxed breath through his nose and pushed open the door revealing a very, very nice room.

I’m not kidding. As Lukas and Michael both walked in, the three of us gingerly stepped in as well, marveling at Lukas’ hotel room.

The room had three other doors and presently we were standing on a floor completely covered by a thick, white carpet (not good for stains.) that had one of those long cream colored couches that had one end longer so you could lie down. He also had a giant flat screen TV that was on top of a wooden stand that also housed high tech speakers, dvd’s and a small file case.

Attached to the cream walls were side lamps both of them seemingly swaying happily in the air as they gave off relaxing lights like the bigger light on the high ceiling above us.

So, all in all, this place is actually a five star hotel.

I scoffed to myself. I’m liking this place.

Michael plopped on the long soft couch while Lukas headed off to the other open room which had a king sized bed. Obviously it was his room to sleep in.

While Lukas seemed to be looking for something in there, Skye carefully peeked into another room, seemingly the bathroom and gasped with delight. The bathroom must’ve been nice too. He then scurried to the next room and squealed excitedly. The kitchen must’ve had a big fridge.

And yes, I understand everything that’s going on in my little brother’s head because that’s also what I’m excitedly thinking.

While us siblings were having fun looking around the place, Christian sat next to Michael, seemingly talking quietly to each other.

I glanced at them from the corner of my eye a bit then froze to see Michael looking at me with a small smile on his face, looking smug and happy as he stared at me.

I blinked at him then quickly looked away when Christian started to turn to me.

While I was just standing there with my arms crossed, the silence made me even more uncomfortable.

Right then, Christian rose off from his seat and headed into Lukas’ room, saying he wanted to talk to Lukas about something.

Blinking, I just stood there, silent and looking like a stupid statue while Michael kept looking at me.

After a few seconds, I finally sighed loudly and turned to Michael.

“What?” I asked, waiting for him to say something stupid and annoying like ‘Hi Siren.”

Instead he just stared at me then when I thought he was going to say something, he sighed. “Nothing.”

I blinked at him then rolled my eyes, carefully taking a seat on the couch. Once I let myself fall, I was almost engulfed by the couch itself since its softness was equal to that of super soft cotton.

Feeling my heart jump, I gasped a bit before freezing up with a ridiculous pose. At the side, Michael expectantly snickered at me, biting down his lip.

I glared at him and, trying to regain my dignity and pride, I carefully pulled myself up and fixed myself, crossing my arms.

“You haven’t changed a bit.” I muttered with annoyance.

Michael stopped chuckling then sighed, looking at me from the corner of his eye, still smiling anyway.

“Right back at ya’.” He replied smugly.

I glanced at him and after a while, I started to wonder. In a second, I turned fully to him, making him blink with sudden surprise.

“How long have you been a Rogue, Michael?” I asked in a serious tone.

“Chaos.” He growled, glaring at me. I rolled my eyes, silently saying ‘whatever’.

Why did I ask? As I recalled, there were some times he just acted off in school. One time was when I remembered him actually helping me.

Yes, it sounds unbelievable, but he did.

 

It was the time when I was being annoyed by another group of boys. They kept making fun of me reading books or saying I was the child of a siren or saying mean things about my family.

Back then I would just walk away like how dad said I should but I couldn’t escape that time. The boys were blocking me and just wanted to harass me with mean words and such.

When I was on the verge of crying, Michael jumped in and suddenly started punching them all.

At first I was just shocked and maybe a little scared. But mostly I was confused.

He just knocked out five boys and got sent to the office right after that.

Thinking about it, I felt my chest get warm a bit. At that time he was quite the guy.

 

Suddenly, Michael scoffed next to me, shaking me from my memories and making me look up to see him smiling lopsidedly.

“Were you just thinking about the time I helped you out of that mess back in 6^th grade?” he asked, reading my mind. I blinked and felt my cheeks go red.

“Ummm…” I hummed, not wanting to say and regretting I asked him that question.

Seeing my reaction, Michael stared then chuckled with a tone that made shivers run down my spine.

“Hey, don’t get it wrong.” he said. “I only did it ‘cause they were annoying.”

I blinked at him, scoffing. “You hate things like that?” I asked skeptically. That’s just ironic since he’s the one starting almost all of those situations with me.

 

“I mean, I’m the only one who can do that to you.” he suddenly said.

At his words, I blinked repeatedly before my skin started to feel hot.

I have no words to describe this guy. I don’t think you need to think about it. he’s the epitome of b*****d, he’s amazingly arrogant, annoying, loud, and so- so- so- just, I hate this guy.

I gritted my teeth and quickly shot up my feet, glaring at Michael who had a totally bored and blank face that I just found absolutely annoying.

Even though he wasn’t saying anything, I just said- “Shut up.”

He cocked his head back then pulled himself up, towering over me.

“You shut up.” he shot back. My jaw fell.

Unbelievable b*****d.  

“You shut up!” I shot back, louder this time.

“You shut up!” he growled back as well.

And the cycle continued with our voices getting louder while we squared off until Lukas appeared out of nowhere hitting the back of my head and kicking Michael at his side, making him gasp and stagger as he fell to the floor.

“Alright! Alright, why don’t the two of you numbskulls both shut up?” Lukas growled, glaring between me and the b*****d on the carpet.

As Michael got up, dusting himself, we both crossed our arms, stubbornly averting each other’s eyes.

“Fine.” we both spat angrily.

I was about to stomp towards Skye and Christian standing in the kitchen but Lukas grabbed the back of my shirt, almost making me fall back.

“Woah, woah. Not so fast kid.” He said, pulling me back to the middle as he called Skye and Christian into the room too.

My eyes suddenly caught some shiny things in Lukas’ hands. I blinked, looking harder and realizing they were black bracelets that had that spiral, lightly twisted design along with two small silver beads on each end.

“You’ll need to wear these tonight.” Lukas said, giving the three of us one bracelet each.

As I held it in my palm, I felt my chest drum again. This bracelet is bad news.

Instantly I went rigid as I cautiously looked up at Lukas who seemed to have a slightly troubled look on his face.

Skye and Christian didn’t seem to notice my bad feeling though.

My little brother held it up the light, taking a better look at it. “What are these? Some Rogue accessory?” he asked and was about to put it on when Michael stopped him.

Skye knit his brows at Michael’s actions but the latter just shook his head.

“Don’t wear these until 12 midnight.” Lukas instructed. “Until then, just leave them on a table and don’t touch them, alright?”

“What are they?” Christian asked.

“They’re Night Charmers.” Michael said, making us all look up at him. The feeling in my chest grew again.

“Don’t be nervous.” Lukas said, snapping his finger in the air again. And like back in the forest, I lost my nervousness.

“Anyway, this is the first level of Rogue training.” Lukas started, holding my bracelet in his hand. “These night Charmers are bracelets that make you see…horrible things. Nightmares, monsters…blood, you name it.”

Skye’s eyes widened. He was a bigger coward than me really. His grip on the bracelet suddenly went limp. “Why give us these then?”

“To steel your nerves.” Lukas said. “Once you leave HQ you’ll be seeing monsters, ghosts and things that can make a normal human go into shock or worse a heart attack. As Rogues that can’t happen. Don’t you two remember what we said in the forest?” Lukas asked, glancing between me and Christian.

I blinked and nodded slowly. “We forgot not to show fear.”

That one second really did prove to be the line between us living or dying.

Lukas nodded at me. “That’s right. If any Rogue lets fear shake them for even a second, their chances of winning and getting out of a mission alive dwindles. So, as cruel as this sounds, you three will have to wear these bracelets all night and face the hallucinations you’ll start to see.”

Hearing all this I stared at the two of them, wondering if this was a joke.

“Are you serious?” I asked. And they both simply nodded at me.

“So, this is like a test of courage?” Skye asked. I thought the same thing, picturing one of those games when one has to go inside a dark house and run around with people wearing scary costumes.

Lukas shook his head. “Nah, this is just to make your mentality stronger. The courage test comes sooner.”

“I have one question.” Christian said, making us all look to him and I froze at the serious look on his face.

“Can we umm, go crazy with these things?” he asked.

I blinked. Now that he mentioned it, I finally got the grasp of how dangerous what we’re doing was.

Ever since I got my hands on a psychology book or watched Nat Geo, I understood how powerful the mind can be and how easily we can be devoured by it.

But thankfully, Lukas shook his head.

“You three are Rogues by blood. I mean, the two of you almost punched a werewolf and looked like you were enjoying it.” he said, making me remember Christian right hook.

“You punched a werewolf?!” Skye asked with disbelief, his eyes wide with excitement.

Lukas chuckled, pointing at my brother this time. “And Skye here’s already excited by the mere thought.” He said. “Also, we both know all three of you have been playing Resident Evil and games equally as ferocious as that.”

 

Well, he got us. I just hope I’ll be able to sleep even with that on.

“Oh, you can’t sleep by the way.” Lukas added.

Well, doggone.

 

“What?” Christian slowly asked, seeming as if he was just hit with a shovel.

“Like I said, it’s to pull the level of your mentality up. Just one night with those bracelets makes even the lousiest of our trainees alert and strong!”

“You mean paranoid.” Christian cut off. Lukas gave him a look and sighed.

“Don’t worry about it alright. You three are kids of two of the best Rogues I’ve ever met.” He said, assuringly taking us in his arms and patting our back.

Lukas then looked down at me, giving me a gentle smile much like that of dad’s.

“You’ll be fine.” he said.

With that, I took a deep breath and nodded, pulling away from them. Staring at the bracelet, it seemed like a starting point. Like, once I put this on, there’s no going back anymore, I’ll be walking through dark until I stop being a Rogue.

With a sigh, I pushed away my bad thoughts and stared thinking of a cute bunny.

“Cute fluff.” I thought. But right then, I pictured a small deer-like creature with scaly hide staring at me and blinking. I drooped my shoulders, feeling my eyes roll.

“Not that Bunny.”

But to no avail, the gross Bunny just popped into my head as if saying- “Helooo~ I’m a cute bunny that’s gonna stab you with my cute little hooves!”

Driving the thought away I shook my head a bit then turned to the boys.

“Well, where are our rooms?” I asked.

“Ah, they’re not ready yet.” He said nonchalantly as he headed to the kitchen. I knit my brows at him and glanced at Michael to make sure this was true.

He had the same puzzled look as I did so yeah, this is true.

“When…where are we gonna sleep?” Skye asked. Right then he smiled approvingly, taking a look at Lukas’ room. Well, I’m fine sleeping here too. [I don’t care if it’s the floor either. It’s a sheep.]

“Skye and Christian, you two will sleep here.” Lukas said, holding a can of soda in his hand then in a blur, pointed at me, making me jump.

“And you, Cyreen will sleep in Michael’s room.”

 

My jaw fell as my eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“WHAT?!” both Michael and I shouted with disbelief.

“No way! I’m not sleeping with her!” Michael shouted as he pointed his finger at me. My jaw fell once more as I felt offended by that long, pointing finger.

“Hey, like wise jerkface!” I shouted back. Michael glared at me, practically burning up but before we could start throwing chairs at each other, (which were seemingly heavy by the way) I suddenly found my mouth stuffed with a sweet and very soft piece of chocolate bread.

Lukas shoved the same chocolate bread into Michael’s mouth, making him c**k his head back with shock and confusion.

When both me and Michael were…pacified, Lukas chuckled and heavily patted Michael’s shoulder as the black haired boy stared at him with wide eyes.

“Yeah, I know, the food’s that good.” Lukas snickered then looked at his simple black watch.

“Anyway, it’s already 11 o’ clock, better get ready for midnight.” He said, quickly pushing both me and Michael out the door even with us practically clawing at his arms.

From the back, Skye was snickering hysterically while Christian looked half-worried half-amused. I glared at both of them before we were literally thrown out into the carpet floor with me on Michael’s chest.

 

We both blinked, the chocolate bread still in our mouths.

Right then, Michael glared at me, the edge of his mouth twitching.

“Mmmfmmfomfffmfff…”

I can’t believe I’m stuck with you.

I glared harder at him.

“Mmmffmfmffmmmmfff!”

Well, it’s not exactly my cup of tea either!

We both rolled our eyes and Michael pulled off from under me as he chewed the bread and gulped it down as he stood up.

I whipped my head away from him too, chewing then finishing the very tasty bread.

In a minute of silence, we both jumped to hear Lukas’ voice say:

“Into your room.” In a very scary and low voice.

Michael and I shuddered. The black haired boy beside me sighed heavily then held out his hand to me.

I blinked, staring at his hand then looking up at him. Once I did, I saw he had a bit of pink on his cheeks as he stared at me with annoyance.

“Well?” he muttered lowly.

Hearing his voice just made me angry again. With a glare, I whipped my head away but before we started shouting again, Lukas’ voice came back scarier than ever shouting:

“GO NOW, YOU LITTLE INGRATES!”

“OKAY, OKAY!” I growled, hiding my fright and quickly taking Michael’s hand then letting him pull me into his room.

 

While he held my wrist, I stared at Michael’s back then found myself blinking at his midnight hair. As we half ran to his room, his hair shone in the light, bobbing a bit as he strode long steps.

After a few seconds, Michael broke the silence.

“Are you staring at me?” he asked.

Instantly, my face felt as hot as the sun for some reason but I regained my composure.

“What’s there to stare at?” I hissed. Michael visibly flinched at my question and slowly turned his head to me. I could practically see the veins popping out of his head. And it was just so fun.

As he glared at me I smiled, feigning innocence. He then rolled his eyes, turning back his head.

After five doors, we finally got to Michael’s room.