Tag Archives: Gifford

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 4

4 Comments

Wait, I thought back at him. The teachers aren’t always in the dining hall anyway. Are you sure it’s not just chance?

Pretty sure, he thought back.

Behind me, Tara had been walking with Camille and Haley. As we stepped into the dining room, Tara stopped chatting with Camille and said, “This isn’t right.”

To me at least, nothing about the dining hall seemed in any way strange. Students talked and laughed at the tables. The upperclass students mostly stuck together while the first year students took up half the room, mixing a bit with my year. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 4 →

Arc 7.5: Off Campus

Off Campus: Part 9

8 Comments

The photographer said, “Not happening. I took those pictures. They’re mine. End of story.”

He pulled his camera with one hand, and held his left a little away from his body as if he intended to block with it. It didn’t look like he’d had any kind of martial arts training. The way he held his arm, it would come up too slowly.

Hunter asked me, “Isn’t there some kind of law against taking pictures of people like us?”

I glanced over at Haley, and she shrugged.

Continue reading Off Campus: Part 9 →

Arc 7.5: Off Campus

Off Campus: Part 8

12 Comments

Haley and I both laughed a little at that. Ironically, if we had broken his camera, the trend would have continued. Calling us celebrities wouldn’t be quite accurate, but thanks to our grandparents, the Rocket and Night Cat were household names.

Then Haley’s expression changed to a frown, and she glanced backward. I followed her gaze to see Gifford walking towards us followed by Hunter, Courtney, Camille, and Keon.

Gifford reached us first, taking long steps that I hoped weren’ t obviously boosted with his power–a hope that ended as a gust of wind passed me.

Continue reading Off Campus: Part 8 →

Arc 7.5: Off Campus

Off Campus: Part 7

10 Comments

If the photographer had only been taking pictures of the crowd, it wouldn’t have worried me.

Instead, he’d aimed his camera in Gifford’s direction. Gifford was dancing with a girl I didn’t recognize. Hunter, Courtney, Keon and Camille were dancing nearby. Keith and Zoey were closer to us, but we weren’t that far from Gifford either.

Besides, no one who saw her could confuse the glow of Zoey’s skin with anything but superpowers.

Continue reading Off Campus: Part 7 →

Arc 7.5: Off Campus

Off Campus: Part 6

11 Comments

“I’m not sure what power juice has to do with anything.”
Keith tilted his head, and said, “You know, the whole thing where power juice became illegal, making us all technically criminals? Plus, you remember Logan at our prom. He was a total druggie, and then he got into power juice and tried to eat the school.”
I shook my head. “Not an issue. I don’t have any powers, and it wasn’t illegal back then. All this amounts to is secret identities. To continue to have one, I have to keep mine secret. I haven’t told anyone who I am who hasn’t figured it out first. You didn’t figure it out, so I could avoid telling you.”

Continue reading Off Campus: Part 6 →

Arc 7.5: Off Campus

Off Campus: Part 3

13 Comments

Camille smiled at the group. “Someone talked about going dancing.”

Hunter raised his hand. “That’d be me. My mom has friends who own a club in Denver. It’s called Club 32. It used to be an old factory. We can walk right past the line if we want to. Vincent Sucks is playing, but they’ve got a DJ after that.”

Keon rolled to a stop next to the van. “I’m in. I love dancing.”

I’d been thinking Keon would be my best potential ally for going to a movie instead.

Evidently, I made too many assumptions about paralyzed people.

Continue reading Off Campus: Part 3 →

Arc 7.5: Off Campus

Off Campus: Part 2

17 Comments

“Uh… A bunch of us being who?”

“People in my class. I don’t know everybody who’s going, but a lot of first years. I invited Courtney and Camille. Gifford invited me and Hunter.”

She had my full attention. “Gifford? The guy Jaclyn and I took out?”

She nodded.

Then something else occurred to me. “Wait, he asked you? Does he know that we’re dating? He wasn’t um… after you?”

Haley frowned. “He wasn’t asking as a date, but he does like me.”

Continue reading Off Campus: Part 2 →

Arc 7.4: Burning

Burning: Part 1

15 Comments

People were talking about Turkmenistan the next day. Around noon, Haley and I were sitting in the compound’s cafeteria with Camille, one of Haley’s friends and a Heroes League recruit. We’d taken the van to Castle Rock’s Catholic church—St. Francis of Assisi.

I still wasn’t sure if that had been a good idea.

We’d gone as ourselves, and not in costume. All it would have taken to blow our identities was pictures placing us near the very well publicized Stapledon summer program while the Rocket wasn’t appearing much in Grand Lake.

Still, the Castle Rock church was on the list of churches that the program said were safe, so we went.

Don’t ask me what made them safe. Given the program’s reliance on mental blocks for it’s students, I probably wouldn’t be happy to know.

Continue reading Burning: Part 1 →

Arc 7.3: Entry Assessment

Entry Assessment: Part 5

20 Comments

Calvin flew toward us in the air in a leap that had to be getting extra force from the wind behind him, and he wasn’t alone.

Cindy and Paula jumped after him.

It didn’t work out as well as any of them would have expected.

A beam of iridescent light hit Calvin in the air, surrounding him with sparkles that kept on glowing as he flew toward us.

Continue reading Entry Assessment: Part 5 →

Arc 7.3: Entry Assessment

Entry Assessment: Part 4

13 Comments

Gunther continued, “The paintbot rounds stand in for the suit’s lasers, and for the explosive rounds which take out most people. Non-lethal rounds are perfectly allowable for this fight, Rocket. Captain Commando, your gun counts as a laser for this. Paint them with light, and you’ll take them out. The sword works too, but don’t turn it on.”

Gunther took in the group of us standing together. “Here’s how this will work: each group fights until there’s a clear winner between the two of you. You’ll need to think about how to do that, but I’m not going to give you time to talk about it.” Continue reading Entry Assessment: Part 4 →