Fallen Angels///8

Now, so far I think I've stepped through about 4 or 5 of these 'mystery portals', and each time it has been a different, painful experience. And so it would be for this one... at least, that's what I thought. Turns out that when I stepped through, I felt nothing. No air, no weird tingling sensation. Just in one side, and out the other. And let me tell you where I ended up. Go on, take a guess... ANOTHER stone covered room. ARGH!!! I swear, these people have NO creativity, what so ever. Well, the difference in this room is that there was no light. The only way I could see was from the wall behind me that now only glowed in a dim yellow. I looked forward to see that the room turned into a hallway. I heard a humming sound from behind me and turned to see Carlos slowly emerge from the portal. He walked forward and looked around.

"Looks like we missed the party..."

I gave him a smile and turned to see Adrian and Logan stepping through the portal. Adrian walked over to my side and looked around the room. Next, Terry and Ricky (short for Ricardo) stepped in, followed by the rest of the girls. Sam stepped in after them, and looked behind him, waiting for Alex. We all turned and noticed that he hadn't come through. Esmeralda (I heard the girls call her Elle, so I will stick to that), gave a worried glace to Mary, but within a couple of seconds, Alex had successfully walked through.

Suddenly, the light that came from the portal began to dim low, and then, it was gone. We were now surrounded in darkness. I could feel Adrian moving closer to me, whispering. "Now what do we do?" She sounded scared. Something inside me, maybe some kind of maternal instinct, came over me and told me to take her hand. I whispered back to her, "It'll be okay..."

A spark in the back of my mind began to tingle my head, and I blinked as hard as I could. I opened my eyes to see... well, to see. I didn't see the darkness anymore. Everything was in a highlighted blue. "Whoa..."

Adrian tightened her grip around my hand. "What?"

I only laughed to myself. "I can see in the dark..."

Logan's voice came from behind me and I turned to see him with his arm stretched out, searching for me. "Bullshit. Stop lying."

"Hey, shut the hell up, I'm not lying and don't be jealous you dumbass."

"Don't call me a dumbass."

"I can do whatever I want to, so shove it."

I saw his face smudge together and he threw a punch towards me. I moved my head back so that he missed, and kneed him in the stomach. He gasped as he kneeled over on the floor.

"Told you I can see."

"Stop fighting!" I looked over to see Mary with her hand on Carlos' shoulder, looking in our direction, but not looking at us.

"Yeah..." I looked over to see Val talking to the air. "Stop fighting and figure out a way so we can see."

"Oh, yeah..." I looked around and started to think. Adrian's hand was beginning to sweat in mine. Wow, it was really warm... wait a minute...

I laughed out loud (lol, lol...ok, I'm going to stop now...) when I remembered what her power was. I let go of her and lifted her hand above our heads.

"Start a fire."

She shook her head. "Do what?"

I repeated myself. "Start a fire on your hand."

"Oh if you say so." Her eyebrows scrunched up a bit and she took a deep breath. She slowly began to breath out and as she did so, a small flame began to emerge from the palm of her hand. My eyesight showed everything now in grey and black, so I blinked and returned to normal. I looked up at the small flame, which was now growing slightly bigger, allowing everyone in the room to see. The fire began to burn my hand as I quickly let go and stuck my finger in my mouth to cool it down. Smart huh?

Ricky moved from the back and came towards us. "Ok, so now what? Do you honestly expect her to hold her hand up the whole way?"

I gave him a glance. "No. That's stupid." Crap... now what was I supposed to do. Lauren walked over to Adrian. "Here, put it on this." She held out her staff and Adrian cautiously placed her hand on the crystal ball at the top. I watched as the flame caught on and Lauren placed her own hand over it, making it grow brighter. "There."

I turned to look at Ricky. "See..."

He rolled his eyes as he found his was back to Alex. Adrian waved the flame off her hand and looked into the hall. "Don't tell me we have to go in there..."

Carlos gave a look around and began to walk into the hall. He called back, "Ok then, I won't tell you." And he kept walking. I turned to look at everyone and began to follow him. "Come on, let's go..."

My leather boots hit the ground softly as we all walked along the long hallway. It was cold, and after a good 30 minutes, I began shivering. My legs had become numb from walking. Someone behind me sneezed. As we walked, I began to let my mind wonder. First I began to wonder how long this hall was. Then I wondered why no one was talking. Maybe they were just too cold and scared to do so. I looked back a few times to see people playing their hands, starting a fire or moving a rock back and forth. I saw Mary and Terry playing with a blob of water, making it flow in and out of their fingers and into each other's hands. Out of complete BORDOM, I began too do the same, gathering the air around me and just feeling it move on my skin. I soon had a song going in my head and I was making the air move to the beat. I was in my own little world, and I will admit that I was having one hell of a time! I spinned around and got carried away, sending a whiff of air under Val's feet.

"Uh-oh..." She gave a little screech as she was swept up and into the air. I held her there for a minute, gaining control over what I had done. I heard Carlos laugh from behind me and Elle was reaching up to Val, trying to bring her back down.

"Put her down Carmen." I heard Mary's voice sound from the middle of the crowd, but Val's came from above. "Ha-ha, no way, this is fun! Go higher Carmen!"

I laughed as I lifted myself a little off the ground and forced the air under Val to raise her higher. My hands were held out in her direction, guiding the air and she turned and spinned and touched her hand to the ceiling. She let out a laugh again as I carefully guided the air back down so that she didn't stumble over her feet. At first, it was hard to control the flow of the air, but I was soon getting the hang of it. I landed back on the ground and to my surprise... Val came over and...well... she hugged me... Weird? Yes, I think so too, seeing as how her and her friends still wanted to kill me for what had happened in the locker room with Mary.

She pulled away and I saw a sparkle in her eyes. "That was amazing! I wish I could do that all the time." I just stood there. I wasn't used to physical affection. I barley even hugged my own mother, let alone someone I had just met. "Um... you're welcome, I guess."

Adrian giggled and I felt my face flush again. What the hell? I think Adrian has the power to make people embarrass them selves or something... maybe some kind dark magic voodoo... I don't know... I turned away and kept walking forward, letting everyone else follow. After about another 30 minutes of walking by the light of Lauren's staff, I saw a clearing. The hall soon widened out into a room, and at the other side, was a wooden door.

"Finally!" Sam breathed out and rushed towards the door, ready to open it. "Wait." Carlos pulled him back by his shoulder and moved in front of him. "You don't know what's in there. You can't just go barging in. Think for a second."

Sam looked at him in the eye, but Carlos seemed to have him in a hypnotized daze. Sam took a step back and nodded his head. Carlos walked towards me and looked at everyone else. "We've been walking for a long time now, and we haven't had any rest. I think the best thing for us to do is to stop and wait a while before moving on. That way, we can be prepared for what is coming up. It's the only right thing to do." I looked around at everyone and thought about it. He was right. My legs were killing me, and it didn't help that I was hungry. I turned back to him. "Ok, we'll stop here, take a break, and then keep going."

Val came out of the crowd. "Oh thank god..." She moved toward a corner of the room and sat down. Everyone began to spread out. Lauren and Ariel started a couple of fires to warm everyone up from the damp cold. I was ready for a nap. Come on, who wouldn't be? I mean, usually, I take a nap about 8 times a day... one for every class period. I found my self a corner that no one else had occupied and almost collapsed on the floor. I didn't care that my white robes were going to get dirty. Fuck it, I'm tired. I curled myself into a ball and faced the wall as I slowly drifted off into a cold sleep.