Chapter 1

Ava is on the run from Matrix. She has a troubling journey on the way to her cousin Trish's aid.

    Ava ran her heart beating rapidly in her aching chest.  She had to get away.  She could not, would not, lose everything she had gained so far to have it all taken away now.  Everything was at stake.  Her life was at stake.
    Heavy footsteps padded behind her.  Ava groaned pushing her stiff legs to run faster.  How had they reached her so fast?  The way she had left them they should not have been able to escape that easily.  Ava glanced behind her to see nothing but trees darkened by shadows.  She stopped running immediately putting her arms on her legs breathing in and out heavily.  
    Ava looked around taking in the scenery before her.  Trees surrounded her from every direction.  Her eyebrows creased in confusion.  Had she accidentally teleported to the woods outside of town?  Tossing her blond bangs out of her pure green eyes.  She wiped sweat from her forehead and tried to think of a plan.
    She had gotten away.  She had never thought she would succeed in the first part of the overall plan but she had.  Now she had to get to the safe zone before they found her.  If they found her the plan was as good as dead.  She was as good as dead.
    A twig snapped behind her.  Ava snapped around.  Three men stood before her pistols ready.
    “Ava Garcia.  You have resigned yourself from Matrix.  You must come back or we will take you forcefully.”  Ava scoffed backing away slowly.  She closed her eyes willing electricity form in the palm of her hand.  It was the only power she had not mastered.
    You can do this, she thought determinedly.  Call the electricity to you.  Just will it through your veins!
    Ava could feel the heat and friction in her hand.  Ava opened her eyes and saw a ball of light floating just above the palm of her hand.
    She looked up at the men who were now gazing at the electricity in horror.  Ava smiled evilly bringing the ball of electricity out in front of her.
    “You want to try me boys?” she asked.  They all tightened their grips on the gun. “Oh come on you wouldn’t want to kill the most valuable unit in Matrix would you?” she teased twirling the electricity with her fingers.  She acted cockier than she really was.
    “The orders were to bring you there.  They did not say dead or alive.  They gave permission to use fire if we had to.”  
    A gun shot.  
    Ava screamed and dodged the gold bullet that flew from the gun.  She glared at the man with dark brown hair and black eyes with disgust.  His mouth was agape in horror and he brought a hand to cover his mouth.  His faded red shirt and jeans seemed to shake with him as he shook off the adrenaline that seemed to come off from him.
    “I-I-I’m s-s-sorry,” he stammered. “My finger slipped.”  Ava didn’t answer.  She looked from the electricity ball to the man a thought forming in her mind.
    “Tsh,” one of the men muttered. “Leave it to the new guy to mess everything up.”  Ava aimed her hand out toward the oblivious men and tilted her hand toward the ground.  She willed the electricity to shoot out from her hand.  It came as easily to her as taking a single step forward.  Ava moved her hand in a straight line so that the ground in front of the men would catch fire.
    The mens’ screams were like music to her ears.  She looked up at them and gave one last burst of energy toward their hair and then ran off leaving the men dancing around in a sea of flames.
    Ava grinned to herself as she ran on.  The men had been so caught up in their conversation they hadn’t known what hit them.  
    Matrix really is hiring complete idiots lately.  
    Matrix.
    The name of the organization that had claimed her once her parents had died sent shivers down her spine.  They had known what her parents were.  They had known what she was.
    A Cronnon they had called her.  A person born with magical talents that should be used to help rid the world of vile beings.  Bullshit in her opinion.  The head personals of Matrix had only wanted to use her to do their bidding.  They had used her for over ten years clouding her mind with false information.  Had her kill people telling her that they had to die.  It was the right thing.  They were going to die anyway.
    A clearing came into view.  Ava pressed herself to run faster.  A clearing meant civilization.  People.
    A hand shot out and covered her mouth.  Ava kicked and screamed flailing her arms in the air.  She felt the tip of a gun at her temple but she paid it no attention.  That would only mean death.  Death she had learned meant nothing.  There were much worse things then death.
    She brought her arms behind her and scratched at the person’s face.  There was a cry of pain and the arms loosened their grip.  She pushed the gun away from her temple and bit into the arm of her attacker.  The attacker howled in pain and rage letting his or her grip fall completely.  Ava turned around to gaze at her attacker.
    He was a man.  A tall, blonde, tan, recognizable man.  Ava gasped tears forming in her eyes.
    “Adan.”  He glared at her pointing the gun at her.
    “You little piece of s**t,” he spat his brown eyes burning with hate.  Ava put up her hands innocently.
    “What happened to you?” Ava explained beginning to cry. “What the hell have they done to you?”
    “Stop your whining.  You’ll find your life at an end quicker if you act like that with me.”  Ava screamed in agitation.  They had destroyed Adan.  Her Adan.  
    “Adan please-”
    “Listen Garcia.  Matrix demands your return and I will happily oblige killing you and strapping you to the hood of my car to get you there.  Do we understand each other?”  Ava wiped the tears from her eyes, her expression carefully guarded.  She brought her hands to her side and stared at Adan with cool eyes.
    “Consider your words understood,” she replied icily.  She turned her back to him trying to recover from the heartrending blow.  They had sent Adan after her.  Of all people they had sent Adan.
    “I’m glad we are at an understanding,” Adan answered his tone as cold as a foot thick block of ice.  “Now turn around and hold your hands in the air.  If you so much as flinch a bullet goes through your head.  Understand?”
    “I understand perfectly.”  Ava turned around holding her hands up in the air.  She focused her eyes on Adan’s forehead.  Images of his thoughts appeared in his mind.  A yearn to prove himself to the organization.  A yearn that was so strong he would kill anyone who got in his way.  Like her.
    That’s not what you looked in his mind for.  Do what you need to do and run.  Ava fought the urge to take a deep breath and closed her eyes in concentration.  
    “You are in agonizing pain.  So excruciating you cannot stand up.  Your whole body is shaking and you’re screaming out in terror and agony.  You wish someone will come to your rescue but it’s not coming.  You sit there twitching as though in a seizure and wait for the pain to stop tears streaking down your face,” Ava spoke telepathically to Adan a grim expression on her face.
    “What the hell are you looking like that fo-” His sentence was cut off but a pained roar that escaped his lips.
    “What did you do to me?” he screamed. “What did you do!”  Ava began to cry as he dropped the gun from his shaking hand and fell to the ground shaking and writhing.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered turning around to run.
    “Garcia!” Adan screamed.  Ava turned around slowly not wanting to see the pain she had caused.
    “You will pay for your crimes,” he spat.
    “The only one committing crimes is you Ad,” she whispered so softly she wasn’t even sure he could hear.
    Without giving Adan a second glance she ran away from him tears running down her face.
    Ava ran through deserted streets looking for a certain house.  Trish, her cousin, had told her that the house was a pale green house with dark green shutters.  It had a flower garden in the front and a large backyard with a patio out back.  
    If only should she could find it.  As freezing winds struck Ava as she walked through the bare streets she began to think finding the house was impossible.  That she had found the wrong city and she was walking aimlessly to nowhere.  
    Ava stopped at a four street intersection.  She looked up at the name of the streets.  Marlow Street, Tringon Street, Searda Street, and Gilmore Avenue.  The name of the last one caught her eye.  Had it been Gilmore Trish had spoken of?  Or had it been Gifford?  Ava shrugged and walked down Gilmore Street.  
    Brick houses were pretty much all she saw on her way down the street.  Every house had a nicely mowed lawn and took great care of their houses.  Ava began to doubt Trish’s house had been there.  
    It was at the end of the house she spotted the green house.  Ava grinned and ran up the steps ignoring the pain in her legs.  It had been a long time since she had seen Trish.  Trish had been her partner at Matrix until she resigned and went into hiding.  She had been one of the best officers there, and when she had left she had left Ava to be in charge.
    Ava pounded on the door ignoring Trish’s shouts.  Trish opened the door with an angry look in her eyes.
    “What the hell I said I was-”  Trish’s sentence was caught off when she saw Ava standing on her front steps.  Her frown turned into a grin.  Ava grinned back as Trish pulled her into a tight embrace.
    “Ava!” she exclaimed. “My baby cousin has come to visit!”  Ava’s face was grim as Trish pulled away.
    “Not a visit.”
    “But you said-”
    “I ran away from Matrix,” Ava interrupted cutting her off.  Trish’s eyes went wide.
    “You did what?” she exclaimed.
    “Oh don’t give me that.  You resigned too.”  Trish’s eyes were dark.
    “You’re not the only one who has come looking for me Ave.”  Ava’s eyes were wide.
    “Are there other people staying here?” she asked.  Trish nodded stiffly.
    “I can go find somewhere else to stay.  I can be a very convincing person.”  Trish shook her head vigorously.
    “No, no.  You stay here.  I need you to keep me sane.  He’s insane.”  Ava grinned   dodging Trish to step into the threshold.  
    She walked into a pale yellow kitchen with an apple theme.  Everything had apples.  The salt shakers, the covering of the table, the dish cloths, the plates, the bowls.  Everything that could have been bought with an apple design had an apple on it.  Ava looked around and saw Trish leaning on the opening that led to the living room.
    “Got apples?” Ava asked.  Trish rolled her eyes  and played with her dark brown curly hair.  Her dark eyes were bright with amusement.  
    Ava studied Trish taking in how much her cousin had changed.  Three years ago when they had been thirteen she had been five foot four with acne.  She had always been complaining about how frizzy her hair had always been and the clothes they had made them wear.  Now she was five foot six with glistening hair that every girl would die for.  The acne had cleared up and was replaced with smooth skin.  She wore the clothes she had always dreamed of wearing.  Normal clothes.  
    Trish grinned looking down at her worn out light blue caprees and her green shirt.
    “I get to choose what I want to wear now,” she said triumphantly. “That’s much less than what I can say for you.”  Ava looked down at her uniform self consciously.  The uniform was the same as it had been for years.  Gray skinny jeans with a black long sleeved shirt.  Over that when she left the building she had always had to wear a black plaid overcoat with black or silver sun glasses.  For shoes they were able to wear any shoes as long as they were black.  Darkness always showed power the higher ups had always said.  With darkness people were more likely to listen to you.
    “I don’t see anything wrong with it.  The only thing I don’t like is the overcoat.”
    “It’s too dark for me,” Trish replied turning and heading toward the living room.
    “Come on.  Let’s introduce you to the other person residing in this house.”  
    Ava nodded and followed Trish into the living room.  This room too had taken on a pale color.  Orange.  There was a tan sofa in the corner with perfectly fluffed pillows sitting on the side.  There was a circular coffee table sitting in the middle of the room.  On the wall to the right there were two tan rocking chairs one in which holding a sleeping teenage boy.  The boy had dark brown hair that looked black.  At the tips of his hair it was dyed blond and red.  He wore a navy blue hoodie with denim skinny jeans.  He had black Nike’s on his feet.  
    Ava tore her gaze away from the boy and looked around the rest of the room.  There was a flat screen TV hanging up on the wall playing Pet Sematary.  
    “He loves that movie for some reason.  I find it completely idiotic.”  Ava shook her head.
    “I’ve never seen it.”  Trish scoffed.
    “You’re not missing anything.”  Ava watched the TV screen for a few minutes before answering.
    “It looks interesting.”
    “If it were interesting he wouldn’t be asleep would he?” Trish shot back glaring at the sleeping figure on the chair.
    “Well it is almost four o’clock in the morning,” Ava pointed out.  Trish shrugged in defeat.
    “What’s his name anyway?”
    “Jay,” Trish replied simply staring at Jay with pure disgust.  Ava tilted her head to the side looking at Jay with interest.  
    “How is he bugging you?” Ava asked her eyebrows arched.
    “He’s a total pig, he’s loud, and finds everything in this world hilarious when it sure as hell is not.”  Ava smiled.
    “So he finds the good things in life you mean?  And you hate that about him?”
    “No I do not hate that part about him.  What I hate is the fact that even when we’re having a meeting he’s cracking his wise a*s comments about absolutely nothing and we’re supposed to be talking about something important.”
    “Meetings?” Ava inquired.
    “We’ve been having meetings about how to take down Matrix.  We just got news that they’re not only killing bad people.  There are people who are actually good citizens that they’re targeting for money.  It’s an outrage.  How many innocent people do you think we might have killed while we were working there?”
    “Especially since I’ve been killing since I was six,” Ava muttered avoiding Trish’s eyes.  
    “I still can’t believe they started you that young,” Trish complained picking at a scab on her finger. “They’re monsters taking a vulnerable girl from her dead parents arms and taking you into their custody.”
    Ava was about to answer but their came a crash from behind her.  She looked around to see that Jay had fallen out of the chair and was rubbing his head wincing at the place where it had hit.
    “Ouch,” he muttered sitting up.  Ava noticed the deepness of his voice.  
    Jay looked up at Ava with a confused look on his face.
    “Who’re you?” he mumbled sleep still in his tone.  Ava smiled.
    “I’m Ava.”  Jay tilted his head to the side.
    “Are you Trish’s cousin?” he asked.  Ava nodded.  Jay just stared at her.  Ava began to shift uncomfortably.
    “Okay Jay stop goggling at my cousin,” Trish snapped.  Jay turned to look at Trish and said stiffly.
    “I was just reading her.”  Trish glared at him.
    “You don’t need to read her!  I already know what type of person she is.”
    “I don’t though.”  Trish rolled her eyes.
    “Complete idiot.”  Ava gave Jay and inquiring glance.
    “Reading?” she asked.
    “He can read people’s auras.  He also has the power of ice.”
    “What do you have?” Jay asked excitedly getting up from the floor to sit back down on the chair.
    “Telepathic speaking, electricity, teleportation, and wind.”  Jay’s jaw dropped.
    “Home come she gets four?” he whined. “It’s not fair!”  Trish rolled her eyes.
    “The world would end with you having four.”
    “I don’t see you getting four,” Jay said smirking.
    “I don’t need four.  I’m perfectly fine with the two that I have.”  
    “Guys,” Ava tried to intervene.
    “Yeah so?  It’s not like they’re anything good.  I mean snow and speed how lame is that?  What are you from one of those stupid superhero books?”
    “Guys.”
    “Excuse me?  How dare you?  What use are your powers?  Oh I can see pretty little colors in my mind lets see what those pretty colors mean!”  Jay glared at her.
    “You guys will shut up and stop fighting.”  They both looked over with their mouths closed in a tight line.
    “You may talk but without arguing.”
    “What the hell was that?” Jay exclaimed opening his mouth.  “I was about to say something and all of a sudden I couldn’t speak at all.”
    “Telepathic speaking,” Trish replied.
    “That wasn’t telepathic speaking.  That was telepathic ordering.”  Ava smirked.
    “Think of how convincing I can be.”  When Jay gave her a fearful look she began laughing.
    “Don’t worry I won’t hurt you with it.  Maybe.”
    “Have you hurt anyone with it?” Jay asked.  Ava looked away from him with tears in her eyes.  It hadn’t been only Adan she had hurt with the terrible gift with telepathy she had.  There had been more people.  Many more.
    “I’ll take that as a yes then.”
    “Trish,” Ava whispered looking at Trish with tears in her eyes.
    “What?” Trish asked with worried eyes.
    “Adan has become a pure believer in Matrix.  He almost killed me earlier.  I had to use telepathy on him.”  Trish shrieked bringing a hand to her mouth.
    “Not Adan.  No, no, no.  Not innocent Adan.”  Ava began to cry falling down on the sofa putting her head in her hands.  Trish came up behind her and began to rub her back.
    “It’s okay, Ava.  We’ll get through this.”
    “Wait.  Back up,” Jay said from the chair. “Who’s this Adan guy?  Is he you’re boyfriend or something?”  Trish began to object but Ava shook her head looking up at him with tear strained eyes.
    “No he’s not my boyfriend.  He’s my brother.”

Author's Note

Please let me know if there are any errors in this piece. Please review.