Test 1 turned out to be easier than I had first thought. It was a holographic projection that made things appear very real, so at first we were both scared.

Hundreds of birds fluttered towards us, talons outstretched, and I began to yell in fright and wave my arms wildly, hoping to scare them away. Harper, however, was strangely still for a few moments, staring straight ahead as if in a trance.

"Blu!" She suddenly exclaimed. "This isn't real; it's a test."

"What?" I still shrank back as one of the big black fiends approached.

"Watch," Harper whispered and stepped into the birds, her hand outstretched towards the biggest one in the flock. I wanted breathlessly as her hand passed through its feathers, and the image shimmered.

"How did you know?" I asked, still in awe. "They looked so...real."

Harper shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know...for a moment I forgot this was supposed to be a test, and then Mr. Wright's words suddenly came back to me."

I frowned, shaking my head. "That happened to me as well until you did that...I had forgotten it was a test. That must be a part of it; to make it harder."

She nodded, twisting a silver strand of her hair between her fingers; something she always did when deep in thought. "I wouldn't be surprised. It seems that Mr. Wright is capable of
much more than we have imagined."

The scene around us began then to dissolve, leaving an all white room with no windows. We had been blindfolded after Mr. Wright's office, which I am sure contributed to the disorientation at being in the generated scene.

"Did we pass?" I wondered out loud, staring at the wall. Or at least I think it was the wall...the sameness of it all confused me immensely, and I suddenly felt as though I was tipping. I sat down heavily and Harper did the same, closing my eyes in the hopes that when I opened them I'd be anywhere but there.

• ⑊ •

No one came for hours. It was like being in a desert; we were hungry, thirsty, and blinded by the white of the walls and floor that after awhile blended together all into a dizzying mass. The light came from the whiteness, and only added to the effect.

Since it was nearly impossible to sleep, Harper and I began to amuse ourselves by talking with our eyes closed. It helped keep us oriented and alert, something in the midst of nothing.

When Jeff finally opened the door, we sat up suddenly, causing both of us to get extreme headaches from the light and perspective.

Jeff smirked a bit. "Ready to come out?"

"What do you think?" I snapped. Usually I'd show a bit more restraint, but I was beyond tired hungry and thirsty. They had crossed a line, and I wasn't afraid to retaliate.

"Sassy sassy," Jeff's tone reminded me of a scolding mother hen, and that was the breaking point.

"Well YOU you try getting locked in a disorienting room for hours with no food or water!" I shouted and felt Harper's grip tighten on my hand, waring me not to continue, but I unwisely did anyway. "We'll see who's sassy then!"

His smirk disappeared and he whipped out a walkie talkie, keeping his eyes on us while he spoke into it. "Corridor 5 please. Corridor 5. Heavy security and audio recording devices on."

Harper looked into my eyes to try and signal me to run, but I leaned close to her, my pupils wide with concern. "No Harp, we can't! We have no idea how big this place is or where the exits are. It's too dangerous!"

"But if we don't get out of here they'll-" She was cut off by the arrival of more guards, armed to the teeth and heavily uniformed.

"They won't hesitate to hurt you," Jeff stepped closer to me, using his height as a fear incentive. "So I suggest you stand down and follow orders."

"Is this some kind of sick joke!" I screamed in his face, causing all of the men there to tighten their grips on the triggers. "We're not some kind of experiments, and we won't act like them! You can't force us to do anything!"

"Don't shoot," he held a hand up to the closest guard. "Take her."

"Blu!" Harper's voice rose as he dragged her out of my arms, kicking and flailing. I watched as she readied her hands to shoot a beam of gravitational force at him, but I knew she wasn't ready for that kind of combat. Not yet.

"She gets killed the next thing you say that's out of line," Jeff snarled, stepping even closer so I could smell his hot foul breath. "So go ahead. Try something."

I stiffened and glanced wildly at Harper. She said nothing, but the look of fear in her eyes was enough. I closed my eyes and stepped away from Jeff, slumping in defeat. Fighting against way more than we could handle wasn't going to help the situation.

"Good," that slow, sneering smile lit Jeff's features again, making me want to punch it off. I hated the way he looked at me, looked at Harper; like we were nothing, scraps of trash for him to throw out.

I curled my hands into fists slowly. We'll show him, I thought grimly. He'll see what we're capable of. But even as that thought ran through my head, I paused, realizing something. Harper had her ability to guide her; she could train, but me? All I had was my fists, and I'd never been the macho type. There's a first for everything I guess.

"Take them to block V for strength buildup," Jeff ordered.

Just the thought of strength training made my knees go weak and I began to shake. We hand eaten or drank anything in hours, maybe a day. I realized there were no windows and no way to tell how much time had passed, and I felt a dizzying feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Numbly, we were marched by the six armed guards down more long corridors and sharp turns, until we were finally guided into a room. The walls were white, there was white carpet, curtains, and beds, but it wasn't the strange, blinding, disorienting light for before, just natural light that came from the two long windows. They were barred of course, but still windows.

The door slammed behind us, the guards giving us no further instructions or words. There were two sets of clothes on the bed and a small bathroom with a shower in the corner.

Harper headed straight for it without a word to me, and when she exited after her shower I pushed past her as well, saying nothing. The hit water felt like heaven on my cold sweaty skin, the soap scrubbing away all the dirt from the cell.

I gathered my things and opened the door, surprised to hear a strangled sob from Harper's bed. She was bent over, weeping softly into the pillow, something I had never seen her do before in all the years I had known her.

I placed my hand gently on her shoulder so that I wouldn't startle her, but instead of pushing me away like I expected, she buried her face into my chest.

I opened my mouth to speak but I had nothing; no words to comfort her, no words to guide, to reassure her. So I shed tears with her, knowing the predicament we were in was dire indeed.

She broke away after a moment, turning away in shame. "I'm sorry."

I took her by the shoulders and made her stare straight at me. "Don't be, Harper. You don't always have to be strong."

This revelation sparked something inside of her, I saw it on her eyes." You're right," she said slowly. "I don't. And you don't always have to know what to do."

Her words shocked me as well, although they shouldn't have. We both recognized at that moment that we are human beings, fallible and never achieving perfection.

"Blu," Harper said. "I need you."

She needs me. Another revelation hit me: that we as fallible human beings need each other to survive. That's why we weren't designed to be alone.

"I need you too, Harper," I replied sincerely. "We can't give up."

"I have a plan," she whispered, and we looked at each other excitedly. For once the two of us had switched roles; where I was the anchor who held our hope, and Harper was the one with the plan.

We don't always have to stay within the boundaries of one role of we are together, which is another thing I learned that day. One thing I am thankful for during that dark time is that we had each other and that we learned a lot. Alone, we wouldn't have accomplished anything.

Harper's plan was fairly simple. The first item was for her to train. At first we were wary, thinking it odd that they hadn't done anything to restrain her abilities, but soon she tried and nothing happened. We began with improving the things she already knew how to do, and when she had improved on them sometimes we would try something new.

Food was brought in three times a day, hearty delicious food for a place so grim, and we were thankful. It gave us both strength.

We'd been in the room for two days when Harper looked up after our training session and smiled.

"Its time for phase two."

A/N:
I am so sorry for the late chapter...again ;-;. Yesterday was my last day of Driver's ed and i passed the written test with a 99%, so I'm pretty much good to go for awhile. Thanks for hanging on there and being patient!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I almost cried while writing it. Don't forget to add this to your library to get future updates!

Next Update: May 4

Update later 4/28/17: I sincerely apologize for the many many typos in the first publishing of this chapter. I didn't proofread it and I'll never forget again, dear goodness. Thanks for your patience all you early readers!